Page 28 of The Agent
He couldn’t help but remember the day in Marley’s kitchen, when she’d asked him if he’d ever been in love and had looked so astounded when he’d admitted he hadn’t.
He might have a different answer now, if the unfamiliar warmth flowing through his veins was what he thought it was.
It was funny—the women he’d dated in the past had wanted so badly for him to love them, but how could he, when he wasn’t even sure what love felt like?
Now, he thought he might have an idea. The lump of tenderness that lodged in his throat whenever he looked into Marley’s eyes. The heat that unfurled in his body whenever he touched her. The protective rush that shot through him when he thought about the danger she was in.
Was that love?
Sitting up in bed, Caleb watched as Marley moved around the bedroom, folding clothes, shoving a pair of shoes into the closet. She’d barely said two words since they woke up, and he was beginning to grow uneasy. Any second now, he expected her to tell him last night was a mistake and throw him out.
But she didn’t do that. Rather, she strode to the bathroom, then hesitated in the doorway and glanced over her shoulder. “Want to take a shower?”
He was off the bed and moving toward her in a nanosecond.
Taking off the T-shirt she’d slipped into before they’d gone to sleep, she stepped into the shower stall.
Caleb shucked his boxers and followed her in, wrapping his arms around her from behind as she turned on the faucet.
Hot water poured out of the showerhead and Marley tilted her head, letting the water soak her honey-blond hair.
She took a step back, giving him a turn under the spray while she reached for a poufy-looking thing and squirted a generous amount of body wash onto it.
The scent of strawberries filled the small space.
It smelled like Marley, sweet and feminine and unbelievably sexy.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she washed herself, white suds sliding down her body and gathering in the valley of her breasts. She was so freaking gorgeous, creamy white skin, gentle curves and full breasts tipped with tight pink nipples.
He opened his mouth to say something. Tell her she was beautiful. Ask her if she needed help. But what came out was, “What does this mean?”
Handing him the pouf, she moved under the spray and let the water wash away the suds. For a long time, she didn’t answer, and he just stood there, feeling slightly awkward as he dragged the fluffy sponge across his body, branding that strawberry scent into his own skin.
When she finally spoke, her voice came out in a sigh. “I don’t know what it means.”
Do you want me to stay?
He didn’t utter the words, fearful of how she might respond. Instead, he asked the question to himself.
Did he want to stay?
His entire adult life had revolved around his job.
He worked out of the New York office, but his assignments took him all over the country.
Staying with Marley would mean not being able to take certain assignments, or maybe even leaving the agency altogether.
It would be too hard, living apart for long periods at a time.
It astounded him that he could even consider any of this. His work was all he’d ever cared about. Previously, the notion of not having his job had brought a knot of panic to his gut.
Now, that panic arose when he imagined leaving Marley. He wanted to stay here with her. To help her renovate her house and go to Sunday barbecues at her dad’s place. To make love to her every night and wake up next to her every morning.
“We shouldn’t talk about it right now.” Marley’s soft voice pulled him out of his disconcerting thoughts. “I don’t have the energy for it. I just want Patrick to be caught.”
Sliding open the steamed-up door, Marley got out of the shower, her body slick and rosy pink. Caleb quickly rinsed, then turned off the faucet. He was just getting out when Marley let out a squeak followed by an irritated curse.
“You okay?” he asked.
She hopped on one foot, holding the other one with a wet hand and rubbing her big toe. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just stubbed my toe on that loose tile again.”
He looked at the floor. One of the tiles had popped out of place, thanks to Marley’s foot.
“I definitely need to retile,” she grumbled, moving to the door and swiping a terry-cloth robe from the hook there.
Caleb continued to stare at the tile. Why had a tile in the middle of the floor come loose? Something wasn’t right. “I think…” Getting out of the shower, he bent down to the floor, dripping water all over the place. “There’s something here.”
He lifted the tile, squinting into the space beneath.
Instead of the plywood that should have been there, someone had sawed out a jagged square, revealing the cavity beneath the sub-floor.
A dark little hiding place. Slowly, Caleb stuck his hand in, feeling around until his fingers made contact with plastic.
He gripped what felt like an envelope, using only his thumb and forefinger to pull it out.
“What is that?” Marley asked.
Caleb studied the envelope, which was enclosed in a clear plastic bag. It felt bulky, and when he gingerly removed it from the bag and lifted the flap, his breath caught in his throat.
Marley stepped closer, peering down at the envelope in his hands. She gasped. “Is that…money?”
He stared at the thick stacks of bills, four of them individually wrapped with elastic bands. All hundreds, and each stack had to contain at least fifty grand.
Dropping the flap, Caleb tucked the envelope back in the bag and stood up. “Well, I think we know why Patrick’s still in town,” he remarked with a sigh.