Page 81 of Under Fire

“What?”

“Locke is not leaving Tampa without you, so start packing.”

***

It was late, after midnight, when Locke and Hollis returned home. It was funny how easily he thought of this place as home when his real home was in Portland. He moved aside when she entered and couldn’t help noticing she was humming the last song they had danced to.

After a very delicious dinner, the guys had pushed the furniture back far enough to make a dance floor perfect for line dancing, and they had boogied the night away. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. “I take it you enjoyed yourself,” he said, closing and locking the door behind them.

“Oh yes,” Hollis said, smiling. “You have wonderful surrogate brothers. I thought Striker was super and Karl such a loving man to Nyla. Then I met Shogun and Macayle, and thought they were absolutely wonderful. Now Quasar and Stonewall are magnificent.”

He chuckled. “I would never describe any of them the way you just did, but I wouldn’t trade them for all the tea in China.”

“I don’t know how Shepard Granger was able to pull it off. Especially when all of you have different personalities.”

“I wonder about that myself sometimes, but I realized Sheppard is one of a kind. There aren’t too many men like him. Would you like to join me in a glass of wine?”

She smiled. “Yes, I would love to.”

They walked side-by-side to the kitchen. He had seen one of the top people at the FBI whisk her away in private and had wondered what they had talked about. After that news reporter had made it quite obvious that a woman with her skill should still be working for the FBI, he wouldn’t be surprised if the man hadn’t tried saving face by offering her old job back. If that was true, did she take it?

He had hoped she would mention something about the conversation during the ride home, but she hadn’t. Was she waiting for him to ask? If so, he wouldn’t disappoint her.

“So, did that FBI guy offer your old job back to you?” he asked, grabbing a bottle of wine from the rack.

She placed two wine glasses on the table and glanced over at him. “Yes, he did.”

He felt a tug at the pit of his stomach. He had assumed as much, but hearing that he was right sent him into panic mode. He braced himself for the answer to his next question. “Did you take it?”

“No.”

Relief washed through him. “Any reason you didn’t?” He would have loved it if she said, Because I am in love with you, and the only place I want to be is with you.

She stood with her hands on her hips. “He had the gall to say that the Bureau needed more agents like me. Can you believe that? I almost told him that it was too bad the Bureau didn’t appreciate me when they had me. The only thing that kept me from doing so was Derek always warning me not to ever burn my bridges.”

She then sat down at the table. “I’m glad he caught me on a good day, had it been a bad one then…”

“Then what?” he asked, coming to join her at the table with a bottle of wine.

“I don’t know. A girl has her pride, you know.”

“Yes, I know. I hung around Libby long enough to know that,” he said, uncorking the wine and pouring it into their glasses.

When the room got quiet, she asked, “So, what’s next for you, Locke Dangerfield? From that press conference this morning, it’s obvious that you’re a popular guy. The reporters love you. Especially the female ones. It was obvious several were interested in you.”

Was that jealousy he heard in her voice? Damn, he hoped it was. That would mean she cared for him. Possibly as much as he cared for her. While she and Nyla were in the kitchen preparing dinner, Quasar, Stonewall, and Karl had tried to get into his business by giving him advice. The three agreed he shouldn’t leave her in Tampa because she was a keeper. He believed that, but what if she didn’t think he was a keeper in return?

He and Hollis had always been honest with each other from the first, which was one of the things he’d found so refreshing about their relationship. Other than when they had tried to deny the intense sexual chemistry between them, they had never resorted to playing games or trying to second-guess each other. They always knew where each other stood.

He took a sip of his wine and then said, “The only female I was interested in in that entire room was you.”

He liked the way her lips tilted into a smile. “You don’t say.”

“I do say. I think we need to talk, and this is just as good a time as any to do so.” Watching her take a sip of her wine was such a turn-on, and he had to shift in his chair to keep his arousal under control.

“So, Locke Dangerfield, what’s on your mind?”

He decided not to tell her that, at that moment, what was on his mind was the vision of him taking her on this very table. He had already taken her on the desk in her office, as well as the one in his. “First, I would like you to attend a wedding with me in June as my plus-one. Would you?”