Page 71 of After All The Wreckage
Maybe I needed that mint chip ice cream to cool me off.
I’d just scooped two enormous mounds into a bowl when my facial recognition software pinged. I sat cross-legged on the couch with my computer in my lap, and as I opened the app, another piece of all the puzzles floating around me slid onto the board.
The guy who’d followed us was Space Force. Not only was he Space Force, but he was also an astronaut and a young one at that. Andrew Casada was barely thirty years old. Which meant he had to have double-timed his PhD before even joining the military, or maybe he’d been one of those child prodigies.
Except he certainly didn’t look like theReal Geniusnerds who’d finished school at some ungodly age of ten or twelve. He was all muscle and dashing good looks. In addition to his academic achievements, he’d accumulated a ton of flight time. He was a walking example of what determination, intelligence, and perseverance could do.
There wasn’t much else to be found on him beyond that. He had to be the person from Space Force my mom had met up with. No way was this coincidence. But why hadn’t he contactedme after Mom’s accident? Why hadn’t he just introduced himself when he’d seen me? And what did he have to do with Argento Skies?
I turned my attention from Casada back to the company itself. A town in Colorado had filed a lawsuit against them, but a superior court had dismissed it. The shell corporation that had paid for Argento’s D.C. lease was a ghost that would take more time to track down.
So many dead ends. My spidey senses were going haywire trying to figure out what I was missing. It was frustrating.
My eyelids drooped, and I knew I needed to do something if I intended to be awake when Gage walked back in the door, but my body protested. The weariness I’d been feeling for over a year combined with the lack of any real sleep over the last few days was catching up to me.
I let my eyes shut.Just for a few minutes, I told myself.
Next thing I knew, a hand was sliding along my cheek, and I reacted instantaneously, twisting it backward and tossing my computer aside. I barely stopped myself from jamming the heel of my palm into Gage’s nose as he grunted in surprise. I let go of his wrist, adrenaline crashing through me, easily pushing aside the haze of sleep.
“Crap. Don’t sneak up on me like that!” I barely breathed out, trying to keep my voice down. I rubbed my chest and willed the frantic pace to slow. “You really do want to meet my stun gun.”
“You get woken by bad guys often?” he asked. His voice was a mix of concern and wariness, but the truth was, he could have been one of the bad guys. He could have been one of the men who’d kidnapped Monte coming back for a second round.
“I’m a light sleeper. You must have been in stealth mode,” I said, eyes narrowing in on him. I glanced at the shut door and the alarm that was now set and blinking as I sat back down.
“Habit. Ivy has always been a good sleeper, but when she was little, it took hours to get her down, and I never wanted to wake her up storming in at one in the morning.”
Gage joined me, slouching down until his neck was resting on the back of the couch. His eyes closed and he rubbed his forehead. His eyes were shadowed and his face pale. He looked worn out, and I was overwhelmed with the desire to curl up next to him, massage his temples and find a way to give him a momentary respite from the burdens he carried.
As if he felt me watching him, he turned his head to the side and opened his eyes to meet mine.
“What did you find out?” he asked with a glance toward my laptop.
I righted my computer and brought up the information I’d found on Casada.
“Nothing more on Dunn. But the facial recognition identified the guy from earlier as Space Force. My mom had a meeting on her calendar with someone from Space Force the day of the accident. It’s fair to say he was the one. If he’s on the up and up, it’s strange that he wouldn’t have contacted me directly.”
“Did you hack into a government system to use their facial recognition software?” There was humor in his voice, but also concern.
“I didn’t hack in to run it.” Which was the truth. I hadn’t had to break in because I already had the software and the links to the appropriate database.
The longer I stared at the screen, the more intense his stare felt. I finally relented and looked over to see concern but also respect in his eyes. That did as much for my lonely soul as if he’d kissed me.
“Thought we agreed to no lying,” he said, but it held a tease rather than rebuke.
“I’m not lying. I didn’t hack in…not today,” I said with a shrug and a half smile.
His gaze fell to my lips and the entire energy of the room shifted, sexual tension sifting through the air again. Magnetic. Electric. He lifted a hand, tugging at a lock of hair.
“This—your hair finally coming loose—makes me happier than you can know. I can never get Ivy’s to stay up.” His voice went down a notch.
“You do a good job with hers,” I told him, seemingly fascinated by the way he was winding the curl around his finger. A finger I knew from experience was calloused and rough but also gentle and strong. Hands that could do such delightful things to my body.
When he’d rolled the strand to my cheek, he stroked my skin tenderly.
“Ever since you walked into The Prince Darian on Saturday, I’ve ached to touch you.” It was a hushed admission. Not tortured. Not resigned. More… persuasive. “At first, it made me feel like a perverted creep. You were fifteen the last time I saw you.”
I shook my head, and his hand on my cheek flexed.
