He continued on, determined to drive his point home.
“I promise I’m not trying to strong-arm you on this, Elle. You know I wouldn’t ask for this information if it wasn’t important. I hope you also know there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect you.” He’d walked away from her three years ago for that very reason. “Sweetheart, I know what I’m asking is a pretty tall order, but no one’s looking to ruin your career, here. We just want to keep you safe.”
He watched and waited as Elle’s baby blues left his to take in each member of Bravo. When her gaze returned to his, Gabe saw something he never thought he’d ever find shining there again.
Trust.
Still, instead of giving in completely, she thought for a moment before asking, “Compromise?” She looked down at her lap then back up at him. “We used to be pretty good at those, as I recall.”
Gabe’s heart thrummed hard inside his chest as memories from their time together made their presence known. This was the way they’d settled most of their disagreements when they were still together.
“That we were.” He smiled his first real smile in a long damn time. “What’s your offer?”
“I look through all of my patients’ files, and if there are any red flags I think are worth looking into further, I’ll give you a name.”
“Counteroffer,” Gabe replied with a sideways smirk.God, I’ve missed this.“You look through the notes for any red flags, and let Nate run your patients’ names for anything that might come up in his system.”
“His system?” Elle slid Nate a glance.
Nate’s ‘system’ was complex as hell, and Gabe didn’t understand any of it other than the end result, which was all he cared about, anyway.
The other man jumped in to try to explain. “I enter a name, DOB, and social security number, and the program’s algorithm, which I created, searches for a criminal record and at the same time connects all sorts of dots.”
“Dots?”
The skin between Elle’s delicate brows bunched together, and Gabe had the sudden urge to kiss her confusion away.
Not the time, dickhead.
He gave himself a mental shake of his head and focused on what Nate was saying.
“For example”—the former Naval Intelligence officer continued on—“my program will tell me a person’s known associates, any business transactions, illegal or legitimate, that might raise a red flag. Known dealings with less than savory characters…stuff like that.”
“Wow.” Ellena’s brows rose to form twin arches. Blinking, she looked back at Gabe, who was still squatted before her. “When you said he was a genius, you weren’t kidding, were you?”
“Nope.” He grinned.
With another slight squeeze of her hand, Gabe pulled his free and rose to his feet. If he didn’t put at least a little distance between them, if he didn’t stoptouchingher, he was liable to do something monumentally stupid like lean up and kiss her.
There was a time when he was free to do so. Unfortunately for him, that time had long since passed.
Had your chance, Dawson. And you fucking blew it.
Big. Time.
Giving her—and himself—some much-needed space, he waited quietly while she turned her negotiating tactics to Nate.
“I hand over my patients’ names if and only if I find something I think is worth looking into further. In turn, you give me your word any list I give you will be destroyed once you’ve completed your search, along with any trail of the search itself.”
Nate’s eyes shifted to Gabe’s. The two men shared a knowing glance before Gabe gave Elle trustworthy smile.
“Agreed.”
With a slight hesitation, Ellena nodded. “Okay. I’ll need to go to my office.” She turned back to Gabe. “I didn’t bring my work computer home with me, plus I need to go through the physical files, as well.”
She’d told him long ago how she’d jot down notes on paper while listening to her patients, then type them up in the system after the fact. Not every note she wrote made it into her final electronic files, which meant there could be something in writing she’d inadvertently glossed over.
“I can take you first thing in the morning.”
