“Might I…?”
“No. I’m afraid that’s confidential.”
One bushy brow rose and Art assumed a haughty stance. “Mick, I will remind you I am Jeb’s right hand man. I feel this information is something I need to keep abreast of.”
Silently, Mick thought, You are really full of it, aren’t you? Aloud, he only said, “You might be one of Jeb’s right hands, but you are not Jeb. And at this point, not even Jeb’s aware of how the investigation is progressing. He’s brought in Jamie and me to fix things, not keep to you informed,” Mick drawled sarcastically. “And since he’s the one who signs my paycheck, he’s the one I answer to.”
Art cocked his head and nodded thoughtfully after a few moments. “You know, ninety thousand dollars, wisely invested, would be bringing in a pretty penny now. Maybe more than one person really needs.”
Before Mick could figure out how to take that remark, Art left, leaving the room full of the cloying power of his cologne.
And one very interested security guy.
Chapter Three
“I’ve got an idea,” Mick said.
“Shoot,” Jamie said, dropping to his couch and kicking his feet up. A cold beer sat unopened in his hand. He itched for a cigarette, but resisted the urge. He refused to so much as acknowledge the fact that he hadn’t had a smoke in nearly three days. Acknowledging that meant admitting to himself he was quitting.
And he didn’t want to admit to himself the reason he was quitting.
Of course, the fact that he was dying to kiss her and he doubted she’d appreciate him tasting like tobacco had nothing to do with him quitting.
“You aren’t going to like it.”
“Damn it, Mick. I hate it when you start off like that,” he snapped, opening the beer with a flick of his wrist. Draining half the bottle, he lowered it and drew one knee up, bracing his elbow on it. Pale green eyes met Mick’s and he groaned.
He really hated that look.
Mick removed his jacket and shoulder holster with slow, meticulous movement as he said, “I think we can catch Art at his own game.”
“Why do I sense a big ‘if’ in there?” Jamie asked, tipping his head back and studying the vaulted ceiling overhead.
“If we use Andi Morrow as bait.”
“No,” Jamie said mildly, focusing his attention back on his beer.
“He was all but offering me some of the money,” Mick said, acting as though he hadn’t heard Jamie’s reply, even though he had already known what the reply would be. “I’ve never heard such an easy, open offer. Apparently, I look like I would like to earn some easy money. We can take him down, kid.”
“I don’t care if he offered the evidence on a silver platter. I’m not dragging an innocent person into this,” Jamie snapped, narrowing his eyes at Mick. Rising to his feet, he brushed past the older man. “I don’t want somebody hurt by this unless it’s the guilty one.”
“What’s the deal with the girl, Jamie?” Mick asked quietly. “You barely know her.”
“I don’t have to know her to not want her hurt,” Jamie replied.
“You have a job to do,” Mick said. “Finding the thief is your job. Sometimes, getting the job done means doing things you don’t necessarily like.”
♥
Curled in the corner of the couch, all the lights out, save for the one over her shoulder, Andi turned the page, eyes narrowed. Her hair was pulled back in a fat, loose braid that trailed over her shoulder and she was wearing a pair of silk boxers and a tank top, her favorite reading attire.
Moments later, she grinned. “I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t betray her, Duncan,” she whispered, flipping back and reading a passage a few chapters back.
Nearly an hour later, she tossed the book aside, already knowing it would be in her bag again tomorrow. Never mind that she had already finished it. This particular author was one she usually read at least twice before putting it on her keeper shelf.
Someday, somebody will say that about my books, Andi thought, lacing her fingers and stretching overhead before dropping her arms and rolling her shoulders. Damn, she ached.
Somewhat reluctantly, she rose and stretched her stiff, aching body. It was going to be another month before the doctor released her to go back to karate. Her ankle and knee were banged up badly enough that Andi knew better than to argue, or try to slip in without Jake knowing the doc hadn’t released her.
No class to occupy her mind, no other interesting books, Andi really had no choice but to stop avoiding the computer.
Even if she couldn’t manage to get anything new done, she could at least edit and proof what she had finished.
But she couldn’t resist the temptation to open the file that held the manuscript she had put nearly a month of time into before that damn accident. She hadn’t gotten a word written since. Well, that wasn’t the complete truth.
She’d gotten plenty of words written. But not one of them had survived the delete key.
Staring at the annoying little cursor, she said quietly, “Andi, it’s going to be hard to support yourself as a writer if you can’t manage to write.”
Nearly an hour later, she gave up. That damned delete key was going to get worn out before the rest of the computer, if she couldn’t get past this slump. With an aggravated sigh, she accessed a completed manuscript and started the tedious job of editing.
She already knew the story was sold. The publisher had already said they wanted it, after reading the sample chapters she had sent. With a small grin, she wondered exactly what Jamie McAdams would have said if she had told him her trip to Ireland had been financed by the sale of her first book.
And her house had come from a very, very lucky gamble she had made at the riverboat casino. A lucky bet of $100 that had landed her nearly ten thousand, enough to put a hefty down payment on her little house.
Maybe not as exciting as espionage, she thought as she corrected the numerous typos.
But not too shabby from a kid who even quite a few counselors had given up on.
♥
What’s the deal with the girl? Mick had asked.
Standing in the doorway, watching her as she soothed a toddler who had fallen down, Jamie tried to figure out the answer to that. Propping his shoulder against the doorjamb, arms folded over his chest, he ignored the sound of a sweeper-vac turning on behind him, once more focusing his eyes on Andi Morrow.
He didn’t know what the deal was.
She wasn’t the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, nor the sexiest, even though he had a good idea that she had a knockout body under her baggy uniform.
She definitely wasn’t the sweetest. Her wry sense of humor and sharp tongue had already done considerable damage to his ego. Even though she looked unbelievably sweet just now as she smoothed back black curls from the toddler’s chubby little face, tickled the little girl under the chin and distracted her with a book before her whimpers could turn into a full-blown cry.
Jamie couldn’t look away.
From the moment he had first laid eyes on her, something in his gut had compelled him to get closer.
And now, he was going to do that.
But not for the reasons he wanted.
“If he’s planning to use her as his cover, and use me to do that, we can nail him. Hands down. And he won’t have a chance.”
Damn it, Mick, he thought, frustrated. You always got to be right?
“It’s the babe,” a little redheaded girl said in a loud whisper, pointing to him.
Flushing a dull red, Jamie averted his eyes and pretended he hadn’t heard her. How had he come to be known as the babe by a bunch of preschoolers? he wondered, maneuvering his way through the maze of toys and kids.
A smirk on her face, Andi turned to greet him. “The babe, huh?” she asked in a low voice as the girls gathered in a circle by the toy box. She sauntered closer, one hand adjusting her glasses. Then, fingers curling into her palms, she
slipped her hands inside the cargo pockets of her loose lab coat.
“Jeez, what are they, all of four years old?”
Shrugging, Andi said, “Kids grow up faster than they used to. Besides, they hear stuff like that from older sisters, TV, and in some cases, their own mothers.” Turning on her heel, she headed for her office, stepped back and waited for him to enter. “You’ll have to excuse the mess. We were playing school. I had the big kids’ class. Our assignment today was to destroy my office. And if time allowed, to complete the puzzles lying all over the place.”
With a grin, Jamie studied the scattered pieces all over the floor of her formerly ruthlessly neat office. “I take it there wasn’t enough time before school let out.”
“Nope,” Andi replied, sighing. “They certainly did a good job destroying my office though. I’ll have to give them all excellent marks. I decided it would be just as easy for me to clean up after they thought they should get glue and put the puzzle together on my wall.” She leaned against her desk and asked, “Did you knock your head again?”
“Actually, I wanted to know if you’d like to go grab some lunch with me.”
Followed by a quickie in the backseat of my car, and then we can go back to my condo and have a not so quick one.
He’d surprised her with the invitation to lunch. He wondered what her response would have been if he’d added the last part.
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped just a bit, before she managed to blank her features once more. “No,” she said after a moment of somewhat shocked silence. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Better question. Why?” she countered.
“Because you’re hungry and it’s lunch time?”
Rolling her eyes, Andi hunkered down to realign some puzzle pieces in the frame. “Thanks for the offer, but no thank you,” she said, glancing up at him from over her shoulder.
“Why not?” he repeated, exasperated.
“Do you generally ask embezzlers out to lunch?” she asked. “Or am I the first?”
“You’re not an embezzler. But it’s my job to investigate everybody.” Kneeling down next to her, he handed her a few pieces and waited for her to look up at him. Her long braid fell over her shoulder, and unable to resist, Jamie reached out, caught hold of it, and tugged on it. “If I thought you were a thief, I’d stay clear of you,” he said honestly.
Her hands stilled and her eyes rose to meet his. The heavy cardboard pieces fell from her nerveless fingers as she stared into his pale green eyes. Taking a deep breath, Jamie ordered himself to let go, but instead, he wrapped the thick cable of her braid around his wrist and whispered, “I really shouldn’t be doing this.” A startled gasp fell from her mouth as he tasted her.
Sweet. God, she was sweet. Gently, he brushed her mouth with his, pulling back slightly and studying her dazed eyes.
Carefully, he drew her glasses off and set them aside. Then Jamie reached up with his free hand, caught her face before she could turn away. Slowly, he nibbled on her lip, giving her time to pull away. When she didn’t, when her mouth heated and started to move beneath his, he threw caution to the wind as he delved into her mouth, taking as much of her as he could, as quickly as he could. Any second now Jamie was expecting a fist in his gut. Any second now, and she’d realize what was going on.
Instead, her lips parted and she arched closer. Greedily, he ate at her mouth and wrapped his arms around her, pulled her up onto her knees and aligned her compact, tight little body next to his. Working one knee between hers, he wedged her thighs apart as he ran his palms down her back, filling in the gaps so that every lush, sexy little curve was pressed tight to his body. Rocking his thigh against the soft damp vee between her thighs, Jamie’s entire body went tense as he felt the moisture that had already started to gather there.
The scent of her, hot female, vanilla, and sex filled his head, heated his blood and made his cock throb like a bad tooth as he rocked against the soft cushion of her belly.
Her hands traveled up his arms to fist in his hair as her mouth opened under his and her tongue darted out to meet his. Damn, but she was sweet, and hot, and so completely unexpected.
Jamie found himself fantasizing about eating her up in quick greedy bites. To torture himself, he pulled away from her mouth and feasted on the smooth expanse of shoulder that he bared simply by brushing aside the excess material of her tunic.
“Jamie…” she gasped out his name at the hot bite of his teeth on her shoulder, the wet caress of his mouth before he realigned their mouths and greedily plunged his tongue into hers, a rough growl vibrating out of his chest. One hand left the curve of her hip to glide under her shirt and cup her breast, his thumb and forefinger pinching her nipple roughly and bringing a gasp that died in her throat as he sucked her tongue into his mouth.
His mouth left her a second time, leaving a trail of fire down her chin to her neck and shoulders. Her hands trailed down to his shoulders, ran over them, curled into the hard, firm muscle there before gliding down his arms. Pressed against her belly was the hard ridge of his erection. Even as it dawned on her what she was feeling, his hands grasped the curve of her butt and dragged her closer. Automatically, she rocked her hips forward, gasping as she brushed against the hard bulge there. She cuddled her abdomen against his cock hungrily, whimpering softly.
Pulling away, Jamie whispered, “Fuck.”
Slow down, he ordered. But when he stared into her slumberous, heavy-lidded gaze, when her fingers curved greedily into his shoulders, when her eyes dropped to study his mouth once more, Jamie gave in with a groan, catching her face again, he plundered her mouth. Honey. Dark sweet honey, the kind that clung to you even after you finished eating it. That was what she tasted like.
And she was hot and sexy and every damn thing he had ever dreamed of in a woman. Her hands laced in his hair, and her mouth moved under his, sexy little moans rising from her throat when he trailed his mouth down to nibble on her neck.
Sliding one hand up the back of her tunic, he ran his hand up a smooth, slender back, then down to palm a firm round little bottom. His hands were feeling out the dangerous curves his mind had insisted were hidden under her clothes. Full heavy tits strained against a lace and silk bra, warm flesh heating under his palms. God, this was moving too quickly.
Normally, he wouldn’t have a problem with quick, but for some reason, he didn’t just want a quick easy fuck with her, he didn’t want anonymous sex with her.
Not that the image of a quick fuck didn’t appeal.
Backing her up against the wall, stripping away those baggy uniform pants, lifting that tight little ass in his hands and driving the length of his cock into her wet vagina… Oh, yeah. The image appealed.
But he wanted more. Dragging her head back by her hair, he laid his teeth on her neck and bit down, hard enough to mark, hard enough to hurt. She stiffened under his hands and then her body went limp, a weak little moan of surrender escaping her mouth.
Now. He could do it, do her, right now.
Moments later, they fell apart, staring at each other. When a peal of laughter rang from the play area, Andi dragged her eyes away. Settling her weight back on her heels, she closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart.
“Looks like I wasn’t the only one,” Jamie said quietly.
Her eyes flew open and darted to his face. The pupils of her eyes were huge, just a thin rim of golden-green around the black as she looked at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she struggled to catch her breath. Beneath that utilarian tunic, her hard nipples strained against her bra.
Reaching out, Jamie brushed his thumb across her damp swollen mouth. Then he closed his hand into a loose fist and dragged his knuckles across one of those swollen nipples, watching her shudder as he said, “I’ve wanted to do that since the day I met you.”
The disbelief in her eyes had him laughing. He rose to his feet, reached down, took her h
and and drew her up. “You got any idea how rough it is to try to think of somebody as a possible embezzler when all you can wonder is how she’d feel next to you?”
Underneath you, on top of you.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never wondered how a ‘she’ would feel next to me,” Andi replied faintly, her quip a weak echo of what it should have been. Slowly, she stepped back, bracing her weight against her desk, staring at him with wide, uncertain eyes. Damn, if he had pushed just a little more…
In the past few years, Andi had rarely thought about how a ‘he’ would feel next to her.
She had certainly never wondered the way she was wondering right now.
Damn, but he was gorgeous, Andi thought helplessly, her heart pounding. Her knees, she was somewhat surprised to realize, were weak. Her bones felt like water and she was so hot it seemed a forest fire had started right inside her belly. All that brought on by a simple kiss.
Her nipples had tightened and were pressing almost painfully against the lace of her bra and a suspicious dampness had settled between her thighs. A slow, aching throb rippled through her tissues and she shuddered. She was wet and everything felt hot and tight. Every inch of her was heated from where he had stroked her and every inch of her cried out for more.
Okay. Maybe it hadn’t been such a simple kiss.
But why in the hell had he wanted to kiss her anyway?
She was so…average, busty figure aside. Hell, anybody with the money could buy a body these days. Andi was ordinary, she knew it.
And he wasn’t.
He wasn’t even six feet tall, probably right at five nine or five ten, a deceptively lean build, with a narrow waist, broad shoulders. She had curled her hands into those hard muscles, felt them ripple and bulge under her hands only moments before. Her mouth watered as she remembered, and her knees, already weak, started quivering once more. Wavy black hair and pale, pale green eyes, a cleft chin, and a mouth that had been designed with the sole intention of making a woman go mad, wondering what he tasted like.
Coming In Last Page 5