Carl just watched them both.
“Well,” Jackson began as she turned to find him standing in the still open door with his eyes on her. “That was nice of you,” he finished, closing the door and setting his hat on the hook by the door next to those of the other men.
“And coffee,” she added stupidly, realizing she had only brought three coffees, not having expected more than one deputy.
He looked at the table and nodded. Both deputies were eating their donuts.
“Thanks for the donut, ma’am,” Bill said, taking out his car keys. “I’m going home to get some sleep. All was quiet overnight, Sheriff.”
“Thank you, Bill. I’ll see you later tonight.”
They said goodbye and Jackson walked toward his desk. When he passed her, the heat of his body made every hair on hers stand on end. She picked up the faint scent of his aftershave and found herself inhaling deeply. She had noticed it before but it smelled different now, more intimate.
“Carl,” Jackson said, looking at some files on his desk. “Why don’t you do a run through town for me. I’d like to talk to Ms. Manning alone.” She realized he hadn’t mentioned that she was FBI to anyone.
Carl looked from one to the other and it didn’t take him long to pick up his keys and hat. “Will do, Sheriff.”
“Don’t forget your coffee,” Jess said, holding one of the cups out to him.
“Thank you, ma’am. And thanks again for the donut.”
“You’re welcome.”
Once he was gone, she turned back to Jackson who remained standing by his desk, his eyes intent on her. She cleared her throat, the air between them more tense than it had been before. Had she really only known this man for a few days? It felt like a lifetime.
“I wanted to tell you I overreacted last night, after we…” She looked down at her feet, feeling the heat rising from her neck to her face. She had to force herself to look at him. “After what happened.”
He nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m glad you’ve come to that,” he said. “Are the donuts a peace offering?” he asked, taking one.
“I suppose,” she said. “I just don’t want it to be weird between us. I mean, what happened… we…” Shut up, shut up, shut up! Why did her mouth never listen to her brain?
“It’s ok, Jess, I realize you’re uncomfortable talking about sex…”
“I am not uncomfortable talking about… sex,” she managed, suddenly incredibly defensive.
He grinned, one eyebrow going up. Damn that eyebrow.
“I’m not,” she defended.
“What about spanking?” he asked.
Her mouth fell open and he laughed out loud when her face burned bright red with embarrassment.
“Give me back that donut!” she said, reaching for him, slapping at his hand to take the donut away.
He barely moved, didn’t stop laughing and simply grabbed hold of her hand. “Settle down, I’m just messing with you,” he said. “Sit.”
“I’m not a dog.”
He rolled his eyes and turned to take a seat behind his desk. “Sit the fuck down.”
She hadn’t heard that word from his mouth yet. Her eyebrows went up but his expression told her he was moving on, and so she decided that she too would move on. Besides, she had more important things to discuss. She sat down and placed her arms on his desk.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Tell you what?”
“That you were military? That you were decorated, a hero?”
She caught the momentary twitch of his eye but then it was gone. He set his half-eaten donut down and wiped his hands on a napkin. He then turned to her. “Because it doesn’t matter. It makes no difference now.”
“Your bravery saved some thirty young girls from being killed. That makes some difference to me, Jackson.”
“It’s Jackson again?” he asked.
She exhaled and sat back in her seat. “Look,” she said. “What happened between us—first with you… spanking me…” Had she just said that out loud? Her voice had broken over the word but there it was, delivered fresh from her mouth. “Then when you… when we…” She shook her head, berating herself internally. She was an adult and an FBI agent at that! “It just caught me off guard. No one has ever done that first thing to me,” she began, knowing there were things she had to say. “And I wasn’t expecting any of it. I came here to find out who was responsible for my friend’s death. Instead, I’m rolling around in bed with the sheriff of the town! This is not how this trip was supposed to go and I guess I’m kind of angry with you about it,” she finished, forcing herself to hold his gaze. “And angry at myself too.”
“Jess, like I said yesterday, it doesn’t have to change anything. Spanking you, well, to be honest, I will do that again if I have to in order to keep you safe.”
She flushed red again.
“Making love to you, that was just instinct. It wasn’t something I’d planned and I certainly don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. In fact, if you would feel better about it, I’ll not mention it again…”
“Or tease me…”
“Or tease you.”
“Ok,” she said, feeling kind of silly. “You can have that donut again.”
He smiled at her, his eyes soft, almost concerned, she thought.
“They pushed you out of your job?” she asked. “The desk job, that seemed strange for a decorated war hero.”
“Life’s a bitch sometimes,” he said, his tone casual. “I let go of that a few years back, Jess. What happened, happened whether it was wrong or right. It’s over and I want to live my life now, not in the past, not brooding over the injustice of it all.”
“That’s how Ben was,” she said, picking up her coffee. “He deserved better and he got a raw deal.”
“Well, let’s see what we can do to make it right,” he said.
They spent the morning going over things and sharing information. He made some calls, setting up meetings with two residents later that week. She had brought the note she’d received last night to show him but she hesitated. A part of her wanted to tell him about it, about her plans for that evening, but the note had said for her to come alone. She couldn’t take a chance on Jackson going with her or telling her she could not go and she expected him to do one of those two things. She would go meet with whomever it was tonight and she would just tell him the note had come that night and that she hadn’t had time to tell him.
Guilt settled in her belly. She was going to lie to him. She had lied already when she decided to omit telling him about it. It didn’t feel good to do it and more than once, she came close to spilling the news, but changed her mind. Now she was heading back to her hotel and when he had asked her to meet for dinner that night, she declined, complaining of feeling tired.
But when she got back to her hotel room later that afternoon, two cars were parked outside of her door, two cars she recognized. Before she even parked her car, the doors on the black Volvos opened and four agents climbed out. The last man to step out into what had turned into a very damp day was Assistant Deputy Director Wayne Hanson.
Chapter Seven
“God damn Georgia weather in July, huh, Agent?” Hanson asked when she approached him.
“Sir,” she said, unsure how to react. “It’s a bitch,” she said, recovering herself. She was only here to mourn her friend. That was all. He had no rights over her and he certainly couldn’t tell her where she was allowed to spend her leave.
“Get the lady’s bag,” he told the agent who quickly moved into action, taking her small briefcase from her. “Hurt yourself?” he asked, eyeing the crutch she had used to walk inside. Her leg hurt after the long day without it.
“It’s nothing,” she said.
He nodded, eyeing the bandage on her thigh.
“I believe this is your room,” he asked, gesturing to her door. He knew damn well which was her room. She was only surprised he hadn’t already gone insi
de.
She slid the key card into the slot and pushed the door open, then flipped the light switch.
She quickly picked up the discarded clothes she had left in a pile and set her purse down on the desk. Three of the men walked inside, closing the door behind them. The one who had her briefcase set it down beside the desk. Although the room wasn’t large to begin with, the space suddenly seemed more than a little cramped.
“Have a seat, Agent,” Hanson said, gesturing toward the edge of the bed. The other agents stood aside.
Jess sat down, placing her hands in her lap, trying not to look like she was trying to hide anything. Not that it mattered, she was sure they knew. Why else would they be here?
The silence was awkward as Hanson pulled out the chair and sat down. He kept his suit jacket on and didn’t seem to have broken a sweat. It was baffling as she sat sweating in much lighter clothing, even though the air conditioner was working.
“How are you liking New Hope?” he asked. “Strange place to vacation if you ask me.”
“I’m not vacationing, sir. To be honest, I wanted to see where Ben had died. Try to make some peace with it.” Give them a little bit of truth and they might buy her lies.
He nodded. “Tragedy, what happened to him.” The way he said it made her want to reach out and punch him.
“I’ll get to the point, Agent Manning. I have some idea what Ben was doing out here but I’d like to hear it from you. Hear how the hell Ben ended up at this site at the time of the dam failure.”
She hesitated but knew she had no choice. The fact that he was out here, that he had tracked her down, her—a junior agent, well, it could only spell trouble for her and she knew it.
“We were investigating claims of water contamination, sir. We had a tip from a resident of the area. Ben wanted to keep it quiet, not excite anyone, not attract any attention in case it wasn’t anything.”
Hanson nodded, his expression thoughtful. She wondered if he believed her.
“I thought so,” he said. “Well, Agent Manning, I’m not going to beat around the bush and I suppose there’s no harm in telling you now that Ben went against protocol with this and his involving you was plain wrong. The information I’m about to share is confidential. Make sure it stays that way.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Another team is just wrapping up the investigation of the claims. The water has been tested, more than once, and the level of chemicals that have been found in the water as a result of the hydraulic fracturing has been deemed not a danger. By law, Larimer is working well within their rights and we have no more business here.” He paused, perhaps for effect. “You can imagine my surprise when I learned you were here, Agent.”
“This was our case,” Jess said. “Which team was assigned to it? It fell well within Ben’s jurisdiction.”
“Not really, Agent Manning,” he said, rising to his feet. He walked to a window and drew the curtain aside to glance outside before turning back to her. “We’ve been well aware that over the last few months, Ben had been working on his own, without FBI approval, to bring Larimer back into focus. The initial case was closed a few years ago, earning Ben his demotion…”
“As well as your promotion,” she cut in, unable to check her tone.
He stopped short and if there had been a hint of friendliness in his voice before, there wasn’t any more.
“I’m your superior, Agent. You’ll address me with respect.”
She gritted her teeth, trying hard to keep her hands from fisting. Without dropping her gaze from his, she spoke. “Apologies, sir.”
He studied her, and she knew he knew that she only said what she had to say.
“Ben was demoted over the Larimer case. He never got over that and when this tip came in, he went rogue and tried to take you with him. He managed to get himself killed. You don’t want to follow in his footsteps, do you, Agent?”
Her breath came short and fast, her eyes feeling hot with tears she would absolutely not shed in front of this bastard.
He sat back down.
“Listen, it’s Jessica, correct?” he began.
She nodded, surprised by this change in tactic, wondering if he was going to reach out and take her hand next. “You’re young and you have been misguided. Whatever Ben got you involved in isn’t worth your career—or worse.” He paused while she absorbed his words, his threat?
A shiver ran through her.
“I know he was a friend as well as your mentor and I understand you need time to process his death. You won’t find anything here to help you with that, Jessica. Go home. Take your time off there. Hell, go to Mexico, have a real vacation. You’ll come back to your job refreshed. We’ll get you reassigned back at the office. You’ll have a whole new start.”
Was he so cold? Did he really think a vacation in Mexico would just make all of this go away?
“Thank you, sir,” she said, forcing herself to drop her gaze to her lap. “I think I’ll go home.” She nodded, looking back at him.
“Good,” he said, standing. “There’s nothing for you to do here. Check out and go home tomorrow morning. I promise it will be best for you.”
He excused the other agents, who walked out the door but left it open behind them.
Jess rose to her feet.
“I know what it’s like to lose a friend in this business,” he said, hands in his pockets. “Take that time and recuperate. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Good night, Agent Manning.”
“Good night, sir.”
With that he walked out and Jess exhaled, watching him through a crack in the curtains as he and the other agents climbed into a car and drove off. She noticed that one of the cars remained in the parking lot, an agent inside it. She shook her head, snorting. She was under surveillance now and they weren’t even trying to be subtle about it.
* * *
Jackson watched the men drive out of the hotel’s parking lot. He also noticed the one they left behind still sitting in his car. They were FBI. He could have smelled them a mile away. Rather than driving the cruiser into the parking lot and calling any attention to himself or Jess, he circled the block and picked up his cell phone to dial her instead.
“Hey,” she said, obviously recognizing his number.
“Just saw some agents leave your hotel room. You ok?” he asked. She was shaken up, he could hear it.
“I’ll be ok. How did you know?”
“You had left some papers at my office so I was dropping them off.”
“Oh, thanks but you’d better hold on to them until tomorrow. There’s an agent outside,” she said.
“Saw that too.”
“Listen, maybe I’ll take you up on an early dinner after all.”
He was about to suggest that same thing, wondering if her phone was secure. “I’ll just go home to change and be back for you. Stay put.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
He drove home for a quick shower, changed his clothes and drove back out to the hotel to pick her up in the truck. It wasn’t even half an hour before he was knocking on her door. He noticed from the corner of his eye the agent in the car watching.
She opened the door and he stopped for a moment, unable not to look her over. She was wearing a very pretty, entirely too feminine pale ash-pink halter dress that cut low between her breasts. The color set off her pretty skin which had picked up more color.
“Hi,” she said. She looked down at herself when he didn’t speak, obviously feeling uncomfortable. “I have to do laundry.”
He was staring too hard. “You look amazing.”
She smiled but one eye went to the agent in the car. She was nervous.
“You’re fine, Jess,” he said.
She nodded but her smile wavered.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I hope you like Italian. There’s a local place that’s pretty good.”
“Perfect,” she said.
She turned to grab her bag and he noticed how the dress left most of her back exposed. Her hair, which she normally kept in a ponytail, hung loose down past her shoulders. It was still damp from her shower and was already curling. But before she even turned back to him, she had twisted it up and was setting it in a clip.
“Leave it down,” he said, his voice sounding more hoarse than he expected.
She glanced at him, almost confused for a moment.
“Your hair. Leave it down.”
She touched the clip.
“We’ll make this look like a date so he can report that back rather than a meeting with the sheriff.”
She smiled. “Good thinking.”
Somehow, her relief at his explanation disappointed him. In the next moment, she had freed her hair and it hung in damp curls all along her shoulders. It was a pretty chestnut color, and was a striking contrast to her dark emerald eyes.
“Where’s your crutch? I thought your leg hurt earlier.”
“It’s ok, I don’t need it.”
“You sure?”
“M-hmm.”
When he put his hand at her low back, she relaxed immediately into his touch. He guided her to his truck. They climbed inside and he drove off, both of them noticing that the agent followed.
“Tell me about the visit,” he said.
“It was the assistant deputy director,” she began. “I got the attention of the assistant deputy director of the FBI.”
“Go on.”
“There’s not much to tell that you probably don’t know. He acted very concerned for me, even worried that it wasn’t healthy for me to be here. He suggested a vacation to Mexico to forget about things. What a jerk.” She exhaled, looking straight ahead. “He told me Ben had gone rogue and that he wasn’t working with FBI approval on this project. That he had a grievance with Larimer Energy.” She shook her head. “He made some comment about me not wanting to end up like Ben.”
“So he threatened you?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “He may be the assistant deputy director of the FBI, Jackson, but if he thinks he can scare me with some threat, he doesn’t have the slightest idea who he’s dealing with.”
Dangerous Defiance Page 6