by Misty Evans
DEADLY AFFAIR
An SCVC Taskforce Worlds Novella
by
Amy Manemann
& Misty Evans
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Acknowledgments
From Amy: As always, with every book I write I must give credit where credit is due. Firstly, to my family for putting up with me while I slip into an imaginary world. I couldn’t do this without their love and support.
Secondly, to Sam, Melissa, and Tasha. You ladies are there when I need to circle talk, and give me a good kick in the butt when I lose faith in myself. Our giggle sessions will always be cherished.
And lastly, a huge thank you to Misty Evans for partnering up to continue this chapter in Cooper and Celina’s story. Her support and encouragement, as both an author and a friend, mean the world to me. You’re my sister, my best friend, and fellow Lit Chick. I love you to the moon and back, girl.
From Misty: All my love to the fans of the SCVC Taskforce series, and to my sister-friend, Amy Manemann, who knows me and my crazy characters so well. It’s been an honor to work with her. Our Chick Lit tribe rocks whether we’re teasing each other about being Golden Girls or quoting Harry Potter lines. Coffee and good friends…
Always.
Deadly Affair, An SCVC Taskforce Worlds Series Novella
Copyright © 2016 Misty Evans, Amy Manemann
ISBN: 978-0-9966470-8-3
Cover Art by The Killion Group, Inc.
Formatting by Author E.M.S.
Editing by Patricia Essex, Marcie Gately, Danille Dillon
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Please Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
FREE Short Story
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Excerpt from DEADLY ATTRACTION
Thank You for Reading
Books by Amy Manemann
Books by Misty Evans
About the Authors
Chapter One
The small, velvet box crammed into his jacket pocket felt like a leaden weight against his chest. DEA Special Agent in Charge of the Southern California Violent Crimes taskforce, Cooper Harris, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his Durango hoping to mask his nervousness. His team would piss themselves laughing if they could see him right now, The Beast being undone by a tiny piece of jewelry.
Cooper’s hardass reputation with the SCVC had earned him the nickname. He worked hard, and worked his taskforce even harder. They were the best in the country, a well-oiled machine that went above and beyond to apprehend cartel leaders trafficking in drugs, weapons, and people.
Ask him to take down the leader of drug cartel? No sweat. Finally getting up the nerve to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Celina Davenport? That might take a little more work.
“It says that the winery and monastery were built in the seventeen hundreds and is still run by monks to this day.” Celina’s sultry voice washed over him, breaking the silence in the truck. “These pictures are gorgeous.”
Her head was bent over the brochure on her lap, her rich, dark hair cascading across her shoulders in waves. His groin tightened almost painfully. They’d had so little time together in the past few months, he was starved for her attention, for the feel of her under him. He was sorely tempted to say the hell with their three o’clock check-in time and pull over to take advantage of the smooth, mocha skin hidden beneath her t-shirt and jeans.
As if sensing his not-so-covert attention, her eyes lifted from the brochure and a smirk creased her lips. He had a feeling she wouldn’t mind the delay in the least.
She was matter of fact, her eyes sparkling with laughter. “You’ll make us late.”
One hundred and some pounds of feisty Cuban and French heritage, Celina had captured his attention from the moment she’d been assigned to his taskforce. Forget about the fact that he was her boss at the time, or that he was ten years her senior. The rookie FBI agent had barreled into his life the same way she did everything else—full of emotion, clever wit, and a flourish of hand gestures he had yet to figure out the meaning of.
He’d fallen for her. Hard.
Cooper chuckled, eyes back on the road. “I’ll make it worth your while, kid.”
Her eyes narrowed. Kid. He’d purposely called her that when she’d first arrived on his team, hoping it would serve as a reminder as to why he needed to keep his distance. He’d tried like hell to keep her at arm’s length, had gone out of his way to make her believe he wasn’t interested.
Until her first undercover case threw her right in the middle of the lion’s den.
Dangerous twin cartel leaders, Emilio and Enrique Londano’s operation ran the gambit from drug dealing to money laundering. Cooper and his team had busted their balls for several years to get an inside lead into the tightknit Londano group, until a chance meeting landed Celina an invitation inside their inner circle. Unable to handle her being in so much danger, Cooper had nearly pulled the plug on the entire mission.
Celina’s sting operation had ultimately crippled Emilio’s empire, killed his brother, and put the leader behind bars. Set on revenge, Emilio escaped the maximum security prison and began picking off Celina’s friends and coworkers. Despite having the satisfaction of nailing the bastard with a golf club, effectively breaking his nose before slapping him back in cuffs, Cooper still wrestled with his anger over what Emilio had put Celina through. His gut burned every time he thought about the pain Celina had suffered at Londano’s hands.
“You weren’t calling me a kid last night in the pool…or the living room…or the bedroom,” she purred.
Cooper squirmed, the tightness in his jeans becoming uncomfortable at the memory. After everything went down with Emilio, and Celina was finally released to go back to work, Cooper hadn’t been at all surprised when she’d decided to make the leap from FBI field agent to FBI forensic photographer. Relieved, yes. Hell, the thought of her out doing undercover work again was enough to give him an ulcer. Hearing she wanted to combine her passion of photography with her agent career had been musi
c to his ears.
Shadows still haunted her eyes from the guilt she carried over Londano hurting her friends and killing a police chief she’d worked for, shadows Cooper would give his last breath to remove for her. He hoped that after this weekend they would be gone once and for all.
Again, the ring weighed heavily on his mind. Though he was completely on board with getting married, Bobby Dyer, his best friend and former partner, had found it amusing, The Beast proposing to his Beauty, he’d teased. Never in a million years would Cooper have thought he’d be such a lucky bastard. Then again, he’d never put much faith in luck.
Even wheelchair-bound, Bobby Dyer was a pain in his ass. But he was also the best tech guy Cooper had ever worked with, which was why, even after Londano’s lieutenant, Petero Valquis, had beaten Bobby within an inch of his life and left him paralyzed from the waist down, Cooper had kept Dyer as a part of the taskforce.
That, and he was good for comedy relief.
“Keep talking like that and we might not make it,” he said to Celina, shrugging off his jacket. The ring might be no bigger than his thumb, but it was making him sweat like a bear. “You know I haven’t had my fill of you after the drought.”
“Hey, you were the one gone for so many nights working that last case.”
“You were pretty busy yourself.”
Celina smiled sweetly as she buried her nose back in the brochure and Cooper returned his attention to the road, trying not to feel guilty. Too much damn work. And Celina had been acting weird for the past week. Behind that smile, he had the feeling she was hiding her true feelings about him being gone so much. She understood UC work, and she had a career that kept her running too, but she was left at home alone far more than either of them liked.
The drive along the Pacific Coast Highway was beautiful this time of the afternoon, today being no exception. They were heading to Northern California to the Abbey of Our Lady of Benedictines, an operating monastery and vineyard with attached bed and breakfast. Dyer had taken his wife Eliza there last year, and insisted it was the perfect place for Cooper to propose. His words: “with such a beautiful setting, even you can’t screw it up.”
Cooper had his doubts.
Proposing to Celina had been the only thing he could think about for the past few months. Of course, now that the time was finally here, he was beginning to get that burning feeling in the pit of his stomach.
And he was fairly certain it wasn’t due to the hot sauce he had on his eggs that morning.
“After we check in, can we take a walk around the property? I’m dying to see this Koi pond.” Celina tapped a tapered fingernail on a picture in the brochure, holding it up for Cooper to see.
His brows drew down a bit and his voice came out with forced cheeriness. “Anything you want, sweetheart.”
He’d been thinking of an activity that involved fewer clothes, no doubt. “Anything?” She arched an eyebrow, deciding to throw him a bone. “The possibilities are endless.”
He chuckled, low and husky. She shivered, her body humming from the sound. From the first time she’d met him, Celina had known Cooper was the man for her.
Of course, that hadn’t stopped him from fighting tooth and nail to keep her at bay. In the end though, Celina had gotten what she wanted.
And she wanted Cooper.
He goosed the gas pedal to speed around a car, and Celina pressed a hand to her stomach as it gave a lurch. Please, oh please, don’t throw up, she pleaded with herself, taking deep, steadying breaths. Finding out she was eight weeks pregnant when she went for a check-up had rocked her to the core.
Covertly, she stole a peek at Cooper from the corner of her eye. He had such a handsome face that sometimes it stole her breath. Rugged and tanned, with a dangerous glint in his eye that spoke of many years spent treading in dangerous waters, he gave others pause. But not her. He was a bad boy through and through—her bad boy.
His arm flexed, revealing a glimpse of muscle under the edge of his t-shirt. Celina knew every inch of his delectable body by heart, from every hardened plane to every muscle ridge. Yet her heart still raced every time he was near.
She hadn’t told him about the baby yet. She’d had every intention of telling him a few nights ago, but he’d been called in to work, as so often happened. When he’d surprised her with the trip the next day, she’d decided to wait and break the news once they arrived. Surely, there would be a perfect moment at such a romantic place, right?
He seemed so happy, so content with how things were. This was going to change everything between them.
Cooper was already a father. Granted, he was a damned good father, and Owen worshipped the ground his father walked on, but Cooper always worried that Owen might be put in danger because of Cooper’s job. Celina knew how heavily that weighed on the man sitting beside her. She couldn’t even imagine how he was going to take the news of introducing another child into their unstable lives.
Pensively Celina stared in wonder at her flat stomach, trying to imagine a baby curled up there. Would she be a good mom? She’d excelled at the academy, landed a huge case for her first undercover assignment and came out mostly unscathed. She’d passed her forensic photography certification without batting an eye. But did she have what it took to take care of another life?
Sure, she helped take care of Owen when it was Cooper’s visitation weekend and by all appearances, they made the perfect, albeit slightly skewed, family. To carry and give birth to a child was something completely different, and Celina had to admit, it scared the beejesus out of her.
“You alright?”
Startled, Celina smoothed her hand over her t-shirt to clutch the brochure, forcing a smile. “Fine, just excited about this trip. We haven’t been anywhere this fun in, well, forever. I’m also hungry. I’m surprised you didn’t hear my stomach growl.”
Regardless of her noisy intestines, the thought of ingesting food actually made her stomach turn over. Pregnancy was not for the faint of heart. One minute she was nauseated, the next starving.
Celina swallowed against the sudden moisture collecting in the back of her mouth. She’d been doing really well with the morning sickness, a symptom that had sent her to the doctor for a check-up to begin with. The doctor and his nurse had been pleased to be the ones to share the happy news with her. Celina had been too shocked to form a single sentence.
Cooper peered at her carefully. “Are you sure? You don’t look like you’re okay. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look a little green.”
“I’m fine, nothing to worry about. I just didn’t have much to eat for lunch.” As in only saltine crackers. “We can grab a bite when we get there. Then we can visit the Koi.”
He rubbed his jaw, not looking convinced. “If you say so.”
The wave of nausea subsiding, Celina breathed a small sigh of relief. Good, disaster averted.
For now.
Chapter Two
The bed and breakfast had been built into the limestone monastery, making it easier for the guests to join the monks in their daily worship. Celina stepped from the Durango, staring in awe at their surroundings. The gravel drive crunched beneath their feet as they made their way inside, Cooper dragging their suitcases behind him.
Stepping inside the foyer was like stepping into another time, Celina decided, her eyes drinking in the tapestries, stone floors and walls, and the artistry decorating the walls of the main hall. “Gorgeous.”
“Yes, you are.”
She caught Cooper’s heated stare and her toes curled inside her tennis shoes. Feeling naughty, she slid a step closer, gliding a hand up his chest. “Keep talking. Compliments will get you everything.”
A throat cleared and Celina jerked back like a kid caught stealing from the cookie jar. Cooper merely grinned.
“May I help you?”
Long, brown robes framed the man’s body, his head bald save for a length of graying hair that wrapped around the lower portion of his head. He had a kind smile a
nd wizened blue eyes that spoke of years of wisdom. Celina liked him immediately.
Cooper’s voice was strong and firm, echoing off the stone walls. “Yes, we’d like to check in for the weekend. Reservations are under Harris.”
The monk nodded, making a note in the leather-bound registry lying on the counter before gesturing towards an arched doorway leading into another room. “Yes, here we are. Cooper Harris and Celina Davenport. Nice to meet you. Please, follow me. I’m Father Bailey. None has already begun, so we must go quietly.”
Celina tucked the name into her memory. “Excuse me for asking, but what is None?”
“None is the ninth hour of worship. It is the time of day for us to reflect on all things as they pass, particularly those of passing from life into death. As we reflect upon our own deaths, we also reflect on the death of Jesus, for the ninth hour was his hour of death.”
Cooper rubbed the back of his neck, looking uneasy. Celina bit back a smile. Seeing the Beast uneasy was a rarity. He wasn’t a religious kind of guy, so it was interesting that he would choose a monastery for their weekend getaway.
Then again, Cooper was always full of surprises.
“During your stay, you will notice bells ringing on designated hours of the day,” Father Bailey continued quietly. “These tolls tell us the hour of prayer, at which you are welcome to join us for the early morning vigil. The rest of our prayer time is done privately in our meditation room.”