Run, Hide - By Carol Ericson Page 0,32
the seamier side of his job, but then she’d lived that seamier side every day since she’d been on the run.
“Then who knew you had the plans? You can understand why people might not believe you—not that I don’t.” Jim shoved back from the table and stretched. “You two can bunk in the room with your son. I’m going to get back to work.”
He left the door ajar and his sneakers squished down the hallway.
Cade blew out a breath. “Wow, I didn’t realize I was under suspicion.”
“That’s Jim’s take on it.” Jenna waved her hands in an airy gesture. “Do you really think Prospero would be allowing you to roam around the country a free agent if they really suspected you of having that flash drive?”
“Some people within Prospero must have their suspicions.”
Jenna prowled around behind his chair and dug her fingers into his shoulders. “Not the important people. If Jack Coburn suspected you, he’d be interrogating you right now.”
Closing his eyes, Cade rolled back his head, giving in to the pressure of Jenna’s fingers now squeezing the tension from the back of his neck. “Jack even knows about my father, and he still trusts me with intelligence.”
Jenna’s thumbs stalled at the base of his skull before she burrowed beneath his hair. “Your father has nothing to do with drugs or weapons.”
“But he’s a crook.”
“And you’re not.”
“Do you think that’s what the rest are saying about me? Like father, like son? Gage’s father was practically military royalty. J.D.’s dad a salt-of-the-earth rancher and Deb’s dad, well, she didn’t know her father. They all probably think Jack was a fool to overlook my past.”
The slap on the side of his head brought tears to his eyes, and he ducked out of Jenna’s reach. “Hey!”
She leaned to the side, meeting his eyes. “There’s more where that came from if you don’t stop talking nonsense.”
“You spoiled the massage.” He rubbed his knuckles across his scalp.
“We can continue later.” She swept the bowl of pasta from the counter and stuck it in the sink. “What time do you think Miyata will be back tomorrow?”
“I have no idea. We might have to work with Sonia. I’m sure she can help us out.”
Jenna plucked the lid from the bowl and turned on the faucet. “You’re sure you don’t want some of this food?”
“No, thanks. I have a suspicion it’s bad since Jim was trying so hard to pawn it off on us.”
She aimed the faucet into the bowl. “I’ll get rid of it because it’s been sitting out for a while.”
Cade pushed out of the chair and stretched. Then he tossed his empty beer bottle into the recycling bin. “Gee, do you think a recycling truck comes all the way out here?”
“Can’t Prospero command anything?” She brushed past him and pushed open the door.
Cade flicked off the kitchen lights and followed her back to the room where Gavin was sleeping. One room, two beds. Would Jenna crowd into Gavin’s bed? Or would she take a chance with him?
She stood in the center of the small space, knotting her hands in front of her.
Cade pointed to a door off the room. “That’s a bathroom. No shower, but we can at least brush our teeth and wash some travel grit from our bodies. You first.”
“Thanks. I guess we have to take what we can get. Can’t expect a Prospero outpost in the middle of nowhere to have the same standards as a luxury hotel. Not that I wouldn’t take a luxury hotel right now—manicure, facial, Jacuzzi.”
Jenna’s nervous babble meant her thoughts were running along the same lines as his—sleeping arrangements. He’d just have to settle it when he finished washing up.
He shoved open the bathroom door and gestured inside. “Luxury awaits you—Prospero style.”
Jenna hunched over the sink, staring at her reflection. She could share a bed with Cade. They’d been married almost four years. Perfectly natural.
She snorted. There was nothing natural about their marriage. But the sex? As natural as breathing.
Or it used to be.
What did she know now? Had he been as celibate as she during their three-year hiatus? Had he stayed true to their marriage vows across the distance of space and time?
Leaning over the sink, she splashed water on her face. She wanted him again, but this sterile building in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night in the middle of a grand escape was not the time or place.
If not now, when? When would they be together again?
She grabbed the