Page 54

He dragged both hands down his face. The hole in his heart wasn’t healing. It had widened faster than a sinkhole. Truth was, he’d nearly gone to Gina’s apartment five times over the last month. It wasn’t his place to make a move like that.

Laughter came to his ears, followed by Deke’s painful rendition of “ Jingle Bells .” His little brother never met a party he didn’t like.

“ Hey , bro.” Deke poked his head in the door, a strand of silver garland strung around his neck and holding a mug of something Jack assumed was spiked with holiday cheer. “ Brought you a gift.” He plunked the mug on the desk and sat on one corner. “ Trust me. That’ll grow more hair on your chest.”

Jack peered at the mug, inspecting its contents. “ Nancy’s homemade Irish cream?” One of the other agents made it every year for Christmas Eve .

“ Yep .” Deke grinned. Clearly he’d already sucked some down.

SAC Morrison and Smitty joined them. Jack’s eyebrows rose at the ear-to-ear grin on his boss’s face. The success of Jack’s case would solidify his boss’s position on an even shorter list for FBI director.

“ Hot off the press.” Smitty held up a newspaper and pointed to the headline about Franco’s indictment.

“ Nice work, Jack .” Morrison held out his hand for him to shake. “ I have to admit, you got it done.”

“ Thanks , boss.” He took the newspaper from Smitty . Front and center was a photo of Jack hauling Franco to jail in cuffs. He should be fist-pumping, reveling in the accolades, but the victory was a hollow one.

Last night he’d returned Jim Spencer’s wedding ring to the man’s widow. With Tino dead and Franco facing hard time, at least justice would finally be served. For Spencer and his family. For Gina .

Despite the media coverage surrounding the Falzones , the Commission meeting had taken place.

Though he was still a free man, with all the charges pending against the Falzone organization, Franco had been denied a seat at the meeting.

For a while there, it seemed Franco would escape without prosecution.

The evidence Jack needed had come from an unexpected source.

Meat , Jack’s informant, decided to testify against Franco in exchange for a brand-new life for him and his family in WITSEC .

Meat hadn’t been in the garage to overhear Franco’s statements, but it turned out he had been there when Franco had shot Gina’s father.

All this time, and Jack hadn’t known that.

Ironically , Jack’s best informant was also one of Franco’s most trusted men.

Given that Meat had nothing to gain and everything to lose—including his life—his eyewitness account had credibility.

Combined with Gina’s witness statement, the prosecutor hadn’t hesitated to file charges against Franco .

Given his age, Franco would never again see the light of day from outside of prison.

“ Thanks to you, there’s chaos brewing in the Mafia .” Morrison made himself comfortable in a chair. “ All the East Coast families are in total disarray.”

“ For now.” He tossed the paper onto the desk. “ Until the players change and new bosses are anointed.”

“ Organized crime never ends,” Kyle said from where he now leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed. “ It just keeps reorganizing. Consider it job security.”

Nancy poked her head in the office. “ Kyle , that visitor you’ve been waiting for is here.”

“ Thanks .” Kyle turned and left.

His brother must be pulling another all-nighter, something he noticed Kyle did a lot since transferring from Chicago .

The laughter and singing outside his office suddenly hushed.

Kyle reappeared with someone hovering off to the side, just outside the door. “ Someone’s here to see you.”

Deke slid off the desk. “ About time.”

Jack eyed his brothers suspiciously. He wasn’t expecting anyone. Judging by the barely perceptible grin on Kyle and Deke’s faces, whatever was going on, both of them were in on it. Kyle stepped aside, extending an arm to whoever stood behind him.

Gina walked into his office. “ Hi ,” she said shyly, a tentative smile curving her lips.

Jack shot to his feet. Beyond that, he could only stare. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

“ Um , am I interrupting anything?” She looked nervously around the room.

“ Nope .” Deke hauled Smitty from his chair. “ C’mon , Smitty . We got that thing to take care of.”

“ What thing?” Smitty’s features twisted in confusion.

“ Hi , Gina ,” Deke said. “ This is Smitty , by the way.”

“ Hi , Deke . Hi , Smitty .” She gave his partner a polite smile before Deke dragged him out the door.

Jack noticed she held a white Styrofoam box tied with a thick red bow.

Morrison stood. “ Jack , are you going to introduce me?”

“ Uh , sure.” He cleared his throat, coming around the desk. “ Gina Perot , this is Special Agent in Charge Michael Morrison , my boss.”

“ Pleased to meet you.” She held out her hand for Morrison to shake.

“ Boss ?” Kyle sent Morrison a meaningful look. “ I need to update you on that case before you head out tonight.”

Jack couldn’t tear his eyes from Gina . Her coat was open, revealing a snug black skirt, sexy as all get-out black hose and heels, and a green blouse the same color as her satin bathrobe. He still couldn’t believe she was actually here. In his office. His palms began to sweat.

“ Right ,” he vaguely heard Morrison say as the man headed for the door.

“ I’ll make sure you’re not disturbed.”

He glanced up in time to catch the spreading grin on his brother’s face and the stealthy way he twisted the lock on the handle before closing the door behind him.

For several seconds that felt like minutes, he and Gina stared at each other. Jack didn’t know what to say. The ball was in her court and he was merely a spectator.

Gina stepped farther into the room, looking around his office. Her knuckles were white where she clutched the Styrofoam box. “ So , this is where you work.”

“ Sometimes .” His throat had gone so dry he had to keep swallowing. “ Mostly I’m in the field.”

“ I see you got your cast off.” She glanced at his right hand. “ That’s good.”

“ Thanks .” He flexed his stiff fingers. “ Looks like your finger’s doing okay too.”

“ Barely a scar. See ?” She held up her hand, giving him a glimpse of the pale pink scar below the knuckle of her thumb.

Jack ground his teeth together, much as he’d done after learning Tino had been seconds from cutting off her thumb for his collection.

Gina went to the fish tank, trailing her fingers along the glass. Annie Oakley swam gracefully to the surface, waiting for her gourmet meal of freeze-dried shrimp and seaweed. “ Is this Annie Oakley ?”

“ It is.” When he stepped closer, he breathed in her sugary vanilla scent.

She gripped the box tighter, looking up at him and biting her lower lip.

For the first time since he’d met her, she seemed unsure of herself, not the kick-ass, shoot-from-the-hip woman he’d become accustomed to. He loved this softer side just as much.

“ Hi , Annie .” She bent over until her face was even with the fish. “ I’m Angelina Perotti . But you can call me Gina .”

To keep from taking her in his arms, Jack shoved his hands in his pockets. It didn’t take a trained criminal investigator to figure out whatever the reason for her impromptu visit, she wasn’t ready to clue him in. The waiting was killing him.

“ I brought you something.” She held out the box.

“ Thank you.” When he accepted the gift, their fingers touched and awareness sparked up his arm. He set the box on the credenza.

“ You really should open it.” She twisted her hands together, biting her lip again.

“ Don’t you want me to wait until Christmas ?”

“ No .” She shook her head. “ You’d better open it now.”

“ Okay .” He tugged open the bow and shimmied off the cover.

“ Do you like it?” she asked softly.

Jack’s heart was so far up in his throat he could taste it. Nestled in the scooped-out center of the box was a plastic bag containing water. And a clownfish.

“ It’s a male. At least I think it is. That’s what they told me at the store.” When he still couldn’t speak, she added quickly, “ Do you like him?”

Like him? To his shock, the backs of his eyes burned. “ How did you know?” He’d never actually told her JW had died.

“ When I called Kyle and Deke , I told them everything. I said I needed a grand gesture. They told me about John Wayne . I’m sorry.”

“ Thanks .” He lifted the lid off the tank and gently set the bag in the water to acclimate the fish before releasing it into its new environment. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given him.

When he turned around, tears shimmered in her eyes. Unable to wait a moment longer, he swallowed. Hard , so he could get the words out. “ Why are you here, Gina ?”

“ For so many reasons.” A single tear rolled down her cheek, and he resisted the urge to wipe it away with his thumb or kiss it away with his lips. “ To apologize for all the cruel things I said to you.” She twisted her hands together. “ It was such a shock to find out…”

“ The role I played in your father’s death,” he finished for her, knowing how hard it would be for her to say it. “ If there’d been another way to tell you, trust me I would have.”

“ I know.” She nodded. “ At least, I know it now. I needed time to process everything. To understand why he did what he did, and why you did what you did.”

“ And do you understand now?” Even if they could only be friends from this point forward, her understanding would mean more to him than she could possibly know. Not that he’d ever truly be able to forgive himself, but her understanding would be a close second.

“ Yes .” Again she nodded, more emphatically this time. “ My father put himself in that position. You didn’t pull the trigger. Franco did. And I want to thank you for arresting him.”

“ It was my pleasure.” It truly had been. Now they’d both gotten justice. For Jim Spencer and Tony Perotti . “ You didn’t have to bring me a gift or tell me all that in person. You could have called.”

“ No .” She shook her head in a tight, jerky motion and looked away. “ There are certain other things that should only be said in person.”

“ What other things?” he said softly. As much as he wanted to be near her, it was torture to be so close yet so far. The things he wanted to hear cross her lips—the things he’d dreamed of hearing her say for the last four weeks—were just that. Nothing but a dream. One that would never come true.

She locked gazes with him and took a deep breath. “ Things like, I love you.”

“ What ?” Warm tentacles surrounded his broken heart, fluttering in the vicinity but not quite touching it. He must have misheard her.

“ You heard me.” She rested her hand on his cheek and looked up at him, the same way she had in his dream. “ I love you. I hope you still love me. Did you mean it when you said it? Because if you didn’t, I’ll be really embarrassed. I’ll? —”

He reached for her arm and tugged her to his chest. Those warm tentacles flitting around his heart latched on and didn’t let go.

“ You’ll what?” When she opened her mouth to answer him, he kissed her, soundly, deeply, and with every ounce of love he could put into it.

“ I love you,” he murmured against her lips.

“ I love you, I love you, I love you.” As she clutched at his back, he deepened the kiss, tasting her very soul intertwining with his.

To say he loved this woman was an understatement. He was hers, body and soul. He’d never been more certain of anything in his life.

Grinning , he slipped the coat off her shoulders and tossed it on a chair. “ You know, I’ve never made love on my desk before.”

Her eyes flared wide. “ In an FBI office? We can’t.”

“ We can.” Chuckling , he began popping open the buttons of her blouse.

“ What if someone comes in?” There was no mistaking the panic in her voice.

For the next twenty seconds, he kissed her before coming up for air. “ They won’t.”

“ How do you know?” Her breath washed over his face, her eyes glazed with desire.

“ Kyle locked the door,” he said, popping the last button and tugging the silk blouse from her skirt. One day, he’d have to thank his brother for that.

A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes. “ This has to be a violation of FBI policy.”

“ It is.” Not that he cared. He backed her to his desk, then reached out and swept the stack of newspapers, files, and arrest warrants to the floor. “ I always was a rule breaker.”

The gleam in her eyes went softer than velvet. “ I love you, Special Agent Jack Gates .”

“ I love you, Gina Perot … Angelina Perotti … Whatever your name is, I’ll love you forever.”