Page 37 of Falling Fast

Taylor set down the menu and regarded her with worried hazel-brown eyes. “He’s so slimy underneath that slick image he portrays. And the worst part is, he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t show his other side until it’s too late.”

Exactly. Another reason why Charlie was so worked up about tonight.

“Are you… Do you want to talk about tonight?” Taylor offered.

“Nope. Not even a little. I just want to eat and enjoy some girl talk and forget about everything else for a while.”

A soft smile curved Taylor’s mouth. “Okay.” Reaching across the table, she set her hand over Charlie’s, squeezed. “It’s going to be fine. Jamie and the rest of us would never let anything happen to you.”

“I know.” Pulling her hand free, she cleared her throat and flagged down their waitress. “Let’s get some food.”

The rest of the lunch was highly enjoyable. By the time the bill came, Charlie had nearly forgotten what she had to do in another few hours.

All too soon they were on the subway heading back to Brooklyn. At Charlie’s stop she hugged Taylor goodbye and walked the two blocks back to her apartment building.

It was just after two in the afternoon now, leaving her just enough time to shower and get ready before she and Jamie left. He was renting a car for them to make the two-hour drive out to The Hamptons and back.

She tried everything to clear her mind while she stood under the shower, letting the hot water pound down on her head and shoulders in an attempt to ease the stiffness in her muscles. It was easy enough to push thoughts of Baker out of her head when she concentrated hard enough.

But it was impossible to do the same with Jamie. He wasn’t the sort of man a woman could ignore, much less forget, and having experienced firsthand a taste of what he offered…

She wanted more. So much more. But exactly how much she was willing to offer in return, she wasn’t sure, except it was more than it had been a week ago.

“One more night,” she murmured to herself.

All she needed to do was somehow get Baker to turn on his laptop in front of her for a few minutes, and the transmitter would do the rest. Then she could end this charade, get back to D.C. and on with the rest of her life.

How she was going to make that happen, however, was anyone’s guess. She and the team had come up with a couple ideas, but until she was in that office with him, she wouldn’t know which one—if any—were plausible.

After doing her hair and makeup, she put on a special pair of earrings to complete her look. The cell phone on the bathroom counter dinged with a new text message from Jamie, telling her he’d meet her downstairs in five minutes.

She blew out a long, steadying breath.Go time.

Charlie slipped the new encrypted burner phone into a small clutch purse and grabbed the lip-gloss transmitter. Baker’s men would confiscate the phone before she went inside the house, but if anyone checked it, they wouldn’t find anything incriminating on it.

She’d thought about hiding the transmitter in something else, then decided it was better not to, since Baker was already used to seeing her pull out the lip-gloss. At dinner last night she’d made a point of pulling it out twice, once after dessert and then again before leaving the table. She checked it carefully one last time to make sure the seam in the base didn’t show before dropping it into the clutch.

Grabbing the key to her apartment from the bowl on the kitchen counter, she tugged on the hem of her dress and grabbed the shawl she’d bought to wrap around her shoulders if she got cold. Nerves had her pulse skipping as she stepped out into the hallway, part of her still having trouble believing she was actually going to do this.

Jamie was waiting for her downstairs in the building’s foyer when the elevator doors opened. Her heart stuttered at the sight of him standing there, tall and mouthwatering in the black tux he must have rented this morning, the width of his shoulders emphasized by the tailored jacket. The crisp white of the dress shirt showed off the gorgeous bronze of his skin, the dark scruff on his jaw giving a rugged edge to his good looks.

His dark-honey eyes locked on her, tracked down the length of her body and back up, and the flash of pure hunger she saw there made her a little weak in the knees. “You look…nice,” he said, the hesitation suggesting he’d almost forgotten to stay in character and said something else instead.

Okay, he hadn’t lost the ability to talk, but knowing she’d nearly thrown his concentration was a boost. If Taylor was here, she’d be giving Charlie a supportive thumbs up right now. “Thanks. You—”Look amazing—“sure clean up nice.”

He grunted in reply, looked like he wanted to say more, but then turned toward the door. “I’m parked in the side alley.”

She caught his arm to stop him. He half-turned and she got a subtle whiff of his cologne as she stepped up to him and stopped, her high heels putting her nearly at eye level with him. Standing in front of the front door they were in plain view of anyone who cared to watch them from the street, maybe even people from their team—including her brother—but she didn’t care.

This was it. Once they left here, she would be in some degree of danger. They both would. And before that happened, she wanted him to know how she felt, even if it wasn’t in words. He was stealing her heart piece by piece, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could to do stop it.

She didn’twantto stop it.

Before she could change her mind, she put a hand on the side of his face, leaned in and pressed her lips to his.I care about you, way more than I want to, she told him without words.

Jamie stiffened but didn’t push her away. The kiss was soft and sweet and she pulled away after only a second to stare up at him.

Jamie didn’t move, holding her gaze, his expression tormented. She knew he didn’t want her to do this. Didn’t want to be involved with putting her into danger. But neither of them had a choice.

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