Page 8 of Special Agent Isabella

Special Agent Julia Lu, the woman she’d trust her life with and had done so many times, found out there were complications with the coming baby. Since she and her wife had tried for months to get pregnant through expensive rounds of Invitro, she couldn’t take any chance that this one would fail too.

So, bed rest it was and rather than languish in a tiny apartment in Phoenix, she’d opted to spend the time with her folks on their ranch in Houston. Saying that Bella missed her would be a huge understatement.

Seeing as how their latest drug bust had ended with a big win for the good guys, huge amounts of crap off the streets, and also the money laundering, teen trafficking, and abuse had ceased, her boss had been both congratulatory and firm. “You need to get counseling and have a down period, Agent Mendez. I want to know you’re fully rested and have recovered from not just the gunshot wound in your thigh but the beating too.”

“Yes ma’am” had been her response. What else could she say? It hadn’t been a request. And in truth, the case had been difficult.

The Adamass gang, which had been affiliated with the Mexican cartel, had been in business for years, from father to son, and it had taken a large detail a long time to crack them open and clean them up.

But over many months they had done so, and she liked to know some of the reason it happened was because she’d gone in undercover and gotten the intelligence needed to convict the perps… put them behind bars for a long time.

Unfortunately, in the final crackdown, she’d gotten injured, and the bosses had determined she needed some down time off the streets. But twiddling her thumbs at a desk where she sat behind a screen ninety percent of the time didn’t come near to cutting it with her.

When she got called into the office at the end of the day, her heart lifted, and she prayed it would be a new assignment. Anything would be better than this boring job.

Minutes later she questioned her earlier judgement. Her sanity had been shredded in minutes. Surely, that putz Tanner couldn’t possibly be asking for her to work with him?

Yet he had. And her boss had given the okay. Would she take on the assignment? Was she ready to get back out there? Seriously… to babysit?

Jesus, she’d thought she’d do anything to get out of the daily boredom she’d gone through these last weeks, but this had to be a joke.

Except when she looked into the hard green eyes of the man who’d never shown that aspect of his personality in her presence previously, she saw it was no joke. Once she knew the seriousness of the case, she felt compelled to agree.

When they stepped out if her boss’s office, he spoke with a harshness in his tone she’d never heard before. “You have anything you need to fetch before we leave?”

“What am I, a dog? I don’t fetch, Master.”

A grin broke through his earlier severity, and she saw her old nemesis for a few seconds before seriousness resumed. “Sorry. Look, I’ll wait here until you’re ready to leave. Then we need to talk. Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Backing down, sensing his seriousness and the need to let him lead, she replied. “I’ll meet you in ten. Just have to close down the desk and grab my bag. Does dinner come with an alcoholic beverage?”

“Not this time, Izzie. This time it’s strictly work. But if you want to take me out on a real date sometime Princess, just ask me.”

“In your dreams, boyo. In your dreams.”

ChapterSix

Sitting across the dinner table from the man she’d have bet a fortune she’d never be alone with, Bella tried to hide her antagonism and be mature. All the way over in the car, she’d told herself it was strictly work. She’d do anything to get out of that stifling office atmosphere, right?

Well here was the anything. In spades. All they needed from her was to pay attention. Listen to what the job entailed. So far, the only thing she’d gotten from her boss earlier had been that the Governor had requested a special detail for protection, and Tanner had been the officer she’d chosen.

Then he’d come asking for a female agent to help out and the Bureau had recommended her. Probably because she’d been floating for weeks but the doc still hadn’t cleared her for more active duty. He’d wanted her to wait until the end of the month, which was more than a week away.

He'd thought her injuries not quite healed, and she didn’t confess those were newer ones from the fight she’d had with Hewie weeks back. If she’d spilled the beans that she’d been in another physical battle, they’d be all over her about taking more time off.

Once Tanner sat across from her, his annoying presence somehow magnetic, she brought her mind back to the present.

“Right, now can you tell me what this is all about? Just so you know, I’m not a babysitting kind of gal. And I don’t like being around kids very much.”

“Why? You used to be one.”

“Long time ago. And it wasn’t much fun. In fact, it sucked.”

“Maybe I chose the wrong agent after all.”

“What does that mean? Surely, you didn’t ask for me personally, did you?”

“Hell, no. They stuck me with you if you want the truth. Seems you’re recovering from injuries in your last assignment. I got the feeling, you forgot to mention your recent run-in with Hewie.”

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