“What?” Chloe exited the bathroom to flounce across her bed and pull the sheets up over her bare legs. It was still early spring so she reached for an extra blanket and settled against the stack of pillows.
Jenna perched on the edge of the mattress. “You sound like you’re sixteen again. It doesn’t matter that you saw him first. Liam is a bit of a sensation with all of them—every female with raging hormones. They’ll eat you alive for a stolen moment or a wrestling match with Liam on the mats.”
“But it’s against the rules to fraternize with any other agent.”
“If they didn’t make it a rule half of each NAT class would be thrown out and sent packing. It’s the ethical thing stay away from each other. To build trust and not let personal relationships cloud our judgment.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, Miss Chloe Romano. I say this as your lifelong friend. I want us to study our butts off and graduate with high marks.”
“Me, too, Jenna. I won’t do anything to jeopardize your dream.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” Then Jenna let out a happy sigh. “It’s thrilling to be here. There’s exhilaration in the air, in the hallways. Is it stupid to admit I even love our uniforms?”
Chloe laughed. “I do too, actually. Makes it easy to pick out our outfit every morning. Never thought I’d get excited over a closet full of khaki and polo shirts. We’d better get some sleep. If I can sleep at all with thoughts of Liam Esposito running through my head.”
Jenna threw a pillow at Chloe’s head. “You’re hopeless!”
“Just trying to drive you crazy as usual,” Chloe admitted. “Rooming with you feels like a slumber party. Except we can’t eat junk food or stay up late. Speaking of that, I’m going to text my parents and let them know we’re here.”
“Glad you reminded me to call my mom. She always wants to know every detail of my life.”
While Jenna curled up on her own bed and whipped out her cell phone to call home, Chloe rolled over and texted her mother, picturing Diana Romano at the governor’s mansion perusing paperwork for her upcoming charity fundraiser in her elegant silk robes in the master suite.
When she was young and single, her mother had done some magazine modeling and Chloe had been fortunate to inherit her tall and slender figure. But her mother could make her crazy with the demanding events she always managed to finagle Chloe into helping with—despite her own full-time job as a computer analyst.
Since she had copied them both into the text, messages came back from both of her parents.
Thank you for the note, darling, her mother had written. Don’t stress, you’re going to be a fantastic FBI Agent.
Her father wrote: I’m so proud of you, Sweet Pea. Knock ‘em dead. Stay focused and you can do anything. Just let us know you’re alive once in a while. I know the next five months will be grueling. Goodnight.
“Goodnight, Daddy,” Chloe whispered as she snapped off the bedside lamp.
When she bunched the pillow under her neck, the comments from the other female rookies after the auditorium meeting ran through her head with a dose of envy that Chloe tried to banish.
Despite the connection between her and Liam—her mother would say she was smitten—nobody could know her feelings, except for Jenna. She vowed not to be like the other women swooning in the hall tonight. She had to hide it. From them and Liam both.
But was Liam going to play the attraction? Ignore it? Treat her differently? Or make her life harder to cover up his own feelings?
He had been pretty nonchalant as he’d waved goodbye while striding down the corridor. Perhaps he felt nothing at all, and all the meaningful looks and gazes were all in her head. Maybe Liam Esposito was a flirt with every woman who crossed his path.
If so, she was a bigger fool than she wanted to admit.
She had to stop thinking about him and ignore the jumpy feeling in her stomach when she saw him—and get a good night’s sleep so she could kick Marla’s and Lindsey’s butts in the physical test tomorrow morning.
Chapter 6
Chloe was up and running by six the next morning in blue leggings and a red tank top. The morning was still chilly, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was going to hit eighty degrees by noon.
Quantico training headquarters sat on a Marine Corp base of 547 acres, nestled in a secluded area with beautiful trees and flowering foliage.
There were at least a dozen gorgeous trails for the NATs to use and Chloe figured she could take a different route every day of the week.
In fifteen minutes, she was sweating, her ponytail swinging against her shoulders as she pounded the trail.
At least ten other NATs were running as well, stretched out along the dirt trail. Jenna ran on Chloe’s left side, breathing easily, and not yet breaking a sweat.
“You know what I’ve been wondering?” Chloe asked.
“Stop thinking so much, woman.”
Chloe made a scoffing noise in her throat. “If Agent Esposito works here at Quantico, what was he doing in Charleston this past week? Think it was FBI business? A case he’s working?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he had some vacation time to burn up before the new class of NATs arrived.”
“True. But he didn’t mention visiting Fort Sumter or surfing at Myrtle Beach. Oh, gosh, what if he has a girlfriend down south?”
Jenna’s laughter rang out. “I almost hope he does because you are not going to graduate if you keep acting like this.”
“Okay, I’ll stop talking about him. I promise. Girl Scout’s Honor.”
“Talking about who?” a deep male voice spoke, coming up on Chloe’s right side.
Startled, she choked out a gasp when her toe hit a large root sticking up out of the earth. Next thing she knew, she was falling flat on her face, hitting the ground hard.
Rolling over quickly, Chloe jumped back up, but her cheeks burned with embarrassment.
“You hurt?” Liam asked, touching her shoulder.
“Nope,” Chloe said, shaking off the stinging sensation of her scraped knees. “Just trying to amaze my superiors on my first day.”
“You have an interesting method.”
“See, I can fall, jump back up, and keep running without missing a single beat or getting run over by the rest of the pack.”
“I’ll give you that, Agent Romano. But when you get back to the dorms, be sure you clean the wounds and use antiseptic on any gashes.”
“Yep,” Chloe said with a heaving breath, tears of pain biting at her eyes.
Liam glanced down at Chloe’s torn-up leggings, empathy flickering in his eyes. “Gotta run, ladies. Literally. Have a meeting with the teaching team before testing begins this morning.”
With that, Agent Esposito sprinted around a copse of trees, leaving the NATs in the dust.
“Ouch,” Chloe moaned a moment later. “That really hurt.”
“Huh?” Jenna said, confusion crossing her face. “Oh, you mean your scraped-up knees. You didn’t have to hide it or fib about it.”
“Of course, I did. I can’t be ‘wounded’ on the first day. You ready to head back because I think I’m seriously bleeding now.”
“Oh, Chloe,” Jenna said. “I’m sorry.”
Two hours later—after a shower, antiseptic and three Band-Aids across her two shins, and eggs and bacon—the rookie trainees were on the field ready for testing.
“Reminds me of field day races in Junior High,” Jenna mused.
Chloe was in a pair of shorts now, and her bandages were blaring white across both shins. It was only the second day and she was already a mess
Anticipation rose in her stomach at the upcoming physical tests. She’d been practicing for months and was determined to kill it on her scores.
“For a girl who ran track in high school and won state champion in the 800 meters,” Chloe chided herself. “I couldn’t even stay upright when Liam came br
eathing down my neck on the trail. I never expected him to be running with the NATs.”
Jenna’s laughter bubbled up before speaking in surreptitious tones. “I’m telling you, Agent Romano . . . you gotta wash that man right out of your hair.”
“Ha. You have Frank so Liam has no power over you.” Chloe retorted when they headed to their first assigned station.
Agents Wells and Fedorko, including Agent Esposito, were holding clipboards and stop watches and organizing the various stations while the NATs warmed up with deep stretches.
While they made the rounds of tests, Chloe and Jenna cheered each other on as did all the other NATs who had paired up or formed small groups.
“Ten seconds left,” Jenna said, holding Chloe’s feet and watching the timer on her cell phone which was lying on the grass. “Go, go, go!”
Chloe gritted her teeth and made a final burst of sit-ups on the cool, prickly grass.
“Time!” Agent Esposito called to the paired up NATs. “At ease,” he added, suppressing a smile as if he was trying to remain stern and sober.
Chloe collapsed backward, staring at the blue sky while she gasped for air, chest heaving. “How many did I do?”
“Forty-one,” Jenna replied.
“You get three points,” Agent Esposito said, marking his clipboard. “No more than five-minutes between events, so get in position on the track for the 300-meter sprint.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Chloe said, giving him a mocking salute.
“Trouble,” Liam muttered, looking at her from under the tousled bangs falling over his eyes. “That’s what you are, Miss Romano, trouble.”
“That’ll be Agent to you, sir.”
“When you earn it, Romano.” He spoke sternly, but his lips twitched as if he found her amusing. “And just so you know, Romano, I’m Special Agent Esposito.”
“How could I forget? But aren’t all agents ‘special’ ones these days?”
He took a step closer. “Maybe I’ll just call you ‘Special’ for short.”
Chloe tossed her ponytail and batted her lashes. “Suits me just fine, Special Agent Sir.”
His smile curved all over his gorgeous face, and Chloe tried not to swoon—but maybe her heart was just pounding after the sit-up sprint. “Glad we’ve come to an understanding.”
A moment later, Agent Wells narrowed her eyes when she spotted the two of them bantering together. “Five minutes is up! Get your derrières over here and start running, or I’ll fail every last one of you.”
Chloe and Jenna quickly jogged to the track and the whistle blew almost immediately. Despite taking off from a dead standing position, Chloe quickly picked up speed, tearing down the track to the finish line. Her college track coach had made them do these sprints every single day, so it didn’t bother her too much, and she came in under a minute.
“Barely,” Liam said, writing down her time and points on her score sheet. “Still you earned two more points. You used to run in college?”
She nodded, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. “High school and college. Long-distance is my specialty though.”
“You have good form. Two minutes until you need to be in the push-up area.”
“Thanks.” Chloe was heating up, sweat dribbling down her brow as she made her way over to the push-up testing. “How’d you do, Jenna? Seemed like you were right on my tail.”
“Came in two seconds after you did. Got one point. But wow, you got the compliment of the day. Good form,” she said, repeating Agent Esposito’s words. “And yeah, I’ll bet he was checking out your form,” she added.
Chloe waved a hand in the air as they took their places. “I’m a nobody rookie. He’s not interested, other than to give me a hard time. He may be married for all we know.”
“He’s not wearing a ring,” Jenna mused under her breath. “My mother used to say that boys who tease a girl likes her deep down.”
“Maybe in elementary school, but not real adult life.”
After the round of push-ups, they headed to the 1.5 mile run and Chloe tried to slow her racing heart, but five minutes wasn’t nearly long enough to recover from three rounds of physical exertion.
When the starting gun went off Chloe jumped, not quite ready. But adrenaline was still rushing and she forced herself to focus to get into her normal long-distance stride for the 1.5 mile run. The track at Quantico was a quarter of a mile long which meant six laps.
Kicking her running brain into gear, Chloe settled into a jog, knowing that she’d save her best speed for the final lap.
When she crossed the finish line, sweat was streaming down her face and inside her shirt.
Agent Fedorko called out, “Just under twelve minutes, Romano.”
“Definitely not my best time,” Chloe muttered when Jenna slowed and jogged over. “I only got four points. I shouldn’t have run this morning. Used up too much energy. My stupid fall might have something to do with it, too.”
Jenna shook her head, breathing hard and wiping at her face with the hem of her shirt. “Probably more likely due to the fact that we already did a speed round of sit-ups, push-ups, and the 300-meter sprint.”
“And now we have to finish up with pull-ups—the absolute worst.”
Chloe spent the next five minutes—that felt like two—shaking out her arms and getting her brain in gear.
Pull-ups always hurt her palms too. She needed to toughen up her hands and fingers. When they completed the one-minute round, she had only done two decently formed pull-ups, and her body was shaking when she let go of the bar and landed on the balls of her feet.
Total score for the day was only thirteen. She’d passed, but was under where she had wanted to be.
“Next time, I’m going to kill it—even if it kills me,” she said, flopping backward on the cool grass, chest heaving.
Agent Esposito’s face loomed over hers, shadowing Chloe from the bright sun. “You passed, Romano, you should be happy. Don’t have to do it again until the end of your training.”
“Just watch. I’m going to get a score of twenty. You can count on it.”
“Twenty is ambitious,” Liam said, lifting his eyebrows. “None of the NATs got the scores they wanted today, but that’s normal. Most people who test themselves ahead of time will end up scoring about 25 percent lower on the day of the actual test. Blame it on nerves. New place, new people, and you probably didn’t sleep as well your first night after traveling all day yesterday. It all affects you. There’s a lot more pressure to perform.”
Chloe grabbed her water bottle and a shirt to pull over her tank top where she was glistening with perspiration as well as feeling self-conscious in front of Liam. “So, what’s your score Special Agent, Sir?”
“My last score was an eighteen.”
“I’m gonna beat you at twenty,” she threw back at him.
“You’re a sassy thing, aren’t you, Romano?” Liam said in a low voice, suddenly closer than Chloe had realized.
She gripped her water bottle, lifting her chin to gaze right back at him. “Want to make a bet? In four months, we’ll have a match, and see who comes out ahead.”
“Loser buys the winner dinner?” he suggested, smiling broadly.
“I thought NATs couldn’t fraternize with their Special Agent trainers.”
“Once you graduate, the rules might change. Besides, dinner isn’t exactly fraternizing. It’s two people fulfilling a challenge. Two people who will be really hungry after the challenge.”
“Am I going to have to report you?” Chloe asked softly, her voice becoming a hoarse whisper. He was so close she was getting dizzy. His aftershave was intoxicating—while she probably smelled like a locker room.
“Nothing to report, Rookie Romano. Now go get showered. See you in class in one hour. We take off points if you’re late.”
Chloe was outraged. “You wouldn’t dare. I worked my butt off to get a thirteen.”
“I’m kidding, Chloe,” Liam said, smilin
g at her.
They stood there for a moment without speaking, activity and conversations all around them, but it felt like it was just the two of them alone on the field.
He’d called her Chloe. Her name had spilled out of his lips so easily. And in that amazing voice of his that was like music to her ears.
Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. Good grief, she was such a sap.
Her mind and heart battled out a hundred warring thoughts and emotions. She had to forget about Liam Esposito. He was so out of her league. She’d make herself crazy if she didn’t stop this flirty bantering right now.
Shuffling his clipboards, Liam finally broke the spell. He lifted a hand to the other NATs who were leaving the fields to head back to the main building and their dorm rooms. “Good job today,” he called out. “See you in the classroom.”
Chloe let out a breath and stepped back too. Rubbing her shirt along her damp forehead, she said, “Later, Special Agent Sir.”
Chapter 7
Classroom time was intense and fascinating, but also the hardest thing Chloe had ever done, despite her own Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering.
At least 60 percent of their time was spent with various agents who taught them about the three hundred laws they needed to learn, interview techniques, informant development, report writing, terrorism, operation procedures, Constitutional Law—and that was only the tip of the iceberg.
“My head feels like it’s about to explode,” Chloe said when she was studying later that night.
Jenna glanced up from her desk. “Such good stuff, I’m loving it.”
“I just need a computer in my brain to compartmentalize everything.”
“Agent Wells says the first couple of weeks are the most overwhelming. We’ll get into a groove.”
The next morning, when they arrived in class, each desk was covered with pieces of a gun. They had been broken down although not completely, Chloe noted.
“As you’ll note,” Agent Esposito said. “Your task this morning is to assemble your field-stripped weapons.”
“Weapons? There’s more than one?” Lindsey asked behind Chloe.
The FBI Bride: An Undercover Bridesmaid Romance Page 4
