Big Easy Temptation (21 page)

“Well, sweetheart, your best friend wasn’t a betraying bitch who accepted money in
return for torching my family.” His lips had curled up in a nasty smile. “And she
was way better in bed than you ever thought of being.”

God, where had her sweet man gone? Dax hadn’t been capable of this kind of nastiness
before. That was precisely why she’d never been able to truly turn him down. He hadn’t
been ruthless or capable of throwing someone under a bus to get a little farther down
the road. He’d certainly never been capable of being so mean.

“Well, I was very sorry to hear about your divorce. Really, after how much time you
put into the relationship beforehand, I would have expected you to last a whole extra
day or so.” She’d always been capable of being mean, especially after circumstances
had forced her to tear out her own heart. The anger she’d felt afterward festered
and brewed under her surface, but she tamped it down. Usually.

Her words didn’t seem to affect him. If anything, he smiled a little more brightly.
“Well, we did our best. It looks like you moved on to the next idiot. Tell me something.
How much money did you make off this asshole? Like the tux, by the way. He really
went out of his way.”

She was done with this conversation. “Is there something I can do for you, Captain
Spencer? If not, I’d like you to leave the premises. I don’t invade your workspace
and I expect that you won’t enter mine again. Get back to the base. I’m sure there’s
some bright-eyed civilian waiting to be your next drunken conquest.”

“I don’t need to get a girl drunk to get her in bed, sweetheart. You should know that.”

“No, she just needs to be drunk to marry you.”

He froze for a moment and she wished she could take the words back. “Well, now that
is true, but that’s what happens when your life gets dragged through the mud and predatory
insects spend all their time using you. Did that little boy know that you enjoy fucking
for cash? I swear, Holland, if I’d known all you really wanted was a little
profit, we could have worked something out. Hell, I’d have paid a lot to fuck your
ass.”

One minute she was listening to him and the next she was barreling down on him, her
hand arcing through the air and connecting with his cheek. The sound flashed through
the quiet room like a crack of thunder.

His eyes flared and he leaned in, looking ready to reach for her. Then suddenly, he
shook it off. Disappointment wound through Holland, though she did get some small
satisfaction from seeing her handprint on his face. It wouldn’t be there long. In
fact, it was already fading, but at least he’d feel it for a few moments.

How the hell had they gotten here? She’d loved this man with all her heart. She’d
given everything to save him. And he’d called her a whore. It really was time to move
on. She’d let him go to protect him. She realized now she’d always believed—and hoped—that
one day he would stand in front of her again so they could start over because they
were meant to be.

It hit her with the impact of a two-by-four to the chest there was no “meant to be”
in life. Was she really still five fucking years old and waiting for her prince to
come? Her daddy. Yeah. She was still waiting for her father to come home and treat
her like a princess, to see everything her mother had sacrificed. The truth was her
mother had died broken and alone and waiting. Not long after that, her father had
remarried and shipped his daughter off to New Orleans so she wouldn’t cause trouble
with the new wife. So she could be forgotten.

Holland was suddenly so tired.

“Believe it or not I didn’t come here to insult you,” Dax said after a moment.

“It doesn’t matter.” It really didn’t anymore. This man who stood in front of her
now wasn’t the same man she’d fallen in love with. Maybe that man hadn’t existed in
the first place. Maybe she’d merely made him up in her head. “If you’re looking for
someone in particular,
I suggest you speak with the receptionist. Everyone’s in a meeting right now. They
should be out in an hour or so.”

She picked up her purse. Screw lunch. She would take the afternoon off. Everyone would
know why when they saw who was here.

Holland frowned. In fact . . . why was he here if it wasn’t to make her miserable?
She supposed there could be any number of reasons and not one of them concerned her.

“Take care,” she murmured, then started to go, but he reached out, grabbing her arm.

“Wait. I came to see you, but not about us. Obviously. Neither one of us wants to
dredge up old wounds. I came here because there’s been a break in my father’s case
and I expect you to do what you didn’t do last time—your job. I guess you like to
make your money the old-fashioned way—by selling out your lovers—but this time I need
you to be a cop.”

She stared at him for a moment, feeling her jaw drop. He was back here to look into
his father’s case? And he was still calling her a whore. Everything she’d done, she’d
done to protect him, but he was too stupid to see it.

She was done playing his games. She was stepping out of the middle of this shit for
good. If he wanted to risk himself and the people in his life, that was his call.
She was done.

Holland twisted her arm away and tossed her purse down, then turned back to her computer.
The case files were still there. She hadn’t deleted or altered a thing. In fact, she’d
spent the last three years quietly searching for the man who’d casually ruined her
life. She’d been smart about it this time around since she’d known someone would be
watching her. She’d kept up her life at NCIS and found ways to mine information on
the deep web where no one could track her. That man on the phone had proven elusive,
but she’d found him. Apparently his usefulness had come to an end six months before
because they’d found a John Doe in New York City who matched her man’s description.
She’d recognized him from the photos in NYPD files, but no one knew his name, only
that he’d had connections to the
Bratva
.

Without another word, she e-mailed the entire file to Dax. As soon as she got home,
she would delete every shred of her investigation. She would burn the hard copy she
had and start life over again. Without him. Without any expectation of him.

“There. I just sent you my whole file, including all my case notes and everything
I’ve discovered in the last three years. Think before you look at some of those photos.
They’ll make you look at your father in a different light, but that’s your call now.
If you tell my superiors I sent you that file, you’ll surely get me fired. I’m certain
that will make your day. Don’t ever call or contact me again, and I would absolutely
get bodyguards on your loved ones if you really give a damn about them. Once the Russian
mob knows that you’re looking into this again, they’ll come after your mother and
sister.”

The hard look left his eyes, and just for a second he looked like her Dax again. “What
are you talking about? Holland, what do you mean you’ve been investigating for the
last three years? And the Russian mob? That’s the lead I have.”

She inched away from him. She wasn’t going to fall into the snare of that gorgeous
male face or those chocolate eyes. She needed to get out of this building because
she wasn’t going to let anyone see her cry over this asshole ever again, least of
all him. “Yes. They called me three years ago, just before we split up, and told me
if I didn’t drop the investigation and persuade you to do the same, they would kill
you and your family. I made the decision to save you. It’s all in there. You’ll see
the details when you read my files. Good-bye, Dax.”

She turned and walked out, her head held high.

They were finally over, that chapter of her life closed for good. Somehow it wasn’t
the relief she’d thought it would be.

*   *   *

D
ax stared after her. What the hell had just happened?

He was stuck, unable to move, unable to do anything but stare after her. Even when
she walked out, he still stared.

He hadn’t meant to say any of those things to her. He’d meant to be civil, polite.
Cold, yes, because she wasn’t a friend and apparently never had been. She’d been a
bitch out for money and fame, like the rest of them, but he’d gotten past it. Despite
what he’d said to Connor, he was over Holland Kirk.

Hell, he’d even tried to make his marriage to Courtney work. He’d woken up the day
after with a hangover from hell and a marriage certificate and decided that if he
couldn’t have Holland, he’d do his best with Courtney.

She’d been sweet and she’d tried, too. More than he had. He’d been happy to ship off
for six months and to ignore the leave he was offered. He’d chosen to re-up his commission
and gone back to sea. When the divorce papers had shown up along with a note that
she’d fallen for someone else, he’d written her a healthy check and wished her well.

Courtney had cheated on him and the last time he’d seen her, he’d given her a big
hug and asked about her new husband. He’d felt absolutely no rage toward her.

The minute he got in the same room with Holland, he called her a whore.

His cheek still hurt and he’d deserved it.

What the hell did she know about the Russian mob? He pulled his phone out of his pocket
and checked his e-mail. Sure enough, there was a massive file from Holland he’d received
minutes before. Too big to open on his phone. He would have to wait.

Had she lied to protect him? Or was she lying again?

“Holy shit. Are you Spencer?”

He glanced up and there was a tall woman who looked like she could take him in a fight.
She had platinum hair cut in a fashionable bob, but somehow it didn’t soften her.
“I’m Captain Spencer. I was here to meet with Special Agent Kirk.”

The woman’s lips curled up. “I gotta teach that girl how to fight. She should have
punched you. Maybe she could have broken your jaw. An openhanded slap reminds me of
all those bitchy housewives on TV,
and that handprint shows. Real women punch. Or kick. You deserve a good kick to the
gnads, Captain. We’ll see how awesome you are when your testicles hit your abdominal
cavity.”

“You’re very specific in your threats, Special Agent . . . ?” He needed a name to
call her besides Ball Buster.

“Gemma White. I’m Holland’s new partner. I say new, but we’ve been working together
for almost two years now. That’s new in law enforcement since our partnerships tend
to be long-term. Unlike you Navy boys we don’t change out crew every year. We know
how to watch each other’s backs. And how to take out the trash when we need to.”

So she was a fan. “I didn’t come here to cause trouble.”

“Good, because I have zero intention of allowing you to. You want to explain why you’re
here?”

“My father’s case.”

She shook her head, sending him a glare that told him she thought he was a flaming
idiot. “Your father’s case was closed a long time ago. He was guilty. End of story.”

It still got his back up. “He was not and I have some proof now.”

“Care to show it to me?”

“I think I’ll keep it to myself for now.” He had zero idea who this woman was. Given
all the danger he’d endured with Gabe and then Connor, he wasn’t going to simply trust
anyone around him because their badge said they were law enforcement.

Gabe, Connor, Roman, and Zack. They were the only ones he would trust with this information.
Mad was dead because he’d stumbled into a sliver of it.

Had Holland been warned off? Had she known something about this conspiracy years before?
Been threatened by it?

“You broke her heart.”

“Yeah, well, she broke mine, too.” Did it really matter if she’d been doing it to
save him? It only proved that she didn’t trust him. If she had, she would have divulged
everything, given him the chance to decide with her.

He needed to read her documents, see the files for himself and make a decision. The
last thing he should do was what his every instinct screamed at him—chase after Holland
and get her under him. Make her beg for his forgiveness. And maybe, just maybe, he
would fuck her until he got her out of his system.

If he even could.

“I couldn’t have broken her heart too badly. She seems to have moved on, according
to the Internet. If that police officer was proposing, they’ve probably been together
for a while.” Although he’d been ready to marry her a couple of weeks after they’d
gotten together. Hell, he’d been thinking about it the first time he’d slept with
her.

Shame twisted his gut when he remembered what he’d said to her, especially that Courtney
had been better in bed. He couldn’t even remember most of the sex he’d had with the
woman he’d married. He could count on one hand the times he’d actually slept with
her, and every time he’d been thinking of Holland.

He joked with his friends about picking up women, but the truth of the matter was
he hadn’t slept with anyone since his divorce. He couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to any
woman since they would simply be a stand-in for the one he wanted. The one he loved.
The one he fucking hated.

Holland. Holland was it for him and had been from the moment he’d met her.

“That?” Special Agent White said with a cocked brow. “That was her attempt at trying
to find something normal again. I knew it wouldn’t work. He was an asshole behind
her back. You’re the better kind. You’re an asshole to her face or she wouldn’t have
smacked you. What are you really here for?”

“I told you.” He wasn’t going to lie. If anyone was watching and intended to off him
for investigating his father’s death, then bring them on. These people hid in the
shadows and he so wanted to drag them into the light. They’d taken his friend, and
now he was almost certain they’d taken his father and Zack’s mother as well.

And Joy. Joy’s name had been on that kill list. Now they knew that
Joy hadn’t been the victim of a rogue shot intended for Zack. Her murder hadn’t been
an accident. No. She’d been the target all along.