Broken Promises (28 page)

Disbelief spread across his face.

“A booty call? Is that what the time we just
spent together was? Not for me. And not for you either. Sound as
casual as you want. What we had—have—is a heck of a lot more than a
freaking booty call.”

Bette swallowed hard—or tried to, but the
muscles in her throat wouldn’t cooperate. Mouth dry and speechless,
she shook her head and held up her hands, warding him away. “No. It
isn’t. We’re two healthy adults whose hormones got the best of us.
Just go. I don’t have time for all this emotional nonsense anyway.
I have my job here. Jackie really needs me now. Did you know she
kicked Brad out last night? She found out he was keeping secrets
and funneling family money to his sister in New York. She needs all
the support I can give her.” What would it take to see his backside
out the door? A freaking stick of dynamite? “You’re going back to
Chicago to do your secret agent thing. Nothing’s really changed. We
had some laughs. Some good sex—”

His brows spiked, and his nostrils flared.
“Laughs and good sex? That’s it?”

Summoning all her Jersey-girl bravado, she
shrugged. “Okay, so it was laughs and great sex? You got over your
fear of dogs—one of ’em, anyway.”

Please, just go.

His jaw clenched, the muscles jumping. “Yeah,
I guess I did at that.” His tone came across as sharp and bitter as
wine turned to vinegar. He bowed grandly. “For the first time in my
life, it was more than sex—a lot more.” He let out with a harsh
laugh. “Happy to have obliged your libido, Ms. Smithson-Spinelli,
whoever the hell you are.” He spun and grabbed his go-bag. Over his
shoulder, he said, “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.”

Unable to control her temper, she yelled at
his back, “Fuck you!” Then she shot him her best smirk. “No. Been
there, done that.”

“You said it, lady.” He squared his
shoulders. And left her.

She heard Shadow give a quiet
yip
as
Alex blew past. Holding her breath, she waited until she heard the
front door slam, and then she dissolved in tears. The sense of loss
threatened to suck the life from her very soul. Knowing she’d done
the right thing for
him
didn’t ease the pain. It merely
sharpened it.

She ran from her apartment and bounded up the
stairs, Shadow at her heels. Too late. She couldn’t call him back.
He was gone.

That was it. Done deal.

No more laughing blue eyes that sparkled with
humor and glittered with desire whenever she caught him watching
her. No more teasing. No more seeing her love reflected in his
eyes.

No promises.

Now get on with your life.

A wet nose pressed against her calf. Shadow
gazed up at Bette with big beautiful eyes. “It’s all right, girl.
I’ll be fine…in about thirty or forty years.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

One week later, Chicago FBI Field Office

Alex paced from one side of the SAC’s
reception area to another. The longer his superior kept him
waiting, the more the pit of his stomach burned. “Let’s get the
show on the road.”

“Agent, did you say something?” O’Riley’s AA
looked up.

Had he said that out loud? “Sorry, just
talking to myself,” he said, hoping like hell she hadn’t heard
exactly what he’d said.

She smiled as if she had, or maybe she’d just
seen other agents about to be handed their asses in a sling and
sympathized.

Maybe.

Her intercom buzzed. “You may go in, Agent
MacGregor.” This time, she kept her gaze averted.

Not a good sign at all.

Time to suck it up. Either his ass was fired
or assigned to somewhere like Juneau. Either way, any upward
advancement was off the table.

Squaring his shoulders, he strode into
O’Riley’s office. “Thanks for taking time to see me, sir.” Like he
hadn’t been summoned—and none too politely.

O’Riley motioned for Alex to sit, which he
did, in spite of the urge to continue pacing. He forced his body
into a relaxed position. Image was everything.

Don’t let ’em see you sweat.
Whoever
came up with that bright saying never stood, or sat, in front of
Chicago’s Special Agent in Charge, John O’Riley. His dark eyes and
hair coupled with a grim-faced expression sent a chill up Alex’s
spine.

Bad enough, until O’Riley smiled with a full
set of white shark-like teeth. Alex swallowed the boulder-size knot
in his throat. Any second, his superior would tear into Alex’s
career and leave it in tattered shreds.

O’Riley spread a sheaf of papers across his
desk. Alex’s file, no doubt. “MacGregor, your personal life is of
grave concern. Connections with a daughter of the Spinelli crime
family, and let’s not forget your brother’s mental instability that
brought him to kidnap two members of your family as well as this
Bettina Spinelli. Or Smithson—I believe that’s what she calls
herself now.”

“Yes, sir. But surely you don’t blame me for
my brother’s kidnapping by a predator?” Why
shouldn’t
the
Bureau blame him? His brother blamed him. Worst of all, Alex blamed
himself.

“You didn’t conduct yourself according to
regulations during the search for your family. Your position on the
Violent Crimes Task Force is over. Someone who can’t follow
procedures can’t be expected to be an effective leader. Until this
incident in New York, you showed a great deal of promise; however,
I now have no choice but to reassign you.”

“Reassign me?” Meaning he wasn’t fired. There
were worse things than being kicked out of the FBI, although he’d
never expected to learn what they were.

“After much discussion, you’re being assigned
to an area where your former mistress’s crime connections don’t
reach.”

“My mistress? Are you seriously calling Ms.
Spinelli my mistress? We fell in love.” He sounded like a total
sap—not the way to go.

O’Riley scowled. “Nevertheless, her brother
is becoming more of a problem than her father ever was. And your
relationship, whatever it is or was, is a severe conflict of
interest.”

“She’s had nothing to do with her brother for
years.”

O’Riley neatened the stack of papers and set
them aside. “Nevertheless, you will present yourself to the field
office in Salt Lake City tomorrow.”

“Salt Lake City?” Swallowing hard, he
resisted the urge to salute…barely. “Yes, sir.”

The Salt Lake City field office covered
merely the states of Utah, Montana, and Idaho, where the memory of
Ruby Ridge was still fresh. Didn’t take a genius to figure out Salt
Lake was a step or twenty down the career ladder from the VCTF in
Chicago.

~~*~~

Back in his apartment, Alex zipped his go-bag
and set it aside. His flight to Salt Lake City left in four hours.
The landlord let him out of his year’s lease since he understood
agents didn’t have any control over when or where they were
re-assigned.

And what’d he do to deserve such a bump in
his road to success? Fall in love with a freaking Mafia princess
was all. Bette pretty much told him to go back to Chi-town and
forget he ever met her. Not so easy.

Who could forget their last angry words? Once
his sanity returned and he cooled off, he realized she’d kicked him
out for the right reasons. Feisty and sexy—nah, no way to forget
her. And no way to keep her in his life and also keep his career
with the Bureau viable. Hell, even viable was a relative term.

Face it. Bette’s family connections weren’t
any worse than his. He had a brother who was a serial kidnapper and
in prison for the thankfully foreseeable future. A brother who, in
his more lucid moments, blamed Alex for not keeping his promise to
come back at the movie. A brother who blamed Alex for every
unmentionable thing that had happened since.

Two strikes against him. Why bother?

He strode into the bathroom and checked for
anything left behind. Shaving gear already packed. Hell, he’d have
to grow a beard in Utah or Idaho just to fit in and not look like
such a white-bread city boy.

His phone chimed. Fishing it out of his
pocket, he glanced at the readout. Who the hell was
D.C.
Security Services
?

“MacGregor.”

“Dude. How’s it going?”

Alex recognized the familiar voice. None
other than Special Agent Jake LeFevre. “Not so hot. You?”

“Can’t complain.”

“How’s your new baby girl?”

“Already spoiled rotten.”

“And Caitlin?”

“She’s a wild woman—no change there.” Alex
heard his old partner take a deep breath. “Got a proposition for
you. Join me at my new firm.”

“You
left
the Bureau?” Jake had always
been Bureau all the way. Never would’ve thought he’d leave before
retirement age.

Jake chuckled. “Decided I wasn’t cut out for
profiling. Too much time away from home and my family. Wasn’t fun
anymore, dude.”

“Sure could’ve used a profiler in upstate New
York.”

“That’s what I heard. That was some tough
shit. Sorry about your brother.”

“Yeah, well. You know how it goes. Good news
and bad news.” He paused to take a breath. “Anyway, got a new
assignment—Salt Lake City,
Utah
.”

“Whoa. You really screwed the pooch. Did they
even buy you dinner?”

“Not even close.”
Proposition?
That’s
what the man had said. “So what’s this about a proposition? Make it
quick. I’m supposed to be at the airport in two hours, heading for
parts west.”

“Remember Clint Eastman? He retired from the
Bureau a couple of years ago and opened a security firm. Last week,
he offered me a partnership. I took him up on it and immediately
thought of you. Maybe you’d like to stay on the East Coast for a
while.”

Mind racing, he asked, “What kind of services
do you offer?”

“Lot of corporate services, some bodyguard
work, industrial espionage—preventing it, not doing it.” Jake
laughed. “You interested? With your qualifications and my
recommendation, you’re a shoo-in.”

“I’ll give it some thought.” Hell, yeah, he’d
give it some thought. Just give him a line to sign on.

“Don’t think too long, or you’ll find
yourself hunting grizzlies in the wilds of Utah and Montana.”

“Just one little complication.” Might as well
get it out in the open. Jake needed to know.

“I’m listening.”

“Any problems with my being married to a
gen-u-ine Mafia princess?” Alex held his breath. This job offer
could be the answer to everything.

“You married a
what
?” The rising note
of surprise was evident in his friend’s voice.

“Not married. Not yet, anyway. Long story,
dude.”

“That why they sent your butt to Utah?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“Then change your flight from Salt Lake to
DC. You won’t be sorry.”

Alex laughed. “That’s what you told me about
New Orleans too.” He took a deep breath. “I need to talk to someone
else first. Can you give me that much time?”

“Sure thing. Talk to your woman. Hope she’s
more manageable than mine.” Jake let out a deep chuckle, then broke
the connection.

Alex punched in a number he’d memorized but
hadn’t called until now.

Chapter Thirty

Bette ushered out the last patient and turned
to Jackie. “That’s it for another day.”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah, I have to take Cody
over to Brad’s new place tonight.”

“How’s Cody adjusting to the split?”

“So-so.” Jackie shrugged. “You know how it
is. Brad’s doing his damnedest to be the fun dad. As a result, I’m
mean old Mom who makes Cody brush his teeth and pick up his
toys.”

Bette nodded her agreement. “Divorce is tough
on kids, but with you for a mom, I’m sure he’ll be fine.” The phone
rang. “Sorry, I’ll have to get it. I haven’t switched the phones
over to the answering service yet.” She picked up the receiver and
answered, “Animal Hospital. This is Bette.”

“Bette.”

No mistaking
his
voice. Alex. There
was no stopping the insistent racing of her heart. Or the flare of
hope bursting in her chest, making it difficult to breathe. “Hold
on. Jackie’s right here.”

“No. I’m calling you.”

Her throat constricted as she held back the
tears. “What for? We’ve already said everything there is to say.”
And way more.

“Don’t be too sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Need to see you.
Talk
to you.”

“Why prolong the agony? Or do you just get a
cheap thrill out of breaking my heart?”

“You’re the one who sent
me
away.
Remember?”

“What else was I supposed to do? Ruin your
career? Your whole, entire freaking professional life?” She
gathered her courage, ignoring Jackie’s wide, questioning gaze.
“I’m hanging up now. Bye.” She set the receiver on the phone.

“Well, that’s that.” She smiled at her boss.
“How ’bout we share a slice and a beer after you take Cody to his
dad’s?”

“Sounds like a…winner.” Jackie’s manner was
hesitant. Her mouth twisted to one side. “Okay, are you going to
tell me what my brother said or not?”

Bette shook her head. “Nothing new. Meet you
at Pontillo’s at seven-thirty?”

She glanced down at Shadow, who was curled up
in a basket under the desk. “That should give you time to drop off
Cody at his dad’s and time for me to feed and walk Shadow.”

Jackie flashed Bette a quick smile, but the
look of speculation was still written across her face. “Deal.”

~~*~~

Bette reached Pontillo’s before Jackie. She
spotted an empty table and sat facing the door. Since the
kidnapping, she was still a tad too paranoid to sit with her back
to any door. Besides, she wanted to see Jackie when she entered.
She picked up the menu. Ordering was simple: a small white pizza
with mozzarella and veggies for Jackie, and a red and ditto on the
veggies for Bette. She gave the order to the waitress. Hopefully,
Jackie wouldn’t be too late. Shadow hadn’t been happy to see Bette
leave for the evening. A single lifted paw and her eyes said,
“Please don’t go.”