Page 45 of Once a Killer

His arms tightened around her. “Hard for me to feel bad about that,” he said. “Karma’s a bitch and she always bites you.”

She lifted her head and gave him a faint smile. “Yeah. She did. And he was killed because he’d made sure I was grounded at our base and ultimately tossed out of the Marines. He did the same job I did, and we were supposed to work together. Protect one another. Without me there, he was vulnerable.”

“What job was that?” he asked.

Bree shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is he got rid of the person who protected him. Because he was jealous.”

“That you were better than he was.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. I was.”

“Totally sucks for you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and holding on tightly. “Were you really booted out of the Marines?”

She hesitated for a beat too long. “Partly,” she finally said. She swallowed. “After Rick was killed, I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.” She fixed her gaze on his shirt. “I tried to report it and was shut down. Threatened. I didn’t feel safe in the Marines anymore, so I moved to another government agency.”

He really wanted to know what she’d seen. But instead of asking, he said, “It all sounds really ugly. I get why getting involved with me might freak you out. But we’re not co-workers and it doesn’t sound as if your company prohibits relationships. I’m really attracted to you, and I suspect you’re equally attracted to me. I think we’d be amazing together. So think about it, okay? I won’t pressure you. You have to make the first move.”

He bent his head and kissed her again, and this time, besides the passion, she tasted caring. Concern. It made her want to take his hand and lead him into her bedroom.

But she wasn’t going to do it. Sleeping with Jameson would shatter the working relationship they’d developed. Destroy the chemistry between them. She wouldn’t take that chance.

He dropped one more kiss onto her head and stepped away. “You hungry?” he asked.

She laughed. “I’m always hungry, Jameson. So, yeah. Let’s have dinner. What do you have in mind?”

“I want pizza,” he asked. “That okay with you?”

“Pizza is always okay with me.”

He pulled out his phone. “Veggie, right?”

“Yeah. No onions, though.”

“Got it.” He pressed a number and after a few moments said, “Gus? This is Jameson Ford. I’d like to order two pizzas.”

After they ate dinner, Jameson disappeared into the living room with his computer. Once she could hear the clacking of his keyboard, Bree pulled out her burner phone. Dialed the number of the police department closest to the accident site and waited until someone answered.

“Hi,” she said. “I saw the accident on Waubonsia earlier today, and an ambulance took someone away. Is he all right? I’m worried about him.” She made her voice sound a little shaky. Old, so the police would think she was merely a nosy old woman.

“He’s fine,” the officer said. “We had an ambulance take him to the closest hospital for evaluation. They’ll keep him overnight and send him home tomorrow.”

“Thank you so much, officer. I was very concerned.”

“It’s good of you to call, Ma’am,” the officer said. “But you don’t need to worry about him.”

“I appreciate the update,” Bree said, then disconnected the call.

Then she grabbed her own phone and dialed Mel’s number.

“Mel Melbourne,” her boss said a few moments later.

“Mel, this is Bree. Can you send Diego to Chicago for a couple of days? Or someone else if Diego isn’t available?”

“Everything all right?” Mel asked immediately.

“Yeah. It’s all good. We had an incident today -- an SUV tried to ram into Jameson’s side of the SUV. I was able to avoid the hit and we’re both fine. But I took the other driver’s license and some credit cards with different names on them. I’m going to pay a visit to the driver, and I don’t want Jameson there. I want him safely in his lab, but he needs protection while he’s there.”

“You suspect someone in his lab has targeted him?” Mel asked sharply.

---