Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn

31

Savannah

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Gage’s voice intruded on my consciousness, dragging me from sleep to wakefulness. I opened my eyes. He was sitting next to me on the bed, looking down at me affectionately. He reached out and brushed the hair back from my forehead.

At his touch, all of the memories from the night before came flooding back to me.

His sudden appearance in the shower. The passionate quickie. Falling asleep in his arms.

A smile spread over my face, so wide I couldn’t contain it.

Even though I knew it was bordering on insane to be happy with everything that was going on, I couldn't help it. Gage was happiness. He just was.

And making love with Gage? Well, that went beyond happiness territory straight into pure bliss.

“What time is it?” I asked, stretching my arms above me like a cat.

“It’s 7:30. And we have work to do. So, come on. Get your cute butt up and dressed. Bear has bagels.”

I hopped out of bed and crossed to where my bag was sitting in the corner of the room. I pulled clean clothes out.

I was about to step into the bathroom to change when I thought — what would be the point of that? After the shower the night before, it was pretty safe to say that we had seen each other from every angle.

I smiled a little to myself. We had touched each other from every angle, too, for that matter. We were, you could say, officially well–reacquainted.

Instead, I walked back over to the bed and casually dropped the pile of clean clothes onto the edge of it, then stripped out of the shorts and tank top I had slept in. I pulled on the new outfit, keeping my movements efficient and casual.

I wasn't trying to turn Gage on. This wasn't a striptease. This was just me changing my clothes.

But when I looked over at him, I saw that there was animalistic hunger burning in his eyes, and when I glanced down I could see that he was at least half mast.

I grinned a little and winked at him. “I still got it,” I teased.

He met my eyes. He didn’t return the grin, and there was nothing playful in his voice when he said, “You’ll always have it.”

I flushed. I had been joking around, but shit had just gotten real.

Tingles erupted on my skin and I wished with everything in me that we weren’t in the middle of this insane situation. That we were just together, just spending time on some kind of survivalist vacation where we were staying in an underground bunker for some reason.

I mean…it could happen.

Then we would be free to jump each other any time our heart desired. Any time either one of us got a little turned on. Any time he looked at me in that way that made every cell in my body tingle.

Any time like right now.

I shook my head.

I could wish that all I wanted, but that wouldn’t make it true. I had to accept reality—we were in this insane and dangerous situation. This wasn’t a romantic getaway, this was a protection mission.

And since I was the one being protected, the least I could do was get on board.

I spun on my heel and headed into the bathroom.

After I’d brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth out, I started running the brush through my hair and called back to him, “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

Personally, I was stumped when it came to how we were going to move forward. But I wasn’t the professional. Gage was. So I assumed he had a plan.

He was silent for a few moments. In fact, I had smoothed my hair down completely and was pulling it through an elastic hair tie the final necessary time to form a ponytail when he finally spoke.

“We’re going to your house.”

I froze. The shock of his words completely paralyzed me, as well as the futility they sent roiling through my gut. Finally, I stepped out of the bathroom and spluttered, “What? Why? We searched that place from top to bottom. There is no way that anything was there and we didn’t find it. What could possibly be worth driving another twelve hours back for?”

He shook his head. “No. Not that house. Your house. The house you grew up in.”

I exhaled involuntarily, and couldn’t seem to draw any air back in. Which was just as well, in a way, because I was somewhat afraid that I would start hyperventilating.

When I finally was able to draw a breath, I stepped over to the side of the bed and sat down. My head spun. I couldn’t seem to get ahold of any one thought long enough to see it through.

What--?

Why--?

When--?

How--?

Out of the five basic journalistic questions, I only knew the answer to one. “Where.” The rest were all a mystery.

I didn’t really know why this was upsetting me so much. It was out of proportion to the event. All of the crazy things that had happened, and it was the idea of going to my childhood home that was going to take me out? It made no sense.

Finally, I managed to spit out the most pressing question. “Why?

“Bear and I were talking. We realized that your father might have had whatever it was Barlowe wants back hidden at your house twelve years ago. Then, on the night of your sixteenth birthday, the attempt on his life and the Marshals swooping in may have made it so that he never had an opportunity to access it.

“Maybe he thought it was too dangerous to go back for it. Maybe he thought it was safer just to let it lie. Or maybe he always intended to sneak back and retrieve it one day, when the opportunity presented itself, but it just never did.”

Gage shrugged.

“Or maybe it’s not there. But we’ll never know if we don’t look.”

I nodded, slowly getting a hold of myself. What he was saying made sense. I knew that. I understood it.

That did nothing, however, to ease the gigantic pit that had formed in my stomach.

“Don’t…I mean…don’t other people live there, now?”

“Yes,” Gage replied. “A married couple. Both teachers. They leave the house at 7:45. They don’t have an alarm.”

I looked up, puzzled. “How could you possibly know that?”

The side of his eye twitched, ever so slightly. That was one of his minute tells. I recognized it. It meant that whatever he was about to say, he didn’t want to tell me about it.

“I used to sit outside your house. After you first disappeared. Just waiting. I’m not sure for what. Especially as time went on, I knew you weren’t just going to show up. But I had to be there. It was like a magnet.

“Then, these new people moved in. I made it my business to learn everything about them. It was, in a way, my first investigation. And I’ve kept up with it. It—I don’t know. It felt important.”

I breathed out slowly. “Well,” I said finally. “I guess it turned out to actually be important, after all.”