Constant Craving (Task Force Hawaii #3)

by Melissa Schroeder

  “Drew?”

  “What?”

  “I asked if you had spoken to Emma today?”

  He shook his head. “I knew she had an appointment.”

  Del walked into the office and they all turned to him. “What?”

  “Nothing. Talking about lunch,” Cat said.

  He didn’t look like he believed them, but he just waved and walked out the door.

  Once Del was out of earshot again, they started talking.

  “I’ll call her later,” Graeme said. “There is something definitely up with our Georgia Peach.”

  Drew continued his silence. Charity had been the one person who had helped him through his anger. Others had tried, but they had handled him with kid gloves. Charity had been a different story. She hadn’t asked him to move in with her. She had rented a truck and shown up at his parents’ house. Two hours later, he was unpacking his things in her guest room. Charity wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  As he and Elle headed downstairs to the morgue, she smiled at him. “I can tell you, I’m so happy to have you back.”

  He gave her a smile, but his mind was on Charity. As they stepped off the elevator, Elle headed to her office. “Come on, we need to chat.”

  He nodded and followed. Elle sat behind her desk, and he sat in one of the two chairs she had for guests.

  “Spit it out, Drew. Are you not happy about being back?”

  He finally focused on his supervisor. She was frowning at him and he realized, she was concerned. “No. I mean; I am happy about being back.”

  “Then what has you looking so upset?”

  He sighed. “Charity.”

  “I’m worried about her too.”

  He didn’t want to reveal too much. Charity was one of his best friends, and he respected her privacy, but his concern overrode some of that.

  “She’s not acting like she normally does with a guy,” Drew said. “She doesn’t get this involved.”

  “You’re not jealous?”

  He snorted. “Not likely. You know we see each other as brother and sister.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “It’s this Callahan. He’s got her tangled up in something that could hurt her. And I don’t trust him.”

  “Those are good instincts, as he lied to all of us.”

  Drew nodded. “And that is a big no no for Charity. Lying has always been a deal breaker. You know how she is. She has no problem dating a construction worker one night and then going out with a professor the next. She loves all kinds of men, but she has one thing she will not allow. Lying. But this guy breaks that deal, and she lets it go. I think she isn’t thinking straight, and she could end up hurt.”

  Elle’s expression softened. “You’re such a sweet man, Drew, but both of us know that without risk, there is no reward.”

  “That sounds like bullshit.”

  Elle laughed. “Yeah, well, I have to agree, but it’s also true. Charity is interested in the man. I can’t blame her.”

  “Can I tell Graeme that?”

  “Stop being cheeky. This is your first week back.”

  His humor faded as he thought about his friend. “Her involvement with him is different. Like it is a new level of something.”

  “I saw that from the beginning and worried about it.”

  “And?”

  Elle didn’t speak at first. He knew that meant she wanted to choose every word very carefully. “Charity has always been very open about her feelings. I envied her ability to accept the here and now, and not look beyond that. Living in the moment must be wonderful. But with Agent Callahan, I sense she feels something more for him.”

  “Again, that’s what worries me.”

  “And in the end, as friends, all we can do is allow her to do what she feels she needs to do.”

  “What do we do when it goes to shit?”

  “If it does, the only thing you can do is be there for her.”

  He shook his head. “I hate it, but I guess there is nothing for it.”

  She patted his hand. “You are a very sweet man, because most people wouldn’t worry.”

  “I have been telling you for over a year now that I am the sweetest man you know. So, are you going to leave that idiot for me?”

  She laughed. “I have a feeling you might have a fight on your hands.”

  “And that is one thing I am glad to hear.”

  Charity arrived home just after six that evening, and did not find Luke and Jess waiting for her. Even when Drew lived with her, they had always greeted her at the door. She shut the door behind her, then slipped off her shoes. The smell of tomatoes, basil, and garlic hit her. She turned the corner and found TJ in her kitchen. Her cats, the damned traitors, were sitting on the floor right beside him, watching his every move.

  He had rolled his work shirt up and had a towel draped over his shoulder.

  “Well, this is a pretty sight.”

  He turned to her with a smile. “Hey. How was work?”

  “Okay. We might have a new case, so I got caught up in some research.”

  He turned down the heat and then threw a little salt into the pan. “Anything you can tell me?”

  “A couple of guys with a dating service turned up dead after dates.”

  “Oh?”

  She shrugged. “There were six months between each of the hits, but the last one was the son of one of the Governor’s biggest contributors. You know the dog and pony show that goes with that.” She stepped up next to him. “Whatcha making?”

  “I thought some pasta would be nice tonight.” He grabbed a spoon and dipped it in the sauce. After blowing on it, he offered it to her.

  “I thought you were just going to pick something up.”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t been able to cook in about a month, thanks to the rehab on the kitchen. Try it. I promise it’s good.”

  She allowed him to slip the spoon into her mouth. Tomatoes, garlic, basil...with just a hint of heat. “Oh, God, that’s not good. That’s a religious experience.”

  “Mama’s recipe.”

  “Then, thank your mother for that.”

  He smiled and leaned down to brush his mouth against hers. “Hey, there.”

  She smiled. “Hey, there yourself.”

  “Dinner should be ready in about fifteen minutes,” he said, as he dumped a package of rigatoni into some boiling water.

  “Sounds good,” she said. “Do you need any help?”

  “Not really.”

  “Great, then I will go change into something more comfortable.” She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Be right back.”

  When she left, her cats stayed. Of course they did. She didn’t blame them. Hot man, good food...who could resist that?

  She slipped out of her shirt and skirt, and grabbed a Pokémon t-shirt. She hesitated. Most people would say it was out of character for her. She loved to dress up, wear the pretty dresses and skirts, four-inch heels and keep her toes painted. The truth was, she had so many different styles. One day she would dress for success, the next day she was wearing board shorts and a bikini top. Slipping the shirt on, she smiled. With TJ, she felt completely comfortable with all her different moods.

  She grabbed a pair of the aforementioned shorts, stepped into them, then joined him back in the kitchen.

  “How about we eat on the lanai?” she asked.

  “That sounds great,” he said.

  They worked easily in the kitchen together, and it was nice to have someone to share this part of the day with. Drew had been here, but he wasn’t a cook. He had spent most of his life in a kitchen, and he hated it. In fact, it pained his mother that Drew preferred a Big Mac to homemade food. So, while he was there, cooking together had not been an option. Having someone there in the kitchen with her was nice.

  When they had everything ready, they took their meals, along with a nice chianti, out to her lanai.

  “So, I got the warrant today. We should get that footage and
clear you.”

  She nodded as relief moved through her. “Great. That would be really great.”

  “It worries me though.”

  “Why?”

  “Once we clear you, you might become a target.”

  She shook her head. “Highly unlikely.”

  She almost crossed her fingers when she said it, but she did believe it. There was no reason to come after her. She had been a ruse, someone to confuse the issue.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “While I am still in the balance like I am now, I could be a target. But, once I am clear, there is nothing that can be done.”

  “And?”

  She knew he was a smart man, had to be clever to get to where he was. So the fact that he wasn’t seeing the situation for what it was worried her.

  “Right now, they could use me. They could hurt me or kill me, and that would leave them to do whatever they are planning and pin it on me. Foley, or his accomplice, could easily tie me to it. If you had not been put on the job, things might not have moved along the way they did. A lesser agent would have pinned it on me, even. You, though, think outside of the box.”

  There was a faint color to his cheeks and she laughed.

  “As I live and breathe, Thor Jackson is blushing.”

  “I am not. And don’t use that name.”

  “Why not? It’s your name.”

  He shook his head, apparently not ready to argue with her. “You did bring up a good point. What if this is just a red herring?”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “Well, my boss went to a conference this weekend.”

  “Remington?”

  “No, Tsu, my supervisor here. Remington hasn’t been my supervisor for a year.”

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

  He shrugged as he set his fork down. “It was an undercover op. I didn’t make contact with Rebecca, but I was shadowing her, like I said.”

  “Rebecca. She’s the woman who was killed?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. She had been working with Foley. Remington had found her, pretty easily. Worked at the State Department, and had been giving Foley secrets for months.”

  “Was he paying her?”

  “Not that we can tell. They had a few weekends together, but the last six months of her life, she had only been contacted by email and text from him.”

  “Oh, then she did it for love?”

  “That’s what it read like. No matter what we did, we couldn’t trace him. When we would get a lead, it would evaporate. Then, in the end, when he had gotten everything he wanted—or we got too close—he killed her. I got there just as the bastard was fleeing.”

  “And got shot?” He nodded. “That’s the scar I saw on your back?”

  He nodded. “It wasn’t that bad, especially since we already had emergency services on the way. Rebecca was gone by the time they got there, though.”

  She shook her head. “I have heard something like that with every case connected to Foley. Three years ago, didn’t he kill some do-gooder who thought he was helping expose corrupt government officials?”

  TJ nodded. “And I do understand being obsessed. I had been for a while, but when I realized how unhealthy it was, I stepped away.”

  “And came to Hawaii,” she said with a smile.

  He returned it. “Anyway, Tsu said that there was talk that Remington is losing his clout.”

  She frowned. “How so?”

  “He’s been missing meetings on other cases. He even had one taken away from him last week. Ever since our failure with Foley, he has been falling apart. Not just on the job, but also at home apparently. Having rumors spread about you in the agency is never good. The rumor is that he is obsessed with Foley.”

  “Yeah? It would make sense though. You were injured and he lost a civilian.”

  “All of us were at fault for that.”

  She cocked her head to the side and studied him. She thought about what Tamilya said. Captain America. Yeah, he would try and take on some of the blame, but she couldn’t let him. “He was the boss. Sucks, but it is true. He should have had a better handle on it.”

  TJ didn’t rise to defend his old boss.

  “I wouldn’t have agreed with you just a few weeks ago, but I did some digging on him. He’s been divorced, and is practically living out of his office. I’m starting to question his opinion on Foley, and on whatever led him to you.”

  She thought about that. “I would reserve judgment. Obsession doesn’t always mean someone is wrong. It just means the rest of their life is crap.”

  He smiled. “I can agree with that. So, tell me about this case of yours.” The talk turned to other things, her case, Drew’s behavior, and the bets that were being thrown around.

  The man the FBI knew as Foley knew something was wrong. Things didn’t seem to be running as smoothly as before. He was sure someone had been listening in on his phone calls, which meant that his house and car were probably bugged. Now, repeated calls to his handler had gone unanswered. He couldn’t recall a time when he could not get hold of him.

  He shoved a hand through his thinning hair and tried his best to swallow. His mouth was dry. He had left his office in downtown DC and headed out for the suburbs of Fairfax. The mall. It was always a safe bet. A person could disappear there. The sun was just starting to set as he locked his car and walked to the entrance.

  Something cold slithered down his spine, even as he felt another bead of sweat on his temple. He wiped it away and started to walk faster. It had been a mistake. At first, the whole thing seemed so easy. Pose as me, pretend to be the man in charge of everything. It had been a thrill at first. He couldn’t deny that. A government employee who worked in accounting didn’t have a lot of excitement. This provided it. Then, it had gotten dangerous. Really dangerous. Soon, he had blood on his hands, and he had no way out.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when he entered the air-conditioned facility and started to walk among the shoppers. Maybe here he could get lost and maybe, just maybe, he could figure a way out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Charity insisted on cleaning up since TJ had cooked. He had no problem with that. It was a rule in the Callahan household too. His mother refused to clean up after a meal when she had four healthy men in her household eating.

  After storing the leftovers in the fridge, Charity started on the dishes. He sat on the breakfast bar and watched. It wasn’t that he was a man who was into watching a woman do domestic duties. It had more to do with Charity. TJ just liked watching the way she moved. There was something almost lyrical to the way her hips would sway as she walked. Now, though, as he watched, steam rose up from the water and had him thinking of other things. When she glanced up at him, she smiled.

  “I have to give it to you. That was about the best red sauce I have had—and that is saying a lot. I dated a chef for a while, who specialized in Italian dishes.”

  “I guess I can’t get my ego hurt that you mentioned an ex when you say my sauce was better than his.”

  She chuckled. “It was. I would never tell him that, because, he was a chef and prone to outbursts. But, his red sauce was a little bland for my liking.”

  “Are we still talking about his sauce?”

  She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. “Don’t be cheeky as Elle would say.”

  “Noted.”

  “But, back to the sauce. I like that little bite it had to it.”

  “Crushed red pepper. Just a couple dashes. Mom always liked to add a little. She says being a Texan, she was eating chili before she was two years old.”

  She nodded as she rinsed off the stock pot he had boiled the pasta in. She set it in the drying rack and started on the skillet. “Now, I’ll have to cook something to pay you back. Do you like Mahi?”

  “I like just about any kind of fish,” he said, rising and joining her at the counter. He grabbed a clean towel and started to dry the pot.

  “Great. I’ll ge
t some tomorrow. It’s that or I can make some fried shrimp.”

  “Beer battered?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Along with some cornbread.”

  He grabbed her and pulled her to him. “Don’t mess with me, woman.”

  She smiled, and it made his heart do a little jig. “I can promise you, I make some damned good cornbread. I can do super sweet or cheese and jalapeño.”

  “Let’s go with sweet,” he said. She moved as if to step away, but he held on and pulled her even closer. “Hey.”

  “What?”

  For a moment, his brain stopped working. Just went completely blank.

  “TJ?”

  He shrugged. “I kind of missed you today.”

  What made him say that? It was true, but he rarely revealed so much to a woman this early in the relationship. Strike that. He rarely shared this much at all. It was one of the things his exes had complained about. It was why he had so many exes. What was it about her that made him reveal things he usually kept hidden?

  Then, a second later, her expression softened. There was that jig again. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about a woman, especially one he did not know that well. He knew the facts about her, her background, her family history, but he wasn’t sure he knew her that well.

  But you do.

  Internally, he chastised his inner voice. He did not need stupid actions during this. He knew she was good and decent, and that was one of the reasons he was sure she was innocent. This fast, he was tangled up with her. And in years past, he might have objected...or maybe he hadn’t recognized it. But with this woman, she was getting to him. Every little thing she did got to him. And now he was quoting damned Police songs in his head.

  He pushed those thoughts aside and bent his head.

  He meant the kiss to be sweet...just a tempting treat of what was to come. But it only took a second for it to turn carnal. She moaned, the sound of it slipped over him. Taking her face in his hands, he deepened the kiss, stealing inside for a taste. The heat of the sauce, the taste of wine, and then the essence of Charity danced over his taste buds. It made him think of other tastes, needs...desires.