Whispered Lies

TWENTY-TWO

WHEN CARLOS OPENED the door to the hotel room, he expected Gabrielle to be in the bedroom asleep, Korbin catnapping in a chair, and Rae most likely online communicating with Gotthard.

He was really banking on Gabrielle to be asleep so that once he got rid of Rae and Korbin, he’d have a chance to wash off the residual scum he felt from tonight in a scalding shower. Then slide into bed and make love to Gabrielle.

Instead she stood in the middle of the living room with her arms crossed.

“Did you kill Roberto?” Gabrielle asked point-blank.

There went that fantasy.

Carlos glared at Rae. He pitched the paper sack in his hand to the corner near the door and crossed his arms.

“Before you go wonker, not my fault.” Rae stood and looked at Korbin, who got up from where he’d been sitting in a side chair.

Korbin sauntered toward the door with one of those can’t-help-you-with-this-one looks. He slowed long enough next to Carlos to say, “Gabrielle figured that out for herself, but that’s not the only reason she’s pissed. She knows that we know about Babette.”

“How?” Carlos snapped, but kept his voice low so only Korbin and Rae could hear.

Rae had followed close behind. She stepped up as Korbin opened the door and told Carlos, “That would be my fault. Gotthard sent me a rundown on a list of students and figured out there was a co

Ah, hell. Carlos saw a long night ahead of him. “She thinks I told you, right?”

“I tried to convince her otherwise, but you should have told us.” Rae’s pissy, narrowed look was nothing compared to the heat coming off Gabrielle’s glare.

“I intended to as soon as I had a chance.” Like once Carlos finished this mission and Gabrielle was somewhere safe.

Rae scoffed. “This one’s going to be a problem for you.”

“Too late to do anything about that.”

“How’d you come out tonight?” Korbin asked. “Do we need to cover that front any longer?”

“No.” Carlos shook his head. “Everything is handled. He won’t bother us again.”

Korbin nodded and moved through the doorway, turning to wait on Rae. She paused in front of Carlos and glanced over her shoulder at Gabrielle, who now stood tapping her foot. “Looks like a long night on the floor for you, but I did spare you one headache right now.”

Carlos almost hated to ask. “What?”

“I didn’t tell Gabrielle why Babette’s name hit our radar. She’s on a list of teens listed as not checked in as of tonight’s meal.”

His stomach sank. Not Babette. Carlos took in Gabrielle’s angry gaze, wondering how much to tell her. He whispered to Rae, “Maybe Babette is off the reservation playing. If we don’t find her by morning, I’ll have Gabrielle try to reach her.”

“Call us,” Korbin said, then ushered Rae on out the door.

When the door shut, the silence was like a vacuum sucking the walls in close.

“You think I’m a cold-blooded killer that took out Roberto while he slept?” Carlos would deal with one problem at a time.

Gabrielle flinched, but the frown lines didn’t leave her forehead. “No…but what did you do?”

“I convinced Roberto it would be a bad idea to ever bother you again.”

He could feel each second tick slowly as she passed judgment, trying to decide if he was lying. Carlos took one careful step at a time forward, needing to hold her. He had wanted to kill that bastard for almost killing Gabrielle.

But Roberto still breathed, for now.

“Stop.” She held up a hand, palm out when he was six feet away. “Why should I believe you after exposing Babette to all this.”

“I didn’t tell them about your sister.”

The fight to choose between believing him or not deepened the lines of anxiety across her worried face.

Carlos took another step. “I can’t prove it until tomorrow, but I didn’t tell them. The last thing I want is for anyone to involve her or use her against you.”

Gabrielle’s lip trembled. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“Yes. I’m not using you.” There. He laid the real issue out on the table. She wanted to know he wasn’t sleeping with her to manipulate her.

Another reason he shouldn’t have broken that rule, but now was a little late to be concerned about that.

“Do you know how worried I’ve been?” she asked in complete conflict with everything else she’d said.

But that was enough to tell him he hadn’t destroyed the fragile trust between them.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was leaving. I didn’t want you to worry.” Carlos opened his arms, and that’s all it took for her to rush into them.

His heart started pumping again at the feel of her against his chest. He cupped her head and rubbed his cheek along her hair.

A minute ago, he’d been ready to convince himself keeping away from her was the best thing he could do.

Not now. He couldn’t let go of Gabrielle even if doing so would save his life.

She hugged him hard, her hands gripping his back.

Nothing in his world had felt so right in so long. Somewhere his feeling for Gabrielle had crossed from one of protection to one of possession he shouldn’t be feeling.

But he was just realizing how much he could care for a woman. For this woman.

And that freaked him out at the same time since this could go nowhere but bad.

She lifted her head and held his gaze for a long moment. “I believe you and I trust you. Don’t make me regret that.”

Not much to ask of a man with a normal life, but he lived miles outside the realm of normal. Still, he meant it with all his heart and soul when he said, “I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want you to ever think I made love to you for any reason other than the simple fact that I wanted you.”

She lifted up, touching her lips to his. He kissed her back with care, then pulled away.

“I don’t regret what we’ve done,” he said. “But I’ll understand if you don’t want to sleep together…anymore.”

“Really?” She lifted a hand to his cheek, but he couldn’t read what churned behind that intense gaze.

He had to give her space to figure out what she wanted to do. Right now wasn’t the best time to touch her anyhow since he still had to shake off his fury from dealing with Roberto. He’d take her like a wild man if he didn’t move back.

“I need a shower.” Carlos disengaged from her arms and she let him. When he stepped away, she crossed her arms and looked down.

He’d survived almost getting blown to pieces earlier, the gut-wrenching fear he might not have gotten Gabrielle away in time, and fighting a goon half again his size tonight with little thought.

But the picture of Gabrielle’s dejected face pummeled him with steel fists. He’d had no idea until now how much it was going to hurt to lose her.

Carlos crossed the room to pick up the paper bag with a box of condoms that had been a waste of money and tossed the bag next to his duffel on the way to the bathroom. He stripped out of his clothes and climbed into the shower, cranking the water temperature up so high he couldn’t see through the steam.

The scalding water badgered his muscles, but images of Gabrielle’s terror-filled face after the explosion kept breathing life into his dark thoughts. He didn’t realize he was squeezing the bar of soap until it snapped in half.

If anyone else harmed Gabrielle, he’d…

Carlos took a breath and rolled his shoulders, trying to not think about what he’d do.

He already missed her desperately. How was he going to let her go when all this was over? Music filtered into the bathroom from the bedroom. The shower curtain had a clear strip across the top where he saw the door open all the way just before the lights clicked off.

A puff of candlelight glowed on the other side of the shower around the sink. His vision adjusted just as he guessed what might be happening. What he hoped like hell was happening.