But he'd just admitted his part in all this.
When she walked up to Jeremy, she searched for something to say. He gave a brief shake of his head, without looking at her. The deadly glint in his eyes remained focused on the threat at her back.
Jeremy took her by the arm and gently pulled her behind him. She glanced around at their potential escape route through the rear door. The narrow walkway went fifteen feet then took a hard right turn to the exit.
Did Jeremy intend to back them out of here?
"Get out of here," Jeremy said softly without turning around. He was talking to her.
"They'll kill you the minute I leave."
"For once, it'll be worth it." He swallowed. "You're worth any cost."
She didn't like the sound of that. "No, Jeremy--"
"Nobody moves," Starface snapped. "Not until I get my card."
"I'm staying. She's leaving," Jeremy said in an unyielding tone. "Once she's gone you get the card." He paused, then ordered, "Now, CeCe."
How could she leave him? They'd kill Jeremy the minute he handed over the card. "But--"
"You're putting us both in more danger if you stay," he said, ending any argument she could come up with.
Jeremy had a plan and she might get him killed by not knowing what it was. In spite of everything that had happened, she trusted him so she had to trust what he told her right now.
CeCe backed slowly to the rear exit while the three men stood silently facing off. When she reached the door and stepped outside backward she was slammed by a driving rain. As the door was closing all the lights inside the bar went dark.
Shots boomed through the room.
Jeremy. She reached for the door but hands grabbed her, wrenching her back. FBI agents surrounded her.
She struggled to free herself, yelling at them to get inside and help Jeremy.
Vinny rushed up, ordering, "We had a deal. Give her to me."
Sirens screamed between booms of thunder exploding overhead. More gunshots cracked inside the building.
"Jeremy's in there," she yelled at her brother and anyone who would listen. "Somebody help him. Let me go!"
"They know," Vinny told her and held her firm in his grasp while she struggled and beat at his hands like a wild woman.
The gunshots stopped.
She held her breath, afraid to think of what had happened to Jeremy. Vinny wrapped a coat around her.
FBI and a SWAT team poured in from everywhere, swarming the building from all sides. New shots were fired inside but the battle was over in seconds.
An ambulance tore into the lot, spraying water off the tires.
Vinny tried to guide her away.
"No! I want to see Jeremy." Her heart had shattered at Jeremy's admission, but she had to know if he was alive. She gripped her hands together, praying for a miracle.
The EMTs stood ready. What the hell was taking the FBI so long? Jeremy could be bleeding to death if he'd been hit.
Special Agent Denton emerged from the back door. She hadn't realized he was here. Denton waved the EMTs forward. "Interior is secured. We got one alive."
She weaved on her feet as the EMTs disappeared into the building. Vinny wrapped his arm around her for support.
The rain subsided into a drizzle. Water mixed with tears that ran down her face.
When the EMTs rushed out with the gurney, her knees almost buckled at the site of an oxygen mask over Jeremy's face. Blood spread across his chest from where he'd been shot in the shoulder.
She broke free of Vinny and ran to catch up with the gurney. Jeremy's eyes were shut, his skin a blanched gray, but he was alive.
"I want to go with him," she told the EMTs when they started to load him.
"You can't, ma'am."
"Why not?" She'd take on the whole lot of them, including the FBI and her brother, if she had to so she could stay with Jeremy.
Vinny was pulling her back again. "You can't, sis." He gave up when she wouldn't move and said, "He's under arrest."
That's when CeCe saw Jeremy's wrist handcuffed to the rail on the gurney.
Vinny added, "But you're free to go. I made a deal with the FBI."
The EMTs loaded the gurney and closed the doors.
CeCe turned on Vinny, all the misery and hurt she'd kept bottled up today gushing out. She yelled, "He risked his life to save me. How could you throw him to them?"
Vinny sighed and leaned close to her, whispering, "It was Jeremy's idea. He gave me the real photo card to trade for your freedom."
Oh, dear God. Her brothers didn't think any man was good enough for her, but she'd finally found a man she loved... and didn't deserve.
And now she'd never see him again.
Eight
Jeremy pressed the button on his Bluetooth to engage the cell call while he drove along Dallas Highway, headed to his gym in Marietta. "What?"
"You're a surly bastard this time in the morning," Retter replied. "Get up on the wrong side of the bed?"
If he'd been in bed at all last night, Jeremy might have gotten up on the wrong side. But after being gone for over two weeks, he'd spent the first night at home rambling around like an abandoned dog dumped on the highway.
"I'll be ready to work by the end of the week," Jeremy told him rather than address Retter's question.
"Joe wants you to put in some time in your gym for a couple weeks before you come back to active duty. Get that shoulder in shape. Besides, we're not sure what we're going to do with you now that the president personally cleared you from any trouble with the FBI. Not sure you're of much value undercover in a prison. Too big a risk that someone inside a federal agency might slip and blow your cover."
"I still have the best rap sheet on the team," Jeremy argued, though his heart wasn't in it. He'd done such an outstanding job for BAD he was their number one ex-con.
"Not any more."
"What do you mean?"
"Joe got your entire rap sheet expunged in exchange for heading off an apocalypse in North America. We're looking at moving you into coordinating short-term missions. Tee was actually the one who said you had enough holes in your body. She figured your warranty would run out with one more."
"Tee?" Jeremy said, incredulous. Hard to imagine any sympathy from Joe's codirector, who had ice in her veins and loved only her furry little mutt, Petey.
"Don't take that to heart," Retter cautioned. "She said at the cost of training new recruits she was just thinking of saving money."
"That sounds more like her." Jeremy couldn't believe the irony in all this. Now he had no criminal record. Too bad it had come two weeks late.
As if CeCe hearing him admit that he knew Starface and had cut a deal with Sam the Man hadn't been damning enough. From what Jeremy had been told later, CeCe had watched in horror as EMTs carried him off in handcuffs.
BAD had taken him to one of the agency's safe houses in northern Georgia to heal once Jeremy was stable enough to be moved from Piedmont Hospital. He'd assumed Joe and Retter had worked some magic to free him but never expected to have a clean record. They'd sent a medical team to oversee his recuperation from then until he'd been released to come home yesterday.
Clean bill of health. No criminal record. Just an average guy for once and unable to have the only woman he wanted. Vinny had made it clear that his family would protect CeCe from danger, even her own bad decisions.
Jeremy would top that list of bad decisions in her family's view.
"I'll be in touch." He hung up and tossed the phone into his cup holder. He unhooked the Bluetooth. At least tonight he could burn off his stored-up energy in the gym.
Blade had a couple guys with remodeling experience who needed some work so Jeremy figured the weight room and aerobic area could stand a new look.
He'd instructed Tim, his evening manager, to close the gym early so Jeremy could survey it without having to talk to everyone. He enjoyed his customers, but his heart wasn't up for making happy talk.
O
r for seeing the gym without CeCe stretching and smiling.
Jeremy parked in the lot and frowned. Blade's Corvette was the only car out there. Where was his manager's car?
When Jeremy pushed his car door open his shoulder ached, but not so severely today. He stretched that arm on his way into the gym.
Blade opened the glass door and broke out a high-powered smile. "Heard you were coming in tonight."
"Where's Tim?" Jeremy stepped inside. Instead of the ghostly quiet he'd expected, soft rock music spilled from the overhead speakers. But the gym always seemed abandoned when it was empty like this.
Would forever be empty without CeCe.
"Tim had a hot date, so me being the incredibly generous person that I am--"
"And humble," Jeremy added, finding his first smile in a while.
"That too." Blade nodded. "I offered to keep an eye on the place until you showed up."
Jeremy walked over and leaned his good arm against the checkin counter. Blade always had an angle. He probably expected Jeremy to do a quick scope of the area to be remodeled then pick up the tab for some cold brews so they could chase skirts.
He owed Blade that, and more. Blade had come through when he needed someone. He'd tapped contacts who were known felons and put his freedom at risk to get the information Jeremy had needed to save CeCe.
He'd been a true friend.
"Thanks for letting Tim go early." Jeremy glanced in the direction of the aerobic room. "We'll do a walk-through for your guys then get some beers." He'd go with Blade, but the idea of taking anyone home after having had CeCe in his bed just didn't seem right. Didn't excite him in the least.
"No can do." Blade fished his keys from his pocket. "Gotta roll. I'll take a rain check on those beers."
"You're kidding. So what are you doing here?"
"Dropped off CeCe's fiberglass base. Didn't know what you wanted to do with it."
Jeremy's breath caught at hearing her name. He'd have to get used to it since she'd been well liked in the gym and he was bound to hear someone ask about her not being around.
"Guess she's gone for good," Jeremy muttered.
"Mm-hmm." Blade shrugged with understanding. That was as close as they ever came to discussing something personal. "I stuck the base in your aerobic room. Figure you wouldn't forget it that way since I understand you got another problem in there."
Standing away from the counter, Jeremy hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans. "What problem?"
Blade held up his hands. "Forget I said anything." He looked at his watch and grinned. "Got to run. Call me tomorrow."
When Blade reached for the door, Jeremy said, "By the way, thanks for everything you did."
Blade flashed that wicked smile of his. "Oh, I plan to collect big time... soon as you can hang with me again."
Some things never changed. Jeremy waved him off and locked the door as Blade fired up his land rocket.
He turned toward the aerobic room. Locating Vinny's address wouldn't take long. The urge to deliver the base personally for a chance to see CeCe again chewed at Jeremy, but he wouldn't do that.
Besides, Vinny had her tucked away somewhere safe by now.
Jeremy strode across the gym. Once he had an address for DeMitri he'd ship the base. Even if Vinny and his squad of brothers would stand aside for Jeremy to visit CeCe again, he doubted she'd even answer her door to him.
She wouldn't want to speak to him again after all that had gone down.
As he neared the aerobic room he heard a noise and went on alert.
Jeremy approached the room cautiously, wondering why the lights around the base of the room were still on. One of his yoga instructors liked to use them instead of overhead lights for a softer mood.
When he stepped through the door, he was sure his heart skipped a beat.
CeCe lay on a blue foam mat in front of the wall of mirrors, stretching her amazing body with liquid movements. She hummed quietly along with the music playing.
The fiberglass base Blade had repaired sat in the corner.
She looked into the mirror and met his gaze, then stopped moving. "Hi."
Her shy greeting kicked his heart into beating again.
"Hi." Jeremy moved slowly toward her, not wanting her to vanish if she was only a figment of his imagination.
She sat up, still staring into the mirror, their reflected gazes locked in a timeless moment.
When he stood behind her, looking down, Jeremy waited for a painful breath to flow out of his lungs so he could speak. "Good to see you."
"You too. How's your shoulder?" Her words came out fragile, as if they might break if she spoke too loud.
"Healing. Why are you here?"
"I got a call from Blade about the base and..."
"Oh." He would have said more but the words backed up in his tight throat.
"That's not what I meant." Her eyes shied away from his. She took a breath and raised her beautiful gaze to meet his in the mirror. "When Blade called, I talked to him for a while. He wouldn't really share anything about you and didn't know where you were, but he said you'd come back eventually. I've been visiting my family in Ontario so I asked him to let me know when he knew you were back. That I wanted to come see you."
"Why?"
"To tell you I'm sorry." The words rushed out in a strained whisper.
That threw him. He really looked at her. She'd lost weight. It showed in her face, which was turned up staring at his reflection.
"For what?" he asked. Why was she apologizing?
"For judging you by one set of standards and others, like my family, by another set."
His pulse jumped at the hope her words offered. "What do you mean?"
She shifted up on her knees, never breaking eye contact. "Took me a while to sort things out, but I think I finally got my head straight. I was willing to accept that the men in my family were decent men, in spite of their heritage. Their grandfather and father--my stepdad--ran illegal gambling operations, but when their grandfather was killed in a bust, my three stepbrothers made a pact before they graduated high school to change the family business. They started legitimate businesses over four years ago and have slowly moved the family enterprise away from illegal numbers games."
Jeremy knew she waited for some comment, but he wanted to see where this was going.
Hope had been an evil mistress over the past month.
CeCe drew a deep breath. "I went home to see my dad and brothers after... everything happened. I told them about you and that I couldn't hold you to a double set of standards. If I could accept them with the DeMitri past then they had to accept that I cared for you."
His heart was beating so fast he could feel his chest move. "What exactly are you saying?"
She stood up and turned around, facing him with her heart in her eyes. "That I should have been willing to let you explain whenever you were ready, to give you a chance to tell your side of what happened in your past. That if you tell me you're not involved in criminal activity I believe you. I know how you found the photo card in my statue base and that you gave the real one to Vinny to use in a deal for my freedom. Then you walked into that..."
Her lip trembled and a tear streaked down her face. "You walked into that death trap knowing you had no way out. I thought you'd died when all those shots were fired. Then they took you away and wouldn't let me go with you and you were bleeding and no one would tell me where you were and..." Tears poured down her face.
Jeremy took her into his arms and hugged her. Holding her was a gift he never expected to experience again. Her arms went around him and she sobbed against his chest.
"It's okay." He shushed her, rubbing his hand up and down her back. "I made it."
"No it's not okay." She lifted red eyes full of regret to his. "I'm sorry you didn't know how much I loved you before you walked into that building prepared to die for me."
She loved him? Jeremy couldn't move as hope flooded him from head to toe.
> CeCe had come back and she loved him.
He laid his palm along her cheek. "I'm sorry too, that I couldn't tell you about so many things. I don't have a criminal record anymore..."
Her forehead wrinkled with confusion. "What do you mean?"
"My entire record has been expunged. With the exception of boosting cars when I was a teenager, everything else on my rap sheet was created as a cover for my... job."
She sniffled. "You don't own a gym?" Her lips puckered in concern. Then her tongue slipped along her bottom lip.
All he'd thought about for the past sixteen days was CeCe.
Jeremy gave up waiting to kiss her. When he dipped his head, she cupped her hands on his face and opened her lips to his invasion. His world tilted back into place and started spinning forward again.
He kissed her over and over again, wanting to hold her like this forever. But to do that he'd have to tell her everything.
Slowly ending the kiss, he said, "Time for all the truth."
She looked as though she prepared herself for the worst, then nodded. "I'm ready to listen."
Using his thumbs, he wiped away the last of her tears. "In addition to owning this gym, I do contract work for an agency that protects national security."
"Oh, crud. I had the thought that you might be law enforcement, then I blew it off when everything happened. I can't believe what I put you through and..." She paused, blinking. "What kind of law enforcement?"
He smiled, then turned serious when he told her, "I work undercover for a group that has no public identity. I used to insert into prisons for intel, but the powers that be have decided not to use me that way anymore. I can't share details about my work with you, so there will be times when I'm technically lying by omission, but I'll never lie to you about anything between us. I love you too, and never want to lose you again."
Tears started fresh again. She kissed him hard and passionately for what seemed like forever and not long enough, then pulled back with a worried look. "What about my family? Every one of my brothers is an honest businessman, but you of all people know how the past can cause problems. Will they be on your agency's radar, because I don't want to put my brothers or dad at risk... by me being with you."
Trust was a bridge between them that could go crashing down or bind them together depending on if they could build it.