Flirtation (12 page)

“Charlotte! What a gorgeous name. So romantic.”

Jennie cast a knowing and somewhat teasing look in EJ’s direction, and then hooked her arm through Charlotte’s, walking toward her desk.

“So I hear you are having some trouble with Lou Maloso?” She shook her head. “Bad news, that one.”

“So I gather.” Charlotte finally spoke, and EJ realized he’d been holding his breath.

Jennie sat in her chair, and swept her hand toward two cheap vinyl chairs near her desk. “Please, sit. Tell me what I can do to help.”

“Well, as I told you on the phone, we have good reason to believe Lou’s men are after Charlotte. They may have her brother, and they could be trying to get Charlotte as more leverage against him, or they don’t have the brother, and they figure Charlotte can tell them what they need to know.”

“And that would be?”

“My brother, Ronny, stole from them. He probably had no idea who they were, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have done it if he’d known—” EJ caught
her eye, and she stopped, her shoulders slumping slightly. He put a hand on her shoulder to let her know he understood; old habits died hard.

“Anyway, I think I can talk to Lou and see if I can reason with him.”

Jennie’s velvet-black eyebrows shot up in surprise, then lowered in suspicion. “You know Lou Maloso? Personally?”

Charlotte nodded. EJ interjected, saving her the trouble of explaining.

“Charlotte reads tarot cards for an online service—insights and predictions about people’s love lives and relationships.” He smiled down at Charlotte. “She’s amazing at it. Lou was one of her clients. She had no idea who he was—everything is by pseudonym, and he used an alias to pay.”

Jennie shook her head, her well-manicured hand falling to the desk in a gesture of astonishment. Then she grinned, her dark, dark brown eyes lighting up.

“Lou Maloso going for tarot readings, eh?
Culo
! His mama is probably rolling in her grave, though the people from the old country have their own share of beliefs in spells and curses, and I guess some of it has carried forward.”

“Some of the tarot’s history originates in Italy, so maybe it’s not so curious,” Charlotte offered.

EJ interrupted, getting them back on track. “Can you share any of your current information on where Maloso might be?”

“I can see what I have. Not much recently, I don’t think. He’s been status quo for months, nothing much new going on, though someone did trace some movement to Virginia the other day—I guess that must have been connected to you somehow.”

“We also need a secure connection where Charlotte can e-mail him and try to get him to meet her online.”

“No problem. You can use my machine right here—I know it’s safe.”

“That would be great, Jennie. Thanks so much. But I don’t want you crossing any lines for us. We don’t want to put you in any danger.”

EJ knew that this was all risky business for Jennie, though he couldn’t share that with Charlotte. Very few people knew who Jennie really was, and it had to stay that way.

Jennie’s real name had been Maria Castone, and she was the daughter of a major mafioso. Five years before, when her father and brother had been killed on orders from her uncle, she came to the government and offered testimony in exchange for protection and a job. They’d made a deal, and she’d been Jennie Snow ever since.

But instead of moving to some small town in Nebraska, Jennie had pushed for a “hide in plain sight” strategy, living in D.C. and using her skills to help take down the crime families she’d grown up with. Her life was always at risk, and always would be. EJ couldn’t help but admire the work she did, and her willingness to help. He also knew she lived a life
steeped in caution, and void of any close connections. She kept everyone at a distance, since getting close could cost her her life—or theirs.

“I’m fine, EJ. No worries. I’m happy to help. Work here has gotten so boring lately, I am glad to cross a line or two. Most of the funds and the attention go to the terrorism units now.”

“Looking for new work?”

Jennie picked up a well-chewed pencil and bit into it, assessing EJ with a shrewd glance. “You offering?”

“I know someone who’s looking. My unit is expanding—they’re looking for some good people. Experienced people. I could put in a word for you—I think Ian would be very interested in someone with your skills and specialization.”

Jennie smiled brightly. “We’ll talk about that later, but maybe, yes, pass my name along. I’d appreciate that. It might be a good time for me to move. You know, career-wise.”

Jennie’s glance was a little too warm, and he broke the gaze, too aware of Charlotte’s keen attention on their exchange.

“May we send that message now? Then I need to contact Ian, so I can let him know what’s up.”

Jennie stood, looking at her watch. “I have a meeting. Feel free to use this machine as long as you like, and just close down when you’re done.”

“Thanks. We’ll need to check for responses, and then come back to do the session, if he agrees,” EJ said.

“Just let me know what you need.”

The words hung a little uncomfortably between them all, and then Jennie left, and Charlotte spoke directly.

“So how long were you two an item?”

EJ gestured for Charlotte to sit so that she could log into her e-mail.

“We were never an item. We just had a few dates. Nothing serious or steady,” he said.

“Oh. You seem very close,” Charlotte said softly.

Taking a deep breath, EJ decided to tend to the task at hand, and leave the conversation about Jennie behind. There really wasn’t much more to say about his relationship with her to Charlotte, and he didn’t really want to. Even if Jennie wasn’t his lover anymore, and even if she wouldn’t be in the future, she was still a friend.

“Can you log into your e-mail from here?”

Charlotte nodded. “Already there. Let me just get into the SexyTarot files, so I can get his address…oh, no!”

“What?”

“It’s not there. All the accounts have been erased! Could Lou have done that?”

EJ shook his head, smirking. “No, it was more likely Sarah’s work. She was probably protecting the accounts from any other illegal access. Let me call her to get the address. She’ll have it on hand.”

Just a few minutes later, Charlotte had the e-mail
address. EJ continued to talk with his colleagues, apprising them of their plan. Charlotte could tell from the tone of EJ’s responses that someone on the other end wasn’t exactly a huge fan of what they were doing, but she could also see EJ wasn’t about to budge.

It felt strange, sitting here and using Jennie Snow’s computer. The faint, spicy fragrance of the woman’s perfume still hung in the air, and Charlotte tried to work up a little ire, but couldn’t. Jennie had been way too friendly and helpful for Charlotte to feel jealous for long.

Charlotte tended to form quick first impressions, and she’d liked Jennie a lot, even though it was clear the woman had shared an intimate relationship with EJ. Jennie was a supermodel in computer geek’s clothing, with her sensuous figure, large brown eyes and long, sleek brunette hair. Charlotte felt totally unglamorous by comparison. And Jennie also worked in the same field as EJ—that gave them a lot in common, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that they would have been attracted to each other.

Of course, EJ had gone out of his way to show Charlotte that they had a professional relationship only now. But there was also something haunting about Jennie, something hidden below her smile that Charlotte knew had nothing to do with EJ, and she wondered what it was, though it appeared EJ was not
about to say one more word on the issue. She looked at the blank e-mail screen.

“What should I say?” she asked as EJ set his cell phone on the desk.

“Not too much. Just that you want to talk to him, and ask for an online meeting.”

She typed in the sparse message, and sent it.

“Well, here’s hoping he sees it, or that he agrees to meet.” She thought for a moment. “What if he doesn’t? Agree, that is? What do we do then?”

EJ shook his head. “I don’t know. Try to get you somewhere safe while the investigation continues, I guess.”

“I would have to go into hiding?”

“These people mean business, Charlotte. We have to keep you out of their reach.”

“So we would go back to Norfolk? Talk to the cops?” Though she spoke hopefully, she sensed that was not what EJ meant at all.

“That could be part of it, though I’d prefer to work through federal agencies, if we can. I’m still not comfortable with how those shooters appeared at Ronny’s house right after I’d called for someone to come to that location. The mob often has a few cops in their pocket—though that’s not definitely the case here, I want to be careful. We might be able to set something up through DOJ, or the FBI, and put you in a government safe house, which would make me feel better.”

“I don’t know, EJ. Isn’t there something else we could do? My entire life has already been turned upside-down by this, and I am not going to go hide in some government compound when it could take forever to work this out. And what about Ronny?”

EJ wrapped his fingers around the back of her chair, squeezing tightly. He was getting sick and tired of worrying about Ronny, and he honestly couldn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to the jerk, except insofar as how it affected Charlotte. Couldn’t she see what a bad apple her brother was?

“Let’s just take one thing at a time. Let’s go to the cafeteria here, and we’ll come back up in a while to see if Lou has gotten your message.”

“I’m not terribly hungry.”

He slid his arm around her shoulders, and she felt better—the public sign of closeness made her heart skip a beat, and she snuggled next to him, just slightly.

“Well, they’ll only have cafeteria food—it’s not the Isle.” He laughed, landing a light kiss on her hair and making her heart sing. “But you should eat something. Who knows what the rest of the day holds?”

Charlotte wasn’t sure what was going to happen with Lou, but as they moved through the door, EJ gently directing her forward with his hand on the small of her back, she was happy enough right now.

C
HARLOTTE’S HANDS WERE ICE-COLD
as she sat in Jennie’s chair, and even EJ’s presence as he stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, didn’t do much to comfort her. She was about to sit down and talk with the man who might have hurt her brother, and who was trying to hurt her. The thought filled her with a sense of purpose—she could talk some sense into Lou, she knew she could.

“Just relax, darlin’. He can’t hurt you here, and he can’t find you on this machine. So just talk, and find out as much as you can, okay?”

Charlotte nodded, and took a deep breath, logging in to the SexyTarot Web page. But no one was there. Lou had not signed in.

“Check your e-mail again.”

Sure enough, there was a note. Short and to the point.

Charlotte’s heart moved up into her throat, and a little squeak escaped her lips as she read the email from Lou out loud.

“We have your brother. If you want him to stay
alive, come to this address…” She read the address, which EJ realized was in a relatively isolated area outside of D.C., but there was no way Charlotte was going anywhere.

“Unbelievable. He says he wants justice? Is he insane?” Charlotte’s voice shook with anger.

“It’s mob justice, Charlotte. Not real justice. And yes, it is insane.”

“He is a horrible person. I can’t believe I discussed his love life with him.” She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Are they going to kill Ronny?”

“If they haven’t killed him already, I have to wonder why. It could be a ruse, another way to try to get you, so that they can bait him. Or maybe Ronny has fingered you as the thief, and they’re using him to lure you in.”

“Ronny wouldn’t do that.”

Jennie had been silent to this point. Her voice was gentle, but her eyes hard as she spoke. “Sometimes family can turn on you, Charlotte. It’s not pretty, but it’s true.”

“There’s no way you can meet him.” EJ took a deep breath.

“But I have to! He said—”

“Yeah, well, I’m not giving a gangster the upper hand. We’ll work out a plan.” EJ’s tone brooked no argument, and he looked at Jennie pointedly. “Do you have any information on this location?”

She smiled. “I can do better than that. Let me get a live satellite image, and let’s see what we can see.”

“You have a satellite watching his house?” Charlotte was amazed enough to forget her fear for a moment.

“No, not just his house, any house. Anyone can link up to Web sites and see satellite images of just about anything they want to see, but what we have access to is just a little more detailed, and up-to-the-minute.”

“Scary, Big-Brother stuff.”

“Or comforting, keep-us-safe-stuff.” Jennie said firmly.

“I guess.” Charlotte didn’t sound convinced, but EJ was glad to have the resources they did, and watched closely as Jennie pulled the images up on the computers.

The house looked normal enough. A few cars parked outside, and…oh, yeah. Zooming into a close view, it wasn’t a perfectly clear image, but clear enough to see several men standing around the property holding some serious firepower.

“Can you print this and overlay the area maps so we can study approaches?”

“Easy as pie.”

There was silence in the office for a few minutes, only the sound of the printer pushing out the maps, and EJ was surprised when Jennie spoke.

“Charlotte, would you mind if I spoke to EJ alone for a moment?”

Looking suspicious, Charlotte didn’t budge. EJ almost grinned.

“I think I might have an idea, but it requires me
sharing some information that I can only tell someone with proper clearance. It’ll only take a minute.”

Charlotte nodded stiffly, obviously miffed, but not wanting to show it. “Fine. I’ll take a walk to the ladies’ room. Slowly.”

“W
HAT ARE YOU THINKING
, J
EN
?”

“This isn’t going to go away. You know if she goes there she’s dead.”

EJ inhaled deeply. “I know. I just can’t…she doesn’t deserve this. It was her brother all the way, not that I want Maloso to hurt him, either. Ronny belongs in jail, not in the river. But there has to be a way around this. Since we know where they are, we can maybe…”

“Do you think he would have given you that address if he didn’t expect you to try to raid? He probably has the guy somewhere else, or he’s already dead. I doubt Lou is at the house. This is some kind of trap.”

“So what do we do?”

Jennie looked toward the door where Charlotte had stalked out, and smiled. “She’s different. I can see it in your eyes.”

“How so?” EJ knew he sounded defensive, though he couldn’t seem to squelch it.

“She is more than…we were. Maybe more than what you have had with any other woman.”

EJ assessed the situation quickly—Jennie didn’t appear hurt or angry, just curious. And concerned. Like any friend would be.

“I think so. It’s hard to tell under all this stress, but yeah, she’s different.”

Jennie smiled and put any worries he had about her possessiveness to rest. “I think you can tell more about a relationship when you are under stress than when you aren’t. I’m glad for you,
caro
. But are you sure she’s not involved? Do you buy her story about Lou? Do you trust her?”

“I do trust her, Jen. I know that’s hard for you to understand, coming from the hell you used to live in, but I believe her. She’s completely a victim here.”

“What have you told her about me? How did you explain how you happened to know me?”

“She guessed we had…something. In the past.” He emphasized the phrase, and Jennie just smiled in response. “And I didn’t tell her anything about you that would put you in danger—I wouldn’t do that, not even with people I trust.”

“Thank you. I hope you understand why I had to ask. I needed to know that you trusted her, and what you’d said.” Jennie’s smile became even warmer, her eyes dancing with amusement. “Oh, you have it bad, EJ, don’t you?”

“I refuse to answer that on grounds that it might incriminate me. But yeah, I understand why you had to ask how much she knew. No hard feelings.”

They heard Charlotte’s footsteps outside in the hallway, and stopped talking for the moment. When she walked back into the office, EJ’s heart
sank, seeing how miserable she was. She wouldn’t look at him.

“Charlotte, are you okay?”

She nodded. Clearly her nose was out of joint regarding Jennie, and the thought almost made him smile. How long had it been since a woman had felt that way about him? Even Millie had always been so comfortable with him, so sure of his affection, that she was never jealous. And his recent girlfriends, well, they knew the score; jealousy didn’t figure in when you were just having fun.

He didn’t want Charlotte feeling bad, but he had to admit, knowing she was jealous was kind of…nice. He crossed the office to take Jennie’s hands in his, a purely platonic contact compared to the hug they’d shared earlier.

“Jen, thanks for all your help. I will definitely put a word in for you with Ian, so expect a phone call.”

“I appreciate that, EJ.” She leaned in, kissing him quickly, and he smiled when she winked. “Let me keep looking into this before you decide to approach the D.C. house—there could be another way.”

“Thanks—I’ll contact Ian and we’ll stay in touch. Take care.”

Jennie walked over to Charlotte, and this time, Charlotte got the hug—EJ smiled at her shocked expression over Jennie’s shoulder.

“Be safe, Charlotte. You’re in good hands.”

Charlotte sputtered, caught between her bad mood and good manners, but manners won out as she offered Jennie a warm smile. “You, too, Jennie. We appreciate your help.”

Leaving the office, they were silent as they walked back to the car. Once they were enveloped in the relative safety of the sedan, EJ turned to Charlotte, drew her into his arms, kissing her until neither one of them could breathe evenly. He smiled when Charlotte pulled back, and just said, “Wow.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want you having any doubts, Charlotte. Jennie is a friend and, who knows, she could end up as part of the unit someday, but for the record, I’m not looking at any other women.” He smoothed his hand over her hair, pushing the unruly mass of curls back from her forehead as his gaze wandered tenderly over her face. “How could I? I am so blinded by you. You’re the only woman I want to look at, to touch…”

Charlotte didn’t say anything, but her emotions were in her eyes, and he had to exert mammoth control to stop from letting go of his own tenuous control right there on the street. He sank back into his seat, starting the car.

“We’d better get going. It’s a long drive back.”

“We’re going back to Norfolk?”

“We need to talk to Ian and Sarah, and see what federal help we can get once we hear back from Jennie. This is big, and we’re going to need some big help.”

C
HARLOTTE LAY
in the tub, up to her chin in bubbles, and sighed in perfect contentment. She set her problems aside for the moment to enjoy a bath. They’d driven all the way back to Norfolk, and met in a room where several policemen had questioned her. EJ had left to speak with his partners and a bunch of scary-looking federal agents to come up with a plan, she imagined.

She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she’d slept, and time seemed irrelevant in some way. Everything was topsy-turvy, changing from one moment to the next.

She was tired, scared and worried to death about Ronny—no one seemed to think they needed to rush in to save her brother, and tears stung behind her eyes as she realized why. They figured either he was dead, or he was just a criminal. Expendable.

And here she was, safely ensconced in a nice hotel room with EJ, safe for the night with an armed policeman, Officer Thomas, at the door. She wished she could think of something to do, some way to make them move faster, but she was exhausted and had to trust they knew what they were doing.

EJ knew what Ronny meant to her. He wouldn’t let him die if he could help it.

As she let the hot water soothe her tense muscles, she was thankful for the fresh clothes Grace had lent her. But that thought made her think of the ruined
evening dress. Her beautiful, ruined, shredded dress. It was the least of her problems, but it stood out in her mind as an emblem of everything that had gone wrong. Unrepairable. She’d make it up to Phoebe somehow, she swore to herself. Hopefully the clerk hadn’t already lost her job.

As guilt and all the worry about her messed-up life and her brother started to swallow her again, she pushed it back, and made herself relax. For the moment, she was okay. She couldn’t help Ronny if she was a mess, so she had to hold it together. She was going to rest, and think of a plan. She would get her life back together, and make it even better than before, for both of them.

EJ had become very noncommittal since they left the police station. Something was up, but she was reluctant to push. She didn’t even know what to push for. She didn’t know if they had a relationship, or what was between them except sex and danger.

Too exhausted to think one more thought, Charlotte rested her head on the small pillow she’d made out of a folded towel, and scrunched down in the water, blanking her mind of everything except the private mantra she’d been given by a yogi she’d met a few years before.

The next thing she knew, she was dreaming of the softest, most tender kiss she could ever imagine, and smiled into it, resisting her dawning consciousness, wanting to stay wherever it was in her imagination
that EJ was kissing her like that—but when she heard his voice, she knew it wasn’t in her imagination that the kiss was happening.

“Charlotte, wake up, darlin’. The water’s getting cold.”

She opened her eyes slowly to see him crouching by the side of the tub, smiling at her. He was so handsome. So amazingly gorgeous inside and out. She had no idea what was in his head, or what exactly his feelings were, and she didn’t want to ask for specifics. She just wanted to enjoy what she had with him right now, letting the future take care of itself.

“I fell asleep.”

He laughed softly. “Yes, you did. But you’re going to get cold soon. Dinner is waiting.”

His eyes moved over her hungrily—most of the bubbles had faded, leaving her exposed to his gaze. She didn’t mind, and even did a little, sexy stretch for his enjoyment. And when she opened her eyes again and met his hot look, she knew how much he had enjoyed it.

“Let me help you out so you don’t slip.”

She smiled, letting him take her hand though she had been managing to get out of tubs alone just fine for years. As she rose from the water, she did feel a chill, goose bumps traveling the course of her skin, and her nipples puckered—though that might not have been due to the chill.

“What did you get for dinner?” She tried to sound casual and light, though the way he was looking at her made
her
feel like dinner.

“Uh, just some cheeseburgers and fries, soda—I know you don’t eat too much meat, but I thought we needed something with some substance to it. Protein.”

“Burgers are fine. Thank you. I’m starving.”

She lifted her leg to step over the edge of the tub, and he caught it, fitting his hand into the wet crook behind her knee and sliding it up to cup her bottom. She lowered her foot back to the porcelain, her cool skin burning where he touched.

“Why don’t you join me for a quick, hot shower? I’m feeling a little chilled,” she said.

He took his hands away from her long enough to quickly undress, grab a condom from the vanity case, and then stepped into the tub with her, sliding the plastic door shut.

“Can’t have you getting cold,” he teased.

“What about dinner?” she asked.

“I’ll go back and get more, later.”

As she turned the shower on full, steam filled the stall in seconds, and EJ’s hands slid around her waist and planted themselves on the cheeks of her backside, kneading her while he stroked her tongue with his. He nudged the rock-hard evidence of his excitement against her belly, letting her know he was more than ready. Amazingly, so was she, but this all felt so good, she wanted to make it last. She wanted him
at her mercy. Seducing him on the sofa had only been the start of the creative loving she hoped to explore with this man.