Devereaux Billionaires Complete Series: Books 1-4

by Mallory Crowe

  “Fantastic. I must’ve missed it coming in. Thank you, Ms....”

  “Peterson,” she supplied. She had a feeling he wanted her to stand and shake his hand, but Evelyn stayed put. She didn’t want to invite more conversation, so playing the bitch card might be best.

  “Thank you, Ms. Peterson,” he finished. He gave one more small nod of thanks before he turned to leave. She managed to keep herself at her desk for a good fifteen minutes before she finally jumped up and made her way across the hall to Luke’s office. Once she saw that he was alone, she slipped in and shut the door.

  Luke glanced up from his computer and smiled.

  A bit of her worry faded away as she saw how happy he looked. “That proud of yourself?” she asked.

  “What? Not a football fan?”

  “You did that on purpose?”

  “Hell yeah. I thought you’d appreciate a bit of an education on the wonders of college ball.”

  She snorted. “I’m trying to protect you and you’re trying to put me to sleep.”

  He held up his hands. “You said to bond with him.”

  “Smart ass,” she muttered even as a smile crept into her mouth. She almost hated to burst Luke’s good mood with what just happened. “I have concerns...” she said carefully.

  Just like that, his face fell. “Why? Everything seemed to go great on my end.”

  She nodded. “On your end. Longineu showed up at my office right after he left yours. He asked for the bathroom.”

  “He could’ve just had to piss.” But Luke’s face didn’t seem convinced.

  “He could’ve asked you. Or Cali. Not wander into a strange office to ask me. There’s only two options I can think of.”

  “Like?”

  “Either he suspects I’m not who I say I am—”

  “Which makes no sense because he shouldn’t know you exist.”

  “Or he wanted to hit on me.”

  Luke leaned back in his chair. “Now that makes sense to me.”

  Well, it was nice to know Luke thought she was hit on material. Er, not nice. Not something her asset should be thinking about her. “It makes me uneasy. How sure are you that Cali is loyal?”

  Luke went dead serious. “One hundred percent certain.”

  “Even the nicest people can be desperate. Has she had any money trouble that she’s mentioned recently?”

  “With the amount we pay her, I don’t think money problems are possible. None of my people would be giving away my personal business. What about your end?”

  Evelyn’s eyes widened. “My people? The FBI?”

  “Don’t look so shocked. You do come from public corruption. Your entire job was finding dirty cops.”

  That would be a problem. Mainly because there were enough people at the Bureau who knew about her assignment that it would be almost impossible to nail down who it was. If it actually was a dirty agent, which Evelyn wasn’t willing to believe yet.

  “Either way, I feel that I should warn you that going to meet Longineu on Friday might not be a good call. If he suspects something, I don’t want you alone with him.”

  Luke narrowed his eyes. “Is that right?”

  “It’s my responsibility to get the Thirteen Stars and keep you alive. I’d prefer to do both.”

  He nodded briefly. “Well, that’s nice, but I don’t care.”

  “You don’t care?”

  “If this is the guy who tried to kill Emma, I’m going to nail his ass to the wall. Not tiptoe around at the slightest threat.”

  “And if he tries to hurt you?”

  “Then I’ll take care of it.”

  Cocky man had no idea what he was saying. “And if he tries to hurt me?” she tried, hoping to talk some sense into him.

  “Then I’ll kill him.”

  Evelyn was taken aback at the sudden declaration, but Luke seemed one hundred percent serious. “I’m, um, I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

  Luke scoffed and stood, meeting her eyes over his desk. “As long as you’re helping me, you’re under my protection. I might not be a ninja like you, but around here, Devereaux protection means something.”

  Evelyn opened her mouth and shut it just as quick. She didn’t know what to say to that. Just a day ago, she could’ve sworn that Luke wanted to kill her, and now he was protecting her? For that matter, she hadn’t been very fond of him one day earlier either.

  “I appreciate that,” she finally muttered as she backed up a few steps. “I’m going to talk to a coworker and I’ll let you know my assessment of the Friday meeting.”

  “Assess all you want. I’m still going,” said Luke.

  Evelyn reached back for the door. “And I’ll consider that when I’m assessing. Good-bye, Luke.”

  Before he could say anything else, she slipped out of his office and closed the door behind her. And looked right into Cali’s big, blue, suspicious eyes.

  “Updating Luke on your...project?” asked Cali, the innuendo clear in her tone.

  Evelyn sighed. On the list of her problems, worrying about Cali thinking she and Luke were screwing was on the bottom of her list. “Yep,” she said as she headed back to her office. “Just showing Luke all the ins and outs.”

  She left Cali standing slack jawed as she shut the door to her own office on the woman.

  Gail straightened her leather jacket before she tucked the rest of her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail. “Are you sure it wouldn’t be better if Luke knew I was there?”

  Evelyn shook her head as she sat back on Gail’s bed. “Luke is smart, but he’s not a field agent. I can’t trust him not to look for you or give you away. Also, I think my faith in him to keep himself safe is giving him a confidence boost that he needs right now.”

  “I thought you said he had more confidence than ten men combined?”

  “Well, yeah. In terms of looks and his job. But I think he’s a little out of his league here.”

  “So it increases your confidence in him?”

  Gail was much too perceptive for her own good. “If you don’t want to help, just say so.”

  “I can do a simple watch and report job.” She smiled, obviously enjoying giving Evelyn a bit of crap. “At least you’re worried about his safety now. That’s a step up from last week.”

  “Just because I didn’t like the guy didn’t mean I wanted him to die.”

  “Didn’t like him? Does that mean you like him now?”

  Evelyn tightened her lips and pulled out a phone from her bag. “Here’s a disposable phone for you to keep me updated on what you see.”

  “So you really like him?”

  Evelyn couldn’t tell whether Gail was just really bad at taking a hint or whether she didn’t care about the hint. “Just because I don’t want Luke to die doesn’t mean we’re best friends.” For the most part, she’d hardly seen him since that Wednesday in his office. She’d gone to Cali and asked whether she’d needed help with anything after lunch, like she’d promised, and had been busy the rest of the week helping Cali and catching up on her own Bureau work.

  Luke had popped in a few times to see whether she wanted to go out to lunch or dinner, platonically so he said, but Evelyn had nipped that in the bud. No matter what he thought happened that night in her apartment, there was nothing between them. That kiss had been a fluke. A bad judgment call that never should’ve happened. She was his handler and responsible for keeping him alive. He, more than anyone, should want her head clear and in the game.

  Not muddled with images of his bare, sweaty chest in his office.

  “I’m thinking tonight will be easy. You might not be able to go wherever they go. I expect there will be some private parties Brian will take Luke to. Those guys love to show off how exclusive they are. As long as his phone is on, we can get a read on his location. All you have to do is open up the mapping app that’s preloaded on the phone, and it will show you his location. I will be monitoring it from my apartment, so even if they go somewhere you can’t follo
w, we can at least know where they go.”

  “And Longineu got a good enough look at you that he would recognize you if you were following?”

  “Oh yeah.” Even though the encounter in her fake office was brief, it was more than enough to completely blow any chance of Evelyn tailing Luke herself. “Are you sure you’re free to do this?” Evelyn had gotten the okay from her boss, Hotchins, but Gail still had a large family who took up a lot of time. She’d agreed at the drop of a hat to help out, but that didn’t mean this was convenient for her. And it was overtime. Probably not the best way for a family woman like Gail to spend her nights.

  “Are you kidding? Roger has the boys for a night and I haven’t done reconnaissance for over a year. I’m more than happy to get back out there.”

  Evelyn snorted. She didn’t know how Gail could be so laid-back about this. Maybe not this mission in particular, but being an agent. An active agent still logging time in the field.

  The world was a dangerous, messed-up place and Gail had a family depending on her. Sure, Gail was a competent agent, but Evelyn liked to think she was a good agent too. It didn’t stop her from getting shot. Why would anyone with a family depending on them put themselves in this kind of career?

  That was probably why Evelyn was such a loner. It seemed too selfish to put her life on the line if someone was depending on her. She knew far too many coworkers who had tried to put down roots, only to have the job pull them apart.

  But there had been the odd success story, like Gail. Her husband, Roger, was gung ho about helping with the kids and the long hours. Evelyn assumed they had talked about the risks and both accepted them. A functioning, synergetic relationship.

  Evelyn liked the idea of settling down and having a family, but giving up her favorite parts of the job were almost unimaginable for her. And the possibility of finding someone like Roger who was okay with the risks she took every day seemed impossible at the moment.

  Gail bent down to enter a code into the safe in her closet. She pulled out her government-issued handgun and a loaded magazine, clicking it into the weapon before she tucked it into the holster hidden by her jacket. One more reminder of what Evelyn was asking her to do.

  “Hopefully this will be just as boring as a night in. A couple of guys talking numbers and business over drinks,” said Evelyn.

  “Speak for yourself,” muttered Gail. “As long as no one gets hurt, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit of action.”

  Evelyn raised a brow. “You still know how to fire that gun?” She winked.

  “Hell yeah. I’m at the range every weekend.”

  “Hmmm. I didn’t think you’d have time to do that with the kids.”

  “Are you kidding? The oldest comes with me. Our house is probably the safest place on the East Coast.”

  “Note to self. Don’t piss off the Bruce family,” muttered Evelyn.

  Gail gave herself one more look in the mirror, adjusting the jacket so no hint of the gun or holster was visible. “Got that right.”

  Evelyn nodded, feeling much better than she had that morning about Luke meeting with Longineu. She hated the idea of him going alone, even if every logical part of her mind told her he’d be fine.

  She just couldn’t shake the unease of Longineu walking right into her fake office. Had it really been a misunderstanding? Evelyn didn’t believe in coincidences in normal situations, let alone in such a delicate operation that the FBI had been working years toward.

  Knowing Gail would be there as backup was just what Evelyn needed. “Okay. They’re scheduled to meet up at eight p.m., but I don’t think a location has been decided. So start heading in his direction around seven thirty?”

  Gail set a hand on her hip and glared at Evelyn. “This ain’t my first tail job. You head back to your place and make sure you’re getting a clear signal from the bug in his phone. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  Evelyn gave Gail one more once-over. She wore a sharp, fake leather jacket, a sweater and tank top, so if she wanted to change up looks, all she had to do was remove a layer since the holster was under the sweater. Her brown hair could also go from ponytail to down in a heartbeat. The boots she paired with her jeans had a heel, but it was short enough that she could still walk for miles if needed.

  All in all, she looked as though she knew what she was doing. Which made Evelyn feel a hell of a lot better about the idea of letting Luke go off on his own with Longineu. “Okay then. I’m off. You know how to get a hold of me if you need to.”

  Gail nodded as they crossed out of the bedroom and through her empty apartment. “Go! I got this, okay?”

  “Okay! Okay! Going! I owe you,” she promised as she slipped out of the front door. Evelyn even managed to feel relatively confident about the entire thing right until she got back to her own apartment and saw Luke lounging against the door in her dingy hallway.

  She couldn’t help the scowl that covered her face. “What are you doing here?” she snapped.

  Luke raised a brow and cocked his head. “Nice to see you too, Agent Price.”

  She reached the door, but he didn’t move out of the way. “You’re supposed to be getting ready for your man date,” she reminded him.

  “And as excited as I am for this man date, I thought me and my handler should have a talk ahead of time.”

  “We don’t have anything to talk about. You know what you need to do. You’re charming enough in your own way to get it. And you also know that you’re not supposed to get shot while doing it. That’s really all the pertinent information.”

  Instead of being annoyed at her brush-off like she hoped, Luke smiled down at her. “You think I’m charming?”

  Evelyn brushed her hair aside to rub at the back of her neck. Lord help her, she did think he was charming. Especially when he looked like he did at the moment. Somehow she’d imagined a pair of billionaires going out on the town would be dressed like she was used to seeing him. In suits and ties.

  But Luke was dressed casually. A very nice casual. Every simple piece of clothing was fit perfectly and only seemed to accentuate his broad shoulders and muscular build. Like Gail, he wore a leather jacket, but his was probably real leather and stopped just at his waist. And his jeans were fit so well that she was sure if he turned around, she’d get a class-A view of his behind.

  “I think you’re something,” she said under her breath. “Now would you please spend less time with the FBI and pretend you’re a perfectly innocent criminal.”

  “I know you don’t like me, but I don’t want you sending me off into illicit meetings without so much as a ‘good luck,’” he snapped. His smile faded for the first time since she’d gotten there.

  “I like you,” she said weakly.

  “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Evelyn. I’m fine being on your shit list, but I don’t want your handling of this investigation to be muddled because of your personal dislike of me.”

  Evelyn clenched her jaw and glared up at him, half pissed at the idea that he’d question her judgment and half guilty because she did go out of her way to avoid him more times than she was proud of. “You want to take this inside?” She glanced between him and the door he was blocking and he finally moved out of the way.

  She slid the key in the deadbolt lock and could feel Luke’s heat from behind her. Damn, the man felt like a furnace. After finally managing to get the locks open, she stumbled inside the apartment as Luke followed.

  “Ah, the gym with the bed. Just like I remember.”

  “I feel judgment,” she muttered as she set her purse on the small table and turned back to face him.

  The corners of his mouth ticked up as he approached. “I didn’t say they were bad memories. In fact, I—”

  “If you finish that sentence, I’m going to shoot you.” She was not going there. Especially not here, alone with him without Cali or Michael sitting around the corner to interrupt at any minute.

  Luke stopped a few feet away from her. “Fine. Then tell me why y
ou don’t like me.”

  Evelyn groaned. “Damn it, Luke. You sound like you’re in an after-school special.”

  “An after-school special where you hate me for no reason. Now fess up, Evelyn.”

  She let out a breath and steeled herself. “I don’t trust people with the amounts of money that you have.”

  He appeared taken aback. “You don’t like me because I’m rich?”

  “Kind of...”

  “You like Michael,” he pointed out.

  “Michael is a likable guy!”

  “What the hell?”

  She sighed. Evelyn knew more than most just how ridiculous it was. But from the second she met Luke, she’d been completely on edge. “Michael was kind of backed into a corner. I ambushed him and offered to help with Emma. I never really felt like I had the upper hand with you.” He started to say something, but she cut him off. “And don’t act all high and mighty. You hate me just as much as I hate you.”

  “Hated,” he clarified. “Past tense. And how was I supposed to act when the hostility was radiating off you in waves?”

  “Please. I know exactly what was wrong. You hate not being in control.”

  He scoffed. “I’m not a control freak.”

  “What? You are the textbook definition of a control freak. Why else would Michael be VP of IT instead co-CEO?”

  He inched closer. “Michael has a master’s in computer technology and a list of certifications longer than my arm.”

  She tilted her head back to glare at him as he got closer. “He also doesn’t have the issues letting go that you do.”

  He pointed a finger at her. “I’m not the one wound up so tight that the second I touched you, you practically molested me on your bed.”

  Evelyn gasped. “You son of a bitch. It’s not like you were the master of restraint on Tuesday!”

  “That’s because I don’t find something I want and then immediately ban myself from having it.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “That means that the second you saw me, you wanted me, and from that moment, I was enemy number one to you. But I don’t keep myself from things I crave. I make sure I get what I want.”