He didn’t like to think about the day. “She begged me to come seeher. I didn’t want to go but she cried and told me I owed her. So I went, but I was planning on ending things. She told me she’d been seeing Manny but it was all a huge mistake and she was scared of him now. She said she’d always loved me but Manny had manipulated her into a relationship.”
She took a long breath. “I’m so sorry that happened to her.”
“I didn’t know what to believe. I confronted Manny, who told me she was trying to cover up the fact that they’d been having an affair and he’d broken it off. He gave me evidence, and for a moment I was confused. He showed me text messages and pictures of them. I was angry.”
“Of course you were. He was running a psy-op on you. You get that, right?”
“I do now, but at the time it felt like betrayal. I got in my car. Which had been sitting in Manny’s garage for a day. I was leaving, and she got in before I could keep her out and my brakes failed.”
“Manny tried to kill you.” It didn’t seem like a question.
“I think he would have been happy if I’d been injured and he could step in and help. I’ve come to realize it was all to put me in a corner so I couldn’t leave him. But Deanna paid the price. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when we went over the side of the road. She died on the operating table. I still wonder if Manny didn’t have something to do with that, too.”
“It was not your fault.”
“I didn’t love her. I know Manny didn’t love her. She got in the middle of this fucked-up rivalry and she died.” He needed to say the words, needed for her to acknowledge the danger even though she’d already had a visceral example of how Manny could treat a woman. Especially a woman connected to Ben.
“I’m not Deanna. I’m trained and I have a team.”
It hadn’t helped. “And yet you almost died. He still got you on that table and experimented on you.”
“That wasn’t your fault either.” She shifted so she could look him in the eyes. “Ben, there’s a lot I need to tell you, but the most important thing is I’m not afraid of Emmanuel Huisman. That doesn’t mean I don’t take the threat seriously, but I’m not going to hide. I’m not going to let him ruin my life. I’m going to catch him. I hope you’ll work with me on that.”
Such a brat. “Uh, I think you’ll be working with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” she vowed and leaned over, brushing her lips against his.
There was a rustling sound, and he realized they were no longer alone. A man in a chef’s jacket walked in with two servers. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, and he probably got all the ladies he wanted. Or all the guys. The man could likely get whoever he wanted in bed, and Ben felt a well of jealousy.
“Good evening, special guests,” the chef said with a knowing smirk. “I’ve got an amuse-bouche before your first course. Are you enjoying the Scotch? Ke… Ms. Trent told me to send you nothing but the best.”
Maggie slid off his lap and resettled herself. “Tell your dad I’ll pay him back.” She looked his way. “This is Luke. He’s my cousin. I live here in Dallas, and we should talk about my name.”
Her name? A cousin? He knew Dallas was her base and that her team was different from other Agency teams, but other than that he’d been able to find nothing. Was she about to tell him the truth?
Luke’s eyes went wide. “Wait? We’re doing this here? Because if we are, I should make some calls.”
“This is not a spectator sport, Luke,” Maggie replied, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, but there are so many bets on this,” Luke shot back, and now it was easy to see how comfortable they were with each other. Like they’d grown up together. Actually, he could see some resemblance between them. Right in the eyes and the shape of the jaw.
How different was her team?
“Nope,” Maggie said, waving her cousin off. “No bets. If all goes well, you can tell everyone that we’ll be at The Hideout later tonight.”
The club. Fuck. The idea of getting her in that club made his cock twitch. She’d taken him through once and they’d watched scenes, and ever since he’d been studying. Because he’d known he wanted to be more than her boyfriend. He wanted to be her Dom.
The server placed a small dish in front of him.
“Caviar vol au vents,” Luke explained, going back into professional mode. “You’ll find my cousin here has some expensive tastes and is picky when it comes to both caviar and vodka.”
Two tall shot glasses of chilly vodka were placed next to the small, caviar-covered pastries.
Maggie downed hers with the grace of a pro. “I simply like what I like.” She smiled Ben’s way. “And I like you.”
She was going to kill him. When was the last time he had a good relationship with a woman? A normal relationship where they dated and talked and enjoyed each other’s company without him worried she was a plant from Manny.
The doors to the private dining room opened again and Tasha and Dare were there.
