Chapter 14
Homeland Security Safe House
Alexandria, Virginia
Two days later…
“I still don’t like the idea of leaving you here so soon after what happened.”
Warmth spread through Jagger’s chest as he stared back at a visibly worried Talia. The surprising woman had been hovering over him like a sexy mother hen ever since he’d nearly been blown to bits.
But hey, at least now he knew she cared.
“I’ve been tellin’ you for the past two days that I’m fine.” He sent her a reassuring grin. “Besides, it’s not as if you’re leaving me completely unsupervised. Liam texted a few minutes ago, and he’s already on his way here.”
From the look on her gorgeous face, Talia was anything but convinced.
“The two of you are planning to just hang out here while I’m gone…right?” There went those brows of hers arching high again. “I mean, the whole reason Ryker arranged for us to stay in this apartment was so we’d have a place to lay low until we can figure out who set that bomb.”
“Lay low.” Jagger gave her a two-fingered salute. “Copy that.”
“I’m serious, Jagger.”
“So am I,” he lied.
The deception was a regrettable necessity for what had to be done.
“You were nearly killed forty-eight hours ago.” Talia’s golden brown eyes searched his. “If something happened to you again, and I wasn’t here to stop it…” Her softened voice trailed.
Sliding his hands to her hips, Jagger pulled her body flush with his. “I hate to point out the obvious, darlin’, but you were feet away from me the last time, and there wasn’t a damn thing you could’ve done to change anything about what happened.”
“I almost lost you,” Talia said in the softest of whispers. Her eyes shimmered beneath the apartment’s canned lights. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if—”
“Hey.” Jagger leaned in for a soft, sweet kiss. “You didn’t lose anything. I’m right here, remember?”
Though she appeared as if she wanted to say more, the hesitant woman blinked while clearing her throat instead. “Yeah, well, you’d better still be right here when I get back.” She poked his chest before adding, “And you’d better still be in one piece.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. “I promise to stay safe while you’re gone. Speaking of which”—he glanced at his watch—“don’t you have a smuggler to interrogate soon?”
Talia’s office had called less than an hour before to let her know the man who’d previously been willing to give up Sanchez was wavering. Because of this, she’d been ordered to report to Homeland ASAP for what looked to be her last chance at getting the prick to talk.
Any other time, Jagger would have insisted he escort her there. But as much as he dreaded the idea of letting her out of his sight for even a minute, there was somewhere else he needed to be.
In order for his plan to work, however, Talia needed to be nowhere within his vicinity. Because what Jagger had planned was a tad questionable, ethically speaking. The last thing he wanted was to sully her reputation or put her career in danger.
“I just need to know you’re going to be okay while I’m gone, that’s all.”
His smile widened as he pressed his lips to her forehead. “Careful, Tal. You keep talkin’ like that, I’m gonna start to think you care.”
He already knew she did, of course. Question was…did Talia know?
A deep frown pulled at her brows as she started to pull away. “I thought that would have been obvious by now.”
“Oh, it is.” Jagger playfully pulled her back to him. With a smirk, he brought his mouth next to her ear and whispered, “I just wanted to hear you say it.”
The same hand that had poked him in the chest a moment earlier slapped his upper arm. “That’s not funny.”
“It’s a little funny.” His shoulders shook with a deep chuckle.
Despite her attempts at an adorable pout, Talia lost the fight and began to chuckle, too.
“Seriously, though,” Jagger continued, needing her to be gone by the time Liam arrived. “You said it yourself. This guy’s your best chance of finally getting the goods on Sanchez. Which means—”
“The longer I wait to have a go at him, the more we risk the asshole changing his mind.” She sighed.
“I know. It’s just…after what happened…” Her forehead crinkled with worry.
“But you’re right. No one aside from a select few within Homeland knows where we’ve been staying, so there’s no reason for me to be worried. ”
“If anything, I should be the one insisting you stay put.”
Talia waited a beat before tilting her head and asking, “So why aren’t you?”
“Would it do any good?”
He already knew the answer before the strong-minded woman started shaking her head. “Probably not.” Talia grinned. “So this is you saving us both the time and energy of a pointless argument?”
“Exactly.” Jagger flashed a wide smile.
The two laughed in unison before sharing a slow, sensual kiss.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she promised.
“Just promise me you’ll be on alert.”
“Don’t worry.” Talia rose onto her tiptoes and put her mouth to his once more. “Dying at the hands of some crazed lunatic isn’t exactly on my Bingo card for this year.”
Something about the way she said it sent a rush of arousal straight to his cock, and suddenly, Jagger found himself contemplating his chances of actually getting her to stay.”
Liam’s almost here, remember? And there’s that pesky detail of needing to find your would-be killer.
His subconscious was right. Once he and Talia were locked safely away inside the apartment for the night, he’d finally devour her the way he’d been dreaming of since their first night together.
For now, his focus needed to be on his and Liam’s plan. And on making sure Talia was never the wiser. Jagger was well-aware that he’d just broken his promise never to lie. But this time, it truly was for her own good.
A knock on the door had them both reaching for the pistols secured at their respective hips. “Pizza delivery.”
They hadn’t ordered any pizza. That was, however, the pre-set cover story for the agent who’d been assigned as Talia’s protective escort.
Not willing to make assumptions, both he and the sexy former spy pulled their weapons but kept perfect trigger discipline to prevent an unrighteous shoot. With her weapon out of clear view from anyone possibly walking by, Talia cracked open the door to verify the guy’s identity.
A quick back-and-forth between the two later and she was letting the “delivery man”—AKA, Homeland Security Agent Callen Vaughn—inside Jagger shook Agent Vaughn’s hand once introductions had been made, and after a brief overview of the plan for the day, Vaughn stepped out and Talia turned and began to follow.
Jagger waited until the other man was free and clear of the apartment’s threshold to snake out a hand and quickly grab onto hers.
With gentle but hurried movements, he spun her back into his arms before slamming his mouth to hers.
The kiss was fast. Hot. And thanks to the agent standing just outside the door, it ended much too soon.
“I’ll see you tonight.” Talia sighed, flashing him a sweet smile.
“Stay safe, darlin’.”
“Always.” It was her turn to wink.
He reset the alarm system and locks behind her as soon as she walked out the door. Moving across the room to one of the living room’s large, draped windows, Jagger was careful not to make himself obvious as he peeked through the curtains, down to the street below.
From six stories up, he watched as Talia got into the “delivery” car with Agent Vaughn and drove away. With a set of trained eyes, he immediately spotted the tail he’d arranged.
Thank you, Echo Team.
Knowing Emmett Shaw and Blake Savage were watching Talia’s six from afar eased the tension in Jagger’s neck and shoulders. Mostly, anyway.
Would you relax, already? The woman is going to be in one of the most secured buildings in the country. Not to mention, she’ll be surrounded by some of the most capable and highly trained members of the U.S. government all damn day.
Jagger’s brain understood all that, but his heart? That was a different beast all its own. For now—actually, for the foreseeable future—all that mattered was knowing the woman it belonged to was safe.
There was a knock at the door less than five minutes later. The pounding sounded strong. Familiar. After a quick check to verify the visitor’s identity, he disarmed the security system before opening the door to greet his friend.
“Hey, brother.” Liam held out a hand with a jut of his scruff-covered chin. “How’s the head?”
“As good as always,” Jagger joined his teammate outside.
The other man gave a serious shake of his head. “Well, damn. That’s not good. Want me to swing you by the hospital so the doc can have another look?”
Jagger lifted his middle finger in Liam’s direction, prompting his teammate to burst out in laughter. With a slight shift in his stance, he punched in the code on the door’s digital keypad and waited for confirmation that the locks had been engaged.
“Won’t Talia know you left the safe house?”
“Nah.” He gave a quick shake of his head. “She’ll get an alert that the door was opened and shut, but she knew you were coming, so it’s no big deal. As long as the alarm doesn’t go off, she’ll have no reason to question it.”
Liam glanced back to scan that section of the apartment’s brick wall. “What about the cameras?”
“Tal has too much on her mind with work to worry about how well I’m behaving. Trust me. If all goes as planned, and it will, we’ll be back here before she’s even finished with her interrogation.”
Jagger smirked when reached the white, four-door sedan. “Nice car,” he muttered sarcastically as Liam used a tagged key fob to unlock the doors.
“Fuck off.” The man scowled. “I gave up a Lamborghini for you.”
Opening his door, Jagger slid his body into the passenger seat. “The hell you mean, you gave up a Lamborghini for me?”