Chapter 26
Jed
Thud. Thud. Thud. Someone was knocking on the door, and the energy with which they were doing it suggested that they’d been doing it for a while. I usually slept very lightly. Whatever Freya had dosed me with must have been some serious shit.
I jerked up with a start, finding my legs wound in a tight twist with Freya’s, my gun arm trapped beneath her head.
I carefully pulled myself loose, trying not to wake her, but she jolted upright, eyes wide, as I pulled my jeans on. “What? Who’s that?”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Somebody was getting impatient.
“It’s just someone at the door.” I shoved the gun into the back of my jeans. “Stay right here.” I glanced at the clock. 7:05 AM. I peeked out the kitchen curtains, and all of the air rushed out of my chest. Of course. This had all been part of my plan.
It was a square-built middle-aged woman in a uniform, hair dragged into a sparse, tight braid, with buckets, a vacuum, and case of cleaning supplies.
I had forgotten about my security set-up. I’d meant to call and cancel this request, but I had gotten blasted by a truth drug, and had gone down a rabbit hole.
One so deep, I’d probably never find my way out. Nor did I ever want to.
It was a damn good thing I’d at least cancelled that timed automatic email to the police last night while she was in the bathroom, before Freya drugged my unsuspecting ass. Wow, forgetting that little detail would have been all kinds of awkward.
I pulled the door open, wishing an instant too late that I’d taken the time to put on a shirt. The woman wore a name tag that read “Trina.”
“Good morning,” I said.
“Good morning,” Trina said, looking me up and down with suspicious eyes. Her gaze darted anxiously past me, over my shoulder. “You called yesterday? Said you wanted the room serviced this morning, real early?”
“Yes, I did,” I said. “Turns out we slept in after all. I meant to call and cancel the request last night. We got in a lot later than we anticipated.”
Trina’s face hardened. “You mean to say, you had me drag myself out of bed at this hour for nothing?”
“Oh, no. Not nothing,” I assured her. “Wait here just a second. Hold on.” I backed up so as not to show her the pistol shoved into my pants, and grabbed the two fifties I’d folded and stuck under the base of the lamp for the worst case scenario.
I handed them to her. “This is for you, and I’ll be sure to tell the management how much I appreciate your willingness to collaborate. My final tip will reflect my thanks, as well. Have a great day.”
Trina took the fifties, but her face was still troubled. I was a foot taller than her, but she strained up onto her toes, trying to peer around me. “Sir, is everything all right in there?” Her voice was tense. “Are you with someone?”
“He sure is, and everything is fine.” Freya’s voice was light.
She elbowed her way past me, already dressed in her T-shirt and jeans, wrapping her arm around my waist. She smiled at Trina reassuringly.
“It’s just the two of us, and everything is absolutely great, but thanks for checking.
That’s very good of you.” She gave me a sunny smile, and dropped a quick kiss onto my bare shoulder.
Trina nodded, still frowning but looking mollified. “Okay, then. So if you folks want to just call me to come and take your money again, feel free whenever.”
“You bet, and thanks so much,” Freya said warmly. “I’m so sorry we got you up so early.”
Trina stowed her equipment in a hatchback Mazda. I turned to Freya as she pulled away. “What the hell?” I said. “Don’t just pop out of nowhere without warning!”
“You were scaring her,” Freya scolded. “You needed me to do my Chatty Cathy thing and make it all look normal. The poor woman probably thought something kinky was going on in the bedroom. Like, you know, somebody being handcuffed to the bed.”
“Yeah, right,” I said. “Or drugged against their will. Very sordid.”
Freya cast a sultry look over her shoulder as she headed back into the bedroom. “If we were trying not to be noticed by the hotel staff, too bad,” she said, sitting back down on the bed. “I think that ship has sailed.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” I said, defensive. “I needed to be sure you’d be found quickly in case Boer got a ping from one of the surgeons and had someone come after me. I needed to cover your ass. Everything comes at a cost.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Freya murmured. “Speaking of what things cost. I need to ask you a really embarrassing question, Jed.”
I braced myself. “Okay. Hit me.”
Her smile faded, and she looked down at her lap, twisting a piece of her sweatshirt. “So, would you say that you are, as of this moment, no longer in any way under the influence of Tamloxid?”
My mind took off trying to figure out where the fuck she was going with this line of questioning while I did a swift but thorough inventory of my body and mind.
“Yes,” I told her. “I’m hung over, and I have a stiff neck, and a sour stomach, and probably my breath is really foul, but I’m in more or less my right mind. Or whatever passes for that on a good day.”
A smile flashed over her face, but she didn’t meet my eyes.
“Okay, then I’ll move on to the next question.
When we had our talk last night, a lot of things were said.
Bold, life-changing pronouncements. I just wanted to let you know that I’m, ah…
not holding you to what you said. I mean, you were extremely stoned. It wouldn’t be fair.”
I felt my body go ice cold. My hands went clammy. I exhaled slowly, and chose my words with extreme care. “And the things you said to me?” I asked. “You were just as wasted as I was. Do you want to be released from responsibility for that too?”
She bit her lip. “Ah…not exactly.”
“So what do you mean? Was it just the drug talking, for you?” My voice was hard. “I thought that shit was a truth drug. So I took you at your word last night.”
“So, ah…how do you feel? About…us?” Her voice was small.
Fuck it. I just went for it. “I meant every last word I said,” I told her. “I still do. More, even. A thousand percent. How about you, Frey? Did the truth drug work on you? Or are you just a better liar than I am?”
She pressed her trembling lips together. “I’m not a liar,” she said. “And neither are you. I meant what I said. It was real for me. Always has been.”
Thank God. I was so relieved, my knees sagged. I sank onto the bed and took a second to get my face in order. “So marry me,” I said roughly.
Freya sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you serious?”
“Serious as death. If you’re in, I’m in. All the way.”
“But…but it’s only been three days, and we’re still running for our lives! It hardly seems like the time or place to make a decision like that!”
“Why not? I’m sure. You said you were, too, right?”
Freya’s eyes were wet with startled tears. “Yes! It’s just that from having really powerful feelings for each other to promising to get married…it’s a really big jump.”
She was not wrong. But I was so buzzed on that feeling inside my chest. So warm and bright and soft, this glow, as if the sun were rising right inside me.
I took her hand. So slim and strong in mine. “It is a big jump, but what the fuck,” I said. “Let’s take a run at it. We’ll jump together. Maybe we’ll get lucky and make it all the way across. We won’t know unless we try. I vote for trying. Forever.”
Freya’s face was rosy and her eyes shone, glimmering with tears.
But she wound her fingers through mine and squeezed.
“Let’s deal with Boer first, okay?” she urged.
“With things so dangerous, it seems premature to, you know…pick out china patterns and argue about kids’ names.
” She glanced up at me, warily. “You do want kids, right?”
“As many as you want,” I said swiftly. “Bring ’em on.”
She laughed at me. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“What could I say that would make you less nervous?”
“I’m just afraid of jinxing it,” she said. “Like I’m tempting fate by feeling this happy. It’s bad luck to take anything for granted. Even this.”
I nodded. That made sense to me on a visceral level. First, a guy had to slay the dragon. Then, he got the fair maiden. Then he protected her and stuck by her and hung on to her for as long as he possibly could. Preferably until death did us part.
“Yeah,” I said. “First, we neutralize Boer.”
“Yes. But the important thing is that we do it together.” She squeezed my hand in hers, staring intently into my eyes. “We work together. Respecting each other’s areas of expertise.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, wary of a trap. “Ah…meaning…?”
“Meaning, we trust each other, Jed. As real partners.”
“Only if you’ll be reasonable about stepping back,” I told her, resolute. “I’m the one with the combat training. And it’s hard as hell to defend you and hunt Boer at the same time.”
She nodded. “Okay. Just share your thoughts. Let me in. Like last night. I don’t even know what happened after you left. Did you learn anything useful?”
“Yes, actually.” I proceeded to tell her about my exploits the night before. Grifo’s house, his practice, the Moulin Pastisserie. The gala, which would take place tonight. And Rachelle Grifo’s lactose-free Neapolitan pastry.
“So the Grifos will be there,” she said, thoughtfully. “Obviously, we have to be there, too.”
“Clark and Ramona will not be thrilled to see me again,” I said.
She gave me a disapproving look. “True. And I could have helped you with that last night, if you’d been thinking clearly.
I could have asked all the questions and begged to see the colleagues, and I wouldn’t have raised any red flags.
Nobody gets intimidated by a chirping blonde.
But oh, no, you had to swagger in with your brawny six-foot-three bod and your beard and your tattoo and your Viking warrior mane.
” She stopped short, studying me with a speculative eye.
“We need to get some breakfast right away. We’ve got a big day ahead of us. ”
“Oh, do we?” I asked, alarmed. “A big day of what?”
“Shopping. You need a makeover. And then, we’re going to the gala.”