Emotionally Compromised (Emotionally Compromised Series)

by Rosa, A.

  The more I learn about Alex, the more confident I realize she is. The girl I first met was a spitfire to be sure, but she held a lot of doubt behind those long lashes. Now, with nothing to hide, she is more fierce and sexy than I realized. I don't want her seducing anyone. She would be too good at it.

  I smile wolfishly, feigning an apology. "What? I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were ticklish. Who would have known?"

  As if she knows exactly what effect it has on me, she licks her bottom lip and leans in close. My heart rate rises with her proximity, and her hot, humid breath caresses my lips.

  "Jeremy—"

  The passenger door swings open, revealing the Arizona sunshine. I guess we arrived.

  I exhale, realizing that I had been holding my breath in anticipation of her words. She is better at this than I am. How embarrassing. Get a hold of yourself/

  She smiles from ear to ear, and her seductive shell cracks. She releases a laugh that causes my gut to flutter adoringly, basking it its surprising innocent ring, and it is music to my ears. I don't need to ask to hear those deadly assassin stories when I have a sound like that.

  Drawing me out of my reverie with a kiss, she says, "Time to see your dad."

  She climbs over my lap, grabs my hand, and pulls me out of the car. I look up at my dad's one-story ranch house. The front door is open, and I'm waiting for his silhouette to appear to greet us.

  How long has it been since I've seen my dad? Maybe a year or a little less.

  I hear loud barking and realize it's my dog, running, leaping out the door. My grin widens. My golden retriever, Auggie (short for Augustina, don't ask) comes barreling down grass too green for this desert. I bend down, resting my hands on my knees, to greet my old best friend.

  My dog runs right past me, swings a loop of excitement around us, and runs right up to Alex.

  Alex's already happy face explodes into joy as she reaches for my dog and says in a high-pitched chirp, "Auggie-doggie, I missed you. How are you Auggie-doggie?" She ruffles and rubs her ears. I can't help but find her adorable as she does it, and it bothers me.

  That is my dog, how would she know my dog? My smile slips away as I watch my pet and my girlfriend interact as if they are old pals.

  Another shocker arrives. I didn't notice my dad stroll up until Alex stops petting Auggie and stands up straight, squaring her shoulders and holding her arms tight at her sides. "Afternoon, sir," she says.

  Huh? Before my dad even notices my existence, I hear him say warmly, "Miss Turner, what a pleasant surprise. At ease. I didn't realize you were coming down. Where's Agent Matthews?"

  She relaxes her pose and my father stops his greeting to look at me. He still doesn't say hello as he processes why we arrived together. Still without acknowledging me, he turns back to Alex with a comical but almost fatherly eyebrow raised. "Agent Turner, are you here on business or pleasure?"

  When am I allowed to lose my cool?

  "A little bit of both, sir," she answers quietly, but gives him authoritative respect.

  My father turns back to me, and chuckles. "Well, I'll be damned."

  My face contorts as he laughs about the situation, but I find the whole thing entirely frustrating, angering, baffling, and an all-round topsy-turvy mess. Obviously, they know each other and I can guess why.

  Why didn't she mention this to me? She should have told me that she already knew him.

  My dad extends his hand to me to shake. "Hello, Jere, it's nice to see you, son. And with a nice date for once." He is trying to be that kind, caring father that I know he can be with a jokey jab at my love life—and he approves, it seems—but I can't process this right now. Good or bad. I want to smile, I really do, but for some reason, I find it hard to control my anger. Even in my personal life, the bastard seems to be a step ahead of me. I should have seen this coming.

  I can't even introduce her to my dad like in a normal relationship.

  I shake my head as my face hardens. I look at Alex, who looks somewhat crestfallen. She must know why I am upset right now. She's a smart girl.

  I look back at my dad, feeling all sorts of vulnerable. I grab his hand, and shake it firmly, desperately trying to figure out how to approach this.

  I am overwhelmed in a way I didn't see coming—yet again! Why is my world twisting and contorting in ways I couldn't have imagined?

  I probably should save this for a more private setting, but the words slip from my lips in a more childish tone than I’d like as I release my dad’s hand. “I didn’t realize you two had met.”

  I notice Alex’s gulp at hearing my words.

  My dad sensing the rising awkwardness steps in like he would in one of his board meetings and it has my temper rising. Not now, Dad.

  “We’ve met a few times, Jere.” Though his stance is his typical domineering one, his warm tone causes my brows to shoot up curiously, wondering when in the hell did he become so nice.

  I nod my head, hinting that this is not a conversation I want to have with him. I suspect my father might have just rolled his eyes at me, but I haven’t taken my stare off my fidgeting girlfriend.

  My dad sensing what my silence means speaks knowingly, and I worry he is laughing at me. “I’ll meet you two inside. Don’t be so hard on her, Jere.” With that my dad calls for the dog and makes his way back to the house.

  I am tempted to retaliate to his assumption, but I bite my tongue, knowing this whole reaction is teetering on toddler level, but I can’t help it.

  Beating me to the punch line once my dad is out of earshot, Alex breathes out a soft, “I’m sorry.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Unsettling

  ALEX TURNER

  I am about to throw my self into a full fledged apology but my phone in my jeans erupts with vibration. I pull it out and briefly scan the text message, even though I know I am currently on the receiving end of a Jeremy glare:

  Turner, I hope you brought your laptop. I need you to call me and connect to the server ASAP.

  I sigh, thinking, Now is not the time, Derek, but with Jeremy, there is never an appropriate time to handle work.

  Jeremy waits for me to slip the phone back into my pocket before speaking.

  "Why didn't you tell me you knew my father?"

  I chew the inside of my cheek, feeling like an idiot. "It slipped my mind."

  He whips his head to look at me, and his obvious anger is unlike the previous time. His eyes are icy, and they bore into me with intensity.

  "It slipped your mind?" he retorts with disdain, but then he is quick to stop the potential onslaught as he takes a moment to heave in a deep, leveling breath. I can see his inner struggle, and I feel helpless, and entirely stupid. “Actually, I don’t want to argue about this. I should have known, I guess. I just wish things were different, ya know? I want to be mad at you, and I even want to be mad at my dad, but I know that won’t do me any good at this point.”

  Though his tone is warmer than I would have anticipated, his glacier stare doesn’t meet his eyes, and he still can’t seem to remove his childlike pout. It has me petrified to the spot, wondering which direction I should take with this. Lucky for me, with Jeremy’s natural ability to lead, he grabs for my chin and lifts my head to look directly at him. His eyes are searching mine for answers that I worry I don't have.

  “I’m sorry Jeremy. I should have thought about it more.”

  He shakes his head, and the smirk that reveals itself looks to be one of disbelief. "No, I'm sorry. I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes. I wanted to show you off to my dad. Instead, he may know more about you than I do—and that is typical of him. I want you, all of you ... whatever that includes. I'm exhausted with surprises. But I know now I should have seen this coming." He exhales as if he really is tired with everything.

  “Are we okay?”

  He abruptly pulls my face to his, crashing his lips to mine. His possession picks up fervor as it collides with what feels like sincere passion, and lustful des
peration. I am lost in his kiss, but it’s far too brief as he pulls away, flashing that secret smile as he does it.

  “What do you think?” he goads.

  A giggle I didn’t feel coming escapes me at his mercurial change of mood, but I revel in it, thinking that after this slip up we just might be able to conquer others.

  Feeling accomplished, Jeremy does not hesitate grabbing for my hand and pulling me back toward the house, but my smile wilts as I tug him backward, knowing that after one struggle, comes another.

  "Jeremy, don’t be mad OK?"

  I bite my lip nervously, and paw the floor with my feet, hoping this won’t ruin his recovered mood. “I need to call Derek, do you mind if I work a bit?”

  Bad timing, I know.

  His eyes empty of warmth, and his words are crisp. “Sure.”

  I know he’d rather protest, but the fact he submits to it means he knows he cannot control the situation, though he’d like to. It has me realizing that Jeremy might be leaps and bounds ahead of me in the maturity department.

  He is about to let go of my hand, and I feel the need to salvage the afternoon. I yank him back, hard, causing him to bungee into my arms.

  “Alex, what is it?”

  I can tell he is trying to stifle his chuckle, but his smile still does not meet his eyes.

  “Don’t be mad.” I whisper. His lean body flush against mine has me restraining a sigh.

  His audible grunt is enough to confirm my assumption. “I’m not mad.”

  I lean in, standing on my tiptoes to brush my nose against his. “You are, but it’s OK. I’m sorry about your dad too. I am going to find a way for you to trust me."

  He sighs this time, running his hands softly down my torso, obviously not understanding my intentions. "I do trust you."

  I kiss him chastely. "It's not enough, but I'll find a way. Now, go see your dad. He’s waiting for you."

  His eyebrows furrow in confusion as he tries to understand, and I think maybe he does. "OK." And thank the heavens, because his full toothy grin is yet another reaction I didn’t see coming. “Don’t take too long.”

  We both offer each other a smirk in response, and I love that kind caring Jeremy still swiftly comes with a reflexive demand.

  With that he turns his delectable body around and struts his way to the house, which funnily enough has William Hunt standing in its doorway, watching from afar.

  Once I feel Jeremy is a safe distance away I let out an exasperated breath while trying to manage my dumbfounded smirk.

  Relationships are more stressful than saving the world.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Update

  ALEX TURNER

  Jeremy’s close proximity is always intoxicating to my logic, and seeking a release and knowing time is of the essence I sprint back to the car, needing a rush of adrenaline to flush these emotions away.

  As I approach the vehicle at the end of the long driveway the chauffeur is taking out what little luggage we have, and I spot my backpack in his hands.

  I snag it out of his grasp. He flinches at the move.

  "Sorry. I need this." I turn around, pausing a beat to look for somewhere secluded, I spot a barn in the back. I make a run for it, loving every minute of every in and out breath as my heart rate picks up with each stride. It is a comical taste of the adrenaline I crave in comparison to the one I’d prefer, but I’ll take it.

  Making it through the large wooden doors I pull out my cell phone and dial Derek. Eyeing the many stalls, each harboring a horse, I decide the floor will do. I take my laptop out of my backpack and begin setting up on small pile of straw, wrinkling my nose at the wafting smell of manure.

  "Agent Turner, how nice of you to call."

  "Shut up, Derek. I am not in the mood. I’ve got to get back, so let’s make this quick."

  "Don’t forget you’re still on duty, Turner. Is there trouble in paradise?”

  "I said shut up. What's going on? I am almost logged in."

  He laughs and it irks me. I hate that he takes great joy in aggravating me. "Did Jeremy agree, then?"

  "Yes."

  There is an awkward pause as if Derek is waiting for some snarky remark, but eventually he continues, "Good. We couldn't wait any longer and hacked into Sunscape's security system."

  "You what?" I can't help sounding annoyed.

  "Well, it doesn't matter now since he's on board. I just couldn't wait on this, so I had us look into the security at Sunscape. And there is a lot of weird shit going on."

  I pull up my e-mail and skim the brief message from Alvarado. "Marcus transferred five thousand dollars to a Swiss bank account?" I ask. "What the hell is that for? I thought they were going to pay him?"

  "Right? I don't know what he is doing. And get this: that bank account belongs to Luc Olivier, a contractor for the Parisian bio company that Sunscape just renewed a five-year contract with. I ran his name, and coincidentally, Luc Olivier is linked to a series of different government hacking gigs, but was never pinned. He's big money and a smooth talker. He was arrested once for drug possession, but since he makes so many people so much money, they hushed the story."

  I feel myself leveling out. I’m eager to tell Derek of the new development. "Speaking of drugs, I found out Gibbs has a cocaine addiction. He's more volatile than maybe we originally thought."

  "How bad?"

  "Hard to say. My plan is to find out more on Saturday."

  "Saturday?"

  "The moment you've been waiting for is here. Jeremy got us tickets to this charity art benefit. We will have to wire Jeremy for the event so we can track who says what. Apparently, everyone on our suspect list will be there. Though, a Luc Olivier was never mentioned."

  "He wouldn't be. Customs says he made it back to Paris on Sunday night. We don't have enough on him to do anything."

  "My plan is to put that tracker on Gibbs's phone at the art gala. We can tap his phone conversations then, and maybe get into his personal e-mail. It could reveal enough to get Olivier extradited to the United States for interrogation—if the French cooperate."

  "Yeah, that sounds perfect. Tell Hunt that I want to get into his building this weekend too."

  "Will do. So what happened with the security hacking?"

  "Well, there are no cameras in the labs, but I can see Gibbs entering and exiting his lab. He is in there almost twenty-four hours a day. It makes sense if he's doing coke. Must keep the juices flowing. I don't know what he is doing in there. I either need in that lab or I need to tap into his phone. It’s imperative.".

  "What evidence are we looking for in order to close this case?"

  "Other than the obvious stop it before it gets into the wrong hands sort of thing, Alvarado mentioned dragging it out to make sure all who are involved are held accountable and charged with contributing to terrorism. If we get lucky, Turner, we might get a medal." I can hear his charming grin.

  I can't help myself. I giggle. "Hmm ... let's not hold our breaths on that one." There is a long pause, and I know this is Derek's way of saying he wants to say something he shouldn't. I take a deep breath, bracing myself for whatever it might be. "What is it, Derek?"

  He sighs. "Are you OK?"

  My heart clenches. "I've been better." Jeremy isn't the only one who deserves the truth.

  "Hope he is treating you good."

  I smile. "He is. It's all a little complicated."

  "Hmm."

  "I better go, Derek."

  "Call me if you need anything. I will look into figuring out why Marcus gave Olivier that money. Hurry up and get back here."

  "I'll be back tomorrow. Don't miss me too much."

  "Too late. I want to beat the shit out of someone and you're not around."

  I let out an honest laugh. "Goodbye, Derek."

  I hang up, close my computer, and sigh. Time to face the Hunt family.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Father & Son

  JEREMY HUNT

  I take a
seat on a barstool and run both my hands through my hair, exasperated.

  "So, let's talk, son."

  I rub my eyes, feeling terrible again. I look over at my dad on the other side of the kitchen counter, and he is extending an open beer toward me. I take it without saying anything.

  "Attaboy."

  "Dad, what am I supposed to do?" I sigh, feeling resigned to this life.

  His eyebrows wrinkle in confusion. "I don't think I'm following, son." I have never really been honest with my dad, so all I can do is glare at him and take another sip of my beer. "Talk to me, Jere. You seem lost."

  "In a way, I feel found." I feel stupid as soon as the words come out of my mouth.

  "Ah, the girl. This is what this is about?" He laughs in his deep, baritone.

  I shake my head, feeling like a hormonal teen. "No, well, yes. Actually, isn't the girl at the root of all this?"

  "You lost me again." It's hard for me to keep up too, dad.

  "Well, how the hell do you think I met her?" I take another sip.

  "I bet it's a long story," he chortles, obviously thinking himself funny.

  I raise a brow. "What has she said? How much do you even know about her? How is it you always know everything!" My defenses are going up, and I feel crowded all of a sudden.

  He raises his hands defensively, beer in one of them. "Calm down, cowboy. I don't know anything, and I don't know much about the girl, either. These type of people tend to be quite secretive, so it's not as if we swapped war stories or anything. I've never seen you so riled up. I know I like her. She seems like a nice, grounded young woman."

  I feel loopy. "Nice is not the word I would use."

  He laughs again. "Sounds like you finally met a girl who dances circles around you rather than the other way round, huh?"

  We sip our beers, and I feel more on his level for the first time in a while. He always makes me feel like I am still eighteen, but right now we are equals and I am compelled to be honest with him.

  "I didn't know she was an agent when I met her. I guess she was trying to seduce Marcus." As the words tumble out of my mouth, I realize the truth bites sometimes.