Catch Your Breath (30 page)

Jimmy strode through Griffin Walker’s condo and stared at the expensive furnishings.
The place was immaculate and made him feel completely out of place. Not that he preferred
the mess his brothers left all over their house. Middle ground would be good. This
place looked like a model home where no one actually lived.

At least the TV was kick ass. He had nothing to do but sit on his ass and wait. Of
course, no one knew exactly what they were waiting for. He itched to get back to work,
but Kittner didn’t want to take a chance on Jimmy’s cover being blown.

When his phone rang, he was glad for the distraction and he didn’t care who it was,
but seeing Moira’s name on the screen made him smile. She must’ve cooled off. He wondered
why Gabby hadn’t called again. Unease still clawed at him because he knew Moira was
being followed. “Hey.”

“Are you sitting down? You need to sit down because I have amazing news.”

He loved her voice when she was pumped about something. It was like she could get
high by talking, as if oxygen were a drug. “I’ve been sitting on my ass for hours.”

She blew out a long breath. He braced himself for the onslaught of her rapid speech.

“I had the cab drop me off by the escort office so I could pick up my car. I was walking
down the street and you’ll never guess who came up to me.” She paused to take a breath.

He paused to absorb the information. She went back to the damn escort office even
though he’d expressed how it wasn’t safe for her to be playing these games. Plus,
where the fuck was Gabby?

“Mystery woman. Her name is Gail, by the way. No last name. I’m sure she has one;
she just didn’t tell me. Anyway, she was very interested in you, Mr. Buchanan, and
the fact that I left the party with you. She gave me her card, which only has a phone
number on it, just like the one she gave me last year that I couldn’t find. She kind
of remembered me but couldn’t quite figure it out. Isn’t that great though? I mean
the new contact not the not remembering me part. Although that’s probably good too.
This is what you’ve been looking for.”

His head spun and he got off the couch to pace, which only added to the dizziness.
Moira proved she hadn’t lost her ability to be Mouthy Moira. His muscles tightened
and he saw red. After their argument, he was sure she understood how worried he was
about her and that she’d have enough common sense to back off.

“Jimmy? Did you hear me?”

“I heard all right. I heard that you ignored everything I said and continued to stick
your pretty little neck out without a care.”

“I didn’t do
anything
. I went to pick up my car. Like I said earlier, you’re the one who brought attention
to me. She approached me because you led me away from the party. This is all on you.
Asshole.”

He didn’t give a shit if he was being an asshole. He knew that a good portion of her
involvement in this mess was because of him and his inability to stay away from her.
“Give me her phone number. Don’t leave your house and don’t tell anyone about this.”

“No ‘thank you, Moira, for getting me the information I desperately need for my case’?”

“I asked you to stay away from this.”

“Actually you told me to, demanded that I stay away from your investigation. What
you don’t seem to grasp is that I wasn’t trying to get tangled in your mess. It just
happened. And I certainly didn’t have to come to you with any information. I’ve done
nothing but help you from the beginning and I’ve done it for nothing.”

“Don’t take a righteous attitude, Moira. You helped because you were promised a story.
You’ve had an ulterior motive from the get-go.”

“If you believe that, you don’t know me at all.” She hung up.

He stared at the phone, not believing that she had hung up on him. What were they,
twelve? As he was about to call her back, a text came through from her with the phone
number she’d gotten. He took a deep breath and called her back, determined to stay
calm and make sure she understood the importance of staying out of sight.

The call went to voice mail. Damn it. “Moira, do not tell anyone about this phone
number and absolutely do not use it. And stay home in case you’re being watched.”

Fuck. He stared at the number. He had no idea how long he stood there debating his
next move when his phone rang again. He answered without looking, assuming it was
Moira, but it was Gabby.

“Quite the exciting night, huh?”

“Fuck no.” He had the phone number for the best lead they’d gotten since the beginning
of this damn case and he was sitting on it.

Gabby sighed in his ear. “Don’t worry. Things are looking up. Moira is safely in her
apartment, and the tail left her when she got to her car. The interesting part is
that they made contact with her when she got out of the cab. I wasn’t close enough
to hear, but I figured I’d talk to Moira. To my surprise, she called me.”

His stomach churned. He’d told Moira not to talk to anyone. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

“Just tell me. I’m not in the mood to play games.”

“Moira gave me the phone number to a woman named Gail who asked her about you.” Gabby
waited for his response. “You knew, didn’t you?”

“She called me with this information a little while ago.”

“If this woman approached Moira, you know we have to use it, especially since she
asked about you. They’re setting up another burglary. This is probably our best chance.
Everything’s falling into place.”

“This is Moira, though.” He didn’t know what else to say to give weight to the pressure
he felt to keep her safe.

“I know, Jimmy. Let’s have her make contact and see how they run it. If it looks dangerous,
we won’t follow through.”

“She’s not a cop. She’s not trained.”

“That’s probably working in our favor. She’s not suspicious.”

For being in such a huge condo, Jimmy felt like he was trapped in a closet. Breakable
things surrounded him and he had to remind himself they were not his to smash. He
probably wouldn’t be able to afford to replace anything either. So he continued to
pace. He knew Gabby was right. Moira was the best thing they had.

“I want you to run this. Personally. Make sure she’s safe.”

“I can’t see her. I’m Mrs. Buchanan. If they have eyes on her, I can’t be there. I’ll
figure it out. You sit tight.”

Sit tight. As if that was even a possibility. Every nerve was taut, every muscle a
rock, and thinking of Moira intentionally putting herself in the middle of this investigation
repeatedly turned him inside out.

He couldn’t continue this back and forth, push and pull. She didn’t want him to hold
back. Moira was in for one hell of a battle this time.

Moira felt a little guilty. After having Jimmy tell her to keep Gail’s information
to herself, she knew he’d try to cover it up to keep her out of it. She couldn’t let
him do that. She understood why, but this case was important to him and he would throw
away something that was potentially useful. She didn’t want him to get into trouble,
so she’d called Gabby. Gabby would get through to him.

He listened to her.

A pang of jealousy shot into her. She knew there was no romantic or sexual relationship
between Jimmy and Gabby, and Moira really liked Gabby, but she couldn’t help but be
jealous of the fact that Jimmy listened to what Gabby said. He valued her opinion
and didn’t brush her off.

Then the logical voice in the back of her head—man, she hated that voice—reminded
her that Jimmy did listen to her and that was part of what had gotten her into trouble.
She’d told him about her Viagra Triangle story and he’d listened. He also spent time
reading her work to understand her better.

And now he probably hated her. But he’d get over it, right? He’d have to realize at
some point she did it to help him. Her phone rang and she half-expected it to be Jimmy
calling to yell at her, but it was Gabby.

“Did you talk to Jimmy?”

“Yep.”

“Was he mad?”

“Upset, but he knows we need to utilize this information. Besides, just think of the
kick ass story you’ll have a front row seat for.”

That little nugget should have her dancing through her apartment, but all she could
think about was how angry Jimmy really was. But they both had a job to do. “What’s
the next step?”

“Right now, nothing. Go about your regular life and I’ll call you when we have more
information.”

Her regular life? Her regular life now included dating and sleeping with Jimmy. The
most interesting part of her life lately was now off limits. “How long until you have
a plan? I’m assuming I’m going to need to tell Gail something.”

“We’ll have you call her after we have things set up for Jimmy. I have to get back
to work now.”

“Wait.” Moira took a slow breath so she wouldn’t sound too eager. “Can I talk to Jimmy?
I know I can’t see him, but it’s not like our phones are bugged.”

“For now, no contact. If you need to get a message to him, call me.”

Yeah, sure. Hey, Gabby, tell Jimmy how much I want to get naked with him next time
we’re together.
“Okay. What about his family? Is someone checking on his dad?”

“He said his sister has it handled.”

“Oh. Okay. I’ll talk to you later, I guess.” Moira hung up and itched to call Jimmy.
Instead, she crawled into bed alone.

The following morning, Moira sat down to work, but she couldn’t do an article on last
night’s party since she’d been there as an escort, not a reporter, and she didn’t
stay. She checked her e-mail and played around on social media, but she was antsy
and bored. She grabbed her keys and her laptop and headed out for a change of scenery.

A block from her apartment, her phone jingled with a text. From Jimmy.

Where the hell are you going? I told you to stay at home.

For a man who wasn’t supposed to have contact with her, he was still being pretty
controlling.

Gabby said we can’t talk. She also told me to live my regular life. I’m going to get
a coffee.

How the hell did he even know she’d left? She stopped in her tracks and spun around.
People on the sidewalk brushed past her. She looked up and down the street, not even
knowing what she was looking for. He was having her followed. Gabby said nothing about
being followed.

She turned back and walked the next block to the coffee shop. She ordered a large
iced coffee and settled at a table. Although she didn’t have any articles due, she
had a few ideas to play with. Then she went back on social media to spread the word
about Colin’s bar and bowling alley.

Her phone jingled again, and she was determined not to engage Jimmy. But it wasn’t
from Jimmy. It was Lisa. They had another date for her tonight, and they wanted to
know if she could take it. She stared at the message.

She didn’t know if she could stomach playing the role of an escort again. The first
couple of times turned out okay, but she didn’t want to press her luck. But Gabby
told her to continue on with her regular life. Being an escort was part of her regular
imaginary life.