Most Wanted (Triple Diamond Book 3)

by Gemma Snow

  “How nice are we supposed to look?” she asked Quinn, when he came back into the bedroom, his few-day-old stubble shaved clean. She stared at her open suitcase.

  “I think Aimee said cocktail,” he told her. “But it’s really cold and feels like snow.”

  Yup, nothing like wearing a cocktail dress in a blizzard.

  “You think I can get away with wearing a sweater?” she asked. Quinn tried to smile, but his eyes glazed over and Ev rolled her own. “No help, no help at all. I need more women in my life.”

  Actually.

  She grabbed her coat and headed for the door. “Be back in a few!”

  It did feel like snow. The sky was gray and heavy and the telltale winter scent made her nostalgic for the days she and her siblings had spent home from school, torturing one another and their mother in turn. Still, the snow meant the air was a little warmer than it had been and Ev enjoyed the brisk walk.

  It didn’t take her long to find the Hollis sisters. Lily and Maddy were in the foyer at Holmwood, sharing hot chocolate and what looked to be a bottle of Irish cream liqueur on the table between them.

  “I need help,” Ev said, her breath coming out on a cold sigh, when she made her way into the warm room.

  Maddy clapped her hands. “Trouble with men, clothes or mothers?” she asked. “I’m guessing men.”

  Lily grinned and waggled her eyebrows. “No way. Have you seen how those two look at her? It’s definitely clothes.” She looked at Ev with a smile on her face. “You didn’t pack anything warm enough for Sam and Aimee’s cocktail party, right?”

  “You’re a mind-reader,” Ev said, her face breaking out into a smile. “I’m desperate. I tried to ask Quinn, but the big, scary military man gets all flustered when I ask for basic fashion advice.”

  “It doesn’t get any better when there’s two of them, let me tell you,” Maddy Hollis said smiling. “Christian has very seriously recommended I start wearing motorcycle tanks to greet my guests.” She stood and walked over to the small kitchenette at one side of the Holmwood foyer. “First things first.” She ladled a steaming mug of hot cocoa from a pan on the stove and brought it back to the table, then proceeded to pour in a generous dose of Irish cream. “You gotta get warm. Then we’ll go closet hunting.”

  Well, that sounded like a damn fine plan if Ev had ever heard one.

  Ev actually had fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so silly, so frivolous with her spare moments. The only people she really considered friends were Quinn and Lucas and the members of her eight-person team, with whom she spent most of her time. She loved her sisters and her brother, but when she made it home, it was usually a quick hop on a long journey, often only to be called back to work in an instant, and most of her friends from before she’d joined the Bureau didn’t get her lifestyle, or why she wasn’t around for coffee during the afternoon or drinks on a Friday night. Of course, she considered Sam and Aimee close friends, and there were others, Ev was sure of it, but unless they worked in the world of the FBI, they couldn’t understand, and most people in her life didn’t.

  But in Madison Hollis’ bedroom, in the house just down the path from Holmwood Manor, with the two Hollis sisters, all three of them a little tipsy on cream liqueur and Maddy tossing outfits at them from the cavernous closet, Ev was having fun. Genuine, feel-good, no-strings-attached fun.

  “You bitch,” Lily gasped. She was holding up a cozy-looking pink sweater, her mouth opened wide. “I have been looking for this for a month. You told me you didn’t know where it was.”

  Maddy grinned and Ev tried not to laugh. It was a fight she’d indulged in with both her sisters plenty of times. Natalia was nearly ten years older than Ev, closer to a second mother growing up than an older sister, but she and Aurora, just one year, eight months, two weeks and three days older—not that Aurora ever let her forget it—had bickered about clothing, books, the cleanliness of their shared bedroom and the occasional pop star hottie who was most definitely in love with one of them. Being here with Lily and Maddy reminded Ev a whole hell of a lot of being at home, and she felt a sudden ache to be back in her mother’s kitchen, surrounded by the people who loved her.

  At least, most of the people who loved her. The man who loved her was currently a few guest cabins down the lane, probably still trying to decide if she had been kidding about wearing leggings to a cocktail party.

  “Not in front of the guests!” Maddy said, but her voice was so full of giggles she could barely get the words out, even when Lily took the sweater back and marched over to the bed, grabbing the bottle off the dresser when she did.

  “Okay, what’s the weirdest guest you’ve ever had?” Ev asked. She was feeling relaxed, more at ease than she had been in a long time, especially when Lily handed the liquer bottle over without asking and she drank deep.

  “Well, we’ve only been open since the summer,” Maddy explained. “And the cabins are a new addition—your party is the first to use them, actually. But the weirdest guest… Oh, there was a guy who brought his dog. Now, I love dogs, but this snappy little shit—he dressed it up in different costumes every day! And designer costumes too, I mean, he was spending a fortune on designer dog costumes…”

  Ev blinked. “What was he doing out here?” she asked, curiosity piqued.

  “Land developer or something. But it was clear who was the owner in that relationship.” Maddy waved a hand and went back to digging in the closet.

  Ev passed the bottle back to Lily. “Anyone you’ve come across?” she asked. Lily grinned.

  “I don’t actually work here,” she said, eyes twinkling. “But yeah, there have been a couple. I have met a few cool people—one woman was a photographer for National Geographic. That was awesome. Another couple was doing a motorcycle trip across the country.” Her smile turned into a thin line. “You know who does creep me out, though?” she asked. “There’s a guy here now who gives off some weird vibes.” She clamped her mouth shut. “And I’m being unprofessional, so shutting up now. Forget I said anything.”

  Ev shook her head. “It’s Sam brother, right?”

  Lily grimaced but nodded. “I think his name is Zachary or Zachariah. I don’t know, I’ve never seen him talk to anyone but Sam, and only rarely. And they’ve been here nearly a week. I don’t know. It’s just a feeling.”

  Ev had been with the BAU for nearly five years. Some days, science won out. Some days her years of training and school and analysis were what led them to a killer. Other days, it was pure gut instinct.

  “Never underestimate just a feeling,” she said to Lily. “You’d be amazed at how many people are still alive because of their gut instinct.” And Ev’s gut, where Zachary-Zachariah Hawkins was concerned, was feeling a little twingy.

  But she didn’t want to think about that, not in this room with these wonderful women and one hell of a hot boyfriend who she had every plan of impressing at the party that night.

  “Ooh, what about this?” Maddy’s head was deep in the pile of sweaters at the far end of her closet and the question came out muffled. But then she turned around and held up a dark red dress that made Ev’s face break into a smile. It was long-sleeved and velvet—thank God the trend was back in fashion—and curved down, probably coming to below her knees.

  “Wear this with those black boots you’ve got,” Maddy said, her voice the full co-conspirator of a woman on a mission to help a friend. “Your man is gonna drop his jaw when he sees you in it, let me say that.”

  Lily made a sound from the bed. She was sitting on top of her pink sweater and drinking more wine from the bottle, her smile wicked. It seemed as though the trait ran in the family.

  “Not just one man, honey.” Lily raised the wine in salute.

  Ev shook her head. “I can see why you need two boyfriends to wrangle you,” she said. “I don’t think just one would be able to handle the job.” It was meant to be a joke. Lily clearly took it for one, and a week ago Ev wouldn’t have thought twice
on it. But looking at the sisters now, happy as they were, normal as they were, horrible as that sounded, Ev wondered if maybe her flippancy was misplaced, if maybe her whole understanding of their dynamic was misunderstood. Lily and Maddy Hollis didn’t have two partners because they wanted the extra attention or love. They had two partners because they loved two men, and those men were able to see past the strictures of social norms to give the women that they loved what made them happiest.

  What a fucking head-trip.

  “Don’t think too much on it,” Maddy said. “Lily runs her mouth.”

  Lily stuck her tongue out at Maddy, and the women, Ev included, all laughed. But even while they teased her hair and tossed some new and different makeup her way, Ev didn’t go back to that easy feeling she had enjoyed just a few minutes before.

  Instead, her mind whirred and her thoughts chased one another—Quinn filling her up while Lucas watched, only this time Lucas knew it, and his eyes would flame dark and hot and Ev had to shake herself several times as she finalized her outfit and makeup and got ready to go and meet her boyfriend. Singular.

  Right.

  The party was in full swing by the time she made her way down from Maddy Hollis’ house to the mess hall. The chairs and tables had been cleared away and the main room had been opened for a wide dance floor. They needed it, since she spotted many people who had only just arrived, others from the Bureau, a few she recognized from local precincts they had visited over the years. The beat was a slow, deep grind, and the dim lights and general pulsing of the room made Ev feel like she’d stepped out of the Montana ranch and back into the heart of DC club culture. She had to assume. She didn’t have a lot of experience with DC club culture. Or any club culture.

  And that was why she felt on edge, that and nothing else. Certainly not the small seeds of doubt taking root in her mind, or the curiosity, the wonder, the ache deep in her belly to know if there was something more out there.

  She grabbed the wedding’s signature cocktail, a winter wonderland martini, and downed half of it in a single swallow, barely tasting the notes of cranberry past all the vodka. Then she settled her back against the bar to look out over the crowd of beautifully dressed people. Where the hell were Quinn and Lucas? And what the hell was wrong with her, anyway? She was talking about her best friends here, not some strangers. She didn’t have a goddamned thing to worry about.

  “You look good enough to eat.” His growl was low and intense in her ear and Ev had to resist the urge to shudder.

  “I was wondering when you’d show,” she said, feeling flirtatious and a little tipsy, more so when Quinn slid his kiss from her ear down the nape of her neck.

  “You’re getting her all hot and bothered, Quinny,” Lucas said from her other side, surprising her out of the lust-filled haze, but only slightly. Ev didn’t need to look over to see the expression on Quinn’s face, because she knew it from all the other times Lucas had tried to get away with calling him Quinny. A horrible name, really. But this time, Quinn didn’t even move his lips, just continued pressing those decadent kisses to her burning skin.

  Then, thankfully, because she wasn’t sure how much freaking more she could handle while just standing there at the bar, Quinn pulled back.

  “I don’t care where this dress came from, but I’m going to buy you twelve,” he murmured, his voice husky.

  The dress did look damn good. She was a little taller and a little bustier than Maddy Hollis, and Ev’s breasts strained at the cups of the bodice, peeking out from behind a smattering of lace. Her curves were on full display in the flattering cut of the dress, and she wore more makeup than she’d worn to work all week. In short, she felt nearly as sexy in the dress as she did when she was naked in bed and Quinn looked at her with that hungry expression in his eyes.

  “Tit for tat—let me see you,” she said, pulling him from where he stood at her side so she could look at him properly. And damn, Quinn Langston looked good in a suit. She saw him in a suit nearly every damn day, but this was a Special Occasion suit and the crisp, tailored lines of fine Italian fabric made him appear even more untamed with a barely contained ferocity below.

  “Keep that look to yourself,” Quinn said, his eyes growing dark. “Or you’re not going to be here long enough to get your rounds in.”

  She loved the promise in his voice, ached for it, for the knowledge that he needed her as much as she needed him. And she did need him. It scared her to admit, but it was the truth. Quinn was a part of her and Ev couldn’t give him up if the world demanded it.

  “You know, I could be filming all this to sell to an amateur porn site. At least that would make all the flirting entertaining for me.” Lucas’ dry tone was belied by the laugh that escaped.

  “You flirt with anything that has two legs,” Ev said, turning to face him.

  She should have prepared herself, she really should have. At least seeing Quinn in a suit every day had helped her build up some immunity to the achingly sexy sight of him. But Lucas worked the streets with his unit, and his uniform was a pair of jeans and the faded black jacket he was never without.

  But now. Wow, he cleaned up well.

  But you already knew that, didn’t you? You already knew how the sight of Lucas Vallejo in anything was capable of driving you to your knees.

  And without permission, Ev’s mind raced with images of her dropping to her knees right then, right there in this busy room, with her friends and colleagues all around her, of taking him into her mouth and…

  “Something you like?” Lucas asked.

  She should have been immune to that grin. Lord only knew how often she’d seen it turned on all manner of women, and quite successfully, too. But this time, when Lucas smiled, the expression smug and a little dangerous, Ev’s stomach dropped and a warm glow swept through her, immediately followed by a haze of guilt. What the hell kind of game was she playing here, allowing herself to indulge in any of the untoward fantasies that would undoubtedly ruin her best friendships for life? Talking with Maddy and Lily about their unconventional relationships had clearly addled her brain, because the analytical, rational, intellectual part of her would have never even considered something so scandalous, something with so much potential to hurt the people she cared about most.

  Of course, that didn’t change the fact that when Lucas sidled up next to her at the bar and ordered himself a drink, Ev caught a whiff of his scent, of the rich leather of the jacket he usually wore, of the rawness and humor that mixed together to make the man beside her.

  Quinn, Lucas and herself, they were all so different, cut from different cloths and fallen from different trees, but it worked, it balanced out in a way she would never have expected, and now, for the second time since befriending them back in training, she wondered if the scales might be tipping. The one instance of feeling out of her element with these two men had been when Quinn confessed to having romantic feelings for her and she had realized how quickly and truthfully she could return them.

  But, God, yes, she wanted Lucas. As long as the thoughts were her little secret, the hidden fantasies of a woman who loved her partner deeply and loyally. In truth, she wanted both men. Together. At the same time, like Maddy and Lily had explained, like the natural, normal way it also seemed in her mind. Together.

  A zing of desire shot right through her at the thought and Ev straightened, trying to pull herself together—a Herculean task, considering she was currently standing between two of the sexiest men she’d ever seen and they both smelled so fucking good. Bastards.

  “You’re all right,” she said, scoffing and turning to look out at the crowd and hoping the pinching pressure in her thoughts didn’t show on her face.

  Except Lucas bent his head lower, nearly to the same spot on her neck Quinn had been kissing only a moment ago, and whispered low and full of promise, “Lying doesn’t become you, Evvie.”

  The warmth of his breath across her neck made her want to squirm, but Ev was stronger than that. Besides, L
ucas flirted with everyone. She’d had front row seats to it for years. Allowing herself to fall prey to his playboy traps was foolish and avoidable. And yet, it was so, so tempting to give in to this heady desire, whatever that meant.

  “There’s a caribou head over there that might enjoy your flirting,” she said, eliciting a rough laugh from Quinn on her other side. God, how had she forgotten that he was still standing beside her? His large, powerful presence was usually the only thing in the forefront of her mind, but now she was torn, riding some imagined lusty haze that could only get her into trouble and nothing else.

  “Come on, baby, let’s dance,” Quinn said, pulling her onto the floor before Ev could protest, before she could wonder if maybe he’d been watching the interaction between her and Lucas, wonder why he hadn’t stopped it, but had rather, simply watched.

  Because there’s nothing there. Nothing is going on between you. Right. Of course.

  Quinn led her through the bump and grind of their friends and coworkers on the makeshift dance floor of the Triple Diamond mess hall. A powerful beat pounded from the speakers, making the floor shake and sending the lights pulsing in time in bright flashes of pink and blue and purple. Quinn slid his hand around her waist and pulled her close, evidence of his obvious arousal pressing against her thigh and reigniting all the heat building from deep within her. Ev wasn’t usually a sex-crazed maniac, but maybe there was something in the water in Wolf Creek, Montana, because she wanted to jump Quinn Langston’s bones right in the middle of the dance floor.

  Damn, the man could dance. He spun her around on the floor, moving in time to the ceaseless beat now resonating through her bones and in the push and pull of their bodies against one another. She’d never get tired of wanting Quinn, of touching him, of the way his body made her feel.