He’d been sent back to his regular unit and that was the end of that. He hadn’t re-upped. He’d gotten out instead, determined to make something of his brains and initiative.
And here he was thirty years later, about to be a very rich man. If he’d stayed in the Army, he’d be an order-following ground-pounder like Mr. William Blake. Far better to be on this end of things.
Except, of course, when something went wrong. Tom flipped on the lights in his office and logged onto his computer, his heart suddenly pounding. Why was Blake here? Why did the Army want a software check on Christmas Eve?
He held his breath while he searched for the files. And then he let it out when he confirmed they were definitely gone. He’d erased them himself. Unless Alan had made copies, the evidence didn’t exist. The technology would be deployed and it would work. Mostly. Regrettable when it didn’t, but Titan Technology would fix that in subsequent updates.
And he would get very rich while they did. Yes, far better to use one’s initiative.
“Sir?”
Tom looked up to find Tiffany, his very cute secretary, standing in the door. “I thought I gave you the day off,” he said pleasantly.
“You did, sir,” she replied with a smile. “But I forgot my allergy meds yesterday when I left so I came back for them. And I meant to tell you something yesterday too, but the champagne went to my head and I totally forgot.”
She looked apologetic so he smiled in encouragement. “What is it, Tiffany?”
“You asked me to see if Alan Cooper sent anything to anyone before he left. And he did, sir. He sent a CD to Olivia Reese. The mailroom confirmed it just yesterday.”
Tom’s blood ran cold and his brain scrambled over every second of the interaction with Olivia and the military guy. Had she seemed nervous? Suspicious? Guilty?
He hadn’t paid her much attention once Blake started talking. And maybe that had been the plan all along. His stomach twisted but he told himself not to get worked up. He hadn’t gotten this far by being scared of a little bump in the road, had he?
“Thank you, Tiffany. I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome, sir. Have a Merry Christmas!”
“You too. And please close the door behind you,” he added, smiling as she did just that. And then he picked up the phone and dialed the one person who had more to lose than he did.
“This better be good,” the voice on the other end said.
“We have a problem, sir,” Tom replied. “A big problem.”
***
“Where are we going?” Olivia asked when Billy pulled out of the parking lot and took a left instead of the right she’d expected.
“Your place.”
She blinked. “My place? Why?”
“You need to pack some clothes for a few days.”
She felt as if she’d just gotten whiplash. “I’m sorry?”
He glanced over at her, his expression tightly controlled. “It’s not safe for you at home, Olivia. We have no evidence to back up Cooper’s findings, he’s missing, and we have no idea who’s behind the cover-up. It’s better if you aren’t easily found.”
Her heart was beginning to slam into her ribs. Yes, she’d been scared last night, but it was daylight now and everything seemed a little less creepy than it had before. And yet she knew he was right. She couldn’t stay in her apartment when she didn’t know why Alan had sent her the disc, or where he was, or how they were going to get the evidence and stop the deal from going through.
“All right,” she said carefully, “but I’ll stay in a hotel.”
“You’ll stay with me.”
“Billy—”
He flashed dark eyes at her. “Not negotiable, Livvie. You asked me to help you and the only way I can do that is if I know where you are at all times. You’re staying with me, or I’m staying with you in that hotel. Your choice.”
A small part of her cheered at the idea of being locked up with Billy Blake for the next few days. The rest of her was terrified.
“It’s Christmas Eve. I don’t want to ruin your plans.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have come to my house last night.”
Her skin was on fire. She knew what he was implying. “If you’re suggesting that I wanted to stop you from having a hot Christmas date, you’re wrong. You’re the only person I knew I could trust to help me figure this out. If you’re sleeping with someone, I don’t care.”
“Didn’t sound like that last night.”
They drove alongside the Potomac, winding through the snowy city streets, and Olivia clutched her hands into fists and kept her gaze fixed on the scenery. “You took that wrong. I was curious, that’s all. Same as you were.”
“I wasn’t curious. I was fucking jealous. And you know it.”
A thrill shot through her to hear him say it. And longing. Such incredible longing. He didn’t say anything else and they soon reached her apartment building. He went with her, up the elevator and down the hall to her door. She put the key in the lock nervously, knowing he was standing right behind her, and then the door swung open and she went inside.
He came in and shut the door, his gaze moving over the space, missing nothing.
“No tree?”
She shook her head. “I was too busy.”
Plus she couldn’t stand the sight of a tree in her own living room, knowing what she’d been doing last year on Christmas Eve. They’d slept on her couch, tangled in each other while Christmas carols played on the radio and the television blared It’s a Wonderful Life.
Yes, it had been a wonderful life. Until she’d gotten scared. Until her fear of trusting anyone kicked in.
She turned to look at Billy and hoped she didn’t look as emotionally battered as she felt. He stood there so tall and imposing in her space, his hands shoved into his pockets, his jaw tight. He was broad and beautiful and she wanted to go over and slip her arms around his waist just to bask in his heat and the security of his arms.
“Go,” he said softly, as if he knew precisely what she was thinking. “Get packed so we can get out of here.”
Olivia bit her lip as words of regret hovered on her tongue. But then she swallowed them down again and went to do as he told her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Billy banged around in the kitchen, fixing dinner for him and Olivia. It was too uncomfortably like last year—and too uncomfortably not. She was here with him, but they weren’t a couple. Not like last year. He had no right to strip her naked and take her every way he could think of until they fell into an exhausted sleep.
They hadn’t been together long when Christmas rolled around last year, but everything about it had felt right with Olivia. He knew she didn’t care for the holiday, and he knew why. He’d wanted to take her to Vermont and wrap her in his family’s embrace for the season, but of course they hadn’t had time for that. He’d thought maybe they would do it this year, but then their relationship ended and that was that.
He finished preparing the meatloaf, potatoes, and green beans and called her into the kitchen. She was so small and vulnerable as she walked in, buried under a giant sweatshirt and yoga pants with thick socks. Her blonde hair was tucked behind her ears and she looked more like a young girl than a public relations specialist for a defense contractor.
“Any word on Alan yet?” she asked, biting her lower lip in that gesture he knew meant she was worried. It also sent a curl of heat into his groin.
“Nothing. We’re looking for him. We know he didn’t leave the country, though. He didn’t fly anywhere either, which means he isn’t too far.”
“He could have driven.”
“He could have, but his credit cards haven’t been used to buy gas. And he didn’t withdraw a large amount of cash recently.”
She shook her head. “I know I said it before, but it’s amazing what you can find out about someone when you really want to know.”
He turned back to the stove and fixed a plate for her. He could tell her
how ridiculously easy it was to track someone you wanted to know about, but he didn’t. For instance, he could tell her that as soon as he’d returned from the field that last time, when he’d expected her to be there for him, he’d figured out damn quick that she was in DC. And that she’d accepted a job with Titan Technology without telling him about it.
He’d known her address, her phone number, and precisely how long it would take to travel from Fort Bragg to her door. He’d stopped then, because if he’d kept finding out more, he might have lost his mind.
Instead, he’d done what he’d been doing since he was a kid and his mother dropped him off instead of keeping him. He coped. He got on with life. He didn’t look back.
No time for regrets. No time for people who didn’t want you.
“Thanks,” she said when he handed her the plate. She sat down at the table and speared some meatloaf. “God,” she said after the first forkful, “I forgot how amazing you are in the kitchen.”
He didn’t say what he wanted to say, which was “And what about the bedroom? Did you forget that too? Do you need me to remind you?”
Instead, he fixed his own plate and joined her. She was looking down at the food instead of at him, her cheeks slashed with red, and he knew she’d connected amazing and you and bedroom in her own head. It should gratify him, but it didn’t. It only made him crankier.
“We’ve been invited to Richie’s house tomorrow.”
She looked at him with something akin to panic in her expression. He’d used Matt Girard’s team name, but she knew the team names. “I can’t go.”
“Why not?”
“Because I wasn’t supposed to be here, that’s why. And because it’ll be awkward.”
“Because we used to be a couple, you mean?”
She nodded.
“Evie’s been planning this party for weeks and I said I’d be there. If I go, you go. And I’m going.”
She set her fork down. “I know you’re pissed at me, Billy. I can feel the anger rolling off you. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. But I really don’t think I have a place at a team gathering. I don’t even know this Evie person. Is that Matt’s girlfriend? His mother?”
“His fiancée.”
She looked a little surprised at that information. “I didn’t know. Wow, he’s getting married? While on the teams?”
“Why not? For some of the guys, it works just fine. They don’t need to choose one or the other.”
Her face paled a little. “I suppose I deserve that.”
She did, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
“Jesus,” he said. “Just eat, Livvie. Forget it.”
Her green eyes were soft, a little sad. “I’m not sure either one of us is going to forget it. It’s Christmas Eve, and we both know what the elephant in the room is.”
***
He was looking at her with that hot gleam in his eyes that said he knew exactly what she was talking about. Of course he did. They both did. Sex hung in the air between them, surrounded them, and permeated everything they did together. It was a monumentally bad idea for her to be here, yet here she was. And she’d fought so hard against that idea, hadn’t she?
Oh, she’d mentioned she should stay in a hotel, but she’d not really argued with him, had she? And there had been other solutions. She could have asked for one of the other guys to be her bodyguard, and then none of this chaotic emotion would be happening right now. She probably should have asked for one of the other guys.
But she hadn’t. And though she didn’t want to admit it to herself, she knew why she hadn’t.
Because she’d missed Billy. Because being near him again was as intoxicating as it was infuriating. Because she felt more alive than she’d felt in months now that she was with him. And because it was Christmas and she didn’t want to be with anyone else.
“Yeah, I guess we do,” he said. “Last year was pretty spectacular, huh?”
“It definitely was.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Nothing stopping us from doing it again. I’m game if you are.”
Her heart lurched hard. She wanted to. She really did. But it was so much more complicated than that. If she undressed for him, she’d be baring more than her body. She’d be baring her heart. Because she hadn’t stopped caring for him.
“It wouldn’t be the same.” What if it was just sex for him now? What if they made love all night long and then he said goodbye as soon as this was over?
If he told her he cared, even just a little bit; if he said it would be the same because the emotion was the same; if he stroked his fingers along her cheek and said it would be beautiful because she was beautiful, she’d melt into his arms right this minute.
He looked at her for a long moment. “Yeah, probably right. Why ruin a great memory?”
***
Olivia’s cell phone rang in the middle of the night, waking her out of a deep sleep. She fumbled for it in the dark, but she missed the call. It went to voicemail and she pressed buttons, bleary-eyed as she tried to figure out who had called. It was probably her mother, but the number had a Virginia area code, so that couldn’t be right. She hit redial and waited, but no one picked up.
There was a ding indicating she had voicemail. The recording was terrible, as if the person on the other end was in an area with bad reception. Or maybe someone had just butt-dialed her. It went on for a minute in which she couldn’t make out anything. She almost erased it, but some little instinct told her not to do so.
She lay there for a few minutes, and then she got up and went to find Billy. If he was asleep, she wouldn’t wake him, but if he was on the computer, she’d ask him to listen. The house was quiet, but there was a glow coming from the living room where he’d pitched his sleeping bag.
Except it wasn’t a computer. She stopped in the door and stared at the tree. He’d plugged it in. The white lights glowed softly while a few small ornaments glinted. She put her hand to her mouth. He’d decorated the tree and lit it while she slept. Because that’s what he did to honor his aunt. Because he had a family who celebrated Christmases and who loved each other deeply.
She’d never had that. She’d had a drunken mother and a succession of men who weren’t her daddy. Darrel had tried, but even he’d given up when continually faced with the relentless wall of her mother’s alcoholism.
“I can hear you breathing, Livvie,” he said, and she started because she hadn’t realized he was awake. He was lying in the bag, facing the tree, and she’d thought he was sleeping.
“I got a call,” she said, only now realizing she’d walked out here in his T-shirt and socks again. Her nipples budded tight as she remembered the way he’d looked at her last night.
“I heard the phone ring.” He turned over in the bag, one arm behind his head. “Was it important?”
“I don’t know. I thought it was a butt-dial. But then I thought I should run it past you before I deleted it.”
He sat up and she walked over, suddenly conscious of bare muscle and smooth skin rippling in the dim light of the tree. Her body bloomed with heat. It flooded her limbs, her belly, her sex. She was hot and aching and all she wanted was for Billy to reach out and touch her.
She handed him the phone, careful not to let her fingers brush his. He listened to the message and then checked out the number it came from.
“Don’t recognize it?”
“No.”
He shoved a hand through his hair and yawned. Then he reached for his laptop—of course it wasn’t far away—and powered it up. A little bit of typing and then he looked up at her.
“It’s a burner.”
She knew what that meant. A disposable cell phone that people used when they didn’t want to be traced.
“It could be Alan.”
“It could be.” He picked up his own phone and made a call. “Hey man, got something for you. Need you to analyze a recording.”
He gave the person on the other end her number and then demanded her voice
mail password. She hesitated, but then she gave it to him. If she didn’t, he’d find a way to hack into it. Besides, he was trying to find Alan and stop Titan from selling faulty equipment to the Army. What did her privacy matter compared to that?
“If there’s anything on there, we’ll find it,” he told her once he finished the call.
“I know.” There was a lump in her throat. She’d always known how critical his job was, but now that she was a part of what he was doing, it hit her just how important it was. And how good he was at it. From the minute she’d spilled the story, he’d been working to uncover the truth. He could have sent her away, but he hadn’t. There was no proof that what Alan alleged was the truth, but Billy and HOT acted like it could be.
“You’re thinking awful hard, Liv.”
She tore her gaze from the tree and looked down at him. His brows were drawn low as he studied her.
“Everything all right?”
She swallowed. “Yes.”
He sighed. “You want to talk about it?”
She wrapped her arms around her body and stood there, shivering. “I just want this to be over. I want Alan to be safe—and I want you to be safe.”
Her voice broke at the end and he got to his feet, drawing her into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him automatically and pressed her cheek to his bare chest.
“I am safe, Liv.”
“Not if Titan sells that equipment to the Army.”
His hand was on her hair, stroking her head. It felt so nice, so reassuring. “They won’t. We’ll make sure of it.”
“All I ever wanted was for you to be safe, Billy.” Her voice was hoarse with the effort to hold back tears of frustration and anger—with herself, with him, with this whole damn situation between them.
“I know.”
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