He quickly stripped her of her clothes, following with his own. He turned her on her side and lay next to her, slipping easily into her wet folds, plunging slowly but deeply into her. He drew gasp after gasp of pure pleasure from her as he took them both to climax in the gentlest lovemaking Jennie had ever felt.
And, Jennie felt whole again. The pieces of her life that had been so torn apart had been put back together. The end product didn’t look the same as it once had, but that was okay.
She knew she would love this life as much as she’d loved her life with Kyle. And she knew Kyle would want it that way.
Chapter 36
Jennie watched Chad get ready for the fake meeting with Burke and Mike. After hearing about the arson attempt, Agent Burke told Chad he planned to fly up and take Jennie’s statement personally.
Chad and Mike weren't sure whether that made him seem more or less guilty. It was possible he wanted to be here to make sure his witness was safe or it could mean he wanted to be here to be sure Bandon got the job done and took Jennie out.
Either way, they decided not to take any chances. Jennie would be nowhere near the meeting. She’d stay locked away in Chad’s condo while they went to see Burke.
They considered moving her to a hotel, but the condo had doormen on twenty-four-seven who wouldn’t let a soul up into the condo without Chad or Jennie’s permission, and none of the stairwells or elevators could be accessed without an electronic keycode. It would be much harder for anyone to access than a hotel where people could come and go and blend in with ease.
Jennie felt tears burn behind her eyes as she kissed Chad good-bye.
“Hey,” he said, tilting her head to force her to meet his eyes. “I’ll be right back, Jen. I promise. A couple of hours and all this will be over.”
She nodded, but she was about to lose her battle with the tears. When she tried to speak the tears fell.
“I can’t lose you, too, Chad. I can’t go through that again,” she said, panic rising in her lungs, threatening to suffocate her if she didn’t get it under control. Her heart was beating so fast, she wondered if it would hurt the baby if she didn’t find a way to calm down, but she couldn’t.
He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the floor, holding her tight.
“You won’t lose me,” he whispered in her ear, his voice husky. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise. I’ll be back here, forcing you to eat healthy meals and bugging you about having too many pastries before you know it. Hell, you’ll be so tired of me, you’ll probably be kicking me out of my own house by tomorrow night. I promise.”
She nodded but held tight for a few more minutes, wrapped around him, memorizing the feel of him, his steady, quiet strength.
She kissed him hard and let go, letting him walk away, but praying he'd be back and this would all be over soon.
Chad pulled into the hotel parking lot. They’d fed the location to Burke the day before so Burke would have plenty of time to get the false lead to Bandon.
Only Burke’s direct supervisor, AUSA Waters and those directly involved in the sting knew the location was a setup and Jennie would be hiding at Chad’s house instead of showing up for the meet. The agents at the sting had been handpicked by Mike, and Chad trusted Mike not to use anyone he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about.
Chad knew that Burke and Mike would already be waiting in the room the bureau had rented for the meeting. Since Burke had never met Jennie, it had been easy for Mike to find a smaller female agent with similar hair color to play the part of Jennie.
Agent Kirsten Danners sat next to Chad in the cab of his truck, a bullet-proof vest under her clothing, ready to put her life on the line to draw out a killer. Her hair was too red to be Jennie, but it would have to do. It would be close enough to fool anyone who had a general description of Jennie and happened to be watching them enter or exit the building.
Chad scanned the parking lot as they entered the building and he knew Agent Danners would do the same. His eyes flicked to rooftops, windows, and surrounding cars. No sign of anyone suspicious, but he did spot the two backup agents they had planted outside.
One agent was up on a telephone pole, his position as a fake repairman giving him a good eagle-eye view of the surrounding area. The other was dressed as a maintenance worker and pushed a cart from trash can to trash can emptying the garbage liners and picking up any litter on his route.
The arsonists Bandon had sent to Jennie’s parents’ house were pretty inexperienced guys. Just hired muscle following directions, but so far, they weren’t spilling anything to the police. Chad was hoping Bandon would show up to do the job himself this time instead of sending anyone else who might screw it up again.
As Chad walked across the parking lot with Danners at his side, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something didn’t feel right about this, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
His eyes roamed the area once again. Nothing had changed. No signs that anything had gone wrong, but he couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
Chad and Agent Danners knocked on the door to the hotel room and waited for Mike to open the door. When he did, Chad stepped through first, quickly taking in the room. Only Agent Burke sat in the room. The curtains had been drawn and Burke had a notepad in front of him ready to take notes.
“You cleared the room?” Chad asked Mike, knowing the answer but needing to ask anyway.
Mike nodded and then introduced Chad and Danners to Agent Burke, introducing Danners as Jennie Evans. Chad kept a protective hand on Danners as he guided her to the sofa, as he would have if Danners were Jennie.
He watched Burke closely, assessing his body language. Burke didn’t bat an eye when the agent was introduced as Jennie. He appeared to have no idea this wasn’t the real Jennie.
Mike and Agent Danners sat on the sofa across from Burke but Chad stood, watching Burke.