The Fiancé Trap: A Honeytrap Inc. Romance

by Tabitha A Lane

  He came with a shout, a hoarse cry that forced itself from his throat as his release filled her. As they became one.

  SIXTEEN

  When the coach pulled up in the parking lot outside the high school, Jace was waiting. The other kids retrieved their bags and stood around talking, not yet ready for the time they spent together to be over. Rory acted differently. He swung his knapsack over his shoulder, strode straight to the car and climbed in.

  “How did it go?” Jace didn’t know how to start the conversation. How to break the ice, and say the words that crowded his heart. That he was sorry. That he loved Rory more than he’d ever loved anyone or anything in his entire life, and he’d gouge his eye out with a spoon rather than hurt him again.

  But hell, spilling all that was melodramatic as fuck. He couldn’t bear it, and neither could Rory.

  “Yeah, good.” Rory cast him a tentative smile. “Glad to be home though.”

  They made more small talk on the way home, but once inside Rory headed into the kitchen rather than upstairs to his bedroom and computer as usual.

  When they loaded up with big mugs of tea and cut giant slices of the chocolate cake Jace had picked up in the store to celebrate Rory’s return, Jace spoke. “Have you talked to Kenna?”

  “Every day.” Rory’s phone pinged. He glanced at it, then typed a reply to the incoming text message—his thumbs flying over the tiny cell phone so fast they almost blurred.

  “Even now.” With a grin, he put the phone down on the table. “She’s okay. She was pissed, though, Dad.”

  “She had every right to be.” Jace would have bitten off the head of anyone who had probed for information about Rory’s mother when he was a kid. He knew firsthand how intrusive and irritating someone else’s questions could be—no matter how well-intentioned.

  “Her dad talked her around. She knows you were just looking out for her.”

  “So, do you think she’ll come to dinner?”

  “I told her I was home, and I’d like to go out and see her in an hour or so, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Fine. But before then, you and I have a lot to talk about. This contact from your mother…”

  Rory bristled. “I don’t consider her my mother. As far as I’m concerned, Amanda is a stranger who contacted me out of the blue. She doesn’t deserve anything from me.” Rory’s hands gripped into fists and his jaw clenched.

  “Technically, she is your mother.”

  “She gave birth to me, but she didn’t even stay one day, did she, Dad? And being a parent is more than that. At any stage, she could have walked back into my life, she could have made contact with me by sending a birthday card or a Christmas card, but instead, she decided to live her life without me.”

  Jace couldn’t deny the truth of Rory’s statements. “Yes, she could have. And I won’t deny that when I first heard she’d made contact, I was angry. She could have approached us both differently.”

  “I should have told you, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to upset you. You’ve got enough on your plate without worrying about Amanda coming back into our lives. I know you’re busy at work. And you’ve been seeing that woman in Seattle.”

  Jace hadn’t hidden that his recent visits to Seattle had been to meet with Crystal, but they hadn’t talked much about it either, so he was surprised Rory brought her up.

  “I feel terrible you had to deal with Amanda alone. I wish you talked to me about it. Everything going on in your life is important to me, Rory.”

  “And everything going on in your life is important to me too, Dad.”

  “I’ve stopped dating Crystal.”

  Rory’s eyes widened. “You don’t need to because of me. I want you to be happy. I want you to have someone.”

  This was awkward—not something he thought he’d have to say to his seventeen-year-old son. But Jace had to come clean. Had to explain what happened while Rory was away.

  “Our relationship ended, but not because of you. I’ve been seeing someone else. In the past few days, I’ve been involved with Ally.”

  “Ally?” Rory frowned. “Kenna told me you were with her, but I told her she must be wrong. I don’t understand. This woman—this stranger—came into our lives when she found Kenna and me on the road. It seems weird that you suddenly started dating her.”

  Dating. It wasn’t exactly dating, but the word was as good as any other.

  “She wasn’t a stranger. By a weird quirk of fate, Ally brought you home, and we discovered each other again. We met at New Years. Remember when I went to that party in Portland? We met then.”

  Rory whistled. “Wow, are you telling me that Ally is the mysterious redhead?”

  For a few moments, Jace just sat there wondering how his world had turned upside down and inside out, delivering him into this alternate reality where nothing made sense. He’d never told Rory about that night. His kid was seventeen, for chrissake, and they were father and son, not best buddies. However much they might get on, however close they might be, it was inconceivable that he share intimate details with his child.

  “Ben told me you met someone, he called her the mysterious redhead,” Rory said. “And before you bawl him out for telling me, he only did because I asked him what was wrong with you. You were acting so weird and distracted that January. I knew there was something you weren’t telling me, and I was worried that you were sick or something. Ben told me you were hung up on a girl.” He grinned. “I was pretty relieved, to be honest. I could relate.”

  “Yeah, well…I don’t know what to say. I feel like kicking Ben’s ass.”

  Rory’s grin stretched ear to ear. “So what’s the story now? Are you in love with her?”

  It was too soon. It was too much. He and Rory had a relationship to rebuild, and nothing, no one, could be allowed to threaten that.

  “I like her a lot. I know it’s difficult, because she got in the way of things with you and Kenna, but I’d like you to meet her properly sometime. I’d like you to give her another chance.”

  It was strange to be back in Seattle. She’d never noticed how busy the city was, how loud. People on the street walked faster, and paid less attention to their surroundings. As though they were living their lives, not at normal speed, but in fast forward.

  Her apartment felt less like home than the rented house in Shepherd’s Crook, even though her possessions were there. It was quiet. Soulless. And now that she’d formed an uneasy truce with her family, she felt cut off again from them. Sealed in a hermetic bubble.

  She breathed deep. Pushed open the door to Honeytrap Inc., and stopped for a moment, confused to not see Margaret’s familiar face at reception. Instead, a new woman was there. Someone she didn’t recognize.

  “Can I help you?” A friendly greeting, a smile. She must be mistaken for a client.

  “I’m Ally Moore. I work here.”

  “I’m Barbara.”

  “I’ll just go to my office.”

  Barbara held up a hand. “Just a second. I was told to let Margaret know when you arrived.” She turned away and punched a button on the intercom. “Ally Moore’s at reception.” She spoke so quietly Ally wouldn’t have even heard if she hadn’t been paying close attention. After listening for a moment, she terminated the call, and turned to Ally again.

  “Margaret will be with you in a moment. She says, could you take a seat?”

  There was no point fighting with this stranger, but Ally didn’t like the way this was going. She’d expected to just arrive in the office, talk to Crystal, and hand in her notice.

  She and Jace hadn’t spoken further about the situation with Crystal.

  “Is Crystal in?”

  Before Barbara had a chance to reply, Margaret pushed open the door that led from reception to the offices.

  “Hi, Ally.” She beckoned her forward with a jerk of her head. “Come on through.”

  “What’s going on?” Ally whispered once they were out of Barbara’s sight. “I just want to
go to my office.”

  “I’ve been assigned a new role, but you know that. We’ll talk in my office.” Margaret walked through the communal area, to a room that had been used for storage up until a week ago. They passed Chris and Marco, but neither spoke to her, or, in fact, acknowledged her in any way.

  Margaret hurried into the office, and closed the door once Ally was inside. “Crystal’s in Portland for the week. Brian’s standing in temporarily.”

  Brian. The CEO of the entire group. He never had anything to do with the day-to-day running of the company.

  “I’ve been told to run through some stuff with you, and then send you in to Brian for a meeting.” Margaret chewed her bottom lip.

  “Tell me what’s going on.” Their relationship had always been good. Margaret appeared to be torn about how to deal with this.

  “Okay. I reckon you need to be prepared. But you didn’t hear this from me.”

  She sat down behind a battered desk, repurposed from somewhere else, by the look of it. “I’m supposed to get a client report from you. It was billed as a regular operative debriefing.” She shoved a file across the desk, and rotated it so Ally could see. “Crystal said you’d been sent on assignment to a town outside Portland.”

  “I was. But she wanted it off the books. That’s what she told me, anyway.”

  “No. She’s made it an official assignment. She put herself in as the client, and her fiancé in as the mark.”

  “Jace was never her fiancé.”

  Margaret frowned. “I was told to ask for your report.”

  “I’m not making one.” Ally crossed her arms. “Really, I should talk to Crystal about this.”

  Margaret shook her head. “Not possible. She said it would be a conflict of interest.” She swallowed. “She’s made an official complaint against you, Ally. She says you crossed the line, and slept with him.” She leaned forward. “You’re one of the best operatives in the office, I don’t know why she’d say such a thing. But she brought Brian in to deal with the complaint. It’s a sacking offense.”

  Ally knew that. Everyone at the agency knew the one thing that could not happen was that an employee got involved with a mark. Loyalty to the client was paramount.

  “Did she report that I knew him? That we’d had a previous relationship?”

  The shock on Margaret’s face answered that question eloquently.

  “This is a stitch up, Margaret. Pure and simple. Crystal acted unethically. She forced me to continue with the assignment even after I told her I couldn’t because Jace and I know each other. He’s broken up with her, and she wants me out.”

  The phone on Margaret’s desk rang. She answered it, and listened to the person on the other end. “Yes, I’ll send her up now.” She put down the phone. “I’m sorry, Ally. I believe you. But Brian has been informed you’re in the building and is insisting you be brought to see him straight away.”

  Brian had set up in Crystal’s office. He rose when Ally and Margaret entered and looked at Margaret with an unspoken question in his eyes.

  “Here’s the file, Ally has not added a report.” Margaret placed the manila folder onto his desk.

  “Thank you, Margaret.” He didn’t speak again until she left the room and Ally sat.

  “Isn’t it standard procedure to file a report at the end of an assignment, Ally?” He didn’t waste time with pleasantries, just jumped right to business.

  “Normally, yes. But this wasn’t an ordinary assignment—I told Crystal I had no intention of filing a report.”

  Brian leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “This is a difficult situation. You’ve always worked well for our company, but serious allegations have been made that jeopardize your position here. Crystal asked me to step in and deal with this, and I’d appreciate you speaking frankly so I can get to the bottom of it.”

  Nerves danced in Ally’s stomach. “I’m more than happy to cooperate. But this was a private assignment, something Crystal asked me to do off the books.”

  Brian frowned. “That’s not what I’ve been told.”

  “In that case, respectfully, sir, I don’t think you’ve been given all of the facts.”

  Brian stared at her, unblinking. “I only have one question for you, Ally. Crystal has made an allegation that you behaved unprofessionally with a target. Someone she asked you to investigate. Is this true?”

  There was no way to deny it. Ally didn’t even try. “Yes. I’m in a relationship with the person I went to investigate but…”

  “You’re in a relationship with Crystal’s boyfriend. The person she asked you to investigate?” A look of disgust transformed Brian’s features.

  “Yes.” God, it sounded bad. If their positions were reversed, she’d be disgusted too, we but once Brian knew everything, he couldn’t possibly hold her actions against her. “When Crystal asked me to investigate—to run a honeytrap on her boyfriend, I didn’t know that we knew each other. The moment I discovered that we did, I asked to be taken off the case. She refused.”

  “You didn’t know you knew him? How is that even possible? Surely Crystal told you his name?”

  Brian already had her pegged as a relationship-breaking harlot with no morals. And now she had to explain that she didn’t know Jace’s name when she slept with him. That they’d chosen anonymity as their drug of choice as they fucked the night away. “It’s complicated.” Boy, was it complicated. “Crystal didn’t supply me with a photograph. We had met previously at a New Year’s party.”

  “So you knew him. But not his name.”

  “Like I said, it’s complicated.” It was beyond awful that she was being forced to explain, but there was no getting out of it. Brian was a man on a mission, and that mission seemed to be to dig deep for every single fact.

  “Are you saying you had a sexual relationship with this man? A sexual encounter?” Brian’s nose wrinkled as though he smelled something bad.

  “Yes. Under the circumstances, I considered it unethical to continue my investigation and informed Crystal of that fact immediately. She was adamant I continue. She made it clear my job was on the line if I didn’t.”

  Brian took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting them back on. He sighed. “This is all very irregular. And your story differs from the one Crystal gave me.”

  “I’m telling you the truth. I was forced to continue an investigation under duress, one that I discovered I couldn’t, in all conscience complete. The target—” the word lodged in her throat, she hated to think of Jace as that—“has ended his relationship with Crystal.”

  “And started a relationship with you.”

  She stared at Brian, refusing to answer. Then she said, “I believe this complaint Crystal lodged, is as a result of the end of her relationship. And really, I can’t be held to blame for that.”

  “I’m not getting into dating wars here.” Brian closed the file. “I’m just trying to find out if you behaved improperly.”

  A memory of the night before flashed through Ally’s mind. Of both of them naked.

  “And if you became involved with someone under investigation, that counts as improper,” Brian emphasized. “No matter what the circumstances.”

  “I came in this morning to talk to Crystal. To let her know that I felt I had no option but to resign.” Ally twisted her hands in her lap. “Not because I had done anything wrong, but because she put me in an impossible situation. She offered me a promotion for completing this assignment, and threatened to blacken my name if I didn’t. I can’t possibly work with her after that.”

  “I agree. I wanted to give you the courtesy of hearing your side, but frankly, you’ve admitted that you broke the rules, and for that alone, I have to let you go.” He stood. “I’m afraid it’s effective immediately.” He pressed the intercom. “Can you ask Margaret to come back in, please?”

  Margaret walked in a few seconds later; she must have been waiting in the secretary’s office, just outside.
<
br />   “Please help Ally clean out her desk,” he said, before facing Ally again. “Your severance check will be in the post.”

  A small, empty cardboard box sat in the middle of Ally’s desk. It was apparent that Brian had envisaged only one outcome of their meeting. The outcome where she shoved all her possessions into the box and got out of there. No wonder he wasn’t willing to listen. Being fired was on the cards before she even walked into the building.

  Margaret stood awkwardly to one side as Ally opened the desk drawers to pack her personal possessions. She didn’t speak and avoided eye contact.

  So this was how it ended. The career she once thought so important destroyed in an instant.

  When the box was packed, she glanced up and caught a glimpse of Chris passing the open office door. “Chris!”

  He looked over. Then stepped into the room and walked up to the desk. “I’ll help you out with this.”

  She nodded, not wanting to speak in front of Margaret.

  “Goodbye, Margaret. It’s been good working with you.” She forced a tight smile.

  “Good luck, Ally.” Margaret didn’t add, you’re going to need it, but the sentiment was evident in her eyes.

  In the elevator, Chris spoke. “So that’s it then? It’s true—you’re through?”

  “I’m fighting this. It’s unfair dismissal.”

  “So you didn’t do it?” Hope lit his expression for a moment.

  “I don’t know what you’ve been told—but I’m guessing it’s only half the story.”

  “Word is, you slept with someone you were investigating. You slept with Crystal’s fiancé.”

  Fiancé. That word again. They’d never been engaged, but it seemed weak and petty to say it. She did it anyway. “Crystal wasn’t engaged. The man I was investigating was her boyfriend.”