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Chapter Nineteen

Gina leaned in to kiss Kinsey’s cheek and breathed a sigh of relief. Less than ten hours ago, her friend’s complexion had been pasty white, her eyes weary and pain-filled. Color had since returned to her face, and while she still occasionally grimaced, her eyes once again sparkled with life.

“ How is Jack taking everything?” Margo asked as she adjusted Kinsey’s pillow.

Gina sat in one of the chairs surrounding the bed.

“ Fine , I guess.” Judging by the sated grin on his face after they’d made love again just before he’d left for his office.

“ He’s making arrangements for the Charger’s windshield to be replaced, no questions asked.

He’ll follow me later tonight when I bring it back to the rental company. ”

Anna yawned. “ And ?” She’d taken the last shift and was due to leave shortly.

Gina shrugged out of her coat, draping it on the back of a chair. “ Then he’s driving me to the Center to give Linda the cash.”

Kinsey sipped water through a straw. “ That’s a lot of money to have sitting around.”

“ I know,” she agreed. “ They can’t put it in the bank, or it will be subject to the audit. Linda said she has a safe place to stash it for now.”

“ What else?” Margo asked, and three sets of eyes turned to Gina .

Her skin heated at the memory of what else . Like the part where she and Jack had hot, wet sex in her bathtub. “ Well …” She looked at her hands, praying her friends couldn’t see right through her. “ He can’t use the information I gave him about Jim Spencer’s ring.” Or his finger.

“ Why not?” Anna scrunched up her face. “ After what he told us last night, that’s what he’s been after—rock solid evidence tying Tino to the murder.”

That’s what she’d thought too. “ To use it, he’d have to divulge the source of the information—me—and the circumstances under which I discovered the ring. Eventually , Tino and his attorneys would hear about it.” Silence filled the room. “ Jack will find another way.” Although she wasn’t sure how.

Kinsey set her cup on the table. “ He’s giving up a lot for you, isn’t he?” She let the question hang in the air as if there were a more meaningful implication.

Was there? Okay , so they’d made love. Technically , three times. That didn’t mean he felt something deeper for her. Despite her adamant disdain for all things FBI , her feelings for him were growing every day. More than they should.

“ Did you get any sleep?” Anna asked. “ I crashed the second my head hit the pillow. I’m guessing you did too.”

“ Uh , yeah.” Again , she stared at her hands. Not a total lie, but miles from the truth.

“ Uh -huh.” Kinsey snickered. “ You and Jack did the horizontal mambo again, didn’t you?”

Heat scorched her face. She really was a terrible liar. Cracking into a high-tech safe was child’s play. Lying would never be a skill she acquired.

Margo sat in an empty chair and simply raised her brows. “ Does this mean you’ve gotten over the fact that he’s the scourge of the earth?”

“ No .” She shook her head, but the denial sounded hollow. “ But things have changed between us. We’re —” What were they? She honestly didn’t know. They’d made love several times, but always following extreme duress. Was that making love or just sex in the heat of the moment?

“ Wonderful together?” Margo’s lips twitched.

“ Maybe ,” she said, still not willing or able to admit to anything too deep. Then again…

They’d broken their deal with him, yet he’d shown immense kindness to her and her friends last night.

He’d covered for them with the police, and that was huge.

She didn’t have to be an FBI agent to know how much hot water he could find himself in for doing that. And that barely scratched the surface.

After last night, his investigation might very well be in jeopardy once again.

Despite that, he’d held her while she cried in the waiting room and again when she’d spilled her guts in the bathtub.

He was always protecting them, always there when they—when she —needed him.

Not everyone in a person’s life did that. Most people in her life hadn’t.

“ Maybe you should give him a chance.” Kinsey squeezed her hand. “ At least think about it.”

She already was thinking about it, along with his bold, sweet kisses and the way he made her feel when they made love—like she mattered. Like she was precious to him. Was that love? She’d never been in love before. She’d certainly never felt this way about Paul .

“ You know,” Margo said, resting a hand on her shoulder, “all he’s ever done is help us. Help you . Stop thinking about that badge in his pocket.”

Maybe it was time to finally put her father’s memory to rest in a way that didn’t tie her stomach in knots. If she wasn’t willing to take that giant leap of faith, she’d never know if whatever was between her and Jack could turn into something real.

A heavy weight floated from her shoulders. Whatever the future held for them, she wanted to find out.

* * *

The evening air was chilly with a light breeze as Jack and Gina left the Center’s administrative office in lower Manhattan . He held the door of the SUV while she slid onto the passenger seat.

Today had been a good day. A quiet day. Unlike every other since Gina Perot had blown into his life like an F5 tornado.

She’d not only ripped the roof off his world but sent it spiraling totally out of control.

Yet for some reason he couldn’t understand, contentment still surrounded him like a warm blanket whenever they were together.

After getting into the SUV , he turned on the engine and adjusted the dials to blow warm air. Gina’s scent filled the truck, reminding him of the way her bedsheets smelled. He hadn’t woken in a woman’s bed in so long he’d forgotten what it was like.

“ Thank you for letting us keep the money.” She gifted him with a smile that made his heart flip-flop like a speared fish.

“ You’re welcome.”

Her smile widened, and damned if his heart didn’t flip faster.

His cell phone rang and SAC Morrison’s name lit the screen. Jack’s gut tightened. There was no doubt he was about to get his ass chewed. He cued up the call. Before he could say a word, his boss lit into him.

“ How in the world did you get that last bug planted?” Jack held the phone from his ear. “ What part about me ordering you not to do any fieldwork until you’re medically cleared did you not understand?”

“ An opportunity presented itself, and I took it. Sir ,” he added, praying the added show of respect would get him some mileage.

“ An opportunity?” Sarcasm dripped through the phone. “ Do I even want to know?”

He glanced at Gina , who politely pretended not to hear. “ Probably not.” He’d never reveal the identities of Gina or her friends. Even if it meant withholding information from his boss.

From the heavy breathing on the other end of the phone, Morrison was gearing up for another salvo. Time to head that off .

“ Did you read the transcript from yesterday?” He already knew Morrison had. The team monitoring the bug in Psycho’s house had informed Jack that his SAC had pretty much danced a freaking jig when he’d read it.

“ I did.”

“ Then you know it’s gold.” Pure gold. As in 24-karat.

When he’d told Gina they’d been getting useful intel from the bug, he’d been downplaying it in a big, big way.

Since then, they’d gotten even more critical information.

Now they not only knew the Commission was set to meet five days from now—this Saturday —but they knew its location.

Cottekill , New York , about two hours north of the city.

A criminal enterprise meeting of this magnitude hadn’t taken place since 1957, and Morrison knew it.

“ Yeah , I know, dammit!” his boss boomed, but his voice had lost some of its pissed-off edge.

Morrison would forgive him this transgression because he knew Jack got it done.

Based on the transcripts, his boss also knew if they busted up the Commission meeting, they’d net some heavy Mafia players, including a few wanted for murder here in the US and in Italy .

If that happened, Morrison would move to the short list for the next FBI directorship.

All Jack had to do was let his boss vent.

“ When this case is over, we will discuss this again!”

The call ended and Jack let out a heavy breath.

“ Was that your boss?” Gina asked.

“ Yeah .” He guided the SUV from the curb, heading north on Broadway .

“ Are you in the doghouse?”

He grunted. “ When am I not?”

“ Are you ever going to tell him what my friends and I did and what happened last night?”

“ No ,” he answered without hesitation. If Morrison ever discovered what she’d seen in Tino’s house, she’d never be safe.

The FBI would move heaven and earth to get her testimony before a jury, even if it meant forcing her into witness protection.

Before last week, he would have too. Now , he couldn’t.

She’d finally found a family—her friends.

WITSEC would take that from her, and she’d have to start over somewhere far away.

Without me . The selfish part of him couldn’t stomach that either.

“ Thank you,” she said softly, momentarily resting her hand on his shoulder. “ By the way, I still haven’t heard from Maria Falzone .”

“ I don’t think you ever will.” As much as he wanted Tino’s wife to get free of the bastard, he didn’t think the woman would call. Good thing because he didn’t want Gina anywhere near that situation.

“ I hope you’re wrong,” she said wistfully. “ You should have seen her. He’d beaten her. Badly .”

Jack didn’t doubt that. Tino beating his wife was an extension of the sadistic monster lurking beneath those silk suits. “ If she does reach out to you, call me right away. I don’t want you meeting with her alone.”

His cell phone rang again. Kyle . Jack wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to his family right now, not with everything else on his mind. Starting with putting together the biggest ops plan of his career.

“ Are you going to answer that?” she asked when the phone had rung three times.

He really did need to stay in touch more with his brothers. With the cast on his hand, he fumbled with the phone, nearly dropping it. “ Kyle , what’s up?”

“ You missed Sunday dinner,” Kyle growled. “ Again .”

He grimaced. Anger from his SAC he could take, but from his brother…that sucked. “ Yeah , well, a lot happened last night that I couldn’t get out of.”

“ Did you take care of everything last night, then?” Kyle’s tone was matter of fact, but Jack had a bad feeling.

“ Yeah .” He narrowed his eyes. “ Why ?”

“ I read your draft ops plan,” Kyle said. “ Seems like it’s almost done.”

“ Yeah ,” he repeated, narrowing his eyes even more. Instinct told him he wasn’t going to like where this call was going.

“ Well , good. We postponed dinner last night because Deke and I couldn’t make it. It’s tonight.”

“ Shit ,” Jack muttered.

“ Dammit , Jack ! Get your head out of your ass and get it to Ma’s . Dinner’s at six. For chrissake, be there.” Kyle hung up.

He groaned as he set the phone in the console. Glancing at Gina , he caught her slightly amused expression. “ Heard that, huh?”

“ Hard not to. You really are in the doghouse tonight.” There was both humor and sympathy in her tone.

When it rained, it poured buckets. It was pushing seven months since he’d sat down with his family. Maybe it was time. Only now his decision was more complicated. He’d never, ever taken a girlfriend to his family’s dinner before.

Girlfriend ? Was that what Gina was to him?

He turned to her. “ Hungry ?”