Got it Bad

by Christi Barth

  Another frown from Linda. But this one came with a slight shift of her head, toward Delaney, who bumped shoulders with Kellan to share the screen. “You didn’t tell him? That’s rather unorthodox of you, marshal.”

  Kellan barely stopped himself from jolting in surprise. “You knew?” Delaney must’ve fought to have him in there and lost. Didn’t want to admit that there was a dragon that she couldn’t slay for her guy.

  A bark of derision came from Hegger. “Knew? It was her damn idea. What’s the matter, Evans? Do you not talk to your protectee?”

  “This particular assignment has a lot of moving parts,” she said, slick as ice on the steps up to an El stop in February.

  Her idea? Delaney’s?

  Shock and anger warred for dominance inside of Kellan. Why—how—had she come up with this stupid-as-shit plan? Delaney knew him. She knew all of them. She knew they wouldn’t want to be separated. That they wouldn’t tolerate being separated.

  He leaned back, kicking his legs out and crossing his arms over his mint green Oxford shirt. “I don’t care whose idea it was. Not all ideas are keepers. So adjust your seating chart, because I’ll be in Chicago come October.”

  “Actually, let’s put a pin in that for now. We’re running out of time and we need to go over the nightly hotel changes. We’ve booked a different hotel every night for three weeks. Different names, different parts of the city. There will be marshals flanking the Mullaneys, as well as across the hall. All of those reservations were made sporadically over the course of three months. There’s no way to tie them together.”

  “It sounds like a solid plan,” Hegger admitted, grudgingly.

  It sounded like a crap plan. Kellan was still reeling, both from the news and the way Delaney had adroitly sidestepped a fight about it and rolled forward.

  It was also clear she was the one setting down the rules. Neither Hegger nor the ADA had seemed to give a single rat’s ass about his take on it. About his need to stay with his brothers.

  Kellan still held an ace in the hole. There was no way in hell Rafe and Flynn would leave him behind during the trial. He could dial them in to this video call right now and Kellan had zero doubt they’d balk at testifying without him there.

  Linda had to get back to court, so they wrapped up just a few minutes later. The second the call disconnected, Kellan pushed to his feet.

  Delaney held up one hand. “Not here.”

  “I thought this was a secure room?”

  “It is. But I’m not having a fight with my secret and highly illegal boyfriend at my office.”

  As if to prove her point, the door creaked open. A big man with black hair to his waist leaned in halfway. “Nguyen needs this room in five. And I’m wondering why you’re trying to poison me.”

  “That’s just silly, Kono.” She gave him the one-two combo of a condescending chin tilt and a head shake. “If I was trying, you’d already be on the floor and foaming from the mouth. What are you talking about?”

  “This salted caramel soda you gave me.” He wiggled a cream-and-brown can back and forth. “It’s disgusting. All the sugar in it’s going to eat away the glue holding in the crown on my back tooth.”

  As if it was a normal day, as if he was nothing more than her freaking assignment, Delaney closed her computer and gave Kellan a wry smile. “Emily sent me samples of her company’s new holiday soda to get honest feedback. Marshals offices all across the country have been independent test groups for her. She says she trusts our integrity.”

  Kellan did not care. Not about her best friend, not about fucking soda. All he cared about was getting out of this room and to where they could hash out why the fuck she’d tried to pull this over on him. But he also didn’t want to be seen as a temperamental troublemaker.

  He walked over to the man and plucked the soda can. “Why don’t you try it yourself? That should put to rest the potential poisoning allegations.” Hell, he’d pop a hole in it with a Bic and shoot the whole thing in one gulp if it’d get them out of there faster.

  Delaney gave an overly dramatic shudder. “I wouldn’t touch that stuff if you had a gun on me. I’m fairly certain its target demographic is kids who think pop rocks are haute cuisine.”

  “Speaking of popping, I heard you got in some practice this morning at the target range.” Kono tapped his chest, between the lapels of a navy blue blazer almost identical to Delaney’s. “Why didn’t you come get me? I’d have practiced with you.”

  “It wasn’t practice. Not for me. I was walking the soon-to-be deputy here through the basics.”

  “Ah.” There was a long moment of silence as Kono gave Kellan a slow once-over. “This is your guy?”

  “He’s not my guy.” Her retort came out faster and harder than a bullet.

  “The one you got the gun for?”

  “Yes.”

  “Kono Cheeska.” He nodded at Delaney, sending his sheet of hair waving. “I’m her partner as long as she’s assigned here.”

  Kellan shook his hand. But didn’t give his name—and knew that it wasn’t expected. That was the constant level of secrecy under which this office worked. “Nice to meet you.”

  Another long stare that lasted about four beats past uncomfortable gave Kellan the certainty that there was much more to her partner than the Hawaiian surfer looks. “Interesting to meet you.” Then he turned on his heel and left.

  Whatever. “Can we get out of here?”

  “If you’ll promise to keep your . . . opinions to yourself until we get out of the building. No, until we get to the hotel.”

  “Fine.” It’d give Kellan time to line up his opening statement. A list of the rock-solid reasons her plan was crap, not to mention that she’d cut off his balls and served them up on a doily-covered plate by not telling him before the video conference.

  The handwritten sign Kellan kept in his room that said 67 days without an incident? Yeah, that was going to have to be reset. To zero.

  The side wall of Rose Cottage was, aptly, covered in lush pink climbing roses. The front had striking navy and orange window frames that played off the matching flowers painted all across the gray wall. It was adorable, quirky, and private. Everything you wanted from a rental for romance—or for what promised to be a very loud fight.

  Kellan didn’t slam the door behind them. But he did drop his overnight bag with a distinct thud on the dull orange Spanish tile. “Can we talk now?”

  “Do we need to?” Anger emanated off him more strongly than heat from a volcano. It was a lame joke, but Delaney just wanted to keep putting off the inevitable.

  “You can’t be serious.”

  Lame jokes apparently fell flat when Kellan was in a snit. Duly noted. Delaney crossed to the glass-front cabinets and grabbed for a water glass. What she got was a mug with a picture of Lionel Ritchie on it that said Hello—is it TEA you’re looking for.

  That was definitely going in their Airbnb review. Geez. So cheesy it should come with a sleeve of Ritz crackers.

  “Delaney.” Kellan crossed to her in two long strides. He snatched away the mug before she could fill it, then crowded her against the sink, glowering down at her. “You wouldn’t talk at your office. You wouldn’t let me talk in the car. We’re all alone now. What the actual fuck?”

  She’d been dreading this for the last three days, ever since making the decision after coming out of a nightmare in a cold sweat. Because the minute Delaney sent the email requesting a separate detail for Kellan, this fight had been inevitable. There’d been a faint sliver of hope that his finding out in the planning session would’ve mitigated his anger.

  That had not worked.

  So this was uncomfortable and sticky—despite the fact that Delaney knew she’d made the right decision. The appropriate decision as a U.S. Marshal. Because Kellan’s girlfriend Delaney didn’t get a say.

  “Our working relationship, the one where I’m responsible for keeping you and your brothers alive, has to stay separate from this relationsh
ip.” She tried to wave a finger between them, but there wasn’t any space. There was just the breadth of his chest, brushing against the front of her white shirt. Just the space of a breath between their lips. And nothing but heat, like the waves off asphalt in the summer, burning up the air between their eyes.

  With an eerie, fierce calm, Kellan said, “It is separate. I treated you with, hell, more professionalism than I have since we met. I turned off the flirting. I did nothing to muddy the waters.”

  If only it was that simple. “You did. You do,” she insisted.

  “This high-handed decision you made to split me from my brothers for the trial isn’t right. I’m not a kid to be left at home while the grown-ups do the dirty work.”

  “Is that what you think this is about? That I’m not trusting you?” Kellan didn’t understand at all.

  “What else is it?”

  “You’re a distraction,” she burst out. “I can’t keep your brothers safe if I’m worried about keeping you safe.”

  The realization had hit her on their holiday hike almost three weeks ago. That she didn’t want to lie to him, to keep her other cases secret from him. That she wanted to prioritize Kellan over everything else.

  She’d told Emily. There’d been a long night of sleeplessness, followed by an hour-long chat with Em where she told her . . . well, not everything, but enough.

  The gist being that she’d gone all googly-eyed for her boyfriend. That she’d—gulp—fallen in love with him. Which was fine and right in the real world, but it didn’t work at all when she was equally responsible for him along with his brothers.

  Em said it sounded like love. She’d even mentioned cutting her business trip to Zurich short to come back and give Kellan a once-over to be sure he was worth it.

  Not. Helpful.

  But talking it over with her best friend had made it clear to Delaney that she cared too much for Kellan. Too much to do her job right. So she took steps to make sure he stayed safe while she protected her primaries.

  “You’ve kept us safe for nine months, Laney. I have absolute faith in you.”

  Even in the middle of their fight, his voice resonated with truth and respect. “That’s appreciated. I have faith in my abilities as a marshal. I don’t have faith in being able to make hard decisions in a firefight without factoring in what would keep you the safest. Only you. You raise the danger level unnecessarily.”

  His eyes narrowed to an annoyed squint. “My presence is far from unnecessary. Rafe and Flynn need me there.”

  “Technically? Officially? They don’t.” Delaney knew how hard that would be for Kellan to accept. It pained her to spell it out for him. “You’re not testifying. By your own admission, you knew zero about the mob or their involvement. I’d be putting you more at risk if I let you near two people who are known targets.”

  “Uh, it’s in your job description to keep me safe.”

  Nope. He still wasn’t getting it. Because Kellan saw the best in her. Which zinged straight to her heart, even in the middle of this fight.

  “My job description technically is to protect Rafe and Flynn, first and foremost. If we do get attacked by McGinty’s crew, I should be making assessments based on number of assailants, bullet trajectory, the most optimal chances of walking away with federal assets intact. Because that’s what the Maguire brothers are. People I’ve sworn to give my life to defend. But bottom line? Rafe and Flynn are assets. They’re supposed to be my top priority.”

  “You want to wrap me in Styrofoam peanuts, stick me in a fortified bunker with armed guards, and keep me safe?”

  God, it sounded awful put like that. “Desperately.”

  “Because you care about me?”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “Desperately.”

  “Because you’re worried you’d let Rafe take a bullet that was meant for me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” A slow, smug grin poured across Kellan’s face like warmed hot fudge. “Almost. I’m going to interpolate the rest. About how you love me.”

  Feeling it and saying it, or sharing it with him, were two completely different things. And Delaney was definitely not ready to take that leap. Not without knowing where he stood, at least.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  His hands smoothed up and down her sides while his grin grew impossibly bigger. “You didn’t say you didn’t. And there’s no way you worked your ass off to rise through the ranks and snag a big case like this to let just a hot man distract you. Even one as hot as me. Nope. The only possible extrapolation is that you’ve fallen in love with me.”

  “Assumptions don’t count. Not in my line of work, and not in yours, Counselor. I mean, Deputy.”

  “Here’s a fact: I love you. I’ve held off saying it because I was worried you’d think I was moving too fast. That we’re already fighting an uphill battle with a secret relationship and no possible good outcome, and that telling you how much I love you would just make everything harder.”

  The rehash of the down side of their relationship didn’t even register. Delaney’s brain pretty much melted like glaze on hot donuts as soon as Kellan said those three surprising and all-important words. “You do?”

  Kellan’s quick, clever fingers unbuttoned her blouse as he spoke. “I love that you care enough about keeping my brothers safe to risk a fight with me. I love that you’ve got the integrity to do what’s right, instead of what’s easy. I love the way you guzzle down Norah’s special tea and then sigh like you’ve finished an hour of yoga. I love the way you shiver when I lick the back of your neck.”

  Wow. Kellan hadn’t just unlocked the vault door to her heart with that declaration. He’d laid out a red carpet in invitation for her to reciprocate. Both hands tugged at the back of his collar, whipping his shirt over his head.

  “Why are you stripping us?”

  “Because we’re done fighting. I get why you did it, and we can talk through it later. Right now, we’re going to celebrate that we’re officially in love.”

  Oh, he was far too smug. Delaney put an edge in her voice. Just a little. Like the knife crease on pants fresh from the cleaners. “I haven’t said it yet.”

  “You will. Because you love me.” He bunched up her skirt above her butt, then lifted her to the edge of the counter.

  True. So ridiculously true. But making him work for it—while he ripped off her panties with one swipe of his hand—seemed deserved. “Kellan Maguire, that’s beyond presumptuous of you.”

  “Again, that’s not a denial.” Kellan unzipped his dress pants and let them slide to the floor. And then he was inside her with one long stroke.

  Delaney’s head fell back in sheer pleasure at the fullness, the way he stretched her. His hands clamped on her hipbones as he began to move. It was fast and unexpected—just like their falling in love.

  She locked her ankles around his bunching thighs. Rubbed her palms up and over his shoulders, relishing the tautness of those muscles beneath his warm skin. She sucked in sharp, shallow breaths as Kellan literally drove his point home.

  Delaney met his intense blue gaze and saw not just need, desire, but also all that love blasting out at her. She couldn’t let Kellan do it alone. Even though she needed every ounce of oxygen just to keep pace with him as their skin slapped together frantically. Even though her orgasm was barreling fast along her nerves.

  Hands cradling his face, Delaney took the leap and said, “I love you.”

  His bellow of satisfaction bounced off the exposed wooden beams. And as her own world shattered into joy, she drowned in a new and better kind of satisfaction as Kellan repeated, “I love you, too.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Delaney put the box of cranberry streusel muffins at the coffee station, then leaned her upper body through the doorway of her office. “It is August 14th. One month until the Cranberry Festival. Your belly profits from my growing excitement.”

 
Kono slowly swung his head around, his waterfall of hair following in a rippling wave. “You’re going native.”

  “No. Well, blending in. I mean, I’ve been here in Oregon since May. What’s wrong with feeling the spirit of the place?”

  “It can be good. It can be bad.”

  Nope. His low word-count wisdom couldn’t penetrate her love bubble. It’d been two weeks since she and Kellan admitted their true feelings. How come she’d never been told it would get better every single day? Grow stronger, more true, deeper?

  Delaney grabbed a muffin and waved it in a slow circle in the doorway. “Nothing can be bad topped with nutmeg, sugar, and cinnamon.”

  Sure enough, the lure worked. Kono got up and joined her. “Thanks for the afternoon snack. This’ll make it harder to say goodbye to you.”

  “Goodbye?” Her trial didn’t start for another six weeks. But so many marshals’ postings were transient. “Did you catch a case? Are you headed out?”

  “You are.” He peeled back the paper from the muffin stump with agonizing slowness. “You’re being loaned to a joint investigation with the FBI, ATF and state police down in Coos Bay. A serial bomber. Started small, at the Vietnam memorial in a local park. Scaled up to IEDs at the county prosecutor’s office and a judge’s house. That’s how the Marshals Service got pulled into it. Judicial Security Division.”

  Well, that proved her theory that Kono was officially her are you worthy of promotion watchdog, as well as her partner. It was the only explanation for him knowing about the assignment before she did.

  A multi-agency case wasn’t unheard of. But it was unusual. A joint task force assignment could last a long time. It might not be wrapped up by the time she headed back to Chicago. “Me? Why me?”

  “We needed someone. I suggested you.”

  “I don’t have any experience with bombers. Are you trying to get rid of me?” she joked, but with a burgeoning bubble of self-consciousness pressing up her esophagus.