He knew better than to think chemistry like they shared could be ignored. Sooner or later, she’d admit the truth. He could wait, despite his pounding pulse and the blood rushing to…otherareas.
“So.” She pushed a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. “Since we’re both working toward the same goal, makes sense to split the load.”
“What exactly are you proposing?”
“A truce. If we work together, we’ll both achieve our objectives faster.”
A truce, huh?Scotty hid his smile. He and the team really didn’t need any help to achieve their objectives, but spending more time with Hayley would be fun…and having someone sharing information from inside the Bureau wasn’t a bad idea either. More intel never hurt.
He pulled out his phone. “Deal. Give me your number in case I need to contact you.”
“Deal,” Hayley shook his hand, eyeing him warily as she rattled off her digits.
His skin tingled from their brief contact, and Scotty couldn’t help but grin.
Yep. These next few days would be fun indeed.
4
“Um, Michelle, when you have a second?” Hayley said as her boss passed by her desk the next day. This was at least the fifth time she’d tried to flag the woman down. Usually, Hayley had a decent working relationship with her superiors, but it seemed like her mojo was off. Had been since yesterday.
She still couldn’t quite believe she’d agreed to partner with Scotty Devonshire to track down Natalie Matthews. She’d investigated the hell out of the guy, of course, spending her morning digging up everything she could on him and his SEAL pals. Just because her decision had been impetuous didn’t make her a fool. If she was going to entrust even part of her career prospects to the guy, she wanted all the information available. And she’d been impressed with what the records showed…at least at first.
He’d grown up a Navy brat, traveling the world with his highly decorated father after losing his mom to cancer when he was just a baby. Then, when he was eight, his dad had been killed in action. He’d landed in foster care after that, but it seemed that his early years with his father’s example had shaped him all the same. As soon as he was old enough, he’d enlisted—and he’d excelled from the beginning. He’d breezed through the grueling SEAL training program, and once he was placed on a team, he’d quickly proven his mettle, racking up a whole stack of awards and commendations. Hayley hadn’t been able to find out all the details—plenty of the missions had required clearance way higher than hers to be reviewed in full—but she’d seen enough to know he’d fought his way through a number of hairy situations.
But then she’d come across a report that was shocking in a completely different way. One that she wanted to discuss with Scotty before drawing any conclusions.
“What is it?” Michelle Harper stopped in front of Hayley’s desk. Hayley flinched at her sharp tone, and Michelle winced, looking apologetic. “Sorry, didn’t mean to snap at you. My son’s sick today, so I’ve been dealing with doctor’s offices and insurance snafus on top of prepping for the review board meetings.”
Hayley nodded sympathetically. Michelle’s son had a rare disease—doctors’ appointments were pretty much a constant in her life, putting her under a lot of stress. The whole department knew and tried to be there for her as much as she’d allow.
“Time’s short, so give me bullet points, Stevens,” Michelle said.
“Right.” There’d been plenty of rumors circulating about those review board meetings. Word had it they were looking to shut the intelligence team down, which would leave not only Hayley, but the whole department, unemployed. They were only rumors, but still, they added fuel to Hayley’s fire as she gunned for that promotion. With an upgrade in title and the shift from cybersecurity to a more hands-on type of intelligence work, she’d be less susceptible to the government’s ever-present budgetary concerns. “Natalie Matthews. Widow of a Navy SEAL. Dead at twenty-eight. Questionable circumstances. Possible ties to a shadowy military cover-up related to her husband’s death by sniper. I’d like to keep working on this one, with your permission. I think there’s something there. But it’ll take me out of the office. I feel like I need boots on the ground—I don’t think this is going to get solved from behind a computer. In order to get the answers I need, I think I’ll have to go searching for them in person.”
Her boss’s phone buzzed audibly from her pocket. Michelle sighed. “All right. You can have a little leeway on this, at least for now. But I’m sending a security detail with you. You’re not used to fieldwork, and if something bigger is going on here, you’ll need backup.”
Hayley waited until her boss had gone again, phone to her ear, before she got back on her computer.
Dodging her boss-assigned tail would be tricky, but she’d have to find a way. The kind of poking around she wanted to do would call for discretion that wouldn’t be possible with some stranger crowding at her back. It wasn’t as if she’d need bodyguards, anyhow. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Besides, she’d have Scotty with her. Couldn’t get more protective than a frigging SEAL.
Now all she had to do was contact Scotty and set up another meeting, preferably with the rest of his team this time. She wanted to know they were all people she could trust. She’d read their files, too, but there was nothing like looking someone in the eye to see what her instincts told her.
One quick phone call and it would all be set up.
Adrenaline speeding through her veins, Hayley pulled out her cell and dialed.
5
“So, where you been, man?” Spencer Nixon, Scotty’s SEAL team bro and their resident sniper, flopped down on the other end of the sofa and kicked his stockinged feet up on the coffee table. “You got a new little somethin’-somethin’ on the side?”
Scotty ignored his friend’s waggling brows and took another drink of his ale. “I’ve been working.”
“Working. Right.” This from Gage Jackelson, the team’s explosives guru. He was seated with his back to the windows, and the hazy sunlight streaming in highlighted the truncated outline of his earlobe that had been shot off during one of their missions in Iraq. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
“Like you’re one to talk, dude.” Scotty sent him a disgruntled stare. “How’s Anna?”
“Fine. Busy. Always working these days. Thanks for asking.” Gage grinned, so smitten that it was a little nauseating. He and Anna were still definitely in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. Well, as much of a honeymoon as a relationship could have when it started with exploding bombs, kidnappings, and daring rescues. Their love story certainly wasn’t ordinary, but it seemed to suit them. Scotty had never seen his friend so happy. It wasalmostworth putting up with how happy-couple smug he was. “You should try getting a girlfriend sometime. Sticking with one woman longer than a night has its advantages.”