She must have lost her mind. That was the only explanation Ally could come up with as she clung tight to Carter’s body.
Not because she was kissing him. That wasn’t the crazy part. Disappointing, maybe, seeing that it wasn’t a real kiss at all. It was all an act so that Lucas Addams wouldn’t recognize them.
Ally was too busy trembling in fear, to be excited. Her mouth was shut tight, her breathing sharp. She listened hard to the fall of steps behind them waiting for them to pass, praying they wouldn’t pause.
The insane part was that her life had turned so upside down that this was the only plan she could come up with to save their skin. Hell, that she needed a plan to save it in the first place.
So, this is what her mother had been talking about years ago when she’d begged Ally to change her major to something safe like accounting or business administration. For the first time, Ally understood her mother’s argument. Not only would those have been more stable and lucrative, but chances were they also came with a much lower rate of politically-motivated death threats.
Live and learn.
Ally could only hope that Carter would understand when she apologized to him for pulling him in here and locking lips. He had to understand that it was the only way.
At least he was playing along.
His hands came up to cradle her face. His head tilted. His lips parted.
Ally’s breath hitched as Carter pulled her against him and began to kiss her in earnest. Her jaw dropped open in surprise, and he took advantage of the opportunity to draw her lower lip into his mouth.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders at the sensation.
This wasn’t playacting. She could feel the desire pouring out of him. His mouth moved across hers, again and again, with a relentless passion that made her mind swim.
He turned her around so that her back was against the wall. One hand swept around to hold the nape of her neck. He tilted her face up as he pressed his body flush against hers.
That was the moment Ally realized that she was kissing him back—hard and fast and with just as much intensity…maybe more.
She let go of his shoulders and laid one palm flat against his chest. Damn, he was solid. But more than that, she could feel his heart pounding an insistent beat. She wished she could pull open his shirt and touch more of him, let her fingers roam all over his gorgeous body. Let her lips follow in their wake.
Half a second later, he slowed the kiss, eventually pulling away.
Ally stared up at Carter’s face. She blinked once. Twice.
“H-has Lucas gone by?” she asked.
“Thirty seconds ago.” Carter didn’t look away from her face. Ally tried to read his expression, but the truth was, her own emotions were so out of control that she could barely make heads or tails out of what she was feeling, let alone how Carter felt.
“Did he see us?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m sure everyone saw us.” Carter let out a dark breathy laugh. “But I have no idea if Lucas recognized us. It just depends on how much he’s into watching strangers make out in public.”
Ally nodded. She slid her back across the wall toward the opening and away from Carter. She figured a little distance might go a long way in clearing her head.
“We should probably get downstairs and meet Charlie,” she said. “Right?”
Carter kept his eyes on her but he didn’t move. “We should.”
Ally stepped out into the hallway and didn’t dare turn back to see if Lucas Addams was in the bar area watching for them, or even if Carter was following behind…no matter how badly she wanted to.
It was best to keep walking. To find out what Charlie discovered on the drive and go from there. The answers she’d been looking for were waiting for her. Just an elevator ride away.
It was easier to think about that, rather than obsess on what had just happened between her and Carter.
She’d done what she had to do. That was all.
And if a little extra pent up emotion had seeped its way in, well that didn’t bear dwelling on.
Ally could hear Carter a step behind her all the way to the bank of elevators. She stopped and pressed the down button, but Carter took her hand and kept walking toward the door farther down the hall.
“We’ll take the stairs,” he said, opening the door.
“So we can’t be cornered?” Ally asked.
The hint of a smile played around his lips. “Now you’re getting it.”
They walked down the stairs at a reasonable pace, which threw Ally for a loop. She was so used to being whipped around by him at the slightest sign of danger. She was starting to fear that his change in demeanor might have something to do with her little act back there.
“You know I only kissed you to avoid Lucas, right?”
He glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression skeptical. “Really?”
“Really.” She couldn’t blame him for doubting her. With the way her voice was shaking, Ally wasn’t even doing a good job of convincing herself.
“It wasn’t a bad plan.” His voice was tinged with laughter.
“What?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Ally tugged on his hand. “Tell me.”
Carter turned his head toward her as they reached the exit that led into the underground parking garage.
“I was right,” he said, swinging the door open and holding it for her. “You did taste like strawberries.”
Ally shot him a glare.
She should have known better than to open her mouth and try to explain herself. Of course, he was going to poke fun at her. Hadn’t she learned anything being around him the past couple of days?
She should have just dropped the subject and played it cool. Like she’d ever been able to do that before. Her and cool never really had a working relationship.
Ally walked past Carter into the garage. The overhead fluorescent bulbs sputtered out yellow-tinted light, making the shadows that pooled in the concrete corners flicker and move.
Or maybe her nerves just had her on edge.
All garages looked like this, didn’t they? There was nothing spectacular about this one.
Still, she didn’t stray too far from Carter’s side.
He leaned against the wall next to the stairwell door. Ally bit into her lip as she waited with him. He didn’t say a word, just crossed his arms and stared straight ahead.
That was fine by Ally. She could wait in silence just as easily.
It wasn’t like she had anything more to say.
She was fine. Just fine.
Just because she could still feel the ghost of his kiss on her lips, the urgent feel of his body pressed against hers. Just because her blood still hadn’t completely cooled and her knees felt a little weaker than usual.
None of that meant anything.
Nothing.
She could bear the silence as well as he could.
Better, even. He had no idea who he was dealing with.
“I mean, did you have another plan?” she asked, turning toward him on her heel. “Because as far as I could see it was either kiss you or be caught.”
The corners of Carter’s eyes lifted with his lips. “I’m glad you went with the more pleasant option.”
Ally turned her back on him. She tapped her fingers against the wall. Ten minutes had to have passed.
“When do you think Charlie is going to—” Her words were cut off by the sight of a bright pair of headlights turning the corner of the garage. The black SUV stopped right in front of them.
Ally’s heart clenched in her chest as she raised her hand to shield her eyes. She couldn’t see who was inside, and for a second she feared the worst. But Carter kicked off the wall and took a step toward the car.
A moment later the lights switched off and the doors opened. The Wall of Meat from the Macmillan office stepped out of the driver’s side and gave Ally a hard look. Actually, she wasn’t sure if the glower was direc
ted at her or if the man just looked like that all the time. For all Ally knew, terrifying could just be his default setting.
“Bowie,” Carter said in greeting.
Bowie nodded as Charlie got out of the passenger side and walked around the front of the SUV.
“Miss Weaver,” she said, her jaw dropping open when she saw Ally. “You look…wow. I take it dinner was a raging success.”
Ally shrugged. “The reviews were mixed.”
“Captain Nemo would have enjoyed it,” Carter said, coming up behind Ally.
Ally bit into her lip to keep from laughing, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
“Was that a…joke?” Charlie’s nose crinkled as her eyes narrowed. “I mean, I didn’t get it. But it certainly sounded like a joke.”
“Carter likes to think so,” Ally said. “He says stuff like that all the time.”
“No, he doesn’t.” Charlie looked up at her boss like his body might have been taken over by an alien being. “Back me up on this, Bowie.”
Ally glanced over at the big man. He grunted and nodded.
Carter put his hand on Ally’s shoulder.
“So, what did you find, Charlie?” he said, all business again.
Charlie’s eyes flicked back and forth between Ally and Carter. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about this sudden sense of humor of yours, because that topic is a thousand times more fascinating than what I found on the drive.”
Ally stiffened as a cold sense of unease began to tremble in her chest. “What do you mean?”
Charlie looked at her with an apologetic frown. “There’s nothing on there.”
“Nothing?” Ally asked, a little too loud, her voice echoing off the pillars and cars around them. Carter’s hand squeezed her shoulder.
Charlie put her hands up. “Not nothing nothing. Just nothing important. Nothing that makes sense.”
“What is on the drive?” Carter asked. His voice was far calmer than Ally’s.
“A bunch of random things. Allied Dynamics quarterly earnings reports. The minutes from Fuller’s appropriation committee meetings. A few classified documents from the DOD. Nothing bloody. Nothing terrible.” She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out another flash drive. “Here, I made you a copy of everything.”
“Thanks,” Carter said, slipping it into his pocket.
“Maybe you can have better luck than I did,” Charlie said. “But I couldn’t find a smoking gun.”
Ally shook her head. She raised her hands to her temples. That couldn’t be true. There had to be something that Charlie was missing. Something hidden deeper on the file that she had overlooked.
“Maybe you missed something,” Ally said. “Maybe you need to look again.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said, and, what was worse, she looked like she meant it. “I scoured that thing, and that’s all there is.”
Ally turned toward Carter. “Maybe someone else could take a look.”
He shook his head. “There’s nobody better than Charlie. If she says this is it, then this is it.”
“But—”
“Maybe your informant wasn’t the man you thought he was,” Bowie said, coming to Charlie’s defense. “Maybe Fuller played you.”
Ally’s shoulders stiffened into a straight line. She spun around. After all she’d been through—that they’d all been through—she wasn’t about to be spoken to like that.
“How dare you, you wall of meat,” she snarled at him. “A man died for that drive. I had to listen while it happened. I’ve risked my life for that information. Fuller is still trying to kill Carter and I over it. And you have the damned gall to stand there and sneer at me?”
Carter tightened his grip on her. She pulled at his hold.
“It’s all right,” Carter said. “Bowie’s one of the good guys.”
“Is he?” Ally asked, meeting Bowie’s glower. If he thought she was going to wither this time, he was sadly mistaken. She was at the end of her rope, and as far as she could tell, she had nothing left to lose. “Are you sure? Cause he sure as hell hasn’t been acting like one.”
She’d bet everything—everything—on this drive, and it hadn’t come through. There was nothing. She’d made a mistake. A huge one. And what was even worse, it didn’t just impact her. She’d dragged Carter into it too.
That was the hurt that she couldn’t get over.
The truth was, it was easier to focus on the anger Bowie was sparking inside her than deal for even a second with the disappointment and pain.
“It’s okay, Ally.” Carter’s voice was calm and steady next to her ear. He wrapped his arm around her middle, holding her tight against his chest. “No one here is out to get you.”
She struggled for half a second longer before relaxing in his embrace. She took in a deep breath. Then another.
She was still angry—furious, even—but she didn’t think she was going to fly off the handle again.
“I’m good,” she said, lifting a hand to smooth back her hair. “I’m good.”
Carter didn’t let go.
“Like hell you are,” Charlie said, her eyes wide with something that looked suspiciously like admiration. “You, Miss Weaver, are fucking awesome. Nobody ever talks to these guys like that. You’ve given me some ideas.”
Bowie turned his head Charlie’s way. His brow furrowed, and Ally thought she spied some of the hardness draining from his face, only to be replaced with confusion.
For a second, Ally got the feeling there was something more going on between the two…at least on Bowie’s side. She wasn’t so sure about Charlie.
And just like that, the beast seemed a little more human. He had a crush on the girl across the hall. Ally couldn’t blame the man. Charlie was pretty freaking adorable. They just seemed so…different.
“You know what,” Charlie said, cocking out her hip. “I’ll give the files to Mason in the morning. He’s got an eye for patterns and people. He might be able to pick out something I missed. I’m better with code. Nice easy, predictable code.”
“Good idea,” Carter said. “I’ll call with our next location.”
Bowie’s eyes narrowed just a fraction of an inch. “Next location?”
“There’s a chance we might have been made. I’m no longer certain that the hotel is secure.”
Just then a soft ding sounded to their right. Ally broke away from Carter’s hold and poked her head around the corner.
Twenty feet away the elevator doors opened. Standing in the center was Lucas Addams. Two men dressed in top to bottom black flanked him on either side. They glanced around the garage.
Ally pulled back as quick as she could.
“Yeah,” she said in a whisper. “We can stop wondering now. Lucas recognized us.”
Carter’s face went hard. “Is that him?”
Ally nodded. “And he’s not alone.”
Carter pulled a valet tag out of his pocket and handed it to Bowie. “The Lotus is out front. Take Charlie upstairs and get her out of here.”
Bowie nodded. He didn’t waste a moment before grasping Charlie’s arm and swooping her through the stairwell door.
Carter pushed Ally toward the still running SUV. She climbed through the driver’s side and slid over to the passenger’s seat. Carter didn’t wait until she was all the way over before he slammed his door and hit the gas. The engine revved and the SUV sped forward.
Lucas lifted his head and looked straight through the front window. Ally watched as the two men at his side stepped out of the elevator and started to pull the guns at their sides.
Carter put a hand on the back of her head and forced her down. He turned the car hard around the corner that led to the outside world. Ally tried to brace herself but crashed against the side of the door. She waited for the gunshots, but they didn’t come.
Once they were out on the street, Carter’s hand fell away. Ally righted herself and struggled to catch her breath.
“Well, Lucas de
finitely saw us that time,” she said. “You didn’t have to drive right past him, you know.”
“I did it so Charlie and Bowie, could have time to escape safely. If Lucas is busy chasing us he’s not going to concern himself with who we were talking to.”
Ally nodded. It made sense. She didn’t want anything to happen to Charlie either.
“Are they following us?” she asked, twisting around in her seat to peer out the large back window.
“Not yet. But they will be soon,” he said. She heard the frustration in his voice. “We can’t go to another hotel. That’s where he’ll check first.”
“So where are we going to go?”
Carter paused for a second.
“I’m not sure,” he said. Ally could tell it was a difficult admission for him to make. “We can’t go to anyone they can trace us to. No family. No friends.”
She sat up straight. “Someone Lucas can’t trace our connection to?”
“Right.”
Ally’s shoulders started to relax as she sat back in her seat.
“Get on the Highway 80 headed west.” A smile spread across Ally’s face. “I know where we’re going.”
Chapter Eleven