Fire Burns Hot ((An FBI/ Romance Thriller~ (Book 5))) (18 page)

“Oh well if that’s what you're planning, then I’ll definitely skip the wine too.”

Elizabeth grinned.

Callen kissed her again, and this time was more forceful. When he broke away, he gazed down into her eyes. “As for you going to a strip club alone, it’s never happening.”

Elizabeth ran her hands around his back and to his ass. “I wasn’t planning on going alone, Callen. I’m taking you with me.”

Now he lifted his eyebrow. “Really?” This didn’t seem like her. First fruit and vegetable and then she was conceding without a fight.

“I’m dividing the team into two, and then we’ll split up the list and hit them all in half the time. It’s almost Christmas, and the last thing I want to do is spend it in strip clubs.”

Whitefox laughed. “If an outsider heard half the things that you say, they’d think we’re crazy.”

“Detective Austin thinks we’re
nuts. You can tell by her face when you called me ‘angel’.” Elizabeth relaxed, laying her head on his shoulder. Her heart was overwhelmed at the love she was feeling for the man.

“I’m not worried about it
, because you are my angel,” he replied honestly. Without her, his life wouldn’t have any meaning or feeling. Before Elizabeth he just existed, and now he was living.

“Want to help me finish up the paperwork, and then we can get out of here early?”

Callen grinned down at her wolfishly. “Hell yeah, I do!”

Elizabeth patted him on the ass, pulling away from his body. “Then let’s get to it, Mr. Whitefox. We have making out to do tonight.”

Whitefox couldn’t wait.

Standing out in the lobby, the remaining part of the team was exchanging contact information. Tori gave Cyra her cell and the Blackhawk’s numbers. “If you find anything, shoot the information over to us.”

Detective Austin nodded, pausing in hesi
tation. “Can I ask you both something?”

Tori and Julian both looked at her, and they already kne
w where the conversation was heading. “Yeah?”

“Elizabeth is married right?”

Julian wasn’t surprised. “Yep. She’s married to Ethan.”

“Then what’s up with the relationship between her and the other director?”

Tori didn’t know how to put it. Just yesterday Elizabeth was thanking her for not gossiping. Yet, this was part of their team, and didn’t she deserve to know that team was stable?

Julian took this one. “Ethan and Callen are brothers.”

“Oh.”

Tori added, “I’m not going to tell you what’s going on, but take it for what you see. It’s not a big mystery.”

“So the three of them are…?”

Both of them shrugged,
neither confirming nor denying anything. The Blackhawks were entitled to discuss their lives to whom they wanted. They weren’t going there.

“Okay then.” She thought about it. “Who am I to judge?”

“Exactly,” said Julian, “besides, if you were to look up bad ass and dangerous in the dictionary, you would find Elizabeth’s picture.”

“Good to know,” she turned to walk away. “I’ll let you know if I find anything,” and with that she was in the elevator.

There were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence before Julian took a chance. “Can we talk?” he asked, touching her on her arm. When she didn’t pull away, he relaxed.

“I’d prefer not to at work. This is my job. Whatever you’re going to bring up isn't work related is it?”

Julian cringed at her tone. It was icy and to the point. “No. It’s personal.”

“Then not at work,” she
stated, walking back towards her desk in the bull pen.

“Have dinner with me then,” he blurted out, suddenly.

Tori looked at him over her shoulder. “That would be a bad idea.” Her heart was pounding as she prayed her face remained blank.

“I see,” Julian said. “Then I guess we’re going to have this conversation right here where your co-workers will hear about how you slept with me
, and then blew me off.” Julian said it loud enough that she actually hissed at him and threw her hand over his mouth.

“Are you insane?”

Since she didn’t move her hand, he nodded. Julian would have pointed out that she looked crazy, standing inches from him with her hand over his mouth in the middle of her workplace.

Slowly, Tori moved her hand.

“Have dinner with me tonight, and we can talk privately. Then you don’t have to be worried about being embarrassed about being seen with me at work.”

She looked at him like he was
indeed nuts. “Julian, I’m not embarrassed to be near you,” she whispered, getting her gun out of her desk drawer and clipping it to her hip.

“Then prove it, Tori. Let me take you out to dinner.”

Bracing both hands on her desk, she released a long sigh. “Fine, dinner and that’s it. We aren’t having sex, Julian.”

Now he grinned. If that was the first thing that came to mind, there was a valid reason.
Tori Christensen was just as tied up in knots as he was over it all. “What time?”

“I’ll meet you there.”

He shook his head. “I may get lost, so no. I’ll pick you up at seven, Agent Christensen,” he said loudly.

“You don’t know my address!” she stated, as he walked away.

Julian turned around and grinned. “I find things for a living that are lost, Tori. Don’t worry, I’ll find you.” With that he left the bull pen, supremely happy.

Tonight he was going to figure out how to fix what went horribly astray, and find out what
was making Tori look so scared.

                                 *    *     *

Elizabeth stood in her kitchen making dinner for her, Callen, Wyler and little CJ. When Julian told her he was planning on taking Tori out for dinner, she was surprised the woman went along with it. Then again, who was she to complain? It meant a night alone with half of her men. The only thing that could make it better was if Ethan walked through the door.

“Take it easy on her, okay?” stated Elizabeth, as she stirred the sauce in the pot.

“I will. I promise I won’t run her through the ringer. I just want to talk.” Julian looked around their house. When they pulled up in front of it, he was surprised. People lived in houses, and Natives lived in little cabins, but Ethan, Callen and Elizabeth lived in a huge stone monstrosity. When Callen referred to it as ‘Fort Blackhawk’, he started laughing. They weren’t kidding, and then as they explained that there was an apartment under construction for their father over the garage, he tried to picture it even bigger. It was a really nice house, and the director jobs must have been lucrative after all.

Now
Julian wandered around their living room and was just taking everything in that gave him an idea about the family.

“Beer?” asked Whitefox, holding one out to him.

“Yeah, thanks.” He accepted it and smiled. Julian admired the warbonnet in the glass case. “It’s really terrific,” he said pointing.

“
It’s going to remain mine,” stated Elizabeth from across the room. When Julian looked confused, she laughed. “Granddad left it to me in his will, but I put it up in a bet against the men.”

Julian stared over at her. “Do I want to know what the gamble was over? That seems like a really steep offering to risk losing.”

Whitefox took a sip of his beer. “Our granddad wanted us to learn the Native language, and whomever does it best, gets the prize.”

Julian dropped his voice low. “Isn't that like taking candy from a baby?” he asked.

Elizabeth began speaking fluently in the Native language, and waited for Callen to reply. He did and flawlessly. When he told her that he couldn’t wait to get her naked later, she laughed.

“Just before you both go
further, our tribe’s language is similar. I do know you’re talking about sex. I caught bed, naked and then that last part that almost made me blush.”

Elizabeth
snickered. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Lyzee is my only competition.
Ethan’s horrible at it, and that beauty is going to be mine,” he said, running his hand down the glass display case his brother built.

“Don’t bet on it,
ace. I plan on winning and making you wear it naked in bed,” she snickered.

Julian laughed. “At least she knows better than to wear it herself. Why did she get it in the will?”

Elizabeth wandered over holding a can of soda. “Well, I’ve never been arrested, and I was his favorite.”

Whitefox laughed. “You steal a few cars on
the Rez, get caught naked, and break and enter into a few places and you get ousted as favorite. So unfair.”

She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Granddad knew I loved it. On the day I met
Ethan, I was drawn to it and told him it was gorgeous. The only other thing I coveted was the totem pole, and we haven’t pulled it out of the ground yet, but I plan on placing it in our back yard.”

“I have a gorgeous one in front of my cabin. I ordered it online from this artist, named Wyler.”

Elizabeth and Callen started laughing at the same time.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, looking at them both.

“Want to meet the artist?” asked Whitefox, finishing his beer and holding Elizabeth’s hand. Immediately, their fingers twinned together lovingly.

“You know him?” he asked
, excitedly. “I saw his work at our commons house, and then finally got him to sell me one. They cost a small fortune. No one seems to know anything about him other than his work is almost magical. He captures the spirit of the animals completely.”

Elizabeth pulled Callen over to the book shelf and pulled down some hand carved blackbirds and foxes. She handed them to Julian.

Immediately, he flipped the small carved sculptures over and saw the ‘W’ carved into their bottoms. “I didn’t know he sold these too,” he said, running his fingers over the hand carved feathers and fur.

“Wyler doesn’t. Those were made specifically for us,” offered Elizabeth. “I think we have about twenty of them.”

Julian realized how priceless that made them. “They’re beautiful. How did you get him to make them?”

Elizabeth snickered as she heard her SUV pulling into the driveway. Since Wyler moved in with them, he’d taken over her car, and she’d been driving a Denali. Their driveway looked like a parking lot- her vehicle, Callen’s big red truck, Ethan’s Mustang, a Denali or two, and now Julian’s car.

When the door opened, Wyler walked in holding CJ in his arms. The little boy held onto one of his black braids and smiled when he saw his mommy.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said,
crossing the living room and kissing her on the forehead. Since his father had passed away, he’d taken up doing that to heal Elizabeth’s heart. It was something Timothy Blackhawk always did when he greeted her.

“Hi Dad!
Was CJ good today?” she asked, taking her son and cuddling him. Then he saw Uncle Callen and was gone. Immediately he held out his arms, going to the man who shared his name. “Traitor,” she said laughing. “I carried you, fed you burgers, and you dump me for a dude with hair longer than mine?”

Everyone laughed.

“Dad, we’d like to introduce you to someone. We have a guest. His name is Julian Littlemoon, and he’s assisting us on an assignment.”

“You’re the one that helped my Elizabeth save Callen,” he stated. “Thank you.”

Elizabeth turned towards Julian. “This is Wyler Blackhawk, and the creator of your totem.”

Julian stared at him open mouthed. “Seriously? You’re
the same Wyler?”

He laughed and nodded. “
Yeah, that’s me.”

Julian was excited to meet the artist.
“Mr. Blackhawk, your work is amazing. It’s gorgeous and speaks of our culture.”

He smiled. “Like the back of my work, it’s just Wyler, and thank you for the compliment.
”

“Your father is really the man that makes the best totems in the world?” he asked, looking at Callen.
He could see the resemblance between Wyler and Ethan. It had to be true.

“Yep,
the one in the corner of my office is dad’s work too. Lyzee had it commissioned for me last year.” Whitefox kissed his nephew in the crook of his neck, and CJ laughed ridiculously. His heart overflowed. CJ was more like a son to him. The name thing that always worried him was long forgotten. Once he believed he was less, all because he was the ‘Blackhawk bastard’, but Elizabeth helped him work through it.

“Which totem do you have?” asked Wyler, taking
the soda can from Elizabeth.

“Three eagles sitting on a
horse.”

Wyler remembered it. “One eagle was white, one red and one black.”

Julian started laughing. “Yeah, that’s the one! I can’t believe I actually get to meet you. There’s no research on you. You’re like a ghost to anyone that tries to find anything out about you. There was even a rumor that you weren’t Native.”