Dangerous Defiance (7 page)

Jess clicked through the few photographs of him in uniform, his arms thick, his face in some photos smiling, but in most, dead serious. He held a rifle in many shots, but there was one taken when he had obviously not been aware because it captured his face at an angle, his eyes somewhere in the distance. She could still make out the steely blue of those eyes and she had to blush a moment later at the memory of finding him watching her when she had opened her eyes after her first orgasm.

“Ok,” she said, standing. That was enough of that. She shut off her laptop and checked the time. It was a little after ten PM. She had questions, a lot of them. One of the prominent ones being why the hell he hadn’t mentioned any of this to her.

But first she needed time to think. And a shower. His scent was still on her and all she could think of at the moment was how he had felt when he had touched her, when he had laid his weight on her. She stripped off her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor and stepped into a cold shower, forcing herself to think of what she had just learned about him, about his past, rather than what had just happened between them. She just needed to set that aside. This wasn’t about her and she certainly hadn’t come here to find romance or to fall in love.

Fall in love.

She shook her head and scrubbed her hair harder than necessary with the little bottle of shampoo provided by the hotel.

Fall in love. What the hell was wrong with her? It was a roll in the hay. She imagined if she wanted another roll he would be more than accommodating. Weren’t all men programmed that way after all? Their evening had had nothing to do with love.

And she had questions she needed answered, especially if he truly expected her to run things by him from now on. She wrapped a towel around herself and dried her hair with another one as she walked into the bedroom. She chose some clothes out of the suitcase she had never bothered to unpack and got dressed. She then combed out her hair and wound it up in a clip. She didn’t usually bother with more than mascara and lip gloss and tonight, she would forego that altogether. She picked up her purse and keys and slipped the crutch under her arm. When she got to the door, however, she noticed something there that she was sure hadn’t been there before. Someone had slipped an envelope underneath it.

She bent down to pick it up, wondering if it was some lame effort on Jackson’s part to make up for what had happened. But when she opened the sealed envelope and took out the scribbled note inside, she knew it was not. Her heart raced.

A lead. Finally, a lead!

She set her things back down, changing her mind about going to see him tonight. She reread the note several times:

I have information about the collapse but I can’t talk in public. Meet me at the site tomorrow at midnight. Come alone or I’m gone.

Jess’s smile widened. This was exactly what she had been waiting for.

* * *

The following morning, Jess walked into the sheriff’s office with a box of donuts and three cups of coffee.

“Good morning, ma’am,” a deputy she didn’t know said.

Bill, the one she had met yesterday came into the office from a back room. She felt her face heat up for a moment when she thought of what he had overheard yesterday, but cleared her throat and straightened her spine. “Good morning, gentlemen,” she said.

Bill was apparently as embarrassed as she was because she swore his face also reddened just a little.

“I brought donuts,” she said, holding them up.

“Wow, great,” the first deputy said. “I’m Carl Engle, by the way, I was the one who drove your car down from the site.” He glanced at her leg. “You’re not using the crutch anymore?”

“Nope,” she said. She actually had it in her car but wanted to stop using it, although she tried to keep her weight mostly on her other leg. “It’s healing up nicely. Thanks for getting my car, by the way.”

“Sure thing, ma’am.”

“Is Ja… the sheriff here?” she asked, looking around.

She had barely finished her sentence when the door opened behind her. She didn’t even need to turn to know it was him. She could
feel
him. Her body stiffened, images of last night playing before her eyes, sweat beginning to form under her arms and between her breasts.

“We’ve got donuts,” Bill said, oblivious.

Carl just watched them both.

“Well,” Jackson began as she turned to find him standing in the still open door with his eyes on her. “That was nice of you,” he finished, closing the door and setting his hat on the hook by the door next to those of the other men.

“And coffee,” she added stupidly, realizing she had only brought three coffees, not having expected more than one deputy.

He looked at the table and nodded. Both deputies were eating their donuts.

“Thanks for the donut, ma’am,” Bill said, taking out his car keys. “I’m going home to get some sleep. All was quiet overnight, Sheriff.”

“Thank you, Bill. I’ll see you later tonight.”

They said goodbye and Jackson walked toward his desk. When he passed her, the heat of his body made every hair on hers stand on end. She picked up the faint scent of his aftershave and found herself inhaling deeply. She had noticed it before but it smelled different now, more intimate.

“Carl,” Jackson said, looking at some files on his desk. “Why don’t you do a run through town for me. I’d like to talk to Ms. Manning alone.” She realized he hadn’t mentioned that she was FBI to anyone.

Carl looked from one to the other and it didn’t take him long to pick up his keys and hat. “Will do, Sheriff.”

“Don’t forget your coffee,” Jess said, holding one of the cups out to him.

“Thank you, ma’am. And thanks again for the donut.”

“You’re welcome.”

Once he was gone, she turned back to Jackson who remained standing by his desk, his eyes intent on her. She cleared her throat, the air between them more tense than it had been before. Had she really only known this man for a few days? It felt like a lifetime.

“I wanted to tell you I overreacted last night, after we…” She looked down at her feet, feeling the heat rising from her neck to her face. She had to force herself to look at him. “After what happened.”

He nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m glad you’ve come to that,” he said. “Are the donuts a peace offering?” he asked, taking one.

“I suppose,” she said. “I just don’t want it to be weird between us. I mean, what happened… we…”
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
Why did her mouth never listen to her brain?

“It’s ok, Jess, I realize you’re uncomfortable talking about sex…”

“I am not uncomfortable talking about… sex,” she managed, suddenly incredibly defensive.

He grinned, one eyebrow going up. Damn that eyebrow.

“I’m not,” she defended.

“What about spanking?” he asked.

Her mouth fell open and he laughed out loud when her face burned bright red with embarrassment.

“Give me back that donut!” she said, reaching for him, slapping at his hand to take the donut away.

He barely moved, didn’t stop laughing and simply grabbed hold of her hand. “Settle down, I’m just messing with you,” he said. “Sit.”

“I’m not a dog.”

He rolled his eyes and turned to take a seat behind his desk. “Sit the fuck down.”

She hadn’t heard that word from his mouth yet. Her eyebrows went up but his expression told her he was moving on, and so she decided that she too would move on. Besides, she had more important things to discuss. She sat down and placed her arms on his desk.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“Tell you what?”

“That you were military? That you were decorated, a hero?”

She caught the momentary twitch of his eye but then it was gone. He set his half-eaten donut down and wiped his hands on a napkin. He then turned to her. “Because it doesn’t matter. It makes no difference now.”

“Your bravery saved some thirty young girls from being killed. That makes some difference to me, Jackson.”

“It’s Jackson again?” he asked.

She exhaled and sat back in her seat. “Look,” she said. “What happened between us—first with you… spanking me…” Had she just said that out loud? Her voice had broken over the word but there it was, delivered fresh from her mouth. “Then when you… when we…” She shook her head, berating herself internally. She was an adult and an FBI agent at that! “It just caught me off guard. No one has ever done that first thing to me,” she began, knowing there were things she had to say. “And I wasn’t expecting any of it. I came here to find out who was responsible for my friend’s death. Instead, I’m rolling around in bed with the sheriff of the town! This is not how this trip was supposed to go and I guess I’m kind of angry with you about it,” she finished, forcing herself to hold his gaze. “And angry at myself too.”

“Jess, like I said yesterday, it doesn’t have to change anything. Spanking you, well, to be honest, I will do that again if I have to in order to keep you safe.”

She flushed red again.

“Making love to you, that was just instinct. It wasn’t something I’d planned and I certainly don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. In fact, if you would feel better about it, I’ll not mention it again…”

“Or tease me…”

“Or tease you.”

“Ok,” she said, feeling kind of silly. “You can have that donut again.”

He smiled at her, his eyes soft, almost concerned, she thought.

“They pushed you out of your job?” she asked. “The desk job, that seemed strange for a decorated war hero.”

“Life’s a bitch sometimes,” he said, his tone casual. “I let go of that a few years back, Jess. What happened, happened whether it was wrong or right. It’s over and I want to live my life
now,
not in the past, not brooding over the injustice of it all.”

“That’s how Ben was,” she said, picking up her coffee. “He deserved better and he got a raw deal.”

“Well, let’s see what we can do to make it right,” he said.

They spent the morning going over things and sharing information. He made some calls, setting up meetings with two residents later that week. She had brought the note she’d received last night to show him but she hesitated. A part of her wanted to tell him about it, about her plans for that evening, but the note had said for her to come alone. She couldn’t take a chance on Jackson going with her or telling her she could not go and she expected him to do one of those two things. She would go meet with whomever it was tonight and she would just tell him the note had come that night and that she hadn’t had time to tell him.

Guilt settled in her belly. She was going to lie to him. She had lied already when she decided to omit telling him about it. It didn’t feel good to do it and more than once, she came close to spilling the news, but changed her mind. Now she was heading back to her hotel and when he had asked her to meet for dinner that night, she declined, complaining of feeling tired.

But when she got back to her hotel room later that afternoon, two cars were parked outside of her door, two cars she recognized. Before she even parked her car, the doors on the black Volvos opened and four agents climbed out. The last man to step out into what had turned into a very damp day was Assistant Deputy Director Wayne Hanson.

Chapter Seven

“God damn Georgia weather in July, huh, Agent?” Hanson asked when she approached him.

“Sir,” she said, unsure how to react. “It’s a bitch,” she said, recovering herself. She was only here to mourn her friend. That was all. He had no rights over her and he certainly couldn’t tell her where she was allowed to spend her leave.

“Get the lady’s bag,” he told the agent who quickly moved into action, taking her small briefcase from her. “Hurt yourself?” he asked, eyeing the crutch she had used to walk inside. Her leg hurt after the long day without it.

“It’s nothing,” she said.

He nodded, eyeing the bandage on her thigh.

“I believe this is your room,” he asked, gesturing to her door. He knew damn well which was her room. She was only surprised he hadn’t already gone inside.

She slid the key card into the slot and pushed the door open, then flipped the light switch.

She quickly picked up the discarded clothes she had left in a pile and set her purse down on the desk. Three of the men walked inside, closing the door behind them. The one who had her briefcase set it down beside the desk. Although the room wasn’t large to begin with, the space suddenly seemed more than a little cramped.

“Have a seat, Agent,” Hanson said, gesturing toward the edge of the bed. The other agents stood aside.

Jess sat down, placing her hands in her lap, trying not to look like she was trying to hide anything. Not that it mattered, she was sure they knew. Why else would they be here?

The silence was awkward as Hanson pulled out the chair and sat down. He kept his suit jacket on and didn’t seem to have broken a sweat. It was baffling as she sat sweating in much lighter clothing, even though the air conditioner was working.

“How are you liking New Hope?” he asked. “Strange place to vacation if you ask me.”

“I’m not vacationing, sir. To be honest, I wanted to see where Ben had died. Try to make some peace with it.” Give them a little bit of truth and they might buy her lies.

He nodded. “Tragedy, what happened to him.” The way he said it made her want to reach out and punch him.

“I’ll get to the point, Agent Manning. I have some idea what Ben was doing out here but I’d like to hear it from you. Hear how the hell Ben ended up at this site at the time of the dam failure.”

She hesitated but knew she had no choice. The fact that he was out here, that he had tracked her down, her—a junior agent, well, it could only spell trouble for her and she knew it.

“We were investigating claims of water contamination, sir. We had a tip from a resident of the area. Ben wanted to keep it quiet, not excite anyone, not attract any attention in case it wasn’t anything.”

Hanson nodded, his expression thoughtful. She wondered if he believed her.

“I thought so,” he said. “Well, Agent Manning, I’m not going to beat around the bush and I suppose there’s no harm in telling you now that Ben went against protocol with this and his involving you was plain wrong. The information I’m about to share is confidential. Make sure it stays that way.”