Gabbie hesitated as she looked at the computer before her. She knew exactly what was ready and waiting. She had even seen the men dressed in head to toe black with even their faces covered so she knew they meant business. She wasn’t sure she could do it. All she had to do was hit enter and the transfers would start, the worm virus she had created would make it appear as if the IP address was popping all around the place which would give his team time to do what they needed.
“I have changed one thing.” She told him, and his men. “After you are certain they are all dead the money is going to be anonymously donated to a hundred children’s charities to help traumatized children. I have to do something to ease my own conscious.” She hoped that they understood, but she was still fighting everything inside of her to actually do this.
Tobias put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “That sounds like a good idea to me,” he said quietly. He turned to look at the others and gave them a nod. As one they turned for the door, picking up duffel bags as they went. When they were alone he crouched down at her side and looked up at her. “I know this has to be hard for you, harder than I can even imagine, but are you still sure you want to do this? None of us would blame you if you changed your mind.”
“I don’t want to do this but I also know I have to. If I don’t do this and help you and your team it will never stop, will it? It will only get worse. No matter what, if he’s not stopped now he will never be stopped and I can’t live with that on my conscious. I just pray that this will take out all of them, or at least enough of them that it will take them years to rebuild.”
Cupping her cheek, he drew her in enough their foreheads pressed together. “We will ensure that this empire he built is crippled badly. There will be no option to consider retribution on their end because they are too frantic to rebuild to hold off others circling when the news hits. I never make promises Gabriella, but in this case, I will. I swear to you that we will ensure you are able to walk down any street in any city and never need to look over your shoulder again. True freedom.”
“I trust you.” She whispered and looked down at him. “Okay, let’s do this. Do you need me to wait a bit longer or am I okay to start now? If I am I will go ahead and get this show on the road.” Her finger nervously hesitated over the enter button on the laptop.
“We’re as ready as we’re going to get. The others are already heading into position to keep watch on who arrives. Once we know they are all in, or at least the majority, then we’ll activate the bombs. At that point, there is no turning back.” Lifting his chin, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Press the button, Gabriella.”
She nodded and did just that. She pressed the button to start the dominos falling where they would. She took a nervous breath as she watched the money coming out of her father’s accounts and transfer to his upper echelon. “Now we wait. Right?’
“Yup,” he said. Sliding his arm around her waist he lifted her from the chair, took the seat and settled her into his lap. “Breathe, Gabriella. It’s out of your hands now. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop what is coming so try not to focus on it.”
She nodded and shifted slightly so she could sit sideways in his lap. Laying her head on his shoulder she closed her eyes and simply tried to force herself to relax. “I really hope your team is very good at what they do. Not let any of those assholes go.” She muttered.
“We are quite good at our jobs, and we’ll ensure everyone is in place. Except for whomever shows up last. He’ll be the reason they all get overly suspicious and start to hatch a plan involving revenge. We’re going to stop the last one in, using him as our fall guy. Something we cooked up yesterday while talking about it. We thought that if they all showed up then there would be arguing, some threats, and a bunch of posturing. But if we happened to catch the last attendee they would all automatically assume he was the culprit, throw blame on him for various other things, and start to plan his demise, gaining us possibly more time. It’s our hope anyway.”
“That’s rather brilliant of you. Smart, smart man.” She praised him. “I’m glad that you were thinking of what to do and how to do it. How to ensure that someone was taking the fall in a way other than just the computer trail. Very smart move on your part.”
“Thought it would help nudge him further over the edge. We need him to keep everyone there long enough to figure out what’s going on. When the last individual doesn’t show, he should, in theory, go into lockdown to plan how to take the guy out of the equation. Once we have the individual I’ll want you to syphon the money from the other accounts through his into the fake account. It’ll look like proof positive to the others, especially if they are all in the room when the transfers occur.”
“Perfect. You just let me know when and where and I will do it.” It was just a keystroke and she could do that. “They will, I’m assuming, know when we should put everything in play? It’s going to be a chess play of time that we have to be ahead on. We have this, right?”
“We’ve got it,” he said. Hugging her closer he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “The team will be in place on rotation the entire time. We have the head count on how many individuals will be arriving at this thing so they will know the moment to grab the last man coming. Hell, maybe we’ll get lucky and one just won’t show up. That would be convenient and save some time. Either way, once enough time has passed they’ll arm everything, you’ll move the money one last time for them to see and then they blow the place. They will remain in position to ensure only non-combatants leave the compound, anyone on the security team or armed will be taken care of. When I get the all clear from them you can then send the money to wherever you’d like.”
“That sounds like a good plan. Your guys will make sure that everyone is taken care of I’m assuming, right?” She asked him and when he nodded she smiled. “Good, we will do what we need to so that we can give that money to those that need it.”
“For now, we have nothing but time,” he said. Tobias rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I think we should set something up food wise for whenever this is done. The team will be hungry and will need to eat and hydrate. We can leave it all in the fridge for when the call comes in they are inbound and then start it. Want to help so you’re not bored silly or worrying?”
“I would like that. Do you have the makings for a lasagna? If so then we can make that. If any of the team are vegetarians I have a great vegan recipe that we could use as well. But again, I don’t know what you have and don’t have here.”
“We’re all carnivores,” he said softly. “Lasagna’s a good idea actually. We can do all the prep and leave it in the fridge until they are coming back. Pop it in the oven and have it hot when they arrive. I like how you think, sweetheart. We should have everything here.”
“Sounds like a plan. How could you do that?” She asked. “Bringing in all that stuff and food without anyone knowing? You had to have brought in a lot of crates and so on to have stuff here to make lasagna and coffee. Amazing, you are amazing.”
“Hardly, but I will admit we are sneaky. That and we brought everything in during the wee hours of the morning when everyone is either asleep or dreaming about being asleep. Around that four mark, is when even the most dedicated doesn’t care any longer, they just want to go home and crawl into bed. We also prefer to have comfort items when we’re somewhere for any length of time. We’d got our latest drop the day before we snatched you up. If we get all this done we can cancel the next one since we’ll all be heading home.”
“I’m very hopeful that you will be able to do just that. Get home. I still don’t know how you will get me out of the country without a passport but I trust you, Tobias and if you say that you can, I know you can. I hate the whole why we will be able to go, but I get it. I really do.” She said softly.
“I always have ways to do things. We just won’t discuss the slightly shady nature surrounding it. It’ll be all under the radar and very hush-hush.” He pressed a finger to his lips and then looked around the room. “But as far as anyone here in power will know you are still in the country. Anyone your father spoke to will assume you’re still under federal protection, and no one will be looking because they will be too busy dealing with the fallout. In a couple of weeks, you’ll fly out from here, land in the US and proceed to disappear. At least on paper.”
“I hope that you are right. You have me, so whatever you tell me to do I will do it.” She said simply. “I can move with the best of them and I’m not afraid of running should I need to.”
“No need to worry about anything like that for now. At this time, we are going to get dinner prepped, make ourselves lunch, and then listen in on what the team is doing while we wait for things to happen.” He urged her up to her feet. Following her, he went to the fridge to dig out everything they’d need to make the lasagna.
“It may still look like it could die at any second, but we did repairs on the majority of the appliances when we got here to keep them running fine. It won’t have any problems. A bit of rewiring, some new elements and it does better than it likely did back when it was new.” He looked at everything he’d dug out and then to her. “Anything I’m missing, let me know. I haven’t done a lasagna in years and the last time I was being instructed by one hell of a drill instructor, my mother.”
“I think you have it all.” Gabby appeared a little shocked by how much they did have.
“You have obviously never eaten an MRE,” he said. Making a face, he shook his head violently. Then he moved to a bag by the door. Coming back to her, he handed over a silver packet. “That is an MRE. Give it a go and you’ll see what I mean. It’s beef stew in case you wanted to know what it’s supposed to taste like.”
“Oh, dear god, seriously? Okay, so I can see why you guys are all about stocking up and I’m good with that. I’m glad that you guys thought ahead like you did, it gives me some serious hope that we will have good food for whatever time might be remaining here for us.”
“Won’t be much time if everything goes as planned. The instant we’re sure all the targets are neutralized we’re on a plane out. We only need to give the pilots a two-hour warning and then we’ll be wheels up. Whatever is left here I’ll arrange with a local contact to donate to a shelter, I’m sure they can put it all to good use.”
“I’m sure. With everything that’s happening around here I’m sure that they would be able to use anything you could give them. Two hours, really? Wow, that’s impressive.” That meant that he had to either have a plane ready and waiting at the airfield she flew in on or else they had one that was making wide circuits around the city.
“Yup, two hours. Give or take a couple of minutes. We’ve got a plane sitting just over the border that is fueled and checked every twelve hours for readiness. The moment we call the pilots are in, up in the air, land here, and pick us up. It’s our end that’ll take a bit of time. We have to ensure this place is scrubbed down to keep our identities secret, and that we take every single piece of equipment we came in with or acquired while here. Nothing can be left behind to potentially be used against us or anyone else later. That’s a little tedious but pretty much old hat for us at this point.”
“This is very true. Wouldn’t it prove to be more prudent to just burn the place to the ground? It is abandoned and it’s not like anyone else is wanting this place. Heavens, if anything this place is honestly about to fall to the ground.” It sounded right to her, but what did she know? Nothing.
“We could burn it, but we’d have to remain behind to keep an eye on it. We don’t want to be the reason the country ends up on fire. One stray spark is all it takes. Don’t worry, we have ways to speed things up on the cleaning front,” he said. Looking at everything he rubbed his hands together. “What do you need me to do?”
“There is a natural break that we would be able to use to keep the fire from hitting the jungles. The people who lived here before were serious freaks about the jungle. They built up lots of stone fences as well as trenches. I think that they thought that zombies or something silly like that would come out and get them.”
“Seriously? Zombies? Oh, good lord,” he muttered. “I’ll consider it. But the fact we can’t stay to watch it burn is my biggest concern. One gust of wind could push a single spark that could destroy a lot of trees. I don’t want that on my conscience, sweetheart. I have enough weighing me down not to add causing a forest fire to my list.”
“You have to remember most of the people in this region fully believed that their loved ones would and could come back from the dead. However, I fully understand your reasoning and I’m good with doing it your way. You just tell me what to do when it’s that time and I will do it. Okay?”
“Good to know.” Tobias rubbed his hands together and looked at her squarely again. “Now, for a second time, what do you need help with for this lasagna? We should likely get it ready before the op goes down, after all. Be nice to eat a hot meal before we all need to bug out.”
“Oh, this is fine. I will start to assemble it as soon as the pasta is finished cooking.” She promised him. “However, if you want to put together a salad for the side I wouldn’t mind that either, but it’s up to you. You know your crew and what they will and won’t eat.”
“I will get right on that. Do you have any ideas what you’d like to do after dinner?” Tobias asked as he pulled the salad ingredient out.
“Okay then, since we know that you can clean the floor with me in cards, what do you want to do now? I know we have to stay inside but I really don’t want another movie because I don’t want to go to sleep, so what should we do?”
“Well, the only other option is to work out. We only have movies, cards, or some random shit we cobbled together to give us workout equipment. Those are the options unless you want to go have a nap without bothering with the movie first.”
The look he gave her had her wondering what was going through his head. “Well, what I want to do to pass the time is off the table until we return to the real world. Which means we’d better stick to something safe like cards. We’ll play go-fish or something instead of an overly competitive card game.”
“Sounds good.” She fanned herself. “How many days in the real world? How many days are you going to make me stay from you?” She wanted to know. “I just need to know how long I have because I will be counting down every single moment in time that I have away from you.”
“A week at least. And you’ll be on a cruise with some guy or ten trying to make a move on you I’m sure.” He didn’t look happy with that thought. “You could get off the boat and not want anything to do with me, Gabriella. When all this finally fades, and reality kicks back in you could decide you’re better off. Which is why the full seven days.”
She reached out impulsively and placed her hand on his cheek. Her thumb stroked over his lips and she smile a sad smile. “And you could have that seven days and realize that I’m not what you want. I don’t want another man. I’ve met any number of them and none of them kick me in the stomach with a sense of rightness like you do.”
“Ditto,” he muttered stepping in closer. His hands landed on her hips and squeezed. “I fully plan on obsessing the entire time you are gone. You should be glad that my access to spy satellites has been greatly reduced since I left the military. Not saying I couldn’t get my hands on one, but it would take me a lot longer to manage these days.”
She stepped in closer to him as well and moved her hands so that they were wrapped around his neck and she did something she had been waiting for all morning. She pulled him down and lifted on her toes to meet the kiss halfway. She moaned into his mouth. No words, just the truth of her body to his. She simply needed him to know how she felt and had to know if he felt the rightness of how their bodies fit together as well.
The low growl that Tobias let loose poured through her. His hands moved to her ass and grabbed hold, lifting her up tighter to his body. Opening his mouth, he teased hers to do the same and then took the kiss to a level she couldn’t have imagined. He didn’t rush but he didn’t go easy on her either.
She lifted her legs and trusted him to keep hold of her. She wrapped her legs around him and clung to him while they kissed. She rubbed against him as best she could because she needed him to know that this was truth for her, this was her missing piece. Him. Only him and she knew it to the depths of her soul.
Tobias lifted her higher, giving her a better angle to kiss him, and to hook her legs around his waist. She felt like they were moving. Her back hitting a wall proved she’d been right. But it didn’t matter, all that did was kissing him some more. She was starving for him and if his response was anything to go by, he was just as hungry for her.
She was slightly above him and looking down at him. She pulled back and licked her lips. “God, I love the way that you kiss me. More.” She didn’t wait for him to say yes or not, instead she started to kiss him again and using the wall at her back rubbed her body against him as best she could.
One large hand slid up her side to cover and squeeze her breast. He nibbled on her lips before taking her mouth in another deep kiss that sent need pumping through her. A tweak to her nipple made Gabbie jolt, rubbing her covered clit against the hard ridge of his cock.
She knew she had gooseflesh covering her body and she liked it, loved the feeling of it. She was rubbing hard against him as she devoured his mouth with hers. Her nails were scraping against his head and neck. She wanted more, she needed to have more. When he growled, it was seriously the sexiest sound she had ever heard in her entire life. It made her only want more from him.
He sucked on her lower lip before drawing his head back to stare at her. She tried to pull him back but his attention had shifted with a frown tugging his brows down. That’s when she heard a buzzing noise, much like the annoyance of a mosquito. “Shit, that’s the radio. I need to get that,” he said softly. Tobias didn’t put her down though. Instead he carried her to where an earpiece rested on the table. He settled down on a chair and stuck it into place while she adjusted herself for comfort.
“Go,” he said into the mic piece. After listening a few seconds, he pulled his laptop closer and flipped up the lid. He hit a few keys and she found herself looking at a view of her father’s compound bathed in green light. “Yeah, I’m looking now. What exactly am I looking at or for? Okay, yup. I see it. We’ll keep an eye on it from this end.”
She had been rubbing against him when he set them onto the chair. She was leaning in and running kisses along the side of his neck and nipped the ear that he didn’t put the ear thing in. When her father’s compound came into view she frowned and hesitated. She pointed to the screen and said, “That’s new. It wasn’t there when I got home a few days ago.” It was a large column that had looked as if it had been added to the front of the patio and looked completely odd to her now.
“It wasn’t there yesterday either. We don’t know what its purpose is. They’re pulling the video feed for the compound to see when it was brought in, installed, and hopefully to get some more information on it. We run the cameras constantly for something like this when we’re working our regular team without any additional support since we can’t always be there. Unfortunately, because of the tech your father and Quan have in place within the compound we couldn’t risk doing a live feed and having them pick up the transmissions. Which means they’ll dump it in our shared cloud drive and then you and I can review it while they check for other problems.”
She nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I keep feeling like I’ve seen that before.” She told him with a frown. ‘I’m trying to figure this out because I know I’ve seen it before.” She whispered and felt both of their bodies cooling. Talk about damn the bell for interrupting them. “Wait. I know what it is.” She pulled back from him. “I remember it now. I was eight. Daddy brought one in and it’s got a stone on one side that you push in and it has automatic guns and I think even one of those things that sends off bombs. I can’t remember what it’s called, I’m sorry.”
“A stone on one side,” he repeated quietly. “Shit, that isn’t good. It’s basically a security trap. You can get them customized however you want, depending on what use you have for it. If he’s got it pointing the right way he could mow down everyone that’s showing up. Or use it as a deterrent for them leaving. Why do they always take it to the next level?” Gabbie knew the question wasn’t for her and she listened while he relayed the information she’d given him to the team.
“It’s the only opal stone. It was momma’s birthstone.” She told him quietly. “He brought it when I was eight to my birthday party. There was an issue of someone threatening me and he had that installed. Nothing came of it and that makes me happy but I knew what it was because he was talking to the head of my security as well. Yes, I had a man who was tasked with being the head of my security. I didn’t understand it at all but now I do.”
“One thing I have to give him credit for, he at least ensured you were always safe. The second good thing he’s done in life,” he said. Tobias hit a few keys on the computer and the view of the front doorway was crisper. Leaning in he was squinting at the screen. “Looks like the panels are on the outside. Either he’s expecting trouble or plans to terminate his crew. Might be a backup plan if things don’t go well. Which means he found out about the transfers a lot sooner than we thought if he brought this in. No other reason for it. And if he found about the transfers that quickly… Did you ensure to cover your tracks?”
“Yes, I did. I hijacked a CIA hub which in turn hijacked a Russian hub and so on. Once I had the official hubs I then went in and started to get in on hacker channels and going back door through a bunch of companies so that no one could find me. He doesn’t know I can do this, never did. Most of my life he would pat me on the top of the head and tell me I was a good girl. It was irritating as hell.”
Tobias turned to look at her, his lips twitching. “I’ll keep that in mind, no head patting.” Gabbie knew he was teasing her on the subject and found she didn’t mind when it was him. “I’m glad you thought to cover your tracks. Given how quickly he discovered the hack though I’m betting he had alerts set on the accounts with someone specifically tasked to monitor them. The longer that money sits where his guys can’t retrieve it, the more frantic he’ll get. Can they retrieve the money?”
“Not a chance in hell.” She said with a laugh. “Unless he had me, and he doesn’t, so nope. He can’t get it. It’s hidden, and I mean hidden deeply, in the other people’s accounts. They won’t see it yet either.”
“No, that’s great. The harder it is for him to get to the longer we have. He’s going to know where it went but if he can’t access it then he needs to keep them alive. At least long enough for us to capture one and blow the others up.”
“That’s my hope.” She told him honestly and sighed. “But your men will be blowing the floor from under them so that’s a good thing, right? Hopefully the explosives and the floor falling in around them will get rid of most of them?’’ God, she hated that thought, but it was what it was.
“It will. The percussion wave from the blasts will do most of the work, the collapsing floors and walls will do the rest. The team will do a sweep if possible to be sure the main players are out of it, but if not, they’ll lob in a few RPG’s and grenades to do even more damage to everything. Once the civilians are safe.”
“I don’t think that there are many civilian’s in dad’s employee. Even the maids were fighters and could take out men twice their side. They were totally badass and taught me a few things, not as much as I wanted though.” She grumbled.
He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “I’ll teach you whatever you need or want, Gabriella. Or there is a woman on the team who could teach you. She’s about the right size to teach you things for those vertically challenged. I will warn you though she’s a serious smartass.”
“I like her already then.” Gabbie said with a laugh. “And being vertically challenged isn’t a bad thing, you know. Honestly, I think that I’m the perfect size and if you don’t then you need to rethink. You know that you like how compact that I am.”
“I definitely like how you are built. The absolute perfect size for me to nibble on,” he said. Leaning in he gave her a hard kiss before drawing back. “You are just right for me to manhandle in every way I can imagine, and then a few more that I’m sure I’ll come up with in the days and years to come.”
“So, can we please get back to the kissing and the rubbing and everything we were just doing? It felt so good to feel how hard you are and to know just how perfect it feels to have you touching me like you did. Please?” She begged.
Tobias let out a groan that had her curling her toes from the need she heard in it. “Woman, you are trying to kill me. We need to behave ourselves here. We have a job to do and while getting you naked is super high priority, if we’re interrupted I’ll have to kill them all. Which means finding a new team and I just, mostly, got them all house trained.”
“Damn.” She muttered and pulled back. “Then one of us should likely go and take a cold shower, alone.” She wasn’t sure if it should be her or him. “Are you sure that you are going to make me wait seven full days?’ She added.
For a long couple of minutes, she wasn’t sure he was going to answer her. Then his arm tightened and he drew her in closer to him. She could feel the steady, if quick, beating of his heart against her breast she was that tight. “I’m beginning to think that making either of us wait for seven days is dumb. That I’d be a fool, and it’s nothing more than torture.” Tobias blew out a slow breath. “I don’t even want to let you out of my sight for seven fucking minutes, woman.”
“I don’t want to either. It just feels so right. You feel it too, right? The connection. The second you started to kiss me I felt it. I felt as if we were created for each other and we had finally found the other half of our souls. I know just how silly that sounds, but there it is.”
“I’ve felt it since the first day you glared at me. But that wasn’t exactly the time to put the moves on you. Especially since you were pretty much trying to figure out how to put my balls into my throat at the time. Hardly romantic in my opinion.”
“This is very true. I tried, god I tried but then you were real with me and not the badass who took me. You were honest with me and showed me just the monster that my father was. That’s when I knew it, when you touched me and held me. When you let me lose my shit even though you didn’t even know me. You are impressive, very much so.”
He barked out a harsh laugh. “Hardly. You are the impressive one. The fact you are handling all this with as much composure as you’ve shown, shocking to me. Most people, men and women, who haven’t had any training tend to have some bravado for a time but eventually they break down. Then you find out who’s underneath. But you, even with your tears, are still strong and determined to see things righted that have been wronged.”
She shrugged and with a sad smile said, “Believe it or not, that was taught to me by my father. Before I went to high school and college abroad. I think that when I was gone he got lost and by being lost he turned into a power-hungry monster. I can’t help but to feel slightly responsible about this, but then I realize that no, it’s all on him because he’s a grown assed man. Right?”
“Right,” he said. “But it doesn’t stop you from feeling guilty on some level, does it? He’s your father and your mind won’t let the ‘what ifs’ go. It keeps going round and round with every possibility there is. Yet no matter how you look at the problem you have to realize that he started this long before you were born. That while he may have tapered off while you were living in the house he never truly stopped. And once you were out it was like the flag before the bull to put everything back into high gear right in his own backyard once more.”
“This is very true. I think when mom died he pretty much lost the only hint of humanity that he had left. I think he played it up for me, he tried for me and I get that. He hasn’t been the same for a long time now. Yes, he’s my father and I’ve given you the keys to kill him but I think that it will be a relief to him. That’s how I’m choosing to think of it.”
“I wish I had the words to make this easier for you. I can’t lie Gabriella, when this goes down you are going to feel it. The finality I mean. Right now, it’s useless sitting around talking about what’s going to happen. But when it finally happens and that reality kicks in, know that I’m here for you, or if you need time I’ll step away. We don’t know how this will affect you, not yet anyway.”
“I know. I already feel it.” She admitted to him. “I know how odd that sounds but it’s true, I feel it and it hurts. I can’t lie about that but I also can’t lie about how I’m feeling about you right now. I feel far better having you touching me then I would if you weren’t here. If there was anyone else I know I wouldn’t have done anything to help them, I know that I wouldn’t. I helped you because I feel our connection and know it’s right.”
“I sure as hell hope you feel the same in a few hours.” Gently he pulled her into a hug, both his arms wrapped around her and holding her tight. His cheek rubbed against hers as he pressed a kiss against her neck. “This, what’s between us, I don’t want to lose.”
“I don’t either.” She told him honestly. She hugged him as well and closed her eyes. “I don’t think that we are going to lose it. I really don’t. We both want it far too much for it to not work out. I know that we will be okay. It’s just going to be time and talking.” She just prayed to god that he still felt that way when the job was over as well.
“Probably should mention at this juncture that talking isn’t actually one of my best qualities,” he muttered. Tobias leaned back to look at her, his hands coming to rest on her hips. “I’ve had more conversations with you than any other living soul out there. Rather impressive when you think that you’ve managed that feat.”
“It’s okay, I can go for days without saying a word.” She admitted to him. “But when I’m ready to talk I will make you talk to me.” Although she had a feeling that he would talk to her without worry. “I have a feeling that I don’t have to worry about it, however.”
“No, I don’t believe you will need to worry about it. Around you I seem to have a greater issue of shutting up than speaking. This could end up being a rather interesting endeavor,” he said. Cupping her cheek, he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Personally, I can’t wait to see where we end up without all this insanity around us.”
“I agree. So, how about that seven days that you wanted for me to take you come with me on the cruise? What better protection than having you with me?” It sounded very good to her, actually. “We can even have separate rooms if you insist or a suite perhaps? That way we aren’t sleeping together, darnit all.” Oh, she wanted to sleep with him. She wanted to do a hell of a lot more than sleep with him.
“If we are on the same boat Gabriella, we are damn well sleeping together. Not that there will be a lot of sleep occurring. We also won’t be seeing a lot of anything they show on the cruise since I really don’t plan to let you out of the room at any point if I can avoid it. Still want me to go with you on this thing?”
“Holy crapballs, you so have me there.” She told him simply. “I’m more than happy to miss everything except the breeze coming off the seas and onto our suite. I want that with you, only if they do room service as well because I think that we could both keep each other company and not have to leave the room once in the seven days.”
“Pretty sure they do room service, sweetheart. It’s something we can check into before we book anything. We may determine a hotel suite with a view, or a secluded island getaway suits us better. We still have to finish up here, get you into the states, and then close out things at that end. It’ll be a week minimum before I can get away anywhere. And all that’s dependent on nothing having gone to hell back home.”
“Good point. That and you have to convince your people that I’m not taking advantage of you. You know,” She hesitated and then chewed her lower lip. “Perhaps you should take those seven days from me so that you can convince them that I haven’t cast a spell on you or whatever.”
“Is that what you’ve done? Cast a spell upon me? They wouldn’t buy that for an instant. Well, the majority anyway. I don’t think I can let you out of my sight for seven days. Honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking to suggest it in the first place. Seven days would drive me around the bend.”
“I don’t think that I could let you out of my sight for that long either. And no, I didn’t cast a spell on you, I simply showed you who I am and you let me see who you were and we both seemed to fit. It’s like we found our missing halves inside of each other. But you have to figure that they will question what’s happening between us.”
“Oh, I’m sure they might have questions, and I definitely know that they will have some remarks that likely border on the obscene. Don’t take any offense, in fact if you can give as good as you receive then you will fit right in. Sarcasm is pretty much our main mode of conversation. It can get rather deep in the snark when we’re all together,” he said. A clear warning, she understood.
“I will keep that in mind. I doubt that I will have to worry about it for a while, however. I seriously doubt that I will meet your team anytime soon.” Which was the truth. She didn’t think that he would introduce her to his team until they were well and truly done with the mission.
“You’ll have the pleasure, or the misfortune depending on how you’re looking at it, to meet them all on the flight home. Once we’re off the ground they won’t need to conceal their identities any longer. Mainly because anyone that might come after us should be in the rubble, and you’re now part of the gang.” Tobias pulled out a jug, gave it a sniff, and then poured two glasses, passing one to her. “Lemonade,” he said when she held it at arm’s length.
“Yes, please.” She told him when he offered the lemonade. “I’m glad that I’m on the inside and not going to be buried in the rubble with everyone else.” She simply hoped that she would be able to gain their confidence, as well as his. She wanted to be a part of his life and that meant getting along with his team.
Putting the jug away he moved closer to her, and set a hand on her back. “It will be fine,” he said softly. “They will adore you. While they may not show it immediately there’s no way they could resist being enchanted by you. You don’t hide behind the facade many people do.”
“Why hide when being the real person that you are is the only way to do things? It’s much harder to try to hide behind a facade instead of simply being the person that you are. So, I am just me, period. Either people will like me or they won’t.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “Finish up and stick the lasagna in the fridge. I’ll start the cleanup and then we can figure out what the hell we want to do for the rest of the day. Which means you also have to come up with something for us to do that allows us to pay attention to the team.”
“Well, hell, and here I was hoping that we would be able to spend time naked.” She tried to pout but couldn’t pull it off. “We will play some more cards. I’m pretty good at go fish so maybe we will play that instead of poker since I obviously am not so good with that part.”
“I’ve had a few more years’ worth of practice than you, sweetheart. Don’t worry, I will teach you everything I know and then set you loose on the unsuspecting. I have the feeling you might just be able to pull off a wide-eyed beginner’s luck spiel for a couple rounds. By that point, they’ll be suspicious and you can swoop in for the kill. They won’t play for money with me anymore. Don’t really understand why either. It’s not like they don’t all have a long lifetime to pay up on their debts owed.”
She snorted and shook her head. “They won’t play you for money anymore because to be perfectly honest, you are scary good. I’ve never seen anyone who could count cards as well as you can.” And she had to think that was what he did, that he was counting cards.
Tobias smiled at her and shrugged, but didn’t dish on how he did it. “I’ll get the water started for all the various dishes. Shouldn’t take us long to tidy up and that’ll give us the balance of the afternoon to ourselves. Depending, naturally, on how fast your father can round everyone up.”
“It won’t take long. Once he calls them they typically all are there as fast as they can get either via car or plane. Trust me, he doesn’t play around when he calls in his men for meetings and I’m sure that he’s put even more pressure on them to hurry since money is missing.”
“Yeah, but he’s a smart man which means he wouldn’t share that detail with them. Or at least not where the money is missing from and the like. Some do have farther to travel in, and given he doesn’t permit air traffic of any sort near or over the compound that means they all have to travel via roads. Even if they all started immediately after the call went out there’s still a three-hour delay in a couple cases. And the team hasn’t reported anything in the way of the closest one showing up yet, which he should have if your father put out the call promptly. I really wish we had ears in that damn compound, it would make this all much easier. There’s a lot of variables that have to fall perfectly into place for this to work.”
“Oh god, why didn’t I think of that?” She whispered and sat up. “Pull up the diagram of the estate again, please.” She whispered and began to pace. “Daddy had Bluetooth speakers put in all around the house. They not only will play but listen in. He’s always been super paranoid about what his people say about him. You should be able to piggyback on that signal if you are able to catch it.”
“Do you know the make and model?” he asked. Tobias was already easing into the chair set before his laptop when he asked her. “Because depending on what he has we might, and that’s a very slim might, be able to get something. This is a long shot but here’s hoping.”
She told him what the make and model was and watched the slow smile crossover Tobias’s face. “I take it that is a good thing that he had that model put in?” She asked and took the seat at his side. “I really hope that it helps.”
“It’s a top of the line model,” he said. Leaning in he chewed on his lip while his eyes darted back and forth obviously reading something. After a couple of minutes, he spun to grab a roll of blueprints and he gave them a once over. “Shit, it’ll be damn close but I think we can do it. Given the size of the compound there’s roughly twenty feet outside the perimeter wall in two places based on the house location where we can pick up the signal. We’ll need to plant something near the wall in one of the zones to boost the signal out to a receiver that we can then listen in on. Best place will be, surprise-surprise, pretty much where you left the compound from. Only issue we might have is the team may not have the equipment on them to do this.”
“Darn. I’m sorry. I was trying to help you.” She told him and reached out to run her hand over the back of his neck. “I guess that we just go off what we can see, instead?” She had done all she could to help them.
“You are helping, don’t think anything less. I’ll check in with the team and see what they have with them for gear. Even if they don’t have the exact parts we need we might be able to fashion something that will work basically the same.” He slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her onto his lap, pressing a kiss to her cheek once she landed on his thigh.
“I just hope that you are right. I really want to be free from this life. I never realized until you showed me just what a monster that he was, and just how horrible I was for staying with it.” She whispered as she leaned against him. “I’m a terrible person and I know that I have to live with myself and all that I let slide by. Thank you for saving me from myself.”
“You are not a terrible person, Gabriella. The human mind is designed to deal with things in a quite predictable manner. We are naturally creatures who were created to survive in any conditions by adapting to them. You merely adapted to your situation by turning a blind eye to things you were uncomfortable or scared to think about too long. I’m not judging you, just stating facts. You did what was necessary to survive in the conditions surrounding you.” Tobias hugged her closer, tucking her head under his chin. “Never beat yourself up for doing what you had to do to get to where you are now.”
“I hope that you are right.” She had a feeling she was going to need therapy. She knew how stupid that sounded in her own mind and how silly she felt because of being the poor little rich girl, but she still was sure that she would need something eventually to help her adjust to living life, period. “I am happy that I’m going to have you in my life, very happy. I think we are going to have a good time.”
“An extremely good time if I have anything to say about it. And since I do, you can bet on it.” Leaning back, he cupped her cheek in one hand, and rubbed his thumb to her lip. “Get everything tucked away,” he said before giving her a gentle kiss. Then he stepped away and went back to the sink to start washing up the odds and sods they’d used during their prep.
Once they had finished cleaning their dishes up and the kitchen was back to rights she nodded. “Okay, well I think we have everything cleaned up. Do you want to bring the laptop with us so you can keep an eye on your team?” She had no idea where they would go but she knew he was nervous about his team right now.
He gave her the crooked smile she found she liked. It made her insides do flips and flops each time she saw it. Drying his hands, he collected the laptop, his earpiece, and then held out a hand to her. “Let’s go upstairs where we can both stretch out in comfort while we wait for things to play out. I sent off the information about his Bluetooth system so here’s hoping they actually have what they need to make it work.”
“Here is hoping that they will have what is needed as well. Are you certain that us going upstairs and getting in bed will be a good idea? Personally, I think it will be an awesome idea to get onto a bed with you but that’s just me.”
“It’s the perfect idea. We can get comfortable, close, watch a movie and I can put the team on an alert, so that if anything pops up I know immediately. There’s still a few hours before the big stuff will go down, and while that couch isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever slept or sat on it’s definitely not as comfortable as it was when we first got here. We’ll be staying dressed,” he added.
“This would be good. I know that I always get chilled easily. I just blame the fact on my heritage via mom’s family. She was an English lady, did you know that? Daddy came in and swept her off her feet. I’m all that’s left of her family line. That kind of sucks, don’t you think?”
Letting her go through into the bedroom first he followed shutting the door behind them. “It does at that, but who knows what the future holds.” After setting everything down on the bed he climbed up and went to work on the laptop before finally turning it to her to choose the movie they’d be watching. At least until they both fell asleep.
She moved so that she could cover her body with the blanket and nestled in close to him. “This is so nice. Just having you this close to me and having you hold me. I like it.” At least he didn’t have to worry about what she was thinking because she blurted out the most random of thoughts. Damn she really needed to get a grip on that because she was sure he wouldn’t want his friends to know her every little thought as well.
Tobias adjusted the blanket to cover her neck and then cuddled her in closer. Once she’d made her pick, not like it really mattered, he got it playing. Gabbie noticed he put his earpiece into the shirt pocket, likely to ensure he could hear it if it gave off one of its beeps.
Gabbie’s hand was on Tobias’s chest and she stroked his chest lightly as she did so. “I love this. Just being here having you holding onto me.” She knew how soon it was for a relationship between them however to be honest she knew that’s what they were working toward. They were working toward a very intimate and long-lasting relationship and she liked it. A lot. She had a feeling that this man was who and what she had been missing all her life.
She felt the press of his lips against her hair. “I rather like having you in my arms. I don’t even care if I need to make up some lame ass excuse to achieve it either. Having you close makes everything better, which in the world we live in is a damn amazing thing to find.”
“I agree. Having you holding me is the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.” She admitted to him. “It makes life feel so much better, being able to have you hold me. Makes me forget who I am and makes me feel as if I’m only a woman in bed with a man. I like that. A lot. I like just being able to be Gabbie Moreno with you.”
“When we’re together the rest doesn’t matter. At least not in these little peaceful moments. Yes, they don’t last long which is why we should cherish them while we have them. I wouldn’t give up a single one for anything in the world, Gabriella.”
“Thank you for that. I feel the same way.” Having him knowing her for her was perfect. “I don’t even know what your life is like when you aren’t in the field, so to speak. Tell me a little about the life we will lead, please?”
“Compared to this it’s pretty boring. When we’re not in the field we’re looking into potential clients or researching jobs we’ve agreed to take on. In between that we work at remaining on the top of the field, training and staying up to date on the newest tech. At home I occasionally will cook if the team’s coming over, otherwise I’ll grab takeout on the way. My home space is pretty understated, I think is the preferred decorating term. Another might be spartan. The only rooms really done up are the bedroom and the living room. But you’d definitely never mistake it for anything other than what it is.”
“Sounds as if you have your life completely lined up and ready. Are you sure that there is room for me in your life? I don’t want to turn your life upside down, Tobias.” She wanted to be part of his life but she didn’t want to uproot anything in his life.
“Of course, I have room for you in my life. And while we might not have it all figured out yet we will get there in time. The first few days will be a challenge while we begin to find a way to mesh our two lives together. Not for a single second do I doubt that we can. We’re going to make this work, Gabriella. Believe it.”
“I believe it and I believe in you.” She stated simply. “We just have to work together, as you said. I’m willing to do just that but even you have to admit that we are moving fast. I can only hope that your friends won’t give us shit about it because if they do I think that I will have to possibly take your gun and shoot them.” She really wasn’t teasing him too much either. The truth was that she simply knew she needed him in her life, she knew that he was the one that was for her, only him.