And you couldn’t get much quieter. Set in a densely wooded area on top of a hill with very few other houses in the vicinity, Jimmy’s place was the perfect getaway.
For the Unabomber. Or a reclusive genius scientist.
“Where are we exactly?”
Jimmy flashed her a grin. “The Main Line, baby. I originally bought the house as an investment years ago. I kept getting socked at tax time. It’d been neglected for a few years before I bought it. Figured I’d work on the repairs on weekends then sell it when I was finished. I like working with my hands. It lets my mind settle. Then a few years ago, I realized I liked it out here.”
Merri turned for another look out the back window, but she could no longer see his home. Houses had replaced the trees—huge, old-looking houses. Not exactly the neighborhood she would have expected Jimmy to live in. Not that she’d really thought that much about it. Most of her internal dialogue on Jimmy dealt with those blue eyes and that mouth. “Where are we going?”
Oh, that smile of his was going to be the death of her. “To see someone who can help you with this problem you think you have.”
She bit back a scowl before it formed. “What problem?”
Jimmy flashed her a look that made her thighs tingle. “You won’t listen to me, so I’m gonna give my mom a shot at you.”
Merri’s eyes widened and her brain shuddered to a complete stop. Jimmy was pushing her off on his mom?
“What? Why?” Panic made her heart race. “Oh my God. Did you tell your mom I spent the night at your house? What’s she going to think? Jimmy, you can’t do this to me.”
Grace DeMarco was a legend in the intelligence community. No one really knew much about her former official duties, but she had the reputation for being a top-notch ghost. Merri had met Grace a few times but hadn’t spent any time alone with her. But Grace’s eyes, greener even than her own, had seemed to see right inside of her.
And now Jimmy wanted to set his mother on her. He must really want to get rid of her.
“Why don’t you just take me to the train station so I can go home? I know you don’t want to be stuck with me—”
“Hey.” He shot her a glare, the first she’d gotten from him. It seemed so out of place on his usually pleasant face. “I never said that and I don’t think that. I just think talking to my mom will help you put things in perspective.”
She turned to stare out the window, away from his searching gaze. In her head, she heard her boss’ Southern-tinged growl. “You need to get out and have a life, Merrianne. Live a little. Meet people. Contrary to popular belief, I do not expect you to be here twenty-four/seven. I expect loyalty, which, despite that test, I know you have. I expect your everything when you’re on the job. I
do not
expect you to give every minute of every day to the job.”
Then Charlie had leaned in close and his deep voice had softened. “Merri, if you don’t have something to hold on to outside of here, you are going to flame out like fireworks on the Fourth of July.
You’re too good for that and I need you. Now get the hell out of here for some R&R before I fire your ass.”
“Hey, Mare. Where’d you go?” Jimmy snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Don’t flake out on me. Mom’s not that bad.”
Of course Grace wasn’t that bad. She was wonderful. She had an amazing career, a love affair for the ages, and an extraordinary family.
Merri couldn’t even manage to balance work and life.
Looking out the window, she saw they’d hit heavier traffic and were closing in on Center City.
The words popped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Do you think I’m a freak?”
He slid her another glance, his expression dead serious. “
What?
Hell no. I think you’re brilliant. You just don’t know how to relax.” For one brief second, Jimmy laid his warm hand on her knee and squeezed, sending shivers up her spine. “Talk to my mom. She can help.”
They made the rest of the trip in silence. Merri tried not to think about yesterday. Tried not to think about anything. But they were getting closer and closer to Society Hill and Grace.
By the time Jimmy found a space to park on Pine Street, she’d worked herself into a fairly decent panic. Her heart pounded, she couldn’t stop chewing on her bottom lip, and she’d twisted a knot into the bottom of her left braid.
They had to walk a block to get to the house, and by the time Jimmy walked through the door of the meticulously kept two-hundred-year-old brownstone, Merri thought she might be hyperventilating.
“Hey, Mom. You home?”
“Jimmy, is that you?”
Following behind Jimmy, Merri heard Grace before she saw her. For a brief second, she considering running but that would be foolish. And she refused to appear foolish in front of Grace. She deliberately closed the door behind her so she couldn’t run.
“Yeah, Mom.”
The voice drifted down from above. “Is Merri with you?”
Jimmy shot Merri a grin and whispered, “I didn’t tell her.”
Merri took a deep breath. Might as well take this bull by the horns. “Yes, ma’am, I’m here.”
Grace appeared at the top of the stairs directly in front of the door.
“Hello, dear. I’m so glad to see you.” The woman’s smile looked totally convincing and Merri felt her chest loosen, just a little. “Major Jenkins is very worried about you. He thought you might have come to see Mal. Good thing Jimmy was working last night.”
Merri blushed like a teenager with a crush and hoped like hell Grace couldn’t really read her mind. Although there
were
rumors… “Yes, ma’am. I’m really sorry to have caused so much trouble. I really don’t want to take up any more of your time or Jimmy’s—”
“Nonsense. You have been no trouble.”
Grace reached the bottom of the steps and put her arm around Merri’s shoulders like they were old friends. The gesture made Merri want to confess her darkest secrets and cry on Grace’s shoulder. Oh, this woman was dangerous.
“Jimmy, why don’t you take a hike over to the office, make sure your father’s not overdoing it. Then bring him back for lunch. Merri and I will be just fine.”
For a brief second, Merri looked into Jimmy’s eyes and found she didn’t want him to leave her. She forced herself to look away.
“Yeah, sure, Mom. What’re you making for lunch?”
Grace grinned. “A phone call. Just be back around noon.”
Jimmy leaned over to kiss his mom’s cheek and Merri caught a faint whiff of his aftershave, woody and masculine. Oh man, she was in so much trouble here.
“Then I’ll see you two later.”
“Come on, Merri.” Grace started walking toward the back of the house.
“I understand you had a little problem yesterday. Let’s see if we can work through it together. Would you like some espresso? And I just made a batch of biscotti…”
* * * * *
Jimmy closed the front door to his parents’ home behind him, but his hand refused to release the doorknob.
The look on Merri’s face before he’d left had nearly made him grab her and run. Which was just plain stupid. His mom was much better equipped to handle Merri’s problems than he was. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He’d totally dismissed the trouble Barbara had been having—the mood swings, the panic attacks, the depression. He’d thought she’d get a handle on it. Instead, he’d let down the woman he’d said he loved.
And now he felt like he was abandoning Merri.
Shaking his head, he forced himself to walk away. Early June heat had settled on the city, but light cloud cover made the walk to Walnut Street bearable. Tourists and businesspeople mingled on the crowded sidewalks. Traffic lurched by, honking and clanging and wheezing. Jimmy loved the city. All the people buzzing around. All the energy they created. He swore that energy stimulated his brain, helped him work better.
Last night, just before Merri had arrived, he’d finished the final tests on the formula he’d created to seal wounds instantly. Just a small amount of the liquid form would keep a patient from bleeding out, keep infection from spreading, and be easily removable for surgery.
When he’d first started working on the formula, before he’d managed to tame it, the compound had been highly explosive. A couple of months ago, he’d knocked himself out when he’d jostled it and it had exploded.
Thankfully, he’d figured out how he’d needed to fix that problem and the compound had become what he’d intended—a life-saver. Of course, if the damn thing got into the wrong hands and someone figured out that a couple drops, with the addition of one common element, could make a big boom… Well, that would really piss him off.
Which is why he needed to make sure his notes and the formula were kept top-secret.
The Army Research Labs had assured him they would be. He had the assurances of the nation’s top officials that the compound would be in good hands. Now he just needed to get everything out of his lab and into the Army’s.
Then maybe he’d be able to think about what to do with his attraction to Merri.
By the time he pushed through the office doors, he barely remembered to say hi to Annie before heading for his lab in the basement of the building.
“Hey, Jimmy! Hang on a minute.”
Nearly to the basement door, he turned to face Janey’s best friend, who’d taken over as their receptionist/office manager. And recently became his older brother’s lover. Lucky bastard. Annie was a sweetheart. And luckily for Nic, Jimmy knew his brother loved her.
“What’s up, babe?”
Her eyebrows lifted at his teasing endearment. “I got a call you need to return right away.”
He snorted. “Yeah, yeah, they all say that.”
Annie’s full lips twisted and she shook her head, short blonde hair shimmering. “I think this might be different. The deputy director of the National Security Agency would like you to call him back ASAP. I’ve been here long enough to know that when the NSA calls, you jump.”
“Did he say what he wanted?”
Annie’s raised left eyebrow perfectly expressed her feelings. “Now why would they tell a lowly peon like me?”
Jimmy had to smile. When Annie had taken over Janey’s former duties in the office, she’d discovered that working with various government agencies was a constant test of her patience. She’d passed every background check the government had conducted with flying colors, but she still encountered a lot of resistance when dealing with the alphabet soup of agencies.
“Annie, if
Charlie
had been talking to you in person, believe me, he would have fallen over himself to give you the information.”
Annie couldn’t maintain her narrowed gaze for long before her gorgeous smile broke free. Nic was a freaking lucky man. “You’re damn right he would have.
Here.
” She shoved a piece of paper at him. “I’m sure you don’t have the number anywhere handy. I don’t know how you manage to find anything in that dungeon.”
Jimmy leaned over and swiped a kiss on her cheek. “That’s why we have you.”
“Annie.”
Jimmy wiped away a smirk as he turned to see his older brother glaring at him from the doorway. “Looks like you’re on a tear already this morning, bro. Old age finally catching up to you?”
Nic shot him a level gaze that could have flayed a few strips of skin. “I thought you had a call to make. I need to talk to Annie.”
Jimmy glanced at Annie, whose expression now held a heat for Nic alone. Stifling a sigh, he figured he’d better get the hell out of Dodge before they tore each other’s clothes off.