by Peggy Jaeger
But this simple picture of a hand against a punching bag was beautiful, if she did say so herself.
The fingers, long and clenched, gave the observer a sense of their subtle power as they hit the bag, leaving a sizable dent in the process. The bag swayed from the hit, obvious in the blurriness surrounding it.
A sense of supreme satisfaction shot through Gemma. This, this, was why she’d become a photographer and worked so hard at her craft. To be able to preserve the perfect image, to know she’d captured something few ever saw or could even imagine, meant more to her than any awards, high priced commissions, or professional accolades ever could.
The fact that it was Ky’s hand she’d immortalized increased that sense of accomplishment.
When her stomach started to rumble, Gemma glanced over at the digital bed clock and blinked.
She’d been working for five solid hours without a break. The glass of diet soda had long since been drained. After hitting the save icon on the photos and creating a special file on the laptop for them, she shut down the device, stretched, and thought about lunch.
And about the men downstairs.
The sound of voices drifted up the staircase when she opened her bedroom door. They sounded…civilized.
Gemma let out a breath and bounded down to them.
They were seated where she’d left them hours before, at the kitchen table, each with a laptop in front of them. Opened bags of chips and a few empty water bottles littered the table between them.
Ky was facing in her direction and when he lifted his gaze from the computer screen to her, her insides did a quick tumble and roll at the heat and intensity staring at her.
She felt naked, exposed, and so completely turned on that her knees actually knocked together, making her stumble off the last step.
Stupid knees.
“You okay?” Ky was instantly on his feet.
“Just stiff from sitting so long.”
Lord, when had she turned into such a world-class liar? To cover her mortification, she plastered a smile on her face and asked, “Who, besides me, is hungry?”
* * *
He wanted to tell her he was starved for her, but kept his thoughts to himself. If Bannerman hadn’t been sitting across from him, poking fun at Gemma’s clumsiness, Ky would have crossed the room, taken her in his arms and feasted on her mouth.
“Kandy sent some of the soup she’s featuring in the new restaurant, along with stuff to make her grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it,” Rick told her when she opened the refrigerator. “There’s a container of it on the second shelf.”
Gemma opened the tub and took a whiff. “Hmmm. Grandma’s tomato cream. Yummy.”
“Your sister is opening a restaurant?” Ky asked. He’d moved behind her, helping to take down dishes and utensils from the cabinets. Just being physically close to her again brightened the foul mood darkening his soul from everything he and Bannerman had discovered.
“Several, actually,” Gemma said. She filled a pot with the zesty smelling soup and placed it on the stove. “The first one opens in a month in Tribeca. Another in Orlando in the fall and then LA in January.”
“Impressive.”
“No. Kandy.” Gemma lifted her shoulders. “This has been her dream since she was a kid, although she never told it to anyone until recently. A restaurant featuring only comfort foods, the kind we all had and loved as kids.”
“An interesting premise.”
She nodded and began slathering bread slices with butter. “No lie. This soup,” she pointed to the pot, “is without a doubt the best tomato soup you will ever have. Hands down.”
“Truth,” Bannerman said.
“What makes it so special?”
Gemma’s quick grin had him hard as stone and wanting in a heartbeat. “The showman in Kandy will tell you it’s made with love added into every cup, but it’s really the mix Grandma perfected of spices and herbs, plus the fact she used almond milk as the cream, and not cow’s milk. Grandma was a pioneer when it came to using plant products for baking sauces instead of dairy ones.”
The soup started to warm, its enticing aroma filling the kitchen.
“I wasn’t hungry until just this moment,” Ky said, sniffing the air.
Gemma laughed and said, “Wait until you taste the grilled cheese.” She laid two sandwiches onto the griddle. “You’ll think you’ve died and gone to comfort-food heaven.”
A few minutes later the three of them sat at the table.
The only sounds for a while were them sipping the soup and chewing.
“You didn’t exaggerate,” Ky said, wiping his lips with a napkin. “This truly is the best soup I’ve ever had. Think your sister will give me the recipe for my mother?”
“Not a chance in a gazillion, but she can come into the restaurant anytime and order it.” Her lips lifted at the corners.
Ky nodded. “I figured you’d say that.”
“So, tell me.” Gemma laid her sandwich down on her plate and looked from one man to the other. “What have you guys been doing all morning?”
Through silent agreement, Ky was elected to speak. Rick was still typing as they ate.
“The leak to Ritandi is directly from my department.”
He still had trouble believing it, but the proof Bannerman and he had unearthed was irrefutable.
“Rick found an e-mail account in my name and several wire transfers from one of Ritandi’s offshore accounts to an account in DC. Which is stupid when you think about it. The money can be traced to an American account so easily.”
“Instead of like the Caymans or someplace like that?” Gemma asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is your name on the account?”
“No.”
“So whose account is it?”
Ky shook his head. “That’s what he’s trying to find out. There are several layers of encryption and password protected steps to sift through first. Whoever set up the account knew what he was doing.”
Gemma’s gaze flicked to Rick’s side of the table. “That’s Theo’s device.”
Ky nodded. “I called him and he told Bannerman all he needed to know about how to navigate through the layers.”
“Guy’s a fuckin’ genius,” Rick said, his eyes never lifting from the screen, his fingers drumming across the keyboard. “I’m gonna try and get Josh to hire him. We could use his skills on some of the tougher info probe cases.”
“I can tell you right now Theo will say no. He’s working on something that takes all his time and concentration and until he finds what he’s looking for, he won’t be diverted.”
“We’ll see,” Bannerman said.
Before Ky could say another word, Rick’s hands fisted and he pumped them over his head. “Yes! I’m in.”
Both Ky and Gemma rose from their seats and came around to his side of the table.
“The name on the account is…Delaney Peterson. Who the hell is that? You don’t have anyone on your team with that name.”
Something tugged at the back of his memory. Ky sat back down at his computer and typed. After a minute a name scrolled across the screen. He cursed in Greek and then in English. “Son of a bitch!”
“Who is it?” Gemma asked.
Ky lifted his gaze. “My boss, SAC Tiege’s wife. It’s her maiden name.”
Gemma gasped and Bannerman’s eyes turned to blocks of stone.
“I can’t believe this.” Ky rose and shoved his hands in pockets to keep from hitting something—anything. He crossed to the living room, stopped in front of the fireplace.
“Well, now,” the private investigator said, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, “it makes sense, doesn’t it? Who better to set you up for a fall than someone who knows you so well?”
Gemma followed Ky and placed
a hand across his shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”
“He was the last person I’d ever think would be involved in something like this.” Ky stared at the empty fireplace. “I’ve always thought he had my back. He always has.”
The betrayal stung, but not as much as knowing Gemma’s life had been put in danger too many times by a person he’d put his complete trust in. Misplaced trust, it was apparent now.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
He turned to face her. In reality, all he could think of doing was pulling her into his arms and letting her touch dissolve all the pain shooting through him.
“We need a plan to end this.” He looked over at Bannerman.
“And we need to bring him and Ritandi down.”
Rick nodded. “Let’s get to it.”
* * *
Something was holding her in place. Gemma opened her eyes to see that night had come. The open window curtain allowed the moon’s glow to slink through the room giving her enough light to see the face of the man lying next to her, his arm wound possessively around her waist.
She had no memory of coming to bed. Gemma had joined Rick and Ky as they put together their plan, remaining silent for the most part, butting in with questions and concerns when she felt the need. Lunch had given way to a long afternoon of the men arguing back and forth about the best tactics to use. Before she reheated the lasagna and garlic bread her sister had sent for dinner, Gemma took an hour for herself and worked out in the garage.
What time she fell asleep she hadn’t a clue.
Ky shifted to his back, his hand trailing across her stomach, but never leaving. Gemma cuddled closer, delighting in his natural warmth, and nuzzled her nose along his jaw. His eyes opened, instantly awake and aware as he turned his head to face her.
“Did you carry me up to bed?” she whispered.
He nodded, moved to his side, and ran his index finger along her cheek. “You didn’t look comfortable on the couch.”
“Thank you.”
“You wouldn’t let me leave.” He smiled and kissed her nose. “I was worried Bannerman was gonna put up a stink about my staying in here.”
His mouth slid down to hers. When he kissed her nothing had ever felt more natural, more comfortable, than to be lying beside him. Gemma ran a hand down his arm, then up again and over his shoulder.
“He’s not the boss of me,” she said, gliding her finger across his jaw. “He just thinks he is.”
Ky’s smile hit her squarely in the chest right before he took her lips again.
In no time at all the kiss went from sweet and tranquil to burning hot and insistent, each of them fully awake now, wanting, demanding. His tongue danced around hers, tugging, nipping, making a firestorm of need tornado up from within her. She grew restless, her feet and legs sliding along the sheets, along his legs, seeking relief. Seeking…him. An impatient moan pushed out of her when her hands met the fabric of his shirt, denying her access to his skin.
Gemma pulled away from his lips. “Take this off,” she commanded, breathlessly. “I need to touch you.”
Ky pulled back and touched his forehead to hers. “Baby, we can’t do this. We can’t let this go any further. Not here. Not now.”
“Why not?” Frustration pushed the whine into her voice.
“Bannerman’s right next door for one, and I’m still not convinced he won’t try to beat the crap out of me. And I still don’t have any condoms for another.”
“We were okay without them last night.” She really needed to have a conversation with herself sometime about the needy tone that kept escaping through her lips.
He kissed the corner of her mouth. “I know. And as amazing as that was, I need to be inside you the next time we make love. I want all of you, Gemma. All of you.”
For the first time in a long time—maybe forever—Gemma couldn’t speak. Ky’s words stopped her cold. His eyes, even in the darkness, shone like winking stars as they gazed across at her.
No one had ever said those words to her before. No one. Gemma had had sex many times in her life. Some encounters had been better than others, and last night she counted among the best of the best. But in truth, she’d never made love to anyone. She’d never even considered it, because in doing so she’d have to give a piece of herself away, forgo some of her control. Allow the man making love to her to see her, really see her, all of her, and she’d never been willing to share herself that completely with anyone.
Until now.
“I want to see your face when I’m inside you and make you lose control.” He kissed the other corner of her mouth. “I want you to look up at my face and know it’s me making you come undone.” He swiped his tongue across her bottom lip. “And then I want to lose myself inside you without worrying about anything but how good it feels to be there, for both of us.”
His mouth ravished hers, there was no other word for it, she realized. He took complete control, claiming her, marking her as his. Why fear and uncertainty didn’t follow she couldn’t answer, so she just delighted in the knowledge that even though he desired her, he was willing to wait to make it perfect between them.
The widening crack protecting her heart opened to the size of a chasm.
Ky changed the kiss, softening it once again, turning it playful.
“I need to get back to my room.” He dragged his finger along the lips he’d just caressed with his tongue. “Rick is leaving tomorrow to start setting everything up and you and I need to prepare for when we get out of here.”
“So, stay with me now,” she said. “We don’t have to…do…anything. Just sleep.”
Ky’s grin was winsome, even in the dim light surrounding the bed. “Baby, if you believe I can get back to sleep with you cuddled next to me, and both of us on fire, you’re crazy. I’m strong but not that strong.” He pulled out of her arms. “I’m going to sleep in the bed downstairs. Alone. And I’m gonna dream about you.”
With one last kiss, he left her.
* * *
They’d been over the plan four—no, five—times. Gemma’s brain was starting to shut down. She wanted this to be over, but why did it have to be so complex? Why couldn’t they just point the feds in the right place, to the right person?
With a shake of her head, she silently answered her own question. Tiege was a professional. He’d already made it look like Ky was responsible for everything that had happened. He’d be able to wiggle his way out of any accusations hailed at him, and the so-called proof would be the faked e-mail account and phone messages.
She let the men talk it out all over again while she kept them fed and hydrated. Without either of them uttering a word of complaint, she’d brought her camera down to the first floor and took dozens of pictures of the two of them, the house, and the view through the windows. By the time lunch was finished, they’d finally gotten everything set.
Rick lifted his plate and brought it to the sink. While he rinsed it, he told Ky, “I’m all packed and ready to leave. As soon as I get back to my office I’ll start arranging things. It’ll take a day, two tops. Then I’ll call you and you can set everything into motion from here.”
Ky nodded. “I think this will work.” He glanced over at Gemma.
Cop face.
“Are you okay with everything we’ve laid out? Any questions or concerns?”
“None that I can think of.”
“I really don’t like the idea of using you in this,” Ky said.
She cocked her head at him. “Because you don’t think I’m capable?”
“No. You’re more than capable. I know that.” He took a deep breath and then blew it out slowly. “It’s because you’re a civilian and involving you in this just goes against everything in my training. You won’t be armed; you’ll be on your own. But I just don’t see any other way out of this.”
“Relax,” Bannerman told him. He nodded his chin at her. “Gemma may be a civilian but she can handle herself. She’ll be fine.”
She turned her gaze to him. “You think Josh will go along with this plan?”
Rick’s grin was fast and confident. “No worries. They want you home, Cleo. This is gonna guarantee it.”
“I hate that name,” she mumbled, bringing her own dish to the sink. “Remember how she ended up.”
Rick reached out and hugged her to his side. That growling sound she’d heard escape from Ky before slipped out again.
“You’re not gonna get bitten by a snake—”
“Asp.”
“—hiding in a basket, so forget about how she bought it, and concentrate on your part of the plan.”
“I know what to do,” she told him, taking Ky’s plate from his hand and joining it with the others.
Fifteen minutes later Rick pulled her into a full body hug and kissed her forehead. “Behave,” he told her.
“Back at ya.”
He moved to Ky and shook his hand. Right before he got into his car he leaned down and said something for Ky’s ears alone, then pulled back and grinned, tossing a wave her way.
“Stay safe,” she called out from the front door.
“Always.”
Ky walked up the porch steps and watched the car until it crossed out of sight.
“What did he say to you?” Gemma asked when they walked back into the house.
While he set the alarm code, Ky answered. “I’ll tell you later.”
Even after being around him constantly for almost an entire week, Gemma couldn’t read what was in his eyes as he looked across at her.
“I’m feeling like I need a workout,” he said. “We’ve been cooped up here too many days and I’m starting to feel antsy. What about you? You up for a good sweat?”
