"Hideous, isn't it?"
Thankfully, the contact went back in as quickly and as smoothly as it had come out. She dumped the saline into her bag and slung the bag over her shoulder as she departed the bath. "The love-bed, the posters or the color scheme?"
Nicole laughed. "All of the above." She patted the satin spread beside her, waiting until Tess joined her before she continued, "Honey, I know you had a pretty bad fight with your husband. But you've got to know that whatever's wrong can be fixed."
Tess sighed, only partially acting. "I'm not so sure."
"I am. Look, you don't know this—hell, your husband doesn't know this—but I overheard Krissie Stapleton coming on to him before you arrived. The man was clearly not interested."
And Tess knew why, didn't she?
Her next sigh was even deeper, and even more depressed, not to mention more real. "You don't understand Joe. That's how he operates. He gets a kick out of playing hard to get."
"That may be. But this time, he was impossible."
"Nicole—"
"Just hear me out, okay? I was… Well…" She shook her head ruefully. "Truth is, I was eavesdropping. Krissie's been hanging around Eddie lately, and frankly, I was hoping to hear she was the one who was taken—by Eddie. Because that would mean I was off the hook."
Tess studied the woman's hazel eyes for a moment, the slender fingers that raked through her dark blond curls. They came down to knot into the others fingers in her lap. While it was obvious from Nicole's assistance tonight that she hadn't blown this bridge after all, Tess wasn't quite sure that the time had come to test it.
Nicole's words said yes, but her body language said no.
Then again, it could just be nerves.
Hers and Nicole's.
From everything Tess had seen tonight, Nicole knew Eddie—and well. The woman had to know about the drugs. However, she didn't think Nicole knew where they were. She sincerely doubted the nurse would have left her in here alone if she had.
In the end, Tess just went for it. "Do you mind if I ask what happened?"
"Yeah." The woman flushed. "Sorry. That was rude. Look, I don't mean to be a bitch, but I'd really rather not get into it. I'm only telling you because I don't want to see you heading down the same road. Tess, you've got to believe me. I saw Krissie make a serious play for your husband, and he turned her down flat—and then he told her in no uncertain terms that he was interested in someone else, and by God, he meant it."
Tess tried to staunch the ache that seared through her. When she couldn't, she opted to put the pain to good use. There was always the chance it would persuade Nicole to open up in return. "I know. Problem is, I'm not the one my husband's interested in."
"Then why was he staring at you when he said it?"
Who knew? Hell, who cared?
Maybe Joe was going with the whole method acting flow of it all. Or maybe he felt guilty. Hell, maybe he'd just been staring blindly across the room.
Either way, it didn't matter. What did, was that not only had her supposed best friend lied to her, he'd shared with another agent as well as a total stranger something he should have been able to share with her.
That pretty much said it all, didn't it?
Tess dropped her gaze to the rings. Unwilling and unable to face the fake diamond winking up at her, she twisted it around her finger and closed her fist over it, clamping down as tightly as she clamped down on the ache inside her heart. "Trust me, Nicole. Joe and I may not be over yet, but we're getting there pretty darned quick. All holding on will do is delay the inevitable."
"If you say so." But those soft eyes didn't think so.
Didn't matter. Tess knew so. So much so, she didn't have to force the waver into her smile as she glanced up. It had entered all on its own. "Thanks anyway."
"Ready?"
As much as she'd ever be. It was time to find Joe and tell him to back off. He'd have to appear to leave the party for her to implement the rest of the sting.
Only something told her that, especially after that crude grope session on the beach, he was not going to be thrilled with her decision—or her. "Yup, let's go."
She and Nicole left the room and headed down the hall. But as they reached the end of the hall, Joe was already at the foot of the stairs, talking to Eddie.
What's more, she was wrong. Joe wasn't going to be furious when he learned of her plans; he was already there. Eddie didn't appear happy, either.
"Absolutamente, no."
The tech stepped closer to Joe. "But—"
Eddie stiffened, reversing course and actually backing up a solid two feet beneath the torrent of blistering Spanish that was now raining down from Joe's mouth, cutting off whatever the tech had been trying to add.
Joe spoke so fast, his tone so livid, Tess had difficulty translating. There was something in there about the border, another run—and her.
"Joe?"
Both men spun to face the stairs and her.
Eddie tried to move toward her, but Joe cut him off, blocking the man's path with his entire body—and that palpable fury.
"Come, Teresa." His jaw locked, Joe extended his right hand as he waited at the bottom step. The same hand he'd crudely shoved down into her bra and fused to her breast twenty minutes earlier.
She shifted her focus to his eyes. The darkened edge smoldering within left no room for argument.
She complied.
Joe didn't even bother with the usual brush of his lips to her temple, opting instead to tuck her securely beneath his arm as she reached his side.
Very securely.
"What's wrong?"
"Nada. We leave." He nodded stiffly to Nicole. "I thank you for looking after my wife, Señorita Kent. Good night." Joe didn't wait for a response. He simply swung her around with him and propelled her none too gently past Eddie.
Manhandling appeared to be the mode of the night as far as her "husband" was concerned.
"Joe—"
Eddie's voice cut her off from behind. "Wait a minute, amigo. You don't understand. I was—"
Joe stopped just short of the front door and slowly turned back to level a glare on the tech. This time his Spanish was not rapid, nor was it fiery. It was slow. Soft. Deceptively so. "I am not your friend. And if you cannot see your way to reason, neither will I be in your employ again. Do you understand me, Hernández?"
What the hell had happened while she was upstairs?
Eddie jerked a nod beneath Joe's quiet fury, leaving her even more confused. "Understood. But I hope you'll reconsider. Tess tells me your club in Tijuana has drained your finances. All I'm offering is a way for you to refill your coffers again, and quickly. What I don't understand is why—"
"Because I will not prostitute my wife."
"What?" Tess jerked her gaze from Eddie and focused it solely on Joe. "Did I just hear you right?"
"Sí, you did. Ask your new friend what his stipulation was for this latest border-crossing request of his. Ask him why he offers to increase my fee yet again if I will but leave my wife behind for the duration of the trip—here."
She spun back to Eddie.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she'd have never believed it. The man flushed.
Nicole gasped.
Tess was just plain sick to her stomach. Until reason set in.
The case.
As disgusting as Eddie's offer was, it was also the perfect opportunity to get this damned case over with once and for all—tonight. If the man was desperate enough to pay for her, he sure as hell would lead her to his stash.
She nodded firmly. "Fine."
"What?" This from Joe, Eddie and Nicole—simultaneously.
She focused on Joe. "I said I'd do it."
Whoever said hell hath no fury like a woman scorned had never looked into Joe Cortez's eyes. Not at this moment. "Do you not even wish to know how much money you have sold yourself for?"
"Why don't you fill me in—outside?" She turned back to the stairs, a
voiding the shock and horror in Nicole's eyes as she faced the gleam in Eddie's. Somehow, she managed to hold on to the contents of her stomach at the sight of the drool that all but dripped from his jaw. "Can you give us a few minutes? I'd like to speak to my husband."
"Certainly."
This time Joe didn't limit himself to propelling her, he practically lifted her off her feet and carried her out the front door. She was actually relieved when he continued to march her down the walk, distancing them from the house.
As it was, she had to get to the safe in her Jeep's modified center console and the items she'd secreted within. It was going to be dicey enough arresting Eddie among a house full of guests without attempting it sans cuffs, Glock and her DEA credentials.
Unfortunately, they weren't headed for her Jeep. Joe had steered up the dimly lit street rather than down.
"Where are we going?"
"The apartment."
Like hell they were—at least she wasn't. "My Jeep is—"
"We take the truck. Together, mi mujer."
She opted to keep her mouth shut for a bit longer. He could always drop her back at the Jeep. The fingers wrapped around her upper right arm bit in to bare skin as he tugged her to a halt just past the hedge at the end of the block.
No wonder she hadn't spied the truck. He'd hidden it. And as stupidly trusting as she was when it came to him, she hadn't even thought to look.
He released her arm as he stalked off the sidewalk and onto the street, so that he could wrench the passenger door open. "Get in."
"No."
She flinched and jerked backwards as he whirled about. But before she could take another step, he'd locked his hand to her arm once more and twirled her around until her spine was sealed against the truck's frame. His breath seared though taut lips, scorching down on her. "Querida, do not argue with me. I said, get in."
"And I said, no."
"Do not force me to seat you myself."
"You try, and you'll find out firsthand just how proficient I am with that switchblade you gave me."
She meant it, too. It was bad enough he'd groped her like some drunken prom date on the beach. The only thing that had saved him then had been her profound shock. Never in a million years would she have believed that behavior of Joe, let alone that he'd be capable of directing it at her. Well, she did now. If he so much as lifted a finger toward her, she was going to take him down.
Or die trying.
From the hesitation that had entered his eyes, he knew it, too. Apology and regret quickly followed.
She wasn't interested in either.
When he compounded both by opening his mouth, she cut him off with a swift snap of her head and fierce whisper. "Don't bother. Whatever you have to say, I don't want to hear it. If you honestly think I was willing to screw Eddie tonight just to make my case, that's your problem. Mine is you. For your information, Agent Cortez, I found the stash. If I've got any chance of making this bust cleanly, I've got to do it now. And without my jealous husband hanging around. So, get lost."
With that she jerked off the truck's frame.
But, once again, Joe was quicker. This time he clamped both his hands to her shoulders as he sealed her entire back to the frame. His throat worked silently, almost frantically, as he tried to hold back whatever the hell was in his mind.
She tried to ignore the panicked working, but as the fear entered his eyes, she felt herself caving.
Damn it, she couldn't afford to weaken.
She could handle Eddie.
She shifted her gaze from his, fusing it to the earring she'd given him all those years ago when they'd graduated the academy. That tiny emerald had been gleaming at her for weeks now, taunting her with the memories. Tonight, that cold, green stone was outright bellowing. Friendship, honesty, support. They'd sworn it all that day.
But it was all a lie.
Just like the lie he'd told her that afternoon.
"Tessa, please. You must listen."
She clamped down on the pain in her heart, along with the ache in his urgent whisper, furious that even now he could get to her. "Why, Joe? You want me to listen? Then you tell me why. After everything that's happened between us these past few days, why should I give a damn what you think now?"
Nothing.
His throat simply continued to work.
Even worse, he wasn't even looking at her anymore. He was staring blindly over the top of her head.
It figured.
She reached up to pull his hands from her shoulders, but the moment she touched him, his fingers locked into hers, refusing to let go. Moments later, his gaze seared down. Hot, smoldering.
Desperate.
The rasp of his voice followed. "You wish to know why you should listen to me? Why you should deign to consider my wishes concerning your welfare? Then I will tell you. Because I love you, woman. I love you. I always have."
8
The silence lasted a full thirty seconds.
Joe knew this because the pounding of his heart had timed each and every one of them. And yet, even as Teresa blinked and then swallowed thickly—Madre de Dios, even as the first half of the minute stretched into the second, she said…nothing.
From somewhere deep within, he found the strength to release his grip on her now whitened fingers. He lowered his hands to his side and waited.
Finally, the shock that had exploded within those deep pools of false-blue ebbed. But the emotion that flooded the depths next was not the confusion he had expected. Nor was it even the joy that he had feared.
It was relief.
She had misconstrued his meaning.
She merely thought he was calling upon their friendship.
The warm curve that spread softly across her lips, as well as the now gentle hand she laid upon his arm, confirmed this. "Joe, I love you, too. And you're right. I should consider your wishes. You've always had my welfare at heart. The last six years have proven that more times than I can remember." She drew her breath in again, then nodded. "Okay. We'll play this one your way. I'll wait here while you go back and let Eddie know the He-Husband prevailed. I just hope to God we're not making a mistake by delaying the bust."
He simply nodded and turned away.
What else was there to do?
Press his point? Shout at the top of his voice that she had misunderstood his deepest, most private confession, that he did not love her as a friend? That he had never loved her as a mere friend. Not this year, nor the last, nor any of these six years past.
¡Ay, Dios mío! What was wrong with him?
He should be overjoyed that she had mistaken him so very keenly. For it meant there was hope, after all, that he might keep her in his life.
So why, as he once again headed up the walk that led to the technician's door, did the prospect of yet another six years of the deepest of friendships with Teresa Rowan not fill him with happiness as it should?
But with dread.
Joe was at the end of his rope.
Tess slid her gaze across the front of the van's darkened cab, stopping at the steering wheel. The sight of Joe's fingers clenched tightly about the scarred vinyl greeted her, confirming his silently screaming tension. This latest border crossing had him closer to the edge than she'd ever seen him, closer even than the family of soon-to-be illegal aliens seated tensely behind them.
She wasn't surprised. Not after that outburst outside Eddie's.
Joe had actually said he loved her.
Of course he did. She loved him too. That's what made their friendship so special. They cared for each other, looked out for each other, made sure they were there when the other one needed them—even gave each other space when they didn't.
That was love. It just wasn't romantic love.
And, deep down, she was grateful.
She was, damn it. No matter how haywire her hormones had been lately, she had no need for the insidious mutant kind of love that made her mother and half the female population hook up wit
h some latest and greatest hulking male in the hopes that the man would magically transform her world, only to have her very world smashed to pieces—her heart along with it—when that same hulking male walked away.
And they always walked away.
Even her sister had finally wised up and realized the whole happily-ever-after fairytale was just that. A fairytale.
No, she should be thanking her lucky stars that Joe hadn't meant that kind of love.
And yet, he'd never used that particular word before.
She'd been so stunned that, for a moment, she'd almost mistaken his meaning. Until she realized the look in Joe's eyes wasn't so much about her, as it was about tonight—and being forced to relive his past once again. If she hadn't been so high on the adrenaline that had burned in upon finding Eddie's stash, she'd have realized it in Eddie's foyer. For that she'd never forgive herself. Lord knew with the anniversary of his parents' murder coming up, Joe was going through hell. That was obvious enough from his erratic behavior of late.
A distraction. That's what he needed.
Something to keep his mind from reliving the nightmare that had led up to his own desperate escape across the border.
From what she'd been able to piece together through the years, the entire ordeal had been utterly horrific—for Joe and his three younger brothers. While their parents had been executed as an example by the drug cartels, that hadn't been the last of it. Though their uncle had been devastated over the murders, he'd immediately filed a petition with the Mexican courts, requesting custody. Joe's uncle had also formally asked that the boys be allowed to emigrate to the States to live with him.
Since his uncle was a naturalized American, as well as a married active duty US Army first sergeant, the request should have been approved.
But it hadn't been.
Not only had a Mexican judge been paid to reject the petition, the boys had been incarcerated in an orphanage with the seediest of reputations for nearly a year as the so-called process of justice had dragged out.
The message was clear. Defy the cartel, and not only do you die, but your entire family suffers.
Just Beyond Reach Page 14