She lifted an eyebrow and waited, knowing she wouldn’t be able to drag anything out of Nic until he wanted to tell her.
“How’s your schedule look for later this afternoon?”
She didn’t bother to check the calendar on her desktop. She had everyone’s schedule for the next two weeks memorized. “I guess I can be free.”
“Good. I need you to translate for me this afternoon. Was gonna use a police translator but he got injured in a drive-by last night.”
Okay, something not on the schedule. How many times had she told Nic she needed to be kept updated? She didn’t bother to complain. It never worked with him. “What’s going on?”
His lips twisted in a grin, as if he’d read her mind. “Gun buy for Nabosny. It’s been set for a while, or I would have pushed it off because of the kidnapping. I hate to use you for this, but I don’t have time to find someone else.”
Big brothers. Janey rolled her eyes. “What language?”
“German.”
She nodded. No problem. She’d been speaking German and Japanese since college. French, Spanish and Italian since high school. Languages were her second specialty after computers.
“Excuse me. Janey?”
Her gaze shot to the doorway, where she found Mal staring at her. Heat washed through her body as the memory of last night’s kiss made her toes tingle.
Luckily Nic had already turned toward Mal, standing in the doorway, so he wouldn’t catch the flush on her cheeks.
“Hey, Mal.” Nic broke in before she could speak. “If you’re free, I need you this afternoon.”
Mal’s all-encompassing gaze swung to Nic. “What’s up?”
In the split second between looking at her and turning to Nic, Mal’s entire demeanor changed. She caught her mouth before it fell open as the wariness he wore around her dissolved into animated interest.
“I need you to go along on a gun buy this afternoon,” Nic said. “Favor for the Philly police.”
If he’d been a dog, Mal’s ears would have perked up. Janey would have laughed at the comparison if it hadn’t been so apt. But that’s the only comparison she would ever make between Mal and a canine. Even dressed in baggy brown trousers and a wrinkled pink dress shirt, he was all male.
“Oh, yeah?”
She had to hand it to Mal. Whatever he was hiding, he did it well. But it was there, under the nerdy exterior.
Last night had proved there was more to the man than he let on. Hell, just that one kiss alone showed a dominance he never revealed at work. He’d kissed her until she’d felt ready to melt, ready to say yes to whatever he wanted.
And then…it was as if he’d remembered what role he was supposed to be playing.
“Yeah, down by the river,” Nic continued. “Janey’s going and I need someone to watch her back. Anything happens to me, you get her out.”
Oh, now, wait just a minute. Janey frowned, her gaze narrowed on her brother. Of all the asinine… She was going to strangle Nic.
“Sure, Nic. No problem.”
Now her gaze swung to Mal, who hadn’t even stopped to think maybe she could take care of herself.
Anger, clear and sharp and heady, buzzed through her.
And lunkhead Nic didn’t even notice as he nodded at both of them and headed toward the door. “We’ll leave at two.”
By the time he walked out the door, Janey had a pencil clenched in her hand, ready to launch at her brother’s back like a missile. “I am going to make that man suffer,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Sucks being the youngest.”
Mal’s amused tone drew her slitted gaze back to him, the half grin on his face stealing the breath right out of her chest. God, the guy was gorgeous. And that voice, rough and raspy like he had a two-pack-a-day habit, which she knew he didn’t.
She cleared her suddenly dry throat and forced herself not to rip into Mal because he was a convenient target. “So, what can I do for you?”
Heat flashed through Mal’s eyes before he dropped his gaze to the floor. “I need you to look at something for me. Can you come over to my office?”
Hell, yes. She’d follow him anywhere if he flashed those eyes at her.
Whoa, girl. Way too fast.
Not trusting herself to speak and possibly say exactly what she was thinking, she preceded him out the door, passing close enough to feel the heat he radiated, every shift of hard muscle—
Oh, this was bad. An office relationship, especially in this office, was doomed. Even though they liked Mal, her parents would watch his every move, looking for faults. Her brothers would try to intimidate him into confessing his every sin.
And she had way too much on her plate right now to even think about getting involved with anyone. Her parents needed her. Her brothers needed her.
But Mal…Mal was a great big distraction with a body to die for, fascinating hazel-green eyes full of secrets, and kissed like no nerd should be allowed to kiss.
He intrigued her more each day.
Jeez, even his office intrigued her. The room held nothing personal. No pictures, no knickknacks, no funny little Mickey Mouse stapler like Jimmy’s or spent grenade canisters like Nic’s. Nothing.
Except complete and utter chaos.
Floor-to-ceiling corkboard covered the wall behind his desk, and dozens of yellow slips of paper with his indecipherable shorthand made a crazy patchwork. She’d thought Nic’s handwriting had been awful until she’d seen Mal’s. At least Mal typed his own reports.
A minefield of stuff buried his L-shaped desktop—CD-ROMs, external hard drives, computer components, two towers, three monitors, two keyboards, a laser printer and tons of mechanical pencils and yellow legal pads.
The inveterate organizer in her itched to get her hands on a few bins in the supply closet and toss the debris into them.
“Yeah, it’s a mess, but I know where everything is.” Mal slipped into the room behind her. “I don’t need any help cleaning it up.”
She gave him her best queen-to-peon stare. “I was thinking no such thing.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right.”
Her nipples tightened and her thighs clenched. She hoped he didn’t notice.
She couldn’t tell as he stared down at her.
She liked that she had to look up at him. She liked how, if she moved closer and slid her arms around his waist, she could press her cheek to his chest, just above his heart.
Her mouth dried as she realized he’d just spoken to her.
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head slightly and gave him a rueful twist of her lips. “What did you say?”
Mal was having a hard time remembering because he’d been watching her heated gaze devour him from his shoulders to his arms and back to his chest.
Had she thought about that kiss last night while she lay alone in her bed? The kiss that had kept him awake for most of the night? Did she regret making that date with him for tomorrow night?
He pointed toward the closest monitor. “I, ah, wanted your take on this new information on the Donnelly case. I think I found something interesting.”
And Jesus, had he ever.
She wanted him. Maybe as much as he wanted her. A heavy dose of arousal set off little nuclear blasts of energy throughout his nervous system, straight to his groin. Hell, he couldn’t get an erection now. She was way too close not to notice.
But it worked in reverse, too, because he could see her nipples poking through her shirt. Man, oh man, what he wouldn’t give to be able to reach out and cup her breasts in his hands, run his thumbs over those peaks while he kissed her.
Son, you are so screwed.
Yeah, Dad, I think I could figure that out for myself.
Okay, deep breath. Think of something else. Cute little puppy dogs, furry little…bunnies.
She blinked those blue eyes at him several times, as if trying to process what he’d just said.
“The Donnelly case?” Her eyes finally narrowed. “The one with the m
issing rabbit and the five-million-dollar diamond?”
He gave her a genuine grin then. He got a kick out of this case. It’d been the first thing on his desk here. With the CIA, his work typically involved death and destruction. At DeMarcos, you got a little bit of everything.
“Yeah. I think I know what happened to the diamond.”
“Really?”
Janey stared at him with wide eyes. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how a twenty-five-year-old woman managed to look so damn innocent. Particularly a woman who managed an office full of type-A personalities and handled them with ease.
Who kissed with enough passion to make a man melt. And in whose eyes a man could drown, if he wasn’t careful.
Yep. You’re doing a pretty good imitation of sucking water, son. Don’t forget, she’s also the woman who knows what the DeMarcos are all about. Who could be involved in Dev’s death.
That thought wiped away his grin, and Janey’s eyebrows rose as she took a quick step back.
Damn. “Yeah,” he said, turning to point to one of his monitors. “I don’t think the rabbit was stolen along with the diamond. I think maybe it was all a cover-up.”
She laughed, but it sounded a little forced. As if she was thinking about something else. “So, someone simply stole the rabbit to cover up the crime? The wife was more broken up about the rabbit than she was about that diamond, anyway.”
“That always struck me as funny. So, I decided to check into the Winfreds’ personal life a little more. Turns out, the husband has a girlfriend. Guess who I think has the diamond?”
Janey leaned against his desk and an image assailed him, so erotic it made his heart stutter.
Janey. Spread across his desk—naked, of course. Not that he’d seen her naked—yet—but previous supervisors had always praised his ability to visualize.
In his little fantasy, he saw her reach for him with slim arms. Calling to him to come to her. Take her. Make love to her. Janey whispering in his ear that she wanted him to—
Whoa.
Mal sucked in air and forced his gaze to the floor for a few seconds. Way too much caffeine this morning.
No, just too much Janey. With an effort, he focused on her words and not just the sound of her voice.
“So the mistress gets the diamond and the wife thinks someone stole the rabbit and the diamond, when really the husband just hated the rabbit?”
It sounded like a question, but since he hadn’t heard the first part, he wasn’t exactly sure.
He shook his head, marveling that it didn’t rattle, because he was pretty sure he’d just lost a few marbles. When he lifted his gaze from the floor, he realized he was close enough to see her pupils dilate.
“Mal?”
“Yeah?” He felt one hand lift toward her face. It wouldn’t take much to touch her cheek, pull her closer and…
He had his mouth on hers before he realized he’d done it. The softness of her lips under his, the warmth of her breath, spiked his blood pressure along with his body temperature.
It was probably the worst thing he could have done but, holy hell, with her mouth opening under his, he was the goddamn master of the universe.
He raised both hands to cup her face and tilt her head to the perfect angle. When he slid his tongue into the warmth of her mouth, he felt hers glide along his.
She tasted sweet and hot, and, oh God, she was kissing him back, just like last night. Her hands curved around his shoulders, exerting a light pressure, which was nowhere near as much pressure as he was exerting on the zipper of his pants at the moment.
Closer, he needed her closer. He stepped in, her breasts pressed against his chest, soft and full and—
Oh, shit.
Son, you’ve gone over the edge.
He stepped away and stared straight into Janey’s wide eyes. Confusion clouded her expression, quickly replaced by keen-eyed interest.
Oh, freaking hell.
Mal dropped his gaze, but it got caught on the tent in his pants. “Wow. You must think I’ve got no self-control.” He took another step back and practically tripped over his feet. Like an awkward teenager, he stumbled sideways, shot out a hand to steady himself against the wall, then stood absolutely still.
“I don’t have an excuse for my behavior. I don’t normally attack women at work.” Shit, that was stupid. “Not that I was attacking you. It’s just… I know we agreed to take it slow last night. And I’m not trying to rush you.” Even though he’d really, really like to rush her into bed. “I’m really sorry.”
She didn’t move but he heard her trying to catch her breath in the silent room.
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” she finally said. “It’s not like I tried to stop you.”
No, she hadn’t. In fact, she would’ve let him deepen the kiss. He’d felt her surrender in the press of her body against his. Just like last night.
How far would she have let him go today?
He shook his head. “But that was really out of line.”
“Only if you didn’t mean it.” Her voice had lowered a few decibels.
“Yeah, I meant it.”
Still…
He tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t have him blowing his cover or pushing her away. Because this was exactly what he needed to be doing. Drawing her in. Making her trust him. So he could dig out all her secrets.
His stomach twisted in on itself.
With considerable effort, he forced himself to ignore it.
“It’s just…” He shrugged, hoping it looked contrite and not angry. “I like working here. Much more than working for the government.”
“The NSA couldn’t have been that bad.”
He shrugged again as he eased into his chair, only inches from where she leaned on his desk. And told her the truth.
“No, it wasn’t. I just…burned out.” Which was the absolute truth. Kind of shocked him to hear it spoken aloud. Even though he was still working for the government. “When I heard about this job through the grapevine, I knew it’d be a decent gig. Your parents’ reputations are legendary.”
Janey nodded, remembering that this was exactly what he’d told her parents when he’d come for his first interview. The detailed background check she’d done, including the fact that his last partner had been KIA, in addition to her parents’ more in-depth checks, had corroborated everything he’d said. Still…
“My parents are in a class by themselves.” Huge understatement. “But don’t you find all of this—” she gestured around his office, “—boring?”
A slight grin lifted the corners of his mouth and he shook his head. “It’s a nice change of pace. Most of the cases—” Mal stopped and shook his head and she knew he was thinking about his dead partner. “No, I don’t find this boring.”
Weariness etched itself into his skin in lines, and sorrow. She wondered how it would feel to lose a partner. Her partners were all family. She couldn’t imagine anything happening to them. The grief would tear out her heart.
“No,” he continued. “This suits me just fine right now.” He raised his gaze to hers, then pointedly looked at his desk. “Look, I know I was out of line last night and today. I’m really—”
She gently covered his mouth with her fingers, cutting off his words as efficiently as if she’d cut his vocal cords. She didn’t want him to apologize again.
“Don’t.” Her fingers lingered on his lips for a few seconds, his skin soft and tantalizing. She wished he’d lick her, suck on her fingers—
She withdrew her hand, got up and walked to the door, then turned to look at him, noting his sober expression. “Let me know when you come up with any more on the Donnelly case. And…we’re still on for Valley Forge tomorrow, yes?”
After a few seconds, Mal nodded. “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’ll let you know what time I’ll pick you up later today.”
Then she walked out, closing his door behind her, and wande
red back to her office in a haze.
Mal had called her beautiful and kissed her. Again.
Sitting behind her desk, she stared sightlessly at the door, half hoping he’d follow her to finish what he’d started. That kiss proved he was attracted to her. She hadn’t been imagining it. A rush of heat tingled from head to toe.
He wanted her. And she wanted him.
And neither of them should do a damn thing about it.
“Damn, damn, damn.”
When the phone rang, she grabbed for it like a lifeline.
“DeMarco Investigations.”
“Hey, DeMarco, what’s up?”
Janey smiled in spite of the tension still throbbing through her body. “Hey, Annie. How’d you get that Nazi of a boss to let you make a personal call in the middle of the day?”
Her best friend’s short, hard laugh spoke multitudes. “The man is a menace to society, which is why I no longer work for him.”
“Oh, no. What’d he do?”
“He actually had the nerve to tell me I was distracting the other employees.” Annie’s high-pitched anger rang through her cultured tone. “He didn’t even have the balls to admit he was pissed because I wouldn’t go out with him. So I quit.”
“Men are dogs.”
“Truer words were never spoken,” Annie agreed emphatically. “All except Brad. He’s been a true gentleman.”
“For all of two weeks. Gotta be true love. Forgive me if I don’t rush out and buy my bridesmaid dress.”
“I know it hasn’t been that long, but I really like him. Have you given any more thought to the email I sent you this morning?”
“You mean the one about Brad’s friend and dinner Tuesday night?” Janey hid a sigh, knowing she was going to have to go.
“Come on,” Annie pleaded. “It’ll be fun.”
“That’s what you said the last time.”
“Oh, come on, those tax attorneys weren’t that boring.” Annie huffed. “And the real estate guys—oh, wait, they were pretty bad. They kept trying to sell us condos in the Everglades. I wanted to laugh in their faces but it was more fun playing the dumb blonde.”
Sex, Lies and Surveillance Page 6
