by Lexi Blake
If only her heart didn’t feel just as bare.
* * * *
JT strode out of the dressing room, ready to throttle someone. Not someone. Deanna. He was going to fire her. Everyone wanted him to fire her, well, today was the day they all got their wish. He could handle her sharp tongue, but cock blocking was definitely where he drew the line.
She stood out in the middle of the department, a stack of files in her arms. Deanna was in her early thirties, and he was sure there were men out there who thought she was smoking hot. She had honey blonde hair and she took care of herself, but somehow he’d never been able to look at her as more than a super-competent assistant who could keep the dragons of the industry on their toes.
Attraction had hit like lightning the minute he’d seen Nina. It had been utterly unlike anything he’d felt in his life, and he was well aware that he was in too deep, way too fast, but he couldn’t help himself.
“You want to explain why you’re interrupting me?” It was time to reclaim some of his private life. He hadn’t had much of one for years. Not since his father had backed off traveling, forcing JT to spend much of his life visiting rigs and going to conferences. He didn’t do much beyond work and sleep and take the occasional morning off to play golf, which was honestly usually more about work than play. “You’re going to stop tracking my phone and you’re going to stop it now.”
A huff came from her along with a slow frown. “How am I supposed to keep up with you? Your mother already hates me. If I lost you in a foreign country, she would really be pissed. I know everyone in the world thinks your mother is some darling, wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly-because-she’s-so-classy lady, but she can be very intimidating when she wants to be. I know a cast-iron bitch when I see one.”
He would have protested her calling his momma a bitch, but it was a term of respect coming from Deanna. “How about I’ll stop my mother from tracking my phone? You can both follow me on social media.”
“You don’t ever post anything,” she complained.
“Well, then you’ll both have some troubled nights, won’t you? Maybe she could hire a private detective to follow me around.”
Deanna’s expression went mulish. “Well if she did, she probably would do it because she’s worried about you getting your heart ripped out of your chest by some British skank out for your money. And I know your mother is British, but she had all that Weston money behind her, so we know she married your father because she lost her damn mind, not because she needed money.”
“Nina isn’t a gold digger.” He kept his voice down because they were out in public, and despite the fact that he was sure Deanna had sent the PI, he wasn’t giving anyone more ammunition if he could help it. “She’s my fiancée, and if you can’t treat her with respect then we’re going to have a problem.”
“We’ll have a problem anyway,” Deanna said under her breath.
“What?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You didn’t answer my texts. The stock you wanted to buy bottomed out an hour ago, but I can’t give them the go-ahead to buy without your signature, and the Nikkei opens in a few hours. If we don’t get it at open, we’ll pay a much higher price because the sharks will be circling.”
He took a deep breath. She had a good reason for hunting him down. He held out a hand. “Give it to me.”
She gave him the authorization papers. “Good, because I’m worried Jordy is going to try to undercut us.”
He started to look them over. “Jordy Burton? The asshole on my leadership team who was so worried about my daddy that he showed up in my hotel room this morning? That Jordy?” He knew it shouldn’t surprise him.
“Yep. I’m not entirely certain, but I heard him talking to someone about stock, and he mentioned the company you’ve been looking at. I don’t know how he knows. I wouldn’t tell that massive ass a thing.”
“Then why did you let him in my hotel suite?” He didn’t like the idea that Jordy had somehow figured out his plans to buy up stock on a failing Japanese tech firm. They had some software that JT believed they were underusing. He wasn’t certain so he wanted a deal, but if he was right, Malone Oil would have another technological edge.
So where had Jordy gotten the idea to go after the same firm?
She sighed. “I let them in because I was worried too. The Malone family closed ranks and I was on the outside. I know we’re not exactly friends, JT, but I’ve worked for you for a long time. I spend more time with you than anyone else in the world. Forgive me for being worried.”
“About me, or the company if my father dies?”
“I wouldn’t worry about the company. You’ve been running it for the last few years. If anything, I wish you would take it all over because your dad is stubborn as the day is long and won’t listen to any idea that doesn’t come from a dinosaur.” She gave him a pen. “Although now I’m worried because instead of dealing with this very important stock purchase you were doing something in the dressing room that made all the salesladies stand outside like they were listening to a sex show. Probably because they were.”
“I get to have a private life.” He finished looking through the documents and signed his name on the line.
“Not in the dressing room, you don’t.” She took the papers back and stepped away. “I hope you’re telling me the truth and you really know this woman because I would hate to see her ruin the good work you’ve been doing. I’ll get this filed and see you in the morning unless you’re planning on ducking work to play with your…fiancée.”
“I’ll be there in the morning.” Though he and Nina did have work to do. “Mid-morning.”
Deanna sighed. “Yes, that’s what I was worried about.”
She turned and walked away.
“Mr. Malone, should we try more dresses?” the saleswoman asked.
He still had a ring to buy. “No. We’ll take them all.”
He had very little time to win Nina over. He wasn’t going to waste it.
Chapter Six
Five days later, JT stopped before the big circular drive where there would almost certainly be a valet waiting to take his truck. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Am I okay that the last of the prep time for the op we begin tomorrow is being taken up by a sham, hastily thrown together party for a fake engagement? Of course I am.”
She was not. Even he knew that. “I’m sorry. My mom thought this would be the best way to help with our cover.”
His mom wanted to get a look at Nina. His mom had likely talked to Michael, who would have told her he was in way over his head, and she knew the only way to take control of the situation was to force him to come home.
They’d spent days going over and over their cover so they would have the same story of where they’d met, what their first date had been, how he’d proposed.
At a conference in London. Dinner in the West End. He’d flown into London after a month in the Middle East and asked her right there in her office.
He’d wanted something more elaborate, but she’d insisted simpler was better.
He’d taken a crash course in Nina and he was way better at studying her than he’d ever been in school. He knew she loved the color blue in all its shades. She found it soothing. She listened to a wide variety of music. She loved it when he nipped the back of her neck. It got her hot and ready in seconds.
He hated the fact that their days together were almost over. Despite the fact that he’d gone into the office, she’d joined him every day for lunch, and they’d made a couple of memories on his desk. He wouldn’t ever be able to sit there again without seeing her there, her head thrown back in pure ecstasy.
But today, something had shifted and he’d begun to see more of the operative than the woman. He felt a distance opening between them, and he didn’t like it one bit. “I know you wanted to talk to Big Tag. I made sure he was on the invite list. We’re also bringing out some of the leadership team.”
“I’m sure that wil
l be helpful for your stock,” she replied, staring at the big house ahead of them. “It’s a mansion. You said it was a ranch house.”
“It’s on a ranch. It’s a house. To me that’s a ranch house.”
“How many rooms?”
“Ten bedrooms. Sixteen bathrooms. You’ll get a whole tour,” he promised.
“Your mom understands what I’m here to do, right?”
His mother probably understood far too much, but he was taking things slow with Nina. Not physically, of course. The better phrase was likely he was laying low when it came to his future plans. As far as Nina understood, they were having fun, getting comfortable with each other for the sake of the op. She didn’t know he never wanted her to take off that ring. “She thinks we’re a real fake engagement. She doesn’t know we’re a sort of dating fake engagement.”
That earned him a chuckle. “It’s a bit confusing.”
“Well, my mother’s a lovely lady.” He’d managed to avoid the introductions due to his father’s health issues. His dad was stubborn as the day was long, and he’d decided he knew better than the doctors. He’d attempted to help some of the ranch hands and torn one of his incisions slightly open. His mother wasn’t allowing him to leave the house until he was completely healed. “My father can be intimidating to a lot of people.”
“I can handle your father. I worry this is going to be too much for him. Isn’t he supposed to be resting?”
“I assure you he won’t do anything he’s not supposed to now,” JT said. “He tends to learn from his mistakes. It’s my brother I’m more worried about. Mike doesn’t think I can hack this. He’s probably going to take you to the side and try to convince you to trade us out.”
“I won’t do that. I promise you. I’m not going in without you no matter what Michael says. I trust you.” She glanced at the porch. “Who is the woman?”
He watched as a diminutive figure stepped onto the porch.
“My mother.” He loved her, but she was going to meddle. He could feel it from here. “She tracks my phone, too.”
Nina’s hand slid over his. “It’s good to have people who care about you.”
“Yeah, well it can be hell on a man’s ego when his momma calls because she’s tracked him down to a bar on the other side of the world and she wants to make sure he’s safe.”
Nina sighed. “I’m not close to my family at all, though I do care about them. I suppose we lost touch somewhere along the way. Go on, then. We should meet her. She’s right about the party. It’s going to be helpful. It gives me a reason to see Big Tag. I couldn’t exactly go up to the office since we were worried about being followed. I’ll get to spend time with our suspects before we’re with the whole leadership team. I’m sure Big Tag can tell us if it was your assistant who hired the PI.”
He took his foot off the brake and started for the house. “I know it was her. I’ll have to fire her when this is over. I hate that.”
“If she’s not the spy, you don’t have to fire her.”
But he did if she was setting private investigators on his girlfriends. He had to wonder if she’d done it before. He’d never had a girlfriend who would pick up on a tail. “We’ll see.”
“JT, you don’t have to do anything at all. You understand that, right? You don’t even have to do this mission if you would rather not. I don’t want the Agency to push you into something you feel uncomfortable with.”
Did she not think he could do it? “I’ll be fine. I want to catch this person more than anyone. This is my company and I worked on that prototype, but there’s more. I’ve got skin in this game because Bill was my friend no matter what dipshit thing he did.”
“I know, and that’s why I’m a bit worried about you. You’re a good man. Sometimes this is a rough business on a good man.”
“You’re not exactly bad.”
“No, but I think I likely have a more flexible sense of morality.”
“What is that supposed to mean? I don’t understand what’s happening here. We’ve had a great week together, but I’ve felt you pulling away all day,” he admitted. “If it’s not about the job, then it has to be about me.”
For a moment he thought he’d pushed her too far. She stared straight ahead and he worried she would simply open the door and leave him sitting there. But then she turned her head slightly. “It’s not about you. There are things I haven’t told you, things you should know. I’ve been used before. You should understand that the reason I work for McKay-Taggart and Knight is because I was fired from my last job. I was involved with a man I worked with.”
There was a knock on his window. The valet was smiling at him.
JT stared and the man backed off.
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”
“No. You should understand before going in with me. It’s a simple story.” Her voice had gone wooden. This was a story she’d likely had to tell far too many times. “I fell in love with my partner. We worked for Interpol. We had been partners for several years. I thought we would get married and have a family. He thought I was excellent cover for his real job, which was taking care of his drug lord employer so his crimes never came to light. Despite the fact that I turned him in, they were right to sack me. I was lucky Damon was willing to take a chance on me. So that’s why I don’t sleep with clients or coworkers. But we weren’t coworkers at the time. At least we didn’t know it.”
He was glad it had already gotten dark or she might have seen him flush with shame. He’d known. “Nina, this is not the same. And you’re not using me. I know you think I’m naïve, but I know damn well when a woman wants something out of me. I’m sorry I pushed. I like you a lot.”
She smiled weakly. “I like you, too.”
“And that’s part of the problem.”
“It is.”
So she’d gotten burned and didn’t trust herself. He had no plans to use her at all. Yes, he should have backed off when he’d figured out she was his contact, but she didn’t have to know he knew. Some things were better left unsaid. He could be good for her if she let him. But she needed to make that decision for herself. “Are you asking me to back off? Are you saying you’ve decided you don’t want us to go any further?”
He wasn’t sure what he would do if she said yes.
She sighed. “I don’t know. I wanted you to understand. I’m not telling you no.”
“You’re not telling me yes, either.” He didn’t say it with any kind of accusation. It was merely the truth.
“I’m saying I would like to think about it. What we have is very new. It’s fragile.”
“And I don’t want to break it.” He put the truck in park.
Her hand went over his. “Can’t we just live in the moment?”
He wasn’t good at that. “Sure.”
Her hand tightened around his. “I don’t have to pretend like I want to spend every minute of the night looking at you. I’m afraid it’s going to be far too easy to look like a woman who’s crazy about a man.”
She knew how to ease him. He brought her hand to his lips. “I’ll give you all the time you need.”
He let her go and got out of the truck to face the music.
* * * *
Nina decided that JT’s mother must be the queen of entertaining since as far as she knew this small party to celebrate a very fake engagement had been thrown together hastily. She’d had mere days, and yet everything was lovely, from the gorgeous flowers in the foyer to the champagne fountain that was set up in what someone had called the grand salon.
The rich were truly different.
But then her son worked fast, too. He’d only had five days, but he’d managed to work his way into her life. Five days of being close to him had made her like him so much. Five nights in his bed and she’d come to crave him. They hadn’t exactly played yet, though there was no question he was dominant in the bedroom.
What would he be like in a club? What would it feel like to scene wit
h him?
She had such dangerous thoughts.
“Nina, dear, it’s so good to have you here.” Ava Malone was a gorgeous woman who looked far younger than her sixty-five years. She wore a chic cocktail dress that showed off toned arms and a trim waist. “Finally. When Deanna told me your truck was pulling up the drive, I was so excited.”
She pointedly said JT’s assistant’s name, and sure enough, the woman was already here, a frown on her face and a drink in her hand. She was staring their way.
JT slid in behind Nina, his hand on the small of her back in that possessive way that made her melt for the right man.
She’d thought Roger was the right man. It was good to remind herself of that.
“I’m thrilled to be here. How is Mr. Malone doing? Is there any way I can help you?” The poor woman hadn’t asked to be brought into this situation.
She caught a glimpse of Michael Malone and realized that she probably had been asked. Michael had a look on his face that made her suspicious this party might not have been Ava’s plan at all.
Ava Malone waved her off. “Not at all. I could use a distraction from that ornery old man. My husband is a bear when he’s sick, though you should know he’s feeling much better this evening. Although I haven’t told him about the new diet yet. And you look stunning. Don’t worry about a thing. JT, could you please come with me to make sure he hasn’t bullied the waitstaff into giving him Scotch? Nina, love, I’m going to borrow JT for a moment if that’s all right.”
Ah, so she wanted to talk to JT alone. Or perhaps not totally alone since she could see Michael beginning to make his way over.
JT looked her way, uncertainty plain on his face. “I don’t know that I should throw Nina to the wolves.”
Oh, but wolves were her specialty. She thought she might have more of a chance to get a real impression of some of her suspects without JT there with her. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll have him back before dinner,” Ava promised.
