Love & Deception (Agents in Love - Book 1) (49 page)

“Yes,” she agreed. “I’m ready to move
forward with our life together, but Gabi will always be an
important part of me. I’d like to take her the bracelet.”

Nick glanced at Jenessa. “Can you work on
getting that back for us?”

She nodded. “I don’t think it’s really
needed as evidence, considering Ryan died. I’ll ask about it as
soon as we’re done here.”

“Sounds like you guys are off for another
adventure.” Shelley sighed and then grimaced, pressing her hand
into her chest.

“Are you okay?” Carlie dropped to her knees
in front of Shelley, looking into her drawn face. “I wish they’d
hurry up already.”

Shelley chuckled. “One doesn’t just tell the
President it’s an inconvenience to meet him, Carlie. I’m fine.”

Although the doctors released Shelley from
the hospital yesterday, confident she’d make a full recovery,
Carlie didn’t think it was right to have her out of bed yet. She
needed to rest, not sit on uncomfortable blue chairs for hours on
end.

“I don’t care if he is the president. The
king of Maharla never kept me waiting so long, and you’re
injured.”

Deep laughter came from the doorway and they
all looked up. The man held a hand up to the secret service agents
following him, indicating they should wait at the doorway. He
stepped into the room, a wide smile still lighting his face. “I’m
afraid you’re right,” he said. “I was tied up in a meeting with
homeland security since we had a bomb scare at the Lincoln Memorial
today, but I shouldn’t keep a gunshot victim waiting.”

Warmth crept over Carlie’s neck and cheeks.
While she did think Shelley should be in bed, President Sharp’s job
was much more important than anything Carlie could ever imagine.
She hadn’t meant for him to hear her.

She stood, uncertain whether she should
apologize or bow or what exactly one did when meeting the
President. “Sir, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to sound
disrespectful. I know you are a busy man with a stressful and
important position. It’s just that Shelley’s in pain and I worry
about her.” She settled on giving a half-curtsy instead of
bowing.

The gray in Sharp’s temples gave him a
distinguished look, and he was taller than she imagined from seeing
him on television. His green eyes met and held hers for a few
seconds. “Please don’t apologize for worrying after your friend.
I’ve been very impressed with you, Carlie Hollis.” He reached
forward and grabbed her hand in a firm shake. “Not only did you
help disrupt Paul Billings’ compound and put a stop to that, you
saved the country of Maharla, from what King Zerach tells me, from
would have been a horrible leader. Nice work.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, staring at the
floor to cover her confusion. None of them had dared speculate why
they were summoned to the White House, but she hadn’t expected
praise from the country’s leader.

Nick stepped forward, extending his hand and
shaking Sharp’s. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. We’ve been
anxious to find out what you need from us.”

Carlie breathed a sigh of relief, grateful
Nick took the attention off her. One of the many reasons she loved
him—he made her life better, even in simple ways.

She just hoped President Sharp didn’t have
something bad in store for them. They’d been through enough
already.

***

What a relief that President Sharp had a
sense of humor and seemed to understand the stress Carlie was
under. Nick knew she didn’t mean to offend him, after all. She
hadn’t left Shelley’s bedside for longer than necessary the entire
past week after the doctors finished stitching up her own
wound.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Sharp asked. He
grabbed one of the blue chairs from the opposite side of the room
and dragged it to the cluster of four.

Nick reclaimed Carlie’s hand and they sat,
looking at the President expectantly.

The man looked around, meeting all their
eyes before zeroing in on Jenessa. “Agent, I know you’re new to the
FBI and worked mostly in the tech department before this mission,
but all the men accompanying you said you were poised and in
control.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said softly. “I was
just happy we all survived. It was a tense situation.”

Nick wasn’t sure he was impressed with
Jenessa, but he wouldn’t badmouth her to Sharp. The facts were, the
FBI fired at Paul on her say so, and that was why Carlie was shot.
Luckily, the wound was superficial, but in the darkness Jenessa had
no way to know what her orders could have done. She had a lot to
learn.

Nick wondered why he even cared. It wasn’t
his job to train her. Someone else had that problem.

“And Shelley Daniels,” the President
continued, “or should I say Felicia Marks? That’s you real name,
right?”

“Yes.” Shelley nodded. “Either name is fine,
sir. I kind of like Shelley.”

“I know you were new to S.A.T.O. this past
year, and you believed S.A.T.O. was still run by my office.”

“Yes. I thought we investigated terrorists.”
She grimaced and leaned forward, glancing at Carlie. “I nearly got
my best friend killed.”

“But you made up for that by rescuing her,”
Sharp pointed out. “You almost paid for that mistake with your
life.”

Shelley shrugged. “I don’t have much to look
forward to anyway, sir. Well, besides telling you what I can to
help catch Paul and Stephen.”

“The information you provided on the
compound has already helped a lot. We’ve arrested many of the men
and women there, but that’s where you all come in.”

Nick wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that.
“What do you need from us, Mr. President?”

“I need to reform S.A.T.O.,” Sharp said. “I
need a new tech administrator.” He nodded at Jenessa. “An agent who
will do the honorable thing no matter what.” Another nod at
Shelley. “And a leader.” He looked at Nick, eyebrows raised. “What
do you think?”

Carlie’s hand spasmed in his, and Nick
glanced at her. “What is it, my lady?”

“I thought we’d be done with all this spy
stuff.” She shook her head and shrugged. “Open a new shop together,
maybe think about tying the—” She broke off abruptly and looked
away.

Nick couldn’t stop the smile from spreading
across his face. Ever since the ambulance came, they hadn’t talked
again about marriage, but he knew Carlie was about to say tying the
knot. There was nothing he wanted more. However, he still needed
some
adventure in his life.

He turned to Sharp. “Can I do both? I mean,
run S.A.T.O. and build my life with Carlie? I know in the past it
was required agents remain single, but that isn’t an option for
me.”

“It’s not?” Carlie breathed.

With extreme effort, he didn’t reply,
waiting for Sharp’s decision.

“I think the old rules of S.A.T.O. made for
unhappy people and created a super-terrorist who knows many
government secrets,” Sharp said. “Perhaps it’s time we changed the
rules.”

Nick looked across at Shelley and Jenessa.
“What do you ladies think?”

“I’m in,” Jenessa said immediately.

Shelley shook her head. “I didn’t know that
would be an option. I’ll have to think about it.” She looked at her
hands, showing the first sign of uncertainty Nick had ever seen in
her. “I don’t know if the spy life is for me.”

“That’s fair,” Nick agreed. After all, he
knew Shelley would give them all the information she could on Paul.
If she didn’t want to stay in the organization that was fine. He
wouldn’t be the kind of leader who killed people wanting a
different sort of life.

That just left one obstacle. He turned to
Carlie, caressing her cheek and staring into her beautiful eyes.
“What about you? Can we do both your adventure and mine? I’d have
to leave sometimes while you took care of the shop, but you once
told me you didn’t want me to give up my dreams. Being an agent is
something I love.”

“And you were willing to sacrifice that for
me before.” She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled. “We
can make it so we both get what we want. Everything will work out,
as long as I have you.”

He kissed her softly and Shelley muttered,
“Just propose already.”

Sharp shifted in his chair, and Nick broke
away from Carlie self-consciously. It might not be the best idea to
kiss in front of the President—his new boss.

“That settles it then,” Sharp said. “You’ll
be in charge of interrogating the old agents, figuring out which
ones are innocent, hiring new recruits, and our ultimate goal is to
catch Paul. He has to be stopped, because I’m sure he won’t stop on
his own.”

“Wait!” Carlie held her hand up in a stop
motion. “I don’t want to butt in, but I have a question.”

Sharp tilted his head, though an amused grin
flitted across his face. Nick guess no one interrupted him very
often. “What is it?” he asked.

“You know Muhammad Khan isn’t a terrorist,
right? I know he’s Muslim, but that’s just stupid to believe that
every single person who’s different—”

“Muhammad Khan?” Sharp asked, doing some
interrupting of his own. “I don’t even know who that is.”

Nick glanced quickly at Carlie, noting the
blush creeping over her face. He’d have to take the lead again.
“He’s Aamir Abdul’s nephew, sir. Paul told me we suspected he was a
terrorist leader.”

Comprehension dawned in the man’s green
eyes. “Oh, that Khan.” He shook his head. “Carlie, he’s a good
person. We did investigate him last year, but he has a charitable
heart and just wants to help others.”

“Thank you,” Carlie whispered, sounding
mollified. Then again, she always knew Muhammad was innocent.

“So?” Sharp looked again at each of them.
“Everything all cleared up? Ready to rebuild S.A.T.O.?”

Nick took in a deep breath. “I have a few
conditions, before I say yes.”

Sharp raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised.
“What are they?”

“I want to be by Carlie’s side while she
undergoes plastic surgery operations in a few months. Before that,
we have to leave the country for a few weeks. Carlie needs to visit
her daughter’s grave, and then we have plans to see her parents in
South Africa.”

“We’re still going?” Carlie asked.

“Of course we are. How else can I make your
fairytale dream come true?”

She narrowed her eyes and shook her head
slightly. “I don’t understand.”

“No knight ever asks for his lady’s hand
without first speaking to her father.”

Moisture made her eyes shiny. “That’s why
you haven’t asked me? I thought...”

Nick lifted his thumb to her lips, stroking
their softness. “All you need to think about is where we’ll build
our home and your new business. Well, maybe you could tell me a
secret way to make your father like me.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his
neck. “Don’t worry. My folks will love you.”

“Looks like we have an agreement then,”
Sharp said. “I look forward to working with you all.”

Nick pulled Carlie in for a kiss, stroking
her back and not caring who watched. His pulse jumped higher when
her fingers caressed his cheek. Life was good. Nick had everything
he ever wanted. “Maybe,” he whispered against her mouth, “you
should take control of things again later today. I know how you
like that.”

Carlie giggled, but didn’t stop kissing
him.

Shelley sighed. “Awe. That’s cute. You know
what the fairytales always say?”

“What’s that?” Jenessa asked.

“And they lived happily ever after.”

Nick pulled away and stared at Carlie,
hoping she could see the love in his eyes. “And we certainly
will.”

I hope you enjoyed the beginning of my
Agents in Love Series. Nick and Carlie’s story had a few false
starts, and I didn’t at first understand what their tale was about.
I thought this was a story about the different ways people view
government, stereotypes, and they ways in which people judge
others. To some extent, the story followed that original idea,
touching on Muhammad’s life and S.A.T.O.’s accusations against him,
but the story strayed from that and became about another issue
close to my heart.

Carlie’s wish to help others and see the
best in people is a trait I share with her. I think the world would
be a better place if people worked harder to help each other and
pay forward any good they receive to someone less fortunate.
Carlie’s views of this went even deeper than my own, and took over
much of the tale. In the process, she and I both discovered that
not everyone is who they claim to be. Sometimes that hurts, but
sometimes it works out for the best.

A part of Carlie’s story did focus on rape,
and her coming to terms with that and facing her attacker. While I
didn’t want to make abuse a large part of this book since I’ve
already visited that issue, I am, as always, very invested in
making sure suffers of domestic violence or any other attack find
the support and help they need. If you or someone you know have
been affected by rape, there is help available. For more
information, visit RAINN’s website -
http://www.rainn.org/
They also
have international links if you are outside the United States of
America. For resources in other countries visit here -
http://www.rainn.org/get-help/sexual-assault-and-rape-international-resources

As far as the fiction bits, while Nick and
Carlie won’t be the focus characters in the remainder of this
series, they will make appearances. I’ll miss them, but I have
other agents’ stories to tell (and romances to find). I’m really
excited about Book 2 ~ Love & Redemption. The idea for it is
what made me realize that Agents in Love would become a series.
Maybe Shelley will finally find Mister Right…

Many of you know I don’t pre-plot, so while
I have the vaguest idea for the stories following this one, I’m
really excited to find out more about the motivation for our
villain turning to the dark side and I look forward to exploring
the other questions brought up for me while writing this. I believe
there are going to be five books altogether, but it is hard to know
for sure. What I do know is that I will be writing as quickly as I
can, and I hope you join me for the next part of the story.