Bouncer (Bad Boys in Big Trouble Book 2) (14 page)

Were they a couple? She hadn’t gotten that vibe at all until they’d exited her bedroom when Reece arrived. Maybe it was all for show. But if they weren’t together, they were amazing at undercover work.

Jessica was a foolish novice by comparison. Pierce hadn’t directed her to do anything, so she tried to just stay in the moment of
I’m at an exclusive club with my new awesome guy
. But with Neil about to cause mayhem with his unwanted presence, it was difficult to concentrate on anything but being found out or embarrassed or both.

She almost startled again when Reece said to his boss, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.” He put his hand gently on Jessica’s shoulder and said, “Do you think he followed us here because of what happened earlier today?”

She opened her mouth to say no, because she knew very well how Neil knew about this place. It had been in the briefing before the moron had gotten himself thrown out for being inappropriate with her.

She thought better of it and shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past him, but I don’t know that for certain. I’ve only dealt with him at work. He did see you today, though, and unfortunately he does have access to the same information I do as far as looking people up.”

“Okay.” Reece winked and her heart skipped a beat. “I’m going to go get rid of him. If he doesn’t have a warrant, I’ll ask him to wait outside.”

Pierce said, “Is it ironic to anyone else that one of the guys we’ve got under surveillance is about to save our collective asses from one of our own fucking agents?”

Jessica ignored Pierce’s remark, smiled at Reece and said, “Fine. Just don’t punch him in the throat.”

In her earpiece, Pierce muttered, “No. Please punch him hard. Put him out of my misery.”

“No promises,” Reece said, dropping a kiss on her knuckles.

Arthur, Reece and the bodyguard had a brief discussion before Reece nodded once and strode away to take care of business. Jessica had a direct line of sight as Reece approached the entrance. She wanted to hide under the table and hope Neil didn’t see her. She worried that if he saw her, he’d be an even bigger prick and more difficult to get rid of.

Jessica wished she could listen in on their conversation. Her wish was granted. As Reece got within six feet of Neil, Seth—and his earpiece—came through the front entrance.

Seth, looking extremely uncomfortable, said, “Neil, buddy, we aren’t meeting at this club. Come on. Let’s go. I’ve got a car waiting outside.”

Neil the Idiot looked totally surprised to see Seth. He said loudly, “What are you doing here?” Jessica was amazed he didn’t call out Seth’s full title and name, then identify him as an undercover FBI agent currently on an operation.

Reece joined the two seconds later. “Sorry, dude. Unless you have a warrant, we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. You’ll have to go.”

“I have every right to be here.” Neil puffed his chest out and glared at Reece.

“Not if you used your badge to gain entrance,” Reece said in a calmer tone than she would have used. “Badge plus warrant equals entrance. Nothing else works in this situation. You should know that.”

“He’s right,” Pierce remarked tersely. “Seth, grab that moronic asshole and haul him outside right now. I’ve got a government vehicle on its way to you at the front door. Get him inside it, pronto.”

Seth did as he was told. He grabbed Neil’s arm and pulled him toward the door. Neil yanked his arm away. Straightening his clothes, he tried to head back into the club. Reece body-blocked him, shoved him toward the door and all three men went to the front entrance together. Seth pulled, Reece pushed, and Neil fought all the way out the front door, swearing a blue streak that would make a biker blush.

Elsa and Gordon sat down at the table with Jessica. Arthur stood only a few paces away, his bodyguard stationed beside him. They picked up their drinks and sipped, talking animatedly about how great the place was and how glad they were that Jessica had invited them, seemingly oblivious to the drama happening at the front door.

Arthur and his bodyguard moved away. Reece was obviously trusted to take care of this issue even though it was his night off. Jessica looked hard at Dixon’s face before he retreated, feeling like she’d seen him before. He seemed vaguely familiar but she couldn’t place him.

She was usually good at identifying people. Some people were good at numbers. Others were good at remembering names. She was good at facial recognition but blamed the stress of the evening on her inability in this moment. Eventually it would come to her.

Jessica tried not to look nervous as Elsa and Gordon implemented their plan to place bugs at the premium table. It was some luck they got seated here instead of trying to find a way to crash this table as drunk, loud dance revelers. Elsa opened her purse, extracted a pocket mirror and her lip-gloss, and made a show of putting a new coat on, all the while keeping up a happy conversation with Gordon and Jessica. Her date was busy fastening state of the art listening devices beneath the table.

Outside, the battle continued as Jessica listened through Seth’s mic. Neil was affronted. “You may be the head bouncer here, but you aren’t such hot shit. I could bring you down if I wanted—”

There was happy chatter in one ear and idiotic chatter in her other. It was enough to give her a blinding headache.

Elsa and Gordon looked at her, rolling their eyes, presumably at Neil’s bad behavior. Elsa whispered, “I almost feel sorry for him.”
I don’t.
Karma was a bitch, and in Neil’s case it was long overdue in coming around to bite him in the ass.

Jessica heard tires squeal in the background noise of her earpiece.

Seth said, “Come on, Neil. Here’s our ride. Let’s go.”

“I’m not ready to leave.”

Reece said, “You are not getting back into the club, dude. Say goodnight.”

Gaining a bit of bravado, possibly because he was out of the club and Pierce continued to bark in all their ears, Seth said, “Neil, get in this vehicle right now! I mean it!”

There were sounds of a scuffle, like Seth was getting physical with Neil. Jessica wished she had a visual of it. Reece said to Seth, “Thanks, man. I appreciate the help.”

“No problem.” A door slammed. There was another squeal of tires.

Neil was yelling something, but his words weren’t distinguishable.

Seth finally said, “You prick, you almost blew our whole operation.”

“Operation? Was something going on inside there tonight?”

Pierce said, “Don’t give him any more information, Seth. The vehicle is on the way to my location. Gordon. Elsa. Do what we planned. Don’t forget the bathrooms.”

Jessica watched the front door as Pierce gave his instructions. Reece came through a couple of seconds later and headed in their direction. Jessica said, “Reece is on his way back to our table.”

Pierce said, “Let’s just go with the idea that Neil got illegal info on where your boyfriend worked and came in because of what happened in the lobby earlier today.”

“Got it,” Jessica said in a low tone, and smiled as Reece slid into the booth beside her.

“Disaster averted,” he said, picking up his drink and taking a healthy slug.

“Is his throat region intact?” she asked, putting her hand on his thigh beneath the table.

“This time it is, but no promises for next time.”

“Everything okay?” Elsa asked.

“It is now,” Jessica said. “I’ll tell you all about it later.” Reece put his palm over her hand, the one still resting on his thigh. He pressed down and squeezed her fingers, keeping her trapped there. It wasn’t like she’d planned to desert him.

Their dedicated waiter brought them a second round of drinks along with complimentary appetizers, probably to make them thirsty, but it didn’t matter because Reece was picking up the tab for this extravagant evening. That bothered her.

In her ear she heard Pierce saying he was signing off for a few minutes to deal with Neil.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall during
that
meeting.
Seth remained on the line for tactical information and to report any further disturbances from outside the club. Jessica guessed it was too much to hope that Pierce would get rid of Neil forever. Hadn’t she seen a posting in northern Alaska advertised recently?

Seconds later, the DJ told the room he was slowing things down for all those lovers out there who wanted to snuggle. Reece said, “That’s our cue. Come and dance with me. Don’t worry, we’ll just sway back and forth. I’ll lead.”

Jessica scooted out of the booth. “Did you bribe the DJ to play slow music just to get me out on the dance floor?”

“Of course. That’s what bouncers with hot dates do all night. Didn’t you know?”

She laughed, remembering she’d said something similar when they were on her turf in the lobby of the Federal Building.

Elsa and Gordon elected to stay at the booth and snuggle there instead, saying they preferred fast music while out on the dance floor.

True to his word, Reece took her in his arms. He put his face at her temple after kissing her cheek gently. They soon swayed deliciously to soft music. There were quite a few other couples dancing, but she barely noticed them, doing her best to ignore the occasional voice in her ear from others on the team.

Jessica worried he might hear it if Pierce started screaming again. In the lessons learned portion of their debriefing tomorrow, she’d mention her fears in that regard as a tip moving forward.

Elsa and Gordon took turns in the men’s and women’s on-site facilities, planting their listening devices in inconspicuous places. For now Jessica did her best to ignore any random conversation buzzing in her ear to focus on the seriously hot guy dancing her around the room. She’d always hated dancing, but she loved swaying in Reece’s arms. Perhaps at long last she’d found the right partner.

“Thanks for getting rid of Neil,” she said. “I’m sorry he came here tonight.”

“No worries. I didn’t do much except get him outside. His friend was the one who hustled him into a waiting vehicle the moment we got out there. Come to think of it, that car showing up when it did was really great timing.”

Jessica didn’t say anything, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. She didn’t want him thinking through who picked Neil up. She kissed his neck in a place she knew was sensitive, trying to distract him from his current thought process. It wasn’t exactly a chore, but she felt like she was using him as she did it.

He started to make a sound, clearing his throat instead, but she liked that she had some sensual power over him. She licked the spot she’d just kissed, eliciting another low growl of approval. Reece responded in kind, first pressing his lips to her brow, then trailing sweet kisses down her face.

When he got near her mouth, he kissed her lips like they were all alone. His fingertips skimmed along her spine headed for her ass. He pressed his hand in the center, pulling her lower half closer. He broke the kiss, staring at her much like he had the night they’d met. Like he was hungry. Like he wanted to do wild things to her.

She wanted to grant him complete access.

Reece gave her that special half smile he had when he was amused. She liked it. She wanted him. She wondered where they’d end up tonight or even
if
they’d end up together.

Jessica had fake overnight guests to contend with who weren’t really spending the night, but she couldn’t very well tell him that. Or she could usher him into her bedroom and put Elsa and Gordon on her pull-out sofa, but then they’d have to listen to her and Reece satisfying their hunger for each other all night long.

Jessica wanted to go home with the hot, sexy bouncer who liquefied her insides with a mere kiss, but figured she’d likely end up sleeping alone.

For the first time all night, she startled when Pierce came back on her earpiece, asking Elsa and Gordon about their progress. He hadn’t even shouted.

Reece looked down at her. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, but didn’t look at him, feeling her cheeks warming up.

“What’s wrong?”

She wanted to say nothing, but felt obligated to respond. “I feel bad saying this, but I wish I didn’t have guests tonight.”

“Oh?”

Jessica looked into his eyes and said, “Actually, I’d rather
you
were the only guest in my apartment tonight.”

There was sudden silence on her earpiece. No one said a word.

He smiled at her. “Me too. But I understand.”

She really did wish it, but felt a sudden rash of guilt over using him the way she was tonight, especially after all he’d done for her, both the things he knew about and the things he didn’t.

Did the guilt show on her face? She hoped not. He gave her an odd look, but then pulled her tightly into his arms as they continued swaying to the music. His scent. His warmth. His body. All combined to make her wish they’d met in such a way that he wasn’t part of her job.

Guilt was a heavy burden, eating away at her very soul. She probably wouldn’t sleep a wink tonight no matter whose bed she ended up in.

As the slow music wound down, Reece whispered in her ear, “Tell me something. Did Neil really follow us here tonight or is something else going on?”