FOURTEEN
It didn’t take a geniusto figure out what Zack was thinking at this very minute. Whitney watched the different expressions flick across his face – relief, surprise, and lastly, disappointment. But she couldn’t let him sway her.
Once she’d come to her room to find her gun, she couldn’t stop thinking about how frightened she’d been, and especially, the reason for it. She hadn’t planned on having deep feelings for Zack. She loved the way he had looked at her and told her how pretty she was, even though it was hard to take him seriously. She cherished the way he held her affectionately as he kissed her with so much passion.
But all of that would stop. It had to stop. This attraction she felt for him was disrupting her job. She couldn’t focus on anything but him and wanting him to kiss her again or to say words that swept her off her feet. That couldn’t happen to an FBI agent – whether she liked her job or not, and whether she thought herself qualified or not. She still wore the badge, and Zack Greyson was still her obligation. She would not mess up another assignment, not even for his sultry kisses.
“Hey,” he said in a disgruntled tone. “I wondered what was taking you so long.” He motioned his hand to her clothes. “Now I know.”
She pushed him aside and walked out of the room. “You can be mad at me all you want, but the only way for me to protect you is tofeellike an FBI agent.” She continued down the hallway toward the stairs. “And so, I decided to become the agent you met – the determined agent who was out to prove to her boss that she could finish an assignment without completely messing it up.”
“Whoa, stop right there, little missy.” Zack grabbed her arm, bringing her to a halt. He turned her around until she met his disheartened gaze. “Are you trying to tell me I’m just anassignmentto you?”
Seeing the sadness in his eyes, her gut twisted in knots. She had to be strong. Both of their lives were at stake. She inhaled deeply, trying to gain the courage that might help her convince him that this was the right thing to do. “Zack, until the senator’s trial in two weeks, I must think of you as an assignment and nothing more.”
He gasped, and his eyes widened. “Two weeks? The trial is in two weeks?” His face turned red. “How long have you known this? And why am I just hearing about it now?”
“I’d only just heard, myself. Before you came to me outside this morning, I’d gotten a call from Captain Bott. He told me that the senator’s defense team’s application for a trial postponement was denied by the judge. They set a date – in two weeks. The captain had called me to let me know we need to be extra careful because the senator would be hopping mad that his request was denied again.”
Zack grumbled and raked his fingers through his hair. “Then maybe the shooter outside was the one hired by the senator.”
She narrowed her gaze on him. “You have doubts?”
“Yeah.” He opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly closed it. “Let’s go in your room. I want to talk in private.”
Whitney hesitated. She knew Zack too well, and he would try to persuade her to change back into the woman she’d been hiding for so many years. Then again, he didn’t have that look on his face like he wanted to kiss her. So maybe this time he’d be serious.
Nodding, Whitney led the way back into her bedroom. When they were both inside with the door closed, Zack grasped her arms, yanking her against his body. In one sudden swoop, he’d moved his mouth to hers, kissing her.
The surprise took her breath away, and for a moment, made her weak in the knees. But she quickly shook off the desire creeping over her. She pushed her hands against his chest and broke the contact.
“Zack, no!” She glared at him, not really mad at him as much as she was upset with how weak-willed she was whenever he was near. “You can’t change things. Not until after the trial.”
He mumbled incoherently and stepped away from her. “Fine.”
He folded his arms across that nice, wide chest she liked to caress.Stop it, Whitney!She grumbled under her breath. Perhaps she shouldn’t have agreed to them talking in her bedroom.
“So, you talked to your captain?” he said, pacing the floor without looking at her.
“Yes.”
“Did you tell him where we were?”
“Not really. I just told him we were in a ranch in Maine. I didn’t even tell him that Joe was my stepfather.”
He stopped and looked at her. “Had your boss known where we were heading the last time you talked to him?”
She hesitated as her memory replayed the short conversation with the captain when they were at Zack’s mother’s townhouse. “No, I didn’t tell him.”
“And you don’t think we were followed as we drove here?”
