Sex, Lies and Surveillance

by Stephanie Julian

  “I am so sorry,” she said. “You startled me. I didn’t expect anyone to be here. What are you doing in the dark? You could’ve at least turned on some lights. God, Mal. I could have shot you.”

  Yeah, she could have. He flicked a quick glance at her gun, a Beretta pistol she held with practiced ease in those small hands.

  He sucked in air. Oh, baby. That really shouldn’t turn him on as hard as it did.

  “Yeah, well, I’m glad you didn’t.” He forced a faint chuckle. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Didn’t know anyone was still here.”

  Busted, son. You are so busted.

  “There wasn’t supposed to be. What are you doing here?” she asked, and Mal heard a slight thread of suspicion lace her question.

  “Nic asked me to look over some files.” He picked one off the desk and held it up. “I forgot them before I left. I just got here. Didn’t even have a chance to turn on the lights yet.”

  He’d pulled the files before starting to search an hour ago, not really thinking he’d need them for cover but he was a careful guy. He didn’t like to leave things to chance.

  He cleared his throat. “So what are you doing here so late?”

  She shrugged, still staring at him with an expression he recognized and rightly feared. He’d watched her worm information from her brother Nic wearing that expression. The guy had folded after only ten minutes. “I have to make an overseas phone call and it was closer to come here from the gym than go home.”

  Finally, she stepped into the room, into the light, and Mal got his first look at Janey in something other than a skirt and blouse. And damn if his cock didn’t start to rise to the occasion. What exactly the occasion was, he wasn’t sure but he was getting a hard-on she wouldn’t be able to miss.

  With what he hoped was a casual motion, he lowered the files, slowly crinkling in his hands, until they covered the telltale ridge in his pants. He didn’t want her to—

  Hell, son. At least be honest with yourself. You wish she’d look. You wish she’d do more than look.

  No, I don’t—oh, fuck, yeah, I do.

  He wanted her to look so he wouldn’t feel so fucking guilty about eyeing her like a side of beef. And who could blame him if they caught a glimpse of her.

  Her unzipped sweatshirt gaped open to reveal a black sports bra that left her bare from the waistband of low-riding gray sweatpants to just below those gorgeous breasts. The smooth, flat skin of her stomach taunted him, his fingers itching to trail across it. Blood pulsed in his cock, making it twitch.

  He wasn’t getting paid enough for this job.

  Forcing his gaze back to hers, he realized he’d let himself look a little too long. Her left eyebrow lifted slightly higher than her right, but a smile played around the corners of her mouth.

  Shit, what the hell had they been talking about? “Uh, so you need to make a call for Grace’s kidnapping case?”

  She moved even closer to his desk. “Mmm-hmm.” Trailing one slim finger along the back of the leather chair in front of his desk, she maintained eye contact, watching his every move. “Working here must be pretty different from what you’re used to.” She gestured to the files in his hands and, for one heat-filled second, he thought she was referring to his erection. “Petty robberies and deadbeat dads.”

  That moment of insanity was replaced with the dawning sense that she was digging for information.

  Careful, son. Dangerous waters ahead.

  He nodded. “It’s different, yeah, but mostly in a good way. So, how old is the kid?”

  “Six.”

  Speculation coated that one word like the chocolate on a Ding Dong.

  Damn fool idiot. The woman read people like she read code and he’d practically come right out and told her he was hiding something by trying to divert the conversation. Still, he couldn’t back down now.

  “The kid’s gotta be terrified.” Mal attempted to wrap her too-quick brain around something else. “If he’s still alive. A lot of these cases end badly.”

  There. Her eyes sparked in fury. “I can’t stomach people who harm children. They’re cowards who prey on the weak.”

  God, she was gorgeous when she was passionate about something and it looked like he’d hit the jackpot. And he couldn’t help wondering how all that passion would translate in the bedroom.

  She must have misinterpreted his slight shift to relieve the increasing pressure of his pants on his erection as discomfort over her outburst. “Sorry.” She grimaced. “I’m tired. Long day and kickboxing wore me out.”

  “Kickboxing, huh?” Prying one hand off the folders, he opened a drawer in his desk and searched for the roll of antacids. “That’s pretty…physical, isn’t it?”

  She shrugged. “I have a black belt in karate. But I really like this class. I go to the gym around the corner. They have a pretty decent setup over there. Do you work out?”

  Shit, she really could kick his ass. “Uh, yeah. I have weights at my apartment. And I run. A lot.”

  Running helped him think. Maybe he’d go running for a few hours tonight after he got out of this mess.

  “Oh yeah?” Her eyes lit up. “I run too. Maybe we can get together and go sometime. There are some great trails over at Valley Forge. We could run and see the sights too.”

  He swallowed and dropped his gaze before she could read the lust in it. “Sure, maybe, sometime. So…you have a call to make, huh?”

  Whoa, son. You’re like a bull in a china shop. Do you want the girl to wonder why you’re practically pushing her out the door?

  She paused before answering. “Yeah, I do. Don’t work too late, Mal.”

  She turned, dark hair laying like a velvet curtain down her back, hips swaying as she walked away. Damn. Maybe he’d try to bang his head against the wall this time. This situation just kept getting worse.

  He wanted her. And frankly, he should take her. Seduce her and pump her for information.

  Whoa, poor word choice. His cock twitched in anticipation and he practically fell into his desk chair, gazing blindly at the door.

  But the general idea was a viable one.

  If he’d learned only one sure thing during the past month he’d been here, it was that Janey was the linchpin of the family. She knew everything from her dad’s next doctor appointment to the number of the hotel Nic was staying at in Jersey.

  There was no reason he shouldn’t use her. She was beautiful, compassionate, loving, loyal and hot in a way only smart women were for him.

  But he knew if her family was involved in some way with Carabini, even if she wasn’t, she’d hate him for exposing them.

  It shouldn’t matter.

  But it did.

  Mal had the antacids in his hand again before he realized he’d reached for them. His chest burned.

  Damn, he needed a stiff drink and a ten-mile run to work off some of this energy.

  Or maybe he just needed to drown himself in the woman down the hall.

  ***

  Janey walked back to Mal’s office ten minutes later.

  He didn’t appear to notice her right away, but then she’d taken care not to make a sound.

  Turned sideways to the desk, he paged through a legal pad covered with Nic’s chicken scratch. His eyes scanned across the page, and it was only when he’d gotten to the end of the page and started to flip that he realized she was there.

  “Hey.” His voice rasped across her senses like a sandpaper feather, doing weird and wonderful things to her libido. “Done with your phone call?”

  She nodded. “I’m heading out. Are you ready to go?”

  He hesitated a second. “Just let me get this stuff together.”

  Watching him gather Nic’s file, she got the feeling he’d wanted to tell her to leave without him, which just begged the question, why had he needed this file tonight? Why couldn’t it have waited?

  She knew, with an inner sense that almost never steered her wrong, something was up with Mal. She saw it in his eyes, j
ust for a second whenever he looked away. A flash and then it was gone. What was he hiding?

  She needed to know.

  Not just because she was attracted to him. Of course, she was naturally suspicious of any man who showed an interest in her. Her track record with guys wasn’t great. Her bastard former fiancé had been only the first in a string of jerks.

  And lately, even if she’d wanted to date, she just hadn’t had time.

  Still…

  Mal stood and, as always, she was struck by his size. He was nearly as tall as Nic and, though he didn’t have Nic’s bulk, he was an imposing figure.

  Tonight he wore broken-in jeans and a tight, dark T-shirt under a slightly too-big oxford shirt. He hadn’t bothered to button or tuck the overshirt in and he had the sleeves rolled to this elbows. Leaving his taut forearms, lightly dusted with brown hair, bare.

  Okay, she’d obsessed over his hands earlier today. Now she ogled his arms. Maybe by tomorrow she’d be up to his shoulders. Or she could just stop at his biceps, because they looked strong enough to lift her off her feet…

  Lifting her gaze, Janey’s cheeks burned with a blush as she realized he’d caught her staring. Their gazes locked and the look in his eyes indicated he wanted her to continue.

  He moved toward her until he stood only inches away, their gazes still locked. She wouldn’t have looked away even if she could. The man had beautiful eyes.

  “Janey?”

  “Yes?”

  As if she’d answered a question—and maybe she had—his arms wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her in as his mouth descended.

  If she’d been expecting a chaste little peck, the man blew that assumption out of the water in one second flat. His lips moved over hers with a confidence she hadn’t expected. He kissed her like he worked a keyboard, with a surety of purpose that melted her hidden girly heart and made her knees weaken.

  And he didn’t waste time with a closed mouth, either. He worked her lips open and slid his tongue into her mouth, tangling with hers, coaxing her to…to what?

  Give in? She already had. And when she circled her arms around his shoulders and pressed her chest against his, she gave her brain the night off. As first kisses went, this one ranked about an eleven on a scale of ten.

  His tongue licked along hers, hot and rough, encouraging her to flick at him, to try to loosen a little bit of his control.

  He kissed her until she could barely breathe and couldn’t bear to think about breaking their connection. One of his hands moved to the back of her head, weaving his fingers through her hair, so he could move her how he wanted. Angling her to the perfect position for the best penetration.

  Her stomach clenched with need and her panties dampened. With her breasts plastered to his chest and his arms holding her to him too tightly for her to move, she had the sensation of being trapped and tormented with exactly what she wanted.

  Her hips tilted forward and found the ridge of his erection behind the zipper of his pants. She groaned at the promise of it, at the thought of spreading her legs and—

  Abruptly, he released her and took a step back, eyes wide as he stared down at her.

  “Jesus, Janey. I don’t—I can’t—Holy shit.”

  Damn, that really wasn’t want he wanted to say, but Mal couldn’t think of a damn thing that wouldn’t sound like so much bullshit.

  Christ, how stupid could he get? He shouldn’t have kissed her.

  But he couldn’t apologize. Hell, he didn’t want to apologize and, if he did, it would sound like he regretted kissing her. Which was so far from the truth.

  That kiss had been the best he’d ever had.

  He didn’t think Janey regretted it either. Not if her expression was anything to go by. She looked a little shell-shocked and a whole lot aroused.

  Maybe as much as he was.

  Which was most of the problem. He wanted to keep on kissing her but if he did, it’d go way beyond kissing.

  And that could be disastrous.

  He didn’t know how long they stood there, staring at each other, until their breathing slowly returned to normal.

  Finally, Janey blinked and looked away, dropping her gaze to the floor, one hand reaching up to run through her hair. His mouth fucking watered to think about how all that hair would feel spread across his chest, his thighs. He swallowed a groan, biting into his tongue to keep from saying or doing something stupid. But he still he couldn’t stop the image that popped into his head. Janey on his bed, her hair all over his pillow, in his hands.

  Shit, son. You’re in deep shit. You gotta say something. Anything.

  “Janey, I meant no disrespect. You’re a beautiful woman and I—”

  Lost my mind? Want to take you to bed?

  Which one of those two excuses would fly? Of course, they were both true, but still…

  Janey tilted her head back to look up at him again, a curious expression on her face. “You what, Mal?”

  “I like you.” And that was so completely tame compared to how he really felt that his mouth twisted in a grimace. “I mean…”

  Her sweet, sexy grin twisted his stomach in knots. “I like you too, Mal.” Then her grin faded. “But we work together. That makes this…complicated.”

  He nodded, knowing she’d just given him the perfect out. He should take it, grab on with both hands and run with it.

  He couldn’t.

  Son, you’re an idiot.

  He reached out, letting his fingers trail along her jaw for a few brief seconds. “Too complicated?”

  She tilted her head, still watching him. “I’m not sure.”

  “Is there anything I can do to make it less complicated?”

  Her lips curved up just the tiniest bit. “We can’t exactly change the circumstances.”

  No, they couldn’t. She didn’t have all the facts to make an intelligent choice. Because if she knew who he was, why he was here, she’d be punching his face instead of smiling up at him.

  “Maybe—” she paused, watching him with those sharp blue eyes, “—we could take it slow. We could visit Valley Forge on Saturday, maybe get some dinner afterward. Then we can see what happens.”

  He had to shove down the urge to pump his fist in the air. “Slow. Absolutely.”

  Chapter Four

  “Janey! If you don’t talk to Jimmy about this damn transmitter, I’m gonna crush it like a bug and then I’m gonna do the same to him.”

  Nic strode through the door of her office, fury written on his cheeks in angry red.

  After spending way too much of the morning obsessing over Mal’s kiss last night and their plans for dinner Saturday night, Janey had finally been able to completely immerse herself in code. She spared her brother a quick glance before holding up one hand as she continued to type with the other. He didn’t make another sound. Who said you couldn’t train a grown man?

  She finished the string she was working on, pressed Enter and watched the file she’d just cracked pour open like a broken bottle of liquor.

  “Yes,” she hissed under her breath. That file had been giving her fits for the past hour and it was vital to the Borelli auctioneer’s missing hundred thousand.

  She’d thought she might not be able to—

  “Oh my God!” she cried, jumping out of her chair. “Give me that.”

  Nic held one of Jimmy’s brand-new miniature receivers in his large hand and looked ready to crush the million-dollar prototype like an insect. Rushing around the desk, she plucked the instrument from his fingers, sighing as she placed it safely in her desk drawer.

  “I swear, one of these days I’m gonna lock Jimmy in his laboratory and then we can hire someone who won’t want to stick electrical equipment inside my body.” Her brother’s voice rose, and she knew he was just getting started. “He knows I hate that.”

  “Nic, come on.” She used the voice she typically reserved for testy clients and crying baby cousins. “I know you think Jimmy’s gadgets are a little over-the-top somet
imes, but they always work. You wouldn’t have gotten out of the catacombs without his GPS. And Jimmy’s two-way helped us find you when you were stuck in the elevator.”

  She didn’t mention that it had kept claustrophobic Nic sane through the five hours he’d spent in complete darkness in a ten-by-ten-foot elevator in Mexico City after an earthquake.

  She and Annie had taken turns talking to him the entire time he was trapped while her parents had coordinated his rescue from the Pentagon. And Jimmy had made sure they didn’t lose his signal.

  That was the only time she’d known her oldest brother to be shaken by anything.

  “Yeah, I know he’s saved my ass a few times,” Nic admitted. “But I swear, he makes ’em just so they antagonize me.”

  Quicksilver like their mother’s, his anger made a comeback. “He knows I hate to have anything in my ears after that bug incident. And I don’t care if this damn thing is an earring, it still has to go in my ear.”

  Everyone in the family knew all too well about the bug incident, and she shuddered in empathy.

  “I’m sure Jimmy just thought it was the best place to conceal it,” she soothed. “He also knows you don’t like to have anything implanted under your skin, so that was a consideration, too.”

  Reluctantly at first then outright, Nic grinned at her. Combined with his navy-blue eyes and wavy black hair long enough to curl on his shoulders, that smile made him irresistible to women worldwide. Unfortunately, he knew it and used it to his full advantage. She wasn’t taken in, however.

  “Ah, Janey.” He pulled her into his arms for a tight, quick hug. “I don’t know what we’d do without you. The rest of us would botch this office in a heartbeat without you to run interference.”

  She squashed the grin fired by Nic’s compliment, but she enjoyed the rush of pleasure it gave her. “Yeah, you’re only worried about losing the one person who can read your chicken scratch.”

  “I don’t give a damn about paperwork, you know that, brat.” He released her to lean against her desk as she sank into her chair. “Had enough of that in the army. Anyway, I need you to do something for me.”