Page 80 of After All The Wreckage

“Not buttering you up, Pipsqueak. Facts are facts. You’re like your hero in more than just the investigator and broken home ways. What does Wallace say to her? Something aboutVeronica’s angry shell hiding her desire to bake him something? And her being decidedly marshmallow-like?”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. “Trust me, you don’t want me baking you anything. You might end up in the hospital with food poisoning. I’m lucky I can make a grilled cheese or heat up a frozen burrito.”

“I notice you didn’t deny being a marshmallow.”

“Mars-mallow. It’s what they call fans of the show. I’ll admit to being that and nothing more.” An unfamiliar feeling of happiness settled in my veins at our teasing. More locks deep inside me seemed to open. More walls tumbling down for the one man I’d always wanted and never thought I’d have.

I turned my head to watch the trees flying by outside the window, forcing myself back to the case and the facts I needed to move around until they slid into place.

Gage slammed on his brakes, the ugly commute traffic slowing us down.

“We should have ridden our motorcycles,” I told him. He didn’t disagree. I looked at the car seat in the back and thought about what Monte had said about Gage and his motorcycle and the sacrifices he was making. “Do you ever get to ride your bike at all?”

“It’s hard to find the time.”

“What happened to your Charger?” I asked.

“Traded it and Dad’s truck in for this,” he said.

“Why?”

“You ever try to get a car seat in and out of the back of a Charger? Gives lessons in geometry a whole new name. Plus, this has side airbags in addition to the front ones.”

I didn’t say anything, and his lips twitched again. “This is way sexier, right? Come on. Talk of airbags and car seat safety… You never knew it could be such a turn-on.”

I knew he meant it as the opposite, but the fact Gage had given up so much to take care of his siblings was exactly that. One oversized, endorphin-driven turn-on.

“You have no idea what turns me on,” I teased back.

“You’re right, I don’t. So tell me. What does?” His voice was low. Sexy. My breath caught as he gave me another quick glance in the stop-and-go traffic, eyes thundering more than the clouds outside the car.

I fought to find my voice, and it sounded uncharacteristically sultry when I finally answered, “Sacrifice. Honesty. Honor. People who keep their word. People who stick when the going gets tough.”

“At least I’m in the game then,” he said. “I may not be in the right shape to stick any three-pointers, but I’m on the court rather than sitting on the bench.”

My smile grew. “I think you have some three-pointers left in you. You aren’t some ancient wash-up looking back on his time in the pros with longing. You still have plenty of game.”

“Yeah?” he said, eyes drifting to my mouth and then back to the road.

I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my fingertips, swallowed, and then said, “Trust me. You got it in the net last night.”

I didn’t think it was possible for Gage’s smile to be more beautiful than it already was, but he lit up at my words. A wild joy rushed over his face so beautiful it made me quiver.

“But I hit the rim. I need nothing but net next time.”

“If you keep going with the corny basketball analogies,” I teased, “I might have to take back everything I said.”

His soft chuckle rolled through me. I wanted to freeze the moment. Capture it. Hold on tight so that neither of us remembered anything but the hint of desire and the overwhelming sense of belonging that filled the air. What wouldI give up to keep this? To be unlike my television heroine and actually hold on to the one person her heart had always wanted?

CHAPTER THIRTY

Rory

BIG MAN, LITTLE DIGNITY

Performed by Paramore

Margetto’s wasone of the restaurants in D.C. that politicians went to when they wanted everyone to see who they were having lunch with. Dunn was meeting with the senator from Colorado who was due to retire next year. Which meant he was trying to maneuver his way into the upper house with the old guard’s backing. This was good for us because he wouldn’t want to make a scene at the restaurant. He’d want to appear strong and confident and squeaky clean.