Page 99 of Breaking the Rules
Kate coordinated with Roz for the rest of the supplies they needed, and Grigory handled his business from the house trying to make sure his presence was still felt publicly.
Xavier found Waverly in their room staring off into space, the laptop open in front of her. She looked so serious and focused the way she bit her lip as she stared at the screen. He loved this side of her, too, he realized, the competent operative. She had always taken her work seriously, and it had clearly transferred to her moonlighting.
“Angel?” he said softly, sliding onto the bed next to her.
When she looked at him, it wasn’t with the brooding frown. Her face lit up, and he felt the knots in his gut that had been there since he saw her with Dante smooth out. “Micah and I are going to scout out the two potential sites for the sting.”
“I promise to stay here,” she teased.
“You’re damn right you will,” he said, leaning over to look at the screen and brush his lips over her hair.
“What do you think of her?” Waverly asked, showing him the picture. She was a pretty brunette with bright blue eyes.
Xavier studied the picture. “She’s good. Still new to the field, but she’s got good instincts.”
Waverly closed the laptop and reeled him in with his tie. “You look concerned,” she said, pressing a kiss to his lips.
“There are a lot of ways this can go wrong,” he reminded her. “We’re making assumptions here that we can’t be one hundred percent sure about.”
“We’ll make it work,” she promised. “We stay flexible and vigilant, and when we close this deal, Brad will be behind bars.”
“And you and I will be lying on a sandy beach in Barbados,” Xavier predicted with a heavy sigh.
She laughed. “You and Barbados.”
“I love you, Angel,” he breathed.
She bit her lip. “I might be getting used to hearing you say it.”
“There’s a lot more you’re going to have to get used to,” he said wolfishly.
“Go do your recon and come back to me,” she said. “Bring pizza.”
He kissed her good-bye and reluctantly broke away from her before she could tangle her fingers in his hair and convince him to stick around a while longer.
She looked up at him, her lips swollen and pink, her eyes wide and trusting. Was it any wonder he was willing to go this far for her? “Behave,” he reminded her, before giving her a final squeeze and walking out.
He and Micah hadn’t been gone for ten minutes when Waverly called Xavier’s phone. “There’s been a new development,” she warned him.
“Don’t tell me Grigory murdered Dante,” Xavier quipped.
“Cute. Grigory just got a call from building security for the condo he keeps in the city. Someone broke in between two and three a.m. this morning.”
“Petra’s gone, so Tomasso went after Grigory,” Xavier guessed.
“Thank God you talked him into staying here,” Waverly said.
“This means he’s getting desperate, Angel,” he warned.
“I know. Watch your back for me.”
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Xavier and Micah returned that afternoon with the logistics mostly worked out and enough pizza to feed their small army. With the location set for the sting, he gave Waverly the go ahead to text Brad with instructions and the account number that Chelsea set up for her. When she received a terse “okay” in response, there was nothing more for her to do but wait. And eat pizza.
As much as he wanted to be alone with Waverly, Xavier knew he couldn’t afford the distraction. He would make it up to her once this was over and she was safe. There were details to see to and plans to put into motion. So he chose to work in the media room turned war room. Everyone had a job to do, and had the situation not been so tense, Xavier would have been amused by the ways in which they all worked.
Waverly sprawled on the floor at his feet in the media room pouring over street and aerial views of downtown L.A. while he juggled team assignments and worked out positions for his undercover operatives. Micah spent a good two hours in the garage running through the inventory of gear Roz had delivered to them at the house.
