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When his cell phone rang, he grasped the steering wheel with the tips of his fingers sticking out from the cast and grimaced from the pain even that small movement caused him. With his good hand he tugged the phone from his belt and held it to his ear. “ Kyle . What’s up, bro?”

Jack had a family? Then again, bro could just be one of those macho terms men used when referring to each other.

“ No , I didn’t forget.” His mouth tightened. “ I was working. You know I’m right in the middle of?—”

He blew out a heavy breath. The voice on the other end of the phone got louder to the point where Gina heard every word.

“ You’re breaking Mom’s heart. It’s been six months since you showed your ass at Sunday dinner.”

“ I’ll try to make it one of these weekends,” Jack grumbled. “ I promise.”

More cursing. “ Your promises are about as reliable as a drug lord swearing he’s going straight.”

Jack glanced at her. Embarrassed at having been caught staring and eavesdropping, she glued her eyes to the brake lights ahead.

“ Gotta go. Wait ! Do me a favor and feed my clownfish for the next couple of days. John Wayne is old. Make sure he eats.”

“ Mind telling me how I make sure a clownfish eats?”

“ There’s a can of freeze-dried shrimp and flaked seaweed by the tank. Just lift the lid and tap some in. John Wayne and Annie Oakley will do the rest.”

“ Fine ,” came Kyle’s terse response.

Jack clipped the phone back onto his belt. When he repositioned his left hand on the wheel, he gripped it so hard his knuckles cracked.

No wedding ring . Then again, maybe he was married and didn’t wear one. A lot of men did that these days.

While it was none of her business, she couldn’t help but analyze the conversation she’d overheard, and another chink of her inherent animosity tumbled to the ground.

Even stern, hard-assed federal agents had families. Jack had a mother and brother who obviously cared for him very much. Whatever family issues existed, he was apparently upset over them.

“ It’s probably none of my business,” she began, “but?—”

“ Probably not.” His chiseled jaw tightened as he stared out the windshield at the stopped lanes of traffic looming ahead.

“ But ,” she continued, ignoring his none too subtle message, “family is something you should never take for granted.”

“ Eavesdropping , huh?”

“ Hard not to. Your brother was yelling loudly enough for the car next to us to hear. It was like listening to someone use a megaphone.” She frowned when Jack didn’t respond to her attempt at lightening the conversation.

His anger she was used to, but this silent brooding thing was beginning to bug her, and that really did make her nervous. “ So you actually have a mother?”

“ Did you think I hatched from an egg?” The annoyance on his face was priceless.

“ Certainly not.” She snickered. “ Humans aren’t birthed that way. I think you were one of those clandestine genetic government experiments. You know, grown in a test tube and born in an underground laboratory. Like on the X - Files .”

“ To hell with this.” He cut the steering wheel hard left and darted the Expedition into the thru-traffic lane, causing several drivers to pound on their horns.

Gina grabbed the armrest as he stomped on the accelerator, swerving as he drove.

He hung a sharp right down a short street that dropped them directly in front of the tunnel entrance.

A uniformed Port Authority cop blocked the way.

Jack rolled down his window, flashed his badge, and was immediately waived through.

In no time, they were speeding through the Holland Tunnel toward New Jersey .

“ Another perk of the job?”

“ For official business, yes.”

“ And while we’re at it, you must know that talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device is illegal in New York .”

His brows drew together. “ What are you, a cop?”

“ Speaking of which, your brother sounds like one. Is he? And how many brothers do you have?”

“ You ask too many questions.” He scowled, and she couldn’t hold back a giddy grin.

The drive was becoming far more entertaining than she could have imagined.

She held no power over this man whatsoever, except the instinctive ability to annoy him.

Anger at the FBI aside, something about cracking through Jack’s emotional armor and goading him was downright fun and something he couldn’t arrest her for. Too bad, so sad.

Lights lining the tiled tunnel walls blurred into a pale gold streak. The faint smell of exhaust came through the air vents.

“ Three ,” Jack muttered.

“ Three what?”

“ Brothers .”

Ah . Progress . “ Are they also in the FBI ?”

“ Two are, both in other OCUs —organized crime units. The other works for… Well , we’re not quite sure what agency he works for.”

“ Must make for scintillating conversation at family dinners.” She lowered her voice, trying to impersonate a man’s much lower octave.

“ Hey , bro, kung fu anyone into confessing lately? How many hoods did ya throw in the slammer this week? Why , today I busted three little old ladies peddling whacky weed out the back of a flower shop. One of them tried hitting me over the head with her cane.” She laughed and turned to see Jack scowling again, which, naturally, only made her laugh harder.

As they exited the tunnel into New Jersey , he glanced at her, but this time amusement glimmered in his eyes. “ You’re lucky I don’t have any duct tape for your smart mouth.”

“ Sorry .” Nah , she wasn’t sorry at all. “ It’s hard for me to imagine you doing the family thing.”

“ Why ?”

“ Well , because…because…” She twisted her lips, struggling to find the answer to his question. When it finally hit her, she held out her hands. “ Because you’re you .”

“ How’s that , exactly?” He swerved to avoid another vehicle.

“ Mysterious , moody, tight-lipped, and tight-a—” She clamped down a giggle. “ All that testosterone in one room must be overwhelming for your poor mother.”

The SUV’s engine roared as Jack gunned it onto the ramp for the Pulaski Skyway .

“ I have no doubt you’re the life of the party at your family gatherings,” he said in a tone laced with sarcasm. “ Your mother and father must be very proud.”

“ I wouldn’t know.” The smile on her face faded. “ They’re dead.” And she was so not going deeper into any conversation about her parents. Especially not with an FBI agent.

“ Sorry .” He sounded sincere.

As they headed west, commercial jetliners heading into Newark Liberty International Airport soared overhead.

When she turned to follow one plane’s descent, she couldn’t stop from admiring Jack’s sternly handsome profile.

“ Do you ever smile?” she asked. “ Other than when you crack a suspect during an interrogation under those bright lights, of course.”

“ No .”

“ Do you ever laugh just for enjoyment?”

“ No .” He swerved through traffic and merged onto Route 280. “ Do you ever stop asking inane questions?”

“ Never .” She smiled. Lord , but she hadn’t had this much fun since the second grade when she teased the school bully, Jimmy Corelli , until he cried. “ Bet I could make you laugh.”

“ FBI agents aren’t allowed to laugh. It’s in the manual.”

“ Is that a challenge?”

“ No .” His lips twitched.

“ So , clownfish? Really ?”

He snorted. “ Yeah . Really .”

She snorted back. “ I didn’t figure you for a tropical fish kind of guy. I see you more with a giant German shepherd, one with snapping jaws and huge fangs.”

He surprised her by uttering a genuine laugh. “ My father got me started on tropical fish when I was a kid, and I got hooked on them.”

“ And your fish is named John Wayne ?”

“ One is. The other—his girlfriend— I named Annie Oakley . My brothers and I used to watch all the old John Wayne westerns with my dad on Saturday afternoons. I actually did want a German shepherd, but since I’m never home…”

Well , dunk my head in a vat of chocolate. Maybe the man is human after all. “ That’s a beautiful way to spend time with your father. You must love him very much.”

“ I did. He passed away three years ago.” He exited onto the Garden State Parkway , heading north.

“ I’m sorry.” His words had been laced with a hint of grief, reminding her of her own loss.

He shrugged, clearly not comfortable talking about his family. “ Our ETA’s in fifteen. When we get there, I’ll make a couple passes so you can get a feel for the area. House schematics are in the back of the truck. You can study them tonight.”

Finally , they were getting down to the business that brought her one blessed step closer to concluding their pact and never seeing him again. Odd how she’d actually been enjoying their conversation.

“ Whose house is it?” she asked.

“ Psycho Fiori’s . He’s a high-ranking Falzone soldier.”

“ Psycho ?” Gina grimaced. She’d heard of him, but she and her friends hadn’t ripped him off yet. “ I have a bad feeling there’s a reason for that nickname.”

“ There is.” The dark edge to his voice told her she wasn’t going to like what he said next. “ Not only does he enjoy killing, Psycho goes to a shrink on a regular basis.”

“ Aside from the killing thing, dare I ask why?”

“ Anger management. He’s got the temper of a wild boar and the fighting skills of a lion. A bad combination.”

“ Great .” She began tapping on her Gucci bag again. “ Can’t we plant this bug at some other mobster’s house, someone who doesn’t have insane, homicidal tendencies?”

“ No .” He gave her a quick but meaningful look. “ Court orders are location specific.”

Gina clasped her hands. She’d honestly had no idea of the damage they’d done by ripping off the mob.