“I’d like to go ahead and get started, if that’s all right.”
“Really? I thought…” She shook her head. This was stupid. She shouldn’t be hurt. There was no reason for him to be here, honestly. The case was over and his job was done, and he was probably back to his real life, wherever that was. She’d just expected…
Shit. She knew better. That’s exactly what she got for expecting.
“I just thought that Tom—Dom—would be here too. Isn’t he FBI?”
Felix raised a brow at her and deftly avoided a direct answer. “He’s being debriefed in another room.”
“So were you, right?”
“Only in the final stretch to find you, since Dom was needed elsewhere.” His voice stayed calm, cool, perfectly modulated. She wondered if they got extra pay for that. Deflecting Witness Questions 101. “I’m doing this as a courtesy to him. One agent to another.”
“Right.” She battled another round of nearly overwhelming hurt. None of this made sense. “How could Tom have known they’d attack us to get the necklace? Blake interviewed him for the job at Rockford, ran his background check too. No ties to the thieves at all.” She glanced at Felix, realization dawning along with a fresh wave of betrayal. “He wasn’t there to investigate the robbery, was he? He was there to investigate Rockford Security.” It was like a battering ram to her gut. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and forced herself to breathe, to smile. “Well, I hope he got what he was looking for.”
“He did.” Felix watched her, his cool hazel gaze narrowed. “We’ve arrested the leak in your organization, with the help of your brother, Blake. An Abigail Smythe. She’ll be charged as an accessory to robbery, as well as assault and suspicion of hacking.”
Abby? Liv had hired the girl herself. Well, this day just kept getting better and better. Not only did she suck at relationships, she sucked at hiring employees too. Bravo, me.
Felix continued. “The last part will be the hardest to prosecute. From Dom’s report, the station she used for her activities belonged to another employee, making it harder to prove it was her doing the hacking, even with Rockford’s full cooperation.”
“I can assure you no one with the company had any knowledge of her activities.”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Rockford. This is no longer about incriminating your company. We’ve already established that Rockford Security had no involvement in Ms. Smythe’s criminal activities. What I need from you is the full story of your encounters with the thieves.”
He set a small digital recorder on the table and pressed the On button.
Right. She told them what she knew, leaving nothing out, except of course for her personal involvement with their agent. Somehow she didn’t think that would go over too well with his superiors and figured she owed him at least that much.
Finally, they finished. Felix shut off the recorder and led her out of the gray room and down the hall to another space, this one larger, though no brighter. Through the glass of the door, she spotted Jace and Tom inside. Her heart stuttered, and her knees wobbled at the sight of the man she still loved, no matter how much she wanted not to.
Felix escorted her inside, seemingly oblivious to the tumult inside her, and Liv fumbled her way into a chair, her attention focused solely on her brother, who was still deep in conversation with Tom.
“I’m sure if you ask Blake, he’d hire you,” Jace said.
Wait? What? No.
Liv looked up at them, glaring at her brother. “No. I don’t want him working for us. He was spying on us, dammit. All for some stupid case.”
“Whatever, sis. What’s a little espionage between friends, right?”
“He’s not my friend.”
“Nah. I figured you guys went way beyond that.”
Heat and indignation heated her cheeks as Liv stared down at the plain brown tabletop.
Jace continued. “Besides, even if he had found something, it wouldn’t have stuck.”
“Why not?” Liv gave her brother some serious side-eye.
“We consult for some very powerful clients. They wouldn’t be happy if our services were no longer available.”
Felix walked back into the room a few moments later and held the door open. “Ms. Rockford, you’re free to go.”
“Thanks. What about my brother?” She stood and walked out without a glance back at Tom. “He’s my ride home.”
“Fine,” Felix said.
“See you around, Dom.”
She could feel the weight of Dom’s stare on her as she left even though she wouldn’t, couldn’t look at him. Seeing him for the last time would hurt too much.
22
“Will you just stop being an idiot and call her?” Angela said.
Dom looked up from the model airplane he was building with Milo. “I thought we agreed not to discuss this again.”
His new mission in life since ending the last case was to spend as much time as possible with his family. They’d taken walks to the park, been to the zoo, even took a day or two to go to the beach at Lake Mead. Still, nothing had lessened the gaping hole left in his heart by Liv.
“No,” Angela said, vacuuming around where he sat on the floor. “You agreed. Not me.”
“I can’t call her, okay?” He finished gluing a delicate strip of wood into place with a pair of tweezers then raked a hand through his hair. “I lied to her. I spied on her family. That isn’t something you just forgive. How can we have a future after that?”
“Wow.” She deliberately knocked him on the leg with the vacuum before shutting it off. “Since when did you become such a wuss with women?”
“I am not a wuss.”
“Uncle Dom’s a wuss. Uncle Dom’s a wuss,” Milo mimicked, sticking his tongue out and laughing. “Wussy, wuss, wuss.”
“Yeah.” He frowned at his sister. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem.” She nudged him with her foot. “Stop being a coward and call her already.”
“You don’t understand.” No one understood. What he’d had with Liv had been special. It wasn’t just the sex, though that had been beyond mind blowing. For him, they’d connected on a much deeper level than just physical intimacy. It felt like she got him, really got him. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had gotten the real him. “A phone call won’t help.”
“How do you know if you don’t try, huh?”
The doorbell rang, cutting off anything else she might’ve said. Angela held up a finger then headed for the front door. “Hold that thought. We are not done with this conversation, brother dear.”
He turned back to the model and watched while Milo stuck on one of the wings, upside down and backward. Definitely not perfect, but judging by the kid’s radiant smile, he was loving every minute of their time together. And that’s what was important. Things didn’t have to be perfect, they just had to be real and truly loved.
A lesson he’d forgotten on the road to losing Liv.
Muffled voices echoed down the short hall from the front foyer, and he grabbed another thin plywood plank with his tweezers. It was nice, just sitting here in the quiet, building something for a change, instead of tearing things apart, as he usually did on his jobs.
As he’d done at Rockford Security.
As he’d done with Liv.
Jesus. He missed her so much. If he closed his eyes and concentrated hard enough, it was almost like he could hear her voice, smell the sweet tang of her perfume…
“Uh, Dom,” Angela said. “There’s someone here to see you.”
Dom opened his eyes then blinked several times.
No. It couldn’t be. He must’ve gone nuts from the stress of catching those thieves.
“Hi.” Liv looked sleek and perfect and ever so slightly nervous.
He fumbled to his feet and brushed off his hands on the thighs of his jeans then forced words past his tight vocal cords. “Hi.”
“Milo, c’mon.” Angela waggled her fingers at her son. “Want to help me make some brownies in t
he kitchen?”
“Brownies!” Milo rushed to his mother’s side, toppling over the model in the process. “Woohoo!”
Once they were alone, both he and Liv stared at each other until he couldn’t take the silence anymore. “So, uh, what brings you here?”
“Oh.” Liv tucked a hank of her sable hair behind her ear, and he itched to sink his fingers deep into her silken tresses again. “I, um, brought the adoption papers over for her to sign.”
“Adoption papers?”
“Yeah, for Bucky.” She cocked her head toward the black-and-white puppy snoring loudly on his bed in the corner. The dog had become such a fixture around the place that Dom had forgotten about him.
“Oh, right. Yeah. Sure.” She hadn’t come to see him. She’d come to deliver adoption papers. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from reaching for her. Damn. He wanted to kiss her so badly right now his chest ached. “Bucky.”
The tension sizzled in the air between them, and her cheeks flushed, and finally she stepped forward with her hand extended.
“Hello, I’m Olivia Rockford. Please call me Liv.”
Confused, he scrunched his nose.
She lifted a brow and gave him a pointed stare.
It took him a moment to realize that this was her attempt at reconciliation, her offer of a second chance. His pulse kicked higher, and he took a deep breath before taking her hand. “Hi. Dominic Ranucci. My friends call me Dom.”
Liv smiled, the one that made his body tingle and his gut clench. “Nice to meet you, Dom. Your sister’s told me so much about you.”
“Right. Yeah.” He couldn’t help tracing his thumb over the back of her hand before letting her go. So soft, so warm. He cleared his throat again, frowned. “Blake offered me a job. With Jace. Better pay, more time with my family, and…” He lifted his gaze to hers at last, tried to convey what was in his heart through his eyes. “And other important people too.”
You. More time with you, his mind screamed, but he didn’t say it.
Didn’t want to scare her away.
“Sounds like a good offer,” she said, her tone quiet.
“Yeah.” There were dark shadows beneath her lovely green eyes. Had she been tossing and turning at night just like him? “Not sure if I’m going to take it though.”
“Why not?”
Was that an edge of disappointment he heard in her voice? He glanced back at her and saw what he hoped was a hint of “are you kidding me?” beneath her otherwise stoic expression. Crunch time. He shrugged. “I’m afraid I might be tempted to sleep with the boss.”
Heat and something else, something deeper he was afraid to name, flared in her emerald gaze. Then she chuckled. “Huh. Didn’t know you felt that way about Blake or Jace, but okay. Because that’s who would be your supervisor. Jace’s assignments all run directly through Blake. I’ve got no involvement there.”
“Ah.” Leave it to Blake to stick him in a job where it wouldn’t interfere with his personal relationship with Liv. The guy’s matchmaking skills sounded more and more plausible by the second. Still, there were questions left to be answered. “Did you know Rockford Security consults for the CIA?”
“No.”
“Means I’d still have to travel some for the job, but no more undercover work.”
“You sound happy about that.”
“I am.” He went for broke. Angela was right. He would never know if he never tried. Maybe Liv had forgiven him, maybe not. Now he’d find out. “Want to grab some early dinner? Movie afterward?”
Liv looked at him a moment, the same assessing stare that had nearly brought him to his knees during that first painful interview all those days ago. “I don’t know. My last boyfriend was a lying dweeb.”
Dom cringed. He’d earned that and then some. “He didn’t deserve you.”
“No, he didn’t.” Liv stepped closer, close enough for him to feel the heat of her through his clothes and smell her delicious Liv scent again. She traced her finger down his cheek, and he gave an involuntary shudder. “But what about you, Dom? Will you lie to me too?”
“Never,” he growled, his heart bashing against his ribs and his hands fisted at his sides to keep from hauling her tight against him and kissing her senseless. “You mean too much to me, Liv.”
“I do?” Her warm, minty breath trampled the last of his defenses.
Aw, fuck it.
Unable to resist any longer, he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, tucking her head beneath his chin and burying his nose in her hair. “I love you, Princess.”
She sniffled, and his arms tightened around her. “I love you too, Dom.”
They stood there for a long moment, holding each other, enjoying each other again.
Finally, Liv leaned back and looked up at him, her eyes shining. “Not sure how this happened.”
Dom grinned and kissed her softly. “Me neither, but let’s not question it. Maybe luck is on our side, for once.”
About the Author
Lee Anne Jones is the more romantic alter-ego of USA Today Bestselling Author Leighann Dobbs. As Jones, she writes heart thudding romantic suspense guaranteed to keep you up all night.
She lives in the lakes region of New Hampshire with a fishing obsessed husband, a feisty but loyal chihuahua, and a cat that thinks she's the boss.
You can find out more about her books at her website http://www.leeannejones.com and connect with her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/leeannejonesauthor/
Other Books By Lee Anne Jones
The Rockford Security Series:
Deadly Betrayal (Book 1)
Fatal Games (Book 2)
Treacherous Seduction (Book 3)
Calculating Desires (Book 4)
Wicked Deception (The Rockford Security Series Book 5) Page 18