Constant Craving (Task Force Hawaii #3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  “He’s here. I have to go.”

  “Be good.”

  “Never.” She hung up and hurried out of her bedroom. She heard the male voices before she stepped into the living room.

  “Drew Franklin?” TJ asked.

  “Yeah,” Drew responded. “Latest flavor of the month, I presume?”

  “What?”

  She was going to kill him. She was going to hurt him first and make him cry, then she would kill him. She didn’t care if she counted Drew as one of her best friends in Hawaii and prayed for his recovery just a few months earlier. He needed to die.

  When she stepped through the doorway, she found Drew leaning against the door giving TJ a nasty look.

  “TJ,” she said, shooting what she called her pageant smile in his direction. “I should have known you would be on time.”

  He glanced over at her, then froze for a second. His gaze traveled down her body then back up before making eye contact. His mouth curved slightly and heat tingled through her blood.

  Oh, mama.

  “Charity.” His Texas twang had deepened over the syllables of her name. “You look great.”

  Her cats moved in his direction and she cringed. Luke and Jess were always a handful, and they rarely liked strangers. When they ventured out to sniff at one, she knew it could turn out badly.

  Luke leaned forward and sniffed at TJ’s shoe, as Jess approached more slowly. TJ glanced down, and then slowly lowered his hand so that Jess could sniff at it. Jess hesitated, and she knew that was a bad sign. There was a good chance she would scratch TJ hard enough to draw blood. But, instead, Jess sniffed, then slipped her head under his hand allowing TJ to pet her.

  “They like you.”

  He looked up and shot her a full smile that revealed dimples. Lord have mercy. The man was a killer with that grin.

  “They seem nice enough to me.”

  “It took them a month to get used to Drew here,” she said, smirking at her roommate.

  “I still have the scratches to prove it, the little bastards.”

  TJ straightened. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Sure.” She grabbed her purse, then stepped into her shoes. “Don’t wait up, Drew.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  With purse in hand, she stepped out into the hallway. TJ followed. They waited in front of the elevators.

  “Is there a reason I should be concerned about Franklin?”

  She laughed, then looked at the agent. He was serious. “Sorry. No.”

  “He seemed a bit possessive.”

  “Drew is just angry.”

  “About what?”

  The doors to the elevator opened up, and she waited until they stepped into it before answering.

  “Drew is mad at all kinds of things, but mainly that life can suck sometimes.”

  “You care about him.”

  She nodded. “But as a friend...like a brother. He’s been in love with Cat for years, but that sort of went to crap. Now they are both dealing with the ramifications from a few months ago.”

  “Good.”

  She wanted to ask what that meant, but the doors opened and some more people got onto the lift. She had to step close and her hand brushed against his. He jerked at the contact, then looked down at her. He had felt the little jolt too. Good. Still, he said nothing, but he did take hold of her hand.

  And that was enough for now.

  The sun was just starting to sink over the water as Emma sat on their lanai and worked. She loved this little patch of happiness she and Del shared in Hawaii Kai, and couldn’t wait to bring their baby home in a few weeks. At the thought, she felt her baby move and smiled as she rubbed her hand over her stomach. But the happiness didn’t last long. Her smile faded, and she looked at her computer screen again. Something was really bothering her.

  Emma nibbled on her bottom lip as she got back to work. She knew Charity wouldn’t be happy with her snooping. Usually, Emma would honor her friend’s wishes, but something in her gut told her that Callahan wasn’t as innocent as he seemed. There was something in his expression, his gaze, that told her there were hidden depths to him. Sometimes that was a good thing. But, in this instance, she wasn’t ready to let her friend take a chance.

  “Hey,” Del said as he sat down beside her at the patio table. “What are you working on?”

  “Doing a little research,”

  She was avoiding the truth on purpose. Del had strict rules about right and wrong. He saw hacking into a federal agency as against the law. Emma thought it depended on the reasons.

  “On what?” he asked.

  She glanced over at him. Before she had fallen in love with him, she would have had no problem lying to him. She was what her brother called a professional liar and she was good at it. Now though...she looked at her computer screen.

  “Emma,” he said, the soft warning in his voice was easy to hear.

  “What?”

  “Come on.”

  She sighed and turned to him again. There was no way out of it. He would always be able to tell when she was lying to him. These days, Del could sniff out the littlest of fibs.

  “I don’t like Callahan.”

  Del frowned. “You barely spoke to him.”

  She slanted him a look before looking out over the water.

  “Okay. Tell me.”

  She might not be able to lie to him anymore, but Del always respected her gut reaction to people. It had served her well the years she had lived on the streets.

  “There’s something off. You’ve been complaining for months that we don’t have a liaison, and they gave you the run around. Now, all of a sudden, some dude is just dropped into our laps.”

  “Maybe they just finally found the right one.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t think that gee shucks ma’am attitude is real. The things I’m reading about the wanker are what I would call...out of his field of expertise.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She pulled up the info she had found on Callahan. “Here, he is part of something called Operation Money Wash. It was a covert kind of op.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “There is no official explanation in his files and I really can’t find anything else out about the op.”

  “Wait, what? How did you get that?”

  “I might have bruised a few laws.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Emma.”

  “Listen, they won’t find me. You know I can hack better than anyone, other than Charity. Well, I am better, but not by much. But the problem is still there. He was part of an undercover op that’s not mentioned in his official record. That makes me think he might be doing something now.”

  Del had opened his mouth to complain to her, but he snapped it shut. “You might be right.”

  “And that makes me wonder, why would they need to do that at all? Does the FBI think we are doing something illegal?”

  “Other than hacking into their server?”

  “Right. The fact that Charity is going out with him tonight bothers me too.”

  He studied her for a second, and Emma knew he was working through the information. “Okay, now you have me worried.”

  “It won’t hurt to check it out and if it’s nothing, we can just forget about it. But if he is dating my friend because of an investigation, then we need to know.”

  He was silent for a few minutes, then he nodded. “I will pretend I don’t know you are doing it, but be careful.”

  “I will.”

  He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “How about some pasta and red sauce tonight?”

  She smiled. “That sounds smashing.”

  “Good. Do some work and I’ll make dinner.”

  He left her alone as she started pounding on the computer keys. Emma hoped for all their sakes that she didn’t find anything. But, if she did, she would make sure to make this Callahan cry. Investigating them was one thing, but using Charity like that would not be accepted.

>   TFH protected their own, and no dumbass FBI agent was going to be allowed to hurt Charity. Emma would make sure of it.

  Chapter Five

  Charity smiled as TJ pulled out into the Honolulu traffic. It was a stereotypical balmy night in Hawaii, and she had come to love them. She didn’t mind her roots in the south, but it was nice that it wasn’t ninety degrees out even after sundown. No matter what the day had been like or how hot it had gotten, the nights were beautiful the majority of the time.

  “I didn’t ask what kind of food you like.”

  She glanced over at TJ. He looked completely at ease in his dark blue shirt and khaki shorts—standard date clothes. One thing she liked about Hawaii is that it was so laid back. There was time for dressing up, and you could do it all you wanted. But there was no push for people to get gussied up, and she thanked God every day that people did not regularly wear pantyhose.

  “I don’t really care. Surprise me.”

  He gave her that grin, the one that showed his dimples and made his gray eyes twinkle.

  “You got it.”

  He turned down a side street that led to Dillingham. When he pulled into the parking lot for a small local restaurant hidden from the bustling crowds of Ala Moana Avenue and Waikiki, she smiled. It was one of her favorite places to eat, since Drew had taken her the first week on the island. It wasn’t fancy in the least. Older diner type of chairs with old tables littering the dining room area, and the menu rarely changed. It was clean and efficiently run, and if a person was looking for real local food, this was definitely one spot to hit.

  After placing their order, she smiled.

  “I wasn’t sure how many haoles know this place exists.”

  He shrugged. “I made sure to find a few local places wherever I work.”

  “I’m the same way. When I lived in DC, I used to hit this little mom and pop place over in Centreville that served my favorite gyros.”

  “Anthony’s on Centreville Road?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, I loved that place. The owners have another place in Manassas that does a damned good breakfast.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that. I did like their Italian food, but I think Bravo’s over near the Pearlridge Mall outdoes them.”

  “I haven’t tried that yet.”

  “It’s one of my favs. But that is a fair bit away from you. You live in Waimanalo you said?”

  He hesitated and she wondered about it. “Yeah. I bought a rundown crack house.”

  “Second business?”

  The bark of laughter surprised her. “No. I’m rehabbing it.”

  “A man of varied talents.”

  “Indeed.”

  “So, if you are doing that, I guess you aren’t moving any time soon.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t plan on it, much to my mother’s irritation.”

  “Oh, I get that too. Mama isn’t happy her baby girl is halfway across the world.”

  “I get that from Mom, even though she has three other sons to keep her busy. I want to set down roots, at least for a little while.”

  “Me too. I don’t know what it was, but when I landed here, it all clicked. I’ve never been one for hot weather, but I love the way the sun here feels on my skin. And nothing beats the nights.”

  “Yes. Humidity is a bit much, but no worse than San Antonio, and definitely not as freaking hot.”

  “So, what made very special agent TJ Callahan come to Hawaii?”

  He studied her for a second. “What makes you think I chose to come here?”

  “Remember, I worked for the CIA.” His eyebrows rose. “Of course I knew you knew I worked there. I would assume the FBI has a dossier on each of us. I also understand that this would be considered a prime assignment.”

  “That would depend on your reasons. A lot of people wouldn’t like it because it doesn’t help a lot of career fields.”

  “But you’re in cyber.”

  “Right. And there is a lot here thanks to the hackers. Therefore, it won’t hurt me working here.”

  “So why did you pick coming here?”

  She had a feeling he didn’t like her probing questions. With any other man, she might let it go, but for some reason, Charity didn’t want to. Right now she wanted to know everything about him, and that wasn’t her normal way of handling men. She saw each man she dated as a gift. Some were big bursts of fun, the type of present she delighted in for just a short time. Others, the joy stuck around longer. But, as she had when she was a little girl, she liked to unwrap her gifts slowly and extend the pleasure. For her, right now, she wanted to know every damned thing about him—and that was definitely odd.

  He waited while their server delivered their drinks. “I wanted something different. I’d spent a lot of time in DC and Boston. LA was always a choice, but at this point in my life, I thought Hawaii would be fun.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, no kids, no spouse. Makes it easier to move over here.”

  “Exactly. And while I wouldn’t mind sharing it with someone, it is pretty cool to be able to pick up and just go here or there on the islands. And your reason?”

  “Control freak.”

  He blinked. Damn the man had the most amazing long eyelashes she had seen on a male. His eyes were light gray, and his dark brown lashes should look feminine and make him a bit too pretty. But, it was a direct contrast with the rugged appearance he presented the world—making him even more interesting to her.

  “Excuse me?” he asked.

  “From the time I was able to walk, my mama said I liked to control the entire house. And I did to a point. I’m a control freak. I hated working for the federal government because I always had what I called overlords.”

  “Overlords?”

  “You know the type. The supervisors who like to watch every test you do, write you up for even the smallest infraction. At the CIA, there were so many of them. Not one of them gave a crap about me or my career, except how it affected their chances of moving up. Here, I have freedom to do what I want, plus, I’m teaching some courses at UH next fall. Lots of free time, and I have an apartment where I can see the ocean. Life is much better here.”

  He chuckled. “I have to agree with that. And your living arrangements?”

  She had to roll her eyes. “Drew was shot a few months ago, but you know that.”

  “Yes. I was reading over the report, and Adam said he died at least once.”

  She sighed. “That kind of shook him up, and we were all understanding, but he has been pushing it lately. He’s been moping around my apartment for too long. For living in Hawaii, I am pretty sure he hasn’t been in the sun for more than a few minutes in the last month. I get him out of the house, but then he does his thing and heads back in. He always spent his weekends at the beach. He might end up at a beach, but only in a game.”

  “He doesn’t have family on the island?”

  “You mean you don’t know?”

  The blank look on his face was almost comical.

  “Oh, give over. I know you have backgrounds on all of us. I just said that.”

  He shrugged, and she was growing to like the gesture.

  “I have one, but since he’s been out on medical leave, I hadn’t read it over yet.”

  “Fair enough. And yes, he does have family. In fact, you’re sitting in one of their restaurants.”

  He blinked and looked around. “He’s part of the Chen family?”

  The Chens were known for the restaurants not only on Oahu, but also on Maui and Kauai. “Yep. On his mother’s side. In fact, his cousin is our server. Aren’t you, Gail?”

  The older woman smiled at her. “Yeah. And how is Drew doing?”

  “A little better.”

  Which was a bit of a lie. Drew had been spiraling downward for months, but it wasn’t something you shared while your waitress looked dead on her feet. The entire Chen family had been worried about Drew. It was understandable considering what he had been through, b
ut their worry seemed to make Drew surlier.

  When they were alone, TJ gave her an unblinking stare. She realized that she never wanted to sit on the other side of the interrogation table from Agent Callahan. He seemed laid back and easy going, but that look told her he was one serious man when it came to getting the truth.

  “What?”

  “You were lying.”

  “I was not.”

  He just smiled.

  “Okay,” she said leaning forward and whispering. “I was, but it’s best they don’t know.”

  “They are his family.”

  “So am I. And something needs to snap him out of his funk.”

  He nodded as he dug into his Lau Lau. They had both ordered the Hawaiian delicacy. Pork and butterfish were wrapped in a taro leaf, then steamed for six hours. She hadn’t been so sure the first time she tried it, but she was a southern girl who grew up on chitlins, so she would try anything once.

  “So, you like your work with TFH?”

  She nodded. “Like I said, I prefer to be in charge.”

  “I thought Del was in charge.”

  “We just tell him that to make him feel better about himself. His ego needs help.”

  TJ chuckled. “Yeah, a former special ops Army guy, now the head of a unique group of investigators...he needs help with that.”

  “He was so sad when he first got here. Didn’t know how to assert himself.”

  “Oh, I can imagine.”

  “So, you’re from Texas?”

  He nodded. “Dad was a Texas Ranger, as are three of my brothers.”

  “Three brothers?” Did they all look like him? Good lord.

  “Yeah,” he said slowly.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No, there is something.”

  “Nothing much, just that...okay, it is a lot to live down being a Callahan. Lots of Rangers in our family. I used to have a knee jerk reaction when people would start asking me why I didn’t become one.”

  She studied him for a long moment before responding. “I get it. You wanted to do your own thing. Texas is a big state, but I can imagine that a lot of people in the Rangers know each other. Just like in the FBI.”