Page 81 of Perfect Vengeance

“It’s a good thing you’re doing.” Kyle pulled out fresh paper napkins from a sideboard. “People are clueless about the cash flow required to make the program work.”

“You know someone who went into the system,” she said softly. “Don’t you?”

He stopped setting out the napkins and raised his head. This time, she didn’t flinch under his unnerving golden stare. There was pain in his eyes, as surely as if it was stamped on his forehead. “She was…a friend.” He resumed placing the napkins on the table.

She’d bet they were more than friends. “How long has it been since you’ve seen her?”

“Ten years.”

She began setting out the plates. “Did you ever make a request to have a message relayed to her?”

“No.”

“Why not?” She paused before putting down another plate.

He shook his head. “It’s better this way.”

“How so?” she prodded. “If she cares about you⁠—”

“It’s complicated. But thanks.” As he set down the last napkin, he gave her a fleeting smile, then went into the kitchen.

Her heart went out to him. She understood how difficult it was when someone you loved disappeared from your life. Whatever had happened between him and this woman was meaningful enough to last over a decade. That kind of emotion could only be one thing: love.

Was that really what she felt for Jack? The feeling of impending loss struck as surely as if she’d been run over by a truck. If he disappeared from her life, she had a horrible suspicion she’d be just as tormented as Kyle was. Acknowledging that sent a bolt of fear directly to her heart.

Drawn by laughter, she headed for the kitchen. The atmosphere inside the Gates family home was everything she was missing in her life. Everything she’d been robbed of when her parents were taken from her.

Pausing in the doorway, she watched Jack and his brothers huddled together like little boys, joking about something while their mother finished slathering white frosting on a giant layer cake.

Somehow, Jack being an FBI agent was beginning to matter less and less. The man beneath the badge was starting to matter more.

Catching sight of her in the doorway, the men lifted their heads. Kyle whispered something to Jack, and Deke grinned. Jack’s expression went utterly blank as he continued staring at her. Then he smiled, his eyes sparking with something she’d never seen before. Whatever it was, it made her heart flutter wildly, and suddenly the idea of giving Elaina grandchildren wasn’t so frightening.

* * *

“Am I ever going to see where you live?” Gina unlocked the door to her apartment. They hadn’t discussed it, but his coming home with her seemed so natural.

Home. This was her home. It was too soon, but did she want it to be his, too, someday?

Jack didn’t answer right away. He watched her, his expression once again inscrutable. “You really want to see it?”

“Yes.” She flicked on the foyer light, tossing a flirty grin over her shoulder. “For all I know, you could be some kind of weirdo with a clown fetish or”—she hooked her fingers into quotation marks—“have a ‘red room’.” In truth, she just wanted to see his home. He kept that part of his life separate from hers, and she wanted to know all there was about him.

He stared unsmiling at her from across the foyer, but his eyes lit with banked humor. “Red rooms are for guys that can’t get it up any other way. I don’t need one to satisfy me or my woman.”

“Really?” She took off her coat and hung it in the closet. She loved the witty banter that sprang so easily between them.

“Haven’t I already proven myself?” He shrugged out of his jacket and reached over her shoulder to drape it on a hook on the closet door. As he did, he intentionally brushed his arm against her breast, making her shudder.

She closed the door. “How do I know that wasn’t a one-shot deal?”

“One shot?” He gave a snort of disgust. “I believe I’ve made it clear that it wasn’t.”

“Maybe I need periodic reminders.” She stepped back and pulled her sweater over her head, knowing he’d like what he saw.

His nostrils flared. Beneath the warm, bulky purple sweater, she wore a black, low-cut, lacy-edged bra that barely covered her nipples. His eyes darkened like a storm cloud ready to unleash everything it held inside.

He advanced on her slowly, and with each step he took forward, she took one back until they were in her bedroom. Foreplay she’d had before but never like this—teasing, tantalizing, and their bodies were still three feet apart. Electricity hummed and sparked between them. This was fun, exciting, and sexy. Like him.