That right there clinched the fact that his brother and Charlotte were not IRS. He stared and clamped his mouth shut, afraid to speak. She couldn’t have killed more than two people, could she? She was such a pretty, dainty thing despite her height—five-ten-ish. But right now, she oozed danger and spat fire along with sex appeal. And who was he to pass up an opportunity to play with fire? “Whatever you say,
Ginger
.”
She open and closed the fingers on her right hand, as if she itched to smack him. “I can’t believe you’re the same guy I met a few months back. Chase was right.”
“What the fuck does Chase have to do with this?”
“He said you were judgmental, you have issues, and I should stay away from you.”
“Charlotte, enough,” Jake snapped. “And Aaron, our mother raised us to be nice to women.”
Aaron wanted to protest the whole thing. He wasn’t judgmental, and Chase Sanders, his brother’s best friend, had been a prick to him from day one. Instead, he focused his attention on Jake’s gun on the table guarding his mail. “What the fuck is going on?”
Jake sighed. “I’m not IRS. Neither is Charlotte.”
“No shit.”
“I’m an agent with a secret operative branch. I’m a spy, Aaron.”
A spy…it all made sense now. Jake’s reluctance to talk about work. His jumpiness, especially when he was woken abruptly or if Aaron snuck up on him. Jake had taken him down on many occasions, not waiting to ask questions. Or why he’d found a gun in Jake’s bag. Jake’s uncanny ability to know what was going on, everywhere, all the time, even though he looked like he didn’t have a care or clue.
The movie releasing next week,
Hidden Asset
, was a spy thriller. Aaron had played a spy rescuing the heroine, avoiding danger at every turn. He paled to think this was what the brother he idolized did for a living, only the stakes were way higher. He’d never tell Jake he idolized him, though. Never.
“And her?” He nodded to Charlotte.
“She’s my partner, like I said.”
Aaron took in her lean form, delicate bones, and frowned. She looked like a runway model, not a spy. Definitely not like someone who had killed more people than he had fucked.
“And Tia?” His new sister-in-law was a gem, perfect for Jake. He shuddered to think she lived the same dangerous life. “God, does Tia know you’re here with her?”
“Also on the team, and yes, she knows we’re here. She likes Charlotte. I can’t leave Tia to babysit you. She volunteered to help with Kate and the baby, since Chase can’t take time off because of your fuck up.”
“Chase?” Though Jake didn’t look the part of a spy, Chase did, all dark and dangerous in a scary way. And Kate, Chase’s pretty blonde wife couldn’t be…
“He’s my boss. Kate’s an agent, too, so don’t ask.”
“You’re all spies? Jesus.” Aaron sat for a moment and stared at Jake. It was like looking into a mirror that wasn’t at all happy. “Wait, you said baby. Kate had the baby?”
“Yes, two weeks ago. A boy—Alexander Jacob. I’ll show you pictures later. I’m the godfather, and you know how I feel about that.” Jake grinned, proud as hell.
“Yeah.” Jake lived for that crap.
“Chase is too much of a basket case right now, so Tia offered to help out while he works. After a madman broke into his house, Chase doesn’t do strangers. Period.”
Aaron could understand that. He stared at his brother, then at Charlotte, both dressed in black, both suddenly looking more lethal and deadly than they had moments before. “Spies. Holy shit. CIA?”
“We fall under our own little alphabet category.” Jake’s mouth was a grim line, and he gestured toward the chair. “Do you know who did this to you?”
“No. I don’t remember anything.” Aaron closed his eyes and thought back. He’d woken late, jacked off, eaten, run… “Wait. I was jogging, arrived home, and I remember someone grabbing me and holding something over my mouth. I have a funny aftertaste.”
“Okay. Good start. They probably drugged you with something to knock you out. We scared whomever when we arrived, and I chased them down the street.”
Hope made Aaron sit a little taller. “Did you ID them?”
Jake shook his head. “Nope. I lost them.”
“You need to run more,” Charlotte observed.
Jake ignored her. “You remember anything else?”
“No, not a damned thing.” Aaron ran a hand through his hair, wondering who the hell had done this to him, and why. Crazed fan was an option, but he wasn’t that famous yet. “You hinted that my sex life was now your concern. I fucked her once, two nights ago. What does this have to do with Celia?”
“Celia’s husband is a very important man, Aaron. Son of a senator, political alliances, and he dabbles in drugs and other illicit things. I’m surprised you didn’t look before you leaped between her legs. He’s important, and he’s deadly. We’ve been investigating him.”
Aaron tried not to blush at the sexual connotation. “That’s why you came out to California so much this past year. All these visits…you weren’t here for me.”
He’d been thrilled Jake had visited almost every other week, claiming the California IRS branch needed him. He’d brought Tia with him a few times. It’d been good, since Aaron hadn’t spent much time with Jake over the years. But it was all part of Jake’s job.
“That’s not true, not entirely.” Jake cocked his head at him. “It’s been the best part of my job, seeing you again.”
Aaron brushed away the compliment. “I thought spies were international.”
Jake glanced at Charlotte, and they exchanged a look. “Usually. But we don’t follow the normal rules in our office.”
Aaron frowned. “How did you know about today? Spy sense, intelligence…”
Jake shrugged. “I didn’t. You didn’t pick me up at the airport or answer your cell. That’s not you. I put two and two together.”
“And her?” He nodded to Charlotte, waving a wand of sorts over items in the room.
“Well, her original duties included helping me do surveillance, but now she’s your new bodyguard.”
“What? Jesus, Jake. Who is going to believe she’s a bodyguard?” She was all long legs, gorgeous breasts. Nice hips. Unless she was going to leg-lock the bad guys, he didn’t see anyone believing it.
“Watch it, love,” she growled, looking up from waving the wand thing over his lamp.
“He’s right, Charlotte. You’re a dainty filly, all show and sparkle.” Jake grinned as she glared. “So now Aaron James will have a new girlfriend, and that will do double duty. She’ll keep your ass out of trouble, and she’ll send Vincent Perotti a very clear message that you are no longer sniffing around where you should not.”
“I don’t want a bodyguard.” But Aaron warmed to the idea of Charlotte adorning his arm, especially since she definitely wasn’t doing his brother. “And you? Why the hell do you look like me?”
“Just in case. I can sound like you so unless we’re side by side, few people are going to realize that I’m a hell of a lot better looking.”
Aaron gaped at Jake, because he had switched from his usual drawl to Aaron’s non-accented speech pattern. Jake was almost more Aaron James than he was, and it scared the shit out of him. His brother planned to just step into his life and be…him. Would Charlotte then be on Jake’s arm instead of his?
Aaron jumped up from the chair and began to pace the room. “You can’t go around being me. I have a film releasing. You don’t know shit about it. I’ll take Charlotte with me if I gotta, but you can’t go and be me.”
“We lifted your film spiel from your agent’s computer. I can play uptight wannabe-priest-turned-actor in a heartbeat. Easiest job ever, and you won’t die for it.”
No, no, no.
Aaron stopped in front of Jake. “I don’t give a shit. You’re not becoming me. This is my life and I fucked it up, so I’ll deal with it.”
Jake arched a brow over surprised eyes. “You sure about that? Dead is pretty final.”
“I’m sure.” Okay, maybe he wasn’t keen on the dead part, but he was an actor and it sounded like the right note of drama.
He had every right to be pissed about his life. He’d had a life path chosen as a kid, made all the right moves for that path, only to discover he wasn’t meant to be a priest. He was a failure at everything but acting, and that meant he was a hell of a liar. He didn’t want to be a liar, either.
But he also loved his brother, and if he was in danger, no way in hell would he let Jake become him, even if Jake was armed to the teeth and could take down a herd of zombies before coffee in the morning.
Aaron glanced at Charlotte, now standing next to Jake. Man, he ached for her. He wanted nothing more than to die between Charlotte’s pale thighs after he’d come a few times. Damn the attraction he felt for her. “Her Frostiness can escort me to my movie premiers and other social functions.”
Jake looked at Charlotte, his hand rubbing his chin in contemplation. “Is this okay with you, Lady Frosty?”
“Whatever you think.” Her voice rang soft, compliant, unlike Lady Frosty. She removed her hat, and deep red hair tumbled down, just past her shoulders. Aaron itched to run his hand through the glossy strands. “I owe you. I trust you.”
“I don’t know what Chase was thinking, sending you here.” Jake frowned, and shot her a protective glance. “But this doesn’t have to set off the endgame.”
“Like I said, whatever you think, love. I trust you and Chase to do what’s best for me.” Her tone sounded almost…submissive and definitely in direct contrast to her icy persona.
“I’ll discuss this with him in the morning, but for right now, we’ll run with the plan as ordered.” Jake turned to Aaron. “Aaron James, meet Amanda Galen. Your new girlfriend for the next week.”
“Amanda Galen?”
She shrugged, and a faint smile touched her lips. “’Tis a tangled web of deception I weave.” Her voice turned all-American with no hint of accent.
Aaron blinked, pissed. They were better actors than he was. But he smiled as he assessed Charlotte again, those long legs of hers and the sexy violet eyes.
This would be a new role for him since he’d never had a girlfriend. He liked learning new roles. Maybe his life didn’t suck quite so much, now that he had a pretend girlfriend with tangled webs of deception waiting to be unraveled. If she’d let him. This was definitely a lie he could live with.
But he wasn’t going to make this easy on any of them. He was an Anderson, after all. And Andersons didn’t do easy. “Fine. I’ll play your game.”
Chapter Two
Charlotte curled up on the couch in the living room later that evening, feigning sleep. If Jake were closer, he’d know she was faking it. He had a sixth sense about stuff like that.
She peeked around the arm of the sofa. Jake and Aaron played cards, looking like bookends at the kitchen table as they sipped drinks. There was no way either would know she was eavesdropping, and her hearing was above excellent. A definite asset for a spy.
Charlotte peered at Aaron again as he sipped from the long-necked bottle, a faint smile on his fine lips as he listened to one of Jake’s stories. His hair was still shoulder-length, and though he’d had a bit of a scruff for the filming most days, today he must have shaved. He looked good either way, and it made her uneasy.
She hated that he made things inside her stir, even now. Evil feelings that had awakened at that damned wedding and plagued her dreams as well as her waking moments. Feelings that had made her straddle his lap and kiss him despite everything.
She was losing it, becoming no better than one of his starry-eyed groupies. Aaron James, sex god of the teen world was her charge until Chase told her differently. Her fake boyfriend, and she didn’t even want a real boyfriend. Stuff Aaron’s damned movies couldn’t make up.
When Charlotte envisioned her endgame five years ago, she had never pictured this, her wanting and needy. She’d been angry then, no feelings, hating everyone. Chase had bribed his boss to take her on. They had sent her to Jake’s childhood home in Texas for a few weeks to fatten her up, heal her mentally, and then the training began. Hardcore, ass-kicking, want-to-die training that channeled her anger into that freight train aimed at someone else. Sometimes the anger surfaced, but usually, she kept it under control.
She was trained as an assassin, her code name Dragon Queen, though Jake called her Ginger. She was feared in the underworld of thieves, drug lords, and other evil. Cold, hard, and mean, that’s how Jake described her now. She was a killing machine, not a suicidal, submissive pet.
During that time, things changed. Chase was promoted to boss and lorded over their missions. She had become Jake’s partner, and through long hours and much patience on Jake’s part, she learned to trust him. Now she loved them both, would steal, lie, and kill for them both. Chase was still her favorite, but being boss made him grumpy and less open to letting her get on with business—killing motherfuckers.
In August, she’d been assigned to follow Celia around on location in Wales. That meant she also observed Aaron from afar, disguised as a gofer girl with glasses, ginger hair instead of her deep red, and different contacts. The disguise had been fool-proof.
Then Jake had to go get married in October—and invite Aaron to the fucking wedding. She’d managed to avoid Aaron for two months until Jake had made her dance with him. She’d never forget his arms around her as they swayed to the music, how parts long dead had woken up and reminded her she was female. Then, in a stupid move, she allowed him to kiss her, wanting nothing more than to taste his lips, press her needy body against his. Her, hungry for a man?
She’d dismissed the kiss as a fluke. Jake and Chase were moving on with their lives and that left her unsettled. Letting a handsome man kiss her was understandable. The day after the wedding, she’d been sent back to the movie set to her original duties, only this time, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Aaron. Without warning, the fluke had become a reality.
Aaron James made her feel like a woman, not a killing machine. That was bad, so bad. Yet, when she’d walked into the house earlier to him trussed up, she knew she had to kiss him. She had to see if he’d really penetrated the heavy armor she’d layered in place over the years.
That kiss proved he had gotten around her defenses, oozing through to the woman hidden beneath. Aaron made her knees weak, made parts of her that had been dead sing with need. Desire and lust rode strong, heady surges of pleasure. She wanted to be held, touched, kissed, and yes, even fucked senseless. Scary, scary feelings. Killing machines who planned on dying at some point did not indulge in love or sex. Period.