Page 38 of Falling Fast

It was too late to back out now. They had a job to do, and if they did it right, starting tomorrow they could build a case to put Baker away, and maybe even bring down more people within the cartel.

“Guess we’d better get going,” she murmured.

He nodded once, jaw tight, eyes unreadable. “Yeah.” He opened the door for her.

She stepped out onto the front walkway. The afternoon spring air was warm, the sun shining down on her, but she felt colder inside as she moved away from Jamie.

He walked with her around the side of the building where he’d left the car, hesitated a moment at her side as though he wanted to open her door for her, then walked around to climb in behind the wheel. Because this wasn’t a date. They weren’t a couple, and James her neighbor wouldn’t have opened the door for her.

He pulled out onto the street, nodding once at Logan, who was driving a delivery van parked across the street. Easton and Taylor were in there with him. The team would follow them to within a mile or so from Baker’s house, then wait there while she and Jamie carried out the op, just in case.

It didn’t ease the sense of foreboding building inside her. Having the team wait “nearby” wasn’t exactly a whole lot of comfort should something go wrong. The entire taskforce—hell, the entire investigation—depended on her gaining access to that laptop tonight.

Traffic was steady as they drove east out of the city and headed up Long Island. “Have a good time with Taylor this morning?” he asked, sexy and confident as ever behind the wheel. The man played havoc on her nervous system simply by being near her.

The chance for some light conversation helped ease her nerves a little. “I did. She’s great. What did you do today?”

“Rented this monkey suit,” he said, gesturing down at himself with one hand.

“Perfect fit.”

He glanced at her, his gaze sweeping over her with such heat and longing it made her toes curl in her new heels. “So is your dress.”

At that moment, she wished with everything in her that he would turn around, drive them back to the apartment and take her upstairs. Forget about this whole operation and what she had to do. Finish what he’d started yesterday. Figure out where they would go from there.

Maybe when this is all over.

Something for her to look forward to after the stress of tonight. She’d never been interested in anything more than casual before, but then none of the men she’d dated had been anything like Jamie. Plus she loved that he was close with his family, and that he and Easton were so tight. It spoke volumes about his character.

“Thanks.” She shifted in her seat, trying her best to ignore the nervous buzz in her stomach, a hive of angry bees growing more and more agitated with each mile they drew closer to Sagaponack.

They made small talk for a little while, but they were careful not to bring up last night or the status of their relationship, and after about half an hour they ran out of things to chat about and lapsed into silence.

Doubt began to creep in, her mind running through all the things that could go wrong tonight. Little by little, dread and anxiety coiled her muscles tighter and tighter as they neared The Hamptons.

Baker was hoping to sleep with her tonight. No sense avoiding that reality. He was definitely going to try to get her alone in the office, and it was probably her only shot at accessing his laptop. She’d have to wing it, adjust to whatever the situation called for, and, if things got sticky, hope she’d learned enough about self-defense from her dad and brothers and the crash course from Jamie to hold her own and escape Baker’s clutches.

Her stomach hurt. Realizing she was holding her breath, she consciously relaxed her muscles and inhaled deeply. But the ache in the pit of her stomach didn’t go away.

Jamie glanced over at her as the sign welcoming them to Sagaponack came into view. She stared straight ahead through the windshield, trying every trick she knew to calm herself, afraid to look at him in case it gave her away.

It wasn’t working.

Her hands were clasped together in her lap, fingers cold and stiff. Unable to stop thinking about it, her mind raced with dozens of different scenarios she might face tonight, each one more terrible than the last.

Too late now.The tension ebbed higher, building the internal pressure that seemed to be centered in her chest.

She was out of time, had nowhere to go but into the mansion waiting ahead. In just a few minutes she had to be Spider, the cocky and edgy hacker who was going to try to bring down the suspected money launderer for the most dangerous drug cartel on this side of the globe.

Jamie glanced over, took one look at Charlie and bit back a silent curse. God, she was fucking terrified, and they had only minutes to go until they arrived at Baker’s place.

Her face was pale, her expression pinched, and her fingers were wound so tightly together in her lap that her knuckles were white.

Damn, sweetheart, don’t do this to me now.He was having a hard enough time going through with this himself.

Uncurling the fingers of his right hand from around the wheel, he reached over the console and pried one of her hands loose. Her skin was icy, her fingers and palms damp.

He squeezed but she still didn’t look at him, so he wrapped his fingers around hers, brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to it.Come on, Trouble. Hang in there.

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