“I need you to find out where Hardy’s going to be tonight.”
Mike lifted a brow. “We’re moving on him tonight?”
“Not we, just me. I’m going to deliver a message to him—one he’ll be sure to understand.”
Mike’s brows drew together. “You sure you want to do this on your own? A man like Hardy is going to have a lot of muscle protecting him, especially after what he pulled today.”
“I know, but that’ll make the message that much more effective. I walk in there all by myself and show him I can get to him anytime I want,” Gage said. “I want him focused on me. I don’t want him targeting the entire team like he did today.”
Hardy might have sent his goons to the restaurant yesterday to pick Gage up, but there was no way for the bastard to know Gage would be in that house today. He’d kill everyone on the SWAT team to get to Gage if he had to.
Mike glanced at Mackenzie and Zak. They were standing beside the photographer’s car, talking. “I’ll text you the information,” he said. “But how the hell are you going to slip away from Mac? She’s not stupid. If you say you’re running to the store for a carton of milk, she’s going to know what you’re up to. And I don’t think she’s the kind to let you do it.”
No kidding. She was already looking at him impatiently. “Then I guess I’ll have to make sure she’s so exhausted when I leave that she won’t know I’m gone.”
And he knew exactly how to do it.
* * *
Mac knew what Gage had been talking to Mike about before they’d left the hospital parking lot and it sure as hell hadn’t been paperwork and duty rosters. They were discussing what they were going to do about Walter Hardy and the assassination attempt he’d made on Gage and his team. While she’d been waiting in the hallway outside his room, she’d overheard Cooper tell Mike there’d been a bomb in the house. She’d been terrified Gage was going to make up a reason to leave so he could go to Hardy’s place and beat the hell out of him, at the very least.
But that had been an hour ago, and since they’d arrived at her place and she’d started throwing together another simple pasta meal, he hadn’t indicated he was going to bail. So maybe she’d been wrong. Or more likely, he simply knew how worried and upset she’d be if he left. And there was really only one reason she could think of that Gage wouldn’t want to worry her. Somehow in the last few days, he’d come to care for her.
She’d realized Gage had feelings for her earlier today, while she’d been waiting for the doctors to come out and tell her how badly hurt he was. When he’d climbed out of the rubble left by the explosion, she’d been the first one he’d looked for. And when he’d found her, the emotion on his face had been real. She’d seen it, and so had his men. That certainly explained why they’d been so tense around her yesterday, and why Cooper had asked all those strange questions. They knew their boss was falling for her and were worried she was playing with his heart just to get a story.
The horrible part was that she had been playing him, at least in the beginning. She felt even worse because she’d secretly accused him of doing the same to her. It was obvious now that he hadn’t. His friends wouldn’t be worried about him getting hurt if he had. And after this morning, she was ready to admit she was seriously attracted to Gage, too.
When that house had exploded, her heart had exploded with it. The whole bottom had dropped out of her world, and all she could think about was running into the smoking rubble to pull him out. Waiting while Alex and the other cops had dug through the wreckage had been like holding her breath underwater, drowning second by second. When they’d finally pulled Gage out, she could breathe again. Suddenly, her whole world had seemed a lot different. And a lot clearer.
Gage gestured at her plate with his fork. “Aren’t you going to eat any more?”
She looked down to see that she’d barely touched her food. “I’m full.”
She expected Gage to point out that she’d hardly eaten anything and that she couldn’t be full, but instead he put down his fork and picked up hers, then twirled some angel hair pasta on it and held it out to her.
“Don’t stare at it,” he prompted gently. “Eat it.”
Mac couldn’t help but smile. She’d said the same thing to him in the parking lot of the fast-food place last night. The gesture was so endearing that she opened her mouth and let him feed her even though she wasn’t hungry.
As she chewed, he loaded the fork again. “I know what you saw today bothered you. But I want you to know that I’m okay. Really okay.”
When she opened her mouth to respond, he slipped the forkful of pasta right in. She frowned at him, but finished chewing before she answered.
“I know you’re okay, but it still scared the hell out of me. I didn’t realize seeing you in danger would affect me the way it did.”
Gage gave her a piece of chicken, then more pasta. He was really good at feeding her—he didn’t even make a mess. Plus, it was kind of sexy.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said softly.
“It’s not your fault,” she told him equally softly. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
He kept feeding her, and she kept eating for him. There was something so fascinating about such a big man using her fork so carefully. It made her wonder what he’d be like in bed.
