Page 31 of Cassidy

“You care for Cassidy. A lot,” Steele said. “Your feelings are no secret, Gabe. We’ve all noticed.”

He felt himself flush. “Really? So Cass knows too?”

“I’m not sure about that,” Steele said with a shrug. “She cares about you as a friend for sure. I don’t know that she’s figured out how much you want to ask her out.”

“I—ask her out?” He was shocked at what Steele was saying. “There’s no way she would go out with me.”

“Gabe, you’ll never know unless you ask her,” Steele said with a grin. “Her last boyfriend was a real dud, couldn’t handle her career. We’re all rooting for you, hoping you’ll take the next step. But for now, you may want to wait until your memory returns.”

Her last boyfriend was a dud? And they were rooting for him? He couldn’t believe how much Steele seemed to know about his feelings. More than he did, obviously. Before he could say anything more, though, he saw Cassidy pushing out of the lobby door.

She held up two room keys with a triumphant look on her face. She opened the passenger door, allowing a cold blast of air in. “Got ’em. Rooms 11 and 12 on the first floor.”

“Okay. I’ll park around the corner as usual,” Steele said, driving past the lobby and making a loop toward the rooms Cassidy had obtained for them. “Glad he had the connecting rooms available.”

“I asked Gary to keep an eye on the security cameras too,” she said. “He said the place was only about half full, so doing that for us shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Gary’s a frustrated cop at heart,” Steele said with a grin. “He loves helping us, as long as we don’t damage his rooms.”

“Hey, we always pay for the damage,” Cassidy said. “And he’s appreciative of that.”

Gabe frowned. “You make it sound like we damage his motel rooms on a regular basis.”

Cassidy grimaced. “Yeah, we kinda do. Although it’s been a few months now since we’ve had any issues here.”

“Oh yay,” he muttered. “Score one for the good guys.”

Obviously, he knew cops faced danger on a regular basis. But that didn’t mean he liked the idea of Cassidy putting her life on the line for him. Or for anyone.

Was that part of the reason he hadn’t asked her out?

There was no way to know what had held him back until his memory returned. Deep down, he feared that he had asked her out, but she’d turned him down.

And if that was the case, he needed to do a better job of keeping his feelings to himself.

Cassidy settheir new disposable phones on the table and watched as Gabe examined the setup of their connecting rooms. She had sensed some trepidation on his part in staying here, but he seemed better now that they were settled in.

“How soon can I get that computer?” Gabe asked. “And I just realized we left our overnight cases in Rhy’s car.”

“I’ll call Jina,” Steele said, pulling out his phone. “We need a replacement vehicle, too, so this may take some time.”

“Have her bring the computer first, then work on the vehicle,” Gabe said, clearly impatient to get started.

Steele shot her a look, as if asking what’s up with Gabe, so she stepped forward and rested a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Gabe. We’ll have the rest of the day to work on the computer code. The replacement vehicle is important too. No sense in making Jina and whoever is available to help her make two trips.”

Gabe sighed. “Okay. Sorry. I guess I’m still on edge from the shooting.”

She understood his concern. Being targeted by gunfire was very much outside Gabe’s comfort zone. She nodded at Steele. “Have Jina bring at least two computers, and our suitcases if she can.”

He nodded, then crossed into the next room to make the necessary arrangements.

“You also mentioned calling your mother,” she said to Gabe. “Let’s get the phones up and running. Better to use one of them for that call. And maybe you’ll learn something that will help you crack the code.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gabe reached for the phones and began unwrapping them. “Seems I’ve done this before.”

“We all have,” she assured him. “It’s standard protocol when needing to stay off-grid. Just like getting a replacement vehicle. We know how to cover our tracks.”

Steele came back into the room. “Jina and Flynn will be here in twenty minutes or so. Rhy has already arranged for a rental based on the gunfire incident, so it won’t take them too long to get here.”

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