He shifted in his chair as his mind replayed just how well she’d come on to him. If he hadn’t been paying attention—if he really had been some environmental consultant with no hidden agenda—he would have swallowed her act hook, line, and sinker.
Even knowing what he knew, he’d still been blindsided by her. Worse, she’d distracted him from the job. Calling up his emails he saw that Margaret had copied him on an email to the IT guy who’d flagged the attempt to access her information. Once he got the rundown from IT, he’d have his guy look into it. That was the real lead here—the only issue he’d been hired to look into.
Still, Jenna’s actions had been shady from the start. And if Margaret’s suspicions were right and Donald Knight was involved, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that his daughter was somehow involved as well.
Besides, Jenna’s actions were far more intriguing than anything else he’d seen in the office, and that included one failed attempt at hacking. And maybe, just maybe, his pride was at stake here.
He was man enough to admit when he’d been bested and that woman had turned him into a befuddled moron on his first day on the job.
But that ended now.
They were both going to this happy hour after work, and he would be ready for her. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
The bar was packed when he arrived and Jenna was already there. He spotted her the moment he walked through the door. How could he not? She was electric—lighting up the dingy dive bar with that cool confidence. There was nothing weak or timid in her stance—arms crossed in front of her chest, she met his gaze from across the room and winked. God, that woman had nerve. And charisma. Her strength seemed to be a magnet to the men in the room. From where he was standing he could see them veering toward her like a magnet—the G.I. Jane in a sea of Barbies.
They could all wait their turn, there was no way he was going to stand on the sidelines and watch her twist these poor fools into knots like she’d done to him. Not when he had questions that needed answers.
He reached her side and she ignored him. Of course she did. She continued listening to an epically boring tale about trade regulations as he stood right next to her, clearly waiting to gain her attention.
Jesus, she was good. Always on the offense and never off her game. Even when she was caught red-handed in a bathroom.
But he’d had enough. Without waiting for a polite pause, he placed a hand on her elbow and leaned forward to interrupt. “If you’ll excuse Jenna, she and I are overdue for a chat.”
She smiled like a benevolent queen before allowing him to guide her toward a somewhat secluded booth toward the back. Once there, she tugged her arm out of his grasp and whirled around. “That was rude.”
“But stealing my belongings isn’t? Lady, you need to have a chat with Miss Manners.”
She didn’t even bat an eyelash. “I told you, I was looking out for my welfare. And it seems my instincts were correct judging by the way you manhandled me just now. Thank God I didn’t agree to go out with you.”
“I didn’t ask.” He stared down at her, incredulous. She was doing it again. He’d come here to ask her some pointed questions, damn it. Why was he defending himself?
She narrowed her eyes at him and took a step closer so she was in his space, her vanilla-scented perfume surrounding him, distracting him. “Why are you so hung up about the phone thing? Is there something on there you didn’t want me to see?”
He opened his mouth and realized he was about to defend himself…again. This woman was running circles around him. Rather than answer her question, he went in for one of his own. “Tell me, if I took your phone right now, would I find out what you’re really doing here?”
He caught it. It was quick and gone in an instant but he’d seen the flicker of surprise just before she scoffed. “What are you talking about? What I’m really doing where…at happy hour? I was invited just like you.”
He couldn’t stop the satisfied grin. Oh, he was on to her now. Stopping to revel in his small win was his downfall, he decided, because her next question knocked him off his high horse.
“What exactly is your specialty when it comes to the environment, Mr. Wayne?”
“Uh…” The question was unexpected, swift, and telling. Why would she ask that? And why now? And the timing of it threw him off guard. Again.
Margaret had given him specifics and he’d memorized them on the off chance someone would question him on his credentials. But clearly his memory wasn’t on point because he couldn’t recall his specialty—at least not quickly enough. Not as an instantaneous reflexive like it would have been if it was the truth.
And she knew it, judging by the little smile that turned up one corner of her mouth in a deliciously seductive move. Did she plan that or was that natural? At the moment it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered as his gaze focused on those ruby red lips. What would they taste like? He could imagine how they would feel pressed against his, soft beneath his tongue…
Shit, now was not the time for fantasies.
He forced himself to look away. Taking a deep breath, he looked toward the front door…and froze.
Oh crap.
Oh holy hell.
This could not be happening.
“Mark, are you all right?” Jenna asked. He glanced down to see her frowning with concern. He supposed he’d gone a bit pale. Clammy even.
But then, he hadn’t seen his ex-wife since the divorce was finalized and to see her now. Here. With another man…
This was not part of his plan.
Think, Goddammit. And even as he struggled to bring his brain into play, Lana looked over. Those hazel eyes that he knew so well met his and he saw the surprise there. She hesitated just a fraction of a second before heading in his direction, pulling her date along by the hand.
Wonderful. Now, after all this time, she wanted to be friendly.
“Um, Mark?” Jenna touched his arm and he was back in the moment.
And in such deep shit.
They were surrounded by employees from Knight & Knight, there was no way he could tell Lana that he was undercover and there was no way his secret wouldn’t come out.
So long ,best-paying gig he’d ever gotten. Goodbye, dreams of starting fresh somewhere new.
His gaze went from Jenna to Lana and back again. Stupidly he found himself staring at her lips again, like Jenna’s lips might have all the answers.
Oddly enough…they did. Inspiration struck and Hunter didn’t stop to think. A career in the line of fire taught him when to act on instinct and this was that time. So he did it. He successfully avoided the awkward conversation in the best way he knew how.
He pulled Jenna into his arms…and he kissed her.
What. Was. That?
One minute she’d been standing there sparring with this brute of a man and then…and then…oh God, and then.
His lips were warm and firm—there was nothing tentative or half-assed about it. This was a kiss. She didn’t know what those other guys she’d dated had been doing all this time but they were doing it wrong.
That was as far as Jenna got in her thinking process before the last of her synapses gave up and shut down.
The fact that she was surrounded by her father’s employees, that this man had been lying to her all day—all of that was forgotten as her brain and body focused on the feel of his lips moving over hers, firm but gentle. His tongue teased her lips apart and she surrendered with a sigh.
When his tongue touched hers, her body melted. His arms around her waist were the only thing that kept her from turning into a puddle on the floor. Her muscles relaxed, a tension in her neck and spine she’d never noticed before disappeared.
In its place was bliss, powerful and addictive. His kiss was a drug, surely, because no amount of natural hormones could be this heady or intoxicating.
And then it was over. He pulled back and their gazes collided. Was that shock she saw there? Had he felt it too?
But then he
looked away. Over his shoulder, to be exact. When he turned back to her his eyes were filled with something dishearteningly similar to regret and he gave her an apologetic wince. “Sorry about that.”
Sorry. Sorry?
Her stomach plummeted to her feet as reality set in and she returned to her senses. He was sorry. And she was…an idiot, apparently.
She took a quick glance around and saw that yes, indeed, she had made a spectacle of herself with a near stranger who was currently lying to her about his identity. Worse, she’d loved it. She’d been swept off her feet like a moron. Like a naïve, gullible little chit.
Like a fucking virgin from a fairy tale.
Holy Christ, what just happened?
He reached a hand behind his head and scratched the back of his neck, looking for all the world like a little boy who was about to get scolded.
Because he’d kissed her. In public. With no warning.
And he felt sorry for it.
She was supposed to say something. She knew that but for the life of her she couldn’t summon words. That kiss had wiped her brain, leaving her mute and…and…oh hell, she was vulnerable.
Like someone had just stripped away a shit-ton of metal armor, she found herself standing there trembling, completely at a loss as to what to say or what to do.
She was never at a loss. Never. She was Jenna freakin’ Knight, goddammit. She did not lose her cool.
Until now.
“I’ve got to…um…” She looked around her again and caught the side glances and the whispers. “I have to go.”
Mark, or Hunter, or whoever he was, made a move toward her like he might try to stop her but she edged away and bolted for the door, not stopping to say her goodbyes and never looking back.
Chapter Five
Mackenzie bit into a bagel as Jenna stirred some sugar into her coffee.
“What do you mean, you ran away?” Mackenzie asked. Her pretty features were scrunched up in confusion. “You mean, you played hard to get?”
Jenna shook her head. It had been two days since the epic fail of a kiss and she still couldn’t quite wrap her head around her reaction. So she’d called in reinforcements. Maybe Mack could help her make sense of her own idiotic behavior—and Hunter’s, for that matter.
Mackenzie tilted her head to the side as she studied Jenna. “Were you afraid of him?”
Jenna shook her head again. God, this was humiliating. Drawing in a deep breath, she spit it out. “I don’t know why I ran. I just…did.”
“Uh huh.” Mackenzie looked as confused as she felt. “But you weren’t afraid.”
She cleared her throat. Saying this out loud was even more mortifying than she’d imagined but she needed an objective opinion and Mack had known her since she was a teen-ager. She knew her better than anyone. Surely, Mackenzie could tell her what had happened. “I wasn’t afraid of him,” she clarified.
Mackenzie’s eyes widened as the meaning behind that sank in. “But you were afraid.”
Jenna gave a half-hearted shrug in response. Damn it this was hard to admit. Don’t make me say it out loud.
Apparently Mack got the telepathy because she stopped the interrogation. Leaning over the diner table, she whispered, “But you’re not scared of anything.”
Jenna thought about that. “Well, except for—”
“Rats do not count,” Mackenzie finished. “Every New Yorker has a healthy fear of rats, and well they should. We’re outnumbered.”
Jenna nodded. “But other than rats…” Aside from rats, she was fearless. Always had been. One didn’t get into an Ivy league college and then graduate top of her law school by being scared. She’d faced off against hardened criminals at the DA’s office, for God’s sakes. She lived alone and never once slept with a light on. She watched horror movies and never flinched.
She was freakin’ fearless.
Yet, she’d run away because of a kiss.
Mackenzie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest with a no-nonsense stare. “Okay, so…you ran away. What did you do after that?”
Jenna stared at the contents of her coffee mug as if the answers to the world’s problems might be found there. “What do you mean?”
She knew exactly what Mackenzie meant.
“That happened Monday after work, right? What did you do on Tuesday? Did you talk to him…slap him, maybe?”
Jenna peeked up at her former stepsister. “Nothing. I did nothing.” In fact, it was worse than that. Not only had she not sought out Hunter, she actually steered clear of him, hiding out in her office rather than put herself in a position where she might run into him.
Mackenzie picked up a spoon and started tapping it against the table top in a manner that was surely designed to drive Jenna insane. “I see,” she said slowly.
What? What exactly did she see? Jenna couldn’t bring herself to ask.
“You do realize you’ll have to face this guy eventually, right? I mean, he’s the best lead you’ve got in figuring out what crazy Margaret is up to.”
“Yes,” she snapped. “I know that, I just—” She swallowed down a rising sense of panic. “I don’t know what to do.”
Mackenzie stared at her for so long she thought her stepsister was at a loss for words. But then she realized Mack was trying to do something that didn’t come naturally to her…she was trying to be sensitive. “Jenna, sweetie. You do know what’s going on here, don’t you?”
Jenna blinked in incomprehension. No! She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her, that’s why she needed help!
Mackenzie leaned across the table and took her by the hand. Her tone was so gentle she might have been talking to a young child and not her slightly older stepsister. “You have a crush.”
Jenna gasped. “What? No! That’s not possible.”
Mack pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’m sorry, sis. I really am. But it’s time you face facts. You are a smitten kitten.”
Annoyance battled with sheer terror. She wanted to snap at Mack, tell her she was wrong. But she couldn’t. Holy crap, did she have a crush? No. It wasn’t possible.
Was it?
Her mind flashed on Hunter’s chiseled jaw—the one she remembered years later. Okay, so maybe she thought he was hot years ago. She thought of how his eyes met hers on Monday, the way he seemed to see through her. The way his lips had felt when they’d kissed. A shiver coursed through her leaving her hot and shaken in its wake.
Okay, so maybe she still thought he was hot. Dropping her head in her hands she muttered a string of curses. Oh shit, she had a freakin’ crush.
She’d started to think that after her one crush in high school she’d become immune, like a childhood virus. Chickenpox and crushes—done and done. She’d been rather proud of her record—just that one stupid teenage crush on Jacob Hartley. And really, everyone had a crush on him in high school, it was like a plague. Everyone except for Mack, but since she was getting ready to marry the guy, that hardly counted.
She couldn’t believe she was about to ask this, and of Mack of all people. There was no way her stepsister would ever let her live this down. “What do I do?”
Luckily Mackenzie didn’t gloat or even tease her, though Jenna was sure she was dying to. Instead she resumed eating her bagel with a thoughtful air. Finally she leaned back and gave her decree. “You should ask him to be your date to the reunion on Friday night.”
Jenna froze, her coffee cup poised in front of her mouth ready to be sipped. “Our high school reunion. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope. It’s perfect, actually. It’s a win-win.”
Jenna set her cup down and fought the urge to run away again. Good Lord, what was it with this man and her nerves? Just the thought of asking him on a date had her fidgety and anxious. She blamed the kiss. Before that happened she was blissfully unaware that she had any sort of emotions wrapped up in this guy. But then he’d had to go and shove his tongue down her throat and her worl
d had flipped upside down.
Now suddenly she was a grown woman with a crush. And a case of butterflies that was so intense it was entirely possible she’d throw up next time she spoke to him. This was bad. So bad. Pre-kiss she’d been confident, sassy even. She’d been in control. But now?
Now she was hiding out in her office and asking her stepsister for dating advice. Oh how the mighty had fallen.
“Think about it,” Mackenzie said. “You’re not supposed to know who he really is, right? So you can’t just outright ask him what he’s up to. Judging by the precautions he’s taken with his phone, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to snoop the truth out of him, right?”
Jenna toyed with the remnants of her donut. “Is ‘snoop the truth’ a real saying?”
Mackenzie ignored her attempt at avoidance. “You need to figure out what he and Margaret are up to if you want your old man’s money.”
Jenna sighed. That much was true.
“And you like the guy.” She held up a hand when Jenna automatically went to protest. “You’re intrigued, at the very least. Can we agree on that?”
Intrigued was a good word for it. It wasn’t just attraction—physical attraction she knew well. That she could handle, no problem. And she didn’t necessarily like him. She barely knew the guy. But intrigued by him? Yeah, that fit. Jenna gave a short nod.
“Right, so if you’re intrigued, you should make an effort to get to know the guy a little better.” Mackenzie flashed her a wicked little grin. “Maybe he’ll even tell you his real name.”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “I know his real name. He just doesn’t know that I know.”
“Yeah, because that’s a normal start to a relationship.”
“Who said anything about a relationship?” Her tone came out sharper than intended, an innate overreaction to a word she despised.
Mackenzie threw her hands up in surrender. “Whoa. Take it down a notch, Snow White.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Can’t, sorry. It’s too fitting. You’re protecting your father’s kingdom from your wicked stepmother. Sort of. Plus, it pisses you off, which is always a plus.”
Snow White Espionage (Barely a Fairy Tale Book 2) Page 5
