Sex, Lies and Surveillance (6 page)

She shrugged. “I have a black belt in karate. But I really like this class. I go to the gym around the corner. They have a pretty decent setup over there. Do you work out?”

Shit, she really could kick his ass. “Uh, yeah. I have weights at my apartment. And I run. A lot.”

Running helped him think. Maybe he’d go running for a few hours tonight after he got out of this mess.

“Oh yeah?” Her eyes lit up. “I run too. Maybe we can get together and go sometime. There are some great trails over at Valley Forge. We could run and see the sights too.”

He swallowed and dropped his gaze before she could read the lust in it. “Sure, maybe, sometime. So…you have a call to make, huh?”

Whoa, son. You’re like a bull in a china shop. Do you want the girl to wonder why you’re practically pushing her out the door?

She paused before answering. “Yeah, I do. Don’t work too late, Mal.”

She turned, dark hair laying like a velvet curtain down her back, hips swaying as she walked away. Damn. Maybe he’d try to bang his head against the wall this time. This situation just kept getting worse.

He wanted her. And frankly, he should take her. Seduce her and pump her for information.

Whoa, poor word choice. His cock twitched in anticipation and he practically fell into his desk chair, gazing blindly at the door.

But the general idea was a viable one.

If he’d learned only one sure thing during the past month he’d been here, it was that Janey was the linchpin of the family. She knew everything from her dad’s next doctor appointment to the number of the hotel Nic was staying at in Jersey.

There was no reason he shouldn’t use her. She was beautiful, compassionate, loving, loyal and hot in a way only smart women were for him.

But he knew if her family was involved in some way with Carabini, even if she wasn’t, she’d hate him for exposing them.

It shouldn’t matter.

But it did.

Mal had the antacids in his hand again before he realized he’d reached for them. His chest burned.

Damn, he needed a stiff drink and a ten-mile run to work off some of this energy.

Or maybe he just needed to drown himself in the woman down the hall.

***

Janey walked back to Mal’s office ten minutes later.

He didn’t appear to notice her right away, but then she’d taken care not to make a sound.

Turned sideways to the desk, he paged through a legal pad covered with Nic’s chicken scratch. His eyes scanned across the page, and it was only when he’d gotten to the end of the page and started to flip that he realized she was there.

“Hey.” His voice rasped across her senses like a sandpaper feather, doing weird and wonderful things to her libido. “Done with your phone call?”

She nodded. “I’m heading out. Are you ready to go?”

He hesitated a second. “Just let me get this stuff together.”

Watching him gather Nic’s file, she got the feeling he’d wanted to tell her to leave without him, which just begged the question, why had he needed this file tonight? Why couldn’t it have waited?

She knew, with an inner sense that almost never steered her wrong, something was up with Mal. She saw it in his eyes, just for a second whenever he looked away. A flash and then it was gone. What was he hiding?

She needed to know.

Not just because she was attracted to him. Of course, she was naturally suspicious of any man who showed an interest in her. Her track record with guys wasn’t great. Her bastard former fiancé had been only the first in a string of jerks.

And lately, even if she’d wanted to date, she just hadn’t had time.

Still…

Mal stood and, as always, she was struck by his size. He was nearly as tall as Nic and, though he didn’t have Nic’s bulk, he was an imposing figure.

Tonight he wore broken-in jeans and a tight, dark T-shirt under a slightly too-big oxford shirt. He hadn’t bothered to button or tuck the overshirt in and he had the sleeves rolled to this elbows. Leaving his taut forearms, lightly dusted with brown hair, bare.

Okay, she’d obsessed over his hands earlier today. Now she ogled his arms. Maybe by tomorrow she’d be up to his shoulders. Or she could just stop at his biceps, because they looked strong enough to lift her off her feet…

Lifting her gaze, Janey’s cheeks burned with a blush as she realized he’d caught her staring. Their gazes locked and the look in his eyes indicated he wanted her to continue.

He moved toward her until he stood only inches away, their gazes still locked. She wouldn’t have looked away even if she could. The man had beautiful eyes.

“Janey?”

“Yes?”

As if she’d answered a question—and maybe she had—his arms wrapped around her shoulders, drawing her in as his mouth descended.

If she’d been expecting a chaste little peck, the man blew that assumption out of the water in one second flat. His lips moved over hers with a confidence she hadn’t expected. He kissed her like he worked a keyboard, with a surety of purpose that melted her hidden girly heart and made her knees weaken.

And he didn’t waste time with a closed mouth, either. He worked her lips open and slid his tongue into her mouth, tangling with hers, coaxing her to…to what?

Give in? She already had. And when she circled her arms around his shoulders and pressed her chest against his, she gave her brain the night off. As first kisses went, this one ranked about an eleven on a scale of ten.

His tongue licked along hers, hot and rough, encouraging her to flick at him, to try to loosen a little bit of his control.

He kissed her until she could barely breathe and couldn’t bear to think about breaking their connection. One of his hands moved to the back of her head, weaving his fingers through her hair, so he could move her how he wanted. Angling her to the perfect position for the best penetration.

Her stomach clenched with need and her panties dampened. With her breasts plastered to his chest and his arms holding her to him too tightly for her to move, she had the sensation of being trapped and tormented with exactly what she wanted.

Her hips tilted forward and found the ridge of his erection behind the zipper of his pants. She groaned at the promise of it, at the thought of spreading her legs and—

Abruptly, he released her and took a step back, eyes wide as he stared down at her.

“Jesus, Janey. I don’t—I can’t—Holy shit.”

Damn, that really wasn’t want he wanted to say, but Mal couldn’t think of a damn thing that wouldn’t sound like so much bullshit.

Christ, how stupid could he get? He shouldn’t have kissed her.

But he couldn’t apologize. Hell, he didn’t want to apologize and, if he did, it would sound like he regretted kissing her. Which was so far from the truth.

That kiss had been the best he’d ever had.

He didn’t think Janey regretted it either. Not if her expression was anything to go by. She looked a little shell-shocked and a whole lot aroused.

Maybe as much as he was.

Which was most of the problem. He wanted to keep on kissing her but if he did, it’d go way beyond kissing.

And that could be disastrous.

He didn’t know how long they stood there, staring at each other, until their breathing slowly returned to normal.

Finally, Janey blinked and looked away, dropping her gaze to the floor, one hand reaching up to run through her hair. His mouth fucking watered to think about how all that hair would feel spread across his chest, his thighs. He swallowed a groan, biting into his tongue to keep from saying or doing something stupid. But he still he couldn’t stop the image that popped into his head. Janey on his bed, her hair all over his pillow, in his hands.

Shit, son. You’re in deep shit. You gotta say something. Anything.

“Janey, I meant no disrespect. You’re a beautiful woman and I—”

Lost my mind? Want to take you to bed?

Which one of those two excuses would fly? Of course, they were both true, but still…

Janey tilted her head back to look up at him again, a curious expression on her face. “You what, Mal?”

“I like you.” And that was so completely tame compared to how he really felt that his mouth twisted in a grimace. “I mean…”

Her sweet, sexy grin twisted his stomach in knots. “I like you too, Mal.” Then her grin faded. “But we work together. That makes this…complicated.”

He nodded, knowing she’d just given him the perfect out. He should take it, grab on with both hands and run with it.

He couldn’t.

Son, you’re an idiot.

He reached out, letting his fingers trail along her jaw for a few brief seconds. “Too complicated?”

She tilted her head, still watching him. “I’m not sure.”

“Is there anything I can do to make it less complicated?”

Her lips curved up just the tiniest bit. “We can’t exactly change the circumstances.”

No, they couldn’t. She didn’t have all the facts to make an intelligent choice. Because if she knew who he was, why he was here, she’d be punching his face instead of smiling up at him.

“Maybe—” she paused, watching him with those sharp blue eyes, “—we could take it slow. We could visit Valley Forge on Saturday, maybe get some dinner afterward. Then we can see what happens.”

He had to shove down the urge to pump his fist in the air. “Slow. Absolutely.”

“Janey! If you don’t talk to Jimmy about this damn transmitter, I’m gonna crush it like a bug and then I’m gonna do the same to him.”

Nic strode through the door of her office, fury written on his cheeks in angry red.

After spending way too much of the morning obsessing over Mal’s kiss last night and their plans for dinner Saturday night, Janey had finally been able to completely immerse herself in code. She spared her brother a quick glance before holding up one hand as she continued to type with the other. He didn’t make another sound. Who said you couldn’t train a grown man?

She finished the string she was working on, pressed Enter and watched the file she’d just cracked pour open like a broken bottle of liquor.

“Yes,” she hissed under her breath. That file had been giving her fits for the past hour and it was vital to the Borelli auctioneer’s missing hundred thousand.

She’d thought she might not be able to—

“Oh my God!” she cried, jumping out of her chair. “Give me that.”

Nic held one of Jimmy’s brand-new miniature receivers in his large hand and looked ready to crush the million-dollar prototype like an insect. Rushing around the desk, she plucked the instrument from his fingers, sighing as she placed it safely in her desk drawer.

“I swear, one of these days I’m gonna lock Jimmy in his laboratory and then we can hire someone who won’t want to stick electrical equipment inside my body.” Her brother’s voice rose, and she knew he was just getting started. “He
knows
I hate that.”

“Nic, come on.” She used the voice she typically reserved for testy clients and crying baby cousins. “I know you think Jimmy’s gadgets are a little over-the-top sometimes, but they always work. You wouldn’t have gotten out of the catacombs without his GPS. And Jimmy’s two-way helped us find you when you were stuck in the elevator.”

She didn’t mention that it had kept claustrophobic Nic sane through the five hours he’d spent in complete darkness in a ten-by-ten-foot elevator in Mexico City after an earthquake.

She and Annie had taken turns talking to him the entire time he was trapped while her parents had coordinated his rescue from the Pentagon. And Jimmy had made sure they didn’t lose his signal.

That was the only time she’d known her oldest brother to be shaken by anything.

“Yeah, I know he’s saved my ass a few times,” Nic admitted. “But I swear, he makes ’em just so they antagonize me.”

Quicksilver like their mother’s, his anger made a comeback. “He knows I hate to have anything in my ears after that bug incident. And I don’t care if this damn thing is an earring, it still has to go in my ear.”

Everyone in the family knew all too well about the bug incident, and she shuddered in empathy.

“I’m sure Jimmy just thought it was the best place to conceal it,” she soothed. “He also knows you don’t like to have anything implanted under your skin, so that was a consideration, too.”

Reluctantly at first then outright, Nic grinned at her. Combined with his navy-blue eyes and wavy black hair long enough to curl on his shoulders, that smile made him irresistible to women worldwide. Unfortunately, he knew it and used it to his full advantage. She wasn’t taken in, however.

“Ah, Janey.” He pulled her into his arms for a tight, quick hug. “I don’t know what we’d do without you. The rest of us would botch this office in a heartbeat without you to run interference.”

She squashed the grin fired by Nic’s compliment, but she enjoyed the rush of pleasure it gave her. “Yeah, you’re only worried about losing the one person who can read your chicken scratch.”

“I don’t give a damn about paperwork, you know that, brat.” He released her to lean against her desk as she sank into her chair. “Had enough of that in the army. Anyway, I need you to do something for me.”

She lifted an eyebrow and waited, knowing she wouldn’t be able to drag anything out of Nic until he wanted to tell her.

“How’s your schedule look for later this afternoon?”

She didn’t bother to check the calendar on her desktop. She had everyone’s schedule for the next two weeks memorized. “I guess I can be free.”

“Good. I need you to translate for me this afternoon. Was gonna use a police translator but he got injured in a drive-by last night.”

Okay, something not on the schedule. How many times had she told Nic she needed to be kept updated? She didn’t bother to complain. It never worked with him. “What’s going on?”

His lips twisted in a grin, as if he’d read her mind. “Gun buy for Nabosny. It’s been set for a while, or I would have pushed it off because of the kidnapping. I hate to use you for this, but I don’t have time to find someone else.”

Big brothers. Janey rolled her eyes. “What language?”

“German.”

She nodded. No problem. She’d been speaking German and Japanese since college. French, Spanish and Italian since high school. Languages were her second specialty after computers.

“Excuse me. Janey?”

Her gaze shot to the doorway, where she found Mal staring at her. Heat washed through her body as the memory of last night’s kiss made her toes tingle.

Luckily Nic had already turned toward Mal, standing in the doorway, so he wouldn’t catch the flush on her cheeks.

“Hey, Mal.” Nic broke in before she could speak. “If you’re free, I need you this afternoon.”

Mal’s all-encompassing gaze swung to Nic. “What’s up?”

In the split second between looking at her and turning to Nic, Mal’s entire demeanor changed. She caught her mouth before it fell open as the wariness he wore around her dissolved into animated interest.

“I need you to go along on a gun buy this afternoon,” Nic said. “Favor for the Philly police.”

If he’d been a dog, Mal’s ears would have perked up. Janey would have laughed at the comparison if it hadn’t been so apt. But that’s the only comparison she would ever make between Mal and a canine. Even dressed in baggy brown trousers and a wrinkled pink dress shirt, he was all male.

“Oh, yeah?”

She had to hand it to Mal. Whatever he was hiding, he did it well. But it
was
there, under the nerdy exterior.

Last night had proved there was more to the man than he let on. Hell, just that one kiss alone showed a dominance he never revealed at work. He’d kissed her until she’d felt ready to melt, ready to say yes to whatever he wanted.

And then…it was as if he’d remembered what role he was supposed to be playing.

“Yeah, down by the river,” Nic continued. “Janey’s going and I need someone to watch her back. Anything happens to me, you get her out.”

Oh, now, wait just a minute
. Janey frowned, her gaze narrowed on her brother. Of all the asinine… She was going to
strangle
Nic.

“Sure, Nic. No problem.”

Now her gaze swung to Mal, who hadn’t even stopped to think maybe she could take care of herself.

Anger, clear and sharp and heady, buzzed through her.

And lunkhead Nic didn’t even notice as he nodded at both of them and headed toward the door. “We’ll leave at two.”

By the time he walked out the door, Janey had a pencil clenched in her hand, ready to launch at her brother’s back like a missile. “I am going to make that man suffer,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Sucks being the youngest.”

Mal’s amused tone drew her slitted gaze back to him, the half grin on his face stealing the breath right out of her chest. God, the guy was gorgeous. And that voice, rough and raspy like he had a two-pack-a-day habit, which she knew he didn’t.

She cleared her suddenly dry throat and forced herself not to rip into Mal because he was a convenient target. “So, what can I do for you?”

Heat flashed through Mal’s eyes before he dropped his gaze to the floor. “I need you to look at something for me. Can you come over to my office?”

Hell, yes. She’d follow him anywhere if he flashed those eyes at her.

Whoa, girl. Way too fast.

Not trusting herself to speak and possibly say exactly what she was thinking, she preceded him out the door, passing close enough to feel the heat he radiated, every shift of hard muscle—

Oh, this was bad. An office relationship, especially in this office, was doomed. Even though they liked Mal, her parents would watch his every move, looking for faults. Her brothers would try to intimidate him into confessing his every sin.

And she had way too much on her plate right now to even think about getting involved with anyone. Her parents needed her. Her brothers needed her.

But Mal…Mal was a great big distraction with a body to die for, fascinating hazel-green eyes full of secrets, and kissed like no nerd should be allowed to kiss.

He intrigued her more each day.

Jeez, even his office intrigued her. The room held nothing personal. No pictures, no knickknacks, no funny little Mickey Mouse stapler like Jimmy’s or spent grenade canisters like Nic’s. Nothing.

Except complete and utter chaos.

Floor-to-ceiling corkboard covered the wall behind his desk, and dozens of yellow slips of paper with his indecipherable shorthand made a crazy patchwork. She’d thought Nic’s handwriting had been awful until she’d seen Mal’s. At least Mal typed his own reports.

A minefield of stuff buried his L-shaped desktop—CD-ROMs, external hard drives, computer components, two towers, three monitors, two keyboards, a laser printer and tons of mechanical pencils and yellow legal pads.

The inveterate organizer in her itched to get her hands on a few bins in the supply closet and toss the debris into them.

“Yeah, it’s a mess, but I know where everything is.” Mal slipped into the room behind her. “I don’t need any help cleaning it up.”

She gave him her best queen-to-peon stare. “I was thinking no such thing.”

He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Her nipples tightened and her thighs clenched. She hoped he didn’t notice.

She couldn’t tell as he stared down at her.

She liked that she had to look up at him. She liked how, if she moved closer and slid her arms around his waist, she could press her cheek to his chest, just above his heart.

Her mouth dried as she realized he’d just spoken to her.

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head slightly and gave him a rueful twist of her lips. “What did you say?”

Mal was having a hard time remembering because he’d been watching her heated gaze devour him from his shoulders to his arms and back to his chest.

Had she thought about that kiss last night while she lay alone in her bed? The kiss that had kept him awake for most of the night? Did she regret making that date with him for tomorrow night?

He pointed toward the closest monitor. “I, ah, wanted your take on this new information on the Donnelly case. I think I found something interesting.”

And Jesus, had he ever.

She wanted him. Maybe as much as he wanted her. A heavy dose of arousal set off little nuclear blasts of energy throughout his nervous system, straight to his groin. Hell, he couldn’t get an erection now. She was way too close not to notice.

But it worked in reverse, too, because he could see her nipples poking through her shirt. Man, oh man, what he wouldn’t give to be able to reach out and cup her breasts in his hands, run his thumbs over those peaks while he kissed her.

Son, you are so screwed.

Yeah, Dad, I think I could figure that out for myself.

Okay, deep breath. Think of something else. Cute little puppy dogs, furry little…bunnies.

She blinked those blue eyes at him several times, as if trying to process what he’d just said.

“The Donnelly case?” Her eyes finally narrowed. “The one with the missing rabbit and the five-million-dollar diamond?”

He gave her a genuine grin then. He got a kick out of this case. It’d been the first thing on his desk here. With the CIA, his work typically involved death and destruction. At DeMarcos, you got a little bit of everything.

“Yeah. I think I know what happened to the diamond.”

“Really?”

Janey stared at him with wide eyes. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how a twenty-five-year-old woman managed to look so damn innocent. Particularly a woman who managed an office full of type-A personalities and handled them with ease.

Who kissed with enough passion to make a man melt. And in whose eyes a man could drown, if he wasn’t careful.

Yep. You’re doing a pretty good imitation of sucking water, son. Don’t forget, she’s also the woman who knows what the DeMarcos are all about. Who could be involved in Dev’s death.

That thought wiped away his grin, and Janey’s eyebrows rose as she took a quick step back.

Damn
. “Yeah,” he said, turning to point to one of his monitors. “I don’t think the rabbit was stolen along with the diamond. I think maybe it was all a cover-up.”

She laughed, but it sounded a little forced. As if she was thinking about something else. “So, someone simply stole the rabbit to cover up the crime? The wife was more broken up about the rabbit than she was about that diamond, anyway.”

“That always struck me as funny. So, I decided to check into the Winfreds’ personal life a little more. Turns out, the husband has a girlfriend. Guess who I think has the diamond?”

Janey leaned against his desk and an image assailed him, so erotic it made his heart stutter.

Janey. Spread across his desk—naked, of course. Not that he’d seen her naked—yet—but previous supervisors had always praised his ability to visualize.

In his little fantasy, he saw her reach for him with slim arms. Calling to him to come to her. Take her. Make love to her. Janey whispering in his ear that she wanted him to—

Whoa.

Mal sucked in air and forced his gaze to the floor for a few seconds. Way too much caffeine this morning.

No, just too much Janey. With an effort, he focused on her words and not just the sound of her voice.

“So the mistress gets the diamond and the wife thinks someone stole the rabbit
and
the diamond, when really the husband just hated the rabbit?”

It sounded like a question, but since he hadn’t heard the first part, he wasn’t exactly sure.