by Jill Monroe
She rammed her car into Park, then nearly sprinted to where the two men were, losing her heels in the process.
Kenny looked pretty good, dazed and sprawled in the middle of his driveway, holding his nose.
“Wow. You hit him,” she said, feeling the steam of her anger lessen.
Dirk shook his hand out, his knuckles already turning red. A videotape at his feet. “He had it coming.”
“I wanted to be the one to do it,” she said.
Dirk angled his head toward Kenny’s prone body. “Be my guest.”
Instead, Cassie stepped toward her former boyfriend and current lover. Dirk looked amazing. His hair mussed, his muscles tense, he exuded strength and protection. Very Neanderthal. And very, very sexy. She wiped away the touch of blood from Dirk’s split lip. “I let him have the first shot.”
Then suddenly, she let go of it all. All the anger and hurt she felt toward Dirk. She eyed Kenny as he rolled to his knees, and ran like a coward back into his house.
“Pervert,” she shouted.
Dirk stooped to lift the tape from off the ground. “That’s that,” he said. But he didn’t move.
Neither did she. After a moment, she nodded her head toward him. “You know, I think I have a new candidate for chapter nine.”
Dirk raised an eyebrow, genuine hope on his face. “Really?” His eyes searched hers. “Just to let you know, my mouth hurts like hell, but a kiss would be worth the agony.”
Cassie stood on tiptoe and carefully lifted her lips to Dirk’s. This felt so right. So where she should be. Her heart knew it. Her pride still ached.
“I love you, Cassie,” he said, his voice harsh with meaning.
Pride be damned. She lowered to her feet and looked up into his eyes. It had been Dirk. Had always been Dirk. “As much as it kills me to say it, I love you, too.”
With a groan he hauled her into his arms, wrapping himself around her. “It feels so good to hear that from you. Say it again.”
“No,” she said against his chest. Smiling, she drew in his woodsy scent.
He chuckled. “I’ll never get tired of your sweet mouth. Or your sassy mouth.” He handed her the tape. “You know, even though we found this, it doesn’t change anything. He could take his images off, but it’s been uploaded everywhere.”
“For some reason, that tape doesn’t bother me as much as it did. My twenty-year-old boobs looked pretty good.”
“Your twenty-nine-year-old boobs are outstanding. Although I’d need another look to verify.”
She laughed, feeling complete. Feeling light. Feeling loved.
He settled her into her car. After shutting the door, he stuck his head in through the window for one last kiss.
“You know, I knew you’d come around,” he said after leaving her breathless.
Cassie waved a finger. “Wait,” she said as she fished a piece of paper from her purse, read it, then slipped it back inside.
“What is that?” he asked, his expression curious.
“Oh, that? I transcribed what you said the other day about how letting me go was your biggest mistake. It’s a coping technique I’ve prescribed in my book. Whenever you irritate me, and I wonder why I’m with you, I pull out that piece of paper and read it.”
Dirk cocked an eyebrow. “Really? You feel better and I don’t have to do anything else?”
Cassie nodded. “It’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I thought women went for statements like “I see heaven in your eyes.”
Cassie shook her head. She’d burst out laughing if Dirk ever said those words and meant them. “No. Your telling me you were wrong is far more romantic.”
Dirk shook his head, but not seemingly in understanding. He reached for her hands and placed them around his neck, and lightly kissed her lips.
“Cassie,” he said, his voice low and seductive. “Whenever you do something that really pisses me off—I’ll just think of your ass.”
THE LAWYER DANNI HIRED to represent her father picked her up from the police station and dropped her off at her apartment. She wanted a bath, a drink and bed. She always hated the flop. Her knees ached from the scabs she’d gotten when she fell to the sidewalk, but it had probably saved her life tonight.
And Eric.
With the remote, she turned on the TV. She couldn’t face the silence of her apartment. She needed noise. Danni unbuttoned her blouse and kicked off her shoes, padding barefoot into her bathroom to turn on the water.
The familiar drumbeats of the evening news filled the air, and she groaned. The news was not what she wanted to hear. She popped back into her front room, only to stop when a picture of Eric Reed, Special Agent in Charge and in action, flashed on her screen.
She was too weary to react.
“Maybe I’ll have that drink first.”
FIRST IT WAS the ringing of the phone.
Then it was the pounding in her head. Danni lifted her lids.
Wait, that wasn’t the phone—it was the door.
She gathered herself together enough to look through the peephole. Her father stood outside.
With a yelp, she tore the door open and flung herself into his arms, her headache chased away by relief.
“Dad, oh, Dad. I was so worried.”
Daniel Flynn pulled himself from her arms, and kissed Danni on the cheek. “I hope I never see this look on your face again. Listen, let’s go inside. I don’t want my ‘escort’ knowing any more than he has to.”
Danni broke from her father’s arms, scanning the parking lot in front of her apartment building for any unfamiliar cars. “Don’t worry about them,” her father said, stepping inside and closing the door behind them.
“Them? As in plural?” When she’d seen her father outside her door, she’d hoped this meant he was a free man.
“I cut a deal,” he said, his tone light yet resigned.
She sunk to the couch, guilt pounding her. “This never would have happened if I hadn’t gotten involved with Eric.”
Her father sat down beside her. “You know how it is. Money and I just don’t seem to mix. I still would have gone after it. I still would have gotten caught or killed.”
Danni shrugged. “But if Eric—”
“He saved our lives. He told me at the precinct he’d spotted Parton following me for days.”
Anger welled up inside her. “But how could my instincts have been so wrong about Eric?”
“Maybe you’re more your mother than you are Flynn. In fact, I know you are. Look how easy it’s been to make your fresh start. To not go on the grift.”
“I’ll miss you,” she told him in a whisper.
“Come here,” he said as he gave her a hug. “I won’t be gone as long this time. Full cooperation, and they’ve already recovered the money.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Nine to thirty-six months. Would have been longer, but Eric leaned on the federal prosecutor to take into account my cooperation and time already served. But no matter how long I’m in, this time when I get out, nothing will be hovering over my head. Maybe I’ll even take a page from your book and go straight.”
“Really? This isn’t a line?”
Her father cupped her face in his hands. “No. I was proud of how you handled yourself last night. I want to make you proud of me.”
She blinked back her tears. Flynns didn’t show that kind of deep emotion, and she didn’t plan to start now.
Later that afternoon, Danni hauled some large cardboard boxes up the stairs to her apartment, the heat of the late afternoon Nevada sun beating down on her neck.
“Let me help you with that.”
Danni halted on the stairwell, looking up to see Eric leaning against her front door. Handsome. Sexy. His expression unreadable. Her first inclination was to tell him to back off, she didn’t need his help. She didn’t need him for anything.
Then she remembered what a lying jerk he was. “By all means, feel free to
do all the heavy lifting,” she said, shoving the boxes at him.
She entered her apartment and Eric followed her inside. “What are you doing with these?” he asked.
“I’m packing up. I called a court reporting school in Colorado. All my course work will transfer.”
He set the boxes down in the kitchen. “Making a fresh start?” he asked.
“Technically, Reno was my fresh start. Except right now the phone won’t ring without a reporter asking me about the Vegas heist, my dad or you. I’m not sure if a person is allowed two fresh starts in a lifetime.”
Eric winced and looked guilty around the edges. The acting louse. She felt her anger begin to rise. Which was probably a good thing since she hadn’t felt much of anything once her father left her apartment that morning. “Tell me, did you close your eyes when you screwed me?”
“What?” he asked.
Danni stalked into the kitchen, looking for more things to pack.
“Who’d you have to think of in order to make yourself do me? You got a very understanding girlfriend swimming in the pond of scum you emerged from?”
Eric shook his head, his lips set and his chin hard. “There’s no one. Only you.”
“There is no me. If there was a me, then you’d have to think about how you used me. I’m your mark. You can’t confuse the two. I’m not.”
He rushed toward her, trying to grab her hands. “Danni, if you’d only listen to me for a minute.”
She brushed him off. “What, so I can hear more lies? You must think I am some kind of idiot. Well, why wouldn’t you?” she asked, her voice rising. “I certainly gave you no cause to think I use my head. I bet your dad never even tossed around a ball with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The one personal thing you ever told me, that your dad coached your baseball team, I bet that’s not even true. I used to value that memory, fooling myself that you trusted me.”
“No, that one is true,” he said, trying to get her to meet his gaze.
“That’s part of your game, wasn’t it? Dole out tidbits of personal info. I’m a chick. Of course I’d be dying to hear that stuff. Then, when you didn’t offer it right away, you knew you had me hooked even more because I was just that much more intrigued. Well, you were right. It worked. I wanted to know everything about you.”
Images of their time together flashed across her mind. She felt sick over the treasured memories she was losing. “It’s all so clear now. Your technique. Everything you did led me further down the path toward building my trust and to test my resolve. Those security files you ‘accidentally’ had on your desk. Then left me alone with them in your office. You were betting on me being curious.”
“You didn’t look.”
“Yeah, and you’d know that for sure because you were spying on me. You left me alone in your suite, too. What did you have hidden in there you expected me to find?”
He shrugged, not even looking guilty. “Some fake codes.”
“Oh, man. You must have been so bummed when I didn’t take the bait. Oh, wait. You just upped the ante. Give the gambler a job in a casino. That’s brilliant. What were you hoping for? That I’d mess up and then you could use me as leverage to get my father to cooperate? Now I understand all those subtle questions about him.”
“But you never buckled,” he said, admiration in his voice.
“That’s right. I bet that really ticked you off. Especially after all your hard work.” Suddenly she was exhausted. Her shoulders slumped. “Oh, just leave. Why are you even here?”
“I want to explain.”
“What’s there to explain? You got your man. You even made headlines. Well done, you. I bet you got a promotion, too.”
“There is—”
She held up a hand. “I’m not actually interested. I don’t want to listen to you. I’ve listened to you for two weeks now. Everything out of your mouth is a lie.”
“Not everything.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to hear.”
“Give me one minute.”
“No,” she replied, her voice firm. Resolved.
“How about I convince you to listen. We’ll play it your way.” He pulled a deck of cards from his pocket. “Pick a card. Any card.”
She jammed her hands into her pockets. She wasn’t picking anything. “What’s this about?”
“If I guess your card, then you have to sit down and listen to me for five minutes. That’s all I ask. If you still want me to go, I’ll go. If I don’t guess your card right, I’ll admit I was a jerk and be on my way.”
“Why don’t you just admit you are a jerk and go right now? Besides, you said you only wanted a minute a few moments ago,” she reminded him. Actually, if Eric won, which she highly doubted, Danni would use those five minutes to yell at him. As she had no intention of seeing his lying face again, this would be her only chance. She needed it to be a good one.
He spread the deck out before her. She slipped a card out of the stack, looked at it quickly, knowing her technique didn’t allow for any peeking, then stuck it back in the pile.
Eric sifted through the cards for a moment, then pulled one out of the deck and turned the card to face her.
The king of hearts.
Gag. But it was also her card.
“Two out of three,” she countered.
“No, I get your five minutes. I’m holding you to the parameters of the bet. Sit.”
She reluctantly sat on the couch. Eric crouched down in front of her, cupping her cheeks. “Danni, I did set you up. I work undercover. It’s what I do. I never wanted to hurt you. No one does. I just needed to get access to your father.”
“Why’d you…why’d you have to do it that way? It’s cruel. I treasured those moments with you,” she told him, her voice breaking. “Now everything seems so tainted.”
Tears? Of course. Now would be the perfect time for her to cry in front of the louse.
He gently wiped away the wetness from her cheeks. “I fell in love with you while making those memories. We’ll make new memories together,” he said, his voice a promise. “Here. Colorado. My job is flexible.”
She rushed to her feet, needing some distance between them. As she moved, she knocked the cards to the floor. The deck fell to the ground face up.
Every card was a king of hearts.
Her eyes widened as she stooped to pick up a few of the cards. “I can’t believe I fell for this old trick. My father—”
“Who do you think taught me that trick?”
She gave him a dubious look. “My dad is a criminal and a thief. I’m not putting a lot of faith in his judgment.”
“Your judgment, too. Despite my job and your father, those moments between us were all real.”
“I’d believe that a little more if I hadn’t spent several hours sitting in an interrogation room last night. I made a promise to myself, too. And despite playing it straight, still found myself locked up.”
“All I’m asking for is a chance. You’ve given your father dozens. Can you give me one?”
“How could I ever believe you enough to give you a chance?” she asked, feeling herself weakening, angry at herself for that weakness. She scrambled to grasp that anger. It sure beat pain and hurt. “You’re the first person I’ve ever trusted outside of my dad and Cassie. You know what we call people who fall for the same con over and over again? A sap.”
“You’re not a sap.”
She nodded. “Not anymore. I could never trust you.”
Eric swallowed, his expression grave. “Danni, you were right to trust me. I took that promise I made to you seriously. Let me prove it. You broke into my office. I know because there’s a camera in there. Three, actually.” He grabbed what looked like a CD case from his pocket and handed it to her.
“What is this?” she asked.
“I made a DVD from the recordings and erased the originals off the DVR. No one will ever see how adept you are at B and E. You have th
e evidence in your hand. What you do with it is up to you.”
Danni gasped.
“I just stole evidence from an investigation and destroyed it. There’s the proof. You turn that in, I could lose my job. Worse. You hold my career, maybe even my freedom in your hands.” He gripped her cold fingers clutching the DVD case, willing her to believe him. “How do you feel about me, Danni? Because I love you. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it if I have to.”
She squeezed her eyes tight, feeling some of the heaviness around her heart loosen. “Don’t. Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because then I have to admit that I love you, too.”
He pulled her into his lap. “Would that be bad?” he asked, tucking her head under his chin.
“Yes,” she said. “Very, very bad. It would be so much easier just to be angry with you. Then you can never hurt me again.”
He held her gently. “I will never give you cause.”
Danni took a deep breath and pushed the DVD toward him. “You better keep it.”
“Why?” he asked, looking worried again.
“You decided to trust me. Probably went against every law enforcement instinct you had for me. I don’t ever want this to be between us.”
“I love you, Danni.”
“Tell me your favorite color.”
“Green. Why do you want to know?”
“Because I feel like I don’t know you. And I don’t make love with people I don’t know.”
“In that case, I was born in Missouri. I have two younger sisters. No pets. Although I once had a…”
The facts tumbled from Eric Reed, and she smiled.
Sexy. Handy to have around when guns were involved. And not afraid to do a little heavy lifting. She remembered the five dollars she’d hustled from him, and he’d hustled right back on the day they first met.
All in all, he was five dollars well spent.
ISBN: 978-1-55254-875-2
HITTING THE MARK
Copyright © 2007 by Jill Floyd.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.