Dangerous Disguise (12 page)

He lent her a sympathetic ear. “No luck finding a new manager for the other branch?”

She shook her head. But the matter was far more complicated that just finding a replacement for the idiot who had abruptly left.

“The whole structure over there needs to be revamped.” For a second she hesitated, as if telling tales out of school. But then, she’d never really felt any allegiance to the man who had hired both Papa Joe and her. As far as she was concerned, in both cases he’d gotten far more than he was paying for. She often thought the man took advantage of Joe.

“Shepherd put in someone from his family there, a nephew who thought the place could run itself. It couldn’t. Added to that, the nephew was skimming off the top. There’s a cash flow problem now.”

“Where is this nephew now?” he asked casually.

“Nobody knows. He’s just disappeared with the money, we assume. Shepherd’s fit to be tied. I’ve never seen him this upset before.”

Jared could well imagine. If his nephew was skimming from the top somehow, there was no doubt that the man’s disappearance could be traced to a sudden fondness for sleeping with fish. No wonder Shepherd was nervous, especially if he’d brought the man in to begin with.

“He says Rineholdt is lining up another investor to help out,” she said.

“Ah, the mysterious Rineholdt.” He was seriously beginning to think Rineholdt was an alias for Rosetti. It made sense. “Any chance of ever meeting him?”

The question pulled her out of her thoughts. She stared at him. “Why would you want to meet him?”

He shrugged casually. “Nice to know who I’m working for.” And it would either validate or dispel his theory.

She pushed the matter aside. “As far as you’re concerned, you’re working for me.”

He grinned, surprising her by taking her into his arms. “Love it when you get tough like that.” But when he lowered his lips to hers, she turned her head, giving him a mouthful of hair.

She pulled free, but not before allowing herself to enjoy the moment fleetingly. “Jared, I can’t kiss you here.”

He gave her a look that went a long way to melting her knees. “Why?”

Just in case, she placed her hands on the back of her chair for support. “Because we’re at work.”

“Not me.” He took a step toward her, his eyes teasing her. The expression on her face told him he had the upper hand no matter what she claimed to the contrary. He closed the door to the office. “I’m on a break, writing a note to the most fabulous woman I’ve ever been with.”

This time when he took her into his arms, she didn’t wiggle free. “Do you lay sauce on that thickly when you cook?”

“Every situation has to be evaluated separately,” he told her seriously. And then his eyes smiled at her. “And I’m not laying anything on thickly. If anything, I’m understating it.”

Unable to hold himself in check any longer, he kissed her. Not with the passion he felt, but with the affection that was entirely new to him. And as thrilling as it was scary.

It was hard for her not to sigh as she kissed him back and felt everything inside of her stand at attention. And beg for more. With effort, she pulled back, knowing if she didn’t, she was going to melt against this man right here. “What was it about?”

“What was what about?” The question floated out on the wings of a contented sigh Maren vainly tried to suppress.

“Your note.” It took effort to pull her thoughts together so that they made sense. “You said you were leaving me a note.”

He slid his tongue along his lips, tasting her. Wanting her. Damn but she’d turned him inside out without any effort at all, he thought. What a time for this to happen, to meet a woman he’d want to spend time with, real time. But everything was in the way. He forced himself to focus on what was necessary. “Right. I was going to ask if you wanted to take in a late movie tonight.”

The sweetness of what he said clashed with common sense, something she knew he had in abundance. Something she normally had in abundance. But not right now. “And if I didn’t come in to see the note?”

He never hesitated. “I would have hand-delivered it to your place.”

She laughed, shaking her head. Loving the feel of his arms around her. “You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?”

He pretended to look at her with innocence. “Just the truth.”

God, but he was so appealing. She was having more and more trouble resisting him. The roadblocks she put up kept getting flattened. Maren wrestled with her thoughts, knowing that if she took a step forward in this relationship, she would ultimately be taking a step back. Back into a place where she might not be able to work her way out of. And she was scared.

But Joe had given Jared his seal of approval. Even if Jared hadn’t said anything just now, she could tell by the conversation at Joe’s house the other night. Both men seemed to be feeling each other out, although Joe was far more intent on extracting information out of him than Jared had been. The very fact that Joe hadn’t issued any warnings spoke volumes. Joe had never liked Kirk, had warned her that the man was only trouble. It was his inherent instinct had warned him since Kirk had been polite enough around him the two times the men had been in one another’s company.

Joe’s approval meant a lot to her but she was still afraid.

Damn it, are you going to live your entire life like a rabbit? You deserve some happiness and he’s offering it to you.

She looked up at him, lacing her arms around his neck. “Tell you what, why don’t we skip the movie and just go to your place?”

“My place?” She’d caught him off guard with that one. He was living in a motel right now, keeping well away from anything that tied him with his real life. He’d told her he was living in an apartment.

“Sure.” Closing her eyes, she took in the scent of his cologne. And felt her pulse accelerate just the tiniest bit. “I’m curious about where you live.”

“It’s mess.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’ll find out what a slob I am.”

“You? You have every utensil, every ingredient in its place. You put Max to shame.” She suddenly remembered what had been on her mind when she’d come into the office. “Speaking of which, maybe I have a proposition for you.”

Jared played on his advantage, knowing that he could distract Maren. Hating himself for using it as a tool. He brought his mouth close to hers, tantalizing her with his nearness. He kissed her neck softly. “Does it involve getting naked?”

“Only if you like to live dangerously,” she said with effort. As he pulled back to look at her, her eyes were laughing at him. “Spilling something on yourself might really hurt then.”

“I have a feeling we’re not talking about the same thing.”

She shook her head, doing her best not to laugh at him. “I’m talking about taking over as head chef in the other branch.”

He smiled at her wickedly. “I’m not.” He brought his mouth back down to hers.

Talk of work, of changes, was temporarily tabled for the time being.

Chapter 12

J
ared drove his vintage Mustang into Maren’s apartment complex less than two car lengths directly behind Maren’s light blue coupe. He parked in the first space he came across, going for availability rather than proximity. It was located a distance away from Maren’s own reserved spot. Getting out, he quickened his pace, reaching her just as she was closing the door to her vehicle.

She looked so beautiful in the light of the full moon, something twisted inside him. Once again, he felt that same wonder, that same uneasiness. It unnerved him that he’d never felt this way about a woman before.

“Sure you don’t want to take in a movie?” he teased. “There’s a preview showing after the main feature at the Sundown Megaplex, less than a mile away.”

Rather than answer him, Maren wrapped her arms around his neck, brought her body in close to his and kissed him as if she’d set her cap on breaking some kind of an endurance record. The distance she’d been trying to maintain between them had clearly become a thing of the past.

At least for now.

His breath was completely depleted by the time the kiss ended. It took him a moment to suck air back into his lungs. “Guess not,” he surmised. He smiled down into her face, feeling elated and like the lowest form of life all at the same time.

Still holding her keys, Maren took hold of his hand with her other one and led him from her parking space to her front door.

“Why, Ms. Minnesota,” he murmured against her hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo, knowing he was never going to feel the same way about magnolias again, “this is so sudden.”

He was teasing her, she thought, but he’d struck a chord. It
was
sudden. Very sudden. She’d gone from passive to passionate in a little more time than it took Max to create the perfect soufflé.

But all this emotion had been waiting behind a locked door for such a long time.

As she watched Jared she realized that it wasn’t in her never to love again. She needed the emotion dwelling within her. Holding herself in check the way she had all this time had been worse than hard for her. It had been torture.

And so was the fear of having to let go. The fear of what would happen if she let go. But this man made her feel as if he was going to be here for the duration. As if she could make plans with him, dream dreams and try to make them come true.

He made her feel like taking risks, yet made her feel safe all at the same time. Maren knew that she had no logical explanation for it, but then, at bottom, feelings could rarely be dissected to their smallest particle and still make sense. She was happy just to feel, just to be alive again.

Guilt ensnared him because the look in her eyes was one he’d seen before. It was the look of a woman about to give her heart away.

To a man who didn’t exist.

To a man he’d made her believe existed. Once she knew the truth, was she going to hate him with the same passion she now felt?

He didn’t want to know the answer, was afraid of knowing the answer.

With superhuman effort, Jared pushed away his negative thoughts. Like the man he’d created for this moment, he pretended tomorrow didn’t exist. Consequences didn’t exist. All that existed was this overwhelming desire that beat frantic wings within him. The desire to hold her, to have her. To make love with her.

And, if he was very, very lucky, to expire in her arms sometime during the night so that no consequences could ever be faced.

He wanted the evening to last. He wanted to place stars in her eyes and to make those last, as well. He wanted to give her beautiful memories so that when she looked back, she’d see that it hadn’t been all bad between them. They’d had good times no matter what kind of a lowlife she would eventually believe him to be.

So, rather than undress her to the beat of the
Minute Waltz
the way he wanted to, Jared separated her from her clothes slowly. Moving aside her coat from her arms until it slid to the floor, he began to work the tiny buttons that ran along the length of her blouse. He could literally feel her chest heaving as he coaxed each button from its hole, skimming the tips of his fingers against the skin that was exposed as he worked his way down.

When the last button had been freed, he slowly dragged rather than pulled the sleeves from her arms, pausing to lightly press a kiss to each newly exposed area. It served to excite not only her, but him, as well.

Jared could feel her heart pounding beneath the lace of her bra as the blouse finally floated to the floor. He lightly brushed just the tip of his tongue along the swell of each breast.

“Are you out to make me crazy?” The question echoed in the darkness. He’d left the lights off. Her voice was low, raspy, as if every part of her was filled with needs, with demands.

“You did it to me first.”

The whispered words gliding along her skin, making her belly tighten, making her loins moisten in anticipation. As she moved to open the clasp at the back of her bra, he stopped her. The look in his eyes told her that he wanted to do the honors himself.

She took a deep breath as the material loosened then slid from her breasts, lingering for a moment on her swollen nipples before he pulled it aside.

The passion in his eyes heated her. Made her feel beautiful.

Made her feel hungry for him.

She realized that she’d stood here, absorbing it all, forgetting to do anything herself. He’d made her completely weak, made her arms feel heavy, her fingers feel clumsy. It took effort to make them obey her as she pressed them into service.

Dragging a ragged breath into her lungs, she began to undress him even as he continued divesting her of her clothing. Maren pulled his jacket and shirt from him quickly, eagerly.

But when it came to his trousers, she began to follow his lead. Wanting to send the electricity she was experiencing into his limbs. So rather than unbutton, unzip and tug the material away, she did it slowly, allowing her fingers to languidly slip along the outline of his firm thighs, dragging her palm ever so lightly along the outline of his hardening desire.

She saw the heat leap into his eyes, felt the same sort of heat emanate through his trousers. Felt the power that gave her. Her smile was slow, confident, as it slipped over her lips. Her eyes held his as she ran her fingers along the length of him before finally taking the zipper and pulling it down.

She cupped him just as his hand went between her legs, finding her softest core. Stroking her until she wanted to grab him by the shoulders with both hands and beg him to finish what he’d begun.

He did.

But he did it in his own time. Making time stand still and then catch fire.

Determined not to take her on the floor the way he had the first time, Jared led her into the small living room. The sofa bore witness to the rest of their love-making. Heard her cry out his name with anticipation, with joy, as he inserted his tongue where his fingers had been only moments ago. Bringing her to the brink of the highest peak, then taking her over it.

Explosion seized her body and she embraced him, searching for more, afraid that more would push her completely out her head. Exhausted, she fell back, trying to gather herself together. Only to discover that there was no respite. He was relentless in his need for her.

Another explosion, fiercer, wilder, blossomed in the wake of the first. And then, when she was certain that there was nothing left to feel, Jared proved her wrong. He moved until he was on top of her, pivoting so that the only weight she felt was what he wanted her to feel. Balanced, he plunged into her.

With a cry, she arched, wrapping her legs around him. Moving with him as if the very sofa was on fire. Just the way they were.

When he finally experienced the ultimate sensation, he held her to him as if he was never going to let her go. Wishing that he didn’t have to.

“Next time,” he whispered, his voice muffled against the side of her neck, “we’ll make it to the bed.”

Next time. He was making plans. Plans that included her. There was something beyond tonight. Maren smiled against his shoulder, planting small, butterfly kisses along his skin. “Oh, good, something to live for.”

Jared forced himself up on his elbows. Forced himself to look at her. She’d just made love with him. Made love to a man she thought was a simple chef. She had no way of knowing he was living a lie. That he was really an undercover detective sent to spy on her, on her father, her place of work. On the people she regarded as friends.

Words filled his throat, begging to be released.

He’d never felt the urge for confession before. He did now. It beat at him with small, clenched fists, demanding release. But this wasn’t his secret to tell. A great deal of time and effort had gone into setting this up and if it was true, if the restaurants were fronts for laundering mob money, who knew how far this web extended and who they would bring down once they had what they needed?

He was a cop, damn it. This was what he was trained for. Which meant that he didn’t have the luxury of telling her.

And better that he didn’t. Because the moment he told her who he really was, what he was really doing here, it would be over between them.

He wasn’t ready for it to be over.

Jared lightly kissed her lips. “Well, that was good for starters,” he told her. His eyes teased her. “When are you planning on bringing out the heavy artillery?”

She laughed and he could feel the vibrations all along his body. “Think you could stand it?”

“Why don’t we try it and see?”

She brought her arms up around his neck, pulling him down to her. “Your wish is my command.”

He let his mind go blank as he made love with her again.

Within the next few days, Jared made a fascinating discovery. Rather than slip into the red because of mismanagement, the total accounts of Rainbow’s End were so far into the black, Shepherd had more equipment brought into both branches. The remainder of the old ranges were replaced with models that cooked faster and accommodated more pots and pans at the same time.

They also came with huge price tags.

“Nothing but the best for my place,” Shepherd was heard to say.

According to word of mouth, profits continued to grow, making unseen, unknown investors richer.

Jared felt itchy. He needed to get into Joe’s computer. He had a hunch he might find something there that would lead him to a second set of books. The old embezzlement expression “cooking the books” would never be more appropriate than here, he thought grimly.

But in order to find anything of worth out, he needed Joe’s password. Not the password that initially unlocked the computer, but a second one that defied any method of detection.

The software the accountant was using was like one he’d never seen before. It demanded a password within a password. The program was, despite the latest equipment he had at his disposal, impossible to hack into in the limited amount of time he had. He needed Joe’s help, especially now since the body of the former assistant chef, Emil, who had initially come to them about the money laundering, had washed ashore.

Any doubts Jared had harbored about the case were gone.

But despite what he felt in his gut about Joe Collins, he couldn’t very well approach the man unprepared, with nothing to offer for his help. If Joe turned out to be involved somehow, approaching him would lead to a domino effect, sending the news to those at the top. He needed to have something to offer the accountant in exchange for his help.

And he couldn’t make the offer in good faith on his own. He hadn’t the authority.

So before he could approach Joe for his help, he needed another kind of help. Legal help.

He was familiar with the customary route and it yielded nothing but frustration. Going through channels meant getting involved in red tape. Miles of red tape. And it took time. He hadn’t the patience for the former and there wasn’t all that much of the latter available. He’d already been informed that the funds behind this investigation were going to dry up if he didn’t come up with something soon.

When he called the restaurant to say that he’d be late Joe answered. “Anything wrong?”

Jared thought fast. “No, just a kid sister with a problem. I promise I’ll be in before the doors open.”

“Don’t worry, just take care of what you need to take care of. Most important thing in the world is family, Jared. When you get to be my age, you’ll appreciate that.”

“I already do.”

Damn, but he felt guilty, Jared thought, closing his cell phone. Guilty even though he was only half lying. He was going to see his sister, but she wasn’t the one with a problem.

He was.

Janelle Cavanaugh looked like all the Cavanaugh women, except for her cousin Patience. Patience was the only redhead in the lot. The others took after their paternal grandmother. They were all light to golden blond, with high cheekbones and slender figures that curved in all the right places.

Because they were so close in age, he’d been extremely protective of Janelle when they were growing up. Protective and antagonistic at the same time. They’d fought like cats and dogs and presented a united front to the rest of the world the way only a brother and sister could.

At times, he had trouble convincing himself that she wasn’t that quick-fisted tomboy who could sucker punch him time and again anymore, but a capable young woman the D.A. had made favorable references to in a press conference more than once.

He’d come to see her in that capacity now.

Janelle swept into the room, dressed in a no-non-sense, pearl-gray suit, her long hair held prisoner by more than twenty pins, making her look all business. It was only when she grinned that the young girl emerged again.

“This is an unexpected treat. They told me you were waiting for me, but I thought someone made a mistake.” She deposited an armload of files onto her desk beside the computer. Research was a bear. “So, where have you been keeping yourself? Or am I not supposed to ask?”

“Ordinarily, you’re not,” he acknowledged. “But I need your help.”