Page 60 of Philly
“And she has a point there,” Joe said.
They continued to tease and taunt as they made their way down—much more quickly but no less stunning than the way up. When they reached the resort, they parted ways, agreeing to meet for dinner in an hour and a half.
Stepping into their cabin, her old friend anxiety knocked on her mental door. Two and a half days had passed, and what had they learned? That Aiden traveled to Brazil more than the average bear. That he’d pulled out of a deal in Thailand—or that’s the story he’d told his younger son. That the company was negotiating a big contract in Canada. Okay, that last one might turn out to be critical, but the others?
“Here,” Gabriel said, handing her a glass of the resort’s blended water they kept stocked in the mini-fridge. A mix of water, prickly pear juice, lime, and some desert herb, she’d been enjoying the drink for the past two days. As bougie as it was.
She looked at him as she took the glass.
“I’m going to hop in the shower first. Why don’t you relax a bit, and then we can call Sabina and the team when you get out of the shower?” he suggested, nodding to the cozy chair near thesliding doors. “I might even let you borrow my book,” he added with a grin.
The urge to do something swelled inside her. The need to fix the problem, find the evidence,dosomething rippled through her body. And here was Gabriel telling her to have a seat and, if not enjoy herself, stop haranguing herself.
“I feel like I should be doing more,” she said, the honesty startling them both. “We’ve been here for two and a half days, and it feels as if we have barely more than we did when we got here. Except we’ve seen more stunning vistas than in Mystery Lake.” She paused. Mystery Lake was a beautiful area, so she amended, “Well, different vistas than in Mystery Lake.”
He crossed his arms and studied her. She braced herself, waiting for him to tell her to relax, to remind her that she didn’t always have to be on the go, on the run. A criticism she’d received more than once from the few men she’d let into her life. She began debating how to react when he surprised her.
“You have value other than what you produce, Callie,” he said. “I won’t make any more suggestions about how to use your time, but I will remind you that you have value. Not because you’re damn good at your job, but because you’re a human being. Because you have thoughts and hopes and dreams and courage and failures and all the other things that make us not just human beings buthuman.
“If you need to get on your computer and do some research while I’m in the shower, have at it. Or if you want to sit in the chair and stare out the window, you can do that, too. You know that working in tandem with Sabina and Leo, we’re making the progress we can. But if that’s not enough, for whatever reason, do what you need to. But maybe, before you do, ask yourself why you’re doing it. If it’s because you think what you’re doing isn’t enough—thatyouaren’t enough.” He paused, the sincerityin his eyes making it hard for her to breathe. “Then I hope you’ll rethink that.”
And with that, he turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him. She was still standing in the same spot when, a few minutes later, the water turned on.
33
Callie sat curled in the chair, sipping tea, when he walked out of the shower. A little something he didn’t want to name eased in his chest. One glance at her face told him that whatever anxiety had gripped her when they’d returned from the climb had eased its hold on her.
She raised a brow at him when he paused. He grinned.
“Youcanbring clothes into the bathroom with you to put on after you shower,” she pointed out.
He put his hands on his hips, his pinkies brushing against the terry cloth of the towel wrapped around his waist. “I forgot,” he replied as, once again, her gaze slid leisurely over his body.
“On purpose,” she said, meeting his eyes. The light in hers made him smile. “You forgot on purpose.”
He inclined his head. “You seemed to enjoy when I forgot for real yesterday. And since I enjoyed seeing you enjoy it, it made sense to forget on purpose today.”
She laughed, then grabbed one of the eighteen thousand throw pillows and hucked it at him. “Go get some clothes on, exhibitionist. I’m going to shower, then I want to run something by you about the Thai deal Joe mentioned today.”
He chuckled but did as asked. By the time he had his boxers on, she’d gathered the little bundle of clothes he’d seen at the end of the bed and started her shower. As he dressed, he filtered through his stories—those appropriate for bedtime—weighing which one might be a good one to tell Callie tonight. Last night, he’d told her another. He hadn’t pulled her against his body the way he’d wanted to, but they’d lain in bed, facing each other, close enough to feel each other’s heat, but not touching. And he’d told her about the time Juan almost shot a captain in the ass when the woman walked into an experiment Viper had dared Juan to run. Thankfully, the captain was a science junkie herself, so instead of reprimanding them, she’d joined in. Together, they’d proved, to the extent they could without real equipment or a way to control variables, that a bullet fired horizontally from a gun hit the ground at the same time a bullet dropped from the same height did.
Maybe he’d tell her about Dulcie and the goats tonight.
As he slid on his jeans, then tugged a shirt over his head, a pang of homesickness hit him. Which made no sense. He’d only been away from the Falcons for three days. He pondered that thought, poking at the feeling, as he poured a glass of bougie flavored water. He took a long pull, then topped it off again before walking to the sliding door and staring out at the view.
He let his mind flit from one thought to the next, bouncing from images of Callie curled up on the chair, to the views they’d seen that day, to a hike he liked to take in Mystery Lake, to wondering what Sabina and Leo would share with them when they called. Several minutes passed when he realized it wasn’t homesickness he felt, but gratitude. For his family.
Not a new feeling, but being with Callie, experiencing her anxiety with her, shed a new light on his family and everything they’d done for him. That they’d done for one another. Each and every Falcon had his own baggage. All of them came fromhome lives that left a lot to be desired. Then they’d gone straight from that life into the military, which had its own challenges and rewards. But they’d found one another. And through those bonds and that support, the men who’d become his family had each found his value, had each worked through the hells of his childhood and the insidious traumas to understand he hadvalue.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing. The life they’d each had while growing up didn’t just get erased from their psyches. But they’d built enough of a support system around them that they each had a safe space to work it out.
Callie had had none of that.
With the exception of Daphne, and, for a short time, perhaps Liza, she’d been isolated. She’d done what she needed to cope and survive. And in doing so, she excelled at her job, reinforcing everything she’d been taught as a child, that her external achievements defined her value. Not that she was intrinsically valuable herself—flaws and all.
The door opened, and a soft scent filled the room. Maybe her lotion or perhaps her hair product. He turned as she walked out, dressed again in her fitted jeans, but this time in a deep green V-neck top. With her hair pulled into a high ponytail, the combination emphasized her elegant neck and delicate features.
“You look beautiful,” he blurted out. Startled eyes met his, then a slow smile spread across her face and she murmured a “thank you” before disappearing into the closet with her bundle of dirty clothes. Two seconds later, the lid of the laundry basket opened and closed.
