Page 37 of Rocco

As they walked up the trail, leaving Vance and Eddie behind, Jemma turned to him.

“Things are looking better and better.”

He looked over at her, and his heart fluttered. “Most definitely.”

Chapter 24

Rocco did not kiss her because he wanted to.

There was only one way to defuse any suspicion about their meeting.

Pretend to be on a date.

It made perfect sense.

But it didn’t change anything between them.

He’d made the rules crystal clear.

He needed her support and her strategic expertise. Nothing more.

The attraction between them had to be ignored if they were going to have a successful handler-undercover agent relationship.

Jemma would never do anything that could put Rocco at risk.

She wouldn’t lose someone on a mission ever again.

Jemma repeated the mantra over and over in her mind until it took root deep within her. Damn that fucking kiss. She wouldn’t let herself think about what it did to her because it didn’t matter.

She could not act on it.

Jemma lifted her laptop from the rickety desk crammed in the corner of her motel room on the outskirts of Dajabon and took thefour steps to the bed. Sitting on the worn mattress, she focused on the video conference call. The faces of Lenny, Tank, and Fallon stared back at her.

Lenny provided a recap of the strategic session they’d finished. He summarized possible next moves for Rocco now that drug shipments would start going through the Dajabon clinic.

“I’ll make sure Rocco is briefed on our session,” Jemma said.

“On a side note, how did he take you as his new handler? I’m sure that was unexpected and could’ve been … jarring,” Fallon said, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

“As you’d expect,” Jemma said, deciding that a professional slant on their intimate conversation was prudent for this update. “Of course, he was worried about you, Tank, and concerned about how he would continue to receive the same support you’d given him now that I’m taking over the role. We had an honest conversation about ground rules and expectations. I think we landed in a good place … until we got interrupted.”

She was definitely going to leave out the part about the dizzying kiss Rocco laid on her that damn near took her breath away.

“Interrupted? By who?” Tank asked, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“We saw Vance with Eddie Baez. There’s definitely something going on between Eddie and the cartel,” Jemma said, then rose from the bed and paced the room, holding the laptop in one hand. “What’s more interesting is that Eddie pretended he didn’t know Rocco. Like this was the first time they’d ever met.”

“Makes sense if you ask me,” Lenny said. “The best way to ruin a new deal with El Sombro is to have him find out that Eddie used Rocco’s clinic in San Juan to meet with the DEA and hand over intel about his rivals.”

“Might make a drug lord think twice about doing business with you, for sure,” Tank said.

“Vance implied that Eddie would be involved in the shipments going through the Dajabon clinic. Not sure if it’s as part of the transportation or as a partner picking up product. Rocco will need to find out and confirm why Eddie wanted to keep their history a secret,” Jemma said.

Fallon frowned, her steely gaze leveling onto Jemma. “Something doesn’t make sense about your story.”

“My story?” Jemma asked, affronted by Fallon’s bluntness.

Tank and Lenny looked uncomfortable and interested in seeing what Fallon would say next.