Chapter Nine
Refusing to sleep in the room where she’d been attacked, Jo shoved clothes into her suitcase, not even bothering to neatly stack them. As soon as Gabe got back, they were switching hotels. She needed to leave this hotel. This city. All of it. Just get out.
Gabe had brought her back an hour ago after she’d been questioned and then he returned to the PD to monitor the situation with Jimmy Jax while an officer stayed outside the room with Jo. The detectives felt sure that once Jimmy’s lawyer talked to him, they’d make a deal and Jo prayed that came to fruition. Testifying against a member of a violent gang was not on her wish list.
She was done. Finished. As of an hour ago when she’d called the mayor and told him, given the circumstances—and the attempt on her life—she needed to go home. Back to her life.
And the mayor had agreed.
The lock on the suite door clicked and she spun, her heart slamming from fried nerves. Gabe, all six foot three of him, stepped into the room and instantly, the sight of him, brought her surging blood pressure down. He did this to her. Gave her comfort just by showing up. Every time.
“Hi,” he said, latching the door behind him. “You okay?”
“Better now. How’d it go?”
Gabe tossed the keys to the rental on the side table next to the suite’s sofa. In his other hand, he carried a manila envelope and he set that next to the keys.
“They’re still talking to him.” He angled around the table and dropped onto the couch. “I could sleep for a month. And we’re supposed to be on vacation.”
He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and rubbed. She’d known this man over a year, had seen him break into buildings and take down murderers; she’d seen him reprimand a careless rookie and deal with the volatile mayor of New York. She’d even seen him after peeling a man’s body from the bottom of a subway train. What she hadn’t seen and definitely saw now, was slump-shouldered fatigue. Even on his worst days, when more than a tad crabby from pulling an eighteen-hour shift, he still carried the command presence that scared the hell out of people.
Tonight, he didn’t have it in him. And the blame sat squarely with her. She gave up on packing and sat next to him, running her hand over the back of his head where his short, thick hair easily absorbed her fingers. He rested his head back against her hand and closed his eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I keep putting you through these traumas with me. I’m done. From now on, I stay in my office and leave the investigating to everyone else. When we get back, with your permission of course, I’m going to meet with Tom and Bev and the mayor and come clean about us. If it means I leave the task force, then I leave the task force. After this experience, that damned task force is not what I’m worried about. I want a life with you, a normal life where we go to functions or aren’t afraid to go to a restaurant together. That’s what matters. And, I called the mayor of Los Angeles an hour ago and told him I was done.”
He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead for a few seconds before turning to her and patting her knee. “Okay.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“Not for a second. I love you and I’m sick of hiding too. That I’m totally on board with. We’ll go home and have that meeting with our superiors. Face it together. For the rest of it? The staying in your office? In two weeks you’ll be bored.”
“I don’t think so.”
“We’ll see.”
Here she was trying to give him the one thing he’d always asked for, and now he wanted to be a smart ass. “Whatever, Sergeant. Tell me about Jimmy.”
“He’s chatting like an old lady at a gossip fest.”
“Thank God.”
“Yeah. He gave up your smuggler. The D.A. said they’d offer a plea bargain if he confessed and gave up some intel on the smuggling operation. As we suspected, Andre Theo is operating under a new name. Crazy-assed fucker is awaiting trial and he’s still at it. Anyway, Palermo and his men are about to take down the warehouse location Jimmy gave the detectives. Jimmy said the place is huge. Cigarettes, shoes, purses. It’s stuffed with counterfeits from overseas. Either way, he confessed. No trials.”
No trial. Jo bowed her head, let out a huge push of air, all the tension trapped in her muscles letting go.
Gabe leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “It’s over, Jo.”
“Thank you. As an attorney, it’s been hard to admit I was scared to testify. I didn’t want to worry about some gang coming after me. I would have done it, absolutely, but it gives me a whole new perspective on how witnesses feel. I think it’ll make me better at my job. So that’s how I’ll think of this entire ordeal.”
“Good.” He set his hand on her leg and drummed his fingers. “I need your opinion on something. Actually, it’s more of a question.”
“Whatever it is, the answer is yes.”
He slapped his hands together and shook them. “Finally! I’ve broken her.”
“Hardy-har, Sergeant. But I don’t care. I love when you ask my opinion.” She poked his arm and grinned at him, feeling like the old Jo, the self-assured, ball-busting Jo she’d been before this ordeal started. “You don’t do it nearly often enough. Now, what’s your question?”
He shifted sideways, grabbed the envelope off the table and slid a brochure out. “Take a look at this. I snagged it from one of the detectives. What do you think?”
The cover of the brochure pictured a sunset beach with chaise lounges and those huge beds that were popular at beach resorts. Didn’t those look heavenly? She flipped it to the back and read the address. Hawaii. “Please tell me you want to go there.”
“I totally want to go there.”
“When?”
“Uh, now? Because all I’ve thought about for the last three weeks was sitting on a warm beach with you. I want that. And let’s just say LA, at least for this trip, hasn’t exactly been the vacation I envisioned. I was thinking, if you’re okay with it, we could jump on a flight. I mean, I wasn’t sure you’d go for it since you were supposed to be out here another two weeks, but hey, you just said you drop-kicked this assignment. The way I see it, we’ve got two weeks to bum around.”
Two weeks of Gabe on a beach in Hawaii. Can we say heaven? “Yes.”
He jerked his head back. “Seriously? You don’t want to think about it?”
“Nope. I think going to Hawaii with you would be perfect. I’ve never been.”
“Me neither. I didn’t check flights, but there’s gotta be something.”
“Pfft,” Jo said. “Trust me. If we can’t get a flight out, I will use every one of my contacts to find us a private jet or a charter to get us there. We’re in LA. Everyone has a private jet here. And before you moan about charters being expensive, for what we’d pay for a last-minute flight to Hawaii, we’d get a what-a-deal on a charter.”
“For once, Counselor, I won’t argue with you.”
“Please. What fun is that?”
“I know. Tragic.”
She leaned in, rested her forehead against his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. After the day they’d had, his shampoo still lingered and made her thankful because anything having to do with Gabe settled her. Made her feel safe.
“There’s something else,” he said.
Great. What now? She sat up and looked at him through squinty eyes, letting him know it better not be bad news. “Is it better than Hawaii? If not, forget it.”
He tilted his head one way, then the other, thinking it over. “I hope it’s better. You’ll have to decide that one.”
Now he wanted to be mysterious?
He grabbed the pen out of the drawer of the side table, jotted something on the envelope he just whipped the brochure out of and held it out to her.
“What are you up to, Sergeant?”
He pointed at the envelope. She hated when Gabe got cagey with her. But, for a change, she’d be a good girl and cooperate. She snagged the envelope from him and looked down to where he’d written her name. Just her name. What the? Except…oh. She drew a soft breath and her thoughts scattered. Yes, yes, yes. Her hand trembled and she squeezed the envelope tighter. Did this mean?
His eyes were on her. She knew it and heat flooded her cheeks. But she couldn’t look at him. Not yet. Not until her system adjusted and let her not say something stupid. She’d remember this moment for the rest of her life and what she didn’t want to remember was that she’d blown it. It had to be perfect. Well, as perfect as the two of them could manage. Which was usually decidedly less than perfect.
Gabe let out a small breath. “You don’t have to answer now. Maybe think about it.”
Still not looking at him, she held her free hand out. “May I have that pen?”
He slapped the pen into her hand and she crossed out what he’d written.
“Oh, ouch,” he said.
“Sit tight, Gabe. I’m not done.”
Below where he’d written “JOANNA POMEROY-TOWNSEND????,” she jotted an alternative and handed the envelope back. “That’s my final offer.”
He read what she’d written and his reaction, the shocked gagging, set loose a monster giggle that made her eyes water. This was what life should be. Good, solid laughter that reminded her certain days could be extraordinary.
“Now this is a pisser,” he said. “You want to drop Pomeroy? You’d be plain old Joanna Townsend?”
“Any day of the week. Any. Day. The sooner the better.” She crawled into his lap and straddled him. “I love you. I’m sorry I cause you stress, but it’s over. I’ll be happy being your wife and a lawyer who stays in her office.”
He smacked her on the butt. “Love the wife part. I have my suspicions about you staying in your office. But, we’ll see. Either way, I love you and I want to come home to you every night. So, Counselor, wanna get hitched?”
“I sure do, Mr. August. I sure do.”