by Melody Anne
There was new furniture and a huge television with an exaggerated surround sound system. There was also old artwork of beer signs that had cheap framing, a rather ragged dining room table that had one chair that didn’t match the other three, and a bookshelf containing collectables, mostly encased baseballs, and a few books that had obviously never been read.
As he was reviewing the signatures on the baseballs, he heard his guest leaving the bathroom and turned around, momentarily taken aback. The stuck-up, uber self-controlled, former military officer was actually a beautiful woman.
In the past few minutes she hadn’t done anything to change her appearance, but this was the first time Green was seeing her in normal lighting, away from any other distractions. He looked her over from head to toe, and by the way she looked back at him she was very aware of it.
Mallory had thick hair, pulled back in a tight bun at the moment, but he could tell that when it came out of its binding it would cascade over her back in thick full waterfalls of brown. He’d love to see how that would look against her naked skin while she was riding on top of him.
That thought shocked him. He’d just been with another woman trying to decide if he was going to have sex with her or not, and now that woman was completely out of his mind and this one had overtaken his thoughts and hormones.
What in the hell was wrong with him? Sure, he liked women, but he didn’t court two of them at the same time — and he was straight forward when he went into an affair with one. Would he be with this woman if things moved in that direction? He was more than a little confused with what was going on inside him.
Green’s eyes stroked Mallory’s body in a way that he felt as if he were touching her. And he found he wanted to touch her. She was trying to hide her silver-grey eyes that had a beautiful light green color around them. He barely caught a glimpse of them before she looked down. The business suit she was wearing somewhat hid her body, but he could tell she was curvy yet toned. The senator held nothing on her. He wasn’t ready to let Mallory go, so he quickly devised a plan to keep her right where she was.
“Hey, I hate to put you out but since you’re here, I have a favor to ask,” he said. “My new TV was delivered today, and I have no clue how to set it up. Do you know anything about electronics?” He was playing dumb again. When she met his gaze this time he saw doubt in her eyes. He really tried to sell the idiot act — he was sort of glad she wasn’t immediately buying it. That would say a lot more about him than her.
After a long moment holding his breath, he let out a sigh of relief when she laughed.
“What do you need done?” she asked.
“Everything. I know to hit the source button to change it to the DVD-player,” he said purposely since he was aware few people still had a DVD player. He’d made sure and told Chad to have one at his place. He actually had a bit of nostalgia for the old technology. “But how do I turn on the surround sound? How do I get Netflix, Amazon, and that new one . . . what’s it called?” He paused as he thought for a moment. “Oh yeah, that Disney Plus. My favorite movie is The Lion King.” He stopped and then belted out, “Oh, I just can’t wait to be king.”
This time Mallory really laughed, completely comfortable. He had her hooked. It had to be the DVD comment. Or maybe it was his singing. He’d been told he didn’t have a bad voice.
“My last TV didn’t have any of these streaming services. The world keeps moving forward and I keep trying to shift into reverse,” he shared. There was a lot about that statement that was actually true for him. He was still a fan of Redbox when he could find them.
“I think I can help you,” she said after her laughter stopped. “Let me have the remote.”
Green handed it over, thankful it still had the protective plastic cover on the back side of it, confirming it was new and unused. He then turned to face the massive screen, standing shoulder to shoulder with Mallory. She had a mild sweet scent about her that drifted over him, stirring up his hormones again.
After a few minutes she had the surround sound going, but she was stuck getting the internet to connect. While she fiddled around, Green excused himself and hoped the people who’d set up his kitchen had stocked some wine.
Thankfully, he’d been taken care of and there were a few different bottles to choose from. Quickly opening and pouring two glasses, he appeared next to Mallory and offered her a glass without saying a word. She absently took it while staring at the setting options on the TV then took a drink after a distracted thank you. Once the internet issue was resolved she made quick work of getting a few different apps set up on the home screen.
“Okay, you have Netflix, Prime, Hulu, Disney Plus, and YouTube set on this screen,” she said while highlighting each respective application. “Are there any other apps you’d like?”
“What are my options? Are there sports apps?”
“What kind of sports? ESPN, NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL . . . anything you can think of I’m sure it’s here.”
“Really? Please help me find ESPN for sure, but if there are apps for each individual sport, I’ll take those as well. Do I just click them, and it changes the channel for me automatically?” Green innocently asked.
“Yeah. And this is a great remote with voice command, so you don’t even have to select, you can just push this button and say which channel you want, and it will go to it. If you want to watch a specific team, you can say that team’s name into the remote. I’m sure you’re all about the Seattle teams, so we can get those for you, but if it was up to me, we’d delete them all,” Mallory said with a smirk. He was entranced with the speaking remote. He truly hadn’t known that technology existed. He’d been in the dark ages long enough. He decided not to focus on that, though, instead wanting to taunt her on teams.
“Do you have a favorite team that Seattle beats up all the time? I can see why that might pain you.”
“Well, the Mariners don’t beat anyone, so that isn’t an issue, and the Seahawks only started winning a couple years ago, so there isn’t any history there either. Heck, your basketball team left you. I’d say you’d be okay supporting the Sounders, but you probably don’t know anything about soccer,” she chided.
“I played for fifteen years, was left striker or center midfielder. And, you still haven’t answered, what terrible teams do you support?” Green asked with a big smile while he took a drink of wine.
Mallory looked at him with surprise in her eyes. She matched his drink of wine.
“I’m a Denver girl. Through and through,” she said with pride.
“Oh . . . my . . . gosh,” Green said with as much disgusted enthusiasm as a Seattle fan hearing this information would show.
Knowing she was hooked, Green sat down in the recliner to the side of the couch, gave her an open arm invitation to sit on the couch so they could argue over who had the best hometown sports teams.
At one point Green rose, continued his dialogue as he walked into, then back from, the kitchen with the bottle of wine. He offered her the first refill and, again, she absently took the offer during her own retort to which team had the best player in the history of each team.
Over the next hour and a half, the two mock-raged over rivalries that became both wonderful and terrible family memories that followed wins and losses.
Green pulled out another bottle of wine and it proved to be the undoing of their ongoing conversation. She realized the time, acknowledged she had a little buzz, and realized she’d been talking for far too long with Green. She was clearly irritated at her lapse in professionalism.
“Can I have a glass of water please? I shouldn’t have stayed so long,” she said with open frustration.
“Sure, though it’s not an issue. I enjoyed talking you into becoming a Seahawks fan,” he joked while filling a glass of water. He only left the living room for about thirty seconds but came back to find that Mallory had stood and was putting herself together, an obvious stage of leaving.
“
Thanks,” she told him, taking the glass and guzzling the entire thing before she handed it back and began moving to the front door. Green didn’t try to stop her, but found he was oddly disappointed she was leaving. She wasn’t his assignment, and he wasn’t sure why he wanted to keep talking with her. Before she exited though, he did call out to her.
“Before you leave, can I have a two-minute talk with you on a serious note?” Green asked.
The transformation back to the cold, steel-eyed, politician’s aide was quickly returning. If he was going to get through to her, he had to do it now. If she left, he probably wouldn’t get her to open back up for some time, if at all.
“Two minutes,” she said flatly.
“I don’t know what, or why, Senator Miller asked to meet with me. It’s cool, and I don’t mind the attention, and tonight was, well . . . interesting,” he started, giving his best to look small and meek, before starting again.
“I’ve always been a shadow. To my brother, to society, to my own life. So, to be invited to go to dinner with a senator, to drink wine at a wine bar like the one we were at, made me feel as if I couldn’t say no to any of it. My work found out about it, as you know, and they told me to leave work early just to make sure I was ready to meet with her. I’m not sure what comes next.” He left it hanging in the air, not quite posing it as a question.
The wall that had started going up instantly came back down. She obviously knew exactly the scenario he was speaking of. He was sure that many times in her life she’d felt as if she had no option but to say yes to someone who was in a much higher position than she was. It wasn’t a great feeling. Her empathy was on full tilt.
“I know I’m an attractive man, but I don’t flaunt it, and I don’t use it to gain any advantages, but I do know that’s all I seem to be to the senator. What exactly am I to her? A distraction? Candy on her arm? Was tonight it?”
Mallory stood still, contemplating how to answer the raw question. She was obviously surprised by his openness. He saw the wheels turning as he looked into her eyes. He watched as suspicion rattled through her. She knew something didn’t fit with him, but he was sure she was lost on knowing why she was feeling that way. That’s why he hated lies so damn much.
“What would you like me to say?” she asked
“I’m asking for your advice in this situation. Do you think I should meet her again?”
“You should make that decision for yourself. I know she wants to meet again on Sunday for a brunch. That being said, your awareness of the situation is fairly accurate. As a grown man you don’t need advice from me,” Mallory said, though there was no weight or feeling of honesty to the words.
“I might not need it, but I’m asking you for it,” Green said.
“I’ll answer you, if you can answer my question,” she said with defiance.
Green cocked his head sideways, thrown off by the inquisition request.
“Who are you? I’ve done a background check on you, read the file, and did a scrub on your life. It all looks legit, but it doesn’t fit. I’ve told the senator I don’t think she should have you around. So, who are you?” Mallory asked. Her eyes were curious but not completely cold. She was confused and Green could tell she didn’t like the feeling.
Green’s phone started ringing at the same moment she finished her question. He wanted to ignore it but had the feeling of needing a moment to find his way out of this conversation. Thankfully it was the restricted caller he knew to be the control room at the operation base.
“Hey, brother,” Green said in an overly exaggerated voice. “Do you know what time it is here? What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
Brackish was on the other end, “Tell her the truth of our investigation. I found info. She’s former military intelligence, has hidden in plain sight. On our side. Trust me.”
Brackish saying trust me was all Green needed. He looked at Mallory, and gave a fake smile, as if the conversation on the other end of the phone was humorous.
“You should be really sure about that,” he said in a sweet voice.
Brackish laughed. “Don’t want her to know it’s me on the line?” he taunted. “That means I could pretty much get away with saying anything I want right now.” Green had to fight not to roll his eyes.
“That’s correct,” he answered. “I’m unsure if I should do that.” Mallory looked at him with clear suspicion.
“You truly have to trust me. You can bring her in on this op. She’s as close as it gets to the senator. Make her a part of the team.”
Green paused for a moment as he made a decision. “Okay, kiddo, will do. I love you and miss you, but I need to go to bed. Yeah, it’s late here. Bye, bye.” He hung up and looked at Mallory.
“My five-year-old nephew. Can’t wait to get back at my brother for that one,” Green said while putting his phone away.
“Kids have a way of reminding us that any problem has a solution. Look at what they work through on a daily basis,” Mallory said. Green nodded. It was now or never.
“You asked a question, and I’m going to answer. Before I do, I’m going to get another glass of wine and pour you one. You don’t have to take it, but you might want it by the time I’m finished talking,” Green said while walking back to his chair. His manner had changed. There was no need to keep up the act now. His gait, his voice inflection, everything about who he was, was in that room, and Mallory noted the difference.
“It’s late and I don’t need any games. Can you please just tell me?” she asked, her irritation clear.
“Trust me, you’ll want to sit,” he replied.
Exasperated, Mallory gave a huff of breath and plopped down on the couch. Looking over at him with raised eyebrows showing her impatience, she lifted her palms up in front of her and said, “Okay, here I am, let’s have it.”
“Mallory Black, former military intelligence, age thirty-one, never married, daughter of Dennis and Laurie Black, birthday October thirteenth, two older brothers, and one younger sister, and an avid Denver sports fan,” Green said, hoping the last part of this reveal would ease some of the shock.
Her impatience turned into surprise and confusion.
He continued after taking a drink of wine, “The only thing you know about me is my name. Your spidey senses were on point. I’m part of an investigative team looking into the world of drugs in Seattle. The senator’s name came across my desk and while she specifically isn’t a person of interest in the drug world, people closely connected to her are. Being invited into her circle happened in a different manner than we expected, but we aren’t going to pass up this opportunity.”
“How . . . am I . . . What . . .” Mallory stuttered. Her mind was obviously jumping in a multitude of directions, and she couldn’t get it to settle on one line of questioning.
“You’re not a part of that investigation. And I’m not at liberty to share who is at this time. The phone call I just received wasn’t my brother, it was my command base telling me to trust in sharing this information with you. Why would that be? You might as well tell me. My team would never tell me to share with you unless they have unequivocal evidence that you haven’t been fully transparent with me,” Green said.
A sly smile took over her face as she bent forward, grabbed the glass of wine and took in a large mouthful of the liquid. She eyed him, trying to figure out if she could share with him or not. It was a strange feeling. His phone buzzed.
He lifted the receiver. “Is my house bugged?” he gasped, just realizing his team might be listening to their entire conversation. Dammit. Brackish would wire his house, the guy couldn’t help himself.
“Of course, it is,” Brackish said as if he was stupid to think anything else. “You can tell her everything about operations . . . except for our benefactor. The team, the mission, it’s all a go.”
“Can you also read minds?” Green asked as he glared toward the walls. If they were wired, there had to be a camera somewhere.
“Don’t worry, we’ll shut the cameras off if it looks like things are going to get frisky,” Brackish said.
Green held up his hand and flipped the middle finger up, then waved it all around not knowing where the cameras were.
“That’s not very nice, Green,” Brackish said with a laugh. Green hung up.
“Let me make a call,” Mallory said as she stood up and walked from the room. When she came back, she seemed to be better. “Okay, if you show me yours, I’ll show you mine,” she told him, making him laugh hard.
And then they began talking . . .
Chapter Five
Mallory was a confident woman. She knew who she was and where she was going in life. She’d warned her team before her latest mission that she wouldn’t pull off the act of a simmering assistant. So, she’d told them if they wanted her to hold the position of aide to the senator, she’d have to be herself . . . to a point. They’d agreed. And that attitude had gotten her foot in the door. This was the longest mission she’d ever held in her distinguished career.
“Who are you? Your name checks out with no flags on it, but other than that it’s very difficult to find anything at all about you,” Mallory told Hendrick.
“Why would you be checking me out?” he asked.
They were dancing around each other, and neither one wanted to allow the other to lead. Mallory had a feeling that’s what it would be like to be in a relationship with this man. Not that she wanted that. But she did have a weakness for strong, confident men who weren’t intimidated by her. She’d thought that wouldn’t be so hard to find, but the minimal relationships she’d attempted over the past ten years had fizzled faster than Rice Krispies in milk.