“Def initely,” he lied. If a killer was after him, or messing with him, cutting ties to everyone he knew was necessary. He’d been so obsessed with hunting Lassiter that he hadn’t protected his own sister from the monster. She’d died at Lassiter’s hands, because Lassiter had drawn Angus into his game, and Angus still hadn’t recovered from that fact. “One thing. A favor for me.”
Her lips twitched. “I did enough favors for you last night.”
Humor belted him out of nowhere. “True. Very true. And you’re going to give me one more.” He tried to make it sound like a request, but he didn’t come close. So be it.
She tilted her head, her eyes a clear brown, even though he hadn’t let her sleep for long. “What is it?”
“Be safe. Take extra precautions, just until this new killer is caught. I’ll be gone, so it stands to reason that he’ll move on to another target if he is messing with our team. The appearances of the two victims could just be a coincidence. However, I need to know you’ll be safe.” That was as much of his feelings as he could or would admit.
“No problem. Do you think there’ll be another body tonight?”
He shook his head as he relaxed at her easy acceptance. “No. I think we weren’t supposed to find last night’s victim for a while. No serial killer is that prolific.”
“Good.” She faltered, as if not sure how to say goodbye.
He reached her and enfolded her in a hug, holding tighter than was necessary. Her scent, fresh and spicy, filled him, and she hugged him back, pressing her cheek into his chest. Then he stepped away and forced his body to go cold and his mind to go blank. Releasing her physically hurt. What the hell was wrong with him? “’Bye, Nari.”
“’Bye.” She turned and left his apartment without looking back. He stared at the closed door for several moments before looking down at his dog, who had on his cranky expression. “Shut up.” Then he hustled to the window and lifted the blinds, scouting the entire parking lot to make sure nobody was around. Nari soon exited the building and climbed into her car, driving away and out of his life.
Nobody followed her.
“Okay.” He let the blinds fall back into place, scattering dust, his world suddenly empty. “You ready for it to be just you and me again?”
The dog sneezed.
“Me too. Let’s pack up.” Angus turned to gather his meager possessions. “This won’t take long.”
* * *
She was sore. In all sorts of interesting places. Her body ached after a full night with Angus Force. Nari sighed, freshly dressed in a light blue suit with coral kitten heels. How awkward had it been that morning with Angus?
Her soft groan echoed around the elevator.
She tried to forget the feel of Angus’s hands on her—on all of her—as she rode the elevator to the fifth floor and her new office. It seemed weird to be joining a team on a Wednesday. Shouldn’t they at least give her until the following week to wrap things up with her previous assignment?
She felt a pang in her heart. She was going to miss that group of misfits. Somehow she’d felt as if she’d finally fit in somewhere.
The elevator opened and she stepped out into an unmanned vestibule, turning left and walking on thick tile. Slight bruises on her hips from his strong grip rubbed against her skirt, making her ache. Reminding her that he’d all but marked her in a dozen ways the night before. His hands, his mouth, his incredible body. She strode past bustling offices and various conference rooms to another vestibule, where she stopped and opened a thick set of doors to a suite, where the tile floor turned to dark wood.
She walked directly into a conference room with a large, square table holding telephones, notepads, and pens. Nobody was around. Windows in front of her showed a parking lot, while hallways in each direction no doubt led to offices.
“Hello?” she called.
Footsteps sounded, and Vaughn Ealy strode into the room.
Nari swallowed. Her anxiety ratcheted up. Fast.
It had been more than a year since they’d seen each other, but he looked the same. Tall, broad, tousled brown hair and intelligent brown eyes. Today he wore a dark gray suit with a matching tie over a white-and-blue-striped shirt.
“Nari.” He strode forward and took her hand, his gaze expressionless. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too.” She shook and then removed her hand as his expensive cologne subtly wafted toward her. “I was surprised to end up on your team.”
He gestured her down the way he’d come, all business. “I’m sure, and I thought we could discuss it before you meet the rest of the team. I have them all out on assignment, so I’ll introduce them to you on Friday morning. Tomorrow you’ll spend all day at HR getting transferred and watching the videos and all that procedural stuff.”
She’d take the day of reprieve before starting with new people. Her stomach ached. She walked down the hallway, noting the clean lines and pleasant colors. How different it was from the dingy basement where she’d worked during the past year. How different this man was from the one who’d kissed every inch of her the night before. She swallowed.
Vaughn halted her by the arm at an office toward the end. “This will be yours.”
It was a medium-size office with wide windows overlooking what looked like a park. It’d be nice to have windows again. The carpet was dark and she had several watercolors that would look perfect in the room. She could even put a bed for Roscoe in—
She shook her head. Roscoe didn’t work with her any longer. Loneliness descended onto her shoulders with a surprising chill.
“This way.” Vaughn released her and moved toward the next office, which he opened. “My office.”
She followed him in and sank into a guest chair, while he walked around his desk and sat, facing her. A position of power. Framed awards and photos of him with political figures lined the bookshelf next to him, while diplomas covered the opposite wall. Behind him was a wide window.
“So,” she said. “Care to explain how I ended up on your team?”
“Ask your daddy.”
Ah. There was the asshat she remembered. Oh, he’d hidden that aspect of himself for the first four months they’d dated, but the truth inevitably emerged. She studied him. It was odd that while he was probably the same age as Angus, he looked ambitious and kind of fresh, where Angus, well, didn’t. Angus was more wounded, angry, and sexy. Both handsome, but in a totally different way. A fight between them would be interesting.
She started. Where in the world had that thought come from?
Even so, it would be. They were both tough and well trained. Vaughn would be calculating and Angus would be fierce. Yeah. Her money was on Angus Force.
Her abdomen did a slow roll, heating her tender sex.
“Nari?” Vaughn asked. “I lost you for a minute.”
He’d lost her for all time.
She smiled. “Well, I suppose my daddy, as you called him, wanted us to get the gossip behind us so we could move on.” Quan had liked Vaughn and probably still did. They were similar men. Interesting. She hadn’t noticed that before either. Wasn’t she chock full of insights today? “Our working together and seeming to get along will quiet any rumblings. Plus, it sounds like your team might need me.”
Vaughn sat back and studied her with a look that would’ve intrigued her before she’d gotten to know him. “I’ve looked beneath your façade. You’re high-strung, irrational, and violent.”
She forced a smile, her heart rate speeding up. “That’s not fair.” A guy with an ego like his would definitely not like the fact that she’d gone over his head—a fact that had, unfortunately, gone public. But she wouldn’t apologize for trying to save a fellow agent.
“It might not be fair, but it’s true.” He flattened his hands on his neatly organized desk.
“Actually, I believe I was calm, collected, and measured in doing my job and protecting Lisa as well as the entire agency.” She lowered her chin. Why did jackasses always say a
woman was high-strung or irrational when she reacted appropriately? “Get over it, Vaughn.” Not the tone she wanted to take with him, but he wasn’t giving her a choice.
“I don’t want you on my team.” Anger shone in his eyes, but he managed to keep his tone level.
“I don’t want to be on your team,” she agreed. “So you should request a transfer. You know as well as I do that my father won’t help if I ask to be moved.”
Vaughn sighed. “I guess he knows you better than I did. You don’t belong in this agency.”
Maybe not. Sometimes she doubted she did. She crossed her legs, reminded instantly of a slight bite mark on her thigh from Angus. He’d marked her. She felt all warm and mushy for the slightest of moments.
“Come on, Nari. You’re only here to prove something to your absentee father. Why don’t you quit and open a practice and make tons of money?” he asked.
The words were a direct hit—the truth usually was. She banished thoughts of Angus and what might’ve been. It was over, and now she had to deal with real life. How had she found herself involved with this jerk again? She had belonged with Angus Force’s team and she had made a difference there. She was good at her job. “What’s the case you’re working on, Vaughn?” They were getting nowhere with this conversation.
He opened a desk drawer and retrieved a deep-blue file folder to slide across the desk. “We’re investigating a fairly new transnational gang that originated in El Salvador and has set up here in DC. They’re primarily into drug running right now.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “They’re in competition with MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang?”
“They’re trying to be.”
She reached for the file folder. “They haven’t been taken out by either gang yet?”
“No. They’re surprisingly well funded and trained. I’m trying to avoid a drug war in the middle of the Capitol. In the file you’ll find all the research so far. I need you to develop profiles on the top gang members, and then I’d like you to meet the team. No doubt you’ll want to set up weekly meetings with everyone, as per new regulations. Except for me because we were in a relationship.”
“I’ll get started, then.” She stood, wanting to get out of there. Now.
“I won’t make this assignment easy on you, Nari. If I were you, I’d try to get transferred as soon as possible,” he said.
She shut the door on the last of his words.
Chapter Ten
After an extra-long shower and a search for clean clothes in his apartment, Angus had finally packed up his meager belongings. He still smelled Nari on him. The spicy scent of her shampoo somehow clung to his skin, even after his shower. What was that smell? It was light and female, but with a bite. Maybe a combination of cinnamon and chai. He’d had a chai latte once, and that intoxicating smell reminded him of Nari.
He drove for over an hour, retracing his steps, going in odd directions, making sure he lost any tail that might be on him. Nobody caught his eye. The rain had finally let up, leaving the world barren and waiting with silent breath for the first storm of winter.
Finally he reached a diner in Virginia in the middle of nowhere that only had two battered trucks by the entrance. He drove to the far end of the lot near a forested area, where Agent Millie Frost waited in her light green VW Bug. He pulled in next to her.
His former employee, one he’d known only a short while, got out of her car. Today the streaks in her hair were gone, and the blond tresses on her shoulders made her look more like the girl next door. She reached into the back seat for a duffel bag and set it on the hood.
“Hi.” He let Roscoe out, and the dog bounded over to the woman for some love.
Millie dropped to her haunches, not having far to go. She snuggled up to Roscoe and scratched his fur. “Howdy, buddy.” Then she stood, wiping her hands down dark jeans that matched a T-shirt with the Firefly cast on it. “This is weird.”
“I’m okay with that. Did you bring it?” Angus asked.
“Yep.” She drew the sweeper out of the duffel and came toward his truck, running the box down the first tire. “Did you already conduct a visual search for a passive tracker?”
He signaled for Roscoe to sit. “Yes. There’s no passive tracker, and I doubt there’s an active one, but I wanted to make sure.”
She continued toward the front of his truck. “I thought you said goodbye to everybody last night. Heard you boys got a little drunk.”
“Yeah, we did. I just want to check the vehicle before I head back home.” He leaned against her car, watching her work. The woman was meticulous; in fact, the only time he’d seen her truly serious was when she was dealing with gadgets. “Thanks for skipping work today. Where did you get reassigned anyway?”
She reached the other side, ducking down and disappearing from sight. “I didn’t. I quit.”
He launched himself around his truck, his ears ringing. “What do you mean, you quit? You can’t just quit.”
“You did.” She didn’t look up from the blinking lights on the scanner.
He crossed his arms. While she’d only been on the team a few months, he was responsible for her. Besides, with her blond hair free of the colorful streaks, she looked a little bit like his sister. Was a smart-ass like her, too. “I didn’t quit. I was fired, and that doesn’t reflect on you.”
She stood and stretched her back. “I need to inspect the undercarriage.”
He frowned, a look that had made more than one junior agent take a step back during his FBI days.
Millie lifted one light eyebrow. “What?”
He glowered at her. “You know what.”
She sighed, her blue eyes an odd, light-cerulean color. “I quit, Angus. I’m allowed. In fact, I’ve gotten offers from several top tech companies as well as more governmental agencies than I can count. I can write my own ticket if I want.”
“Why did you quit?”
“I wanted to.” Without giving him another chance to question her, she dropped and rolled beneath the vehicle as if she’d done so a million times before.
Maybe he didn’t have a right to question her. It wasn’t as if the woman lacked options. He ducked down to watch her. “When are you going back to work?”
“Haven’t decided. I may put more streaks in my hair and travel a little bit first.” She scanned the undercarriage. “I could use a walkabout.”
That’d be perfect. “The sooner you get out of town, the better. Just in case, I mean.” He kept his voice casual and stood to make sure Roscoe hadn’t gotten into any trouble. The dog was scouting around the trees, his tail wagging, his body relaxed.
Millie finished her inspection, rolled to the other side, and checked out the interior of the truck. Finally she jumped down. “You’re fine. No trackers. When you drive away I’ll scan you just in case there’s a tracker that works only when you’re moving.” She tossed the device in the air and caught it easily in her small hands. “You sure there’s somebody after you?”
“No.” He wasn’t sure if Lassiter was alive and he had no clue whether the new killer was really targeting his team. “I don’t know crap, Millie. To be on the safe side, I’d just like for you to get away from here.” Until he found the killer.
She pressed her hands on her hips. “If you’re worried, there’s a bad guy out there. In that case, you’re not the type to head back to your cabin.”
God needed to spare him from intelligent and insightful women, damn it. “You’ve read me wrong. I’m gone,” he said.
Roscoe bounded over, and she ducked to hug the dog one more time. “We could’ve done a lot of good if the team had stayed together,” she mumbled before standing.
Yeah, and he might’ve seen another pretty blonde in the morgue. The image of his sister would never leave him, and the last thing he wanted was to see Millie that way. He had to figure out who was behind the latest killings. “’Bye, Millie.” He patted her shoulder, whistled at his dog, and then jumped into his truck.
; It’d be him against this guy. Period.
* * *
Nari stepped out of her car in Pippa’s driveway with her mom’s Waldorf salad in her hands. She needed a girls’ night now more than ever, and she was probably early, but she didn’t care. After her disastrous meeting with Vaughn she’d spent the day getting caught up on the El Salvadoran gang. By the end of the day she was as shaky as a new colt. Would Vaughn’s attitude toward her be matched by the rest of the team?
While Angus hadn’t liked her working with his operatives, he had still been polite. Well, usually. Even when he was cranky, he had a kindness in him toward the team that had made her feel welcome. Or at least safe.
There was only one other finished house in the cul-de-sac where Wolfe and Dana lived. Another house was under construction across the circle, where Raider and Brigid were building. The whole team seemed to be taking over the cul-de-sac, and a pang hit her heart dead center.
She’d never be part of that team again.
Shaking it off, she walked across the porch and knocked on the door of Pippa and Malcolm’s charming cottage.
Pippa threw open the door, and the scent of cookies wafted out. “Nari.” The taller woman enfolded her in a hug. “I’m so glad you came.” She drew Nari inside, looking at ease in a light yellow sweater, blue jeans, and brown leather boots.
“Me too.” Nari glanced past the living room toward the kitchen. While Pippa often baked, she somehow smelled like cookies even if there weren’t any around.
“I have a new chicken dish in the oven and I took out an apple pie about an hour ago.” Pippa took the salad from Nari and gestured her toward the sofa, where Brigid had already settled back with a glass of white wine. “You want red or white? I have both open.”
“Red, then.” Nari smiled at Brigid and walked toward her, flopping onto the adjacent seat.
Brigid’s red hair curled around her soft face. “Rough day?”
“You have no idea.” What was Nari going to do without seeing her friends every day? “The leader of my new team doesn’t like me.” She smiled when Pippa returned and handed over a full glass of red. “It could be because we dated and I nearly destroyed his career, but I’m just guessing.”
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