"I had to be forceful. Otherwise, you would have followed me."
"I would have."
"Why don't I see if I can make you feel better?" he suggested, cupping her face with one hand, his thumb stroking the soft skin of her cheek, then drifting down to her full lip, a lip he very much wanted to kiss.
Desire sparked in her eyes. "Why don't you?" she said.
He'd been expecting a
no,
not a
yes
, and it rattled him for a second.
"We're alive," she added. "I think we should celebrate, because God knows what's coming tomorrow."
"I like the way you think, Dani."
"I like you."
"Right back at you," he said softly, then leaned over to taste her mouth. It felt like forever since he'd been able to touch her, kiss her, hold her, and he wanted to do all that and more. He wanted to take his time, but he also wanted to go fast. There was a part of him that felt like he could lose her before he was ready, or maybe he'd never be ready…
Dani pulled at the hem of his shirt, and helped him pull it over his head. Then she pressed her hands against his chest, her fingers drifting down to his abs, and lower still as she kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.
So much for the idea of going slow. He was rock hard, and he wanted her now.
He pulled open her robe, and cupped her breasts with his hands, then tore his mouth away from hers, so he could take a hot, sweet path down her neck.
She opened his jeans.
He stripped off her robe.
Then he shimmied out of the rest of his clothes as they crawled under the covers to start their own fire.
* * *
Dani woke up just before dawn. There was a bit of light, but not much. She snuggled closer to Patrick, liking the weight of his arm across her waist, his leg over hers. Heat still warmed the air around them. With Patrick, she felt so many things: excited, teased, tormented, happy, reckless, and also safe. She could fly with him, because she knew he'd always catch her.
She'd never been with someone with whom she felt so comfortable, so free to be her real self. They'd known each other only a short time, but the intensity and quality of that time had taken their relationship into a deep, emotional space. The thought scared her. Patrick could take over her life, her thoughts, her heart…and definitely her body. She seemed to have little willpower when they were within touching distance of each other.
But how could she let him have so much power over her? What if this was just sex for him? Just a moment in time where they were in the same place, caught up in the same mystery—what if that's all it was?
This was why she didn't do casual flings, because she wasn't good at them. She didn't sleep with people she didn't feel emotionally connected to. Now she was bare. She was vulnerable. She was falling in love.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Well, why not?
She smiled to herself as she gazed at his face, his strong male features, the growth of beard on his jaw, the sweep of his dark lashes, and the sexy mouth that could make her lose her mind. Patrick was gorgeous.
But it wasn't just his looks that undid her; it was his personality. He was intelligent and curious and interested in the world around him. He wasn't a spectator. He jumped into the action. If he saw a wrong, he wanted to right it. If he saw someone hurt, he wanted to help. And he was willing to put his life on the line for what he believed in, for the people he cared about—even for a stranger.
She'd wanted to get into politics to make a difference. But looking at what Patrick had accomplished so far with his investigative stories and where she was in her career—there was no comparison. He made her want to do better. When all this was over, she was going to do just that.
Patrick stirred, blinking his eyes open, as he said, "I can hear you thinking."
"You cannot."
"Well, then I can feel your body tensing." He gave her an intimate smile. "Morning."
"It's not really morning. It's barely light out."
"Then why are we awake?"
"I don't know. I just woke up, and then—I started thinking," she confessed.
"I knew it. What are you thinking about?" he asked, his fingers stroking her hip, reminding her that sometimes not thinking was a better choice.
She put her hand over his. "That's not helping. It's distracting."
"There's still time to be distracted. You just said it was early." He paused, giving her a more thoughtful look. "Seriously, what are you thinking about?"
"My life. My job. You know—little stuff," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I was thinking about all you've accomplished, and how you're way out in front of me."
"I got lucky with the drug story. I had sources who gave me the information I needed. I can't take all the credit."
"You don't have to be modest, Patrick."
"I'm not being modest. I'm a good reporter, but sometimes a breakthrough story requires a little luck, too. I bet you're good at what you do. I know you're a hard worker. You're dedicated. You're smart. And you want to make changes in the world. Maybe you just need some luck to push you the rest of the way."
"Recently, I've had a lot of bad luck."
"Now I know you're not talking about meeting me," he teased.
"Well…"
"Come on, Dani. We're great together."
"When we're not running for our lives."
"Even when we are."
"Hopefully we're done with that. Although, I am worried about what the day will bring. I've always loved the Fourth of July: picnics, barbecues, parades, fireworks, a sense of community and patriotism. I don't want the holiday to be ruined, and I'm afraid it will be."
"Well, we're doing all we can to prevent it from being ruined. I've always liked the holiday, too. My favorite part is the watermelon."
"Watermelon? Seriously? I would have thought you'd say shooting off rockets was your favorite part."
"That's second. There's nothing better on a hot Texas day than cold, juicy watermelon—except maybe a cold beer. Put the two together, and you've got a holiday."
"You're pretty low maintenance, Patrick."
"Simple pleasures are the best."
"Yet you're nowhere close to being a simple man. You're complicated, ambitious, driven."
"True, but I try to remember to enjoy the journey, because I know how fast everything can change. You do, too."
"Do you think we'll always be influenced by the deaths of our parents?"
"Yes, but I don't believe it's a bad thing. Life shapes you—the good stuff, the bad stuff and everything in between. I don't want to have regrets, so I'm going to live the best way I know how."
"That sounds like a good strategy."
"So I'm thinking we have a little more living we can do right now—before the sun comes all the way up."
"You're insatiable."
His sexy smile turned her stomach over. "I am. I'm glad you are, too."
"I never said I was," she countered.
"You didn't have to say it. Kiss me, Dani."
She didn't have to be asked twice, because he was right. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. It was a constant craving, and there was only one solution.
She planted a long, hot, wet kiss on his lips, then pushed him onto his back. Patrick had a lot of good ideas, but she had some as well, and she was really going to enjoy trying them out.
* * *
"We're late," Dani said, as they took a taxi to Jake's apartment a little after ten on Sunday morning.
"You can't blame that on me," he said with a laugh.
"You're the one who said
kiss me
."
"And you're the one who said
let's take a shower together
after that," he reminded her. "Best shower of my life."
"Mine, too, but it's back to business now." She pulled the file out of her bag, happy she still had it in her possession. She could have lost it last night. Thank God she hadn't.
"Yes," Patrick agreed, his tone changing from light and happy to serious and determined. "I hope this FBI agent is good. What's he like? Young, old, by-the-book…"
"He's probably in his early thirties. He's attractive but aloof, kind of cold, hard to get to know. He seems intelligent and dedicated. That's pretty much all I know. I only had one conversation with him. Jake and Alicia talked to him several times. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to have another Monroe in the mix of all this."
"According to your great-grandmother, it was only a matter of time."
"Yes. Silly me, I thought I could escape the whole thing just by pretending it wasn't there. But ever since I put on this ring…" She held up her hand. "Not only can I not take it off, I also can't look away from the past anymore. I want to know the truth as much as Alicia and Jake do, as much as you do. And I don't want you to ever think that I've forgotten your mom in all this." It was very important for her to make sure he understood that. "She's the reason we're where we are right now. I'm just hoping that getting to the truth about my dad will help us get to the truth about her accident."
"I'm confident it will."
The cab stopped in front of Jake's apartment. Patrick paid the fare, and then they stepped onto the sidewalk.
She gripped his hand as they walked into the building. Even though they were the ones who'd asked for the meeting, she felt nervous. She really hoped Agent Wolfe was one of the good guys. Otherwise, they were about to show all their cards.
Twenty-Two
Agent Damon Wolfe was exactly as Dani had described
, Patrick thought, as he shook hands with the tall, muscularly built, dark-haired man with the sharp blue eyes. He'd brought another agent with him, a brown-eyed brunette named Abby James. In addition to the agents, Jake and Katherine were present, as well as Alicia and Michael.
He didn't feel like he'd gotten to know Michael as well as Jake, but it was clear that while he wasn't a big talker, Michael was very smart, and he was also good at keeping Alicia grounded. Katherine and Jake made a good team as well. He'd heard all about their reunion love story the day before, and he was happy they'd found their way back to each other, because clearly they were crazy in love.
But he thought he had the best partner of all. Dani was everything he'd ever wanted in a woman; not just beautiful but smart, caring, imaginative, and generous...
When this was all over, he intended to tell her that.
"Are you two all right?" Alicia asked, worry in her eyes. "Jake just filled us in on the fire at your father's cabin, Patrick."
"We're fine," he said. "The house was destroyed, but it can be rebuilt." He turned his attention to Damon Wolfe, as he and Dani sat next to Katherine on a couch in the living room. "Did Jake fill you in on the fire?"
"Yes," he replied. "I spoke to the fire investigator this morning, as well as the chief of police. It looks like the fire was deliberately set and that an accelerant was sprayed around the house to intensify the blaze."
"That would explain all the popping noises," Dani murmured.
He nodded, thinking again how close they'd come to not making it out of the cabin alive.
"Let's put the fire aside for the moment," Agent Wolfe suggested. "I'd like to see the file on Wyatt Monroe that you retrieved from Carmichael Ranch."
"I have it right here," Dani said, pulling out the folder. "But I want it back. It's all we have left of our father."
"We can make you a copy of the contents of the file, but we'll need it to build our case."
"What case would that be?" Patrick asked. "It's my understanding you recently closed your investigation into the security problems at MDT. Yet, from what we understand there's a shadow company being run off the books by at least one of the top executives, most likely Reid Packer."
"We found no evidence of that in our investigation, but I'll be honest with you, we had trouble getting anyone to talk beyond the party line," Agent Wolfe replied. "I never thought the case was closed, but my superiors did. The Packers have a lot of power in Washington, and everyone wanted the problems to go away, except myself and Agent James. Without proof, unfortunately, we had nothing to go on. I'm hoping you're going to change that."
Dani handed him the file. "Basically, it says that my father saw evidence of gunfire from a test site the shadow company was running at Carmichael Ranch. He thought it was lightning, but they were probably testing a railgun, which, as you know, runs on electromagnetic energy."
"Yes, I've become an expert on those guns in recent months," Agent Wolfe said, as he glanced through the file. "You said Tania Vaile sent you to the ranch. Why would she do that? Why give you this file?"
"She said she was tired of the lies," Dani explained. "That what had started out small was getting more and more dangerous. She didn't like the direction things were going. She said something big was going to happen today."
"Yes, that's what Jake told me," Agent Wolfe said grimly. "The terror alerts are already as high as they can go because it's the Fourth of July, but if we can get anything more specific, that would be helpful."
"We don't have anything else," Patrick said. "Tania took whatever she knew to the grave."
"How did you get to her in the first place?" Agent Wolfe asked.
"We had a source," Patrick said. "This whole thing actually started out as an investigation into my mother's plane crash. I got the name of a reporter who said she'd hooked my mom up with an MDT whistleblower. After the plane went down, he went underground. When Dani and I started digging around, the reporter put me in contact with the whistleblower. I don't know his name or who he is, but I do have his number."
"Why didn't the whistleblower give you the information he had?" Agent James asked, her gaze guarded but a little skeptical.
"All the evidence he had was destroyed in the plane crash. He had nothing to back up his story. He gave us Tania's name. He thought she was directly involved in funneling money from MDT to the secret operation."
"You need to call your source back," Agent Wolfe said. "Tell him we can protect him, but we need his information, even if it's only his recollection of events."