“Actually, I’d rather go now. I still have some empty boxes in the garage from when I first moved in here. We can use those to bring the files back here. I can go through a few tonight before bed, and Nate could get started on running the names through his system. If there are any to run.”
“You sure?” Gabe glanced at his watch. “It’s getting late, and you’ve had a couple of rough days.”
“I’m sure. Besides, if we don’t go now, I’ll just be up all night thinking about it.”
“Okay, then.” He looked at the others. “You guys can follow us to the hospital and help us carry them.”
“I’d prefer it just be you and me. No offense,” she quickly offered his team. “It’s just that, if someone from the hospital sees me going into my office late at night with one person, no big deal. They see me go in there with the A-Team, however…”
“They could get suspicious,” Gabe finished the thought for her.
“At the very least, it would draw unwanted attention to us that could possibly stir up questions I really don’t want to have to answer.”
As usual, she was right.
“Fine.” To his team, Gabe said, “You guys can go to the hotel for the night while we head to her office. I’ll call if we need anything.”
As all four men muttered their agreements, he turned and gave his wife a pointed look. “We’ll do this, but you’re not carrying a single box.”
“I can handle a few files, Gabriel.”
“You heard the doctor. That shoulder needs time to heal.” He ran a glance over her arm and frowned. “Speaking of which, where’s your sling?”
Ellena rolled her pretty eyes but let one corner of her kissable mouth curve upward. “I don’t need the sling, and I promise I won’t carry anything other than my purse and my phone. Besides.” She exhaled loudly. “It’s late, so it’s not like I’m going to get through them all tonight, anyway. We can take a few files now and then bring them back tomorrow and swap them out for the rest. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Gabe saw Zade give Matt a sideways grin.
“You got something to say, King?” he asked his teammate.
Zade snapped his head back to meet his gaze. “Nope.”
“Don’t worry, big guy.” Matt’s mouth curved into a goofy grin. “He just loves it when a plan comes together.”
“Nice.” Ellena’s smile stretched wider. “Best TV line ever.”
“Here I thought I was the only one old enough to remember that show,” Gabe chuckled.
“Are you kidding?” Elle’s eyes met his as she and the others stood to leave. “I used to pretend my older cousin’s Big Wheel was the black van with a red stripe painted down the side.”
Headed for the front door, Kole slapped Gabe on the shoulder as he passed by. “Wait, wasn’t ‘The A-Team’ a movie that came out several years ago? Something about a group of misfit Vietnam vets?”
“Yeah.” Zade nodded. “It starred Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper, and…shit. What’s that one chick’s name?”
“Jennifer Biel,” Ellena smirked. “But it was an eighties TV series before it became a movie several years later.
“Eighties?” Kole asked, clearly surprised. “And you remember it? What were you, like two?”
Ellena chuckled. “Four. And I started watching when it was on as re-runs after the series had ended. It played on one of the seven channels the tv in the room I shared with my brother picked up. We’d turn the volume down low so our parents couldn’t hear it because it was always on after our bedtime.”
“Sneaky girl,” Matt teased.
Everyone laughed, including Elle. The woman had barely smiled since she’d woken up in that damn hospital bed, so he was more than a little glad to see it.
Gabe always said her smile could light up a room. But when she laughed…
The sound made Gabe’s heart tumble over itself inside his chest.
