“Next time don’t let the chivalrous side of your nature get the best of you,” she teased him. “You know you loathe the paperwork, why bring more of it onto yourself?”
“Because I suck,” he grumbled good-naturedly. “Actually, I was feeling guilty for being asleep, full of happy dreams and sated bliss while El and James were in trouble earlier.”
Sally chuckled, but felt curious about what kind of trouble El and James had gotten into earlier. She’d seen El and Rob catching up back in the laboratory. She’d have to get the story out of him, but now wasn’t the time.
They wandered down the hall, each lost in their own thoughts. Rob stopped. She looked at him, pleased just to be in his company. When he dipped his head, Sally’s heart raced.
Rob stole an all too brief kiss, but it sent her blood pounding nevertheless. Her hands automatically reached up to thread behind his neck, so she could arch her back and press her breasts into the solid warmth of his chest.
She moved her lips over his, as if it were their bodies coming together sexually as they had earlier. Sally opened her mouth and before she could breathe, Rob’s tongue was in her, parrying for control. They tasted each other deeply, and Sally moaned, needing him more than her next breath.
“Shhh,” Rob murmured into her ear.
Their bodies were still melded together, but she struggled to get oxygen. Sally could hardly believe a simple kiss now had her quivering, a flushed, excited mess of nerve endings and thrumming blood waiting to be taken. She’d have him here, right in the corridor up against the wall, if he’d be bold enough to take her.
A door slammed around the corner somewhere, and reality crashed into her like a bucket of cold water. They separated and Sally fanned her face, trying to cool her color down. A bit more stiffly—she had the feeling Rob was hiding one hell of an erection—they came out into the large, open-planned office.
As they worked their way past Rob’s desk, he paused to pick up a fresh pen and a large notepad. He stuck both in his folder. They turned to head for the door and she let him lead the way. Her brain was still fuzzy and full of sexual chemistry. Rob dipped his hand into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out the keys. He tossed them casually into the air. She marveled he had enough brain power to catch them. Sally knew she certainly couldn’t have with the way her body hummed with need.
Determined to prove her mind was now on the task at hand, she took the keys from him. The metal clinked together. They exchanged smiles and when they reached the two elevators, Sally pressed the call button. The comfortable silence didn’t need to be broken as they each thought their own things. When they entered the lift, Rob activated the signal to take them to the private, underground car park. Sally linked her arm warmly through his and rested her head against him. She enjoyed his faint scent, the strength of his body under her touch a pleasant distraction.
The elevator moved down.
Chapter Four
“Is there a way to keep Vicky out of this?” Sally asked as she drove the car.
Rob had been scrawling and muttering for the last few minutes. When Sally’d overheard him say something about ‘…
precursor to the bloody report I’m doomed to spend hours
…’ she’d decided a change in topic was due. She glanced down at his notebook and his usually difficult to decipher writing had become all but illegible.
He might be annoyed at the interruption now, she thought, but he’d thank her later. Clearly he was getting worked up over something, likely the case and the mountain of paperwork it would generate. She knew how much he hated reports and the more administrative side of his job. Besides, if his writing got even more illegible he’d become further frustrated at two in the morning when he couldn’t read what he’d written. A brief distraction now might help him calm down and focus better.
Sally looked away from the road and caught her lover’s gaze. His mind seemed to tick over and he caught up to where her question was. She returned her gaze back to where they were going. They were nearly at Vicky’s and she wanted to pay attention, find a good parking spot.
Silence filled the car, but she could hear the weight of his thoughts. She bit down lightly on her lower lip and furrowed her brow slightly. Scanning the curb, she couldn’t see anything free down this street. She cast a swift glance at Rob, wondering if he’d gone back to his report. She jolted in surprise when she caught him staring at her, a twinkle in his dark eyes.
“What?” she queried. Lifting a hand to rub at her nose, she wondered if she’d had paint or something smeared there this whole time. Rob grinned at her warmly and she moved her attention back to her driving.
“Nothing. You’re just adorable. You make my breath catch. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
She grinned.
“Too right you’re lucky. I know El is a brilliant partner for these missions of yours, but today I’m your lucky charm. Vicky can hopefully give us the answers you need and is the missing key to this thing.”
Out of her peripheral vision she saw Rob shake his head. She lightly tapped the brakes and turned the corner. She continued cruising slowly, looking for a spot.
“Sal, you’re perfect and I can’t wait to prove that to you, now and every day in the future. As to your question earlier, unless your friend knowingly took part in a crime, or willingly acted as an accomplice or co-conspirator, she has nothing to worry about. Even if she falls somewhere in the gray area, I doubt the Agency will want to cause problems for her. You realize we don’t beat people with rubber hoses or torture them for being human, right?”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she said. She had no illusions about Bobby. He was a moral, upright man who strongly believed in justice and the right thing. She had no doubts he made life miserable in many ways for bad people. He’d likely even done his share of violence in the past and would do so if called for again in the future. But ‘beating people with a rubber hose’ just was not his style. Not ever. The thought of it made her want to chuckle.
“It’s just…well, Vicky might have a somewhat checkered past,” she tried to clarify. While Sally also considered herself an inherently moral person, she knew some of her beliefs weren’t as black and white as Rob’s. She saw more shades of gray and had room in her belief system for taking other factors into account. And a number of her acquaintances had less white and more gray shades in
their
personal codes.
She didn’t want to put Rob on the spot, nor get any of her friends into trouble.
The moment of silence stretched out and she focused fully on looking for a parking space. She could hear Rob thinking again, and cast a glance at him. His jaw and body were relaxed. He smiled. Feeling relieved, she waited for him to marshal his thoughts.
“Let me make a few deductions here, love,” he started.
Sally relaxed. His tone was light and comforting. She knew then and there that this wasn’t going to be an issue.
“Victoria Parker is outwardly a restorer—paintings predominantly—and probably only known of in certain circles of the art world,” Rob guessed, very accurately. “While she’ll never work on a truly famous piece, she’s talented and solidly mid-range. In other sections—the more shadowed and quieter ones, I’m betting—she’s privately a bit of a forger, but only for select people whom she knows and trusts. She’s very low key and not remotely interested in anything overtly illegal. Only the shady, possibly even borderline criminal stuff. Nothing heavy or hard core. She’s a dabbler and in general a good person. Probably very nice and quite friendly. How am I doing?”
“You’re far too intelligent to ask such a stupid question when you know very well the answer already.” Sally sniffed disdainfully. She was secretly relieved Rob understood the situation so perfectly. She just didn’t want to pander to his ego any more than she already had. In many ways, Sally knew she worshiped Rob—he was a brilliant, wonderful man. He didn’t have an over-enlarged ego, or unearned arrogance, but neither was she going to gush over him like some virginal school girl with a crush.
Rob chuckled and she could feel his gaze riveted on her. She stared out of the windscreen, her chin tilted, refusing to look at him.
She didn’t need to read his mind to know he understood he’d hit it perfectly on every score in relation to Vicky.
“So we can assume a few things,” Rob continued jovially. “One, since you are certain the work would take time, it was done a while ago, possibly before the Gallery even had possession of the painting. Two, Vicky will know who gave her the piece to restore. And from that, we can take a leap of faith and hope that, three, that same person organized for the codes to be made in the painting.”
“Will you need Vicky to make a statement, go on record or testify—whatever it is that usually happens?” Sally asked, turning worried eyes upon him again.
Rob hissed.
Sally’s attention snapped back to the road and she swerved the car. She’d gotten a little too close to the rear bumper of the car in front of them. About to defer the conversation, she suddenly found an empty spot.
“Ah ha!” she crowed. Feeling a righteous thrill from success in finding a parking place in the city she twisted the wheel sharply. She swerved the car into the tiny spot, parking in a fluid, graceful motion.
Switching off the ignition, Sally then turned in her seat. She beamed proudly at Rob and saw he’d lost a bit of color. True, she might have been a bit over-vigorous in taking her spot, but had she hesitated even a moment, some other vulture would have snatched it from her.
“Bloody hell, now I remember why I never let you drive, Sal. I can’t make promises when it comes to the crunch, that’s up to Waldron, not me,” he said. “I can say that I doubt it will come to that. Vicky is a small piece of the larger puzzle. If she only restored the painting, covering over the invisible additions someone made, she had no knowledge of what she was really doing. We’re really just tying up the loose ends anyway. With luck we can crack the code and have far bigger fish to fry here. In the end, it’s the person who had this added we want, not Vicky.”
“I guess it’s too much to ask to not have her name in that report?” Sally said as they both removed their seat belts. She felt a bit sad, already knowing the answer, but needed to ask it anyway. Rob twisted his mouth in a frown.
“I’m sorry, Sal. All I can promise is that I’ll do what I can to protect her, but I truly don’t think Waldron will see her as more than a link in the chain leading to those responsible.”
She nodded and sent him a small smile. Rob reached out, stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek. She tilted her head, leaning into the light caress, loving the fact she didn’t have to hide her true feelings anymore. Better than that, she knew Bobby was hers, heart and soul, just as she was his. Having him in her life so much deeper, more intimately now was like a dream come true, like one of her magical paintings coming to life. She couldn’t wait to explore their new life, together, forever.
Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. Not only wasn’t this solving Rob’s puzzle, but she didn’t want him distracted at work like this. She needed to remind herself this was his deal, and she was just along to help and enjoy the ride. Sally hated the thought of putting him on the spot or making his work more difficult than it really was.
“I know I’m making a big deal of this, making your job harder,” she apologized. “I’m sorry, Bobby. It’s not like she’s my best friend. She’s not you, whom I’d do anything to protect. But that doesn’t mean I want to expose her to possible criminal charges and a whole lot of legal trouble, either.”
“I’ll word myself carefully in the report,” he promised.
Her gaze rested upon him. She trusted him implicitly. He was a good man, the very best. She knew he’d do exactly as he said.
“There,” Rob said. “I’ve just doubled the amount of time I’ll need to write that bloody thing. Be grateful I’m not forcing you to critique it before I pass it over to El. Chances are I’d need to wake you at two in the morning to do so.”
“Since I’m the one responsible for your hardship now, I reckon I can spend the night at your place tonight, be on hand for when you finish it at some horrid hour. How does that sound?”
“Mmm,” Rob murmured.
He leaned close, kissed her hungrily. Passion raged through her. She could so easily lose herself in this large, solid man. He was truly her knight in shining armor. Big and strong, moral and straight as an arrow, he was like a beacon drawing her into the light of his inherent goodness.
She wanted him badly. Sally longed to feel his hands on her skin, to lick and touch his every inch. She didn’t care that they were in the car, out in the middle of a street, she wanted him inside her, over her, surrounding her. Every glance they shared, the tilt of his head, the easy way he smiled at her, even the way he thrust his chin out when he was being stubborn, everything about him drove her crazy with desire.
Sally knew without a doubt she’d never grow tired or get over him. She couldn’t imaging a time or place she’d not feel the urge to taste him or have those warm, enormous arms wrap themselves around her, be her safe harbor and keep her from harm.
She adored him. And from the heated intensity of his gaze, she knew he felt very similar to her. Right now, Bobby looked like he could lick her clean and eat her whole. Usually in total, icy control of himself and his emotions, this was the secret, passionate, scorching hot side to Bobby she felt lucky to witness.
Her heart overflowed with love for this man.
“I love it when you look at me like that,” Sally confessed. “Your dark gaze just burns into me, as if you can see all my secrets and yet you’re still hungry for more.”
“I wish I could,” he murmured, kissing her again. “I love you, Sal. Every inch of you, for good or bad. Most especially I adore your enormous heart, your zest for life. You’re the most precious thing in my world. You know that, right?”
“I have an inkling,” she said.
Rob ran his fingers through her hair, spiking her hair in disarray. She batted at his hands, the tiny, rational part of her brain not wanting to look too bed-tousled when they finally got out of the car. Unable to help herself, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately instead. Rob moaned and drew her close to his body.