Page 22 of Catch Me If You Can (The Mancini Way)

“I could say the same of you.”

“Yeah but it’s different for me, we tend to get hitched later in life whereas the female of the species start seeking hearth and home much sooner; so what’s your story?”

“Nothing to tell really I’ve just always been more focused on other things, I guess it’s just not that important to me right now.”

‘I guess that’s understandable, what’re you twenty two twenty three?”

“Almost twenty four.”

Quite young for her current position in the bureau, usually only seasoned veterans held those kind of posts it’s my understanding it took years on the job to even reach Special Agent status and even longer to be termed a ‘profiler’ though the bureau didn’t necessarily use that term. My research so far has shown a higher than usual IQ as well as an aptitude for studying and understanding the human psyche. She was also lauded for her ability to see through the person she was studying; apparently while everyone else saw one thing she saw another. Or at least that had been the fanciful report from one of her old professors. People she’d worked with in the past with the organization she was still a part of that worked to overturn wrongful convictions had nothing but praise and admiration for her.

“So you do see marriage and a family in your future.” Not that it mattered one way or the other, I’m sorry to say but when I decided I wanted something there wasn’t much that would stand in my way of getting it. The fact that we’d just met meant very little to me, I’d made life- threatening decisions in less time. I wasn’t too worried about her thoughts on the matter, again not the most politically correct stand to take but she’d brought herself into my orbit, she shouldn’t be too surprised to find herself scorched by the fire.

Chapter 15

The water was calm and serene as we headed out. I think she was still in awe of the beauty of the vessel, and it was a thing of beauty if I do say so myself, my pride and joy or one of many.

“Let me show you around shall I?”

“Sounds good, this is amazing, do you usually just take a yacht out on the water for a day out? I would think these were for longer voyages or something.”

“That’s the beauty of ownership, you can do as you please with what’s yours.”

She tilted her head at me, those eyes of hers burning into me, did she have any idea how much I wanted to fuck her right his minute? The only thing keeping me human is the fact that I had not yet ascertained how I was going to handle her deception; do I let her know that I knew who she was, or do I let the farce play out until they realized they couldn’t catch me? Whatever decision I came to will have to be soon because it wasn’t going to be long before the need to have her under me, to be buried deep inside her overruled everything else.

I showed her around the five hundred and sixty foot vessel with its library, water jets a private cinema and garden among other things. She was quiet the whole time as she followed me from room to room until we reached the six thousand square feet master suite on the topmost deck. Everything had been glossed to a high shine and I enjoyed her reactions as if seeing the place for the first time through her eyes.

“It’s truly amazing, really.” She ran her hand along the polished teak of the rail as we made our way back below. I’d been on the lookout for her colleagues and hadn’t been able to find their location as yet. My yacht was highly secured, bullet and bombproof and according to where we were on the vessel, there were security shields in place to keep us hidden if need be.

“Would you like some breakfast beauty? I know I got you up rather early and it’s going to be a long time ‘til lunch so if you’d like I can wrestle you up an omelet in the galley.”

“You cook?”

“Of course, I’m an excellent cook.”

“Fine I’ll take you up on that offer since you did get me up so early.”

She seemed relaxed as she followed me down I sat her at the island before kissing the crown of her head which seemed almost natural. I meant to use today as part of my campaign to break down her defenses, first I planned on getting her use to my touch, soft touches throughout the day and more stolen kisses. That kiss had blown me away, it had ben sweet and hot and everything I’d been imagining all morning; I hadn’t known I was going to do it though, had anticipated waiting until I’d had her cornered on the yacht before making that first move but she had looked so good standing there, her hair pulled back with a scarf that matched the top she wore, her lips glossed, no makeup that I could see except maybe for a dusting of powder or whatever the hell it was that women wore these days. She had an air of innocence about her that I only noticed when I wasn’t thinking of the special agent. When she’d opened the door my mind had still been on what she’d looked like when I slipped out of her bedroom this morning so she’d caught me completely off guard.

I chopped some vegetables for her omelet as I boiled the water to make her some tea, I’d noted the brand she favored the night before and was lucky enough to find some in one of those high end overly expensive all night markets in the city. When I placed the cup in front of her I saw her face light up in surprise.

“How did you know?”

“You ordered it last night.”

I went back to chopping as she sipped my mind wandering for the time being to her job, I knew from the eyes and ears I’d placed in her place that they suspected me of doing something on the night of the rescue but once again they had no clue where to turn. The inquiry into the car explosion had come up empty and it was ruled an accident; the arrests of the other players were already under way and I’m sure they might eventually be able to put the pieces together but by then it would be too late, besides what were they going to say?

We were still working on the girls’ families doing last minute checks to make doubly sure that they weren’t going back into danger, I still had one more thing left to do there and it was proving difficult. So far none of the girls were able to give an accurate description of the ones who’d taken them, which was of great concern to us. Before we could send them back we had to eliminate the danger and we couldn’t if we didn’t know what we were looking for.

I’d tried to ascertain who it could be by using my contacts in that part of the world without much luck, believe it or not trafficking of young girls was not as rare as some might think. Families have been known to sell their children for a profit so it was for me the most delicate part of the operation. Rescuing them had been the easy part, keeping them safe was a whole other story and I knew that when the few days that I’d begged off was at an end I will have to leave her and head to the orient whether we found something or not, sometimes it was better to have your ear to the ground you learned more that way.

“Are you angry at the onion?”

Her question brought me back to the present and I smiled at her teasing tone.

“No why do you ask that?”

“You were scowling at it that’s all.”

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