Sex, Lies and Valentines

by Tawny Weber

  He watched Danita pull her phone from her purse and start tapping in information. No wonder she hadn’t bothered to ruin her image and bring a laptop. Her phone clearly did the trick.

  “So he has money problems? Maybe he got in over his head?” she asked, glancing up.

  “Ham is good at the image of a stand-up guy, and I’m betting most of the town still buys it. Hell, even my aunt does and she’s not one for tolerating bullshit.”

  “I spent a lot of time with your aunt today. She doesn’t seem the type to tolerate someone in her circle who’s even rumored to have a drinking or gambling problem.”

  “Yep, you’re right. But he’s still there. She even mentioned the other night that she’s tapping him for her upcoming campaign for state representative.”

  “Ham’s helping your aunt?”

  Ham was key, but Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to care much. He’d much rather focus on Danita. On the way her soft blond hair curved over her cheek as she searched for info on that little phone. The intelligence in her eyes was as erotic as the curve of her naked breasts had been. Damn, he had it bad.

  “Gabriel?” she prompted.

  Pulling his focus back, he just shrugged. “He was on her mayoral campaign committee. She’s big on recycling, so she probably just called together the same people to run things this time.”

  “I’ll have to check to see who else is on the committee,” she said, tapping a note into her phone.

  “You’re so damned beautiful,” Gabriel said, murmuring his thoughts aloud without realizing it. He gave an infinitesimal grimace, then mentally shrugged. Facts were facts; she was obviously gorgeous.

  Just as obvious was the confused doubt in those big blue eyes.

  “What’re you playing at?” she asked, leaning back in the chair as if she could distance herself from whatever net he was tossing her way.

  “No game,” he said with a grin, realizing it was the pure truth. Something he rarely explored, let alone shared aloud. “I’m just realizing that the more time we spend together, the more I don’t know about you. And the more I want to.”

  She wet her lips, the nervous gesture matching the look in her eyes. “We’re here to do a job. You have all the information necessary for that. There’s nothing else you need to know.”

  But there was.

  Like the light shining bright through the gray clouds and sparkling into the room, the more he saw of Danita, the more entranced he was. And the more he wanted to know.

  The more he needed to understand.

  And the more nervous that made her.

  Gabriel had a gift for knowing the right time to play his hand. And this moment, he knew as his eyes skimmed over her face, wasn’t the right one.

  He was a man used to biding his time. He didn’t mind waiting.

  Because he knew, in his heart, when he made the move…Danita was going to be his.

  DANITA HAD ONCE BEEN held at gunpoint by an obsessive woman who thought she’d slept with her husband. Given that Danita had been caught in the man’s bedroom, wearing a tiny silk nighty and rockin’ heels and a hidden wire, the woman had had good reason for her accusation.

  That hadn’t made the very real concern Danita had felt that her career—and her life—were about finished from terrifying her.

  Yet that apprehension had been nothing compared to how she was feeling right this second.

  Gabriel had no weapon, other than that wicked smile and a boatload of charm. She wasn’t trapped, other than by virtue of having to finish the job she’d been sent here to do. And she wasn’t vulnerable.

  She pulled her gaze away from the man lounging on the bed, feet crossed at the ankles and his hands crossed behind his head in complete ease.

  She shouldn’t be vulnerable, dammit. Just because she’d slept with him, just because he made her feel things, want things she’d never imagined?

  She’d rather face down the jealous harpy with the gun.

  She jumped, almost sending her phone flying across the room in surprise when Gabriel leapt to his feet.

  “C’mon,” he said, grabbing her hand. “Get your purse, let’s go.”

  “Where?” she asked, barely snagging the straps of her bag as he pulled her to the door. “Did you remember something? A break?”

  “Exactly,” he muttered, opening the door. Before she could step through, though, he spun toward her and, before she could blink, had his hands tunneled in her hair and his mouth devouring hers.

  Danita’s body melted.

  “If you do that on this side of the door, I’m coming back with a video camera, Black,” a voice mocked, growing distant as whomever it was passed them in the hall.

  So lost in his mouth and the deliciously wild sensations it was stirring in her body, she doubted she’d care if whoever that was returned with an entire camera crew. All she cared about, all she could think about, was how Gabriel made her feel. About the wonderful warmth flooding her body. God, he was amazing.

  Then, as the budding videographer gave a crude laugh, Gabriel slowly, gently pulled away. Danita wasn’t ready, though. Her lips ached, her body pressed tight against his hoping to tempt him to kiss her again.

  “Cover,” Gabriel breathed against her lips as he brushed his mouth over hers softly before pulling away.

  “Um, yeah. Right,” she babbled, trying to jump-start her brain again. But all she could think about was the taste of him. The power of that kiss.

  Like a key unlocking the secret corner of her mind, that corner she’d shoved last night’s lovemaking into, the power and emotions of that event flooded her.

  She barely noticed Gabriel’s hand leading her downstairs. Didn’t blink when he opened the passenger door to her car and bundled her into the leather seat.

  By the time he’d come around the car and slid into the driver’s seat, she’d caught her breath. But it wasn’t until he’d started the engine that the big block’s rumble shook her brains back into place.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, reaching into her purse for the protection of sunglasses before looking at him. “Do you have a break in the case?”

  “Nope.”

  It was hard to keep the flames of passion burning on High when they were being doused with waves of frustration.

  “So where are we going?” she asked again, this time through clenched teeth.

  “Road trip.” He glanced over with a boyish smile. “I figured we needed a break. This is a gorgeous part of the state, have you ever been through the Santa Cruz Mountains before?”

  It was five miles before she managed to pull her jaw off her chest.

  “We’re going on a joyride?” she finally said, turning in the seat and angling her body toward him as if she had a shot at intimidation. “We’re on a job, Black. A job that, if not done correctly, will result in your father’s arrest. And your answer is to take a scenic drive?”

  “Sure. Why not?”

  She’d scream, but she had the feeling she was going to need every breath she had to win this argument.

  “Why not? Because it’s irresponsible. That’s why not. Because it’s wasting precious time. Because—”

  “Because we need a break. Because this afternoon was intense for both of us and we’ll perform better, and think clearer, after a brief hiatus from playing cops and robbers.”

  As his laughter washed over her, Danita considered protesting. But the image of the tarot cards flashed in her mind. As much as The Lovers card had freaked her out, it was the undefined Death card that worried her. Because she didn’t know if it applied to her, or the lover she’d taken.

  Or which scared her more.

  “Fine,” she finally agreed. “But we’re only taking a short break. Then we get right back to work.”

  Gabriel’s laugh was infectious, like a naughty little boy found with his hand in the cookie jar. Caught, but not repentant.

  “You know what?” he said. “You’re going to make a great mother someday. You have that ste
rn authoritarian thing going on. Throw in that nurturing instinct you try to hide, the sweet smile that would make anyone do anything to make you happy? Yeah, you’d be scoring a mom of the year mug on a regular basis.”

  Well, that shut her up. Danita’s lower lip trembled for a second before she gathered enough control to tear her gaze away from Gabriel.

  Her? A good mother? That was crazy. She was a federal agent, she risked her life for a living. Well, maybe not so much risked it, but the potential was always there. He knew that, and he still thought she’d be a good mom?

  Had he meant it? He hadn’t sounded sarcastic, that’d been genuine amusement in his tone.

  Of course, he didn’t know her. Not really.

  He didn’t know her past. The squalid despair she’d grown up in. The horrible parental examples she had to follow.

  She figured if he knew that side of her, he’d be suggesting sterilization options.

  Still, she couldn’t rid herself of the tiny thrill that he’d think that of her.

  Four hours later, that thrill was still alive and well, burning bright in her heart.

  “You’re wrong. Aerosmith does ‘Mama Kin’ much better than Guns N’ Roses,” she argued, poking her forkful of apple pie toward Gabriel for emphasis.

  “You ever see them in concert? Aerosmith, I mean.”

  “Five years ago,” she admitted with a smile, remembering the thrill of the music pounding, the crowd screaming and the robot dancing on stage. “You?”

  Enjoying so much more than the pie, Danita grinned. For the rest of their dessert, they continued to discuss bands, books and pop culture. Flushing a little, she leaned forward to admit, “When I first started in law enforcement, I used to work as a security for hire.”

  Gabriel arched his brows over eyes dancing with amused anticipation. “And?”

  “I escorted New Kids on the Block,” she said, whispering as if she were disclosing a dirty secret. “To and from their hotel for a show they did in D.C.”

  Gabriel looked as worried as if she’d admitted she was a pole dancer on weekends. “And?” he prodded, obviously figuring there was more to her story than just the job.

  “And,” she said slowly, pressing the back of her fork into the pie crust flakes on her plate, “they were such nice guys, I ended up buying their CD.”

  “Oh, Danita.” He shook his head in mock disappointment. But his lips twitched. And there was something in his eyes that made her squint.

  “You owned that CD, didn’t you?” she challenged.

  “No way.”

  Danita rounded her eyes insistently, making Gabriel laugh again. “Okay, okay. But I didn’t have the CD. I did, however, take a date to see them in concert once. Her choice, not mine,” he defended.

  “And you liked them,” she realized, giggling as she laid her hand over the back of his in sympathetic camaraderie for the fall of another hard-core rock fan.

  Before she realized she’d made a first move like that, Gabriel had turned his hand over so they were palm to palm, and linked his fingers with hers. Her heart gave a tiny sigh at the sweetness of it. Her stomach clenched at how right it felt.

  “So,” she said, casting her mind around for a safe subject to switch to. Discussing the job had been tacitly off-limits for the last few hours. Maybe it was time to get back to work.

  But before she could bring up any thoughts about Ham or the goon squad, Gabriel lifted their joined hands and brushed a soft kiss over the back of hers.

  “This was nice,” he said, his words quiet but still easy to hear over the clashing dishes and loud voices in the diner. “I had a fun afternoon. I can’t say that very often. Fun isn’t usually on my agenda.”

  “Mine either,” she admitted.

  “Not even as a kid?”

  “Survival was my agenda as a kid,” she said before she thought to temper her honesty. “I guess that carried into my adult life, too. I’ve spent more time looking for stability than for fun.”

  After the words were out, she winced, sure Gabriel was going to poke and dig into her past. She lifted her chin, ready to defend her vulnerabilities. But instead he tossed a twenty on the table to cover their pie and coffee and gestured toward the door. “Ready to go?”

  “Sure.” Her brow furrowed, she took his hand and slid from the booth. Together they left the diner. Once settled in the car, he gave her a smile that made that spot between her shoulder blades—the one that warned her of trouble—itch.

  “Given the rumors you might have heard about my father, you’d probably imagine we grew up with a lot of instability too,” he said. She grinned over his careful tap dance around legalities. “But that’s one thing I have to admire. He did everything he could to give us a solid foundation. We grew up in the house he bought when he married Mom. He made us go to school, made us learn the value of the day-to-day. We traveled the world. We met heads of state, movie stars, millionaires. None of whom would recognize us ever again, of course,” he said with a laugh, his delight at his upbringing clear on his face. “Even while he taught us the finer points in, well, let’s just say getting ahead.”

  “Wasn’t that hard, though? I mean, did it fill you with a desire for normalcy because you had that half the time? Or did it fuel your need for a more exciting life because of your exposure to your father’s, um, hobbies?”

  Gabriel’s grin widened as he started the car.

  “Oh, I definitely want the excitement. But I didn’t realize until coming home, until seeing my family through your eyes, how much I missed the rest of it.”

  “Normalcy?”

  “How about we call it family instead.” He shot her a look. “Sometimes we can leave behind the parts we don’t like. The stuff that doesn’t suit us. But we can still look back with pride at the stuff that worked. I’ll bet you had a lot that worked, even if it wasn’t something you want to revisit.”

  What the hell was she supposed to do when the one person who seemed to understand her inside and out—and appreciate her all the more because of that understanding—was a known criminal under her protective custody?

  One who, she was pretty sure, was still pulling multiple levels of cons on everyone he knew. Including her.

  9

  EVER SINCE THEIR friendly drive and chat over pie three days before, Danita had been careful to keep her shields in place and Gabriel at arm’s length. Irritated, he watched her across Cassiopeia’s living room, trying to figure out why it was bothering him so much.

  “You look like a man whose suffering a deep well of frustration.”

  Sighing, Gabriel turned to face the other thing that was bothering him. “Nope. I’m fine, Dad.”

  “Used to be, you came to me when you had a problem. You liked to bounce ideas, talk things through while you figured them out.”

  “Used to be’s are a long time ago,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “You made your choices. I made mine. Funny thing about choices, once they’re made, there’s no going back to used to be.”

  After a contemplative look, Tobias gave a slow nod. His dark hair was tidy, his sport jacket dressing up jeans for another of Cassiopeia’s parties, this time a pre-wedding meet-and-greet with Pandora’s family. But the look in his eyes was shrewd and amused. Like he saw right through whatever games Gabriel was playing and was just waiting to see if his son could handle it. Or not.

  Gabriel had grown up with that look.

  It had been how his father had taught his children. Some would say by giving them just enough rope to hang themselves. In the Black family, though, it was more a matter of giving them just enough leeway to see if they could fly.

  And always, always being there to catch them if they fell.

  Until he hadn’t been.

  “You’ve got your hands full, son. The trick to juggling well is to make sure the balls you value most are the ones you keep closest.”

  Gabriel grinned. “And here I thought you’d say the trick is to not juggle anything you don’t want to break.�
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  “Sometimes we have to risk what we value most. That’s the only way we know if we’re worthy of it.”

  Gabriel’s gaze cut across the room to Danita, who was laughing with Maya and Pandora. Her blond hair was straight tonight, falling in a silken curtain to her chin and framing her lovely face. Was he worthy? Did it matter? He was the complete opposite of everything she stood for. That took him a step beyond unworthy, he figured.

  “And when we realize that worthy isn’t enough?” he asked, unable to help himself.

  “Then we figure out a way to step up the game. If the prize is worth having, it’s worth busting your ass for.” Tobias’s sigh pulled Gabriel’s attention away from Danita. He noted signs of stress, sleepless nights and worry on his father’s face. Age? Or did Tobias have a clue that he was under investigation? Hunter had indicated the master con was either behind the crime ring, or behind the eight ball.

  Though Gabriel had claimed his father’s innocence, he hadn’t really cared. If he’d found out Tobias was the goon squad’s boss, he’d have found a way to twist the finger to point it elsewhere.

  But the evidence of his father’s innocence was there, in the dark circles under his blue eyes, in the grooves furrowed in his brow. No con ever put signs of wear on Tobias Black. Worry did.

  “Dad?” he started, not sure what, exactly, he was going to say.

  He hated to admit, even to himself, how grateful he was when his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.

  “Excuse me,” he said, reaching for the phone, willing to take even a telemarketer call to get out of this conversation. “I’ve got to take this.”

  It took a single glance at the screen for his heart to race. Keeping it casual, he wove through furniture shaped like body parts and pedestals holding crystal balls, toward the front door without looking like he was in a hurry. A smile here, a wave there let him avoid friendly faces. He pressed Talk at the same time he walked out the front door of Cassiopeia’s house.