Page 50 of Girl Betrayed

Claire smirked. “Not gonna happen, Secret Agent Man. I do have some ground rules for sharing our space though,” she added.

Dana and Jake exchanged a worried glance, but Claire didn’t seem to notice. “You have to shower after you run. You smell like a locker room!”

“What, this?” Jake lifted his arm and threatened to smother Claire in his sweaty armpit.

She squealed and rushed to hide behind Dana.

“I second that motion,” Dana added. “And no walking around the house half naked,” she amended. “This is my home, not the FBI locker room.”

“What do you think we do at the FBI? Catch bad guys then sit around naked in the sauna talking about it?”

Claire perked up. “You have a sauna?”

Jake shook his head. “No, Elvira. I was being sarcastic. Don’t you have a meeting to get ready for?”

She glanced at the clock, eyes widening. “Shoot!” Then she rushed toward her room to change.

Jake shared a look with Dana. “That went well.”

“Yeah, Claire’s been, well, Claire all morning.”

“See. Can we agree yesterday’s worries might’ve been an overreaction?”

“We’ll see how things go with Dr. Dvita today.”

Jake nodded. “Okay. Keep me posted.”

“You still going to the Bureau?”

“Yeah. I may be on leave, but if I keep showing up at HQ, maybe Jenkins will get the hint. Plus, I’ll have better luck catching wind of any new leads on this Reaper business if I stay in the mix of things.”

“Okay, be careful.”

“Always am,” he said with a wink.

They both stood there awkwardly for a moment, torn between how to part considering the new unspoken bond between them.

Jake was first to break the standoff. “I want to kiss you so bad right now,” he murmured.

Dana grinned smugly. “I know.” Then she whispered. “Me too.”

Jake leaned in but Dana shoved him away. “Claire’s right. You need to shower ASAP.”

Laughing, Jake headed down the hall toward Dana’s bathroom, all too happy to follow orders for a change.

34

Claire watchedDana tap her cracked cuticles against the steering wheel impatiently as they made slow progress in D.C.’s morning commuter traffic. Her mentor’s fingers were always the first to pay the price when she was stressed. Claire had a sneaking suspicion Jake was the reason the nervous habit had returned. It was kind of cute the way they thought they were being sneaky. But anyone with eyes could see how into each other they were.

Watching them in the kitchen this morning had been like witnessing two teenagers trying to keep their PDA under wraps in the classroom. Claire might not have been part of the popular crowd in school, but she was an excellent observer, and she could spot a secret from miles away.

She had to admit, it bothered her a little. Not that they were together. She didn’t care about that. But it was a little insulting that they felt they needed to hide whatever they were to each other from her.

Did they think she was so emotionally fragile that she wouldn’t be able to be happy for them just because her own life was surrounded by sorrow?

Dana slammed on the brakes, punching the horn at the car that had just swerved into her lane.

“Picked up some of Jake’s habits I see,” Claire teased.