Nine #4
“We think so, yes. The connection is hidden. I don’t know how they know each other, but Kevin was the only one who knew when we were moving on the cartel … I drank a lot back then, and I thought I could trust the guy I was fucking.”
I was processing.
“So, yeah, it follows that my informant made contact with me, they found out, and then suddenly, Kevin’s back in town.”
“But these people must have followed you and seen me and the kids, and this guy Salcedo still thought that sending Kevin here was a good idea? He must have believed that he could tempt you away from your family.”
“Salcedo must have seen me with Kevin in Colombia all those years ago. That’s the last he’s probably seen of me.”
“What about his hit man in Phoenix?”
“That guy was sent to my room after me. I doubt Salcedo has checked up on me at all. He just heard that my guy reached out to me, and he put Kevin into play. Kevin’s the only person Salcedo knows who knows me.”
“So, you’re saying what?”
“That it’s doubtful that Salcedo has any idea about you or the kids.”
“But Kevin knows now.”
“Which is why you’re here and not at home.”
“So, you weren’t worried about us because of Phoenix. You’re worried because of Kevin.”
“Yes.”
“How do you think Kevin got the job at County?”
“How did he just show up, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“I think he’s probably working there for free. Sanchez and Ryan are checking on it now. Kowalski and Dorsey are tailing Kevin, and White and some guys from Chicago PD are sitting on all the bugs in his apartment.”
“Okay.” I took that all in.
“And?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he demanded.
“Just that this Salcedo guy must have really thought that Kevin Dwyer had you wrapped around his finger.”
“Please, please, do not get your brain running on this. Whatever anyone else thinks is crap. The important part is what I know for certain and what you do as well.”
“And so, what? What precisely is the play here?”
“I’m not following.”
“Do you have to convince Kevin that you want him so he will lead you to Salcedo? Is that what you’re supposed to do? Are you supposed to romance him so you can get into his home and check around? How far do you have to take it?”
He was scowling.
“Just tell me.”
“You’re getting all this from watching TV, right?”
“Don’t patronize me,” I warned him.
“I’m not, just tell me what you think I’ll be doing!” he said, his voice rising as he took a step forward.
I took one back. “You’ll start by showing up at his work and saying that you have to see him.”
He kept coming.
“Then you’ll tell him that you’ve been thinking about him and you can’t stop,” I said, even as my eyes raked all over his body. I looked at him the way I knew Kevin Dwyer had and would. Beautiful man, beautiful body. Even the scars only added to his allure.
“Is that what I’ll say?”
I took a shaky breath, having walked myself back into the wall. Sam stopped in front of me, not crowding me, just standing, staring down into my eyes.
“Sam? What will you have to do?”
“I dunno,” he said, but his eyes weren’t posing a question; they were deviant and hot. “What should I do to catch Salcedo? Turner? How far should I take it?”
My mouth was dry, there was a lump in my throat, and I was having trouble breathing.
“Jory?”
“Kiss him?”
“I should kiss him?”
Oh God, what was I supposed to say?
“What does your boss want you to do?”
“My boss?”
“Yeah.”
“Well,” he said, lifting his hand to take hold of my chin, his thumb sliding over my bottom lip, “my boss—because he’s kind of brilliant—doesn’t want to see my Valentino impression.
Instead, he wants Kevin’s place bugged—which we did already—wants him followed everywhere he goes, and wants me and the rest of my guys to basically put the fear of God into him and see how long it takes before he fuckin’ cracks. ”
It took me a second to parse his words.
He rolled his eyes.
“Sam!”
“Really? You think deputy US marshals sex people up?”
It sounded really dumb when he put it like that.
“We hunt down fugitives. We put them in jail, or we protect them. We do not run sophisticated con operations where we have sex to get state secrets. That’s the CIA!”
“Sam!”
The noise he made was pure, unadulterated disgust.
“I thought that—”
“I only kiss you, idiot.”
I scowled at him.
He let out a breath, and then I got the grin I loved, the evil one, the one that made his eyes glitter.
“And besides, ya know, my seduction skills are kinda rusty ’cause now I just hafta snap my fingers to get laid.”
He saw my eyes go murderous and started laughing at the same time he grabbed me, wrapping me up in arms bulky with muscle.
“Sam!”
“I only hold you down, I only fuck you, and I only ever sleep with you in my arms. I’m not Sonny Crockett, ya know; I don’t go undercover and get laid to a Jan Hammer soundtrack.
” He was still smiling, but his eyes were locked on mine and pleading.
“Baby, Salcedo made a mistake, sending Kevin, and we’re gonna exploit that. ”
I nodded because I couldn’t speak.
“And now I understand that Kevin Dwyer never had any feelings for me at all. Everything he ever said, everything he told me he felt, was a lie, and I can’t say I’m upset about that in the least.”
“No,” I told him. “He might have been in a bad position, Sam, but I saw how he looked at you, and that was real.”
But Sam wasn’t buying it; I could see it on his face. He had made up his mind, and that was it. No matter what Kevin Dwyer had ever done, ever said, Sam had passed judgment on him, and it was done.
I needed to get my hands on him, to hug him, hold him, but he was so much stronger than me, so much bigger, and that fact—that he was all about power and control—was the biggest turn-on ever.
“I think you’re wrong about Kevin. I think he might be back here under Salcedo’s orders, but I have no doubt that his feelings were real all those years ago, and I’ll bet, if you’re up for it, he would love to have you back.”
“As if I give a damn. That day I went out to talk to him in the hall, do you wanna know what I said?”
I was dying to know and thought, for a moment, of playing it cool, but couldn’t quite get any nonchalant words out of my mouth.
“Well?” he prodded me.
“Do you want to tell me?”
“Yes.”
I nodded so he would go ahead.
“He told me he wanted to see me.”
Of course he had.
“And I told him I was married and I had a family and that he was not part of my life anymore. I wished him the best, and I walked away.”
It was so cold, so final, and if I had been in Kevin’s place, it would have killed me.
“I said the same thing to you when you charged back into my life after three years away.”
“No,” he assured me. “You told me you didn’t think it would work, but that was only because you were scared I would hurt you again. You didn’t have a life yet; you didn’t have a husband or kids. There’s a big difference.”
Yes, there was.
“And I knew I was the one for you—always. There was never a doubt in my mind.”
“No?”
“No.” He shook his head. “It was why I couldn’t be the guy anyone else needed—because I was already the one you needed.”
My heart felt like it was going to swell out of my chest.
“Say something.”
I squinted so I wouldn’t cry. “So, your guys are gonna bug Kevin’s house?”
“Like I said, it’s done already,” he said, his grip loosening so I could get my arms free and wrap them around his neck.
“Sam.”
“Yes?”
I swallowed hard. “You know how much you love me?”
“Yeah.”
“I love you more.”
He kissed me then, hand on the back of my head, holding me still as his mouth opened mine, wanting in.
I returned the passion, the yearning, the deep and throbbing want, pressing tight against him, moaning as my tongue stroked over his in our familiar dance. We parted at the same time because there was heat building, but more than that, a sort of breathless anticipation of emotion.
“It’s always been … us,” he said quickly.
“Yes,” I agreed. I licked over his bottom lip, sucked it, and bit it softly until he moaned deep. “It has.”
“So?”
“So?”
“Kiss me some more,” he demanded.
“I’m very possessive.”
“I know. It’s good.”
I kissed him so he’d know it wasn’t going to change.