Love & Redemption Read Online Free

her about Stephen resurfacing, not after the prick had tried to rape and kill Carlie. If Nick wanted to tell her, that was his business, but Shelley knew her friend still feared the creep. “It’s S.A.T.O. business, sweetie. I really think it’s best I talk to Nick first.”
    “I’ll get him.”
    While she waited, Shelley risked another look at Gavin. He had curled onto his side and tucked his hands beneath his cheek. Though he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, Shelley didn’t think he actually slept—not that fast. The thief had,  however, made himself at home, taking off his tie and undoing the top few buttons on his dress shirt. His brown hair was somewhat mused, falling down from its previous smoothly feathered style to fall across his brow.
    And his lips... Shelley shook her head and spun the chair toward the desk. It was hard to ignore those full lips. Even in the tense, dangerous situation earlier, kissing him had been nice. While she wasn’t certain she actually liked Gavin, it would be fun to make out with him in less forced circumstances, just to see how good he really was.
    “Shelley?” Nick’s deep voice came across the line. “What happened?”
    “You aren’t going to like it.”
    “I kind of figured that.”
    She was sure he had. “It’s quite the vacation you planned for me. Some of our old friends showed up at the opera, killed the star of the show in her dressing room, and tried to steal some diamonds.”
    “Damn.” Nick was silent for several seconds. “I was afraid of that. Was it Paul himself, or just Stephen?”
    “What?” Shelley was unable to keep her voice from raising a few octaves. “You knew they’d be there?”
    The bed creaked behind her and Shelley looked over her shoulder. Gavin sat up, a concerned look on his face as he raised an eyebrow at her.
    “Calm down,” Nick ordered. “I didn’t know for sure, but there were rumors and Jenessa Jones has been monitoring things digitally. She picked up information about diamonds and a lot of money. I figured Carlie wanted you to have this vacation so badly, and I needed an agent there just in case our target showed up. It worked out for both things.”
    Shelley took some deep breaths and counted to ten in her head very slowly. “I’m not an agent,” she said when she felt she could speak without biting his head off. “And if you wanted me to work for you, you should have warned me what to look for. I thought you weren’t running things like Paul. This sounds like something he’d do, keeping me in the dark.”
    “Come on, Shelley, you had to know something was up,” he replied calmly. “I paid for and planned the whole trip, and then I made special arrangements everywhere so you had your gun with you. You know that sort of thing isn’t easy in that town.”
    She did know that, but she assumed since President Sharp was Nick’s friend, Nick called in a personal favor. That was probably true, but she had assumed he did that so she’d feel safe—not because he expected all hell to break loose at the opera.
    “You should have mentioned it, Nick.”
    “I didn’t figure I had to state it outright. Carlie never gave us a second alone, and I didn’t want her worrying. She’s working on dinner now, or we still couldn’t talk.” He sighed loudly. “You knew Jenessa was back with the FBI searching for a lead. You really didn’t add everything up? Admit it, you were bored sitting in Sayle waiting for Carlie’s new shop to open. You miss being an agent.”
    Since she had thought the same thing moments earlier, she couldn’t very well argue. However, between the two of them, Nick and Gavin were making her glad she’d given up men for a while. They were infuriating her tonight.
    Jenessa should have at least given Shelley a heads up. Although she wouldn’t consider Jenessa a friend, the two of them had become friendly after meeting with President Sharp three months earlier. Jenessa was a computer wiz, more aptly a