Enormous emotions roiled within him. Frustration and admiration. Longing and desire. He wasn't used to . . .feelingthis much. Gemma had the power to take lighter fluid to his self-control.
He rubbed his thumb against the steering wheel repeatedly.
He regretted that her family had shown up at the restaurant. His mother was from a big, loud family similar to Gemma’s, so he had a soft spot for families like hers. If tonight had merely been a social outing for him, he'd have enjoyed them. He'd have been amused by all the redheads. He'd have spent time identifying each person's resemblance to Gemma. He'd have laughed at their antics.
As it was, he'd been painfully aware that Operation Scent-sible was riding on his shoulders. That Shannon and others were listening to the audio. That several agents were inside Pasta Bella and nearby.
Putting himself forward as Jude McConnell had been the only option, given the situation. However, the more people you introduced yourself to while utilizing your alias, the more complexity that could bring to a case. Gemma came from a family of long-time Mainers. The Camdens were long-time Mainers. He’d been concerned about the outside possibility that one of them might recognize him as a Camden. Those pressures had made juggling them all—Colette, especially—feel difficult.
He needed to stay clear on the fact that Gemma’s family's discovery of them was not Gemma’s fault. He'd been the one who'd relented to Cedric's assertion that they eat at her family's favorite restaurant. The run-in with her relatives was just one of those things that unexpectedly happened during UC ops and that an agent had to roll with.
Gemma's fragrance still lingered in the interior of his car.
With every breath he drew it in.
Hope and Spice.
* * *
The following day, Gemma received a text from Cedric.
Cedric
I enjoyed dinner the other night. Wanted to let you know that I've reconsidered, about Rhapsodie. Decided not to move forward with a deal at this time.
ChapterFourteen
Max Cirillo was the biological son of Felix Camden.
That was the truth of Max's DNA.
But he was no Camden. Not in practice and not by name. He'd been born to a single mother, and she'd given him her surname at birth.
From his earliest memories, Max had understood his position in the Camden household. He was the son of the housekeeper. His mom, a first-generation American born to Greek immigrants, was raising him on a modest salary. They lived in the servants' house of an estate, Maple Lane, focused on grooming two young American princes. To be fair, even the servants' house had been ridiculously nice. Yet there'd been a huge difference between Max and his best friend, Jude. A difference far larger than the short distance that had separated the mansion from the servants' house.
For his first fourteen years, Max had been a normal kid.
Then his mom and Fiona had a fight. Temper blazing, Mom had called a journalist and informed the man that Felix Camden was the father of her son.
Hours later, she'd realized the full scope of what she'd done. But by then, it had been too late. His “normal” was over. Her “normal” was over.
Scandal had broken like a storm cloud.
They'd been banished from Maple Lane. Public opinion had settled on them like a fiery spotlight. He'd hated its glare and cruelty. No one had sympathy for them. Everyone judged his mother harshly. Though Max had been illegitimate from the beginning, that had never been something he thought about much. It hadn't been even close to the main thing about him. But overnight, America boiled down his mother's identity to “the other woman” and his identity to that one word.Illegitimate.
He’d been disgusted to learn he was the result of an affair between his mom and Felix, outraged with her for sleeping with Felix, and betrayed by her for never telling him the truth about his origins.
He'd started a lousy new school in a lousy new town. His mother and Jude's mother had taken up opposite sides of the battlefield.
Giving his head an impatient shake in an attempt to scatter the memories, Max walked up to the Federal Building in Bangor.
Max
I'm here. I'll wait outside.
Jude
Be right down.
