Snow White Espionage (Barely a Fairy Tale Book 2)

by Maggie Dallen

“I’m totally serious. I’ve seen it for myself. There are some serious sparks between those two.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes but she was still laughing. “Yeah, but not always in a good way. I lived through their marriage, remember? The walls would shake when the two of them fought, that’s how loud the screaming was.”

  Andie’s smile faltered a bit. “That’s right. I’d heard they were married. I guess I didn’t put it together that you would have been part of the family.”

  Jenna’s heart went out to the other woman. Leaning forward she refilled the glass that Andie had drained in one swallow. “I wouldn’t have called us much of a family. I was young and dealing with the death of my mother. Margaret was far from maternal. And my father…well, I think he jumped into another marriage way too quickly. He never gave himself a chance to grieve my mother before trying to rekindle his relationship with Marg—er, your mother.”

  Andie nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Anyway, people here talk and they talk a whole lot after they’ve been drinking.” Her small smile was just wicked enough that Jenna had to laugh…holy crap, this really was her sister.

  “And what did they say?”

  “Oh, I heard all about how Margaret and Donald had been on-again off-again for decades. Even as far back as law school. It wasn’t hard to piece together that he could very well be my father.”

  They sat in silence for a bit, each lost in thought as they sipped their drinks.

  “So what now?” Jenna finally asked.

  Andie blinked as if coming out of a trance. Her mind must have been racing like crazy now that she had finally confirmed that Margaret and Donald were her parents.

  “I don’t know. I mean, Margaret seems to want to get to know me. I can’t read your father but I’d like to get to know him a little better as well…if he’s open to it.” She looked up at Jenna and her big blue eyes were wide with a mix of excitement and fear. “It feels so unreal, you know? After all these years, I’ve not only found out who my birth parents are, but they’re even better than I imagined.”

  Jenna bit her tongue. Really? Her dad wasn’t an ogre but she’d hardly nominate him for father of the year. And Margaret…the woman was not exactly maternal.

  “The fact that Margaret wants to get to know me—”

  “I’m sure our father does too,” Jenna said, managing to say “our father” without a pause this time. “He’s not exactly an emotive guy, and he might have the emotional intelligence of a grade-schooler, but he does love his family. I’m sure he’s dying to get to know his new daughter.”

  She was rewarded with a huge, beaming smile. “Really? God, this feels so unreal. Like I woke up in a fairy tale or something.”

  Jenna laughed. “Oh, Mack is going to love you.”

  “Who?”

  “Your former stepsister,” Jenna said. At Andie’s confused look, she added, “Never mind. You’ll meet her soon enough.”

  Andie leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “You know, I’m actually glad you figured out that I was the one snooping. I don’t know if I ever would have summoned up the nerve to come clean if I wasn’t in danger of being outed.”

  Jenna raised her glass. “Glad I could help.” Guilt niggled at her. “It wasn’t really me who figured it out, though. It was Hunter.”

  A feeling she could only describe as giddiness made her bite her lip to keep from giggling. Jesus, what was wrong with her? Saying his name made her act like a pubescent teen now? Wonderful. Ah hell, this infatuation would be the death of her.

  But the fact was, Hunter was the one who’d figured it out. He was the reason Margaret was weeping and her father was doing his masculine version of weeping. Hunter was why they were all here having this bizarre family reunion…and he’d been sent away without a word of explanation.

  Crap, he was probably waiting to hear from her. But this was hardly the kind of thing she could explain via text. It would have to wait until she saw him tonight. Not that they’d made plans but…oh hell, she really hoped he wanted to see her as much as she wanted to see him.

  Slipping away like that in the middle of the night had been juvenile…and one-hundred-percent necessary for her mental state. She’d woken up in the middle of the night in a full-blown panic—not because she’d regretted what she’d done. Far from it. But because she’d woken up in his arms, cuddling, content, and blissfully at home. For the first time in her life, she’d felt at home. He was home.

  It was terrifying.

  So she’d run. But now her head was on straight and she realized that she was dying to talk to Hunter about this new revelation. She wanted to tell him all about her new sister and thank him—because he’d made this all possible by getting to the bottom of the mystery.

  A fact she would be sure Margaret was well aware of.

  She got her chance an hour later, when the whole dysfunctional family headed out of the office. Her father and Andie were going back to Margaret’s place. It seemed everyone wanted to get to know each other better. There was a lot to catch up on with those three.

  They invited her along but she declined. “I’ve had enough family drama for one day. I’ll let you three have some time.” She turned to Andie. “But I’d like to get to know my sister better, if you’re up for it.”

  Andie beamed at her. “Any time!” They exchanged numbers and made a plan to meet up for drinks the next day.

  Andie and her father headed to the elevator lobby and Margaret would have followed but Jenna stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You do know that you have Hunter to thank for this little reunion, don’t you?”

  Margaret raised one eyebrow. “Ah, so he’s Hunter now, is he?”

  “Don’t be coy, Margaret. I figured out who he is, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I want to make sure you honor his contract.”

  As she expected, Margaret got a defiant look in her eyes. “Our contract stated that he only got the bonus if he revealed the snoop—“

  “Which he did.”

  “No, Andie came clean herself,” Margaret said. But Jenna could see the mischievous twinkle in the other woman’s eye. This was why they hadn’t gotten along back in the day. Even way back then Jenna had loved to argue, a trait that Margaret shared. It was clear as day that Margaret was being difficult just to be difficult.

  “Margaret,” she said slowly, threateningly. “You know what I’m getting at. Hunter deserves everything you promised him. He’s earned it.”

  Margaret studied her in silence for a moment and Jenna did her best not to fidget beneath her stare. “Interesting,” Margaret finally said under her breath.

  “What?”

  Margaret shook her head and her typically catty smile turned soft, almost…maternal. “I hope you haven’t gotten too attached, my dear. You do know that Hunter is leaving us soon, don’t you?”

  Jenna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Of course. No one would expect him to stay here undercover once he’d finished his job. Besides, I’m going back to my real job next week.”

  Margaret was shaking her head before she stopped talking. “That’s not what I meant. I meant, he’s moving to Chicago. Just as soon as he gets paid, or at least that’s what he told me.”

  Jenna’s expression didn’t change and her tone didn’t falter. “Of course. And that’s why he needs this money so badly. You know Andie would never have come clean if Hunter hadn’t found her first.”

  Margaret reached for her scarf and purse. “Fine. My goodness, you’ve become quite the ethical one these days, haven’t you? Tell him he can pick up the check on Monday.”

  But Jenna was no longer listening. Margaret had turned her back and was walking away. Just a little longer. She just had to keep it together for another second or two.

  As soon as the elevator doors closed behind Margaret, Jenna let out the breath she’d been holding and a sob escaped as well.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mackenzie was sitting on Jenna’s kitchen counter, her legs swinging as she
watched Jenna unpack their delivery food and set it out on plates. Here at Jenna’s they used real plates and silverware, Jenna’s only nod to propriety.

  “Are you seriously not going to talk to me about whatever is going on between you and the huntsman?”

  Jenna let out a huff. “Stop calling him that. And no. I’m not talking about it.” She also wasn’t thinking about it. Or obsessing over it. Nope. Her brain was officially a Hunter-free zone.

  Her heart, on the other hand, had a tendency to plummet into her stomach whenever she was decidedly not thinking about him. She jabbed at the noodles that clung to the side of the container to get it out. Goddammit, the pain in her chest was killing her.

  “It might help if you talk about it. Clearly you have feelings—”

  Jenna’s response was a growl that sounded like it came from a feral animal and not a well-respected divorce attorney from the Upper West Side. “I don’t care about him. Now let it go.”

  “Okay,” Mackenzie drawled. “Then how about you tell me more about this new sister of mine?”

  Jenna looked up with a sigh. “She’s not your sister, she’s mine.”

  “Which basically makes her my half-sister, too.”

  Jenna let out a choked laugh despite herself. “Okay, fine. That makes her your former step-half-sister. Satisfied?”

  “Excessively.” Mackenzie swung her legs as she watched Jenna far too closely.

  Ugh. She was not in the mood to be psychoanalyzed. She’d wanted company, that was why she’d invited her over in the first place, but only for distraction. Mackenzie hadn’t gotten the message. She was irritatingly fixated on figuring out what was bothering her.

  Nothing! Nothing at all. The man she might maybe possibly sort of kinda be falling for was leaving town. Without telling her. No big whoop.

  She steeled herself for another round of questions—one frustrating part of having an investigative reporter as a best friend? She never eased up on the questioning. Mack was a one-woman interrogation committee.

  She was saved by the buzzer. Handing the containers over to Mackenzie to finish dishing out, she headed to her front door. She should have guessed who it would be but she was still surprised to find Hunter standing on her doorstep, looking ridiculously hot in that rumpled sort of way. His hair stuck out straight in some spots like he’d been running his hands through it too often and he sported a five o’clock shadow.

  The ache in her chest turned to a screaming pain at the sight of him. Breathing became unbearably difficult.

  “Where did you disappear to?” he asked in lieu of hello.

  She shrugged, adopting a calm expression that completely belied the explosion of emotions going on beneath the surface. Joy at seeing him, which was quickly shoved aside as she remembered that she hated this man. Hated him. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he affected her and she sure as hell wouldn’t let him see that her heart had been torn in two.

  She may have been idiotic enough to trust him, but she didn’t have to make it worse by letting him know just how stupid she’d been. Pride was all she had left right now and she planned on keeping a tight hold on it.

  “Were you looking for me?” There, her voice was perfectly even.

  His eyes narrowed on her and she noted his flared nostrils with a flash of satisfaction. So he was getting annoyed, was he?

  Good.

  “I called and texted a million times yesterday.” His tone was far from even. “I even came by your apartment a few times. What happened to you?”

  She could see concern warring with anger in his eyes. It was probably petty to find such satisfaction in irritating this man, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. He’d hurt her more than she would ever willingly admit, the least she deserved was some satisfaction, no matter how petty.

  “Nothing happened to me.” She feigned confusion. “I must have turned my phone off.”

  She watched him rub a hand over his face, noting the dark shadows beneath his eyes. Nope, she would not feel guilty. It was the least he deserved.

  “I was worried about you,” he said. The truth of his statement was clearly written across his face. Well, whoopdee-doo. Give the man a prize. He worried. But that didn’t keep him from sleeping with her when he knew he was leaving town.

  No, worse. He hadn’t just slept with her. If had just been sex, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

  He’d done the unthinkable—the unforgivable. He’d made her care.

  With that thought in mind, she let her expression harden. Her smile froze. “You shouldn’t have. Really.”

  His brows drew together in concern. “Jenna, what’s going on? Did something happen between you and your father yesterday? Is this about Andrea?”

  She sighed as she started closing the door, a not-so-subtle hint that he wasn’t welcome. “That mystery is solved, Hunter. Andie admitted to everything and Margaret has your check ready and waiting, I’m sure. There’s no need for us to work together anymore.”

  He stared at her for a few minutes but reached a hand out to keep the door from shutting any further. “What are you doing?”

  She kept her gaze cold as ice even as her heart threatened to tear itself out of her chest. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Like hell you don’t. Yesterday when I left you—you were different. We were…”

  “We were what?” Shit, some of the anger had seeped into her voice. Well, at least it wasn’t pain. She could accept his confusion, even his anger. But if she saw pity…

  “We were getting somewhere,” he said softly. His eyes met hers and she willed him out of her head. Stop trying to read me. Stop trying to get beneath the surface. To think, just yesterday she’d been convinced that he knew her. That he saw the real Jenna.

  What bullshit.

  “Getting where, exactly?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Now that was the voice that struck fear into the heart of her adversaries.

  His eyes narrowed further. “What’s going on with you? What am I missing here?”

  Anger welled up so forcefully it took all of her will power to keep from lashing out. I’d like to take the time to get to know you. Earn your trust, he’d said. Goddamn lying asshole. She should have known. She had known. Her whole life had taught her that romantic love didn’t last. Men left. People cheated. These were facts she knew to be true. Yet for some unknown reason she’d let this guy get under her skin and past her defenses.

  Never again.

  He made a move to step inside her doorway and her hand flew up to keep the door from opening any wider and allowing him in.

  “Let’s talk about this.” It was the closest she’d ever come to hearing this man plead.

  No, no, no. She hardened her heart against the urge to relent. The masochistic desire to hear his excuses and maybe even find some hope—that had to be squashed at all costs for the sake of self-preservation.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. We worked together, we slept together, we’re parting ways.” She forced a shrug. “Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”

  “A big deal?” He shook his head, his brow furrowed with confusion. “What am I missing? What happened between yesterday morning and today?”

  The desperation in his voice was almost convincing. Almost. God, she’d been such a sucker. Fine, he wanted to play dirty? Make her feel guilty for calling it off before he did? Two could play at that game. Bring on the hurt.

  “What changed…” She allowed disdain to drip from her voice. “Hmmm, let’s see. Maybe I woke up the other morning and realized that I was in an apartment that is one step above a slum.”

  His eyes widened but he didn’t respond. He looked stunned.

  He hadn’t seen anything yet.

  “Or maybe I realized that I’d gone to bed with a washed-up cop who couldn’t keep his wife satisfied.”

  His jaw dropped open but he still didn’t speak. A new kind of pain lanced through her, making her throat close up
and the back of her eyes sting from holding back tears. But she would not give in to the urge to cry. Not in front of this man and certainly not because of this man.

  He didn’t deserve it—he’d lied to her from the start. And not just about his identity. He’d made her think that he was different. That what was between them was special.

  She forced herself to meet his gaze one last time. “Thanks for the good time the other night.” She gave him her best ice queen smile. “And have a nice life.”

  With that, she slammed the door shut in his face. The moment it shut, she lost the ability to breathe normally. She sucked air into her lungs but it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough oxygen in the air. She was drowning. Dying.

  Her breathing came faster and more shallow as her limbs began to tremble. Holy shit, what was happening to her?

  “Oh my God.” Mackenzie’s voice behind her in the hallway only made it worse.

  She stared at her former stepsister with wide, panicky eyes. “What’s happening to me?”

  Mack came over and drew her in for a hug so tight it finally stopped the shaking and somehow made breathing a little easier. “Oh sweetie. You’re in love.”

  Mack’s voice was so uncharacteristically gentle, she almost laughed. She might have if she wasn’t afraid that laughing would lead to sobbing.

  “You’re kidding, right? Did you hear what happened just now?”

  “Mmm.” Mackenzie still held her tight. “Pretty brutal words for someone you don’t care about.”

  She gripped Mackenzie tight. Right now, she seemed to be the only stable thing in the world. “I thought I did,” she admitted. “Care, I mean. I’d thought that maybe I…oh, I don’t know.”

  “Yes, you do.” Mack’s voice dropped the gentle tone and sounded far more like her typical bossy self. “You thought maybe you loved him. Admit it.”

  Jenna pulled back to scowl at her stepsister. Feeling her heart break was one thing but saying it out loud? Too humiliating to bear. She was supposed to be smart. Logical. Rational. She wasn’t supposed to fall in love. It wasn’t part of her plan and even if she’d toyed with the idea of having a relationship every once in a while, it wouldn’t be with someone like him.