Page 45 of Always Been Mine (Always #2)

“Fuck, babe,” Gabe said raggedly. He took the steps two at the time and pulled her from Nate’s arms, clenching her so tightly, he was probably squeezing her too much. It was as if he couldn’t get close enough to her.

He shifted away slightly and kissed her desperately, deeply.

“I love you so fucking much,” Gabe muttered .

“Oh, Gabe,” Beatrice whispered. “I thought I would never see you again.”

“Don’t ever think that. Don’t ever,” he growled fiercely. “I will always come for you.”

He kissed her again.

“Baxter’s dead.”

Viktor was speaking to the admiral who was being patched up by Maia.

Caitlin and Rhino were the only ones who escaped unscathed from the siege on the safe house.

Nate, Sam, and Porter received non-life threatening gunshot wounds with the admiral possibly sustaining a couple of broken ribs from the explosion.

Beatrice had a concussion and a few minor lacerations.

Since she was unconscious when Nate found her, Gabe would be insisting she receive the full battery of tests.

Dr. Ryan had been notified and was on her way with a medical van.

“We have confirmation?” Porter asked. The body of Harold Baxter was found alongside the other dead hostiles who attacked the safe house.

“I sent an image to Tim for facial recognition. It’s a 99% match,” Viktor said. He looked at Gabe. “You also confirm that you’ve seen him with Zorin?”

Gabe nodded. He definitely had seen Harold Baxter meet with his former crime boss at least twice before.

“Too bad he couldn’t be held accountable for his crimes,” the admiral said. His eyes drifted to Beatrice. “However, I, for one, will sleep better at night with Baxter gone.”

Porter’s gaze continued moving and landed on him.

Gabe inclined his head in silent agreement.

It was a selfish thought because they could have found out the depth of Baxter’s deception if he were alive.

But in this, Gabe was sure that he and Porter were of the same mind—fuck the whole world, they had paid their dues in blood for far too long.

There had been a revolving door of Guardians in the safe house, which was technically not safe anymore given the blasted doors and windows. The big guy who Gabe had met in the woods earlier walked in and approached Viktor.

“Our Quick Reaction team was able to apprehend Dr. Devlin and sequester the ST-Vyl virus. Should we inform the CDC?”

Viktor contemplated the question before deferring to Porter. “Admiral?”

“Fucking tired of making decisions,” Porter said wearily.

“We’ll actually have to involve the FBI and Homeland Security on this one since it’s on U.S. soil,” Viktor said. “I’m sure the CIA will have to work intel on the Russian buyer. Tim is mining the data right now.”

“This would mean a POTUS brief,” Porter muttered. “I don’t have time for this shit.”

Gabe pushed back from the wall and walked over to where Beatrice was talking to Travis. She looked at him questioningly when he sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms.

Travis cleared his throat and grinned knowingly. He stood up, squeezed Gabe on his shoulder, and muttered that he was going to look for Caitlin.

“You okay? Dizzy?” Gabe asked.

“My head hurts.”

“You’ve got an egg-size lump on the back of your head.”

“After all the craziness of the past few months, it’s nothing.”

“Zach Jamison is dead. I killed him,” Gabe stated flatly. “He was tied to a chair and I slit his throat.”

Beatrice closed her eyes, and for a brief moment, Gabe was afraid of what he would see in them .

When she opened them, they were hard. “What prompted you to kill him right then?”

“He threatened you. I couldn’t turn him over to anyone else knowing he’d send someone after you again.”

Beatrice didn’t say a word, just nodded.

“I can’t change who I am, babe. I’ll always be ruthless when it comes to you,” Gabe added. “I would kill for you, no hesitation. Anyone who threatens your life is dead.”

“I wasn’t saying anything, because the first thing I felt was relief.

” She released a weary breath. “I’m also feeling guilty because right after they cut me, I wanted to tell you to hunt down whoever did this to me and kill them all.

It frightened me, the violence and anger consuming me, though eventually they faded.

It doesn’t mean I’m not glad he’s dead. If that makes me an evil person, so be it.

” Her eyes searched his. “If that makes us two of a kind, so be it. There are no rainbows and unicorns in our world, Gabe, especially yours. You’ve seen too much of its evil that in order to fight evil you had to become like it. I fully accept that part of you.”

“I know how lucky I am; I don’t deserve you.” He held her gaze. “You’re brave, smart, incredibly beautiful—”

“Don’t forget, I give good head,” Beatrice said in a hushed whisper.

Gabe choked on his chuckle, caught unaware by his woman’s sass even after she nearly got blown up. She never ceased to amaze him.

“That you do.” He tipped her chin up to look at him. “You know I’m never letting you go, right?”

“If that’s your version of a proposal, Gabriel, that sucks.”

He could see her sudden nervousness through her sass.

He knew they would have to compromise between her aversion to being tied down and his consuming desire to make her irrevocably his.

He needed to show her that he had a life outside of her, but she needed to accept that she was the center of his world.

“It’s not. When I finally ask to you to be my wife—take note, that’s when and not if—you will know. ”

“Is that so?” Beatrice’s brow arched, but her lips were tipped in a genuine smile.

This was promising, so he added, “Yup. You might as well start picking paint colors and furniture for the house.” He remembered how Beatrice was so animated discussing home decorating shit with Caitlin. He wanted that enthusiasm channeled for them.

“Wait . . . Uh, what house?”

“Mine. I’m not living in your fucking condo. I doubt Rhino would like it, and I’m not doing this ‘your place or mine’ bullshit.”

“I need time—”

“You’re moving in right after you get checked out by Dr. Ryan. We’re packing your shit. It’s moving next to mine, and you’re sleeping in my fucking bed. I’m not sleeping under a damned canopied one.”

“Whoa there, buster.” Beatrice looked more dazed than earlier and Gabe felt guilty. “No ragging on my beautiful bed. But I agree, you’d look silly under all those frills.” Her green eyes were luminous. “So, you’re asking me to move in with you? Officially?”

“Yes. We got sidetracked with that discussion because of your silly concerns about my job choices,” Gabe said. “I agree, I wouldn’t be your most effective bodyguard long-term, but I’ve been offered a job as an instructor at the Farm before. I’m sure they’d have no problem accepting my application.”

The Farm was the CIA’s training facility.

Beatrice looked at her hands. When she lifted her eyes, her brows furrowed as she stared past him. “Uh, we probably shouldn’t be having this conversation in a room full of nosy people.”

Gabe paused, realizing that for a few seconds there the chatter around them had died. He turned his head to the side. Sure enough, everyone from Porter, Viktor, Maia, Nate, Travis and a host of other people were listening in on their conversation. When had badass security guys become such gossips?

“Seriously, baby, put the man out of his misery,” the admiral said dryly.

“You got all the images, Tim?” Caitlin transmitted all the photos from the scene outside. She didn’t particularly care to see pictures of mangled, dead bodies, but someone had to get it done.

“Yup. The team who guarded the meet at Culpeper was mostly South African mercenaries. These are checking out to be Russian,” Tim replied. “Different security companies.”

“Well, I guess that’s it for tonight—or morning,” Caitlin yawned. It was close to 2:00 a.m.

“You did very well tonight, Caitlin,” the data analyst said. “I had the satellite images up on your location; it was quite a fire fight, but you remained cool as ice.”

“I trusted the people around me,” she replied. “And I knew Travis was on his way.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t find what you were looking for,” Tim said softly.

“I’ve accepted it for a while,” Caitlin replied truthfully.

“Catching a break with Redrook and knowing he held the key to my past did raise my hopes, but I can’t regret not remembering my past, because I welcome my life with Travis so much more.

I feel it deep in my gut, you know, that I’ve never been this happy and fulfilled before. ” She put a hand on her baby bump.

Tim simply smiled at her and Caitlin got self-conscious.

“Oh, Lord, I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. I’m so sorry. I just met you,” Caitlin stuttered in mortification.

“Are you sure? ”

Caitlin stared at Tim, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll see you around, Star Pixie.” Tim smiled wider, winked, and cut the feed.

Caitlin was left staring at the screen, her mouth open in an O. Star Pixie was her alias on the Black Plane.

“Saber Boy?” she whispered.