“That depends.”
“On what?”
“What my next assignment will be.”
“Going after Dharr, of course. Don’t ask stupid questions around here. I’ve got a pilot ready to take you home to get packed. Then you’re going to Albania.”
“I haven’t even agreed to take the job yet.”
“Yes, you have.”
And Calan smiled. “I’m going to like working for you.”
“Just don’t get killed. I fire anyone who gets killed.”
“Duly noted.”
Cullen looked up at Jag. “You take a vacation like we discussed. In six months, once the media dies down, let’s talk.”
Jag nodded.
Odie looked from him to Cullen. When had they talked?
“This meeting is over,” Cullen said before she could ask. “And for the record, nobody says the name Roth or goes to see him ever again, got that?” He met each and every one of their eyes.
“Yes,” Odie said, while Calan nodded and Jag turned to go.
Why had he and Cullen talked? Was it just vacation plans or was there more?
Outside, Odie caught up to Jag before he reached his rental. He was leaving.
“Jag.”
He stopped and turned.
“Where are you going?”
“You heard the boss. Vacation.”
She tried to read behind his green eyes, but he was too good at shutting off his emotions—or was he shutting her out?
Her uncertainty hurt him. Did that mean he had feelings for her? The urge to throw her arms around him and start kissing him burgeoned up in her. But it was such a huge step for her. She felt confident it was the right step, but…
She watched him take in her hesitation and draw his own conclusion.
“Take care of yourself, Odie.” And with that he got into his rental and drove away.
Odie stared at the disappearing car until it vanished around a curve in the mountain road. Her heart began breaking apart. And tears burned her eyes. What the hell?
“Yep, it was like that for me, too.”
Blinking ferociously, she glowered at Cullen.
“You don’t want to believe it, but it’s right there staring you in the face.”
“Don’t make fun of this.”
“Oh, you mean like you made fun of me?”
She had, damn it.
“You’ll deny it until something happens to make you open your eyes.”
“Oh, okay, you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what’s going to happen?”
“You’ll see.” Sticking a toothpick between his teeth, he turned his cheerful face away and began walking across the street, where Sabine stood just outside her bookstore.
What the hell did he mean by that?
She watched him step onto the sidewalk and take Sabine into his arms. They kissed. What they had was so incredible. She could have that with Jag.
Odie stiffened. Never before had she been so consumed with just how much she did want that with Jag. When watching Cullen and Sabine became too painful, she looked down the road where Jag had gone. Had her second chance for love just driven away?
Chapter 13
P
arked across the street, Odie stared at the narrow red brick building in a row of other shops. She checked the address again. This had to be it.
Weird.
She got out of the car she’d just rented and started walking across the street. It had taken her a week to pack and move. She’d found a suitable apartment to rent about fifteen minutes from this address, and she was going to sell her house in Roaring Creek. All the activity and logistics of moving had kept her occupied but hadn’t taken her thoughts off Jag.
So many times she’d reached for her phone to call him, to see how he was doing, what he was doing. Was he still interested in seeing her? Was she interested in seeing him again? But something always stopped her from calling.
Jag had once told her she scared men off before they had a chance to get close. She came on strong as a defense mechanism. He was probably right. She had a strong personality, and she used it to push men away. He’d seen that about her and slipped past those defenses. But he’d blindsided her with the suddenness of it, how quickly the attraction had caught fire. It had taken her a while to see that he’d helped her overcome what remained of her grief. She no longer needed to avoid men who reminded her of Sage. None of them would anymore, least of all Jag.
Odie stopped on the sidewalk and looked up at the sign above the building. Dad’s. Cute. But a bakery? Cullen had told her the building would need some work, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about a bakery. What did he expect her to do with this? He wanted her to run a business here. It could be any kind of business. It didn’t have to be successful, he’d told her—it just had to be good cover.
Opening the door, she entered a small dining area filled with four round white-topped tables on a dark wood floor. A glass display and counter took up most of the back, behind which a double swinging door led to what must be the kitchen.
She heard noises coming from there. Had Cullen already arranged for some contractors to do remodel work?
Making her way around the counter closest to a hall leading to the restrooms, she reached the kitchen doors and pushed one of them open. Inside, she stopped short.
Jag worked in holey jeans and a dirty white T-shirt—in the middle of inventorying pots and pans, as far as she could tell. They were all scattered over a worktable that had stainless steel cabinets below. He looked up as soon as she entered and froze just like her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“Cullen sent me here.” He digested that and she wondered if he’d rather she’d come here for him. She hoped. “To open the satellite office.”
Now he seemed confused. “This is my building. I’m opening a bakery.”
“What do you mean? Did Cullen send you here, too?” Did he want them to work together? Why hadn’t he told her?
“When I told him I wanted to get out of special ops, he made me an offer. He gave me a sizable bonus and a six-month paid vacation. If the bakery doesn’t take off by then, I have the option of going back to work for him.”
She was flummoxed. That’s what he and Cullen had discussed? “I don’t get it. This is the address he gave me to start up the satellite office.”
Jag stared at her.
She stared back. And then her brain started working again.
Of course. Cullen was doing to her what she’d done to him when he’d fallen in love with Sabine.
Jag seemed to realize what had happened, too. He grinned. Odie started laughing.
So did he.
She walked around the work counter and went to where he stood. Seeing him again was exhilarating. More than that. It felt like love. Waiting for a weight to drop in her stomach, or some terrible feeling of fear to overcome her, she found that only joy took up residence inside her. She wasn’t uncertain anymore. And she wasn’t afraid.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she said.
He just kept looking at her.
“I should never have let you go.”
“And now here you are, compliments of Cullen.”
All right, so he still had doubts. “I just needed a little push.”
He angled his head. “What are you saying?”
He probably wasn’t used to her beating around the bush. She slipped her arms over his shoulders. “That I want this.”
He put his arms loosely around her waist. “What do you want?”
“You.” She glanced around the bakery kitchen. “This place.”
“You want to run ops out of my bakery?”
“Yes,” she answered, marveling how wonderful that sounded. It was perfect…in so many ways. “Did you name it?”
“Yes.”
Dad’s, in honor of his dad. “I love it.”
“I’m not a replacement for Sage,” he said.
“Thank God,” she breathed for emphasis, but she understood why he felt the need to bring it up.
He raised one eyebrow and his look remained skeptical.
“Sage was reckless and he didn’t want to settle down,” she said. “He was happiest in the field. He loved me, but he couldn’t stay in one place. I’m over him. I have been for a long time. You made me realize that. I just didn’t face it until now.”
He was starting to look a little more satisfied.
“You were right,” she said. “I pushed a lot of men away, but only because I thought I wasn’t ready to fall in love again. But I am ready. I love you, Jag. I’m in love with you like I’ve never been in love with anyone else.”
His satisfaction began to glow. “The front of the bakery needs redecorating.”
She smiled. So he was going to make her work for it. “And you want me to do that?”
“It’s your satellite office.”
“It’s your bakery. Why do you want me to redecorate it?”
“Why do you think I opened a bakery in D.C.?”
She recalled him saying he had family in Denver, and the significance of his choice in location engulfed her heart. He knew how much she loved this city.
“Jag…”
“I don’t know what I would have done with this place if you hadn’t come here.”
“I do.”
“Cullen was banking on putting TES-I here.”
Did it bother him that it had taken Cullen’s intervention to snap her out of her stupor? “He knew I would stay here.” The same way she’d known about him and Sabine. “He knows I love you.”
His gaze roamed with pleasure over her face. He liked hearing that. She was too cozy in his arms to move away. “So where’s my office going to be?”
“There’s one behind me.”
She leaned around his big shoulder and saw a white metal door. “Nice. Is it bulletproof?”
“With you in there it doesn’t need to be bulletproof.”
Laughing, she rose on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. He tightened his hold and held her closer. She loved the titillating sparkle in his eyes. They shared a long gaze.
“Say it,” she finally demanded.
“You’re a pain in the ass.”
She laughed again. “Just say it. Be my hero.”
His deep chuckle vibrated against her chest. “I love you.”
“Do you?”
“Like crazy. As crazy as buying this place was, with only the hope that you’d come around.”
“Cullen will be very happy.”
“Not nearly as happy as I am.”
Odie sighed, immersed in the rightness of it all. He and she. This bakery. Washington, D.C. She’d never dreamed she’d find this kind of happiness again, but here it was. Here he was, the perfect man for her. The love of her life…a TES operative.
Who would have thought?
Not her. But she wasn’t looking back. Not without Jag.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8951-6
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Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer Morey
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All McQueen’s Men