Chapter 3 #2
Something akin to hurt flashed behind Colt’s incredible eyes before he blinked it away. “You can’t have dinner with Crawford tomorrow night, Alex. You can’t ever have dinner with that man or even speak to him. Not ever again.”
“You don’t control me, Coulter.”
“Dammit, I’m not trying to control you, but I can’t stand by and watch you get hurt.”
“The only one hurting me right now is you.” She began marching across the room, toward the door. “I’ll arrange for a rideshare to take me back to my hotel.”
A low under-the-breath curse reached her ears almost instantly. “You can’t do that.”
“Watch me.”
“No, I mean you literally can’t do that.”
“Funny, I don’t recall asking your permission.” Her angry steps froze mid-stride when a loud knock sounded at the door. With her focus straight ahead, she didn’t hear Colt’s approach until he was passing her by. “Expecting someone?”
“Actually, yes.” He covered the remaining space between him and the door.
Alex’s spine grew stiff when she noticed the butt of a pistol tucked into a hidden holster at his back. “You have a gun?”
If he really is a CIA agent it makes sense that he’d have his own gun.
Ignoring the question, Colt checked the small peephole before unlatching the locks. He opened the door and another man in a suit appeared.
Tall. Massively broad shoulders. Clean-cut appearance, and not a stitch of humor or joy on his chiseled face.
“Is that everything?” Colt asked the man gruffly.
With a dip of his square chin, the equally stoic man responded with a curt, “Yes, sir.”
Sir?
Alex took a few steps closer, spotting the burgundy, hard-shelled suitcase and quilted backpack in the stranger’s hands.
He didn’t.
“Are those my bags?”
Both men turned their gazes her way.
“This is Agent Paulson,” Colt announced. “He’s a member of my team. I had him go to your hotel and bring your things here.”
Agent Paulson eyed her closely before releasing her suitcase’s handle. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a plastic room key. “She’s next door.”
“I’m what?”
Colt took the keycard from the other man’s hand. “Thanks. I’ll check in with you and the others in the morning with our next steps.”
With a nod, Agent Paulsen rolled her bag over the metal threshold and set her backpack onto the carpeted floor. He turned to leave, but Alex belatedly rushed over to where both men stood.
“Wait,” she called out for him. “I want to see some ID.”
You already know what it’s going to say.
The stranger’s dark eyes slid to Colt, who gave his permission with a silent nod. Alex held her breath and waited as the man who was supposedly another government agent retrieved his official ID.
Reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket, Paulsen pulled out a leather holder identical to Colt’s. Her gut tightened as she took it from his large hand, part of her afraid of what she would find.
If what Colt had said was true, then at least that meant he was more than an immature playboy with no real goals in life. But that same truth would also mean Gordan Crawford truly was a monster. One who sold women and children to other sick freaks just like him.
There’s only one way to be sure, but you already know the truth.
Alex opened the leather holder and released a soft huff of breath. Aside from a different picture, name, and employee identification number, Agent Paulsen’s ID was exactly the same as Colt’s.
There it was, just like Colt said. In black and white and everything.
“Thank you.” She returned the ID and badge to its rightful owner.
Agent Paulsen gave her a slight nod. To Colt, he asked, “Need anything else before the team and I call it a night?”
“That’s all.” Colt shook the man’s hand a second time. “I’ll update you in the morning once I nail down our next steps.”
“Sounds good.” To Alex, Agent Paulsen added a quick smile, “Have a good night, Miss Webb.”
The door shut behind him as he left, and once again, she and Colt were alone.
“So it’s true.” She looked up at him. “You really do work for the CIA.” When he shrugged, she let out a shocked and slightly shaken, “Holy shit.”
“There it is.” Colt actually smiled. “And before you bite my head off about having your stuff brought here, I didn’t figure we had much of a choice.”
Alex considered this a moment and realized, “Because we told Gordan I was staying at the same hotel as you.”
His handsome head bobbed in a confirming nod. “If his men look into our story, which they most likely will, we needed it to be true.”
In its own bizarre way that made total sense. Only—
“If he really has people who can do that, won’t they notice I didn’t check into this hotel until after we left the party?”
“Don’t worry about that. My people are very good at their jobs.”
“Meaning?”
Colt shoved his hands into his front pockets and sighed.
“Meaning a digital trail has already been created that will show that you checked in here the same date and time as your original hotel. And don’t worry.
There’s no longer a record of you having ever been there, so there’s no reason not to believe our story is anything but true. ”
“How is that even possible?”
He looked back at her with an incredulous smirk. “Come on, Al. It’s the CIA, remember? We know a thing or two about covering our tracks.”
Alex felt as if she were staring back at a stranger, because, in that moment, that was exactly what Coulter Morgan was.
“None of it was true.” Her brow furrowed as a sudden rush of betrayal fell over her.
“All those stupid stories you’ve shared about your work trips and the boring meetings and conferences you’ve been forced to endure.
It was all bullshit, wasn’t it? From the moment we met, everything that’s come out of your mouth has been a lie. ”
“Not everything.” His gorgeous blue eyes locked tightly with hers. “But the stories . . . yeah. Those were all designed to protect my cover and help keep you all safe.”
The entire room began to spin.
No, that was a lie. Alex’s entire world had just been tilted on its axis. Everything she thought was up had come crashing down, and she wasn’t sure where to go from here.
Fun-loving, never-serious, pain-in-her-ass Colt was actually an undercover agent with the CIA. Which also meant—
“Gordan,” she whispered. “H-he really . . .” Alex couldn’t finish the bile-inducing sentence.
Her gaze searched his intently for even the slightest glimmer of a lie, but rather than finding deception, all she found was regret.
“Yes.” Colt gave a solemn nod. “And it’s my job to stop him.”
The breath left her lungs in a shaky rush as her knees began to quiver. A loud ringing filled both of her ears.
“Hey.” His voice sounded muffled. “Alex? Are you okay?”
She felt his hands on her shoulders as her stuttering gaze lifted back up to his. “Sorry, what?”
“I think maybe you should sit down.”
I think so, too.
Instead of the couch, Colt guided her to the nearby chair.
“There you go,” he crooned. “That’s it. Easy does it.” He kept a gentle hand on her elbow as he helped her settle onto the plush upholstery. “Okay, just sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get you another drink.”
“I don’t need one.”
“Trust me, you do.”
Alex didn’t waste energy she clearly didn’t have by arguing with the stubborn man. Mostly because, if she were being totally honest, a drink sounded pretty damn good.
What the hell am I going to do now?
The man she’d looked up to for years was a disgusting predator, and the man she’d craved for nearly as long was in the freaking CIA.
I can’t tell Avery or Garrett about Colt, and I can’t take Gordan up on his offer.
Merely thinking the man’s name was enough to send a wave of heavy nausea into her gut.
“Here you go.” Colt reappeared with a fresh drink in his hand, as promised.
Her fingers brushed against his as she curled her hand around the cool, smooth glass. Alex’s eyes found Colt’s again, and for a moment, it was as if everything around them disappeared.
“Colt?”
“Yeah?”
“I can’t tell anyone the truth about you, can I?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no. Not yet. Once this case is over, and Crawford’s behind bars, I’ll tell them myself.” His thumb feathered the back of her hand. “I promise.”
The soft vow sounded genuine. Sincere.
As crazy as it was, given the night’s unexpected turn of events, Alex found herself believing he actually meant every word. But what did she know? Her idol was a monster, and the man she wanted more than any other had been trained by the government to lie.
Boy, you sure know how to pick ’em, eh, Al?
She brought the drink in her hand to her suddenly dry lips. She tipped her head back to allow the caramel hued liquor to slide down her welcoming throat. Alex swallowed, then sucked in a quick breath.
Damn, that burns.
“Better?”
“Maybe after a couple more.” She handed him back the empty glass.
Colt set it on the carpeted floor beside the chair before he squatted down before her. He covered her fists with the warmth of his hands and sighed.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Easy for you to say.” She gave a roll of her eyes. “You make a living lying to everyone you know.”
Lips she’d tasted earlier rose at just one corner, sending her troubled heart kicking in a way that it shouldn’t. Despite everything she’d learned over the past few hours, Alex found herself grinning back.
“I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. I even said as much to Avery. You can ask her if you want.”
Colt’s broad shoulders shook with a deep, rumbly chuckle. “I have no doubt that it’s true.”
“It’s going to be different now, isn’t it?” Her grin fell. “Between us, I mean.”
Moving slowly, he brought a gentle hand to one side of her face. “That’s the thing, Alex. It can’t be different. We have to be exactly the same. With everyone else, but especially each other.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“You’re going to have to try. For one, we can’t do anything that could throw a wrench into the case and risk losing the leverage we have against Crawford.”
“And two?”
“We have to do everything we can to keep our families safe.”