by Carsen Taite
After a few moments, Syd drew her hand back. “So, no family, no house with a picket fence. None of that fit into my life before, and now…Well, let’s just say I’ve come to realize my limitations. You?”
“Me?” Tanner suddenly felt uncomfortable having the attention refocused on her. “No, nothing like that. This life isn’t really conducive to having someone to share it with. No one outside really understands the demands, and if they’re on the job, then—”
“The demands are all you talk about, right?”
“Right.” Tanner studied Syd for a moment before blurting out, “Is it bad for me to say I’m surprised you get that?”
“Hardly. You don’t have any reason to expect anything from me after how I acted when you told me you were serious about joining the FBI.”
“It wasn’t just you. I went behind your back. You had every reason not to trust that I’d be there for the long haul.”
“We both know it wasn’t that simple.” Syd reached her hand back and twisted their fingers together. “I’m glad we did this,” she waved her free hand between them, “clearing the air. Maybe we can be friends again.”
Friends. Tanner rolled the word around in her mind. She had plenty of friends, but it never hurt to have another, especially not one that she’d known for years and who knew her better than most. If she and Syd were going to work together, this detente would be best for both of them. She squeezed Syd’s hand in hers, doing her best to ignore the heat that coursed between them. “Friends for sure.”
* * *
Syd strode through the lobby of the Adolphus, pausing briefly before the bar. It was late and she should go to her room and call it a day, but dinner with Tanner had stirred up feelings long laid to rest. If she was going to get any sleep at all, she’d need a nightcap.
The bar was sparsely populated, mostly solo businessmen nursing their martinis and whiskey neats. She scouted out a corner table far enough away from the bar to keep from having to engage in conversation and ordered a Baileys from the bored cocktail waitress. As she savored the first sip, she remembered how Tanner used to tease her about her penchant for sweet liquors.
“I don’t see how you can drink that sweet stuff.”
“It’s not like I’m eating a box of donuts. Be glad you don’t have a sweet tooth.”
Tanner pulled her close and dropped kisses along her neck. “Oh, but I do.”
“Baileys?”
Syd looked up into the curious eyes of the waitress, and then reached for her drink and handed over a more than generous tip to account for her zoning out. These little memory nuggets were interfering with her ability to focus, but she supposed she should’ve seen them coming. Their relationship had ended with too many frayed edges, and working with Tanner now was pulling at all of the little strings that had been hanging loose for so long. Maybe this reconnection was a good thing. If she and Tanner could actually become friends, she’d finally have some closure, and she could move on with her life.
The realization hit home. She’d never allowed herself to consider the possibility that the reason none of her other relationships had panned out was because the one relationship she’d always considered the big one had blown up in her face, and when it did she’d erected walls to keep anyone else from having that kind of power. How long was she going to let the fears of her past keep her from happiness? Making friends with her ex was exactly the closure she needed to tuck her ideas of what could have been neatly away and move on. All this time she’d been stagnant, and maybe it was as simple as letting go.
But if letting go of the past was the answer, then why couldn’t she stop thinking about Tanner in the here and now?
Chapter Seven
Tanner walked up the steps to Peyton’s house and raised her hand to knock on the door, but it swung open before her knuckles connected with the wood. “Hey, I know I’m early, but…” Her words trailed off at the sight of Syd standing in the doorway, looking amazing in a midnight blue cocktail dress. Tanner glanced down at her plain black suit and pale green shirt and felt decidedly underdressed.
“But I’m earlier,” Syd finished her sentence. She swept her hand toward the inside of the house. “Come on in. The gang’s all here.”
Tanner walked through, lightly brushing Syd’s arm. She cursed inwardly at the more than friendly way the contact shuddered through her, and she hid her reaction by talking over it. “You seem a little more excited about this plan than you did the other day.”
“I’ve had time to warm up to the idea,” Syd said. “Besides, it’s a holiday tour of homes. I’m imagining bright lights, the smell of fresh cut pine trees, and mulled spices. It might be glorious.”
Tanner smiled. She’d forgotten Syd’s love of all things holiday. Even their bare-bones apartment in law school had always been decorated for the season. “I’m doubting we’ll find any hand-strung strings of popcorn and cranberries decorating the trees at these houses. This neighborhood goes all out for the holiday, and there are businesses whose sole purpose is making these houses look like something out of a Dickens novel.” She watched as Syd’s expression turned dreamy.
“Do you remember that time we took the Jeep out in the woods to cut down our tree and got trapped in a mud hole?”
Tanner felt a surge of warmth at the memory of the two of them huddled together in the car, way off the beaten path for AAA but content to take their time sipping hot chocolate while they figured out a plan to get out of the mess. “I do. Thank goodness you insisted on packing all that food. That was the last time I ever pitched a fit over your intense preparations.”
She started to say more, but the words “last time” rang in her head, calling her attention to memories. There were so many last times where Syd was concerned. She’d put them all behind her, certain the very last time had been the final one. Maybe this newfound friendship meant they would have a second chance to be in each other’s lives, even if they’d never be lovers again.
Why couldn’t they be? The idea slammed her in the chest and she fought for breath. Where had that come from? She hadn’t even considered the idea, but now that it was facing her square on, she took a minute to roll it around in her head before rejecting it outright. Nothing had changed. They’d both made choices that had sent their lives in completely different directions. Syd might have eventually come around to realizing there was more value to public service than racking up big wages in the private sector, but she sure hadn’t made the choice for the sake of their relationship. In fact, it was desperation, not desire, that resulted in her crossing over to her job with the government. Sentimentality aside, nothing had changed between them. Syd made decisions based on self-preservation, and Tanner wasn’t a necessary part of her survival, then or now.
“I miss those times,” Syd whispered, barely loud enough for Tanner to hear. Every part of her wanted to respond in kind, but her own instincts for self-preservation held her back. It was like those trust exercises where you fall back into the arms of your coworkers, trusting them to catch you. There was a time in her life when Tanner would not have hesitated to fall back into Syd’s arms, confident in the knowledge she’d always be there, strong and sure enough to break the fall. But that was then. Now they had a job to do and that was all. “We should get started.” She didn’t wait for an answer and started walking toward the kitchen, trying not to care that Syd’s smile had faded at the sound of her words.
* * *
Syd took the seat farthest from Tanner at the table. The push and pull between them was getting to be a bit much, and she needed some distance to regroup before they had to spend the evening together on the job. From the moment Tanner had walked through the door, looking incredibly handsome in her well-tailored, sharp suit, Syd had lost her focus. It wasn’t her imagination—she was certain there had been a flicker of affection from Tanner while they reminisced over Christmases past. She’d started to tell Tanner she still had the ornaments from their very first tree, packed away in a box she�
��d never managed to open but had not been able to discard either. But the sudden distance between them was palpable, and she didn’t need to put herself right back in the position of being rejected again when it was clear Tanner wanted nothing more than a surface level relationship under the guise of being friends.
That was fine. She could be professional. In fact, it was easier this way, not having to navigate the minefield of personal involvements. She’d work this case and head back to DC. Maybe when she got back home, she’d work on that vow she’d made years ago to settle down, trust in someone else to be the one. In the meantime, she needed to put her sole focus on this job, so she tuned in to Peyton asking Tanner a question.
“And you can’t figure out who the agent is?”
“I’m telling you, there’s something completely off. I looked at the handwriting and it’s not familiar. We have a big office, though, and without checking in with everyone who works there, it’s impossible to know for sure.”
“But you have a theory,” Bianca chimed in.
“I do, but it’s a little crazy,” Tanner said.
“Spill.”
Tanner looked around the table, and Syd noticed her quickly glance away when their eyes met. “What if Gellar wrote the 302s himself to support his own conclusions?”
“That is crazy,” Syd snapped. “You’re saying you think a sitting US attorney would violate a federal law to get a conviction?”
“I’m not saying anything for certain. I just posed the question. And it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Syd started to say you would know, but she bit back the words. She and Tanner might not be close, but she didn’t need to pick a fight to prove it. “You have anything to support this theory?”
Tanner shook her head. “Like I said, it’s just a theory. And I get that it’s crazy. Maybe we’ll find something tonight to support it. Maybe not.”
Syd looked around the table but couldn’t quite get a read on whether anyone else bought into Tanner’s theory, which was totally out there. It was way more likely Gellar had found some green agent and promised him or her access to a big case in exchange for slanting the reports the way he wanted them. She’d have to find a way to do some digging herself, but she doubted tonight’s expedition was going to help. Gellar wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave a bunch of evidence lying around, especially not when his house was open to the public. She never should’ve pitched her plan to get into his house. If she’d known it would have her spending the night with Tanner when her feelings were raw and just below the surface, she would’ve kept her mouth shut.
But she hadn’t, so it was time to either make this work or abandon the plan, and since everyone else seemed to be geared up to go, she was going all in. “What do you need me to do?” She directed the question to Peyton, not Tanner.
“Your main goal is to distract Gellar so Tanner can get a look around. Knowing him, he’ll leave his wife to play hostess so he can muck it up with all the elite folks he wishes he were a part of, but even an attention hog like him gets bored now and then. That’s when you’ll need to be watching to make sure he doesn’t start paying more attention to the action behind the scenes.” Peyton pointed at Dale. “You want to tell her about the wire?”
Dale fished a small packet from her pocket, opened it, and shook a few tiny pieces of plastic in various shapes onto the table. “These are state-of-the-art Bluetooth transmitters and earpieces. You’ll each wear one of these in your ear and somewhere else,” she said, looking Sydney up and down, “which means we can all hear each other during the night.”
Syd flicked her eyes in Tanner’s direction. “So, I’m part of the ‘we’ in this situation?”
Dale nodded. “You and Tanner will be able to talk and convey your movements to each other throughout the night, and Mary and I will be set up nearby recording everything just in case some random conversation winds up being important later.”
Syd nodded, making a mental note to watch her words carefully during the evening, lest some stray muttering wound up being recorded for everyone to hear. “Sounds good. Can you hook me up first? I should probably get going. Gellar told me he has some people he’d like me to meet and suggested I come over a bit early.”
Dale had just placed the earpiece and was looking for a place to fit the transmitter when the doorbell rang. Syd inclined her head. “Busy place here tonight.”
Peyton stood. “Hang on a minute, Syd. I think this is the last addition to our team for the evening.”
While Peyton went to answer the door, the rest of the group started talking amongst themselves. Syd watched Tanner smile and nod at something Dale whispered in her ear, and for a flicker of an instant, she wished she’d been the one to put the smile there. Before she could give the thought any more time, Bianca asked, “Have you done this before?”
“Pardon?”
“Gone undercover? Seems a little scary if you ask me, but I guess Tanner knows what she’s doing, so you’ll be okay. And it’s not like you’re headed into a drug lord’s house. I mean Gellar’s an ass, but if he catches you looking around, he’s not going to lop your head off or anything.”
Syd stared at the younger attorney, unsure whether to be amused or mortified. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a little dramatic?”
Bianca grinned. “All the time. And the rambling—it’s an unfortunate by-product.”
Syd smiled. “It’s fine. Really. Everyone has something they do to compensate for nerves.”
“What’s yours?”
“What?”
“What do you do to compensate for nerves?”
Syd opened her mouth to answer, but before the words could tumble out, Peyton reappeared in the doorway, flanked by a tall, gorgeous stranger. Bianca’s question faded to the back of her mind, behind thoughts of who this delicious woman was and how she fit into the work they were about to do.
Peyton rapped her knuckles on the doorframe. “Hey, everyone, I’d like you to meet Virginia Taylor. She’s on the committee for the tour of homes, and she’s the one we have to thank for adding Gellar’s house to the tour.”
Syd took in every aspect of Virginia Taylor while Peyton introduced her around the table. When the intro got to her, she smiled but otherwise kept her expression guarded so as not to give away her curiosity, but she couldn’t help but notice the way Virginia kept sneaking glances at Peyton like she was a tasty snack. But when Peyton introduced Virginia to Tanner, everything changed and Virginia seemed to forget Peyton was even in the room.
“Agent Tanner Cohen, my date for the evening.” Virginia sashayed over to Tanner and held out her hand. “The pleasure is going to be all mine.” She surveyed the rest of the group like she was holding court. “Normally, these things are dull, dreary affairs, but I can tell tonight’s going to break with tradition.”
Syd looked back at Peyton, who shot her an “I’m sorry” expression. When Syd managed to gather her courage, she looked at Tanner square on, but Tanner was staring into Virginia’s eyes, completely mesmerized. Great. A simple stakeout had just turned into a long night of listening to her ex being flirted with by Miss America. Suddenly, the unobtrusive listening device in her ear felt like an albatross. This evening was going to be way more work than she’d ever imagined.
Chapter Eight
Tanner glanced around as they walked up to the door of the Gellars’ house. The two-story Tudor home dressed in red and white lights with a lawn display of happy snowmen was nice, at least from the outside, but it was nowhere near as impressive as the large-scale homes they’d just visited with front yard displays rivaling something you’d find at Disney World.
“Stay close,” Virginia whispered.
Tanner did as she was told, because after touring four other houses, she’d determined there was no use resisting Virginia’s will. The woman was a force, and Tanner had to admit she was the perfect cover because everyone in her path seemed to bend to her will. She was no exception. From the moment they’d driven a
way from Peyton’s ranch in Virginia’s Aston Martin roadster, which she’d insisted Tanner drive, she’d allowed her date for the evening to steer her around as if she owned her.
But this house was different. Somewhere past those doors, Syd was waiting inside, her only job to keep an eye on this operation. To keep an eye on her. And suddenly, Tanner was very uncomfortable at the prospect of Syd seeing Virginia tucked up against her.
They were ambushed the moment they walked through the door, but not by Syd.
“Hello, Virginia, I see you managed to keep your hands on this one.”
Tanner appraised the speaker, a sixtyish woman wearing expensive clothes, but with too much Botox and not quite enough hair coloring to hide her advancing years. She resisted the impulse to snap back some comment about how she wasn’t something to be held on to, but Virginia’s light squeeze on her arm cautioned her against it.
“Aunt Ginny,” Virginia said, turning to Tanner and winking. “She hates when I call her that, but it’s the only way to tell us apart.” She drew Tanner into a tight embrace. “I don’t need to hold on tight to get them to stick around, but why wouldn’t I when they are as delicious as Tanner?”
Tanner winced inwardly, but forced a big smile. “That’s right, sugar. You just hang on and enjoy the ride.” No sooner had the words left her lips than she wished she could reel them back in, but the best she could do was hope the rest of the team had been zoned out for her lapse into Texas twang. She didn’t have much time to think about it before Virginia steered them away, smiling and nodding to various people they passed who waved and called their names as they strolled by.
“See what I mean,” she said. “Everyone here is already used to seeing you. If Gellar asks around, he’ll find out you’ve been by my side all evening, and it won’t look strange that you’re here with me now.”
