Constant Craving (Task Force Hawaii #3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  She looked at Del, then back at TJ. “Are you just being obtuse? Foley picks a person and uses them. Now, either he decided to set up Charity for some reason, or the person he is working with did. Either way, you’ve exposed her. Foley, or his idiot for the moment, will know it is only a matter of time before you clear her. She is a target. He will do anything he can to pin this on her.”

  “And that means he might kill her.” This came from Drew.

  “I don’t think...” He shook his head. To make sure she couldn’t defend herself, there was a very good chance someone would go to the extremes. Not knowing their adversary well enough left them in the dark. They had no way of predicting the person’s reactions, even if it was Foley. “Shit.”

  “Exactly,” Del said. “We don’t think it is a high possibility, but you have exposed her. Why can’t you clear her with the FBI?”

  “I’m waiting on security camera footage from LAX.”

  Charity blinked, and she finally looked at him. “Oh, you mean last month? I flew there to see my folks. Dad had business in LA for a few days, and it had been a few months since I had seen them.”

  He nodded. “But you are an experienced hacker. You could have faked that whole thing, and I know the FBI is going to need some real proof. I expect to get the warrant today, and we should have what we need by tomorrow.”

  “Good. Now, I want you working with my team.”

  For a second, he said nothing. This wasn’t going to be kosher with Remington, he knew that much. Remington was old FBI. He didn’t like interdepartmental cooperation, because Remington was convinced the entire federal government was corrupt. But, he didn’t really have a choice if he wanted to keep close to Charity. Part of that was personal. He wasn’t giving up on his chances with her, not by a long shot. Plus, as little as he knew about Foley, he knew a hell of a lot more than TFH did.

  “Okay. But we have to be careful about it. The FBI isn’t going to like it, and we need to keep it under wraps.”

  “We’re not the ones who left a trail,” Emma pointed out.

  “And we are not the ones who dated his subject,” Charity said.

  “I pointed this out the other night, but you asked me out.”

  All the heads swung down the table to look at her. He detected a fine flush of heat to her face.

  “After you asked me to coffee. And then you pursued it.”

  All the heads swung back in his direction.

  “After I figured out you were innocent.”

  She said nothing to that, but the look on her face suggested she thought he was lying.

  “Either way, we need to get a lid on this. I want to go over some things with you and Adam,” Del said.

  He nodded as the rest of the team seemed to know what that meant. They all stood and made their way out of the room. Drew gave him one last look of disdain, before he slipped his arm over Charity’s shoulders and walked away with her. TJ watched them until they disappeared around the corner where the elevators were located.

  “Come on, Callahan,” Del said. “You can fix it later.”

  He stood and followed both Del and Adam into the commander’s office. After closing the door behind him, he took the only other open seat.

  “You definitely fucked this one up, Callahan,” Del said.

  He wanted to argue with him, but TJ knew Del was right.

  “True, but it is kind of a trademark of the FBI.”

  He smiled and leaned back in his chair. “I’ve been thinking that we’re going to need to get Drew out of her apartment.”

  “That was on my mind too,” TJ murmured.

  Adam laughed. “He means to get him out of harm’s way. He’s still not completely out of the woods.”

  He frowned. “He looks okay to me.”

  Adam nodded. “He’s doing well but the doc said that it would be at least a year before he can be considered fully recovered.”

  “So, what do you want from me?” he asked.

  “I want to go over everything you know about this Foley guy, and I want to know about your boss.”

  “Tsu?”

  Del shook his head. “No. The DC asshole who thought it was a good idea to send you in here to investigate my team. Then, we’ll start working on some ideas.”

  “Anything you need; I’ll help if I can.”

  Del nodded. “You know that helping us isn’t going to get you back into Charity’s good graces.”

  “I’m doing it because of the exact reason your wife pointed out. It isn’t about getting her back.”

  Del shared a look with his second-in-command, then looked at TJ. “Of course not. But just a word of advice. Learn how to grovel. You’re going to do a lot of it to get her back.”

  As Del started going over what they knew of the situation, TJ started to understand the enormity of his fuck up and just how hard it was going to be to get Charity back—as Del said.

  But one way or another, he was going to do just that.

  Half an hour later, Charity found herself irritated that she couldn’t concentrate. She needed to write up some reports and go over some of her other findings, but her brain just would not concentrate.

  Another fault to lie at the feet of Agent TJ Callahan. Jerk.

  So, when Cat came striding in, Charity welcomed the interruption.

  “I can hurt him for you,” she offered in a calm voice.

  “Drew already punched him for me,” she said.

  Cat offered her a small smile. “I heard about that.”

  “Have you talked to him?”

  “The fed? Why would I talk to that jerk?”

  “The fed has a name, and it is TJ. But no. Drew. Have you talked to him?”

  Cat sighed and sat down in the chair. “He wants to pretend there’s nothing wrong. I fucked up after he got shot. I felt responsible and guilty.”

  “But you weren’t.”

  Cat looked out into the lab and shook her head. “I sent him in for a file. If he hadn’t come here, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.”

  “And maybe Elle would be dead.”

  Cat sighed again, this one sounded even lonelier than the first. “That’s true. But he’s still mad at me.”

  “He’s a little mad at the world, truth be told, but I think the one thing I can thank TJ for is that Drew seems to be making a comeback. He’s here today because of the situation.”

  “At least that’s something.” Cat looked back at Charity. “Did you really ask him out?”

  She crossed her arms. “I can’t believe he used that defense. It’s just rude.”

  “You didn’t answer me.”

  “Yes, just as I said. He asked me for coffee, I had to meet with Deason, so I couldn’t. Then I suggested we go out.”

  Cat smiled and it was good to see. “You crack me up.”

  “I’m glad I make your day so wonderful,” Charity said, not bothering to hide sarcasm.

  “I’d say that I don’t trust him, but I watched him watch you today, Charity. He definitely has a thing for you.”

  Yes, she had felt his study as she walked out into the conference area. It had made her mad at the time. And really hot. Really, really hot. And that was the sad part about it. Even knowing everything, she still wanted him.

  She was what Hawaiians called pupule—crazy.

  “You know how I feel about lying.”

  Cat shrugged. “He left stuff out. Not really lying.”

  “You’re supposed to be on my side,” Charity said, and even to her own ears it sounded childish.

  “I am on your side. Doesn’t mean we are always going to agree.”

  “I shouldn’t even be attracted to him anymore.”

  “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

  “That doesn’t sound like you.”

  Cat laughed. “My grandmother. It’s one of her favorite sayings.”

  The elevator dinged and then steps sounded down the hallway. She knew even before she saw him, it was TJ.

  �
��You might want to cut him some slack,” Cat said then rose out of her seat as TJ approached the office.

  “Hey. I’m Cat.”

  “I figured.”

  “And you have a file on me.”

  At least he had the ability to look embarrassed. His cheeks flushed and his ears turned red. Damn, that was too cute to ignore.

  “I don’t mean to run you off if you have work to do.”

  “I actually have a meeting I need to get to,” Cat said as she started out of the office.

  “What meeting?” Charity asked.

  “We have that terrorism task force thing with the bigwigs from the bases, and Tamilya will be over.”

  “Tamilya Lowe?”

  “Yes,” Cat said.

  “We went to Quantico together.”

  “Yeah, we know. I gotta go hunt up Marcus and get over there.”

  “She’s having a meeting with Marcus?” TJ asked.

  Cat nodded.

  “I didn’t think those two would work together again.”

  “What do you mean?” Charity asked.

  He looked between the women. “Well, they were an item back in the day. Dated heavily for a few months.”

  Cat’s eyebrows raised and she looked at Charity. “Did you know that?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you didn’t share that with the rest of us?”

  “You just got back from Maui.”

  Cat frowned. “That will change some of the...discussion.”

  What Cat meant was that some of the bets they were running on the Tamilya/Marcus romance would be changed.

  “Yeah. Talk to Emma about it. She’s the one in charge of the funding.”

  Cat nodded. “See ya later.”

  When they were alone, the silence was almost deafening. Only the hum of her machines were heard. He said nothing.

  “And you are here for what reason?”

  He frowned at that and sat—without asking—in the chair Cat had vacated. She sniffed in his direction.

  “You can get huffy, and you can get over it.”

  His voice was as hard as his expression. It was so out of character for him, she blinked.

  “What?”

  “Listen, I understand you’re pissed at me, and I don’t blame you. But I’m one of the best experts on Foley. I know more about him than anyone but Remington. You know about him, and you understand hacking.”

  “Not as well as Emma.”

  “You don’t scare me as much as she does.”

  She snorted and tried not to be amused. He wasn’t stupid, that was for sure.

  “We need to work on this together because there’s some reason he targeted you.”

  “Don’t blame me. I had nothing to do with it.”

  He said nothing for a moment. His lips thinned and his jaw flexed. She had the feeling he was trying to keep his temper. That is, if he had one. He had kept his cool, even after Drew punched him.

  “I know you have nothing to do with it.”

  Every word was bit out as if he were barely holding his temper in check. Interesting. She had always been a woman who liked to push things to the extremes.

  “So, what are you doing here?”

  “Del said we needed to work together, and I wanted to talk this over with you.”

  “Oh, so that means you’ll ask me on a date.”

  He stared at her a long second. “As I pointed out, you asked me on a date first.”

  “That should have been a sign.”

  “A sign of what?”

  “That you couldn’t take the initiative.”

  Something flashed hot in his eyes. Those gray eyes were always cool, without any storms. But at the moment, he looked furious. His expression was calm, but his eyes...

  “Is that a fact?” he asked, his voice dipped an octave and turned just a little lethal. The sound of it skimmed over her nerves.

  As usual, she ignored his tone. When she was hurt, she could definitely wound back. She nodded and leaned back in her chair. She tried her best to look relaxed. She would not let him know how upset she was.

  “You didn’t really go after me, because it was all about the job.”

  “That’s what you think?”

  She shrugged.

  “If it was about the job, I would have had you in bed easily.”

  Her stomach quivered at the way his voice had dipped deeper, adding an edge of danger to it. This was not the fun geek she had discussed the Marvel Universe with, and argued about the finer qualities of David Tennant. This was Agent Callahan. Cold. Calculating. Sexy.

  “I highly doubt that.”

  But even she heard the shaking in her voice. The smile curving his lips was not the flirty one she was used to. He looked as if he was the cat who ate the proverbial canary. He rose to his feet, all the while not breaking eye contact with her.

  “Come on, Charity. You know better than that. You and I both know that you wanted it as much as I did.”

  His voice had turned silky, seductive, but not anything she had heard before. This was a very dangerous man.

  She shook her head and fought the urge to back up around the desk. He came around to stand in front of her, each step taken with a kind of lethal grace that she would have attributed to a panther. A predator.

  He leaned down and placed his hands on the arms of her chair.

  “I might have come here to investigate, but at least I have been honest about my feelings.” He leaned closer and she couldn’t move. She didn’t want to. The heat of him, the smell of his flesh...it was just as intoxicating as it had ever been.

  He nuzzled her neck, and she felt the brush of his lips, then teeth and tongue. Heat flared hotter, her head started to spin. Damn, her nipples were hard against her bra.

  She felt herself leaning closer, wanting the warmth of his body, needing to touch, to taste. She closed her eyes and did just that. She almost fell out of the chair, as he pulled away. She gained her balance and shot him a dirty look.

  “What was that for?”

  “To show you that I could have had you if I wanted to. But I held back.”

  “Oh, well, that makes me like you even more.”

  She rose to her feet. She couldn’t look at him because she was embarrassed to admit he was right. If he had wanted her Monday night, she wasn’t sure she would have refused. She didn’t jump in the sack with just anyone, but from the moment she had seen him, she had felt a connection.

  Then she felt him behind her. The warmth against her body again. This time, the tender kisses on her neck seemed innocent, but they made her even hotter.

  “Sorry,” he whispered against her neck. “I have a temper but I rarely lose it.”

  “You call that losing your temper?”

  “I...I disrespected you.”

  Of course, he wasn’t trying to seduce her. It was still part of the job. Her shoulders sagged.

  “Now what did I say?”

  “Nothing. Just, give me some time this morning then we can talk this afternoon.”

  He turned her around. “I will if you will tell me what is wrong.”

  She looked up at him, then away. It was pathetic that she still wanted him, even though she knew what he did to her. “It’s nothing really. Just go back to work.”

  “No.” He slipped a finger beneath her chin and urged her to look up at him again. “I want to know what is bothering you.”

  “I’m never good if I am not working on an equal basis with a man. In a relationship I mean. I can’t seem to control myself around you, even after what you did to me.”

  He shook his head. “Do you know the entire time I worked on the Foley case last time, I wasn’t found out? At least until the very end. I didn’t last a week with you. And from the moment I met you, I was trying to figure out a way to clear your name. You’re a good woman, Charity, that is part of the reason.”

  “What’s the other part?” she asked when he didn’t continue.

  “It took every bit
of my control to leave your apartment Monday night. Hell, right now I’m trying to figure out if there is some available flat surface I can use to seduce you.”

  She opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it shut. It took her a moment to compose herself. “You are not.”

  He nodded. “I am.” He brushed his mouth against hers and she felt it all the way to her toes. “I screwed up, but I will prove myself to you.”

  “TJ.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “I do plan on having you, Charity Edwards.”

  She shivered against him, as she heard the ding of the elevator. TJ kissed her forehead then released her as he stepped back.

  “Hey,” Emma said as she walked in, her husband a shadow behind her. “I think we might have something here on the islands.”

  “What?”

  “I have the information we found out this weekend.”

  TJ looked at Charity, then back at Emma. “What did you find?”

  “Our servers were hacked around the time of the breach. I followed the worm that was sent to your email, and figured out that it was sent from an HPD memo that was sent everywhere. Yours, though, seems to be the only one that downloaded the file. It might be Foley, but it is definitely whoever is working for him.”

  “I thought they had some ID on the guy?” Del asked.

  “No pictures if that is what you mean. They did lift a partial off a rental car one of his victims had used. It didn’t belong to the victim or anyone from the rental agency. They are pretty sure it is from Foley.”

  “And the name?”

  TJ nodded. “The alias he used the most often. But I still can’t understand why he would use TFH.”

  “Maybe it’s his accomplice,” Charity said.

  “But it would have to probably be someone familiar with the set up.”

  “Why do you say that?” Del asked.

  “TFH is big here, and it’s getting some notice on the mainland. Still, it isn’t as well known as some of the others.”

  “But you said that there was a thought that Foley had some federal connections, right? Feds definitely know about us,” Charity said.

  Del looked at Charity. “I want to put some protection on you.”

  She frowned. “I don’t need it with Drew there.”

  “That’s the other thing. I would rather Drew move out for right now.”