He was losing his ever-loving mind, clearly. To be turned on by a beautiful woman wasn’t exactly a shocker. Despite what the other team members thought Tobias did occasionally date. Although he was sure they might argue the dating part given he wasn’t exactly a wine ‘em and dine ´em sort. He was a complete heathen either but definitely somewhere in between.
Scrubbing his hands over his face he headed down to the main room. One of the few on the main floor that hadn’t been completely trashed or gutted. Oddly, the second floor had fared better and so long as one didn’t go into the east wing it didn’t make too many horrible noises. Grabbing a water, he went out to check with the team.
Cherilyn looked up from where she was sitting, feet propped on the railing working on the laptop settled on a pillow over her hips. “Taking a risk, boss. Rather unlike you, I have to say.”
Yeah. He was. Showing his face hadn’t been part of the original plan. Tobias was sticking with the rest of it though and Gabriella wouldn’t see the others’ faces unless absolutely necessary. In other words, the world was ending and who gave a shit necessary. “Worth it given the intel she provided. She wouldn’t have told me if I’d stayed covered up. I’m ninety-three percent sure she would have stuck to her guns if I’d kept the ski mask on. Besides, it was fucking hotter than hell under that thing.”
Cherry snorted out a laugh and rolled her eyes at him. “Pussy.”
Tobias flipped her the bird. Dragging a chair closer to her he sat to look at her monitor. “Find anything new?”
“I’ve mostly figured out how to fall asleep from sheer boredom. I hate watching all this video, bossman. It’s fucking hypnotic. Caught myself four times now dozing off. But in other news I did spot one of Quan’s goons at the airport. He didn’t appear to be doing anything more than talking with an airport staff member. From what I could tell it was like the staffer was giving him a tour, strange.”
“Well, keep looking. I’m going to start dinner and then grab a shower.”
“Boss, try to get in some shut eye, would you? It worries us all when you’re not getting in your beauty sleep.” Tobias waited for it, he knew it was coming. “You do need all the help you can get and you’re currently not doing yourself any favors.” And there it was.
He “accidentally” bumped her chair to shift her balance and left her scrambling while he headed back indoors. Aaron and Winston were both getting sleep while Rainer and Landon were out at the compound checking to see what might be happening. So far, they hadn’t reported anything unusual which concerned Tobias. They should have been at least twitchy with Gabriella MIA, but according to his teammates it was business as usual around there.
Twenty minutes later he left things to cook in the slow cooker. The one appliance they’d brought with them for the mission. Mainly because it had been souped up by Rainer that they could remotely access it from their phones to change settings in case they were going to be late. Fucking thing was his greatest cheap buy ever.
Heading upstairs, he went to his room, and with his hand on the doorknob he stopped. Son of a bitch! He really should have thought about it sooner and grabbed a change of clothing before leaving her in his room. But he’d been fighting his baser instincts and more than a little desperate to get out of there before she figured out he was a lot worse than she’d imagined. Now he wanted to cry, a little, because everything he’d brought was on the wrong side of the door.
Tobias knew he could go raid Landon or Rainer’s stuff for at least the shower. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything for the clothing he’d been wearing way too long. “Fuck it,” he muttered under his breath. He was a fucking trained military specialist. If he couldn’t sneak around the room without her noticing he should likely turn in all his accreditations. In his head, he made a list of what he needed. Soap and deodorant from the bathroom, shirt, and jeans from his bag. Three minutes, tops, with the need for care included. Taking a breath, he eased the door open slowly adjusting his hold on it to keep the squeak to minimum and slipped inside not bothering to shut it.
Gabbie was standing beside the window when he walked in. Well hell, he had expected her to be fucking sleeping. She turned and looked at him with those sad eyes and it hurt him to know that he had put that hurt there. “I couldn’t sleep, I’m sorry. Do you need your bedroom so that you can have some sleep? I understand if you do. I can sit quietly if you need for me to.”
“I was coming to grab some stuff for a shower,” he said. Shutting the door behind him since it was no longer necessary to sneak around, Tobias walked toward her. “Why can’t you sleep, Gabriella?” he asked softly. She looked exhausted but wired. He knew if she couldn’t wind down to rest she would eventually hit a wall and crash hard.
“I keep seeing those images in my mind.” She had her arms wrapped around her middle and he watched as one of her long elegant hands wiped at the tears that were falling from her eyes. “I keep seeing what he did and then I think of him coming home to me on those days and playing with me. He would have tea with me, he would even play freaking Barbie’s with me. What kind of monster does that? I don’t understand how he could be two such different people.”
Tobias didn’t know what to say to her to help her through this. He’d never been particularly good with words. Orders he could handle, no problem, they were logical and followed a set pattern. Dealing with emotionally traumatized women, he’d rather have his balls stuck in a vise with his greatest enemy in control of the pressure than try to navigate that minefield. Scrubbing a hand over his neck he finally did the only thing he could think to do, and pulled her into his arms, rubbing a hand up and down her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner.
That’s when her tears began to fall in earnest. She began to cry, sobbing against his chest. She wrapped her arms around him and held onto him tightly. He couldn’t understand why in the hell she was giving him so much trust, but he didn’t question it. He just held onto her like she was clinging to him. “If mom was still alive I don’t think he would have been this bad, would he?” She was crying hard and it was tearing him up inside. “He will face justice however, right?” she whispered.
“I can’t say if your mother’s presence would have changed anything, Gabriella. I honestly have no idea. It likely wouldn’t have hurt to have her there but if a person is heading down a bad path, and they want to be there, it’s damn hard for anyone, even someone they love, to make them alter it.” He kept his mouth shut on her second question. Juan Moreno would face justice, just not the sort she was thinking. For the pain he’d caused his daughter alone, the man deserved to die as painfully as Tobias could come up with. Preferably a slow death but they did have a few time constraints that might not allow for something that drawn out.
“I would like to think that it would have caused a slight difference but one never knows, right? Sadly,” she pulled back and looked up at him with tears shimmering in her eyes. “I think that the power went to his head, or something. I don’t know what happened to him but this is beyond anything that I could ever have imagined. I didn’t say anything about the drugs even though I should have but I didn’t because I figured that he was balancing things by giving to substance abuse charities but I guess I was very wrong, wasn’t I?”
The man had never donated a penny to any charity. Giving wasn’t exactly in Juan’s wheelhouse. Taking, on the other hand. “He was likely laundering his money and used the charity as a cover for you. But all sources agree he’s tight with his money unless it was for you. You are his one and only weakness it seems.” One Tobias was trying damn hard not to exploit given all she’d been through to that point.
“What? You mean he wasn’t even giving money to the charities like he said he was? Oh god.” He saw the pain in her eyes. “Jesus, he’s lied to me for my entire life. I can’t believe that he did that. He said that he gave to the charities to help babies that were hooked on the drugs that he was pushing, he said that he also enforced no selling to minors but that was all lies, wasn’t it?” She hurt, he could see her pain in her eyes. “God, he is a monster, isn’t he?”
He didn’t even know where to begin with all her questions. In the end, all Tobias could do was nod slowly. From one heartbeat to the next he would have sworn he heard her very soul shrieking as she crumpled. Catching her up, he took a seat on the bed, settled her in his lap, and rocked her back and forth slowly while she wept even harder.
It was a long time later before her tears slowed and she simply rested against him. He noticed that she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and then yawned. If he wasn’t mistaken, she was falling asleep. When her breathing deepened and her body went lax he knew that he was totally screwed, she had done just that. Fallen asleep in his arms.
Stroking a thumb up and down her arm, Tobias waited until she was totally out before shifting her to the bed. He tucked her under the blankets and then headed for the shower. He left the door open in case she needed anything or had a nightmare. Tobias made his shower quick, drying off even quicker and hopped around, pulling on sweatpants with one eye on her. Gabriella’s face was scrunched up and she was holding onto the pillow under her rather tightly.
After drawing the drapery, what remained of them at least, he laid down at her side. For a second he hesitated and then wrapped an arm around her to draw her in tight to his side. Immediately, her hands relaxed, as did her face. In fact, she snuggled even closer to him and if she hadn’t been under the blankets while he was on top of them, he had the distinct impression she’d have climbed him. Not exactly the worst idea around. Stroking his fingers up and down the arm she had resting partially on his chest Tobias let his eyelids drift down. Seconds later his mind slowed and he slipped over the edge into sleep.
Chapter Seven
When she woke up she was surprised to be held tightly against a very hard body. She wasn’t an innocent by any means but she had never slept with a man before in her life. She lifted her head slightly to look up at him, or rather down at him. “I’m so sorry.” She whispered. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” Although if she wasn’t mistaken he had pulled her closer and she liked it. What in the hell was wrong with her? She liked being there in his arms, a lot more than she should.
“Why apologize? You’ve slept for nearly eight hours, which is a good thing.” His arm tightened around her waist as he shifted his head on the pillow to face her more. “You needed the rest after all the shocks you received yesterday. Although, I’m guessing that rumbling noise isn’t a vehicle but your stomach sharing the news that you’re hungry finally.”
“Agreed. I am hungry.” She told him and sighed. “Did you sleep as well? I hope that you did because I would feel horrible if you didn’t sleep and here I was slobbering all over your chest the entire time.” Now she was feeling embarrassed as well. Of course, she was. She had just fallen asleep on this man who had kidnapped her. What kind of woman did that?
“I did sleep and you don’t drool. You do mutter occasionally though. Nothing specific and what I did catch sounded more like a grocery list than anything else. On the upside, you also had no nightmares, so I’d see that as a positive. Why don’t you use the bathroom first? When you’re done, I’ll get in there to get dressed while you’re out here dressing.”
“That sounds good.” She didn’t have nightmares? That was truly a blessing indeed. She took a deep breath and whispered, “Thank you for being with me, for staying with me and ensuring that I was able to sleep and not have nightmares. I really think that it was you keeping them away. Now I just have to figure out how to keep them away after you are gone.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it for the time being. One step at a time here, Gabriella. Food being the first priority. You didn’t eat yesterday more than a mouthful or two of broth with that tea. We’ll get something a little more solid in your belly and then move onto step two. And no, I have no idea what that is yet. It will depend on what the team has discovered while we rested.”
“Okay, sounds like a fair plan.” She took another deep breath and moved back away from him. “You’re right about my stomach growling. I’m starving, and even though I shouldn’t want to eat, I do. How weird is that?”
“You need to keep up your strength, Gabriella. The next few days are going to be rough, not to mention what comes after that. For now, though, one day at a time. Don’t take too long. I drank a lot of water last night trying to rehydrate from the day and I’m regretting it with you bouncing around on the bed.”
“Okay, so, you go and use the bathroom and then I will go after you and shower. Will you stay around so that none of your people shoot me? I’m assuming that there are at least two more with you because of how you manhandled me so easily. And don’t worry, I’m not stupid enough to leave this room without you, I know better.”
“I won’t go anywhere, and all my people are outside the residence. We’re limiting exposure to you for when you eventually get your life, or rather modified life, back. The fewer people you see the less risk to our team.” He slid off the bed and headed for the shower giving her exactly twenty seconds to study the tattoos on his back and then he was out of sight. There were several, ones she wanted to get a closer look at for sure. Eventually.
She sat on the bed with her knees drawn up and under her chin. He was a conundrum, he was handsome, his body was perfection, and those tattoos, god help her, she wanted to take her time in tracing every line on his body. She had no idea what was wrong with her but it had to be something, because no one lusted after a man who had kidnapped them but more than that, but a man who planned to kill her only family. She was a sick puppy and knew it.
When he exited, he stopped dead in his tracks and tipped his head. “Gabriella, are you all right?” Slowly, like he was approaching a dangerous animal, he approached the bed. Reaching the side, he crouched down to look up into her face. He touched her one foot, his thumb stroking the arch while he waited for her to answer. The only problem was she didn’t know what to say.
It took her several long moments before she was finally able to say something. “Your tattoos.” She chose a safe topic because, honestly, in that moment she wasn’t certain just exactly what she wanted to say to him. “Tell me about them? Your tattoos? Do they mean something?”
He blinked and looked confused for a moment before he nodded. Moving his left arm to lay on the bed he pointed to the tattoo closest to his shoulder. “This was the logo our team had when we operated, our division and team number make it unique.” Coming from underneath it was a bald eagle in full color intent on whatever it was diving for. Below that were rows of words, the poem that had been his father’s favorite according to his mother. On his inner wrist were little dots and dashes in several intricate rows that he explained was Morse code for the team’s motto.
Leaning back, he pointed to his chest explaining each as he went from pec to belly. Then he turned and sat on the bed so she could see his entire back. There was a dragon in the middle up his spine with the tail disappearing to his right under his sweatpants. On his left shoulder were rows of marks much like those used to count in sets of four vertical lines with a fifth through at an angle. Forty-six from her count. On his right shoulder was skull and crossbones. And along his lower back in a curve that seemed to cup the dragon, was an intricate and tribal looking design.
“I have more on my legs but since I’m not wearing boxers it’s likely best I don’t show you those ones right now. Wouldn’t want to further traumatize you,” he said over his shoulder. She jerked back her hand when she discovered she’d touched him. “You can touch, Gabriella. I don’t mind.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.” She teased him and then lay her fingers along the dragon at his spine. “This is beautiful. What do the marks mean though, or is it something that I really don’t want to know about?” She was stroking her finger along the back of the dragon and toward the tail that lead to his sweats. “You are amazing, your body is spectacular but there is something else that I can’t quite put my finger on. I don’t know what this is but there is something different about you than any other man that I’ve ever known before, and certainly none of them kidnapped me.” She teased him, at least she hoped he realized she was teasing him.
“I’m not even sure how to respond to that,” he muttered. His shoulders were shaking slightly and he had a small grin on his face that she could see over his shoulder. Then he let out a sigh and reached back to touch the marks. “I probably shouldn’t tell you even this much but what the hell, right? Those mark the days I was held prisoner during an op that went sideways more than anyone could have imagined. It’s where I got the stab wounds and the slice on my right arm.” He touched the three white marks on his left rib cage.
“I’m so sorry.” She whispered and stroked her fingers over his injuries. “I don’t know why but I’m so sorry that you were injured. I have no idea why I feel that way but I do. I’m so sorry.” She told him honestly and let her hands once more move over his back. “The dragon is amazing. I have a small dragon on me. It’s a very tiny red one. I couldn’t get too large of one because then my father would have found out and killed the man that gave it to me.” She shrugged. “Dragons are protectors, are you a protector?”
“I was for a long time before things changed. I suppose on some level I still am, I have a code I live by and which the team must abide by to work with me. Not sure if that still makes me the good guy or a not quite so bad guy. Likely depends on point of view.” Shrugging he turned enough for him to look at her without straining his neck.
“And I’m in the unique position that I see you as both.” She admitted. “You’ve been kind to me, haven’t mistreated me, you’ve been actually very good to me. I can’t see you as bad, not fully. Yes, I realize that you took me to get my father out of his compound so that you can kill him but sadly, I understand that as well. Then again, maybe I’m the one who has a few screws loose.”
“We all have a few screws loose. Anyone that claims otherwise is likely the craziest one in the room. Acknowledging faults goes a long way to making you a better person. Not always, but it doesn’t hurt either. Go take your shower. I’ll be right here when you get out. With more clothes on but still in the room.”
“Thank you for bringing my bag, it only has one change of clothes and its not exactly something that you would wear around. Would you mind if I wore one of your shirts instead of the skimpy shirt I have in my bag?” She really didn’t want to wear her clubbing clothes or the clothes she had worn out of the house and those were all she had with her.
“If you want to change out of your clothing we can do a load of laundry. Or if you want one of my shirts you can do that too. No one else will be around. It won’t matter what you’re wearing as long as you are comfortable.”
“I will take one of your shirts and maybe my pants from my bag and then do the laundry. Thank you.” She started to move away from him but stopped herself. Instead she reached out and touched the emblem on his shoulder and nodded, “I’m going to go with my gut and believe you are a good man, I hope you don’t prove me wrong.”
“I hold the same hope, Gabriella. Go and shower. I’ll run downstairs to start the coffee and then come back up to get you.” Lifting her hand from his arm he gave it a light squeeze and let her go. “Feel free to dig through my bag,” he added already slipping through the door.
“Thanks.” She was shocked that he was letting her go through his bag. Damn, too bad he had told her that there were no weapons, she was still going to look, however. She was trusting this man, but she was still being held captive. She began to go through his bag and didn’t find anything, dammit! She wasn’t going to complain however because thus far he had been good and kind to her but still, she was a captive. She did however find a shirt and pair of drawstring jogging pants that would work well to help keep her warm.
Once she finished with her shower she was sitting there on the chair by the window and waiting for him to come back to get her.
He knocked on the door before easing it open to peek around the edge. When he saw her, he pushed it open and held out a hand. “They are sucking up, they had a fresh pot on and breakfast is already on the table. You’re not a vegetarian, are you? If you are, we might need to figure something else out.”
“No, I like meat as much as the next person.” She said with a grin. “But coffee, god, I think I would kill for a good cup of black coffee right now. My head is killing me and I think that caffeine would help it.”
Tobias slipped his hand around to rest on her back when she moved past him. Walking next to her he headed down the stairs with her to the table. “Grab a seat, I’ll get the coffee.” He pulled out a chair and held it for her to sit down. When she was settled, he went to get the carafe and brought it to the table to pour her a cup before filling his own and sitting opposite her. After setting down the coffee pot he lifted the cover off the large platter sitting to one side. “Take whatever you’d like,” he said with a wave of his hand to the food piled there.
She started to fill her plate and when her cup was filled she grabbed it and took the first sip. “God, this is so good.” She whispered with a smile. “Whoever made the coffee is a God among gods. Please tell them thank you very much for me.” She then began to eat.
“I’ll pass the compliments along,” he assured her. He plated up a large portion and set in to eating it. During the meal, he remained quiet and strangely enough it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It almost felt like they’d done it before.
She finished eating and finally looked up at him. She hesitated for a moment and then she whispered, “Have you ever had a deja vu sort of moment in your life? A moment where you feel as if you’ve been in one place and done the same thing before in life? I have the feeling right now.”
“A couple times out in the field when I was still in the service but no other time.” Leaning forward after moving his plate to the side he propped his elbows on the table. “I wouldn’t think you’d want to have a moment like this repeatedly. It hasn’t exactly been the best few hours I’m thinking, which I take full responsibility for.”
“No, I meant sitting here with you and eating. No, it hasn’t been the best few hours and I really don’t want to think about what’s going to happen when you find my father but I can’t do anything about that, now can I?” As much as she hated it, it was true. She supposed it was inevitable that someone would come for her father, she just never believed that she would be used for that purpose.
Tobias shook his head slowly. “No, I’m sorry but you can’t.” Blowing out a breath he gathered up their dishes, leaving their cups and the coffee on the table when he stood. He slid everything into the sink after giving the dishes a scrape and started the water.
“So, what happens to me, after?” She had watched him as he cleaned up and now she wanted to know. He had told her that she would be set free but she simply couldn’t see how that would work. In truth, no matter what, she wouldn’t be able to hide and because of that she had a limited life expectancy. “I simply don’t see how I could go on living, not here in Brazil or Columbia and,” she rubbed her throbbing temples. “I don’t know where would be safe. How’s Alaska this time of year?” It was actually one place she had never been so maybe that would be the place for her to go.
“We’ll find you a place to live, Gabriella. We’ll also get you a new identity and history to keep you safe. You will need to make a few changes but eventually it’ll be second nature.” Drying his hands on a towel he came back to the table with a bottle of water and held out a small bottle of aspirin. He sat down to drink more coffee while watching her over the rim. “I know it doesn’t sound like much but we’re going to work with you to make it viable.”
She shrugged and smiled sadly at him after taking the tablets offered. “You are being far kinder to me than I could have ever hoped for. You are unlike anyone I’ve ever met. Most people would just use me and leave me. Most wouldn’t feed me and let me be free, instead I would be tied up in a basement somewhere. And yes, sadly that did happen once which is how I knew how to punch out the taillight of the car and get my hands in front of me instead of behind me where you had originally tied them.”
“I will admit that I was rather impressed with your actions. If not for the car following I would never have known. It was smart of you, Gabriella. Never think that you failed in some manner. We’ve all been trained to plan for anything and everything. Although I can tell you having someone punch out the taillight is a new one for us.”
“As I said, sadly it wasn’t my first time being taken which is why I typically always have guards with me. I just assumed that since I was home no one would even dare. Boy, was I wrong, huh?” She said with a laugh. “I tried to get the latch to pull but you guys must have cut that before tossing me in there. That glow in the dark release was a bastard for giving me hope.” Okay, so she was teasing him, she couldn’t help it.
“It was the obvious choice to go for, naturally we’d disable it. We wouldn’t want the trunk lid flying open while we’re driving. Rather obvious to anyone else on the road that things aren’t quite what they seem. But that was another reason we took the route we did. Less traffic and therefore, less chance of being found out.”
“So, you had someone following you. That actually was clever of you.” She hesitated a moment and then asked, “Please tell me that kidnapping isn’t something you do often? And please Jesus, tell me you never take small children.” If he said they did she might just have to get away just so she could make them pay for their criminal activities.
He gave her a look that nearly had her apologizing. “We never take children, never have and never will. We also don’t hurt children. My team has a set of standards that we live by. Not once have we ever broken our own code, nor will we. While I dislike grabbing women, I will if I have to. I also won’t harm them if I can avoid it. I’ll apologize for the bumps and bruises again if it’ll help.”
“I’m sorry.” She needed to apologize to him. “If only I had been born with a penis instead of a vagina, huh?’ Although if she had been born a boy she likely would have learned her father’s business from his knee instead of having as much distance between her and the business as possible. Her father never wanted her near what he did and she was now thankful for that.
“If you’d been born with a penis you’d still be tied to that chair upstairs and you wouldn’t have been shown the video. You really don’t want to know what the option was for a man had we captured one.” He refilled his mug and then topped hers off. “Different rules apply to different people and circumstances in our world. It’s not a pretty or tidy existence but it’s one we all chose to ensure those who think themselves above the law pay one way or another for their crimes. No matter what those crimes are.”
“As long as he will pay for the crimes that he’s committed I will be happy. Yes, I knew that he wasn’t a good man, but I didn’t know he was evil like that.” She took another sip of the freshened coffee and sighed. She once more began to think of the videos that she had been shown, of the children that had been horribly abused and killed. She hadn’t believed that her father was capable of such atrocities but the evidence was hard to turn away from. She had to turn from such somber topics such as making her father pay, and wanted to instead think of Tobias, this man whom had so easily captured her.
“So, Tobias,” She said his name for the first time and liked it. “What are we doing today?”
“The team is out keeping watch on the compound and checking to see if we can get into those tunnels or caverns you mentioned. If we can, then we’ll go in a couple of hours before dawn to see what else we can find out. We need to go about this carefully and in stages given we’ll be practically under their feet should the section you mentioned still be open. For the day though we, you and I that is, have nothing on the books. We have some movies, there’s cards, and I think a couple board games too to stave off complete boredom.”
“How about cards? I love playing cards and I’m pretty good. That way we can stay here in the kitchen and I don’t have to worry about seeing any of your crew other than you. I don’t want to get you in any more trouble than you are already likely in because of telling me about yourself.”
“We can do that. Did you want more coffee or something else to drink while we play?” He got up from the table and went to a drawer. Rifling through it he came back with a card deck he set before her. “We have pretty much anything you might want with only a couple limitations.”
“I would love to have some more coffee.” She took the cards that he offered to her and began to shuffle them. Once she had finished with that she looked to him. “What kind of cards do you want to play? Maybe some five-card draw?”
“Whatever you’d like to play. I’m relatively well versed in most card games given it was something we could carry with us during missions and didn’t take up much space.” He took the coffee pot back to the machine and got it started on making more. Sitting in the seat opposite her Tobias moved his mug to the side to clear the space between them.
She began to deal the cards. “Okay, five-card draw.” Which she was pretty good at so hopefully it would be something that they could play relatively easily. “Do you have anything that we can use to use to bid with?”
Nodding he got up again and went to look through the cupboards. He came back with a bag of pretzel sticks and jelly beans. Tobias passed her the jelly beans and kept the pretzels as he retook his seat. “Pretzels are quarters and the jelly beans are dollars. We’ll split the bags between us and no eating the pot, either. Several of my team have tried that tactic over the years so I’m wise to it.”
They started playing poker and then one thing turned into another and before they knew it she had stolen one of his jelly beans and then he pulled her into his lap and began to tickle her. Soon the tickles turned into kisses and before Gabbie knew it his hand was up her shirt and her hand was on his naked chest. She moaned while he teased her body. He played with her as if he had been strumming her body for years and years. God, she loved the way he touched her.
“Much better with you pliant and willing in my arms, Gabriella.” He told her and put his mouth on her neck, suckling lightly.
“Yeah I haven’t been the best of people to be around have I? Although I made it pretty easy for you to catch me when I walked out of my house huh?” She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access and shifted so that she could put a leg on each side of his thighs. She was riding him hard. She couldn’t help it. She loved the way that it felt to feel him getting harder and harder in his jeans while she rode against him.
“That was a rather lucky break,” he agreed. He lifted her shift and pressed a kiss to her belly, nipping at the skin with his teeth teasingly. “You shocked the hell out of us all. We had to scramble to come up with plan B when we found out you were waltzing out without any trouble and right under everyone’s noses. God dammit.” He grumbled. “Hang on a second,” he said when his phone rang. He dug out his cell and put it to his ear.
“Go,” he said. She couldn’t hear what was being said, and his expression didn’t change but she swore the tension level in the room went up drastically while he listened. Eventually he thanked the caller and hung up. Tobias didn’t say anything, just held her and rubbed his hands up and down her back.
“What happened? Because something happened right then, I could see it in how you clenched your jaw. Please, tell me?” It was weird but she could read him as well as if not better than her best friend. That and the fact that they weren’t getting back to the kissing and getting naked like she wanted to.
He sighed heavily and said, “Got word your father has placed a bounty on your head. Alive for the moment, and it is a condition of your return. It’s not a reward for your safe return though. He told Quan to issue it, and that if you weren’t brought back in forty-eight hours to make it double and dead or alive.” Tobias reached out to touch her hand lightly. “I’m sorry, Gabriella.”
She felt like she was going to be ill. She felt the tears falling from her eyes and stood on shaky legs. “Excuse me, please.” She raced toward the bathroom she had passed and barely made it before she began to throw up. She couldn’t believe that he had done this, that he had essentially killed her. Her own father. When she felt Tobias near she held up a hand and shook her head. “I should have realized he would have tied up any loose ends possible, I just never believed that he would do this to me.”
Tobias took the hand she’d thrown up and knelt at her side. Gathering up her hair he held it in one hand. “I never thought he’d do something like this, Gabriella. It was not something anyone could have predicted. It only shows he’s more paranoid than ever and definitely way beyond any form of stability we would consider normal.” Releasing her hand, he shifted around and a minute later handed her a glass of water to rinse her mouth.
“Thank you.” She took the glass and began to swish it in her mouth before spitting it out once again. She leaned her head on the now closed toilet seat and cried. She shrugged because she didn’t know what else to do in that moment. Her life was most effectively over. No matter what, she was a dead woman and all because she had wanted to see her friends here in Brazil and go dancing. Great choices she made in life, weren’t they? “I just don’t even know what to say or do about this.” She admitted to him.
Gently he moved her around until she was sitting in his lap. He’d sat down on the floor leaning on the small vanity and wrapped her in his arms. “There’s nothing to be done about it now. When we’ve completed the mission, we will have a better idea of how to get you safe, Gabriella. I can’t see it for the moment but I will do whatever it takes to give you a life without worry of who might pop out from the shadows. I know it’s not much, and I know it’s hardly a reassurance right now but know that if I’d foreseen what he’d had planned I would never have grabbed you off that road side. I may be willing to do just about anything to get the job done but even this greatly bothers me.”
“Thank you for that at least.” In the meantime, she knew that her life was literally slipping away. She was a dead woman walking and knew it. She was not going to live for too long once the man and his team left her wherever they were leaving her. She could only pray that they would put her somewhere where she could enjoy at least a few months of living.
He began to stroke her hair slowly while she curled up tighter in his lap. Tobias didn’t make any promises to her, which she appreciated. She knew he couldn’t because he had no idea how this would all end. What he had given her was a small sliver of hope, one she would hang onto with everything she had until it was torn from her grip. Gabbie didn’t know how long they sat there until he gave her a squeeze. “Why don’t you go brush your teeth and then try to have a nap? I’ll come lay with you so you hopefully don’t have any nightmares.”
“Thank you.” She told him and took a deep breath. “For all that you’ve done for me and all you will do. I think you’re right, clean teeth and then a nap would be ideal. I would like for you to nap with me, if you wouldn’t mind?” She knew that his friends likely thought he was nuts but right now she was thankful that he was there with her and for her.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded. Go tidy up and I’ll update the others. We’ll need to come up with a plan of attack to get your father, and all those who are looking to collect the bounty off your tail. It’ll take some serious coordinated effort but I’m sure we can figure it out. I’ll meet you upstairs in the room. There’s no one else up there currently so you don’t need to worry about running into everyone. Those who were up there sleeping headed out about twenty minutes ago and the ones they are taking over from won’t be back for a good hour.”
She nodded and moved away from him. She didn’t say anything, but then again, she didn’t need to say anything. He knew what she was feeling and for that she was thankful. She was glad that she didn’t have to face any forlorn platitudes or anything like that. She was grateful to simply have him there for her. “I will see you up there as soon as you are able.” She whispered and headed off.
After checking in with his team and getting their take on how to make Gabriella’s father think she was being taken from the country he headed upstairs. With her up there napping the others could eat and move around without watching out for her to trip over one of them. Collecting a couple of bottles of water Tobias headed upstairs. He hadn’t slept well the previous night, more concerned for her than with getting sleep and he was feeling it now. It would be nice to get in a couple of hours sleep.
Pushing through the door, he closed and locked it behind him. He could hear Gabriella in the bathroom, the water running still. Setting the water down he sat on the chair to remove his boots and socks. In a quick move, he got rid of his jeans to pull on the sweatpants he’d worn the previous night. While he much preferred to sleep naked he didn’t think she’d appreciate it all that much. He’d just pulled them up when he heard the door open.
He could tell that she was surprised that he was in the room when she walked out in nothing but a towel. He could see every single inch of her slightly damp legs and damn she looked good. “I.” She hesitated, god, he loved that hesitation. “I didn’t know what to put on so I was going to leave you a note to maybe give me a pair of shorts and shirt or maybe a long tee shirt and my panties if they are clean?”
“Your clothes are clean, but not dried. The dryer has much to be desired and takes a couple rounds to get stuff actually dry.” Turning he dug through his duffel and took her a t-shirt. “This should be long enough to cover everything necessary. You are rather pint sized, after all. I can see if one of my teammates has shorts but I don’t, at least not here.”
She smiled, “Only a giant like you would think I was pint sized. I am rather short, but then again, I typically always wear high heels to hide the fact as well, as for the rest, it’s okay, the shirt is fine. It covers everything so don’t worry about it okay?”
“You sure?” At her nod, he passed the shirt over to her. Then he got the rear view while she scampered back into the bathroom and out of sight to pull the shirt on. Blowing out a breath, he forced his mind off the tight little body the towel had done nearly nothing to hide and threw himself onto the bed on his back. Quickly he lifted a leg to hide the partial arousal he was sporting and draped an arm over his eyes. Tobias had a bad feeling he wouldn’t be getting much sleep, yet again. But if she did then he could live with that.
When she walked back out she was in his shirt and it literally went to her knees. Thank god, it gave him some relief from seeing all that skin. “Since you are on the bed you will need to get out so that I can get in first again. That way you are closest to the door and I’m against the wall.” He could tell by her words she slept better by the wall, especially when he recalled that she didn’t like heights, at all.
Rolling off the bed he moved to the side and let her crawl onto the bed. Once she was under the blankets Tobias laid back down next to her not at all surprised when she wiggled closer. Extending an arm, he wrapped it around her shoulders and held her in close. A second later he flipped off the lights to plunge the room into a murky darkness, the blinds not quite good enough to keep out all the daylight.
“Thank you for this. For holding me close and treating me as well as you are. Thank you for not thinking that I’m the devil incarnate.” She rubbed her cheek against his chest and then shifted so she could all but wrap her body around his. He didn’t know why she trusted him so much, it made no sense at all, but she did and he was going to repay her by killing her father.
“You are an innocent in all this, Gabriella. Don’t argue with me, I know what I’m talking about here. You had no idea the scope of your father’s enterprise. I truly believe that had you known you would have done something about it. For that reason, I’m going to do everything I can to keep you alive, and give you a shot at something beyond this nightmare we find ourselves locked into. Right now, you need to sleep whenever you can. When this finally comes to a boil we’ll be moving fast and there won’t be much time for anything but survival.” And her survival was becoming paramount to him. Tobias didn’t know why or when the need to protect her had really kicked in full strength only that it had. He would do whatever was necessary to end her father’s life, but not at the expense of hers.
“I hope that you are right and you are able to pull a magic trick out of your hat so that I can live. If you can’t, I get it.” He noticed she snuggled in closer to him however. How in the hell did this woman trust him so much? He didn’t understand what he had done to make her trust him but he wasn’t arguing it, at all. He liked it, truth be told.
Adjusting the blankets over her he turned toward her more. “Sleep,” he whispered against her temple. Her fingers clutched at his back before relaxing. “No one is getting to you while you are with me, Gabriella. Take the time to relax, rest, and we’ll figure the rest out when we have more information to go on.”
“But you won’t always be there.” Her fingers were stroking over his chest and causing him to go just a bit crazy. She was getting under his skin and he didn’t understand how or why. First, when they were in the kitchen and now lying in bed with her. He wanted to be inside of this woman, right now. He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath. When her pointer finger began to trace around his nipple he found himself shifting just a bit so she didn’t feel how she was affecting him.
Tobias caught her hand and pressed it flat to his chest, keeping his over top. “No, I won’t always be there, Gabriella. Doesn’t mean I won’t teach you what you need to know to survive. I put you in this situation by not realizing how far off the rails your father really is. I doubt anyone could have really figured that out without something this drastic being put into play. Now, we know and we’re going to do what needs to be done on all fronts.” What he didn’t say was he was actually thinking about how to keep her safe. And he wasn’t sure it was an idea she would want to hear or that he was ready to say aloud. But it was definitely one he was becoming a little too comfortable having it floating around in his head. He knew that she felt something for him too or they wouldn’t have had the make out session they had in the kitchen that had only stopped because of the phone call he had received.
“Sleep is something I should really do, isn’t it?” She yawned and that relaxed him. She was exhausted, he needed to leave her alone, that’s what he needed to focus on. She needed rest. When she rubbed her cheek to his chest and then he heard it, the show breathing that signaled that she was sleeping. Thank god, she was asleep or else he might have had to explain some very definite issues to her.
Letting her hand go he moved his hand to cup her head. He stroked her hair lightly letting it thread through his fingers. Tobias listened the smooth rhythm of her breathing, timing his strokes to her hair to keep in sync. She was getting under his skin and he didn’t know what to do about it.
Cherilyn had commented on it earlier, not when the others were around, thankfully. She was an observant woman though and knew something was off with him. And she was right. Gabriella was throwing him off his game, making him question nearly every decision he was making on this job because of how it might affect her. He knew she understood why they were there to kill her father but he also knew she would never forgive them for it. It left him in an uncomfortable position. Tobias’s conscience wouldn’t allow him to let the fucker live to hurt another family the way he had hurt so many before. But could he order the shot to kill the man whose daughter was starting to mean something to him? He was finding himself wrapped into a catch-22 situation. Damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t.
He thought the problem through from several angles while she slept in his arms, soothing her whenever she needed it but otherwise soaking in the sensation of her in his arms. By the time the sun began to set, three hours after they’d laid down, Tobias could only see one solution for his problem. And it really all depended on her.
He wasn’t an idiot who thought he could charm anything female on the planet to his way of thinking. Tobias had skills but that wasn’t one of them. If she stopped him in his tracks then he’d go back to the original plan to kill her father, get her prepped with a new ID and background, and ship her off to some place no one would think to look for her. But if she was on the same wavelength, then there really was only one course of action. Send in another team to make the kill with all the information his team had gathered to smooth their path.
“You’re thinking too hard.” She whispered to him in her sleep. He could tell she was still sleeping because her words were slurred and slow. “You are far too handsome to worry so much. It’s okay, Tobias. Just hold me and life is good.” A shiver from her had her moving in just a hair closer to him. “I love it when you hold me. I feel safe, I’ve never really felt safe but I do now. You are good to me and for me.” Another yawn to her sleepy sounding self. She was definitely still sound asleep and he found it cute that she was talking in her sleep as if holding a full conversation.
Tobias pulled the blanket up higher on her back. “I worry because it’s part of who I am. It’s ingrained in me. It’s likely why I’m the boss.” Pressing his cheek to hers he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I want to keep holding you for a long time to come,” he admitted. He knew she wouldn’t remember the conversation when she woke up which made it safe for him to tell her that much. It was huge for him to reveal even that of much of himself, but it felt right even with her still mostly asleep.
“I would like that a lot. I’ve never let anyone this close but I like you this close. I want to keep you.” Another yawn from her and a very quiet snore from her. “If only you would keep me.” She murmured with her sleep filled voice. This was an intriguing and very new thing for him, learning that she was a sleep talker. “I like you, Tobias, more than a lot. I shouldn’t but I do. I wish you would keep me.”
Oh, the information he could get out of her in this state. But he was going to play nice, and not take advantage no matter how much he was tempted. He did have one thing he had to ask, pure curiosity. “If I said I wanted to keep you, to take you home and have you forever in my arms and bed, what would you say to that?” The answer was oddly important to him. While he knew she may never talk about it when awake, at least he’d have this piece to carry with him wherever life took him next.
“Yes.” She whispered the one word quietly. “Ask me when I’m awake, please.” She added and then her breathing smoothed out once more, she began to snore just a little bit more as she did so. “I would be safe with you, only you. Always. Just don't hurt my heart, I think only you can.” She added with another yawn, he was smiling at her words.
“Not going to happen, if I can help it.” Now all he had to do was figure out how to avoid causing her emotional pain that would, in essence, hurt her heart. Giving her a squeeze he stayed quiet to let her drift back off to sleep. His mind spun with possibilities while he held her close. The sun had nearly set. Another day gone and her father was still breathing. This had to end, and soon, before the man came up with something else to further ruin her life. But he couldn’t make the call on anything until she was awake and conscious of what they were both saying. The minute she was though, he’d be getting answers. He only hoped they were the same ones she’d given him already.