Tori Christensen looked appalled, horrified, and actually began sputtering to find an excuse for his behavior.
Elizabeth laughed. “Relax, Tori. I’m not going to fire you for getting a kiss on the job.”
Callen took that as his cue and did the exact same thing.
“Hey, you I can fire!” she stated, after the fact. The last thing she expected was kissy-face from him in a strip club.
He knew better!
“Go for it,” he answered over his shoulder, as he side stepped the blonde stripper they’d just been interviewing.
Lulu was standing with her friends, watching as both men walked out. It was obvious to Elizabeth and Tori what the women at the bar were checking out on both men.
They both started laughing at the same time. Not because they found it funny, but because they completely understood.
* * *
Elizabeth parked the Denali in the garage, alongside the squadron of other FBI vehicles. Hopping out, she looked over at her agent. Today she looked calmer, and she was wondering if Julian Littlemoon had a lot to do with that.
“Can I speak to you privately inside, Tori, before you head out?” she asked, glancing over at Callen. “Give me ten minutes, and then I want to do a walk-through of the office to assure everyone is attending tonight’s festivities.”
“Okay, angel. I’ll be in my office. Come get me when you begin. I’ll join you,” he said, leaving the women to get the elevator. Callen was well aware of what the conversation was going to entail.
Christensen was worried about what her boss could possibly want to discuss. Maybe her performance was lacking or then it could be that kiss Julian just gave her. Well hell. If she got ripped a new one by Elizabeth, Julian was a dead man, and she’d skin his sexy hide.
“Hey Ginny, we’re back,” stated Elizabeth, as they all walked in together.
“Mrs. B, Mr. W and Agent Christensen, welcome back,” she smiled hugely. “Do you need anything?” Ginny inquired.
“We’re golden. Give me a few, and I’ll be back out. I just need to tie up a loose end before Callen and I cut out for the night.”
“I’ll be here.”
“Follow me, Tori,” she said, leading the woman into her office and closing the door. “Please have a seat,” she said, pointing at the leather couch. After Tori sat, she joined her.
“If this is about the kissing on duty, I’m sorry,” she offered before her boss could chew her a new one.
Elizabeth laughed. “No, this is about you. I wanted to ask you if you had more nightmares last night.”
“Oh.” Was it wrong that she’d rather be chewed out for the kissing than discuss Julian with her boss?
She waited, watching her agent.
“I did and Julian was sleeping in the other room.” She was sure to make a point of that, “and he rushed in and that’s how he got the split lip.”
Elizabeth had noticed the lip, but figured it wasn’t her business. Many times she wanted to belt the men in her life. “Are you okay now?”
Tori considered something, wondering if it was safe to ask Elizabeth what she was thinking about.
“You can speak your mind.”
It was like her boss had ESP. It drove the agents nuts when she just ‘knew’. “Do you buy into all the Native American mumbo jumbo?”
Elizabeth looked confused. “Specify what parts because from what I’ve learned the last two years, there’s varying degrees of mumbo jumbo to go around.”
Tori pulled the necklace out from her shirt. “Julian dropped it around my neck and I never noticed. I didn’t have the dreams afterwards. I’m new to this Native man thing,” and then she realized that made it sound like her and Julian were a couple. “Not that we’re together. I just mean…”
“I get it,” grinned Elizabeth.
Tori was grateful that she didn’t have to explain. She’d probably screw it up.
Elizabeth leaned forward and ran her fingers over the symbol. She’d seen a few like it at Timothy Blackhawk’s house. Just the thought of the man sent a crushing pain into her heart. How she missed him daily was overwhelming.
“He said it was his father’s, and then his father’s...”
Elizabeth shrugged. “Ethan and Callen’s grandfather knew I was pregnant on the first day he met me. He knew the sex of the baby, and also told Callen when I was in danger. I think that there are many things that we don’t understand about Native culture and their beliefs. I think writing them off is detrimental and arrogant on our behalf.”
Tori just stared at her.
“Where was Julian at the time?”
Now she blushed. “He was sleeping beside me.”
Taking Tori’s hand in hers, she patted it. “Do you want my official assessment on this?”
Why she cared what Elizabeth thought was a mystery to her. “Yes, I really do.”
“I think that the combination of the charm, and the fact that you had someone beside you to offer you peace and comfort was the magical elixir in this situation. Julian is a great guy, and that probably had a lot to do with it. You were feeling safe and protected and not worried about having the dream.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” she muttered. Damn it, but of course he was part of the solution! Which made this all the trickier.
Elizabeth stood and started laughing. “Take a car back to your house and go get ready for tonight. After the party, test the theory. If you sleep beside him again, and there are no dreams, then you answered your own questions.”
Tori nodded. “Thanks, Elizabeth,” she replied softly.
“Go get your festive on, and I’ll see you there.” She watched her agent go, and hoped that the dreams stopped. Elizabeth herself knew how shitty it was to have nightmares every evening when you tried to sleep. When both men were cocooning her in between them, she felt calm and peace.
Apparently, a sexy Native chased the scary shit away. Who knew?
Out in the lobby, Ginny was packing up her things for the end of her shift.
“Is everything on schedule for tonight?” inquired Elizabeth.
“We’re golden, Mrs. B. Everyone is really excited to go, and in fact we have more people attending than last year!” she answered, effervescently.
“Wow, great. I guess that’s a good thing.”
Ginny started laughing. “Well, it’s all because of you, Mr. B and Mr. W.”
Elizabeth must have looked confused.
“They are curious to see what happens when the three of you aren’t at work. There are rumors circulating about you guys, and it has the hive worked into a frenzy.”
That was priceless.
“It’s speculation, right?” asked Ethan’s administrative assistant. She leaned in desperate for a hint, clue or wink.
Now Elizabeth laughed. “Ginny, you’ll just have to watch and wonder like the rest of the hive,” she stated, walking away to find Callen.
“Yeah, I figured that’s what you were going to say.”
* * *
Tori stood in her closet and stared blankly at the choices of apparel. There was a black funeral dress, a really sexy one she bought for who knew what reason, and regular clothing. It occurred to her to panic and then wear the funeral dress, but then her hand hesitated. Julian deserved her best attempt at a date. She thought back to the necklace under her shirt, and their conversation on the way to the strip club about her being ‘difficult’ and she sighed.
“Okay, I guess we’re going with sexy.”
Stripping down, she put on incredibly lacy and sexy underthings, and slipped into the dress. As she glanced into the mirror, it almost didn’t look like her staring back. Then she noticed the dog tags, and figured they needed to go for the night. Slipping them off, Tori dropped them into her jewelry box and closed it.
The silver pendant that Julian gave her hung in the opening of the dress between her cleavage. It should have made her feel uncomfortable at the intimacy of wearing his necklace, but
it had the opposite effect.
Tori brushed her red hair and debated. She really didn’t do this girly thing well. Her mother abandoned her early, and her father, a strict military man had raised her. Running her fingers through it, she opted to go long and loose.
Tori picked up her make-up kit and tried to not make herself look like a circus clown. She went with simple, and that had to be enough. Even as Tori had envied women who could work magic with a make-up brush, she wasn’t one of them.
Staring at the end product, she sighed. At the sound of the doorbell, she became overwhelmed with a wave of nausea. Julian was here, and it was time.
Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t feel nervous, they’d already had sex on assignment, but honestly this felt different. Then there were Elizabeth’s words in her mind to test the theory again. What if he was the solution to all that haunted her?
Crap!
Julian stood on the porch freezing his ass off in his new suit. He would have preferred to drive home for his, but he knew there wasn’t any time. Taking Tori to the Christmas party became paramount for his day’s focus. When he heard her approach the door, he wasn’t expecting what he found when it opened.
Tori Christensen was stunning in work attire, but dressed up she was absolutely gorgeous. “Well holy shit,” he said, before he could stop himself.
“Is it horrible? Because I really suck at this girly dress up thing,” she asked panicking.
“Can I come in, Tori?” he inquired first. “It’s bitching cold out here.”
“Oh, sorry!” Tori stepped back and noticed the man was in a really great suit, his hair pulled back and everything looked perfect.
“You look amazing,” he said, just taking it all in. The black dress hugged her body in all its femininity. If Tori doubted herself after what the bartender in the strip club said, he should see her now. Special Agent Christensen definitely had curves. With her red hair free, it made him want to run his hands through it. When his eyes found his necklace at the junction of her breasts, his heart skipped in his chest. The simple charm made him feel proprietary and very male.
“You look very handsome, Julian,” Tori stated nervously, as she noticed him staring at her. “Are you okay?” she inquired, stepping towards him.
“No,” he answered, taking in her scent and wanting to taste her. It had been so long since he could feel her against his body, and he missed it. He moved closer, hoping she wouldn’t push him away.
Tori’s heart began to pound.
Julian placed his hand on her lower back, pulling her against his body. In her heels, they were eye to eye, and that meant lip to lip too. “I missed you, Tori,” he whispered, then closed the distance with a heated kiss. It spoke volumes of what he’d thought of her dress, her scent and the three months she hid from him.
It was heat and fire, Tori could feel herself melting the second their mouths met. Three months of putting up a fight and here he was, back again and destroying the protection she built up against him. Julian Littlemoon was trouble the day she fell into bed with him. Tori knew it then, and she was fervently aware of it now.
Julian didn’t want to break the kiss. He wanted to keep going and then drag her into her bedroom, remove the dress and make love to her the rest of the night. Yet, he knew it wouldn’t be welcomed. Tori Christensen was skittish, and he had to let her make the first move. The choice had to be hers, or this was going nowhere fast.
Slowly the kiss came to an end, and both were breathing heavy and staring into each other’s eyes.
Neither spoke for what seemed like hours.
Finally Julian found his control and voice. “Ready to go, Victoria?”
“I need my jacket and to fix my lipstick.” She lifted her fingers and wiped a smudge from his skin from the kiss. At that moment, Tori did something very un-like her. She escaped like a big chicken to fix lipstick. This time she went with one that wouldn’t smudge, because she had a feeling Julian was far from done.
Grabbing her coat, he helped her into it, saying nothing. It made her incredibly nervous. Taking her hand in his, he led her to the door. “All set?” he inquired.
“Yes, I think so,” she lied her ass off. Tori was far from ready to face all her co-workers with the very sexy man she wanted to spend hours kissing. She was sure her face conveyed the thoughts racing through her mind.
‘I want to jump Julian Littlemoon.’
This was going to be the longest, most tension filled few hours of her life.
As he led the way to his car, opening the door for her, Julian was having a hard time concentrating himself. When her coat fell away and showed long legs, he closed his eyes and said a prayer for patience. It was funny, how the idea of allowing her to make the next move had sounded like a good idea a while ago, but now… not so much.
“I can’t wait to get there,” he said, feeling his body overheating.
“Yeah me too,” she replied, softly.
“Let the holidays begin!” stated Julian, smiling.
“Jingle Bells,” muttered Tori, scared out of her mind.
* * *
Callen dressed in his room. Granted, he never used it anymore, but it was still his. He’d snuck his garment bag from the closet the three shared and escaped to the privacy down the hall. Here he could get dressed and not be distracted by an incredibly sexy woman in girly lingerie. Just the thought made his body go hard. If he had to watch her get dressed, he was going to try and climb all over her, and then they’d be really late.
Oh, and he’d be tortured all night knowing what was under her clothes.
Refocusing on the evening, he unzipped the bag and pulled out his impeccably tailored suit. Ethan was the clothing horse, always wearing suits that were ridiculously priced. Somehow he managed to talk Callen into buying one and trying out the world of stuffy apparel. He was more comfortable in jeans and a simple shirt, but for the company Christmas party as one of the directors, he needed to up his game.
Then there was the fact that he’d never been in a suit and tie for his girl, and that gave him a little thrill. Elizabeth had seen him in dress shirts and dress pants, but never the entire thing. For her wedding to Ethan, they didn’t wear tuxes, and for granddad’s funeral the old man wanted family colors and regalia. This would be her first sight of him dressed like his brother.
Callen sprayed on his cologne and began nervously preening. He prayed Ethan had been right, and the suit was going to make him look terrific and not like an idiot playing dress up. Callen was pretty sure Elizabeth was going to pull out all the stops. Every now and then she liked to catch them both off guard. When she dressed up, she was breathtaking.
He buttoned the dress shirt and tucked it into his pants. Buckling the black leather belt, he stared into his mirror. In his hand was the red silk tie that he somehow needed to figure out how to get it knotted. Well hell! Callen never thought to have Ethan teach him. He assumed they would get dressed together, and his brother would do what he always did. Ethan was notoriously known to handle the small details.
Then again, Wyler might have a clue. Silently, Callen slipped out of his room and to his dad’s temporary bedroom beside his. He knocked lightly, and at his father’s voice Callen entered. His father was carving something out of wood, and CJ was sitting on the carpet playing with brightly colored plastic rings.
“Dad, do you know how to do this?” He held up the tie.
Wyler laughed. “Yeah I do son. Come here,” he said standing. “You look really good, Callen.”
He moved towards his father and handed him the tie. “I have competition. Ethan’s going to be there tonight. He’s surprising Elizabeth.”
“I'm glad he’s returning,” he replied, looping the tie and pulling it through.
“I am too. I miss him and so does Lyzee.”
Wyler looked at his handy work. “I’m proud of you, Callen,” he said softly. “I just wanted you to know that, in case I don’t say it enough.”
It caught him off g
uard. They didn’t have the best relationship with their father growing up, and when Elizabeth came into their lives she patched them all up. “I love you, Dad,” he answered, hugging his father.
“I love you too.” Wyler watched his son leave the room. When he first discovered that he was having sex with his other son’s wife, he was worried. Would they all be able to hold it together, keep their family intact and manage to navigate through it all? Now he saw that love held them together. What all three shared was amazing, and he was proud of his boys, even if it was an unconventional union. Callen and Ethan never followed the rules growing up, why would they start now?
“CJ, daddy’s coming home tonight,” he whispered to his grandson, not wanting to risk Elizabeth hearing him. “Are you excited?”
CJ squealed with peals of laughter, as he reached for one of his granddad’s braids.
“Let’s get our work done, and then we’ll have a cookie.”
At the word, he had the boy’s complete attention.
Wyler laughed at his little man.
Life was definitely good.
* * *
Elizabeth slipped into the lacy panties and bra and stared at her semi naked body in the mirror. Running her hand over her belly, she couldn’t see the difference. Yeah, there was a little life growing in there, and she was excited, but from the outside, she looked normal.
“I love you already,” she whispered to her growing child. “There was only one more day, until she could drop the bomb on the men. Now she needed to navigate tonight, and not let Callen catch onto her deception. That was going to be a feat, since the booze was going to be flowing plenty.
Pulling on the very fitted pencil skirt, she tucked the red silk shirt in and took in the end results. The very low vee made the simple choice in clothing looked incredibly suggestive. It showed off much more cleavage than she’d ever dare, but tonight was about celebrating.
Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) Page 20
