Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5)))

by Kelley, Morgan

  “Why? Are you in the mood to go home and cuddle?” he asked, kissing her neck. “If the answer is yes, we can go right now.”

  Elizabeth giggled. “No, I want to go talk to Chris. He seems out of sorts and irritable today.”

  Blackhawk nodded. “I noticed in autopsy.”

  She pulled his hair free of the ponytail holder and ran her fingers through it. “I think it’s woman issues,” she said, kissing his neck and moving to his ear. When her teeth made contact with the lobe of his ear, Ethan shuddered at the action.

  “Baby, we’re in the office and when you do that, it makes me crazy,” he whispered, allowing himself a few minutes to just enjoy the way it felt.

  “I’m aware. It’s probably why I do it,” she giggled, and hopped off his lap. “I’ll cut you a break, since tonight my Christmas list includes incredible sex with the men in my life.”

  “You won’t hear me complain,” Blackhawk answered, watching her walk away in her dress.

  Yeah, not even if hell froze over.

  * * *

  Tori threw her overnight bag in the trunk and hopped into the passenger side of the vehicle. It would be nice to see where Julian was from, getting that insight into his life.

  “You’re thinking,” he stated, backing out of the driveway. “Want to share with me?”

  Tori grinned at him. “I was just wondering about you, your life, and where you're from. That’s all.” He took her hand in his and she enjoyed the way it felt. It was something she wouldn’t mind getting used to.

  “What do you want to know?” he asked, getting on the highway. “I’m an open book.”

  Tori liked finding out things about him, and the next three hours were going to be fun. “Tell me about your family.”

  Julian nodded. “That’s an easy one. I’m the second child out of five. I have an older brother, a younger brother and two younger sisters.”

  Tori’s heart broke. She’d had a brother she loved once too, until death and war stole him away.

  Julian could feel the pain radiating from her, but he pushed anyway. “I noticed you have a brother.”

  “I had one, yes. Trey died five years ago.”

  Littlemoon stroked her knuckles with his thumb. “How’d he die?” he asked, softly. If Julian knew anything, it was that death could change everything. When his father died life was altered. To this day, he only knew that his dad died in a hunting accident. His mother kept the rest quiet, to not upset the kids. The details to that day were still sketchy, and his mother wouldn’t speak of it.

  Tori sighed. “He was stationed in the middle east and one day on patrol an incendiary device blew under his Humvee. They packed enough explosives in that roadside bomb, that it blew it to bits. The only good thing was he never felt pain or fear. That’s my only solace.”

  Julian was a little surprised that Tori was opening up and telling him everything. In fact, he was very shocked.

  “Is it why you’re the bomb expert for the Blackhawks?” he continued asking. “You seem to handle all their arson and bombing assignments.”

  Tori shrugged. “Not really. I dealt with a lot of bombs in the Middle East and the skill stuck,” she answered, changing the subject back to focusing on him and not her. “Tell me more about your family.”

  Julian got the picture. She’d talk about her personal life, but her time as a soldier wasn’t open to discussion.

  Yet.

  “My brother is a soldier,” he said, releasing her hand and tapping her on the chest. The tell-tale clink of her tags made him smile. “When you dove in the swamp and tossed them over your shoulder so they were down you back, I’d seen it done before with him and a few friends. It’s how I knew you were hardcore military.”

  She smiled. “You learn early on in a warzone that you need to have your tags on all the time. If you die, they need them to identify the body. Mine have the rubber around them because I used to need to move in silence. Our unit walked the streets in the dark, and you didn’t really want to tell the insurgents where you were coming from. I still wear them as a remembrance of my brother and others I lost over there.”

  Julian knew she was uncomfortable discussing it any further. Tori began staring out the window, as if lost in thought. “What branch of the service is your brother in?” she finally asked.

  “Julian is a Marine and my youngest sister Claire is in the Navy. You should see the arguments they get into at the table. My mom has to referee all the time. I have to admit, it’s fun to watch as a neutral party.”

  Tori laughed. “I bet your parents are extremely proud,” she said softly. “I know my dad was when we both enlisted.”

  Ah, well this brought up flag number two on the mantle. Slowly they were working through all three of them. “My dad died when we were all fairly young, but I’m sure where ever he’s at he’s proud. As for the head of our family, my mom raised us by herself. She’s the reason I’m the sensitive romantic that I am.”

  Tori laughed and grinned at him. “Yeah, well she did a good job.”

  He was surprised. “You just gave me a compliment, and I wasn’t holding you at gunpoint.”

  “Want me to hand you my gun?” she asked, laughing more. “Maybe I should rephrase it then. You’re more a romantic than I am.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Ah, there’s the Tori I’m used to dealing with now. I knew she was still in there somewhere.”

  “I was raised by my dad, and that’s probably why I fit in better in fatigues than at a party. Raised by a soldier, to become a soldier, to die like a soldier. That was his motto in life.”

  “So your dad was in the Army too?”

  “Hoo-ya!” she said grinning. “As was his dad, and his dad, and … you get the point. The only thing that he was disappointed in was that I never could train to be a ranger. I was born with ovaries, and he couldn’t figure out how to fix that little tactical error.”

  Julian laughed.

  “He made sure my brother trained me to live and think like a ranger. That’s why the swamp thing and the tags down my back,” Tori admitted. “Pop wanted me as safe as possible in the warzone,” she paused. “That’s the irony of it all.”

  He glanced over. “What do you mean?”

  “When he got the news that Trey died, he had a massive heart attack and collapsed. He never got to see Trey’s burial service or see the flag draped casket. The two rangers died before the woman that wasn’t permitted to be one.”

  Julian thought back to his own father’s death and funeral. His mother kept all five kids in the dark about most of it. There had to be a good reason. “Maybe that’s for the best.”

  Tori nodded. “Yeah, it probably is, but it would have been nice to not have been there alone that day. I did back to back funerals and trust me that sucks. I dropped one man in the ground to turn around and drop another two days later.” Then a year later she stood there and buried a fiancé, but she let that go.

  Julian didn’t doubt that it did.

  “I know where this is heading, Julian. You want to know about the third flag,” she said, referring to Quinn’s triangular box above the fireplace.

  “I do.”

  “I’m not ready yet to talk about it.” Tori’s eyes looked haunted, and her hand clutched the Native symbol he’d given her.

  Julian backed off, since she’d told him a great deal. He was touched that she was using his necklace as a crutch to get through it all. Next step would be her using him. “Actually I was going to ask about your mom,” he stated. “Unless you’re not ready to talk about that either.”

  The atmosphere in the car changed drastically.

  Tori glanced over at him. “I’d have to care about the woman to not want to discuss her. But since she bailed when I was four, she can kiss my ass. One day she woke up and decided that motherhood wasn’t fun, and she never looked back. I haven’t heard from her in thirty years, and honestly I don’t care. There’s no love lost between myself and her. When my dad and Trey d
ied, she never showed up for the funeral. From that day, she’s dead to me too.”

  Julian could see that. “I’m sorry she left you.” He wouldn’t know where he’d be without his mother. She was funny, tough and worked hard her entire life to raise five out of control Natives.”

  “What’s your mom like, Julian?”

  He laughed. “Well, my mother doesn’t put up with any shit from anyone, especially her kids. She’d bake you cookies, but if you didn’t say thank you she’d beat manners into you in a heartbeat. I had my ass tanned a few times as a kid.”

  Tori giggled. “Oh, I bet you did. You should probably have it beat now as an adult.”

  “Oh you weren’t a bad kid?” he asked, glancing over. “No wild side, Tori?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. I never got in trouble, ever. I follow rules well, and I don’t generally break them.” Except fall in love with her commanding officer, have a torrid affair, get engaged and lie to the military. “I never got spanked or beat.”

  “Want to start now,” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows and making her laugh. “With the spanking anyway? We can skip the beating part.”

  She absolutely wasn’t going to comment, but it was hard to not grin anyway. “I was a very well behaved child. I try to avoid trouble as much as possible. Wild people like Elizabeth can track it down all they want. I like to stay far away from chaos and mayhem. My idea of fun isn't taking a nine millimeter to a vest to and center of my chest. My balls aren’t quite that brass.”

  He opened his mouth to make a comment.

  “Zip it, Julian,” she said laughing.

  Julian continued on, “And yet you became an FBI agent. Why not a teacher or a nurse then?” he asked, curiously.

  “I get to play with weapons,” she answered laughing. “I like my guns and they frown upon having them in a school or a hospital.”

  Julian started laughing. “My mother would like you,” he said suddenly. It was out of nowhere, and even caught him off guard.

  Tori wasn’t sure how she was feeling about that statement. “Maybe one day I’ll meet her.”

  Julian grinned at her, prepared to confess his big secret sin. “Remember that authentic Native American food we discussed earlier?” he said, holding tight to her hand.

  “Yeah,” she answered, suspiciously.

  “Well it’s at my mom’s house with all my brothers, sisters, spouses, nieces and nephews.”

  Tori stared at him openmouthed. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “In my family we celebrate Christmas Eve with a big meal, lots of laughter and complete and total chaos.”

  “Julian, if you’re being serious I’m going to be really pissed at you, and then I’m going to vomit in your car. Possibly on you at this point, and you’d deserve it.”

  He started laughing. “Want me to pull over?”

  Tori just stared straight ahead. Here she thought she was spending a quiet evening alone with Julian, and instead she was playing the role of date in front of the family. In her mind she just kept repeating ‘THE ENTIRE FAMILY’.

  “You okay, Tori?” he inquired, still grinning.

  “No, I’m really not.”

  He couldn’t help but snicker at the look of sheer terror on her face. “Sweetheart, it isn't that bad.”

  “You’re a dead man Julian Trenton Littlemoon. Once I get out of this car, you better run for your freaking life!”

  ~ Chapter Eleven ~

  Saturday Afternoon

  The autopsy suit was quiet, as most of the techs had already escaped for the evening. Tonight was about spending time with their loved ones, not sitting in a room full of death. For the rest of the night, the living would come first over the ones that no longer had that luxury.

  That was true for everyone but the ME, because he was still sitting in the dark doing paperwork by one single light at the metal table. Elizabeth knew then, if there was any doubt, that there was definitely something wrong.

  “Hey Chris,” she said, announcing her arrival.

  He didn’t even move at the sound of her voice.

  “Hey Director.”

  Elizabeth knew something big had to be bothering him for this melancholy to be swallowing him and now he wasn’t even using her nickname. “We need to have a little chit chat before I escape the cuckoo’s nest for Christmas.”

  Chris turned on his stool and crossed his arms.

  Mentally, Elizabeth scanned all the possible things she could have done to piss the man off, and simply came up with a big fat zero. This hostility couldn’t have anything to do with her, and that meant swallowing the aggressive body language for a friend.

  “What’s wrong with you? You’re not your usual jovial self, and it’s becoming a real downer. Last thing we need in the death room is a cranky ME.”

  He erupted and she actually jumped out of surprise.

  “I tell you what’s wrong. I am. I’m a complete and total fuck up. I find a beautiful woman that wants to go on a date with me, and then I can’t seal the damn deal because of my morals.”

  Elizabeth stared at him wide eyes. Okay, it was a woman issue, and that she understood, but the anger was still way off for him. “Want to talk about it? Maybe a tad bit more calmly?”

  Chris sighed. “I’m sorry, Lyzee. It’s really nothing. I’ll be okay.”

  She somehow doubted that entirely. “Chris, we’re friends. We’ve been friends since the day you were fresh out of medical school. I was your first assignment. That means something, right?” she asked, trying to get him to laugh. “You never forget your first.”

  He did laugh. “I’ll never overlook you breaking me in and ruining me for every other agent.”

  Elizabeth patted the table beside her. “Come on over and talk to your friend and first agent.”

  Chris grinned and joined her on the table.

  “Now, how about you walk me through it all and we go from there. Chances are it’s fixable.”

  He signed. “We were having a great time, and it was really an amazing stroke of luck that she wanted anything to do with me in the first place. As we both know, I’m out of her league.”

  Elizabeth hated that term, and she had since Ethan used it when they first met. “I happen to think she’s out of yours, but go ahead.”

  Chris took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “We’re both drinking and hitting the booze pretty hard, and then it’s time to leave.”

  “I’m with you so far.”

  “We walk out, and I offer to call her a cab to get her home safely. I didn’t want her showing up on a slab somewhere, because I didn’t think to be polite.”

  “I’m still with you, Chris.”

  “Then she says ‘why don’t we share a cab back to my place’, and I actually turned her down. I looked her right in the eyes, and told her no thank you.”

  Elizabeth was shocked and hoped her face didn’t show it. “So you sent her home?”

  “Insane, right? I have to be the biggest idiot on the face of the planet. Oh, I’m a genius with the dead, but a breathing live woman? Clueless.”

  Elizabeth patted him on the back. “Why didn’t you go home with her?” She needed to ask, because she had no freaking clue why a man turned down sex. That was an aberration in life- at least in her world.

  “She was drunk. I was drunk. Honestly, I don’t do one night stands based on alcohol and regrets. When I’m with a woman, I want her to know I’m focused on her and vice versa.”

  Elizabeth was finally getting the complete picture. “So you were being a gentleman? I don’t think you need to be worried about that Chris. There are few and far between of those anymore.”

  “Yeah, great. I’ll be unmarried the rest of my damn life. I should start collecting cats and move back home into my mother’s basement.”

  Elizabeth started laughing. “I'm sorry but come on, that was a funny visual.”

  Chris couldn’t help it and started laughing. “If you were her, would you think I was the biggest asshole
in the world?”

  Elizabeth thought about it. “No, not after you explained that you didn’t believe in taking advantage of inebriated women or have one night stands. I’d think you were sweet and kind. We women dig that in men.”

  He sighed.

  “I wouldn’t be with the men in my life if they didn’t have that same kindness. Ethan is generous to a fault, and Callen is a big softie.”

  Now Chris was laughing. “Your husbands or whatever they’re called in pairs are scary men.”

  Elizabeth took his hand in hers. “That my friend is all perspective, as is how you see last night.”

  Chris shrugged.

  “Call her and tell her why you did what you did and then ask her out on another date, one that doesn’t involve alcohol. Then go from there and see if you still want to seal the deal. I’m betting you will, because then it’s not a first date or one night stand.”

  “You’re a really good friend, Lyzee, and now I feel guilty for having that picture of you in that bikini, hanging in my locker from that swamp in Cypress Grove.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Want me to call Mr. Generous and Mr. Softie down here? Then you can confess your sins to them?”

  Chris jumped off the table. “Hell no!”

  She snickered, hopping down herself. “Now pack up your shit, Doc and get the hell out of dodge. It’s time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.”

  “You know you’re going straight to hell, Lyzee, right?” he pointed out, laughing.

  “Doc, we just watched a dead woman who was cooked alive being autopsied. I’ve sat in body soup and plucked fetus bones from their dead mother’s bodies. If this isn’t hell already, then I don’t know what is,” she said.

  “Preaching to the choir.”

  Elizabeth hugged her friend and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Merry Christmas, Chris. You have yourself a good night. I’m going home to commit a whole lot of sin,” she said, laughing on her way out of the room.

  Chris watched his friend leave and smiled. He was so glad he took the position when FBI West opened. Elizabeth Blackhawk rocked as a boss, but as a friend she reigned supreme.