by Liz Maverick
CHAPTER 19 The Armory was a blur of activity, with that crisp, focused vibe that said the Hudson Kings were already all over this thing. Good. Nick could focus on making sure Jane was okay. Chase was on comms, barking at Flynn. From the sound of things, the explosives expert had been dispatched to the burned-out safe house to intercept any investigation Manhattan’s fire and police departments might have launched. Shane was headed for the door, tossing his car keys, game face on. “Glad you crazy kids are safe,” he said as he passed. Nick wanted to get Jane to his room and tend to whatever she needed—hell, whatever she wanted—but there was Rothgar with his phone pressed to his ear, beckoning to him through the door of the war room. He glanced at Jane’s pale face. She produced a smile and said, “Your boss is calling.” Nick sighed and led her into the war room with him. Missy glanced up, catalogued Jane’s relative okayness, but squinted at the blood-streaked mess of Nick’s face and clothes
CHAPTER 20 Once Nick left to brief Rothgar on the details of the safe-house bombing, it didn’t take long for Jane to fall asleep on his bed. Sleeping in Nick’s various beds was apparently her thing. When she opened her eyes, Nick was staring at her from a chair on the other side of the room. She sat straight up. “Mr. Dawes.” “Considering we just survived a mail bomb together, I think you can start calling me ‘Nick.’” Jane quickly ran through the events of the day in her mind. I have been calling you that. And I probably shouldn’t. I shouldn’t be calling you “Nick” and I shouldn’t be sticking my tongue down your throat. He smiled. “Well, it’s an open offer.” He moved over to his desk and fiddled with a pen. “So, I cleared it with Rothgar that you can stay here for a while if you don’t feel safe at my place.” “I’m not staying here,” Jane said. “Why would I feel unsafe at your place?” That made him frown. “You’re a very difficult employee. If this were my office on Wall Street, I’d probab
CHAPTER 21 Jane clearly expected Nick to drop her off at her grandmother’s and leave. But he wanted intel on the woman who was unintentionally burrowing her way into his heart, and he figured a sweet old lady was a great source. And even though it became instantly clear that Jane’s grandmother was not the definition of a “sweet old lady,” Nick found himself curious enough to stay. “Nana” was astoundingly well preserved for being in her eighties, and she obviously took very good care of herself, except for the blatant evidence of a cigarette habit lying around the small apartment. Nick was all set to take over the handyman duties, but Jane’s nana insisted that he sit with her while Jane completed the tasks. This did not bode well. And when Jane went off to the bathroom to take care of that curtain, Nana didn’t miss a beat, leveling narrowed eyes on him as she sat back in her kitchen chair. “Sit down, Mr. Dawes,” she said in a no-nonsense clip. “I’ll be honest with you. I’m not sure why
CHAPTER 22 Sitting in a mission meeting in the Armory war room had never felt so good. Nick felt almost normal. Rothgar was talking: “This is an umbrella mission taking place inside a party being hosted by the Russian consulate. They’re wining and dining the financial sector this time. And it’s a perfect opportunity to get some intel that will support our ongoing efforts with the sleeper agents.” And maybe more, Nick thought, sitting up straight. “We’re targeting three people. Well, specifically their cell phones. Not the top three diplomats, but their right-hand personnel. The gist of the plan is to collect the cell phones, siphon the data off, and return them without being made. I’ll aim to get a couple weapons stashed inside the building through catering or the orchestra or whatever, but the goal is not to need them. I want it to be seamless, invisible; I want those assistants to use their pass codes on their phones and not have an inkling of doubt about whether or not they’d ever b
CHAPTER 23 Jane was just out of the shower, staring at a small red dot on her face that was threatening to move into pimple territory, when the phone rang. The boss. Jane picked it up. “Hello, Mr. Dawes, sir.” He laughed; Jane smiled into the phone. “I thought maybe this time I should give you a little extra warning that I’m coming.” “That’s very thoughtful of you, sir.” “I’m in the kitchen,” he said. “What? But I’m not dressed. I’m naked and wet,” she blurted. There was a pause, then an amused curse word. And then: “I’ll be in the living room when you’re . . . ready.” He hung up. Jane stared at the wet rat hair and her unmade-up face and rolled her eyes. Then she got on with it, hiking her towel a little higher and a little tighter, and went into the bedroom, where she pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt. When she came out, making a pit stop to squeeze water out of her hair into the sink, Nick was standing in the living room looking not the least bit relaxed, staring out the window wit
CHAPTER 24 About five minutes after Nick had asked her to be his party date in the least romantic way possible, so that there was no mistake that this was completely nonpersonal, Jane received a call from Missy at the Armory, saying Jane needed a briefing and a fitting. Vetting and briefing and fitting. That was Nick’s very interesting world. Missy also mentioned that Jane was supposed to “look like herself,” so did she have any formal clothes in her closet that she wanted to wear? “Hell, yeah,” was Jane’s reply, thinking about that gorgeous Vera Wang from Ally’s sample pile. Missy seemed surprised by the answer, but then quickly suggested that she come to Ally and Cecily’s apartment to vet the outfit (yes, there was that word again) and do the briefing rather than having Jane return to the Armory. Apparently, Rothgar was serious about trying to keep civilians out. Jane wasn’t particularly disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see the Hudson Kings Batcave again, but it was more than a
CHAPTER 25 Jane got her “mission briefing” sitting between Nick and Rothgar in the back of a town car. Rothgar’s primary advice boiled down to “Just have fun,” which he said in a completely serious voice and an expression absolutely focused on business. “Fun with Nick and Jane,” Jane quipped. Rothgar paused, letting on for only a fraction of a second that he might be surprised that Jane wasn’t quaking in her boots about the mission or about talking to him about the mission, and then continued as if she’d never spoken. “You might see something you don’t like or don’t understand. Whatever you do, don’t let it show. Ignore anything Nick or Romeo and his date do that seems out of the ordinary. Don’t stare at their hands. Do whatever you’d do at a normal party, and if you’re going to stare at Nick, look into his eyes and smile like a girlfriend.” Thank god it was dark enough in the car that Jane doubted Nick could see the high color on her cheeks. Rothgar then showed Nick three different pa
CHAPTER 26 Jane followed Beehive’s path to the ladies’ room. It was empty save for the young assistant and her pal, and there was a good reason why: the girl was retching into the toilet, with single-minded dedication to the job. “Oh, dear!” Jane exclaimed. The friend looked up, with an expression that said, “I didn’t sign up for this.” “I think there’s barf on your lovely bag,” Jane said to Beehive. “Here, pass it over. I’ll go scrub it, you poor thing.” The friend managed a grim smile and kicked the bag to Jane as Beehive doubled over again. Jane went to the sink with the bag and turned on the water and then looked inside. One lipstick, one key, one twenty-dollar bill . . . and one cell phone. “This is a mess. You need club soda for the satin, or it’s a goner.” Jane turned off the water and walked calmly out of the bathroom, weaving back through the crowd toward the Hudson Kings. She could see Nick tugging at his collar. Romeo and Law were talking to each other, Law’s hand around Rom
CHAPTER 27 With Romeo and Law gone and the mission in the “Done” column, every bit of Nick’s attention focused on Jane. Nick took Jane’s arm and headed for the nearby alcove. If he looked and sounded a little bit like he was in shock, it was probably because he was. “You just stole that for me. You crossed a line from bystander to player, and you don’t even know what it is. Whether it’s good or bad. Don’t you have a problem with that?” “No, I don’t have a problem with that,” Jane said. “You organized the entire mission or whatever you call it to do
it, so how bad can it be?” “Sometimes it’s not that good, Jane,” Nick said furiously. “Well, I didn’t know that.” She lowered her voice. “Maybe keep your voice down.” “Then why did you do it?” “I can’t believe I’m getting a lecture in morality from a mercenary,” she hissed. “That’s not what this is. I just want to know why you did it,” Nick said. “Did you do it for shits and giggles? Did you do it—” “I did it because I believe in you. You ne
CHAPTER 28 Suit coat on the bedroom floor. Dress hiked to the waist. Oh, yeah, thought Jane, up against the wall with her legs wrapped around Nick and his hands in her hair. Nick wasted little time once he’d turned off the video cam and slammed the bedroom door behind them, in case Rochester got curious. The first touch of Nick’s mouth to her lips was such a fantastic shock Jane’s body jerked forward. He steadied her in his arms, pressing her back once more. He paused then, his body heaving, and pulled back just slightly, like he was taking her measure. Jane searched his face. She couldn’t find anything there that suggested he wanted to stop—she knew she sure as hell didn’t want to stop—grabbed him by the tie, and pulled him back to her. “Mr. Dawes, sir?” she asked in a throaty voice. Good call. Any hesitation on his part vanished into a cocky grin. His mouth was beyond greedy. He licked the side of her neck in one long stroke, long enough for her to gasp in a breath before his tongue
CHAPTER 29 A waving gun was not the curved butt Nick was hoping to wake up to after a hot night with Jane. In fact, he wasn’t exactly awake when the wake-up call came, and he wasn’t expecting it to be four in the morning. But there was an unwelcome and familiar face, and an arm wielding a fucking hatchet, in his bedroom, not two feet from his woman. Nick weighed the likelihood of disarming Tristan without, oh, disarming himself. And then he weighed the possibility that Jane would wake up and get caught in the situation. And then Tristan pulled out a gun, and it was no consolation that he looked less comfortable waving a gun around than a hatchet. Goddamn computer hackers. They were tricky when it came to field duty. Tristan winced at the sight of a naked Nick smeared with what he might or might not have realized was a paste involving chocolate, champagne, and, well, sex, but he was apparently not inclined to allow Nick the courtesy of a shower. Nick looked over his shoulder at Jane sno
CHAPTER 30 Nick wasn’t sure where he was when the car stopped. Tristan dragged him out of the vehicle and down some stairs into what felt like the garden level of a larger building. It was tough to say because he had a laundry bag over his head. But judging from the look of the sidewalk and the city sounds and the flight of below-level stairs, it was his best call. Tristan pushed Nick over a threshold and walked him into a room that stank of cigar smoke. The hacker then whipped the bag off with a comical flourish, and Nick stared into the eyes of Sokolov smoking at his desk in a pleasant, rather smallish dark-wood-furnished office. The fingers on his left hand sifted through a cloisonné bowl full of sunflower seeds. Ta-da, Nick thought grimly. He blinked against the glare coming through a set of French doors leading to a small green area. Got the garden-apartment part right, anyway. “What is this?” Sokolov asked Tristan, looking at Nick like it made him want to throw up. Nick kind of w
CHAPTER 31 Jane thought the end to her last relationship was a mess. Turns out, it was nothing compared to being abandoned the morning after food sex. She sat up in bed. “Hey, Nick,” she yelled at the bathroom door, giggling at the grime mashed into every inch of her skin. They never showed this part in movies. That said, laughing over it in the shower with Nick’s body (well, and his brain, of course, but his body was still very much on her mind . . .) sounded like an excellent way to finish off the weekend and take the pulse of the morning after. Jane shoved the covers to the foot of the bed and headed to the bathroom, realizing she didn’t hear water. In fact, she didn’t hear anything. Um . . . In fact, Nick Dawes wasn’t home. Jane cased the apartment and then came back to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. He’d seriously left her encrusted in chocolate and reeking of old sex and warm champagne without a note (she checked) or a word (since he wasn’t here) or a text (she
CHAPTER 32 Nick woke up in Lower Manhattan against a trash can on the corner of Hudson and King streets, which was clearly what Sokolov considered the next best thing to sticking a shiv in Nick’s gut. It was a clever message to accompany his parting words: “Tell Rothgar you’re quitting to come to me, get your things, and leave. I only wish I could come with you for this.” He felt cold and alone, and it didn’t help that from the place where he was slumped on the ground, when he looked up at the sky, the lights in the skyscrapers reminded him of stars. I want to be at home with Jane. Blood dripped down the corner of his mouth where Sokolov had taken a molar; his hands were sticky with it. Shaking a little as he got out his cell phone, he punched the autodial for Roth. “SOS, Roth,” he said softly. “I’m a little rough. Need a pickup.” So much for “dignity.” I do not think that word means what you think it means, Sokolov. Rothgar told him Shane was on the streets already and would detour. S
CHAPTER 33 Nick stared at his phone for a moment, steeling himself for making one of the worst calls of his life. He dialed Jane’s number and tried not to imagine the look on her face as she debated answering his call. When she answered, he knew immediately what he was dealing with. “How can I assist you today, sir?” she asked with a definite edge in her voice. “Jane,” Nick said. And for a second the words wouldn’t come out. All he could think was, Jane, I am so in love with you. Please don’t let this phone call be the thing that sticks in your mind. Remember how it’s been between us from day one; read between the lines and do what I need you to do to get through this. “I think it’s best that you stay with Ally and Cecily from here on out” was what he actually said. “You’re asking me to pack up and leave your apartment?” she asked coolly. “Yes,” Nick said. There was a long silence on the other end before Jane spoke. “I’m going to be blunt and say that it was complete bullshit that you
CHAPTER 34 Nick stared at the olive on a toothpick in his martini and then slid it off with his teeth. He savored the salty tang and then said in a cold clip, “Turns out I didn’t need to worry about Jane’s feelings quite as much as I thought I did. I thought we had something beyond ordinary; she did not. I guess Rothgar made the right call, because I would have been upping the risk for a relationship that doesn’t have legs.” Flynn pursed his lips. “Missy said you were going emo. She’s right. You’re going emo.” “Well, this is not okay. I don’t feel like myself. I feel off if I don’t talk to her before turning in, but she didn’t seem to bat an eyelash before giving me walking papers,” Nick said. “I dunno, Flynn. I don’t trust my instincts anymore. I really thought . . . I don’t know what I thought. I just know she’s not like any other woman I’ve ever met. She’s . . .” He jabbed the toothpick into his cocktail napkin until the end splintered, and then he tossed it aside. “She’s not like a
CHAPTER 35 “You find anything?” Jane asked. Ally didn’t even look up from the real estate app she was staring at on her phone when she muttered, “How do people afford to actually live in this city?” Jane sighed. Not a good sign. Things were cramped here at Ally’s place. Apparently, when Cecily had said she was moving in with Shane sooner rather than later, she’d meant, like, now. Suddenly, there was Shane at breakfast, there was Shane when Jane went to get the mail, there was Shane needing exercise when Jane went for a power walk, and there was Shane squeezed onto the couch with them watching duchesses mince in and out of drawing rooms on TV. Jane had never realized Shane was such a group activity sort of guy, nor had she previously witnessed the level of devotion he gave to Cecily. He must love her a lot. Which wasn’t all that fun to be around, given how fresh the Nick disaster still was. It was just that Shane was Cecily’s, and they were adorably in love, and the last thing that Jane
CHAPTER 36 Chase apparently had been harboring some resentment toward Nick the entire time Rothgar was talking. When the team took a break from mission planning, Ch
ase instantly whirled around in his chair and glared right at him. “I saw you looking at me with that sad-dog expression during breakfast, and I’m just going to preempt you right here: I’m not calling Jane again on some trumped-up BS. Shane’s on it; I’ll bet you he only leaves her side to take a piss. You know she’s fine. Screw her if she can’t see a good thing when it’s staring her right in the face. I mean, seriously, what the hell else is she looking for? You’re the complete package. I mean, you’re me, except with a massive amount of money! How is that not appealing? Who doesn’t want that? I have no more energy to waste on that shit. That was a one-time deal, you got that?” Nick couldn’t help but smile at Chase’s rant. The guy was a man of big expression, and when he was happy, he was big happy. When he was pissed, he was
CHAPTER 37 “Jane,” Nick whispered. “Don’t answer. Don’t look through the peephole. They’ll see the change in the light. Pick up your bag and walk to my office. There’s a door to the panic room there. Be as quiet as you can in those shoes.” Nick wanted to monitor the video just to watch Jane enter the panic room. He wanted to see for himself that she was safe, but Geo’s grip on his arm was persuasive. “Let’s go,” he told the hit man. Rothgar tossed Geo a couple of earpieces, which he caught neatly as he passed through the door, and Nick vaguely heard him say that he’d have the entire team on call. He followed Geo to the garage, still talking to Jane. “I’m coming straight there. I’m coming to get you. You go into the panic room and you lock up and you stay silent. Turn off your ringer.” “Nick, how bad is this?” she whispered. He kept her on the phone, kept talking to her in a soft murmur, gave her the combination, listened to her enter a room he’d never had to use once in all his time in
