by Mia Downing
Chase finally hung up the phone and looked at Jake, every bit as dark and dangerous as Kate liked to describe him. His friend deserved the moniker dark and dangerous. Chase had been special forces in the service, trained as a sniper, and had been honorably discharged when an injury kept him from doing his job. He was bad-assed, the best damned boss Jake ever had, and a hell of a friend. A much better friend than Jake.
“You look like hell, Jake. Bad flight?”
“Yeah. Bad week.” Jake frowned. Might as well find out now if he lived or died. “What did Kate tell you?”
“Kate didn’t tell me anything. She’s, uh, not speaking to me right now.” Chase’s neck reddened under his shirt collar, and he tugged at it uncomfortably.
Jake’s protective, partner side reared its ugly head, grew fangs, and he narrowed his gaze. Kate didn’t give the silent treatment unless things were beyond dire. She was too bubbly for games like that. “What did you do?”
“I have overstepped in my micromanagement of her life. That’s what she handed me for a formal sentence.” Chase shifted and wrapped a paper clip around his finger, a sign the man was seriously stressed. “I sort of planned her pregnancy.”
“Kate’s pregnant?” Jake’s mind flew to Paris, how ill she had been, and then to a month earlier when he’d— “Jesus, how far?”
He must have looked scared shitless, because Chase shook his head. “Almost three months. I took her to the doctor this morning. She was pregnant before your birthday.”
“I can’t believe—how could you let me join you and your pregnant wife?” A part of him deep inside howled with the injustice of it all, the agony. His love for her suddenly felt so dirty, as if he’d forced her and her unborn child to do something very corrupt. Wrong.
“I wasn’t sure. I had hoped, because we had a month before our honeymoon, then that long weekend to, uh, get things made. What was I supposed to say when she wanted to celebrate your birthday that way? ‘Uh, love, you might be pregnant, so…’”
That’s it. Chase was crazy. “If you had told me, I would have told her no, I had other plans.”
“I didn’t want you involved. She’s mad enough at me. Imagine if you knew?”
Jake didn’t even want to go to the thought of Kate’s wrath, but at the same time, he wished he’d known. Because knowing might have spared him of loving her. “Why would you take this choice from her? I know you don’t like surprises, but this is…bad. Deal-breaker bad.”
Chase looked haunted. “If she’s pregnant, I can’t send her out on dangerous missions. She can do courier runs and easy, simple assignments. Stay in the lab, create her evil scientist experiments. She’ll be safe.”
Jake got that. Kate had almost died on a previous mission, taking a bullet meant for him. Control freak Chase had been barely sane throughout the whole thing. But that didn’t excuse him—it was still wrong.
“Why not just talk to the general about this? He loves you, Chase. She’s probably more valuable to him in the lab than in the field, anyway.”
Chase’s aunt and uncle had raised him since he was one. Unfortunately, Chase’s uncle was also the big boss and more of a hard-ass than Chase ever dreamed of being. But Jake had seen how happy the older man had been to see Chase married to a good woman. Hell, everyone in Chase’s inner circle had been thrilled. Kate was so good for him.
But Chase’s face paled at the idea of talking to the general. His jaw twitched. “He had no problem sending her off to die before. What’s to stop him now?”
“You weren’t married to her then, and Kate is carrying his equivalent of a grandchild.”
Chase looked away, his expression unreadable. Jake sighed. One tightly wound clock, his buddy. “Okay, so back to you and Kate. Do you even want a child? Does she?”
“We never discussed kids. Never, and that was stupid on my part.” Chase sighed. “I admit it. I fucked up. I didn’t plan that far. After she was shot, I simply wanted her out of the line of fire, and this is the plan I came up with. I can’t lose her, but I may have just done that.”
Yeah, he may have just lost her. Big-time. Kate would be pissed as hell.
“You better hope she didn’t smuggle C-4 home from the lab, because if I were her, I’d wire your ass straight to hell.” Jake shifted in his chair, hating himself, hating Chase. The man planned everything, down to the minute detail. Jake couldn’t believe he didn’t think past Kate’s safety to the dynamics of bringing a kid into the world, especially the spy world.
But maybe love did that to a man. When he was in love, eons ago, he would have done anything for…her. He brushed that aside. Knowing Kate, she was more upset about Chase’s boundary crossing than the kid at this point. Jake wanted to go to her, he wanted to stay for Chase, he wanted… He wanted it all to stop.
The pain in his usually stoic friend’s eyes was too much to bear, though. Chase loved her, had waited a year for her to give him the time of day. And Jake had watched him suffer after her injury as he battled demons to proclaim that love. Chase didn’t admit feelings easily. So Jake said, “She’ll make a wonderful mother.”
“Yes, she will.”
“And you’ll be a great dad. Your kid will have the busiest schedule on the playground.” God help the kid. Chase would have him or her enrolled in college at birth.
“Probably.”
There was a sliver of hope in his sad smile, one that made Jake wish things were back to normal. Now it looked more and more like their triangle of friendship had shattered, forever.
Then the mask of doom Chase wore as armor returned, and he was all business again. It was always unnerving to watch the mask fall, since Jake was one of the privileged few to be allowed on the inside of his life, his feelings. But now Chase was all boss, which was what he did best. “Which brings me to why you’re here.”
“Yeah, I figured this wasn’t a therapy session.” And thankfully, not a firing squad, since Kate must have found out she was pregnant before she spilled the beans on Paris.
Chase removed the paperclip from his finger and folded his hands on his desk—never a good sign. The paper clip meant Chase was hurting. Folded hands meant Jake would suffer. “You have a new partner to train.”
“Fuck that.” Jake shook his head, feeling as if he’d been handed an entirely different death sentence. “I don’t want another partner.” He was done.
Chase arched a brow. “You don’t get a choice in the matter.”
“I know you get off on making my life miserable, but training your wife was hard enough. Just let me go solo until she pops out your kid.”
“If Kate ever talks to me again, she’ll be pregnant until she hits menopause.” Chase buzzed out to his secretary. “Send her in.”
“Her? Christ, Chase, no. Not no. Fuck no.”
Chase ignored Jake. He was good at that. “I think this partner will suit your needs, though. She has quite a bit of training. You’ll like that. Less work on your side.”
“I don’t want a new partner.”
A breath later, the door opened. Tia walked in, so beautifully exotic, even in casual wear, her dark hair tumbling down around her face, her shoulders. And suddenly in his mind, she was in black crotchless panties, a bra, and thigh-high stockings again.
Jake sucked in a breath, and the fact that air came though his mouth meant he wasn’t taped to her bed, she wasn’t hot for him, and this wasn’t Paris.
Chase beckoned to Tia, who had frozen in the doorway. “Jake, meet your new work wife. Tia Richards.”
Chapter Three
It took a lot to shake Tia, as hardcore of a bitch as she’d become over the years, but seeing Jake in Chase’s office, so sinfully handsome in his golden way, was enough to make her want to vomit from stress. And to hear she was now his partner made her want to pass out.
She clutched the doorknob, knees weak, afraid to do anything more than think about breathing. Sure, she knew there was a chance they’d see each other again if they worked in the same offic
e. They’d pass in the hall, on a job, and she’d say she was sorry and remind him that she’d pay ounce for ounce in flesh for his humiliation in Paris. When he was over Blondie, of course.
As she had opened the office door, she’d known seeing Jake in Chase’s office didn’t bode well for her future. Jake had a partner. One he loved. One that was married. So why were they both here, unless one of them was going to bitch her out for what she did to Jake? But then Chase had introduced her as Jake’s new partner and blew that theory out of the water. She almost would have preferred being bitched out for Paris.
Jake had to be pissed. So pissed. She blinked and steeled herself, expecting Jake to glare, explode, rage, and then hurt her. Something besides stare at her as if she was a pixie or a space alien. Isn’t that what men did when they were pissed?
He stared, lips parted, so deep in thought, looking almost…wistful. And finally, he blinked long lashes over his blue eyes, and the moment passed.
“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?” Jake asked softly in that sexy drawl of his, then laughed, hard, slapping his hand on his thigh. “I fucking hate Paris.”
“Come in, Tia. Sit.” Her new boss stared, eyes narrowed, at her new partner. Tia shut the door and sat in the chair next to Jake. “My sentiments on Paris seem to be contagious. My wife said the same thing when she came home, and that’s all she would tell me. Perhaps you should fill me in on why?”
If Tia had ever felt sorry for Jake before, it increased tenfold. She would have told Chase anything to get him to stop staring at her if the roles were reversed. He terrified her, and it took a hell of a lot to make her shake in her boots.
“Ask Kate,” Jake said, not breaking under the scrutiny. He didn’t even look mildly upset. He had balls; she had to give him that.
Tia glanced at Chase’s folded hands, at the simple wedding band on his left hand, and sucked in a breath as she put two and two together. Oh, Jake. How stupid to fall for your partner when she was your boss’s wife. Your best friend’s wife, no less.
Now Tia did feel bad. Not only did she practically rape him and leave him bound in Paris, but this Kate obviously did something, said something that made Chase pull her from service. She didn’t think Chase knew Jake was in love. Jake wouldn’t be alive.
But that meant Jake was stuck with her.
She had no idea what Chase knew, but she felt the need to save Jake’s ass. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and hoped it hid the tremor in her hand as she braved up. “He hates Paris because of me.”
“Really?” Chase leveled his predatory gaze on her.
She refused the urge to sink deeper into her chair. He missed nothing. She stocked that away for future reference. There was no pulling the wool over this one’s eyes. “I sort of left him in a compromising position that your wife had to take care of.”
“Really?” Chase looked to Jake. “How compromising?”
Jake closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and took out his phone. Tia’s cheeks flamed as she realized he had to be finding a picture of himself bound and gagged. Her handiwork. He scrolled to something and tossed it on Chase’s desk.
“Kate thought you’d enjoy this,” Jake said, gesturing to the phone. Tia had to hand it to him, as embarrassed as he should be, Jake didn’t look anything more than mildly uncomfortable about the whole thing. But then, maybe showing his picture would draw Chase away from realizing Jake wanted to fuck his wife in the worst way.
Tia’s cheeks burned with heat, her neck flushed as Chase picked up the phone and his brows arched over surprised eyes. She’d never bound a man and left him before. It was a little mean. Okay, a lot mean.
“No wonder she hates Paris,” Chase said very softly, a small glimmer of amusement playing about his lips. He slid the phone across the desk to Jake, then glanced at Tia. “I take it he didn’t consent to playing hostage.”
As much as Chase terrified her, she refused to look at Jake. “We didn’t negotiate limits, sir. But he consented to my most twisted, sight unseen, so…”
Chase laughed and Tia jumped. “If you can bind that one, you’re a hell of a good agent.”
“Thank you, sir. I think.” She still didn’t dare look at Jake.
“Take it as a compliment. He’s a handful to work with. Kate’s said as much for the past year.” Chase practically beamed at her. “Now he’s all yours.”
****
They sat in Jake’s truck in the parking complex later, Jake scrolling messages on his phone, Tia sitting shotgun. Jake had no clue where they were going. Chase was big on team building bullshit. He would prefer to take her to the club and just be done with the sexual tension between them, but Chase would have a cow if he did that on company time.
He owed Tia. Giving him the opportunity to show Chase his bondage photo put his affection for Kate deep enough under the radar so his friend wouldn’t kill him. At least not until Kate was speaking to Chase. That bought Jake time to come up with a plan to put Kate’s mission for him in play.
Tia looked out the window, watching a group come off the elevator, probably heading to a meeting or something, since it was way too early for lunch. She hid her emotions as well as Chase, behind exotic, almond-shaped eyes that glared in his direction.
Jake decided to break the ice, but he’d be damned if he’d let what happened in Paris go quietly. “So you going to tell me why you fled?”
“I told you why. It wasn’t working.” Tia gave a sharp laugh. “I told you I’d pay the punishment. But really, you deserved it for leaving me just as vulnerable.”
“At least I uncuffed you!”
“If I had released you, would you have let me walk away?”
No, he wouldn’t have. He would have fucked her senseless and would have missed his plane to Budapest, which would have pissed off both Kate and Chase. Jake sighed and checked his phone again.
“I didn’t think so.” Tia looked out the window.
The silence returned, and if his life were a bad B movie, there’d be crickets in the truck.
Jake’s thoughts turned to Kate and how pissed she had to be, how scared, and how lonely since she wasn’t talking to Chase. Kate didn’t make friends easily. Who did when they were a spy? Charlotte was still across the pond, working, and he doubted Kate would confide in her. He sighed inwardly. They were friends, first and foremost.
He tossed every ounce of caution into the wind and shot Kate a text. Are you okay?
No, was Kate’s quick response. I hate him, I hate you, and I wish we could just go back in time and change everything.
Jake knew she didn’t hate either of them, but the pain radiated from her text, oozed between the letters and into Jake’s heart. He wanted to go back, too.
Do you need me? It wasn’t probably the smartest thing to ask. If she said yes, he’d go. And if he went… But he couldn’t help himself. Damned if he didn’t like playing with fire. Where are you?
We’re finished. I told you what needed to be done. Do it.
No! He wasn’t finished. I can’t just sit here while your world falls apart.
Yes, you can. You have a mission. Please see to it. Don’t contact me until it’s done.
With that text, he’d been dismissed, the boundary in place, unable to cross over until he found a woman of his own. He’d never felt smaller. More alone. Not in a long, long time.
“Why do you do that to yourself?” Tia asked.
“Do what?” He pocketed the phone and his emotions.
“I know you’re texting her. Blondie. Why? Why invite the pain?” Tia looked away, disgusted.
“I guess I can’t hide my dirty secret from you, partner.”
“You call that hidden? Jake, you could take out a billboard ad on the highway and fewer people would know.” She turned back to him and arched a perfect brow. “You think Chase doesn’t know? That man misses nothing. It’s just a matter of time before that mess blows up in your face.”
“I know. And I’m doing my best
to walk away.”
“By texting her? Sure.” Tia snorted. “Is she that much of a bitch that she’d string you along like that?”
Jake bristled. “This isn’t her fault. It’s mine. She was up front from day one about how it would be. Even before Chase, she made it quite clear where I belonged in her life. She wanted a friend, because she knew at that point I would have devoured her and then left her behind, and she would be the one with the broken heart. That sounds conceited, but you know how I go through women. Love wasn’t something I cared about. So that’s all we were—best friends and partners.”
That wasn’t true. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about love. He was afraid of love, probably more than anything he’d ever faced in his life. He knew too well the deep void left behind when love was wrenched away too soon. He closed his eyes and sighed. Losing Chase and Kate… No, not an option.
“So what happened?” Her voice softened, and he heard compassion instead of judgment.
He didn’t want to have this discussion with her, but she was his partner now, like it or not. They had a history, like it or not.
“I don’t know. One day, it just changed on my part. I had always been attracted to her, but it was never an issue. Somehow, the feelings went from being her friend, her partner, to being…more. She says—” He swallowed. “She says I’m not in love with her. That what I love is how Chase has changed, and that I want what Chase has. I love her because she’s good for my buddy, and I want that for myself.”
“Isn’t that the same thing? She made Chase change, so wouldn’t you love her?”
“She says it’s not.” Jake looked at her. “And I’m not allowed back in her life until I make things right.”
Tia frowned. “You’re sure Chase doesn’t know.”
“Not yet.”
