“Exactly.” Sana smiled and closed the door again.
Laughing, all Gina could really think about was the soft-looking robe spread lying the bed, which looked equally soft and comfortable and inviting.
“Shall we escape anyway, sweet girl?” she asked Fleur.
The dog had already curled up in a plush dog bed in the corner.
“Traitor,” Gina said.
Fleur just looked at her and yawned before resting her head on her paws.
“Fine. You always were the wiser of us.”
The truth was, Gina felt exhausted, even a little disoriented. Jet lag was a bitch when you were on the run. She wished she was in her twenties again, back when it never bothered her and she could stay up for days on end. Now, the bathtub called to her, and the chocolates, and the bed…
And pretty soon Gina was out like a light.
TWENTY-TWO
Lachlan, present day, flying to Frankfurt
“Can I get you anything else before you turn in?” the flight attendant asked Lachlan as she handed him a bottle of water with a napkin wrapped around it.
“No, thank you.” He smiled politely at her and she smiled back with a little more than politeness.
“Just hit the call button if you change your mind.” With a wink, she turned and headed back up the aisle.
And it was just as he suspected—the napkin had a name, hotel, and phone number written on it. Lachlan smiled. She was sweet, beautiful, and not Gina. He tucked the napkin into the seat pocket in front of him. He’d throw it away later when she wasn’t looking, and so that no one else would find it and bother her. Then he drank the water, pulled up the blanket she brought ‘just for him’ and closed his eyes.
And immediately felt Gina’s lips on his.
No. Just a dreamhe thought as he startled awake. He closed his eyes again but his brain wouldn’t turn off this time. Instead, it took him back to the wedding shower at Delia’s for Elissa, Nash, Elena, and Camden.
* * *
“Love is in the air, Sam,” Lachlan told his dog as he ran his hand over his head. “It’s disgusting.”
Sam just looked adoringly up at him.
“I’d much rather spend the evening here at home with you than go to Delia’s for this thing. Don’t take that as a compliment though. Hell, I’d rather pull out my own fingernails than go.”
He swore the dog cringed.
“Got no choice though, do I?”
Sam sneezed.
“Yeah.” Lachlan stood up from where he crouched beside Sam in his doggie bed. He walked into the bathroom for the twentieth time and looked in the mirror. He ran his hand over his face, which was looking pretty craggy, but at least his body was still in shape. All thanks to Gina finding him. He’d probably have an enormous beer gut at this point otherwise. If he hadn’t drunk or smoked himself to death by now.
He wondered what she’d be wearing tonight. A little black dress that caressed every curve? Her ‘working dress’ that distracted enough that she could coax intel out of anyone—that was her go-to uniform for events like this, even when it was a party just for friends.
For years, he wasn’t sure if she even knew how to relax and have fun anymore. Lach sighed. Watchdog was his reality, his business, his life, but for Gina it was still a cover. She was first and foremost with The Repair Shop which meant she could never relax. She was always watching, always on the lookout for signs of Capitoline’s infiltration.
And yet, he’d watched her slowly open up and it did his heart good to see. He had the women to thank for that, especially Elissa—even if it meant that whenever Elissa took Gina out for girls’ night it cut into his time with her.
They’d maintained a professional relationship just as Gina had wanted, but she still came over once in a while for a drink after work. Whenever she did, he could pretend just for a night that they were together, that this was their normal, that they were just winding down before bed. He’d cut his thoughts off right there. To go any further was torture.
So they’d drink and talk—gossip, really—about their friends, about high-strung clients. They’d talk about anything except their past. The times Lachlan tried to bring up the old days, Gina would shut him down, or worse, she’d cut the night short and it would be weeks before she stopped by again.
