Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Lucky didn’t sleep well in the too-soft bed with the creaky springs.
Every time she turned, the creaking of the bed woke her up.
She raised her head to look at Kev’s empty bed each time.
It was hours before he returned. She heard the door open, heard his footsteps across the floor and the whisper of his clothing as he shed it.
His bed creaked when he lay down but she didn’t open her eyes and let him know that she knew he was back.
What would she say if she did? He’d looked like a thundercloud when he’d left earlier and she had no idea what he was thinking now. Maybe she shouldn’t have told him she’d wanted him before she’d married Marco, but it was the truth. On some level, he had to have known it too.
Guilt and fear nearly made her sick. She listened to him breathing, her heart hurting for him and her—and for Marco. She shouldn’t have been a coward. She should have refused Marco’s advances, and she should have refused to marry him until she knew what she really wanted.
But she hadn’t, and she didn’t know how she would ever get rid of the guilt of not being what he’d wanted in the end.
Kev had his own guilt to endure. He’d had a horrible childhood, and it was clear he’d been damaged from it.
That was the secret he kept close, the reason he didn’t commit to anyone.
He was afraid of failing the ones he loved—hell, maybe he was afraid of loving anyone too.
He’d loved his mother and sister, and he’d lost them so senselessly.
And then he’d lost Marco, and she knew he blamed himself for that as well, even if it wasn’t his fault.
She wanted so desperately to crawl into bed with him and curl up in the warmth of his body, but that wasn’t going to happen. Even if he would welcome her, she could hear the other guys beyond the door from time to time. The walls and doors weren’t precisely soundproof.
No, there would be no more frantic sexual encounters before this mission was done.
Hell, maybe there’d be no more encounters at all. The way he’d looked at her when she’d told him about her and Marco. He’d been stunned. And maybe even a little horrified at her confession. Maybe he was wondering what was so wrong with her that Marco had wanted out.
She blinked back tears, her body rigid as her nerves stretched thin, and she tried to think of something to say to Kev. Something that would put everything right again. But it was useless. She didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t think he wanted to hear it anyway.
Lucky dozed throughout the night, never fully resting. Finally, when she was sinking into a dream of her mother baking cookies in the kitchen with the triplets while she stood outside the window and looked inside at the warm tableau they made, a hand settled over her shoulder and shook her awake.
She looked up into blue eyes, confusion fogging her brain for a moment. But then reality returned and she knew where she was and why. What she didn’t know was if Kev would ever kiss her again. It was ironic that it was so important to her considering the gravity of what they were here to do.
“Time to get up. We have to get you to the Prince Faisal School in an hour so you can start classes.”
Lucky pushed herself up, wincing as she did so. Kev frowned. “What’s wrong?”
Warmth flooded her at that small sign of concern. “Bruises and sore muscles. I’ll be fine after I stretch a bit.”
“It’s my fault. I’m sorry for throwing you on the ground.”
She didn’t bother to mention that her inner muscles were also sore. It was a lovely reminder of how hot and desperate the sex had been. “You had no choice. Besides, I’ll be fine.”
He held out a small round device that looked like a very thin watch battery on his palm. “Need you to put this in your bra.”
She dragged her gaze to his. It was the first time she’d managed to look at him for more than a second. He gazed at her evenly, no sign of anger or hatred in his eyes. It was enough to make her want to melt in relief. “Why?”
“It’s a tracking device. So’s your phone, but this is just in case you were to get separated from it.”
She swallowed. “Okay.”
He dropped the device in her hand. “It’s just a precaution. We won’t let anyone take you.”
“I know.” She smiled as he got to his feet and stood over her. She thought he might say something, but he turned away and went to the door.
“Come downstairs when you’re ready.”
Disappointment pierced her as she got out of bed and went into the bathroom for a quick shower.
She tucked the device in her bra as instructed, against the cup, and then dressed in a pair of capri pants and a tank top before tugging on an abaya and covering her hair.
She’d learned yesterday that it was a good idea to have on something a bit more flexible under the abaya just in case.
When she was ready, she went downstairs and found five of the guys at a table, eating honeyed pastries and drinking coffee.
She sat next to Jack and grabbed a pastry while the guys talked. They joked and laughed as if they hadn’t made a run for it in the middle of the night, as if their plans were still going smoothly and hadn’t required a rethink. Then again, that’s what they did. They changed plans on the fly.
When it was time to go, Kev rose and she followed his lead. The guys went silent as Kev grabbed his camera gear. Flash joined them with a laptop bag since he was the reporter to Kev’s photographer.
“Y’all be careful out there,” Matt said. “And Lucky, don’t worry about a thing. You got this.”
No one looked at her with an iota of doubt. If they felt it, they didn’t let it show, and for that she was grateful. She’d spent weeks training with them and now, today, this was it. And they believed she could do it. She nodded. “Thanks.”
She followed Kev and Flash through the door and out into the courtyard where the van from the night before waited.
The driver rumbled through the city streets until they reached their destination.
He let them out two streets over, and they walked the rest of the way.
It seemed safe enough, though Kev and Flash were wound tight as they walked.
The school was in an exclusive area surrounded by shops and cafes that weren’t quite as busy as they might have been before the bombings rocked the city.
Still, there were people out and about, and the school itself was heavily secured.
Kev and Flash went inside with her because they’d secured an interview with the headmaster. Something about life in Baq under the new king. Lucky couldn’t imagine anyone mistaking these two tall, broad, warrior-like men for journalists, but people often believed what they were presented.
The headmaster met them and ushered them into his office.
After a bit of talk, Lucky was shown to the classroom by another teacher.
It was a small room, bright and cheery with student drawings of flowers on the wall, and she felt a pang for the woman who’d been shifted out of her job to make an opening.
Lucky picked up the papers that were labeled with different parts of a house in English and Arabic and clutched them to her as she wondered what the previous teacher must be thinking today.
Hopefully, this assignment wouldn’t last too long and everything would go back to normal.
But how normal would it be once they’d taken some little girl’s father away? It was hard to imagine anyone as cold and cruel as Al Ahmad with a child, and yet it wouldn’t be the first time a stone cold killer had a family.
But she couldn’t think about that, could she?
Lucky sat and sifted through the materials on her desk, organizing them for the day. And then the students arrived and her heart kicked even as butterflies swirled around inside her belly. This was it, the beginning of her task. The reason they were here. She had to find his daughter.
But that wasn’t going to be easy. She studied the students in each class carefully, wondering which of them might be the one she sought. She tried to pick out his features, but how impossible was that when she didn’t really know them well enough to do so?
She poured over the girls’ names on the roster, hoping something might trigger a memory. Nothing did.
Four hours later, time was up and she was no closer to discovering who Al Ahmad’s daughter was than she had been that morning. Disappointment tasted bitter and hard, like an unripened cherry.
Kev was waiting at the entrance when she walked out, and happiness filled her at the sight of him there.
She tamped it down as she went up to him.
He didn’t say anything, just put his arm around her and ushered her down the street.
She couldn’t help but focus on the easy pressure of his arm on her shoulders, or how her heart fluttered at his nearness.
Was he still angry? Was this all for show?
She told herself she was supposed to be thinking about Al Ahmad and his daughter, but all she could think about was how good it felt to be wedged against Kev’s body, walking down the street like a normal couple.
“How’d it go?” Kev finally asked.
“It’s an impossible task.” She sounded frustrated, but she couldn’t hide it. “Nothing about those children seems familiar. There are forty of them, Kev. Forty. Unless the man himself shows up for a recital one day, I don’t see how this is going to work.”
“Maybe he will. In fact, I’m pretty certain of it.”
She ground to a halt on the street, and he had to push her out of the way before someone plowed into her.
Her back was against a building as she faced him.
He was big and dark and lethal. And handsome.
God, she could never forget handsome. The sun beat down on him and his eyes pierced hers, and all she could think about was lying beneath him with nothing between them but skin and sweat.
“That’s an insane idea,” she sputtered, dragging herself back to the conversation. “He’d never do it. Why would you think he would?”