Page 56 of A More Perfect Union

“Rook, are you stillthere?” Eric asked.

“Sorry. Yes, let metalk to Blake if she’s in.”

A moment later, Blakewas on the line. “Rook?”

“Hey, Blake, I onlyhave a minute. I need you to go to my place right now and deliver the followingnote to Zoey Granger.” She gave Blake a second to find a pen and paper and thendictated her message to Zoey. “I’ll explain later, but she needs thisinformation before she goes into work today. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Rook gave her a fewmore instructions, and by the time she hung up, they were inside the gate andGeorge was parking the car. In a few minutes, she’d be expected to provide afull accounting of everything she’d learned so far, but all she could thinkabout was Zoey and the night of lovemaking they’d shared. For the first time inRook’s life, work wasn’t claiming most of her headspace, and her heartdefinitely longed to be back with Zoey. Maybe when this case was over, she’dtake a break, do something fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d takena vacation that didn’t involve hand-holding one of her clients. Her mind playedpictures of her and Zoey, stretched out on the beautiful white sands ofSeychelles—no phones, no clients, no responsibilities—and the only hand-holdingwould be the kind between lovers as they explored the island together. Beforeshe climbed out of the car, she offered up a silent vow to bring this fantasyto life.

* * *

Zoey padded her waydownstairs to Rook’s kitchen, having searched the rest of the house for herwithout success. The kitchen was empty, but she spotted a tented piece of papersitting by the coffeemaker.

Coffee’s ready.All you have to do is push the button. Had to make an early meeting, but I’llcall you when I’m done. Last night was amazing. Rook

Zoey turned on thecoffeemaker and reread the note, wondering what time Rook had left and howshe’d managed to get ready for work without waking her.Because you weresleeping the deep sleep of someone who just had multiple orgasms.Shesmiled at the memory, the many memories they’d created across the expanse ofRook’s bed last night. They’d both been insatiable and, as tired as she was, ifRook had woken her this morning, they would still be in bed, immune to the callof duty.

The coffeemakerdinged and Zoey broke out of her daydream and glanced at the clock. Seventhirty. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept this late. She’d haveto hurry to make it to the office before Sharp started looking for her.Surprisingly, the prospect of being late didn’t make her anxious. In fact, shefelt incredibly relaxed like she could handle anything the world threw her way.Was this the post-sex haze she’d heard about, but never experienced? Normally,she spent the hours after a sexual encounter thinking of ways to extricateherself from the other woman’s bed and expectations of something more, unless she’dbeen lucky enough to find a like-minded woman who was only interested in acasual hookup, no repeat performance required.

She poured a cup ofcoffee in a to-go mug she’d found in the cabinet and was looking for her phonewhen she heard the sound of a key in the front door. Excited at the prospect ofseeing Rook again before she had to tackle the drudge of work, she strode overto the door and threw it wide open, but instead of Rook on the other side, itwas the blonde that had been collecting evidence at Colonel Mitchell’s housethe night he committed suicide.

The woman stuck outher hand. “Major Granger, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Blake Wyatt. Iwork with Rook Daniels.”

Zoey looked down atthe hand and gave it a quick shake. Who could forget such a gorgeous woman, butwhat was she doing here so early in the morning? And why did she have her ownkey? “Rook’s not here.”

“I know.” Blakelooked away. “Uh, would you like to change and then we can talk?”

“What?” Zoey askedbefore looking down and realizing she was dressed in only the T-shirt she’d hadon last night that she’d plucked from the floor this morning. Shit. She didn’tsee much point in changing now since Blake had already gotten an eyeful. Sheshut the door and motioned for Blake to join her in the kitchen. “Is Rookokay?”

Blake looked puzzled.“Sure, she’s fine, but she asked me to give you this.” She handed over a note.

Zoey took the note,placed it on the counter, and looked back at Blake who showed no signs ofleaving. “Anything else?”

“She wanted me towait while you read it and then take you wherever you wanted to go.”

The nerve of thischick, acting like she was in charge. Zoey stood tall and assumed as powerful astance as she could while dressed in only a T-shirt. “Actually, I’m good. I’llcall Rook when I’ve had a chance to read it.”

“If she wanted me tostick around, she had a good reason.”

Wow, she was going tohave to be really direct. In her most commanding voice, Zoey said, “I’ll behappy to tell Rook you did her bidding and were a great messenger, but rightnow I want to drink this coffee, get dressed, and go to work. The faster youleave, the faster I can accomplish those goals. Understood?”

Blake held up herhands in surrender and started backing toward the door. “Understood. Butpromise me you’ll read the note before you talk to anyone else today.”

“Sure, fine,whatever.” Zoey waved her off. Blake set the key on the counter next to thenote and strolled out like she was completely unaffected by Zoey’s display ofauthority. When the door closed behind her, Zoey tossed her coffee down thesink. Blake’s surprise visit had woken her up way faster than any caffeinecould. She slowly unfolded the paper Blake had left behind and scanned thecontents. It wasn’t the same handwriting as the note Rook had left with thecoffee, so if this message was from Rook, she’d dictated it to someone else.

Headed intomeeting at White House. Found new evidence on Mitchell’s computer that theDarcy Agency was a front for a Russian spy ring and have reason to believeSharp may be involved. Try to avoid him until we can come up with a plan. I’llcall you as soon as I’m done with this meeting.

Zoey read the noteseveral times before she tossed it back onto the counter and picked up herphone. She punched the buttons for Rook’s number and waited impatiently throughthe rings, hoping she wasn’t in her meeting yet. When Rook’s voice came on theline, it wasn’t live but the outgoing message on her voice mail, and Zoey hungup without leaving a message.

Russian spy ring? Wasthis some kind of joke? The questions kept coming. Why was Rook meeting at theWhite House without her? Surely all these new developments hadn’t happenedwhile she was sleeping. Why hadn’t Rook told her what was going on? Setting allthat aside, what was this bullshit about General Sharp?

She picked up herphone and dialed Rook’s number again with the same result. Frustrated, shestabbed out a text.Got your message. WTF? Hoping this isn’t some kind ofsick joke. Then again, hoping it is. You better have a good explanation forcutting me out. CALL ME.

She read it againbefore hitting send, debating over the all caps at the end but decided therewas no sense hiding her anger, so she left them in place. Ten minutes later,Zoey was dressed in her clothes from the night before and walking to her car.When she’d woken up in Rook’s bed less than an hour ago, she’d imagined a verydifferent scenario, one that involved lingering touches and a slow, easyreentry to the real world. Everywhere she looked, people were rushing off towork, engaging in their normal routine, oblivious to the fact her world wascrashing in around her.

Chapter Twenty

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