Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“What do I think of Emerson? I think she’s danger wrapped in a beautiful package. I’ll never underestimate her. That’s a mistake other people make. Not me.” – Gray Stone
Emerson stiffened her spine. Soft, classical music played in the back of the limo.
Her mother’s pale blue dress matched her emotionless eyes, and her mother seemed utterly certain that her decree would be followed.
Then again, she was always certain. But by this point, Maxine Marlowe should be used to Emerson disappointing her.
I didn’t take the career she wanted for me. I turned down law school for med school so I could be a psychiatrist.
I didn’t keep dating the man she’d carefully selected for me. Told Nathaniel not to let the door hit him in the ass on his way out of my life.
And despite her telling me that I need to head to Georgetown, I will absolutely not leave Gray.
Emerson sent her mother a cool smile. The senator wasn’t the only one who’d perfected an icy grin over the years. “I have no interest in the position at Georgetown. I declined it. Twice. As you are well aware. I will not be leaving because I’m quite happy where I am.”
“Emerson, you are meant to be in an academic setting! You’re brilliant.
You soared through college. Had top grades your whole life.
You have opportunity after opportunity in front of you, but you are going to throw away these chances—for what?
To play with criminals?” Disapproval dripped from her words.
Her mother had been horrified when she enrolled in med school. Emerson had been thrilled.
“You should be in a lecture hall,” Maxine continued. “You have papers to publish. You can’t still be angry that Nathaniel had the research breakthrough before you and released that paper?—”
“Nathaniel wouldn’t know a breakthrough if it slapped him in the face.” She’d certainly been tempted to deliver that slap. “As I told you before, it was my work. That’s why a retraction was published in the journal. He stole my work.”
“And yet you’re still trying to shove the jerk down her throat. Totally not a mother-of-the-year move there, Senator,” Gray drawled.
Gray doesn’t give a shit who my mother is. He’s not intimidated by her power. By the contacts she has. In fact, I don’t think he’s intimidated by anything at all in this world.
And, damn, that was sexy. “I’m very happy with Gray.”
Her mother’s lashes—fake, they were also carefully applied, just like the hair coloring—flickered.
Her gaze slid to Gray. “But are you happy, Agent Stone? You made it quite clear that you had zero interest in working with my daughter. She isn’t actual FBI, as I believe you’ve pointed out on numerous occasions to numerous people.
Surely you would like to get back to your original team.
I’m certain that another agent—perhaps Trinity Coleman or Agnes Quinn—could work undercover on this case with you. You don’t need my daughter.”
“Oh, but I do.” He brought Emerson’s hand to his lips. Kissed her knuckles.
She didn’t flinch. Or jerk. But she might have shivered the smallest bit.
He smiled. She caught the wicked grin from the corner of her eye. “You see, I need Emerson. Very, very much.”
Emerson wet her lips.
“She’s quite spectacular,” Gray continued.
“She can profile on the spot. Pick up small details. Analyze. Evaluate. Trinity and Agnes are good agents, yes, do not get me wrong, but I need a phenomenal profiler for this case. As I’m sure your, ah, FBI spies—I mean sources, your FBI sources have already told you, the perp we are after targets couples.
I need someone who will pose as a believable romantic partner for me.
A partner who can profile in her sleep. Emerson is perfect for me. ”
Maxine stopped toying with her pearls. She leaned forward. “On your last investigation, you let a twisted killer put his hands on my daughter.” Icy fury. “He had an ice pick shoved beneath her chin.”
“You’ve read the case report, hmmm?” Gray tightened his hold on Emerson’s hand.
“I thought you would protect her. Now I see that isn’t the case.
You will use her as bait. That’s what you did in that dingy garage with Jake Waller, isn’t it?
You used her to draw out the killer, to get his confessions.
You think you’ll use her again on this current hunt.
Emerson is expendable to you.” A hard, negative shake of her head.
“She is not expendable to me. Emerson is done with her failed experiment. She’s coming back to D.C. where she can be safe.”
Gray let go of Emerson’s hand. She immediately missed the warmth of his touch.
But his hand just rose and curled under her chin. Tenderly, he turned her head toward him. “Emerson,” Gray said her name like a caress.
Her mother cursed. She did that often actually, behind closed doors. Sure, she might look like a lady, but when cameras and constituents weren’t close, she talked like a, well, a former SEAL. Because she spent a great deal of time with Owen.
I know they’ve been a couple for years. I suspect they were together even before my father died. A tabloid story had hinted at their personal relationship once, only for the report to be immediately squashed by Maxine.
“Do you want to go back to D.C.?” Gray asked Emerson.
“No.”
“Do you want to work this undercover case with me?”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you trust me to keep you safe?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. If she hadn’t trusted him, she wouldn’t have fucked him.
She’d learned from her mistake with Nathaniel.
Only take a lover if you trust him completely.
She did trust Gray, and because of that, she’d been able to lower her guard with him and get lost to the pleasure they created together.
He flashed her a smile. Warm. One that lit his eyes. More gold, less darkness. “Glad that’s settled. After all, we have a meeting to attend.” He turned his head toward Maxine. “Feel free to call next time. You don’t have to pull out the limo just to impress us.” He began to ease toward the door.
“Stop.” Maxine’s voice. Shaking around the edges. “Do you think someone trying to kill my daughter is a joke?”
He focused on the senator. All traces of warmth left his face. “No, I think it’s a lethal mistake.”
Emerson remembered how he’d responded when Jake Waller had grabbed her. She swallowed. “I don’t think you fully understand the situation, Mother.”
“Oh, I do understand, Emerson. You don’t. When we came up with the deal for you to work at the FBI, you were supposed to face no real danger. You were to hear about the cases, to stay in the office, to read the old files.”
Emerson’s brows rose. “Excuse me?” That had never been her plan.
“You were not supposed to be in the field. Not ever. As in, not even once. But Grayson Stone pushed and ignored the rules I’d set up.
He risked your life because he thinks he can use you in order to bring down his prey.
As I said, you’re expendable to him. I won’t allow this.
Not happening. Your partnership is terminated.
” An inhale. “As of now. I will be contacting his supervisors at the FBI. He can take someone else out as his partner on this case.”
She could feel the anger rising beneath her skin. Emerson was sure her cheeks had to be darkening. Her heart pounded, her body tensed, and she… “Gray, did you ignore rules?”
“Rules don’t apply to me.”
Such a Gray thing to say.
“And I don’t really have supervisors any longer at the Bureau.
Due to my track record, a whole helluva lot of closed cases, and a traitorous bastard in the upper echelon at the FBI that I helped to bring down…
let’s just say that I now get to make all the choices as to what happens with my team.
And who is on my team.” He winked at her. “Guess what, Emerson? I choose you.”
Maxine slapped her hand down on the seat near her right thigh. “Because you want to use my daughter? Use her and fuck her?”
Shocked, Emerson turned and saw the flash of anger on her mother’s face.
“I choose Emerson because I happen to respect the hell out of her.” Gray’s response came instantly.
“She’s brilliant. She keeps her head in the field when things go south, and she’s also one incredible shot.
She’s the person I want at my side when there’s danger.
You’re her mother, though, so I shouldn’t have to tell you just how great she is.
That’s something you should already know.
By the way, I don’t like your tone when you talk to her. You need to watch that.”
Both Emerson and her mother swung their heads toward him.
“Since we’re having this little chat—and you are delaying Emerson and I from a very important meeting—it’s my turn to interrogate.”
Uh, oh. Emerson knew this was not going to be good. “Gray…”
“Why the hell have you let a stalker prey on her for years while you did nothing to stop him?”
Emerson’s attention jumped back to the senator. Her mother seemed to stop breathing.
Then she grabbed for her pearls. Rubbed them with her index finger and thumb. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liar, liar.” A soft taunt and accusation from Gray. “You know exactly what—who—I’m talking about. But I’ll clarify. I mean the bastard who broke into your home all those years ago. The one who left that scar on Emerson’s throat.”
Her mother’s gaze darted to Emerson’s throat. “You don’t understand the situation.” Maxine’s guarded response. “I am sure Emerson doesn’t want me getting into the specifics.”
Gray grunted. “The specifics are that some creep terrorized a seventeen-year-old girl. And from what I can tell, he’s been keeping tabs on her for years.
The broken mirror bullshit? The breaking into her homes?
Taking shit that belongs to her? Playing games with her?
Oh, it’s ending. So are the threats on her life. ”
Maxine stopped rubbing her pearls. “Excuse me?”