the other team members knew about it, or would connect it with the group.”
It didn’t quite add up. If it was only used the one time, why refer to it as a front? “Tell me no one in the club has ever been put into any sort of danger.”
“No.” But doubt fluttered about the edges of her response. Shit, he had to get word out. Make sure Thalia stayed away. Sam and Rosie too.
“Is it possible Harris will go after Cooper himself?”
Lauren pursed her lips for a second before shaking her head. “Cooper’s deliberately created opportunities for Harris to go after him if he wanted. As far as we can tell, Harris is fixated on me.”
“Have you told me everything I should know about it?”
There was a split second’s hesitation to her “yes” this time. Shit. Shit. SHIT.
“I’ve told you everything I’m allowed to tell you,” she finally allowed.
His suspicions settled down at her answer. Somewhat. Rules and secrets were part of his world. And hers. “Is there anything you’re not telling me that might affect how we’ve set up the protection of this place? Or of the club?”
“No.” No hesitation.
All right, he could live with that. As long as she was telling him the truth. “When this is over, you and I are going to sit down and have a long talk.”
Troy snorted. “Since you’re both stuck here until we stop Harris, I’d say you two could start talking now.”
He turned on Troy. “Before you start casting stones, you might want to remember that you’ve known about this for almost a year and not said anything. So don’t go postal on Lauren for keeping quiet.”
Troy had the good grace to look away.
Chad rolled his shoulders, releasing the tension that had been building in them. “All right. Let’s plan what we’re going to do to draw him in. The sooner we can get it underway the sooner we can get out of here.”
Chapter Twelve
Lauren shifted her weight between the balls of her feet, watching for an opening. When she saw it, she brought up her knee and snapped her foot out, aiming toward Chad’s solar plexus. Perhaps she’d telegraphed what she was going to do, or maybe she shouldn’t have tried it twice in a row because this time he deflected the kick and spun away.
“You always did have a nice roundhouse.”
“Thanks.” She raised her hands and started circling again, allowing herself to admire the play of his shoulder muscles. Muscles that had rippled beneath her fingers the night before. The quick jab she took at him didn’t make it past his glove.
For the next two minutes there was only the smack of leather on leather, and the occasional grunt when a hit connected, interrupting the silence of the gym. Then Chad telegraphed what she thought was going to be a right cross. Turned out it was a feint and he landed a forward kick to her solar plexus. She would have cursed him. If she could have drawn a breath.
“Shit! I tried to pull it but you leaned in.” He grabbed her under her arms and held her so her lungs could fill with the air he’d knocked from her.
She hauled in a breath, then another. “Good one.”
“Thanks.”
Covered in sweat from her workout, Lauren stripped as she followed Chad to the bathroom. “Mind if I join you?”
The dark look he gave her sent a thrill down her spine and into her very core. “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”
He turned on the shower then stripped off his tee. Lauren frowned when he folded it before putting it in the hamper. She’d noticed that about him before-from the way his clothes were arranged in his closet, to how everything on his desk was neat and tidy. Even tidier than hers. “What’s up with the neat freak routine all of a sudden? Did you have a housekeeper who complained about how you left your clothes on the floor the way you did when we were married?”
The heat in his eyes changed to ice, as did his tone. “There’s no pleasing you, is there? When we were married, you’d complain that you were always having to pick up after me, and now I put things away properly, you’re questioning me?”
Tread carefully. “I just wondered what changed-you never used to worry about dropping your clothes on the floor or leaving papers piled up on the desk…”
“What changed?” He advanced on her until they were inches apart. “You left. That’s what changed.”
Oh God. He didn’t mean…“You thought if you kept things cleaner, if you hung up your clothes, I’d come back?” She reached up and stroked his neck. “Chad, I didn’t leave you because you left your clothes on the floor. You know that, don’t you?”
He shook his head. “All I knew was you weren’t there anymore.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I knew you were upset that I didn’t talk to you about going against orders to protect Thalia but I couldn’t go back into the past and change it.”
“So you changed what you could.” She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. He stayed tense for a moment then relaxed and held her too. “We were both trying to change things in our own way, weren’t we? To fix things we couldn’t fix.”
“I was willing to do anything I could to get you back.”
She knew that feeling. After all, she’d spent years running, fixing up other people’s messes, living from a suitcase while leaving no traces of herself wherever she went. How she wished there was some magic time machine…but there wasn’t. “I know we can’t go back, but is there a future for us?”
When this is over, will I lose you again?
His brows drew together in that familiar way.
“We have a lot to work out. I know there are things you’re still not telling me.”
She dropped her gaze. “You know I signed-”
“I’m not talking about your agreement with the Brigade. There’s something else you’re not telling me, isn’t there? Like the divorce that you think I asked you for while I think it was the other way around. About the letters that you sent me that I never got.”
“There are going to be some things you may not want to hear. I need you to trust me about some of the rest. That there may be things that I’m protecting you from.”
“Did you remarry? Has there been someone else?”
She smiled at his gruff tone. He was jealous. “No. There’s never been anyone else.”
He fell silent for a moment but she didn’t dare break the spell. “Remember I said I bought a house? I’ve spent a lot of time fixing it up-I’ve put in hardwood floors and torn out a lot of ’70s paneling. I put in a new kitchen too.”
She knew that already. Except Thalia had told her he’d bought it with his new wife. “I’d like to see it one day.”
“You don’t have to share a bedroom with me, but I’ve got one to spare. If you’d like.”
That would last for…a minute. “I’d like that.”
Footsteps slapped across the mats, slowed then stopped at the door. A half-second later, someone knocked. “You two decent in there?”
“Come on in.”
Andy stuck his head in, his gaze taking a long sweep down Lauren’s form that had a growl forming in Chad’s throat.
“What do you want?”
“Troy called. The setup worked. They caught Harris attempting to break into the decoy home. He ate a bullet rather than be arrested.” He tossed Lauren’s cellphone to them; Chad caught it handily. “He says Lauren’s boss
