Bottles & Blades (Eagles Hockey: Oak Ridge Vineyards #1)

Chapter 40

Forty

Jean-Michel

Beyond those glorious few days in Paris, Tiff and I aren’t able to find much opportunity to relax together.

Between her classes and nannying and my work—ironically enough, I had ended up with an emergency meeting that sent me to Germany and Tiff home on the plane by herself—and the Eagles gearing up for the playoffs, we’ve been cobbling minutes and hours together rather than days.

But tonight is different.

I’ve put out the fires.

She doesn’t have a class, isn’t needed at Stefan and Brit’s house.

We’re going to eat and fuck and then maybe eat and fuck again.

Okay, no maybe about it.

Because I couldn’t keep my hands off her before I had that tight little cunt squeezing me until stars flashed at the corners of my vision.

Now that I know how good it is to have her?

Impossible to do anything but attempt to satiate the hunger between us.

All we’ve been doing is fucking and eating and sleeping.

She’s due a little romance.

I stand up from my desk, pocket my phone, and get exactly one step toward the door as I realize that plan is about to go out the window.

Mostly because Marie’s sprinting in through the door, her expression unreadable, a man on her heels that I haven’t seen in several years.

“Jace,” I say, moving toward the pair, hand extended for him shake. “Just a second,” I mutter, turning to Marie and taking her arm.

“No,” she says, stopping as I start to guide her away and turning back to Jace. “Mr. Henderson is the reason we found the connection.”

I frown. “What connection?”

“Duarte tried to fuck us over too,” Jace says, handing me a stack of papers that I quickly flip through—contracts, emails, and?—

Everything in me goes still.

Angela’s name is all over these fucking papers.

Not a connection via connection via a connection.

But her name written in black and white.

“I called Attie and she’s coming down to talk while her team heads to Mr. Henderson’s office.” There’s excitement in Marie’s eyes, but it’s mixed with something else that has the hairs prickling on my nape. She’s not looking at Jace—but also she’s looking at him, her gaze sliding to the side, drifting to him then quickly yanked away again.

Hmm.

“Suzanne and I have been looking for a connection between all of this,” she says gleefully, “and we finally have one that will actually pay off?—”

“Roll this back for me,” I say carefully. “Last I heard, all we had proof of was her bugging the shit out of me and fucking with our contracts. It’s bad news that she’s doing that shit with other companies”—I flick my eyes to Jace’s—“sorry she’s being a pain in the ass for you too.”

He lifts one shoulder, drops it.

“But unless I’ve missed something, I don’t see anything that connects her to something bigger.”

“That’s because you didn’t see this,” Jace says, snagging the stack of papers and flicking through them, pulling one out and showing me?—

“ Fuck ,” I hiss.

A defense contract.

My eyes scan the pages, and I arrow in on what’s gotten Marie so excited.

The name.

The connection the FBI has been searching for.

“She was this fucking dumb?” I say, finding that hard to believe. Angela has been careful, skirting anything that could actually tie her to illegal activities, and now she’s put her name alongside one belonging to a company that’s known for illegal arms trading and suspected of human trafficking? Not to mention she did it on a contract that the Department of Defense has seen?

That doesn’t feel right.

“Dumb or not,” Marie says, “It’ll be enough to hold her, and it should be enough to persuade her to go the fuck away and stop bothering us, especially with the FBI on her ass.”

That also doesn’t feel right.

Angela hasn’t ever been persuaded to do anything she doesn’t want to do.

Not when we were married.

Not since she’s shown back up to fuck with my life.

I can’t imagine that anything’s going to change that particular personality trait.

“Your ex has been a pain in my ass for months now,” Jace says, his dark brows pulling together into an intense scowl.

“Tell me about it,” I mutter.

“But if opening my doors to the FBI means I can run my business without her trying to burn shit down from the inside out then, like I told Marie, I’m open to it.”

“Appreciated.”

“I know that you’re both busy,” Marie says, gathering the papers. “I’ll liaison with Attie’s team and your company, Mr. Henderson. I’ll make sure we follow this to ground and hopefully it’ll pan out as we expect.” She pulls out a pen, her pad of paper, turns to Jace, gaze flashing to his and then back down to the pad. “Who’s the best person to coordinate with this on at Genen-core?”

“Me.”

I blink.

Hmm.

Marie’s cheeks flush.

Hmm.

Jace is a good guy. A workaholic, yes, but I’ve never seen him look twice at a woman, let alone look at one as though he wants to consume her.

And he definitely wants to consume Marie.

So yeah, hmm.

He reaches into his pocket, passes her a card.

Probably has his personal number on it too.

I shoot him a look, make sure it’s laced with plenty of warning, but he ignores it. “I need to run to another meeting.” His gaze goes back to Marie’s. “Call me anytime.”

Then he’s gone.

And Marie is holding his card like she’s torn between deciding if it’s a ticking bomb or the most precious gift on the planet—that’s to say, she’s holding it carefully.

Very carefully.

“Something you need to tell me?” I ask quietly.

Her throat works.

Then she shakes her head, whispers, “No.”

“Marie,” I warn.

She sighs, pockets the card. “We met a few months back. I didn’t know who he was, and he tried to take my Lyft.” She snags the papers, stacks them carefully, taking her time and making sure each of the four edges is carefully aligned.

Yeah, she’s got it bad.

“We had words.” A shrug. Another sigh. “And now he’s here.”

Now he’s here.

Giving her his card.

Watching her closely.

Wanting to liaison.

He’s got it bad too.

Hmm.

I file that away, focus on the biggest fire in front of me. “Tiff is waiting and I need to get home to her. Do you need me here for this?”

“No,” she says. “It’s the same as before—keep your distance, I’ll update you with what you need to know, and hopefully that’ll keep you well away from any investigation fallout and future court dates.”

“Let’s hope those court dates for her aren’t all that far into said future.”

Marie smiles, but it’s not her normal one. Not relaxed and confident.

It’s…distracted.

By Jace Henderson.

Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to do something about that.