Catching the Bad Guy (Book Two) (Janet Maple Series) (27 page)

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her
shoulder.

“You’re late,” a familiar voice
whispered into her ear.

The jolt that Janet felt pulsating down
her spine was anything but work-related. “You’re late yourself,” she snapped at
Dennis. “I got here first.”

“I was waiting for you behind the
corner. Being conspicuous is not my style.”

Janet’s cheeks grew warm. She was still
a novice when it came to this whole undercover thing, and Dennis never missed
an opportunity to remind her of the fact. Here was his chance to show her his
skills. “So, are you going to tell me your plan?”

“Just follow my lead.”

“Follow your lead? Dennis, you’ve got to
tell me more than that!”

By way of an answer, Dennis grabbed
Janet’s hand and pushed the door open. “After you, my darling.”

Bewildered, Janet almost slipped down
the stairs that led into the dimly lit foyer. She felt Dennis’s grip tightening
to steady her, the effect of which was the opposite of the intended. It was bad
enough that she was literally walking into another one of Dennis’s questionable
schemes blindfolded, his proximity was making it very difficult for her already
unnerved brain to function.

“Let me help you with your coat, dear.” Dennis
placed his hands on Janet’s shoulders while she shrugged out of her coat.
“Stunning.” Dennis eyed her dress as he took her coat from her.

“Thank you.” Janet hoped that the surge
of satisfaction Dennis’s reaction had elicited in her was not written all over
her face.

“Shall we?” Dennis nodded in the
direction of the host’s desk.

“Lead the way.”

“Good afternoon,” Dennis nonchalantly
addressed the restaurant host. “My girlfriend and I would like to enquire about
private dining.”

The middle-aged, bespectacled host
smiled at them benevolently. “Certainly, sir. We offer a number of banquet
rooms ranging in size. May I ask the size of your party?”

Dennis glanced at Janet. “Oh, I’d say
about twenty people.”

The host nodded. “We have just the
perfect room for you, sir. The Lilly Langtry Room.  It seats twenty-five people
comfortably, so you’ll have some room to spare.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Dennis approved.
“Would it be possible to see it today?”

The host scratched his head hesitantly.
“There’s an event taking place there tonight. I wish you would have called us
to schedule an appointment.”

“Oh, but couldn’t we possibly see it
tonight?” Janet managed in response to Dennis’s hand squeezing hers. “You see,
we drove all the way from Long Island. We are joining my aunt and uncle for a
Broadway play later in the evening, so we thought we’d come into the City extra
early to stop by here on the way. That’s what the room is for—for my aunt and
uncle’s thirtieth wedding anniversary. They don’t have any children, and we’ve
always been so close. I so much want to make this a special occasion for them.”
Janet clasped her hands in a gesture of appeal, stunned by her ability to
improvise. She was just as good as Dennis Walker.

The host shot them a sympathizing
glance. “Very well. I suppose we could arrange for a quick walk through.” He
waved to one of the waiters standing nearby. “Fred here will give you the
tour.”

“Good evening. Please follow me.” Fred
smiled at them politely.

“Well done,” Dennis whispered into
Janet’s ear as they followed Fred into the oak-clad interior of the restaurant.
“Now, when we get inside the room, I want you to stick this into the wall
paneling.” Dennis shoved a metal object the size of a watch battery into
Janet’s hand.

Janet’s earlier bravado evaporated. With
the last bit of self-control, she placed her arm around Dennis’s shoulder as
though reaching to nuzzle his ear with her lips. “You want me to bug the room?”
she hissed. “Are you insane?”

“Trust me, with that hot number you’ve
got on, no one is going to notice. Besides, I’ll distract them with questions.”

“Distract them with questions? Are you
out of your mind? Where did you get the bug in the first place? Is this even
legal?”

“From Feds friends. We’ll deal with the
legal issues later.”

Just then Fred turned around, and Dennis
wrapped his arm around Janet’s waist, pressing his lips against Janet’s.

“Excuse me, but here we are,” Fred
announced, embarrassed.

“Thank you,” Janet managed after
Dennis’s lips finally lifted away from hers.

The nerve of the man! What did he think
this was, a James Bond movie? Oh, she was going to give him a piece of her mind
the moment they were alone. The adamant, cocky, bastard who also turned out to
be such a good kisser … Her head was spinning with a mixture of vexing
indignation and the intense pleasure that Dennis’s kiss had sent ringing like
bells throughout her entire body.

“After you, my dear.” Dennis motioned at
the room entrance with the ease of an experienced imposter.

“Thank you,” Janet nodded, clenching the
tiny metal bug in her fingers.

She had to get her head together. She’d
be damned if she would let Dennis think that he had gotten to her. She was far
from being a fan of Dennis’s investigative techniques, but at the moment it did
not matter. If she failed to do what he had asked her to do, he might think
that she did so because of his kiss, and that was a much more mortifying
possibility than the prospect of being fired or possibly even arrested for
illegally planting a bug in a public place.

Janet stepped into the room. It was
medium in size, with a large round table set up in the middle of the room.

“Do you like it, honey?” Dennis asked.

“It’s lovely!” Janet exclaimed as she
twirled her way around the room, fully aware of the skirt of her dress spinning
around her legs.

“Excellent! She likes it!” Dennis
repeated Janet’s verdict as though it were an honor of great distinction. “And
what is your earliest availability?” he asked Fred.

“Oh, I’m afraid you’ll have to check
downstairs regarding that,” Fred answered. “They keep the schedule.”

“Very well. And is there access for the
handicapped? You see, my grandmother, she can only get around with a walker …”

While Dennis peppered poor Fred with
questions, Janet traced her hand against the wooden paneling. Then, ever so
casually, she pressed the bug that she had been holding between her fingers
into a tiny crack between the panels.

Mission accomplished, she thought as an
intense torrent of emotions rushed through her. It was a mixture of excitement,
fear, and triumph. She had just planted a bug in a restaurant, and she was as
cool as a cucumber. Now she understood why Dennis did things the way he did.
This was so much more fun than being stuck behind the desk in the office. Not
that that made this kind of blatant disregard for the rules permissible,
especially when their job was to uphold the rules, but she decided that she
would think about that later. Right now she just wanted to enjoy the rush. Ever
so discreetly she continued the languid motion of her hand to conceal her heart
thumping with triumph.

“Honey, I think this is it.” She linked
her arm through Dennis’s. “We’ll be calling you shortly,” she smiled at Fred.

“Wonderful.”

Janet could barely contain her urge to
jump up and down as she followed Dennis to the host’s desk. I did it, I did it,
I did it! Dennis Walker might have many faults, but there was no denying that
he drove her to do things that she normally would never dare to do. Most of the
time he drove her crazy but sometimes, like right now, he made her feel really,
really good.

“Did you like the room?” asked the host.

“Very much so,” Janet replied.

“Would you like to place a deposit
then?”

Her composure was about to abandon her
but Dennis came to the rescue. “We’d love to, but we have to be off or we’ll be
late, and my girlfriend’s aunt and uncle are very punctual. We’ll call you to
finalize all the details.”

The host nodded approvingly. “It’s so
nice to see close family ties. Whenever you’re ready, but please be sure to
give yourself plenty of time in advance. This place books up quickly.”

Once outside of the restaurant, Dennis
shot Janet a congratulatory glance. Her entire being wanted to shout hurray,
but she knew better, and followed Dennis silently along the street.

“That was really great work in there,
Janet.” Dennis patted Janet’s shoulder once they were several blocks away from
the restaurant.

“Thanks.” Janet had to exercise all her
self-control to keep the disappointment she felt out of her voice. Was that all
it was to him? Work? The intensity of his kiss still lingered on her lips and
in her thoughts. A kiss like that could not have been just work, but then maybe
to a man like Dennis Walker it was precisely that.

“You were pretty good in there yourself.
So what do we do next?”

“We wait and listen.”

“Wait for what?”

“Wait to see if our plan has worked. And
if it has, we listen to what we’re going to be able to hear through the bug
that you planted. I have to say, when you made your skirt spin around you back
there, I thought that poor Fred fella’s eyes were going to pop out. Excellent
move. I think you’re a natural.”

What about your eyes? Janet wanted to
ask, but instead she remained silent and merely nodded in agreement.

“So, your place or mine?”

“What do you mean?” Janet blurted out
before she could catch herself. Of course she knew what he meant. Your place or
mine to listen to the stupid bug she had planted. Suddenly, she did not give a
hoot about Muller, Finnegan, or even Kingsley. As far as she was concerned, the
whole case could go down the drain; but she could not very well say that to
Dennis, so instead she said, “Mine. This way I won’t have to worry about
finding a dog sitter for Baxter.”

“Sounds good. I’ll bring snacks.”

Janet finally remembered the question
she had been dying to ask Dennis all along. “How can you be sure that we got
the right room?”

“I can’t be sure, but it was our safest
bet with the amount of time we had to get it done. Laskin had mentioned that
Finnegan usually books a private dining room, and this was the smallest room at
the restaurant. Granted, if you or I tried to book a room that seats
twenty-five people for a dinner of three, we’d be told to get lost, but
Finnegan holds far great clout than we do. Still, there’s a chance that I was
wrong, and he’ll end up sitting in the general area, in which case we’re
screwed. But we could not very well go running all over the restaurant planting
bugs. Besides, I only had one bug. The Feds are real stingy when it comes to
sharing unauthorized resources.”

“I hope you picked the right room.
Otherwise, I’ve just put on the greatest performance of my lifetime planting
that bug for nothing.”

“It wasn’t for nothing, Janet.” The tone
of Dennis’s voice made Janet look up, but he quickly switched topics. “I’ll see
you tonight, partner.”

“See you later.”

Partner. The word made Janet want to
seal her ears shut. To be fair, there is nothing offensive about the word
partner in general, but when a man a woman likes a lot more than just a work
partner uses it to address her, it is downright infuriating.

***

As he watched Janet walk away from him,
Dennis Walker was a knot of conflicting emotions. Part of him wanted to rejoice
in the successful operation Janet and he had just pulled off, while another
part of him wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot. Partner? Why on
earth did he call her that when partner was the last thing he wanted her to be,
especially after that kiss.

He would have liked to say that the kiss
had been part of the cover-up, but he knew better. There were pretend kisses
with lips barely touching, and then there were sexy, passionate kisses that
swept you into a tide of desire. The kiss he had shared with Janet Maple was of
the latter kind. The truth of the matter was that he had wanted to kiss her for
a while—ever since he had first laid his eyes on her in the office of Bostoff
Securities, to be precise—and today marked the limit of his longing. When he
saw her in that red dress, her lips juicy and shiny, her eyes demurely lowered
under her long, rich lashes, he snatched his moment. Of course there had been a
risk of her slapping him and ruining their entire operation, but he had counted
on Janet’s work dedication, and he had been right. In fact, he was quite
certain that the reason that Janet allowed him to kiss her stemmed from motivation
that had to be greater than just work dedication. After all, not only had she
allowed him to taste the softness of her lips, she had let his tongue caress
her mouth and had answered him with equal passion. He had barely had the
presence of mind to pull away from her and remember the task at hand. But now
there was no danger of him jeopardizing their mission. After the way he had
just acted, he was certain that his chances of getting closer than partner
distance to Janet were close to nil.