Page 31 of Falling Fast

“Fine. Are you still going to have me over this weekend?”

Shit, he’d been so preoccupied with his plans for Charlie, he’d completely forgotten about promising to have Mads over. “Absolutely. How about you come out on Sunday afternoon?” By then his staff would have cleaned up from the party, and whatever had happened with Charlie. “We’ll go out on the boat together, then have some dinner after. Any place you want, you pick. I’ll send the helicopter for you.” She loved it when he did that.

“Yay! Just me?”

He could just picture the excitement dancing in her big blue eyes at having her favorite uncle all to herself, without her mom there. “Just you.” He loved spoiling her.

“I can’t wait! What time will the pilot be here?”

“I’ll text you and let you know. Bring the dress I bought you last time, in case we go somewhere fancy.”

“Okay. I can’t wait to tell Mom! Love you, bye.”

“Love you too, sweet pea.” He ended the call, watching Charlie’s cab as it turned the corner and disappeared from view.

She’d be his tomorrow. One way or the other. He couldn’t decide which was better, for her to come to him willingly, or for her to force his hand.

Dean smiled to himself as he waited for the valet to bring his car around, already planning what he’d do once he got her alone at the party.

Chapter Eight

By the time they made it back to the apartment building, Jamie was hanging onto his sanity by a thread. A thin one.

Anger and possessiveness swirled inside him, pushing him to the edge of his control.

Throughout the two-hour dinner, he’d been forced to sit there and endure watching Baker doing his best to charm and entice Charlie, without being able to do a damn thing about it. Had to sit there and pretend not to care every time Baker touched her hand or leaned in too close.

She’d done fine, played the part of a reluctant woman slowly warming to a seemingly charming man. It turned his stomach to remember it.

They may have gotten the all-important invite to his house tomorrow night because of it, but it came with a price. A price that was slowly eating away at Jamie’s insides like acid.

Given the way Baker had been flirting with her tonight, the man was definitely going to try to put the moves on her tomorrow, and Jamie had a bad feeling he wouldn’t be there to stop it. There was no way Baker would let Jamie into his private office or anywhere near the laptop, so Charlie would have to go in alone.

It tore him to shreds to think of sending her in there by herself. If anything went wrong, he was her first line of defense. But he might not even be able to fucking get to her.

Every instinct Jamie possessed screamed at him not to let her do it. He had no idea how close he could get when she went into that office, but even just outside the room was too far this time if Baker locked the door.

The whole idea was making him insane. If an emergency arose, Jamie had to alert the backup team with an emergency beacon set into his watch. Easton, Logan and Taylor would be waiting in a vehicle close by, ready to extract them, but he and Charlie had to make it to the rendezvous point on their own first.

He forced himself to take a deep breath, ignoring the sideways glances Charlie was sending his way from beside him in the back seat. He knew what he’d signed up for, understood what they needed to do and the risks associated with it.

But now he couldn’t handle Charlie being in that kind of danger. Of likely having to withstand Baker’s advances alone, and maybe worse if he got aggressive. Physically she was no match for him.

A queasy sensation twisted his stomach.

He walked a step or two behind her as they made their way up to the front door of the apartment building, keeping up the pretense of their cover story even though he was almost certain no one had followed them here.

He’d had the cab driver take a circuitous route from the restaurant, giving Jamie time to make sure they hadn’t attracted a tail. He hadn’t spotted anything to suggest they had, but just in case he’d missed something, he’d insisted they get out and walk through a crowded coffee shop and out the back before taking another cab here.

The back of his neck might not be tingling, but Baker knew where they lived and would absolutely have someone watching them at least part time.

Two steps from the front door, his cell vibrated in his pants pocket. He pulled it out, read the text from Logan, who’d followed them here in another cab and checked in with the surveillance team.

All clear.

He put the phone away without answering, anxious to get inside and lock the world out for the rest of the night. He seriously didn’t know how Logan had done undercover work for as long as he had. Jamie had only been on this op for a few days and he was ready to split apart at the seams from stressing about Charlie and trying to repress his feelings for her.

Man, he’d give anything right now for them both to be back in D.C., him with his team, training with the guys.

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