Flirtation (10 page)

His sister arched up one well-groomed eyebrow.

“Really? That’s news.” She looked discreetly over
his shoulder. “Who’s the lucky girl who finally dragged you away from your computer?”

“She was a suspect.” He held his hand up as the brow reached higher. “Was. I’ve been investigating her, but things got complicated, and then they got dangerous. I couldn’t think of anywhere else safe to go last night.”

“You know you’re always welcome, EJ. You don’t even have to ask.” She looked toward the doorway again before meeting his serious look with her own. “But I take it this is some serious trouble?”

“Her home was broken into, her brother’s missing, and an officer was shot last night. Then some guy tried to grab her but luckily I got there in time. I want to stay out of sight until I know what’s going on.”

Grace’s hand flew to her lips, her eyes dark with concern.

“Shot by whom?”

“We have to find out.”

“And they could still be after her? After you?”

“It’s very possible. Probable.” He met her eyes. “If I’d known you would be here, I wouldn’t have come. You know I’d never put you—”

“Oh, EJ,” she said, cutting him off. She knew what he was going to say. She always did. “I’m not worried about me. Someone shot at you?”

Her arms were back around him tightly, and he knew he’d scared her. He set her back, his hands on her shoulders, tipping his forehead next to hers.

“It’s okay. I didn’t even get a scratch.”

“I hate this.”

“It’s part of the job.”

“I know. I can still hate it. Sometimes I wish you were still running Beaumont, instead of me.”

He didn’t bother hiding his shock. “What do you mean? You’re kicking ass down there. No one’s going to argue your leadership.”

She laughed lightly. “No one except Jordan.”

EJ fought the urge to smile, knowing his kid sister would not appreciate it. Jordan Davis was her teenage love, and the man she almost married. But Jordan was a traditional kind of guy who didn’t envision his wife getting an MBA—from a school up north, no less—or running one of the largest shipping companies in the U.S. Grace had done both. And she would do more, EJ knew.

Since Grace had taken over leadership of the company, and Jordan had bought a spot on the board, sparks had flown between them again, but EJ knew Grace could handle it. But just in case she couldn’t, EJ would handle Jordan himself. He liked the guy—and he believed Jordan’s feelings for Grace were genuine—but no one was going to crush his little sister’s dreams or deny her talents, not even a man who claimed to love her.

“Well, he just has to get used to the idea, and he’s only one vote.”

“I worry he’ll sway the board.”

“Don’t worry. Just do your job. It’ll work out. I’ve been hearing rave reviews. You’ve been the shot in the arm that the old place needed.”

“Really?”

Her worried brow cleared, and she smiled, her eyes on something—someone—past his shoulder. He turned to see Charlotte, still dressed in the robe and looking a little tired, but so beautiful that he forgot himself for a moment and stared. Grace cleared her throat, and EJ saw the patches of color stain Charlotte’s cheeks, and shook himself out of it.

He crossed the kitchen, taking Charlotte’s hand in his and bringing her in, keenly aware of his sister’s sharp observation.

“I’m sorry, darlin’—this is Grace, my sister. We were just catching up.” He looked at Grace. “This is Charlotte Gerard. A…friend.”

Grace stepped forward, hand out, her smile genuine. EJ knew his sister was probably curious, and worried, but she’d never forget her manners.

“Morning, Charlotte. I hear you’ve had a tough couple days. Well, you two are welcome here as long as you need to be. I’m just here for the day. I figured I could work from here and get away from the office for a change.” She looked at EJ. “How about some breakfast?”

“I’ll cook.”

“I was working on it.”

“So I heard. But I’ll do it. Let me just see what
you’ve got here.” He looked through the paper grocery bag, pulling out Danish and eggs, sausage and fruit. Not bad, though Grace was not exactly known for her culinary skills. She’d probably burn the fruit.

“Um, EJ?” Charlotte broke into the easy back-and-forth between sister and brother, and he smiled, wanting her to feel comfortable.

“Yeah, darlin’?”

“I should get dressed, but all I had with me was the dress, and that’s ruined. And I need to make some phone calls—people are expecting me this morning. I’m already late for several appointments. And Phoebe. I don’t know how I am going to explain the dress, but I have to do something.”

He read the slight embarrassment in her features, and anxiety about missing her obligations. He wanted to just cross the room and hold her, kiss her and let her know she could relax.

“It’s probably better if you stay out of contact for the moment, Charlotte. You can square things when you get back.” He looked at Grace, stemming any objections from Charlotte. “We had to leave in a hurry—do you have anything here Charlotte could borrow?”

Grace nodded and took Charlotte by the arm, leading her from the kitchen. “I’m very sure I do. Let’s go look and leave EJ in the kitchen to work his magic.”

EJ smiled, watching Charlotte’s hips hugged by the fabric of the robe as she walked from the room and he wished he could be working his magic in the
bedroom instead, but he was better off making breakfast for the moment. Easier said than done. His mind returned to the passionate encounter they’d shared just hours ago, how she’d tempted him, and how he lost control, coming so hard that he’d seen stars for a few seconds.

And maybe forging a connection with this woman that was going to last much longer than he’d ever intended.

Arranging items on the counter, he tested the thought again that he and Charlotte could have conceived a child, and found it only left him with a warm sense of…something. He liked the feeling. He liked Charlotte—more than liked—and he liked the connection they had. He frowned then, cracking eggs into a bowl.

But what if she had more doubts in the clear light of day? What if her easygoing attitude changed once everything was said and done?

Well, they’d talk. For now, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. But when he went out, buying condoms was one of the things on his must-do list. While there were more important things to think about than sex at the moment, obviously, he couldn’t believe they’d resist each other for long. Especially if the stirrings he felt down yonder while watching her exit the room were any indication.

C
HARLOTTE WASN’T SURE HOW
to deal with the sudden appearance of EJ’s sister. She was tired, a little sore and sticky from making love with EJ, and unsure what Grace really thought of finding her brother in the house with a strange woman.

But Grace Beaumont was the epitome of friendliness and polite to a fault, searching through the dressers and closets until she pulled out several selections from which Charlotte hoped something would fit. It wasn’t hard to see that Grace was several willowy sizes smaller than she was.

“Hopefully you’ll find something there that you like. It’s mostly summer clothes and dresses. The espadrilles are well-worn, and hopefully will be comfortable until you can get your own clothes.”

“I appreciate it.” She looked down at the robe, then back up at Grace. “Everything has been such a blur.”

Grace’s expression was sympathetic. “It sounds like you’ve been through the ringer, you poor thing. Last night must have been very frightening for you.”

Charlotte’s head snapped up. “You know?”

Grace nodded. “EJ told me, not much detail, but enough to know you are both involved in something pretty awful, and…”

Grace smoothed the bed covers, busying her hands while letting her thoughts drift off.

“And?” Charlotte prompted.

“Well, I hate to pry, but it’s obvious only one bedroom was used last night.”

Charlotte felt the blush travel from the roots of her hair to the bottoms of her feet, and wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

“I’m sorry, Charlotte—this is none of my business. I just worry about him, and he, well…you must be very special.”

“Why do you say that?”

“EJ wouldn’t just bring anyone here, to a family place, even if he was in danger. And besides—” Grace smiled faintly as she looked Charlotte in the eye “—I could see something in the way he looks at you. When did you two meet?”

“Just a few days ago.”

“Oh.”

“But we talked online quite a bit before that.”

“On the computer?” The hint of disbelief in Grace’s voice snuck through even though Charlotte bet she was doing her best to be nonjudgmental. She was just worried about her brother, and that was one thing Charlotte could very well relate to.

“Yes, I run an online…business.” She didn’t know
how Grace would react to knowing she read tarot cards regarding people’s love lives, so decided to generalize. “EJ came to the site pretending to be a client, though he really was just investigating me….” She shrugged helplessly. “But I’m not guilty of anything. It’s complicated.”

“Do you…love him?”

“It’s a little soon for that, I think.”

Charlotte looked away as she saw Grace’s features lighten. But Charlotte knew that if she were honest, her heart had already traveled a long way toward loving EJ. Time didn’t make a difference to her when it came to those kinds of things—she’d loved Ronny before she’d even met him. But she also realized that most people thought love was dependent on a clock or a calendar, and she didn’t want to make Grace feel uncomfortable. She was being so nice, considering she’d just come here for a quiet respite from work only to discover her brother hiding out with a strange woman in her home.

Still, even if Charlotte did love EJ, she wasn’t about to share it with anyone else when she hadn’t even told EJ. Especially his sister who, while obviously being a very nice person, seemed relieved that things were not serious between them. Though she was sure Grace was too polite to say so, Charlotte could feel the awkward tension between them across the room. They were just very different people shoved together in a strange situation.

“Thanks for being so nice, and sharing your clothes. I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but I really need to get in the shower.” Charlotte smiled in what she hoped was a friendly, casual way.

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry. I guess I’ll see you down at breakfast?”

“I’ll be down shortly, but don’t wait for me if you’re hungry.”

Charlotte walked to the shower, relieved to have the interaction with EJ’s sister over with for the moment. As she stepped into the beautifully tiled shower, the hot water sprayed down on her as she realized with a deep sense of resignation that it might be the least of the troubles facing her in the days ahead.

“W
HAT DID YOU FIND
?”

Ian crossed the lab, pulling a chair up next to Sarah, hoping whatever she’d found was good news. He didn’t know where EJ was—no one knew.

EJ had called once to check on Nate Donovan and update Ian. Though the man who’d grabbed Charlotte was long gone by the time they’d arrived, EJ was able to give them a name to track down. Ian had put that in Sarah’s capable hands while he’d gone home to check on Sage, who was teetering on the edge of childbirth and sanity. Ian felt pulled in so many directions that he could barely keep up.

So at this point, though they could find EJ if they tried hard enough, he was more inclined to trust his
friend’s instincts and help where he could. They’d been friends and colleagues too long for Ian to cast doubt now. But it was clear from the expression on Sarah’s face that she didn’t have good news.

“EJ may be in much deeper trouble than he suspected.”

She turned the screen toward him, lowering her voice—a sure signal that whatever she’d found, she’d skipped over a few federal computer privacy laws to do it.

“Tell me.”

“Okay. Well, I tracked down the numbers we found on the documents they took out of Ronny Fulsom’s place, and they led to offshore accounts in the Caymans—big money that’s been accumulated bits at a time. The accounts were listed in the brother’s name with Charlotte listed second on the account.”

“Of which she has no idea, as EJ would have it,” Ian said.

“EJ might be wrong.”

“Not likely.”

“There’s always a first time,” Sarah said sharply.

Ian studied Sarah, who was being more pit-bullish than usual.

“Why are you so down on this woman? So quick to believe she’s guilty, when it’s obvious EJ doesn’t think so?” he asked.

Sarah didn’t meet Ian’s eyes, and continued tapping keys and studying the screen as she spoke,
shrugging. “I don’t know if she’s guilty or not, but I know how men get around a woman they’re attracted to. Common sense can go out the window.”

Ian grinned. “And women don’t suffer that affliction?”

“Not me.”

Ian coughed to cover his laugh, deciding not to mention how mooney-eyed his tough-girl colleague got when her husband-to-be walked into the room. He turned his attention back to the discussion at hand.

“I’m surprised you could get that kind of information from the banks—private accounts are usually kept that way, even from the law unless there’s a lot of pressure from the government.”

Sarah arched an eyebrow, and looked only at the screen. “I went through channels. You’re right, they didn’t cooperate.”

“So then you went around the channels, I take it?”

She nodded, her mouth quirking at the corner. Ian shouldn’t encourage her, but he knew she’d find something. If something was on a network somewhere and Sarah couldn’t find it, then it couldn’t be found. The things she could do while sitting at a computer always astounded him, and he was frequently thankful he’d gone with his gut and hired her—an inexperienced, untrained hacker who’d simply been one of his informants—to join their team.

Sarah had become one of the best cops he’d ever
known. She was deeply committed to the work and to the people with whom she worked, which was probably why she was so prickly about EJ’s interest in Charlotte Gerard. She was feeling protective. So was he. But he also trusted EJ to do the right thing.

“I was also able to hack into some of the transfers using previous theft victims’ information, and they match up.”

“So we have hard evidence that the money stolen from SexyTarot.com clients was deposited in these accounts?”

“After some rather lame attempts at laundering, yeah. If it was her brother, he passed it through a few points before it was deposited, but that was easy to trace. He’s obviously not a pro. But we still don’t know if it’s just him. Her name is here, too.”

“Covering his own ass?”

“Could be. Or could be she’s pulling one over on EJ.”

“I find that hard to believe. He’s hardly that easy to pull one over on.”

Sarah shrugged. “Men in lust will do strange things.”

Ian had to agree, remembering his own experiences crossing the line with Sage. To say their beginning was rocky was an understatement—as a convicted felon, Sage had definitely been off limits to him, a federal investigator in charge of her parole at the time. But the attraction they’d had was stronger
than the rules that would keep him from her, and a dangerous threat to her from a former lover, a mastermind of a hacker, had deepened their attraction.

There was no reason to think EJ wasn’t in the same boat. Suddenly, Ian was kicking himself—hard—for letting his best friend walk away the night before. And he had no idea where he was now.

“So, any ideas who was coming out shooting last night and who that gun belonged to?” Ian asked.

“Well, I’d say it looks like Ronny and his sister—if she’s involved—managed to rip off the wrong person this time. There was one large score, the last entry on the account. The name I was able to trace the license to was an alias, so I’m running it through the federal databases to see if we get a match. My guess is, from the hit on the house and what EJ reported last night, that whoever it is has a lot of resources. Not people you want to rip off.”

“You think it’s someone in organized crime?”

“Just a guess, but the ballistics from the shooting last night would seem to back it up. High-end weaponry, not stuff your average teenagers use for random drive-bys. And untraceable,” she added.

Ian peered through the glass, watching the morning buzz as the offices swung into high gear. “Then EJ could be right about an inside leak.”

No cop liked to admit it, but organized crime’s tentacles reached far and wide, and sometimes found their way a little too easily into law enforcement
agencies. A dirty cop could make a lot of money and send his kids to college a lot easier just by making a few phone calls here and there, or by overlooking things from time to time.

“Could be. Or they just could have had eyes in the neighborhood. Safest place for EJ and his new girlfriend could be right here, but it’s hard to say.”

Ian looked at Sarah speculatively. “You’re worried about him.”

She bit her lip, her expression not changing much as she studied the screen. Sarah was such a tough cookie, but Ian knew she was close to EJ. He’d actually been surprised when they’d ended up only as friends.

“Aren’t you?” she countered.

“Yeah.”

She spat out a curse, a mild one, her eyes on the screen. “We’ve got a name match on the guy from the bar, now we can really do some digging.”

It didn’t take long. Ian didn’t recognize the name that Sarah scratched on a piece of paper, and he paced, walking back to the other side of the lab, strategizing as Sarah’s hands flew over the keyboard.

“Man, oh, man.”

Her whisper pulled him back to her side, and Ian looked at the screen, his stomach dropping out a little.

The guy with the gun was linked with Lou Maloso.

Sarah sat back blowing out a breath. “This is just
un-friggin-believable. The putz stole from one of the biggest crime bosses on the eastern seaboard. He swiped twenty grand right off of his credit card. Holy mama.”

Sarah talked aloud to herself while she worked, a habit she’d never quite been able to break, but she was echoing Ian’s thoughts. He watched her as she leaned in, her fingers running furiously over the keyboard, muttering to herself while she honed in.

“And there’s the final piece—it all fits.”

“Show me,” Ian said.

Sarah had hacked into SexyTarot.com, and looked at a customer file. All the people who had signed on for readings were listed, with their credit card information under the registration page. It was basically secure, unless you could hack your way in, as Sarah had done, but that would leave evidence behind. But if someone had Charlotte’s laptop with her user name and password checked off to be saved, as many people did, for quick access, then anyone, including her brother, could have gotten that account information.

Ian scanned the list, wondering what it was Sarah was looking for. EJB showed up several times, but then he turned his gaze to where Sarah’s finger was pointing to on the screen—the user name: LOU52.

So it looked like one of the major mafioso on the east coast had signed up for tarot readings about his love life. Ian shook his head; it would almost be laughable if it weren’t EJ’s neck on the chopping
block right now. Maloso might not be after EJ, but he was after Charlotte and her brother, and EJ was in the way.

“I’m calling EJ now.” Ian ran a hand over his face. Wherever his best friend was, Ian hoped they were well out of sight.

C
HARLOTTE FELT AS IF
she were in a movie, or some other place that wasn’t quite real as she and EJ walked along a beach that seemed to stretch out forever.

She’d never seen any of the National Seashore before, even though another section of it in Cape Cod had only been hours away from her when she lived in New Hampshire. It was wild and sprawling, and she laughed as the water chased her bare feet. The tide was coming in, and she stopped, frozen in awe as she saw horses calmly chewing on greens just a few yards ahead of them.

“I’d heard about this, but I can’t believe I’m seeing it.”

“Yeah. They’re amazing, aren’t they? Once used by settlers here, but left on their own they’ve reverted to their wild state.”

“They’re small, like ponies.”

“The diet they get here isn’t great, so their size is smaller to adapt. Marsh grasses and such. The caretakers keep the herd small, too, to help avoid them destroying the area, trampling and eating everything.”

Charlotte frowned. “They kill them?”

“No, in Virginia, in Chincoteague, it’s a yearly event to go to the pony penning—haven’t you heard of it? It’s usually in the news even in Norfolk.”