For Love & Bourbon (20 page)

“I did?” he asked, an easygoing amusement in his voice. Inside, his heart rioted. “You dragged me onto the dance floor and we got a bit close, but I had no other intentions, Ava.”

“Bullshit.” Her temper flared now, hot and frustrated. She had to watch the road, both out of necessity and to gather her wits. “You leaned in, and God help me, I encouraged it. Don’t they have codes of conduct at the FBI? Or do you just not care if you break the rules?”

His smile faded, troubled by her words. “Nothing—and nobody—is worth jeopardizing my job.”

“Funny, because you and Marco don’t seem to take any of this too seriously,” she fired back. She threw up her hands, exasperated with herself. “See? Y’all have me calling you by your first names now, too. This is ridiculous. I don’t know what the hell has gotten into either of us.”

But she did know. And she hated herself for it.

“Look, I don’t know what you think the FBI is like in real life, but we’re just people,” Cooper reminded her. “We’re not mindless drones. We can be nice, we can help people, we can laugh. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that there was more to it than that.”

“Oh.” She let out a sharp laugh and shook her head. “So this is
my
fault now.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Sure you did. You’re saying I’m delusional for feeling this way when you look at me the way you do and hold my hand and nearly kiss me on the dance floor in front of all those people? So what does all that mean, then, if you don’t want me?”

His mouth fell open, no words coming to his mind. Frankly, he was speechless. Not want her? Christ, he’d spent the better part of his time in Fox Hills trying
not
to want her. And so far, he’d failed miserably.

She glanced over at him, her pride preventing her from backing down. No matter how much his response might hurt, she needed to hear it. “Well?”

A stony resolve came over his face. “Pull over.”

She snorted. “What? You want out?”

“I want you to pull over.”

“What happens if I don’t?” she challenged, a spark lighting in her eyes. “Big, important FBI agent. You gonna point that Glock at me?”

“Not unless you give me a reason to.”

The intense look he gave her sent off all kinds of mixed signals in her brain. Part of her was delighted, the other part just a little fearful. One of her eyebrows slid up. “You mean ignoring a direct order isn’t reason enough?”

“Nope. But I’ll ask again, nicer this time. Please pull over.”

“Fine.” She stepped on the brake and eased the four wheeler to a stop. Before she could say anything, he had hopped out of the vehicle and rounded to her side. She looked up at him. “What’s going on?”

“Get out.”

“Why?”

“Please.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” she sneered, climbing out and to her feet. She squared off with him, hands on her hips. “Now what?”

“Don’t speak, just listen.” He took a deep breath, needing to collect his thoughts. His sanity. The electricity jumping off of her had his head spinning, making it hard to think. “I should’ve never gone to the distillery that day and spoken to you under false pretenses. That was my first mistake. I also should’ve been less of a friend to you and more of a federal agent. That was my second mistake. But I can’t take those two things back now. All I can do is try and make up for them.”

“How?” He looked impossibly calm and resolute, a sharp contrast to her own raging storm.

“By clarifying an important detail.” A small, edgy smile teased his lips. “Plus, I’m just dying to know if it’s as good as I think it’ll be.”

He cupped the back of her neck and dragged her mouth to his, the kiss unapologetic and searching. Drowning in the taste of her, in that hot lick of fire, he pulled her in until their bodies molded together and he could make out every curve.

She ignited against him, like a freshly lit firecracker that had just been itching for a reason to burn. He changed the angle of the kiss, needing to satisfy this desire to know every inch of her. He wasn’t disappointed. She was every bit the firestorm he had been hoping for.

Though she had anticipated the kiss, even welcomed it in some dark, twisted part of her brain, nothing could have prepared her for the reality of it. He was a world of contradictions. Powerful, yet smoothed by tenderness. Coolly aware, yet driven by a heat she had never expected. And worst of all, he was at the same time so very right for her, and so very wrong.

Because she knew it would torture him, she eased back, nipping his lower lip as she did so. Her eyes slowly opened and met his, pleased to see he was just as unsettled as she.

“Should I repeat myself and say that this is a huge mistake?” she asked, her voice a husky murmur. Her hands were clenched around the lapels of his suit jacket, holding him in place. If she let go, she would have to relinquish the warmth he offered. The comfort. She didn’t have the strength to part with it yet.

He exhaled, struggling to clear the fog from his brain. “I think we’re past that realization.”

“So what happens now?”

“I don’t know.” He brushed aside strands of copper hair that had fallen over her forehead, his hand lingering just below her jawline. “This doesn’t change anything. I still have a job to do.”

“And I still have a family to defend.” She stepped back now, hugging her torso in an attempt to ward off the cold. She shook her head, her gaze unseeing as she processed everything. A cynical half-laugh bubbled out of her. “I swear, I have the worst taste in men. There must be something wrong with me.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cooper replied, though he was smiling now. When she looked up at him, he shrugged. “If circumstances were different, I think we’d be a pretty good fit.”

The first arrow of regret hit her, right in the heart. “Yeah. I think we would. But things aren’t different. And they won’t ever be.”

He nodded, having nothing else to say.

“Let’s get back. Mama will be worried about us.” Ava turned and settled into the four-wheeler, hiding her shaking hands from him.

When he sat beside her, she spoke again. “Now that that’s over with, what did my father say to you?”

“He admitted to going to Ireland and seeing Ned. He also admitted to visiting Dublin. We think Ned instructed him on how to open the Swiss account.”

“Damn.” Ava sighed. “And here I was, praying he’d only told me one lie.”

T
hey pulled up to the house and parked. Ava hesitated, her eyes scanning the man beside her. Cooper offered her a smile, but even with his careful mask she could see he was torn between what
felt
right and what
was
right.

“It’s probably best if we put some distance between us,” she told him, trying to be reasonable, to make the mature choice. “As much as I enjoyed what just happened, we both know it’s a bad idea.”

“I agree.” He avoided her gaze, focusing straight ahead. “When this is all over with, I hope there won’t be any ill will between you and me.”

She frowned. “I guess that all depends on how this investigation plays out, Slick. If I lose everything I have, don’t expect me to forgive and forget. In the end, this comes between us whether we want it to or not.”

Before he could respond, Marco emerged from the house, patting his stomach happily. “There you guys are. Ready to hit the road, Coop?”

Cooper unfolded himself from the four-wheeler. “Sure.” He glanced over his shoulder at Ava, his face revealing nothing but polite interest. Any hint of the man who had just swept her into a heated kiss was gone, replaced by the federal agent with the kind blue eyes. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Don’t mention it.” She rested her arm on the steering wheel, trying to look unaffected by what was happening. Remorse was tearing her heart to pieces, and seeing him looking so nonchalant only made it worse.

Cooper followed Marco to their black sedan, trying his best not to look at her. His partner started the car, mouth still spread in an idiotic grin.

“So, what’d you and the lovely Miss Ava talk about on your little drive?” Marco pried as they headed back to the Lucky Fox office.

“To be honest, there wasn’t much talking involved.” Cooper stared out the window and sighed. “This is going to cost me my career, I just know it. And you don’t even care. In fact, you’re encouraging it. Some friend you are.”

Marco waved off the comment. “What, you think you’re the first agent to have the hots for someone involved in a case? It’s not like we’re investigating
her
, anyway. Once we wrap up here, you’ll be free to pursue her all you want.”

“I shouldn’t be pursuing her regardless. We don’t even live in the same state,” Cooper reminded him, shaking his head with a half-laugh. “But damn, she complicates things.”

“Beautiful women often do, pal.”

They drove in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Cooper’s mind shifted from his confrontation with Ava—because, really, it could hardly be called romantic—to Ty Brannon. The man was hiding something other than his allegiance to the IRA and his cousin. Something big, something crucial. And until he found out what it was, he had a feeling they would be doing circles around this case without ever cracking it wide open.

Feeling the need to talk it out, he faced his partner. “Ty played ignorant on that email, but I think we can agree he’s lying.”

Marco nodded. “Yep. It’s safe to say that email was from Ned.”

“But what does it mean? Or rather, what does ‘she’ mean?” Cooper wondered, the wheels of his mind turning over what Ty had said. “Is that just code for the FBI like we assumed or are we missing something else entirely?”

“I don’t know.” Marco pulled onto Main Street, the sidewalks just beginning to fill with tourists on their way to breakfast. “He doesn’t think we’ll find enough to convict him, though, which makes me want to work harder just to prove him wrong.”

“I agree. But we didn’t come all the way down here just to fail. We know he’s guilty. What we need to find is proof that Ty gave Ned the ability to access the Swiss account and withdraw funds. Once we have that, we can nail him to the wall.”

“Well, like Ty mentioned, he didn’t open the account until a few years after his trip to Ireland and the withdrawals have only been occurring for the last fifteen or so from that particular branch. Without a record of a phone call or email between them—neither of which we’ve been able to find so far—I don’t know how else we can prove it.”

“And he’s not going to confess,” Cooper grumbled, feeling frustrated. “We’ve scoured his office, his files, and all we have is that damn email and the plane ticket which only proves he met with Ned.”

“Might be time to call up Horvath, see what he thinks we should do,” Marco suggested, parking the car outside the Lucky Fox office.

Cooper reached for his cell phone. “Good idea.”

They went into the office as Cooper dialed his boss’s number. As it rang, he put it on speaker and took a seat at Ty’s desk.

When Horvath picked up, sounding grumpy at being awoken on a Saturday morning, Cooper smiled. “What do you mean you don’t work weekends? You just leave that to us minions, huh?”

“
When you’re on top of the heap like I am, you can have some days off,
” Horvath replied, erupting in a throaty cough. When he had alleviated it with what Cooper suspected was coffee, he continued. “
What’d Brannon have to say about the plane ticket?
”

“Very little. In fact, that’s why I’m calling…” Cooper sat back in the chair and rubbed his face. “We’ve gone through practically everything. All his computer files, the boxes of paperwork here in the office, phone records, emails…I can’t find any record of Ty giving Ned the account number or the security code for the Swiss account.”

“
It’s possible he provided both in a letter that was mailed,
” Horvath said. “
If so, we won’t find record of it.
”

“Right. He keeps claiming he had no idea the money was being withdrawn from the branch in Dublin, but I find that hard to believe. How does a million dollars go missing without a business man like Ty Brannon noticing?”