Risky Christmas (10 page)

“What the hell was that all about?” Chloe asked.

“I'm sorry. Really. I didn't know what else to do. I'm not supposed to be here right now. But he saw me.” Dragging his hand through his dark hair that needed a cut, he drove out of the parking lot. Tanner was dead. How much did he actually reveal? Would he be walking into a trap tomorrow night?

“I live just up the street,” Chloe interrupted his thoughts. “Take me there and we can forget this ever happened.”

She wasn't even afraid of him, he noticed. She'd been afraid of Axel, but Axel had a gun. He marveled over that, taking her in askance. She did live in this awful neighborhood.

“I can't risk that,” he finally said.

Axel would make sure Donovan sent someone to spy on her. They might even kidnap her and force her to
work
for them once they discovered she wasn't really his girlfriend.

He felt Chloe staring at him, ready to go up against him. He had to admire her for that, for her toughness. And yet…she had this air of femininity about her.

“Open the glove box. I have a badge in there. I'm an agent for the FBI. I'm here on assignment. I've been working undercover to bring down a prostitution operation that forces unwilling women to work for them.”

Still, she just stared at him. But finally she reached for the glove box and opened it. Pulling out the wallet
that held his badge, she opened that and began a careful scrutiny.

“You can call and check to see if it's legitimate,” he said.

Folding the wallet, she put it back into the glove box and shut it. Then she sat there, staring straight ahead as if contemplating what to do.

“Just take me home,
Agent Jaffee.
” She told him the address.

Instead of agreeing, he used his phone to call his SAC. He'd work on her later.

Reid Richardson answered.

“Parker Street,” Mason said. It was their code to let the SAC know who was calling and about which investigation.

“What happened?”

He must know something was wrong. Mason wouldn't have called otherwise. “It's Tanner. I had a run-in with Axel when he thought I was supposed to be in Florida.” He explained what Axel had said.

Reid let loose a bevy of curses when he heard Tanner was dead.

“Don't send a swarm of agents to look for the body. Let the locals do the search. That way it doesn't look like I reported the crime. It could have been anyone who saw something.”

“I want you out of there. Now. Your cover's been shaky ever since you started this. We'll proceed with the raid as planned.”

“We need to move faster than that. Axel invited me and my new girlfriend to a party tomorrow night. They'll all be there. Move the raid up.”

Reid was silent for a long time. “What do you mean your new girlfriend?”

“A woman helped me convince Axel I was legitimate. I should have been gone days ago, visiting family in Florida.” He explained what happened in the parking lot. “Move up the raid.”

“Is the woman agreeable? She going with you to the party?”

He glanced over at her and saw her watching him with street-smart calculation. “I don't know yet.”

“She has to agree, Jaffee. And she's going to need protection either way. Whether it's you or someone I send, we have to make sure she's okay. You involved her.”

“I know. I'll watch over her until we've got everyone. After the party she can go back to her life.” He met her eyes to let her know he meant it. The soft blue of them narrowed back at him. It wasn't until then that he realized she had a really pretty face. She wore no makeup, but her features were striking. Strands of blond hair peeked out from under the hat. She had chin-length hair but it was thick. He couldn't tell what the rest of her looked like under the bulk of her coat.

“Let me know if you have trouble with that. Offer her some incentive if you need to.”

“Thanks, Reid.”

“And Jaffee.”

“Yeah?”

“I want them, too. More now than ever. I'll let you know the details when I have them.”

Nothing pissed off an agent more than losing one of their own. “I'll be waiting.”

At Chloe's place, it would appear, since she wanted him to take her home.

They ended the call.

“Take me home,” she demanded.

“I will…but I'm going to have to stay with you until this is over.”

“Like hell you will.”

“What do you think Axel will do if he finds out I lied?”

“
You
lied. This has nothing to do with me.”

“It does now. They think you're my girlfriend. That was the Special Agent in Charge of this investigation. We were planning a raid on New Year's Eve, but this changes things. We're moving the raid to tomorrow night. At the party Axel will be expecting us to attend, remember?”

She stared at him again.

“I need you there with me or this won't work.”

No response. What was going through her head?

“I'll be out of your hair before Christmas. Nothing should interfere with your holiday plans.”

That made her blink slowly. “I don't have any holiday plans.”

She didn't?

“Were you really going to go to Florida for Christmas?” she asked.

“No. I was going to go to Montana. My parents retired there. My entire family will be there for Christmas.” Yet again, she stared at him. “Because it has to be a secret…you know…to maintain my cover. Florida, not Montana.”

“Where in Montana?”

Why did she care? “Woodland. It's a small town just north of Flathead Lake. Remote as hell.”

“Is it pretty?”

“Yeah. Beautiful. Nothing much there, though.” Boring. Quiet. Cold.

“Take me with you,” she all but blurted.

And it was his turn to stare at her. “To…you want to go with me to my family's house for Christmas?”

“Not to your family's house. Take me with you to Montana. Buy me a plane ticket. Just get me there.”

That stopped him. Why did she want to go to Montana?

“I was fired tonight.”

Right before Christmas? “That was awfully thoughtful of your boss.”

“My mom died when I was sixteen and I lived with my stepfather until he tried to assault me one night. I left my senior year in high school, and I've been on my own ever since.”

The way she explained such a tragic upbringing, so matter-of-factly, revealed her hardened exterior. “I'm sorry. But…why are you telling me this?”

“Some people have it easy. It's never been easy for me. Nothing's gone right for me here. So why not start completely over? I want to leave Chicago. I don't have much money, and what I do have I need to save so I can find a place to rent and get by until I find a job.”

She wanted him to buy her a plane ticket and take her with him to Montana. “I don't know…”

“I'll go to the party with you, but only if you buy me a plane ticket to Montana.”

“Deal. But I stay with you from now until we get there.”

Her smile sparkled all over her face. “Deal.”

C
hloe led Mason up the narrow, creaking stairs to her apartment door. Down the hall a baby cried and she could hear a woman talking to soothe it. From somewhere else, a television blared. Someone coughed. All the familiar sounds of home.

Mason closed the door behind him and looked around. His absorption made her more acutely aware of her modest dwelling than usual. While her lack of money was evident, she'd made attempts to turn a hovel into a home. She wondered if he noticed the artsy lamp-shade she'd picked up at a flea market, or the small glass vase with a single flower on the table.

Going into her bedroom, she removed her coat, covertly eyeing Mason. He removed his jacket and draped it over the arm of the sofa. Hanging her coat up in the tiny closet, she saw him wander over to the window in the living room. It had a pretty good view of the city.
Looking down, he saw the Christmas cards on her desk. He picked them up and leafed through them.

Something about seeing him do that pricked her. She didn't know why. Maybe it was too personal, maybe it mattered too much what he thought. He was a good-looking man, with dark hair and amazing green eyes and a hot body to go with them. Tall. Sexy in the green flannel shirt that brought attention to his eyes and dark jeans that flattered a tight butt and hinted to a manly shape in front. And he was an FBI agent. He had an exciting job. That made him even sexier to her. Annoyed by her attraction to a stranger who could have gotten her hurt or killed tonight, she went to him. Reaching around his side, she snatched the cards from him, stuffing them into a tote where she kept her small laptop.

“Sorry.”

She lifted her head to look at him, caught for a second by the sound of his voice, and next, his glowing green eyes. Without saying anything, she went into the kitchen to throw together some cheese nachos.

A few minutes later, she emerged from the kitchen balancing two plates and a bowl. Seeing that he'd taken a seat on her shabby chic sofa, she handed him a plate of tortilla chips with melted cheese over them and put the bowl of salsa on the coffee table.

“Cheese nachos one of your specialties?” he asked.

Hearing his teasing tone, she sat beside him with her own plate. “Don't you like nachos?”

“Sure, if they have more toppings on them.”

Dipping a cheesy chip into some salsa, she chewed and decided not to respond to that.

“A steak with a baked potato would have been better,” he complained.

“Not on my budget.”

“I could have gotten us something to eat.”

“I like cheese nachos.”

He dipped a chip and ate one, glancing around her apartment, probably thinking what a dump she lived in and no wonder why she couldn't afford more toppings on the nachos.

“What are you going to do with all your furniture?” he surprised her by asking.

In an instant she realized she didn't care all that much what happened to her things. There were some small items she wouldn't want to part with, but nothing that wouldn't fit into a suitcase. “I can't afford to store anything. I guess I'll just leave it here.” Getting fired sure had turned a switch in her. The final straw. The only thing that mattered to her now was leaving this place behind. That's what made her want to do something crazy like pose as Mason's girlfriend and go with him to Montana.

“I'll pay for a unit,” he said. “Cover you for a year. We can move it tomorrow.” She watched him look around at her meager possessions again. “Shouldn't take too long.”

She angled her head with her amazement. “You'd do that for me?”

“You help me, I help you.”

“You're getting me out of this city. That's plenty.”

“And you're going to be my girlfriend tomorrow night. It's the least I can do.”

Did he think that was a hardship for her? She checked him out sitting beside her, sex appeal galore. Surely he didn't mean that. He must mean the danger. She'd risk her life by helping him. What if someone discovered he was an agent and she wasn't really his girlfriend?

Maybe propositioning him for a ticket out of Chicago
wasn't a very bright idea. Maybe he was getting more out of this deal than she was and that was why he felt compelled to pay for storing her things. So what if he was an agent and she'd seen his badge. Maybe she should have told him to get lost.

Even as the doubts came, everything inside her rebelled. Getting fired had pushed her to a precipice. Meeting Mason had been the catalyst that pushed her over the edge. There was no turning back now. The intensity of her resolve was unshakable. She simply did not want to live like this anymore. Tough on the outside because she had to be and yearning for a softer life on the inside. Mason was her way out.

“How old are you?”

The question took her aback. Why was he asking? “Twenty-seven.”

“Did you go to college?”

“No.” She munched on a chip.

“I'm thirty-two,” he provided as though he'd expected her to ask.

“You probably went to college, too.”

He looked over at her. “Have you ever thought of going freelance with your greeting cards?”

Was he asking these questions because he was interested or was he trying to figure out how she'd ended up here? “I've applied to some companies.”

“You're really good, you know.”

His compliment warmed her. She could tell he was sincere. “Thanks.”

“What led you to work for Tucker's?”

“Starvation and the need for a roof over my head.”

He grinned at her sarcasm. “And maybe an evil stepfather.”

Recalling she'd mentioned her stepfather earlier,
Chloe understood where his curiosity stemmed. He wondered if that's why she ended up here. “Yes, he was evil. I bet my mother never knew he likes teenagers. He didn't get far with me, though. I fought him. Gave him a black eye. Needless to say, he didn't stop me from packing a suitcase and I haven't seen him since.”

His eyes softened a fraction, getting the answer he was after. “And you've been fighting ever since.”

“Yes, and it's time I stopped.”

She saw him register the reason she was going with him to Montana. To her, leaving Chicago meant no more fighting. And he'd been interested enough to gently pry it out of her. If she had any remaining doubts about him, they were gone now. She could trust him to do as he agreed. Even more amazing, she couldn't recall ever feeling that way with anyone. Maybe because no one had ever helped her do anything so meaningful.

Noticing him staring at her, she saw the change in the way he looked at her. He studied her face as though absorbing it into his memory, her eyes, nose, lips. Lower. Physical interest. A spark of heat sprang from the energy between them. Chloe got caught up in it, in him, and sensed he'd fallen under the same spell.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked.

She smiled.

“Sorry. Forget I asked.” He leaned back against the sofa.

“I was seeing someone,” she answered anyway. And then the reminder pulled her mood down. “He broke it off on Thanksgiving so he could start seeing a woman with a college degree.”

“Nice guy. You've had a rough holiday season so far.”

“I thought he was the one for me.”

He nodded as though familiar with that.

“Been there, have you?”

“After the third time, I gave up.”

Three? “What did you do? Scare them off with your gun?”

He chuckled. “No.”

“What made you decide to become an FBI agent, anyway? It's so dangerous, and…you can't be around much.”

“My parents sent me to college, and being the young, aggressive guy I was, I went for something that wouldn't bore me after twenty years.”

Definitely not boring. “How long have you been here? In Chicago, on assignment.”

“A year.”

“A
year?
Playing the role of a pimp?”

“Not a pimp. I was a guard, if you will. I watched the girls. Made sure no one hurt them.”

Being used as a prostitute had to hurt enough. “Why didn't you help them escape?”

“I did help a couple of them. The bigger goal was to destroy the entire operation. Stop them from hurting any more women. I had to be careful.”

“How do they force the women? I mean, I've heard a little about that on the news, but…”

“Mostly they find women in foreign countries who want to come to America. They smuggle them in and tell them they have to work to pay back the cost of their relocation. Sometimes they threaten to call Immigration.”

Imagining what it would be like to be caught in that situation, Chloe turned away. “How awful.”

“You have no idea.”

After a while, she turned back to him. “It's good
what you do.” Helping those women. Getting rid of those unscrupulous criminals. But it came with a cost, and she was beginning to understand why such a handsome man could have lost so many women. “No wonder why you've been dumped so many times.”

He lifted his brow at her.

“Your job. You're never home. You pretend to be a criminal.”

“Renee didn't leave me because of my job.”

Renee.
“Which one was Renee? One, Two, or Three?”

“Three.” He was somber now. “I wouldn't ask her to marry me so she stopped waiting. She married Tanner instead, my partner on this assignment.”

Chloe inhaled sharply along with her shock. “The one who was…”

“Yeah. Killed.”

How did he feel about that? Losing his partner who married his ex-girlfriend? “Doesn't that bother you?” She shook her head. “I mean, that she married your partner. Of course you care that Tanner was killed.” She paused. “Don't you?”

“He wasn't a close friend, but he was my partner. He didn't start seeing Renee until a year after our breakup.”

He'd said he wouldn't marry her, but she sensed some anguish from him. “Did you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn't you marry her?”

“I should have.”

He should have.

 

It had been a long time since Chloe had worn a dress. Feeling as if she'd dressed for Mason wasn't helping. Neither did noticing how he'd taken the time
to appreciate the finished product. He'd done that at her apartment and then in the car, and now she'd just caught him looking at her as they walked to a party like it was a date. Heat kept rising between them. And it was scalding now.

“If anyone asks, we met at Tucker's,” he said.

She nodded.

“And my parents live in Orlando. They think we just met, so it's okay if you don't know much about me.”

“Have we had sex yet?”

His head snapped toward her. “They'd believe it more if we have.”

She was glad it was winter or she'd have broken out into a sweat by now.

Trying to divert her focus, she took in the flashing Christmas lights that flattered the roofline of the big fancy house. A gigantic Christmas tree glittered through an equally gigantic window. But it didn't dim her awareness of Mason. He looked like a fairy tale in a black suit and white shirt. His green eyes captivated her and he kept his thick black hair on the shaggy side. A little over six feet with broad shoulders, he was formidable. He also looked like he belonged in that suit. Unlike her, who felt more comfortable in jeans.

Mason didn't knock. He opened one of the doors and guided her in ahead of him. A throng of perhaps a hundred filled the main room, kitchen and library off the entry. A few peppered the upper level at the top of a curved and grand stairway. Christmas lights and garland wound around the banister and the enormous tree was stunning in the front window.

It seemed so odd to see people who forced women into prostitution so eloquently dressed. And it made
her sick to know this big home was purchased with the money they brought in.

When Mason slipped his hand onto the small of her back, she stiffened along with a flash of warmth.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.

She thought about asking for a beer, but how would that look? She didn't see any women holding a beer. “Wine or champagne.”

“Be right back.”

She watched him go to one of the small, portable bars that were set up in the house and stand in a short line. A man at the top of the stairs caught her attention, and she saw him look from Mason to her and it felt more like scrutiny. Mason greeted another man who came to stand in line. The man smiled and exchanged what appeared to be amicable conversation, but someone else turned from the bar and eyed Mason suspiciously as he passed. Chloe glanced around the room and saw two other men watching Mason.

When he approached her with a glass of champagne and a drink for himself, she was captivated by the way he moved and the way he zeroed in on her. Sexy and definitely drool-worthy. His eyes still held hers as he handed her the glass. He sipped his drink and scanned the crowd. Chloe noticed the same men still eyeing them and began to wonder if they were in trouble.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Mason said.

He was either good at covering his emotion or not worried. “You didn't say anything at my apartment.”

“I would have stuttered.”

She laughed with the playful response, forgetting about the men.

Sliding his arm behind her, he caught her unprepared as he moved smoothly to face her, pulling her close. She
put one hand on his muscular arm and tipped her head up to look at him. Heat smoldered in his eyes and melted into her. She felt control slipping away and almost let go. Almost.

“What happened to One and Two?” She had to know.

The heat of his eyes cooled and a few seconds later he figured out what she was asking. He moved back from her and she lowered her hand. “I asked them both to marry me. First one said yes and six months after we were married a friend of mine told me he saw her with another man. Second one I asked to marry me just said no.”