Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) (8 page)

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out at him, as she walked backwards to their office. “I’m always nice, darlin’, and I only used those lines on you to get
you in the sack,” she winked, turning to enter their workplace. “Apparently my plan worked,” she drawled, blowing him a kiss over her shoulder as she wiggled her wedding ring finger. When she held up four fingers to signify the days it took her to catch him, he laughed and shook his head.

Yeah, they definitely worked on him. Blackhawk appreciatively watched his wife as she walked away and let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. There was nothing he was more aware of than Elizabeth Blackhawk and her
constant effect on him.

Callen Whitefox entered the offices
of FBI West, and he wasn’t quite sure what to expect. He’d never been to Quantico, but he’d heard details from a co-worker. It was huge and a hub of activity. He assumed FBI West would be the same, but when he signed in downstairs, and he was cleared by security, it seemed very low key. Even pulling up to the massive building, clearing gate security and entering seemed easy. Once entering the main office, he was confronted with a blond receptionist in black, sitting at the main desk answering phones.

“Yes, may I help you?” she asked
, not even looking up as she continued typing and working on three things at once.

“Gabe Rothschild sent me here
. I was told to meet with the Director.”

“
He or she?” she asked, finally looking up, giving the man her attention. Now she couldn’t help but stare. Before her stood a large man wearing well-worn jeans and denim shirt, but what got her attention was the sharp Indian features and sexy smile. She was used to sexy men. Ginny remembered the first day she met her boss, Ethan Blackhawk. Immediately her plans were to make a pass at him, until meeting his gorgeous wife. This man reminded her of her boss for some inexplicable reason. There was something so similar, and she was trying to piece it together.

“I’m not sure,” he said, looking around. “Gabe didn’t specify
. He just said the Director would be waiting for me.”

The receptionist paused still enthralled. “
Director Special Agent Blackhawk will be right out. Please have a seat and I’ll buzz her.”

Immediately,
Callen Whitefox felt panic at the mention of the Blackhawk name. Just the uttering of that one word made him want to bolt. “I’m sorry, Blackhawk?” Callen had to ask her to repeat herself.

“Yes, Director Special Agent Blackhawk,” she
answered before returning to work. It was hard to not peek over at him at every chance. Yeah, he was a handsome man and really sexy. 

There would still be time to escape if he moved right now. He could avoid the big ugly scene that he knew was coming. Plus he could avoid his own murder when Ethan Blackhawk and he crossed paths
again.

Elizabeth exited her office, and
immediately became aware of the man standing in their lobby. It would be hard to not notice him. He was tall and built exactly like her husband. The man was big with long brown hair and brown eyes to match. There was no doubt that he was very Native American. Elizabeth had to appreciate the worn jeans and scuffed cowboy boots, much like her own. This had to be the chief of police for the reservation. “Chief Whitefox?” she inquired, walking toward him her hand out and a warm smile on her face.

Whitefox didn’t know what to think
. When he heard Blackhawk, he certainly wasn’t the person that came through the door. In fact, she was one hell of a damn pleasant surprise. Director Blackhawk was possibly the highlight of his entire day.

Whitefox had just fallen victim to love at first sight.

“I’m Director Special Agent Elizabeth Blackhawk, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Chief.” Elizabeth shook his hand warmly, and she couldn’t figure out why he just appeared like he was planning an escape route. “Are you okay? You look a little overwhelmed. Ginny didn’t scare you did she?” she asked, winking at her receptionist.

Ginny snorted and just shook her head, trying to be on her best behavior.
“I don’t harass the guests, boss. I stick to the employees.”

Elizabeth grinned and patted the man on the arm reassuringly.

“I’m sorry, but I was expecting someone else that’s all,” he said, shaking her hand and holding onto it for as long as he could. Yeah, he was glad he came to the FBI West. This woman was going to be a pleasure to work with, he could tell.

“Come on back to my office, and we can talk about everything that has brought you here to FBI West for help.”

Whitefox followed at her request. It would give him time to appreciate the view, taking in everything about the woman. She wasn’t the typical agent, and he doubted she was the typical director. Appreciatively, he was extra happy she was wearing jeans and especially those jeans. They were riding low on her hips and drew the male attention easily. Part of him was aware he shouldn’t be checking her out like she was some woman he was picking up in a bar, but it was a completely male response to the completely female form in front of him. “I appreciate your help, Director Special Agent Blackhawk.”

Yeah,
he appreciated it a great deal.

H
e almost felt bad for ogling the woman, but she was hot. If she didn’t catch his attention he was pretty sure the only reason would be because he was dead and without a pulse. There was something about a woman in cowboy boots, even if she was an outsider, or maybe that was the big allure. A woman that he had always been told wasn’t going to be acceptable, always caught his attention. Whitefox wondered if it would be inappropriate to ask her to marry him right then and there.

Oh, yeah, and have his children.

“Have a seat, Chief Whitefox.” Elizabeth pointed to the chair, and seated herself on the corner not far from him so they could talk. “Now Gabe called this morning, and told us that you found bones on the reservation, and you need us to intervene and help you out.”

He was having a hard time focusing
. Elizabeth Blackhawk smelled like spice and heat, and she was sitting right beside him within reach. He wondered if her hair felt as silky as it looked. All those riotous black curls looked completely tempting. Now, he completely understood the warning Gabe had thrown out about her being a distraction.

Hell
yeah, she was going to be one. Until later when he did something about it, and there was no doubt he’d make his move. Charm ran in his family and he was positive he could convince her to come home with him.

“Want to start at the beginning for me, Chief? Then we can figure out how we can approach this the best way.”

He forced his mind off the woman and onto the problem at hand. He could chase her down later, and he was pretty sure he would. Choice on the reservation wasn’t all that exciting, but Director Special Agent Elizabeth Blackhawk most definitely was stimulating. He didn’t see a big shiny wedding ring, just a simple gold band with stones. Something in the back of his mind made him think he’d seen it before, but he was too distracted with the woman, her jeans, and the way she smelled to register it.

“This morning, one of my officers came to my home. While on patrol he found some bones. Right now we have it cordoned off
, and there are two of my men standing guard. We had the local doctor come out and check it out. We don’t have an ME or an anthropologist that we have access to on the Rez, so we had to go with what we had available.”

Elizabeth nodded as she scribbled notes on the pad
that was balancing on her crossed leg. “Did anyone touch the bones?”

“Just the
doctor, but I assure you that he gloved up, and he didn’t have any unprotected contact with them.”  Focus was drawn back to her cowboy boots, and it took everything in him to not make a comment about her wanting to saddle up with him and ride him off into the sunset. He’d love to play Indian to her cowboy any day. Just that mere thought made his whole body react, and it was completely inappropriate but felt so right. Shit, he never thought he’d fall in love in seconds, and here he had.

“Good, that just makes it easier for the tech team. They don’t have to exclude too many people when they start checking the trace evidence,” she
answered, smiling down at him from her seat on the corner of her desk. “Speaking of our tech team, I want to call them in along with our anthropologist that we work with for bone identification. Is that going to be a problem Chief?” she asked, knowing that Gabe said outsiders weren’t going to be welcome.

“Please, call me Callen. Chief sounds way
too formal,” he grinned his best seductive grin. God she was beautiful.

Elizabeth smiled back. “Then by all means, Callen, please call me Elizabeth. It’s just easier since we’ll be working closely together.”

Callen Whitefox thanked the powers that be for that sentence alone. Then he started picturing how close they’d be working, and he forced himself to refocus and answer her question.

“It shouldn’t be too bad,
Elizabeth. The locals aren’t going to be jumping for joy, but they won’t stop your teams from doing their work. Besides with a name like Blackhawk you’ll fit right in, and chances are no one will question you.” It was all too ironic.

Elizabeth
grinned, almost wanting to tell him that probably wasn’t going to be true. “Did you take any pictures of the scene?”

Callen Whitefox stood, and pulled out his zip drive. “I had time to upload them for you, granted the resolution isn’t FBI quality, so I apologize in advance.”

Elizabeth hopped off her desk, taking the zip drive from his hand and smiling. “Oh, I was a sheriff in a tiny town. I completely understand the whole ‘lack of funding’ situation. Let me upload them to my laptop, and then we can start going over them together,” she smiled easily, and then motioned for him to follow her around the desk.

Callen Whitefox stood as close to her as humanly possible without actually having contact. Man, she smelled like heaven.
“So, small town sheriff now heads the FBI office out here?” he grinned down at her. “Who did you know to get this job?” he teased, trying to not think about how close she was to his body. “Are they hiring?” What he wouldn’t give to work with her daily. Her scent was driving him wild.

“I happen to be very good friends with Gabe Rothschild. The position opened and my partner and I jumped at the chance to work together here. He was FBI, and
he helped me solve a serial killer assignment in my town. The rest is history. I think you’ll like him. He’s from around here.”

All Callen could think about was how lucky that guy was that he spent his days by her side. He completely missed the last part. Those blue eyes were hypnotic
, and he wanted to taste her.

“You’ll be meet
ing him shortly. He’s picking up some files, and he’ll be joining us.” Elizabeth smiled at the chief of police, and she was thrilled how well it was all going. Maybe Gabe had been worried about nothing.

Because of Ethan’s last name
, she would be accepted, and her husband could back away from liaison duties after all.

Technically
, she was a Blackhawk now too.

“Can’t wait,” he said
absently. Callen Whitefox was too busy checking her out and leaning over her. The scent of her hair was nothing he ever smelled before in his life. It tightened everything in his body, and he could actually feel the heat crawling up his torso.

“Okay, looks like they
’re uploading, Callen. Shall we take a look?” she asked, smiling brightly. “Let’s see what we have.”

“Yeah
let’s,” he said, as he decided he loved her eyes. In fact, suddenly he loved the FBI and everything they stood for despite the shady past with Native American relations. Now he just had to figure out how to invite her back to his place after work, and they could spend the evening trying to get better acquainted.

Today was definitely looking much better
now that was hopelessly in love and finally found the woman that he was going to make his wife.

This was the best day of his damn life.

Blackhawk stopped by the front desk to talk to Ginny. She was furiously typing and talking on the phone at the same time. Her multitasking skills blew him away
, and he wished they had two of her in the office. They were very lucky they found her. The woman was a phenomenon at office duties and task management. 

“Hold please,” she said into the phone and smiled up at her boss. “Yes Mr. B?”

“Elizabeth and I are going out in the field later, and we need you to hold down the fort. Can you manage, Ginny?” he inquired, already knowing she could and would.

“Oh, boss man anything for you and the boss lady. It should be a slow day until more of the team returns from the field,” she replied.

“Thanks Ginny.” Ethan headed for his office.

“Oh,
Mr. B?”

“Yeah?”
He turned at his name.

“The police chief is in with Elizabeth, and can I
just say WOW!” she winked and fanned herself. “You better get in there fast. He was checking out Mrs. B, big time.”