He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Ethan is like a flash explosion; hot and fast, but you are a slow burn. You are steady and in control.”
“Not when it comes to you,” he whispered, and began kissing her neck again.
“I’d partner with you every day if I could. I think you’re excellent at your job. Out of the three of us, you have the harder task. Look at what you do as Liaison to the Native community. It’s tense and tumultuous. I bet that they practically ran you through the ringer this last assignment. I’ve watched you come home exhausted and worn down, because you care about the Natives and the law so much. I know what you sacrificed to be home right now, and that’s another reason I’m not making you run. You deserve a few moments of peace too.”
He loved her so much. Hiding anything from Elizabeth was almost impossible.
“How about we grab a shower together, and then you can tell me about today’s plans over the breakfast I’ll try to make for you.”
Elizabeth grinned wickedly. “I do believe you’re trying to get me naked and soapy, Mr. Whitefox.”
When her hand stroked his erection with whisper light fingertips, he shuddered. “Yeah, well you’re already naked. Why not go all the way?”
* * *
The dream swallowed her and refused to let her escape from it. No matter how hard she tried, Tori was forced to relive the blood on her hands. It held her until the very end when she watched Quinn die in front of her. Only then was she given respite from the horrors of that day. Jerking awake, her breath was ragged, her heart pounded in her chest, and she was covered in a sheen of sweat.
Something had to give soon. It was going to be the dreams or her sanity. Walking towards the bathroom, she stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes had big circles under them, and she looked like hell.
Great.
Julian was going to be here today, and his first sight of her in three months was going to be her looking like a crime scene victim. Not that it’d matter. Julian tried to pursue her when they returned back from Cypress Grove, and she did everything in her power to push him away. Tori avoided his calls, and deleted every voicemail without ever listening to it. Eventually, he stopped calling.
She couldn’t blame him and it was probably for the best. Yet, her heart ached when she thought about the few times they spent together in bed. It was full of laughter, lightness, and peace. Julian gave her calm. What she gave him in return was a chance at not being saddled with a horrible person.
Her mind was still screwed up over the war.
Her heart was in pieces over losing Quinn Laramie.
Her soul was dead and gone.
Being near her was a one way ticket to disaster, and she only hoped he’d understand when they came face to face again. Or he could hate her, if that was easier. Part of her prayed for that option. Despising her would save her from having to face the truth. Tori missed everything about him.
Stepping into the shower she did the same thing that she did every day. Tori wept, because of the helplessness surrounding her. Maybe it should have been her that took the bullet in the Middle East.
Then she wouldn’t have to die over and over, every single damn day.
* * *
One of her favorite places to sit in the entire FBI West was her husband’s desk corner, but since he was away, she perched on Callen’s. They were having coffee together before Julian Littlemoon, Tori Christensen and Cyra Austin all arrived. The morning coffee ritual was something important to all three. It gave them time to clear their minds before beginning to focus on what lay ahead.
Elizabeth had just finished telling him about their company for Christmas dinner, and then she dropped the game of football on him too. “You don’t have to go in on the wager, if you’re too afraid to lose,” Elizabeth taunted.
“So, if I win, I get a whole night alone with you doing whatever I want? No Ethan, no CJ, and no work?
Elizabeth grinned over the rim of her coffee mug. “You get your date night alone with me.”
“I’m in.”
She laughed. “Cal, you didn’t hear what I get if you lose.”
He shrugged. “You pretty much said I can do whatever I want with you for an entire night, and that supersedes anything you can come up with in my mind. I’ll sell my soul for a night with you as my love slave.”
She moved, sitting in his lap, giggling. Yeah, it was breaking her no touchy-feely and kissy-face rule, but why the hell not?
“Wow, this is new, and really nice. Now I know you’ve had sex with Ethan at work, but I haven’t had that pleasure yet, angel.”
“Nice try, but you can’t expect it. It takes the fun out of it if you know it’s coming. I’ll catch you off guard one day.”
“What do you get if you win?” he mumbled against her mouth, as she kissed him. Warning bells should have been going off in his head, since she didn’t do kissy-face in the workplace. Honestly, she felt too good sitting in his lap, and in his arms.
“You and Ethan have to switch clothing for an entire week. You wear the suits, and he wears the jeans and boots.”
Callen stopped moving. “Are you shitting me?”
Now she started snickering. “Dead serious.”
Whitefox just shook his head in horror. If that was going to happen, it would be a torturous week indeed. “I’m still in on the deal, but now I’m going to make you pay if I win.”
“What do you have planned?”
Whitefox grinned salaciously. “You and I will be taking my truck, going down to the high school I graduated from, and making out under the bleachers.”
Elizabeth lifted a brow. “That’s it?”
“You’ll be wearing the infamous cheerleader outfit I’ve yet to see. Every hot blooded teenage boy wants to do it with a cheerleader in his truck, and you will be my high school dream.”
Now she started laughing. “Here I would have done this,” she whispered in his ear what she was willing to do, and started laughing when his mouth dropped open.
“Jesus, Elizabeth. You have a dirty mind!”
Pulling his mouth to hers, she kissed him brutally, holding his hair trapped in her hand until she was satisfied. Slowly, Elizabeth pulled away, just as the phone buzzed.
“Yes Ginny?” asked Elizabeth, still staring into Callen’s brown eyes. Between them and the long brown hair, she was lost. Elizabeth had won the sexy Native man prize with him and his brother.
“You have a Mr. Littlemoon here to see you.”
“Send him back,” she said, trying to get out of his lap. When he wouldn’t release her, Elizabeth looked down.
“Sorry, you created a problem, and you’re my cover.”
Now she was laughing uproariously. “Do what Ethan does, slide into the desk,” and then she stuck her tongue out.
Julian Littlemoon knocked on the door and stepped into the office. Inside he found Elizabeth sitting in Callen Whitefox’s lap. “You two look cozy.”
“Zip it, Elizabeth,” warned Whitefox.
She started laughing, uncontrollably. “Hi Julian, how are you,” she pulled away standing, giving him a hug. “Don’t mind Callen, he’s cranky today.”
Whitefox stood next and held out his hand. “Please have a seat,” he offered. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes please,” he answered, sitting in a leather chair.
Elizabeth buzzed Ginny and requested the coffee. “When my field partner gets here, send her in please.”
“Yes, Mrs. B.”
“We’ll start as soon as the other agent arrives. I hope you had a good trip out here, Julian.”
He nodded. “It’s a nice drive. I would have preferred to bring a motorcycle but being winter, that’s too far of a trip to freeze.”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I’ve never been on one,” she answered, honestly.
“Want me to take you for a ride.”
Callen cleared his throat. “Want me to dig a hole and bury your body after I painfully rip your
appendages off?”
She laughed more. “I told you, he’s cranky.” Elizabeth winked at him and blew him a kiss. “I love you, Callen.”
“Yeah yeah, I love you too, but the answer is still no way in hell. I’ll buy a motorcycle if you want to ride on one.”
Julian loved watching them interact.
“Deal,” she said grinning.
Whitefox wasn’t sure if she was serious or not. He’d wanted to get one for a long time, but his ex informed him he was going to splatter his brains all over the place. After that, the idea lost its luster. But he could picture her in leather sitting behind him. Yeah, that didn’t help his body any. As soon as spring hit, he was going shopping.
Ginny walked in with coffee and placed it on the table. “The agent is dropping her gear right now, Boss. She’ll be right in.”
“Thank you, Ginny.”
Elizabeth waited for the woman to leave the room, and timed it just right. “So, Julian, are you staying at our house?”
Whitefox started coughing, as he choked on his coffee. “What?”
Julian and Elizabeth laughed.
“What if I didn’t get back last night?” he stared, unsure if this was her tormenting him or not.
“I would have kept her completely safe,” answered Littlemoon, laughing more.
Elizabeth went over and kissed Whitefox on his scowling mouth. “You and Ethan are both out of control,” she said, running her fingers down his twitching cheek.
At the knock at the door, all three looked over.
“Elizabeth, I’m ready,” stated Tori, not looking over at Julian at all. If she did, she very well might breakdown.
It wasn’t hard to miss that her agent was ramrod stiff, and looked like she’d had a really bad night. “Tori, are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Julian was dumbfounded. Yeah, he knew she’d be there and he might run into her, but he never thought he was going to be working with her again. The dark bruises under her eyes worried him, and made him want to take care of her. Just the fact she didn’t look at him made him wonder what he did to make her this angry.
“Hello, Tori,” he said, watching her closely.
“Mr. Littlemoon,” she answered, nodding.
Oh yeah, this was going to be a big disaster. Elizabeth was incredibly sorry that she was planning on putting them together. “Agent Christensen, my office please.”
Tori nodded and turned on her heel, and walked out.
“Julian, Callen, give me a few minutes to figure out what’s wrong here,” then she paused. “Forgive me for asking this, but what happened between you two that has her that stirred up?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. We came back from the swamp; I called every day for three weeks. Not once would she call me, or answer her phone.”
“That’s it?”
“I asked her what branch of the military she was in, and she told me. Then I asked if we could ride together sometime and Tori informed me that the rest of her life was off limits once she was back here.”
Whitefox leaned back in his chair. “Want me to pull her file and call for her background information?”
Elizabeth sighed. “Yeah, because I can’t send her out in the field as someone’s backup with her being this wound up. I need everything on her. Get me her personnel, her military discharge file and her family file.”
“I can leave if she’s going to be this stirred up, Elizabeth. I don’t want to hurt her.” His words said it all.
Elizabeth saw the emotion in his eyes. Yeah, Julian Littlemoon had it bad for the woman. “I’ll go see what’s going on, and then go from there. Please don’t mention that we’re pulling her files. I don’t plan on reading them if I can get her to open up.”
Julian nodded.
Elizabeth left the room, and now had to worry about what happened between last night when she left her house, and this morning. Surely, seeing Julian couldn’t be that upsetting.
Callen hit the speaker phone on his desk and dialed Maddy’s line. The woman was Gabe Rothschild’s administrative assistant, and his official guard dog. No one circumvented the woman to Gabe, unless they had a platoon of marines and a Humvee.
“Gabriel Rothschild’s office.”
He put on the charm. “Hey Maddy! It’s Callen Whitefox.”
The stuffiness disappeared as soon as she recognized the voice. “Well, to what do I owe this pleasure, Mr. Whitefox?”
“Elizabeth asked me to call you. We need a personnel file pulled and sent ASAP.”
Maddy loved the brothers. Both were truly excellent specimens of masculinity. That and they were super sweet and polite. Maddy firmly believed that most gentlemen were dead and gone. “When are you going to come take me out for dinner, handsome?” she crooned.
“I have a girlfriend that I love a great deal, and she’d hand you a beat down, Maddy. I like you too much for that.”
“Please, Elizabeth lets me stare at Ethan, surely your girl wouldn’t mind.”
Julian almost laughed out loud. Callen pointing at him made him want to laugh harder.
“Sorry Maddy, but I’m a one woman guy, and she wears my ring, so I’m taken. I do hear my brother is around though, you should leer at him all day, since Elizabeth won’t care.”
The woman considered it. “Who do you need the file on, sugar?”
“One of our agents is a bit twitchy. Special Agent Victoria Christensen is her name.”
“Issues?” asked the woman. “Do I need to advise Gabe?”
“No, Elizabeth just wants to cover all the bases before fieldwork. I need her personnel, her military discharge, and then anything you have on her family.”
“You got it, Callen.”
“Thanks Maddy. Oh, and when you see my brother, give him a pat on his ass and tell him it was from his wife.”
The woman laughed. “Expect the files in an hour or so via email, Callen. If you dump the girlfriend, give me a call. She doesn’t deserve a fox like you.”
Whitefox laughed and hung up the phone at the irony of that entire sentence.
“Wow, Ethan’s going to kill you.”
Now he was trying to not laugh too much. “Yeah, but it will so be worth knowing he was bright read and embarrassed.”
Julian thought about it. “So, not all of the FBI knows about your relationship with Elizabeth and Ethan?”
Callen shrugged. “Our boss knows, and he scanned the official FBI rules and there’s nothing that prohibits it. Since we’re all directors on the same pay scale, it’s technically in the clear. We don’t really discuss it with staff. Eventually it’ll spread, but until then it’s not important to focus on.”
“Can I be there when you three come out of the couple closet?” he asked, laughing.
He stared at the man seriously unsure how he was feeling about risking Ethan and Elizabeth’s jobs and reputations.
Julian saw the discomfort on his face and changed the subject to cut the man a break. “What do we do now?”
“Nothing. We wait until Elizabeth figures out what the hell is going on.”
* * *
Elizabeth entered her office and closed the door behind her. Just to give them additional privacy, she locked it. Sitting on her couch was the agent she was supposed to send out in the field. Walking over, Elizabeth sat beside her.
“You want to pull me from the assignment?” asked Tori, tersely.
“No, but I will if I don’t get some satisfactory answers. I can’t have you out with Julian in the field and not focused.”
She nodded.
“You can tell me anything, Tori. I’d like to help you through whatever is bothering you. I wish you’d let me get you through this.”
“I had a nightmare last night, that’s all, Elizabeth. I sometimes have them. I’m just a little rattled about it, that’s all.”
“Tell me about it.”
She looked over at her boss. “I’d prefer not to. It’s personal.”
Elizabeth stood. “Then you’re pulled from the assignment. I can’t put you on the street with you looking like a strung out junkie. You’re a mess this morning.”
Tori’s body tightened. “If I tell you, can we keep it between the two of us?” she inquired. “I don’t want Julian to hear about it, or anyone else.”
Elizabeth sat back down. “I can promise to not tell Julian, but I may have to tell Ethan. He is co-director here and my partner. We’re responsible for all the agents in this building, including you.”
Christensen nodded, looking down at her hands.
“I want to be honest with you Tori, so here it is. Right now your military and personnel files are being shipped. If you tell me everything I need to know, then I won’t open them, but if I suspect a lie then I will.”
“What do you want to know about?”
“The dream.”
She sighed. “I was on my second tour of the Middle East, and with my unit. We were embedded in the middle of this little village. It was one big sandbox. I was on patrol and someone took a bullet meant for me. I watched him die, and sometimes I see the dream over and over again. Last night was one of those nights.”
“That sounds like you could have PTSD.”
She shook her head. “I’m generally fine, Elizabeth. Once in a while I have the dream, and it catches me off guard. I didn’t sleep for shit last night, and then seeing Julian added to it.”
“Why?”
Tori didn’t want to have this conversation. “We started a sexual relationship thing in Cypress Grove. I know we shouldn’t have, but it just happened.”
Elizabeth laughed, taking the woman’s clenched hand in hers. “You are allowed to have sex with whomever you want. Ethan and I haven’t started policing that, yet. Julian isn’t a co-worker, Tori.”
“I like to keep my private life quiet. Julian is a really terrific guy. He makes me laugh, and he’s sweet, but I’m not relationship material.”
Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) Page 9