Throwing her arms around him, she held him tight.
“Callen, when I saw them beating on you, I was almost sick right there and then.”
Without hesitation, his arms closed around her, holding her close. “Are you still mad at me?”
She stared up into the chocolate-y brown eyes and shook her head. “No. I’m not mad.” Resting her head on his shoulder, Elizabeth took in the scent of his cologne and the way his hand moved soothingly across her back.
A part of him relaxed.
“If you were hurt, I’d never forgive myself.”
“I’m sorry you’re mad that I was defending you, Elizabeth, but I’m not going to let some asshole talk about our woman like that.”
Again, she glanced up. “That’s not what this is about. I can’t believe you’d think that I’d be angry that you were defending my honor. If anything, Callen, I think it’s sweet and typically you. I’m upset because I just spent the previous ten minutes lecturing Doctor Armstrong about punching out someone on the job, only to have one of the men in my life doing the same exact thing, right in front of her. It made me upset, because if I didn't slap you down, I’d have a double standard. Sometimes, it sucks to be the boss.”
Oh, he didn't know that just happened.
Well, shit.
He felt like an idiot for doubting her.
“We walk a very fine line being a couple and being in charge. If I show any preferential treatment, don’t think that one disgruntled employee won’t try to get us split up.”
His stomach knotted at her words.
“It would have been a disaster, Cal. Here is my big strong Indian in shining armor protecting me, knocking someone around, and I just told her to not do that. I didn't want to be angry and reprimand you, but we’re the bosses. Sometimes, there isn't a choice.”
Ethan leaned against the wall. “It was just bad timing, Cal, and nothing more.”
“I didn't know.”
Taking his face between her palms, she stared into his eyes. “I’ll never get mad at you for something like that, but I may have to point it out in front of our team. You should know me better than that. I’d never hurt you like that. Not intentionally, my love.”
At her words, Callen’s heart stuttered in his chest.
“Lyzee, angel, I’m sorry. I think I’m just off balance.” He was a fool for allowing his insecurities to take over. Elizabeth was right. She was precariously balanced between love and duty, and sometimes, the latter had to win.
That wasn’t her fault.
“I love you, and I’m sorry,” he offered.
She accepted his kiss. “I’m sorry I had to be mad at you. I hate when we don’t feel balanced. You’re so important to me, that when we’re off our game, I’m lost. Don’t ever doubt that you come first, Callen. If I didn't know how strong you were, I wouldn’t have reprimanded you.”
Here, he’d blamed her for not trusting that he was strong enough to defend her, and she was actually doing just that.
Shit!
Once more, feelings got in the way.
“How about we get changed and order some dinner?” Elizabeth offered. “I feel like eating now that we’re okay again.”
Ethan agreed. “I’m starving.”
Immediately, Callen felt like an even bigger idiot. “I took care of dinner, but I did something I’m not proud of, and I hope you forgive me for this too,” he admitted.
Elizabeth’s hand stayed in his as a great deal of emotion washed across his face. “What did you do, Callen James?”
When he admitted to not ordering her pizza toppings to be a spiteful jackass, she started laughing.
“What did you order?”
“Bacon and sausage.”
Now, she grinned wickedly. “Well, your punishment is to let me pick all the meat off your pizza.”
He began laughing. “For you, angel, I’d do anything.”
Elizabeth didn't doubt that in the least. When it came to the two men in her life, she was one lucky woman.
Johanna Madden was never nervous around the bosses, until now. With one night of amazing sex, she felt like she was carrying a secret on her shoulders. Certainly, Elizabeth Blackhawk, the woman who missed nothing, was going to see right through her calm façade and bust her down for the sex.
Well, shit!
This was a huge problem.
Beside her, Broderick Seaton was as calm as ever, and instead of offering her reassurance, it made her nuts.
There was no reason that the man should be so relaxed when the shit was about to hit the fan. At any minute, they’d be walking into the lion’s den, knowing that they had copulated like wild, horny teenagers.
“Stop looking so relaxed. It’s pissing me off,” she practically growled.
Brody smiled wickedly at her. “Yeah, I noticed. Want to tell me why?”
“Sex.”
He glanced over. “We can stop at the room and have it, if that’ll calm you down. I don’t know how wise it is to go into Elizabeth’s room this stirred up.”
She wanted to scream. Instead, Johanna closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she was done, only then did she speak. “Brody, she’s going to know we did it.”
“I doubt she’s psychic. If you act like yourself, she’ll never know. Besides, it’s really none of her business. We’re allowed to have a personal life outside of work, Joey. Where I stick my dick, really isn't their concern.”
She stared at him. “You’re certifiably insane. That sentence was so damn offensive that I want to slap the shit out of you.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I get that, but it’s true.” Plus, it would get Johanna to put her hands on him again.
That’s all he really wanted.
“I feel out of control,” she admitted.
Broderick had worked with Johanna a while now. When she was this far over the edge, the only way to reel her in was to get her to focus elsewhere. If she was irritated at him for being crass, she wouldn’t be thinking about sex and their bosses.
It was his cross to bear, especially if he wanted to sleep with her again.
And he did—for the rest of their lives.
At the hotel room door, he knocked. “Try and look calm,” he stated, “or you’re going to give us away. Then you have no one to blame but yourself.”
Johanna tried to blank her face, giving her emotions a wall of calm to hide behind. In her mind, she didn't know why this was stirring her up so much. A one-night stand wasn’t something that should make her this edgy.
Unless…
She pushed it from her head as the door opened. There stood their boss, looking nothing like she did at work. Barefoot and wearing shorts, a tank top, and one of the men’s shirts over it, she looked almost…innocent.
It put Johanna even more on edge.
“Come in. The pizza should be arriving any second,” she offered, stepping back. When the agents followed her, Elizabeth could already smell the fear.
Something was up.
Taking a seat on the couch in the sitting area, they all began pulling out their papers. When there was a knock on the door, Ethan pulled out his wallet and headed there to get their dinner.
“Why do you look worked up?” Elizabeth asked, staring at her agent.
Johanna swallowed, trying not to flinch away from the icy blue piercing stare.
“No reason,” she replied.
Immediately, Broderick jumped in to save her. It was the least he could do, since they were in this together. “Oh wow! Pizza! I’m starving.”
That brought everyone’s attention to the pizza delivery boy.
As Ethan paid him, Elizabeth noticed it was the same one who had delivered the other day.
“I see housekeeping cleaned up your room,” he stated, grinning at the woman on the couch.
She wanted to say something, but Ethan stared at her. “Yes, Lenny, they did.”
“Here are your pizzas. I didn’t know they were yours, since you didn't order the
pregnancy special,” he stated, referring to their last order of spam, anchovies, and spinach.
Elizabeth laughed when Callen groaned.
“No, we opted to switch it up,” Blackhawk said, paying him.
“Thanks!” Lenny said, pocketing the money. “Have a good night.”
When Ethan carried the cardboard boxes over, she needed to know. “Can we eat and talk?” Elizabeth asked, focusing on her agents once more.
The female one looked rattled, and the male was trying to offer up lame ass distractions.
Apparently, they thought pregnancy had made her stupid. There was something going on between them. She could see it. When they all looked away, the male agent’s hand went to her leg to stroke it reassuringly. They may think they were under the radar, but in all honesty, they weren’t.
Elizabeth, Ethan, and Callen had mastered loving strokes when people weren’t watching. These two were so new at it that they’d been caught.
Interesting.
She was curious to see how this would play out.
“Yes, we can, Director.”
“We’re off duty, so you can call us by our first names. This is just a wrap up of the day.”
The two agents pulled out their tablets as Ethan handed out slices of gooey pizza.
“What do you have?” she inquired. “I know I asked for background checks on just about everyone, so let me in on what you found.”
Johanna went first, starting with someone she deemed a priority, especially after Callen had his fist fight. “I had the sheriff,” she stated. “He was born, raised, and worked here his entire life. His dad was the sheriff before him, and from everything we’ve found, he’s good at his job.”
Elizabeth took a bite of her pizza. “Okay, why does he hate Feds? I know we’re an acquired taste, but he’s got a big old twist in his britches over us. Something had to happen to make that so prevalent.”
She continued, “You’d be correct. His father had a case right before he died. There was an abducted girl and the FBI was called in. It turned out that they stressed him out so much that the man keeled over on the job.”
“Died?”
“Yep. He had a massive coronary. They found him dead in his office,” Johanna stated.
“Okay, I’m not saying it’s a valid reason to hate us, but I can see why his opinion is tainted,” Ethan stated. “It would have left a bad taste in my mouth too.”
“Likewise,” Elizabeth admitted. “Still, it’s good to know how much love is lost between his office and our team.” Then it occurred to her. “I asked you two to play reporter. When you called the sheriff’s office, did you find anything out?”
“They were pretty tight lipped,” stated Johanna. “I did get that they pulled her from the river, but nothing more. I couldn’t break the man on the phone. He was sticking to the script.”
“That sucks,” she admitted, sitting back. “I really want to know where she went in.”
“Well, we can’t search all the woods in Belleville. That would take about four years,” stated Callen.
“Yeah, I’m aware. I hate that it’s a dead end. I was hoping that someone in his office would crack. What do we have on the other people we asked you to run?” Elizabeth inquired.
Broderick Seaton finished chewing, so he could reply, “I had Doctor Hertz from the dig site. He’s big into his job, the prestige, and being a pompous dick about it. His life is all about the classroom.”
Elizabeth was aware that the man was no longer on the dig, but that didn't mean they weren’t going to learn everything about him. “Why is a man so deeply entrenched in academia now hanging out in the dirt with people he obviously deems lacking?”
She wanted to know how deep her team dug, and if they had learned their lesson from the last case together. She hoped so, or it wouldn’t just be pizza she feasted on tonight.
Elizabeth would chew out their asses, big time.
“We were in town, hanging out at the coffee place. It seems like a lot of the college kids work or stop there. When we found a teacher’s assistant, we asked. The gossip is that the man was told that the university wants cross trained staff. With the budget cuts, if he wants to stay, he’s going to have to prove he can work in the field.”
She understood that. Why not get more money for your teaching dollars?
“Good work, Agent.”
“Thank you, ma’am. It was easy. Without our guns and badges, Joey and I blended right in. She looks like a college co-ed.”
Subtly, Johanna elbowed him.
It wasn’t lost on the three bosses. They’d caught the tone in his voice, and the look on his face as he gazed at her. Yeah, someone was definitely into his partner.
They let it go.
Broderick went back to his pizza, so he wouldn’t laugh at how riled up his partner was over all this.
Johanna took her turn. “Doctor Seston is in the same situation. While she does go out on digs more often than her co-worker, she is being asked to spend more time in-house teaching. She went out on this dig because it’s in her own back yard.”
Elizabeth nodded. “What else do you have on her?” If this woman had gotten Jaxon mad enough to strike out, there had to be more than what they had told her.
“Right out of college back east, she went into teaching. We did find out that she graduated with Doctor Armstrong. They were in school together.”
Interesting.
“Tony mentioned in his report to me earlier that the two women have been fighting for the same jobs and accolades for all of their professional careers.”
“Word in the café is that she’s big into sleeping her way to the top,” Johanna stated.
“Well, she’s pretty hot, so I can see that happening,” stated Brody.
She gave him a look.
Elizabeth almost wanted to laugh. Yeah, while Johanna looked freaked out, she now also looked pissed off at his comment. There was no doubt in her mind.
The agents were an item. Someone was breaking the FBI rules about agents getting horizontal with each other in their off time.
“What about the students at the dig site?” Ethan asked. “There are three, aren’t there?”
Both agents nodded.
Brody took this one. “We have Donald Hooper. From what we were able to find, he’s native to Belleville. He was accepted to the university on a full scholarship. We researched his high school records, and he earned it. If you look up nerd, there’s his picture.”
“Does he have any family?” Callen asked.
“His father is deceased. He had a heart attack a while back, and we can’t seem to find anything on his mother. We have her name and that’s it. She’s not in the picture anymore.”
“What about the female?” Callen asked, not willing to say her name. If he did, she might materialize.
Johanna replied, “Valerie Joseph is an enigma. She’s smart, comes across as cold, but is well liked. We asked quite a few students if they knew her. Mostly the men did, but few women could even recognize her picture.”
That made total sense, since the woman likely enjoyed the company of the male students more.
“Our last dig rat is Jeffery Whilton. He’s a rich kid from the area too. Let’s just say that he’s not on a full ride scholarship. Daddy bought his way into the university and the program. His grades are below par, and he’s far from stellar at what he’s trying to get a degree in. When we ran him, there were some pops to his record.”
“Like?”
“Speeding, sexually harassing a fellow student, and then of course there are the drugs,” Johanna stated. “This isn't the first university that he’s attended. He went away to school, but ended up coming back.”
“Where?”
“It appears Indiana.”
“What about his family?”
She flipped through her notes. “He’s a trust fund baby. His father is dead, and it’s listed that his mother divorced and moved away. We have her name, but as of yet she’s
not getting back to us.”
“Where is she living?”
Brody grinned. “Get this. She’s into saving marine wildlife, so she’s in some hut on a tropical island. Unless we make a trip there, I can’t say she’s going to be rushing to call us back. She wasn’t exactly mother material. She was always working.”
Elizabeth ran her hand over her belly. Her heart skipped. Was that how people saw her? She was away from home all the time.
It made her heart squeeze in her chest.
The men must have known it upset her, because they both ran their hand across her body in reassurance. It was that light caress of fingers that offered her some peace.
“Okay, so that wraps up the dig team. Who’s next?” Elizabeth asked, trying to focus.
“We ran the three deputies, especially after Callen’s ‘Hell in the Cell’ cage match,” Agent Seaton stated. “My money was on you,” he added.
He opened his mouth to make a comment.
Elizabeth pointed, shutting it down. “Don’t encourage him. Now spill it on the deputies or I’m going to focus my attention on you two. I don’t think you want that.”
Johanna swallowed, right before she gave him a look.
Brody chose to laugh. He didn't have anything to hide. If it came out that he and Johanna had started sleeping together, he’d own it. He wasn’t willing to pretend.
This act was all for her, not him.
“Again, the deputies,” she warned.
This was going to be easy.
Brody began, “They’re all pretty clean. Deputy Trey Stephens, the one who got the Whitefox beat down, has lived here all his life. He graduated from high school a couple years ago. Apparently, here in Belleville, you don’t need a college education to become a law official.”
“It’s like a lottery. You drop your name in and you might get picked.”
“Great,” muttered Callen.
Johanna continued, “Davvy Weatherly is the newest of the team. He’s green as the grass and likes to lay low. We asked around, and the man gets pizza and heads home. He’s single and doesn’t really show up on the radar.”
“What about the other one? I think his name was Richmond,” Ethan stated.
Dead Shall Speak (An FBI/Romance Thriller Book 10) Page 37
