Cove's Blind Date Blows Up

by Jen Talty

“Your father and I survived two years of deployment. You and Cove can deal with a year or two of this, if you make up your minds to make it work.”

  “But he doesn’t want it.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “He’s said so,” Serenity admitted.

  “You mean he told you that he doesn’t want it with you, or that he’s told you that he doesn’t want it in general.”

  “The latter.”

  “Well, my darling daughter, there is a difference.” Her mother leaned in and kissed her cheek. “A big one. Might I suggest you tell Cove how you feel?”

  “It’s too soon.”

  “It’s never too soon,” her mother said. “It’s only too late.”

  10

  For the next week, Serenity and Cove spent their time in her apartment going over every detail of the Big Mike robberies, anything connected to Nimitz as well as Bosley, not to mention pulling case file after case file of her negotiations that crossed paths with both Nimitz and Bosley.

  Everything pointed toward Bosley. Even the company, Miliana Farms, which was owned by a private LLC, was starting to look like maybe, just maybe, it was linked to Bosley.

  The question was, had Bosley been in on the heist from the beginning, or did he join in after Nimitz fucked up?

  It could go either way, but the bottom line was she didn’t like the pattern that formed in front of her eyes.

  Nor did she appreciate the headache and lack of sleep it produced.

  But she couldn’t come up with anything concrete, and since the bomber had decided to go dark this week, they had nothing new to work with.

  That should make her happy since no one had tried to kill her in the last week, but that only meant they were plotting and perfecting their plan. That only meant bad news for her.

  She squeezed her eyes and took in a deep calming breath. Just a few more minutes, that’s all she needed.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her mind from spinning out of control. She blinked her eyes open. A faint light from her cell displaying the time on her nightstand danced in the dark bedroom.

  Four in the morning.

  That was close to four hours of sleep.

  Not too shabby.

  She rolled to her side and frowned. Cove must not have been able to sleep either. Finding a long shirt, she pulled it over her head and slipped from her bedroom and into the family room. Cove sat at the kitchen table with his nose in his computer. He had a notebook opened next to him, and he tapped a pen against the paper. He wore nothing but his boxers.

  God, she hadn’t had this much sex since…never.

  And she wanted more.

  The idea that she was going to have to give him up in a couple of weeks made her sick to her stomach, and she wasn’t sure what to do with that thought. She was married to her career. Growing up, she’d watched her mother make sacrifices in order to raise her and her brothers. Her father even gave up his command to teach at West Point so they could have a more stable family life.

  Serenity always had to wonder if they had regrets. Her parents always said they hadn’t, but sometimes, like when her brothers came home, or even the other night talking with Cove, she would see her father’s eyes light up like a Christmas tree. He lived to hear the tales of active military life.

  No way could she ask a man to change his world for her, and she’d be damned if she’d give up hers for anyone.

  Only, staring at Cove as he spent his free time helping her track down whoever wanted her dead, a crazy thought entered her mind, and it both horrified and excited her to the point she shuddered.

  She hugged her middle.

  Having a crush on a boy for years was one thing. Fantasizing about a man while in college was something else.

  Allowing a man into her bed, her life, her whole world, that was something she’d never done before. The mere thought normally made her gag.

  But the idea of him leaving is what made her feel ill.

  He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “Hey, babe, couldn’t sleep?”

  “Obviously, neither could you.”

  He pushed back his chair and patted his legs.

  She slinked across the room, lifting up her shirt and straddling his body. Resting her hands on his shoulders, she asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I was just going over everything we have, hoping to find something, but it seems we’re at a roadblock.”

  “Frustrating,” she said.

  “And then I got some good and bad news.” He tapped his finger on the keyboard of his laptop and pointed to an email. “I passed my physical last week.”

  “That’s great news.”

  “Agreed. But they want to bump up my deployment to a week from today.”

  “You wanted to get back to work,” she said, trying to keep her voice light and airy when inside the word deployment was killing her.

  He ran his hands up her spine, cupping the back of her neck and pulling her lips to his, pressing firmly. His tongue darted into her mouth, swirling around, finding every crevice in a slow stroke. “I don’t want to leave until I know you’re safe.”

  “My job is dangerous.”

  “Not the point,” he said. “I find myself in a place I’ve never been before, and I don’t know how to handle it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Her heart hammered in her chest. She swallowed her breath. She knew exactly where he was going with this, and that scared the crap out of her because she wanted him, and not just in her bed. The fact that he was contemplating the boundaries of their relationship as well sent her into a tailspin. Her mother told her to tell him how she was feeling long before he left. Her father warned her that he would need to know if she wanted to keep him in her life. That a man in his position, in his line of work, had to know if she wanted him to return; otherwise, his frame of mind would be very different when he deployed.

  She owed it to him to be honest.

  “I don’t want this to end, not even when I have to leave,” he said.

  “How long will you have to be gone for?”

  “I’m returning to my team that’s already been deployed for four months on a six-month tour.”

  “So you’ll be back in two months.”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding his head. “For a one-month liberty call. Then it’s off to the next assignment, which might not be with the same unit.”

  She cocked her head back. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m keeping my options open, depending on us.”

  “Us?” She’d been avoiding this conversation for days.

  “Do you want there to be an us?” he asked. "Because I’d like to give it a try.”

  “Wow.” She dropped her head to his shoulder. “That’s a lot to take in.”

  “I know, but is it too much to ask to have an answer?” He tilted her chin with his index finger and thumb. “I care about you like I’ve never cared about any woman before. I honestly don’t know what to do with those feelings. I’m taking a leap of faith here, and I need to know if you’re willing to do it with me.”

  Leap of faith.

  Her mother’s words echoed in her brain, mixing with Cove’s voice.

  “Did I tell you that I could be up for agent in charge in the New York City office?”

  “No. You didn’t,” he said. “That would be a big deal for you.”

  “It would mean, in some ways, more stable hours.”

  He arched his brow. “What are you saying?”

  “That I don’t want to let you go just yet, but I’m scared of this. Of you and me. It’s totally unexpected. Completely out of the blue. I had put this entire concept out of my mind and reserved myself to life married to my career.”

  “So did I, but right now, the idea of not having you in my life makes my career seem meaningless.”

  She cupped his cheeks. “This is crazy.”

  “It is.” He lifted her shirt up over her head, tossing it to the side before wigg
ling out of his underwear.

  She glided herself onto him one inch at time, arching her back, accepting his length as if they fit together like the last two pieces of a puzzle. There was a sense of urgency that hadn’t been there before. The need to be one with him overtook everything.

  He cupped her breast with his hand, taking the other nipple into his mouth, scraping it with his teeth.

  Their bodies rocked together, and their moans tangled up in the thick passion-filled air.

  She rolled her hips as fast and hard as she could, her orgasm tearing through her body like a hurricane smashing into the coast without any regard for human life. Gripping his shoulders, she let herself go, not caring that she couldn’t control her passion, even if she wanted to, and right now, she didn’t.

  All she wanted was release.

  As selfish as it was, she just needed to be satisfied.

  He reached between them and rubbed her throbbing nub, sending her into the abyss.

  “Oh, my God, Cove.” She dug her fingernails into his shoulder blades, tossing her head back as another wave gripped her insides.

  He swelled inside her, threatening to explode. He held her hips tight, guiding her over his body, thrusting inside her shamelessly until his climax burst inside her.

  “Serenity,” he whispered. “Take a chance on me.”

  “Only if you take one on me.” And with those words, she sealed her fate.

  11

  Cove stepped from the bathroom, and his stomach immediately growled while his nose took in the scent of freshly grilled bacon. He pulled a clean shirt over his head and tossed his used towel in the hamper. “What’s the special occasion?” He poured himself a cup of coffee and kissed Serenity on the cheek before taking a plate and making himself comfortable at the kitchen table. “Geri called while you were in the shower,” Serenity said.

  “What did she want?”

  “She found out who owns Miliana Farms, and it’s not exactly who we expected.”

  Cove slathered his toast with butter and strawberry jelly. “Okay. Who then?”

  “Sarah Nimitz.”

  He burned the roof of his mouth when he took a sip of the scalding coffee. “That’s interesting.” The email he’d received from Thor could wait a few more minutes.

  “It gets better. There’s a second name on that LLC.”

  Cove arched a brow. “I’m all ears.”

  “Bosley.”

  “Jesus. That’s a fucked-up combination.” He stabbed his eggs and shoveled them into his mouth. “When was the LLC formed, and when did the LLC create Miliana Farms, and do they own any other holdings?”

  “They don’t own any other companies. The LLC was formed one month before Nimitz was sentenced.”

  “Fuck,” he mumbled. “Sounds like Sarah and Bosley double-crossed Sarah’s husband.”

  “Not exactly sure how that threesome worked, but it certainly sheds a lot of light on this case.”

  “It sure does.”

  “And that brings me to this idea I had.” Serenity plopped a crispy slice of bacon into her mouth. She leaned against the counter with one arm folded across her white blouse, her weapon already strapped onto her belt along with her badge.

  Total turn-on.

  “Don’t hurt yourself with all that thinking,” he said.

  “Oh, aren’t you a funny guy this morning.” She swatted his shoulder. “But seriously, Bosley comes back to the office this morning, and since he’s had a partner in crime, he might not have stopped trying to kill me because he’s been out of town. It might be because he hadn’t factored you into the equation. But you kept saving my ass.”

  “So now he’s patiently waiting for me to be deployed so he can successfully blow you up.” Cove suddenly lost his appetite. He pushed his plate to the side. “And you want me to pretend to be on the back of an Army transport plane today so you can set him up.”

  “Great minds think alike.”

  “Not even close.” He shook his head. “I’m not letting you be bait.”

  She laughed. “Babe, I’m the bait whether I want to be or not, and as long as you’re glued to my hip, I don’t think he’s going to try anything. He knows bombs, and he knows you do too. If he wants to get away with murder, you can’t be here.”

  He hated to admit that she was right and it would be the best plan of action, but only if they had the perfect setup. He rubbed his temples. “It’s going to be hard to pull this off without him finding out. You don’t know if he’s flipped anyone in that office, so you’ll be running on limited resources.”

  “Greene, Rachel, Penn, and Geri are the only people who know what’s going on. Besides, Geri doesn’t want to draw from my office to handle Bosley.”

  Cove’s heart jumped to the back of his throat. “So she wants to bring in a team from another office?”

  “Not exactly.” Serenity chewed on her thumbnail. “She has another idea, but she’ll need to get the director of the FBI to sign off as well as the secretary of defense.”

  “What are you saying?” Cove stood and closed the gap. He stretched out his arms on either side of her, resting his hands on the counter. “Are you and Geri suggesting I put together a team to take him down?”

  “Pretty much,” she said. “Geri and I thought that once she got the green light and you assembled a team that she approved—and by the way, team members have to be either NYPD or active in the military—then you could come into the office and give me the bad news that you have to leave on a mission. Bosley will come into my office and offer his fatherly advice. I’ll ask him if he wants to go out for a drink. If he does, I’ll get him talking while we pick up Sarah. If he doesn’t, you make sure both he and Sarah are followed and watch what they do. We catch them in the act, then I get them talking.” She lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. “Easy peasy.”

  “Until you go boom.”

  “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  He let out a long breath. Turning, he leaned against the counter, folding his arms across his chest. “I get total control over who I work with?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “You and Geri are the ones calling the shots.”

  “Well, and you,” she said. “We both know this plan doesn’t work without your help.”

  “Alright, but there’s one more thing I’ll want to happen in order for me to agree to this.”

  “And what’s that?” she asked.

  “You need to somehow feed Bosley, and everyone else in that office, false information about the bomber. I want him to have his guard down and think you’re hot on the trail of something.”

  “That makes sense. We just need to come up with a good lead that won’t make him suspicious. He’s a pretty smart guy.”

  Her cell rang. She twisted her body. “It’s Geri.”

  “Put it on speaker.”

  Serenity nodded. “What’s up?”

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Geri said. “But we think we found out who Big Mike is.”

  “Seriously?” Serenity asked with an arched brow. “Who the fuck is he?”

  “His name is Michael Simmons, and he’s an ex-Marine who knows bombs. He was given a dishonorable discharge, and that’s when he hooked up with Hans Miguel, and we all know how that worked out,” Geri said. “Anyway, after the bank heist, he was shot five times.”

  “I knew we hit him,” Serenity said.

  “He nearly died, and since then, he’s been underground finding God. He had a come-to-Jesus moment recently, and he’s sitting in my office right now.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Serenity mumbled. “And you believe this bullshit?”

  “I think he’s playing us, trying to get to you,” Geri said.

  Cove cocked his head. His mind went to the same place Serenity’s had. “You think he’s pulling the strings when it comes to Bosley and Sarah?” Cove asked.

  “Exactly,” Geri said. “I did some digging into S
arah’s and Bosley’s financials, and Sarah is in bad shape. She’s upside down on her mortgage and has a big fat loan she took out right after her husband went up the river. Bosley is struggling too, but what flagged me is he shouldn’t be. Not based on his salary and how he lives, so then I really dived in and found out he’s made some big purchases with that LLC and owes a lot of money that he can’t pay right now. Some of these purchases were made before the heist.”

  “What does this have to do with Big Mike sitting in your office?” Cove asked.

  “Well, his new relationship with God commanded him to come forward and let us know that Bosley contacted him about another bank heist, but Big Mike isn’t in that business anymore,” Geri said.

  “Yeah, that smells like a setup,” Serenity said. “Does he think we’re that stupid?”

  “No. I told him I had to step out. I left him alone in my office. He’s planting a bug in there as we speak, and one of my people found one under the front desk already,” Geri said.

  “Why the hell are you talking to us, then?” Cove asked behind a tight jaw.

  “Relax. I’m on a secure line and in an office he couldn’t have gone anywhere near. Now, what do you think of my idea?”

  “I was on board,” he said. “Until Big Mike showed up, if he’s really Big Mike.”

  “You’ve got a point there. But I’ve got him for forty-eight hours and will be interrogating him about more than the one heist he confessed to. After that, we’ve got the arrest warrant. That brings us to Wednesday. He’ll make bail by the end of that day. So we’ve got until then to fucking nail Bosley and Sarah.”

  “All right,” Cove said. “But I’ve got a couple of stipulations.”

  Geri laughed. “The director is talking with your bosses right now. I’ll let you know what they say. In the meantime, go ahead and set up a tail on Sarah and on Bosley, but you didn’t hear that directive from me. Not officially, yet.”

  “I’m on it.” He knew the perfect guys for that job, and lucky for him, they were also forced into a medical leave and were going stir-crazy waiting to get back to work.

  “What else?” Geri asked

  Cove let out a long breath. While he trusted Geri, he didn’t trust whoever was sitting in her office. “I’ll make the plan, and you are on a need-to-know basis.”