a few glasses of wine?
“My old man embarrassed the hell out of me, too, while I was growing up,” Jake said, and Mary felt the tension between them easing. “He was an overbearing bastard. Bound and determined his son would grow up to be just like him—despite knowing damned well that I didn’t want any part of who he was.”
Mary reached out and laid a gentle hand on Jake’s arm. “I’m sorry. That’s hard. Who was he?”
“A survivalist. One of those crazed individuals who lives in the backwoods and stockpiles weapons, waiting for the day when the big, bad government will arrive for a showdown.”
“Oh, my gosh. Sounds like an awful way to grow up.” Mary’s heart turned a somersault in sympathy.
“He did teach me how to handle weapons. And I can survive on my own without the trappings of civilization.” Jake sounded as if he thought those things weren’t any big deal.
“But that wasn’t what you wanted. Was it?”
He took a swallow of what had to be by now warm beer, and then gazed at her as if she was the only person on the planet who mattered.
“Not me.” With a hollow-sounding laugh, he added, “I wanted to be involved in one of civilization’s biggest accomplishments—electronics. I wanted to learn how things work. How computers run. Why cell phones sometimes get signals and sometimes don’t. I thought engineering was magic and I was desperate to learn all those kinds of tricks.”
“Whoo boy. I bet your father hated that.” Their stories weren’t the same, but Mary was feeling connected to this man. A connection through their overbearing fathers.
“Yeah, he did. I got out from under his control at the first opportunity.”
She took a slow sip from her glass while trying to clear her head. “So, why are you in real estate and not electronics? “
Had she slurred a couple of those words? Maybe it was time for her to give up the wine. She set the glass back down on the table and tried to focus her eyes on Jake.
He wiped his hand across his forehead and then put his palm out as if he was unable to explain himself.
After a moment he said, “Commercial real estate is more lucrative. Electronics makes a better hobby.”
He’d opted for the money. Of course. She could certainly understand that. She was considering a change of jobs for the very same reason.
“You’re not married?” Jeez. She must be drunk.
“I’ve never had the pleasure.” His whole expression changed and he smiled as if she’d just handed him the moon—or a new BlackBerry. “So far, I haven’t found anyone who could love me.”
Think of that. They were like two nuts off the same branch. Mary felt as if she’d known him all her life.
The waitress arrived at the table. “Sorry. It’s closing time. The bartender says you can have one more round. But you’ll need to drink up.”
Jake turned to Mary and inclined his head as though it were totally up to her.
“No, thanks. I think I’ve had my limit.”
After the waitress took Jake’s money and left, Mary began to rise from her seat and said, “I can’t believe it’s 1:00 a.m. already. I…wish we had more time to talk.”
Talking wasn’t what she wanted, but she didn’t have the foggiest notion of how to ask him back to her room.
Jake jumped up from the table and helped her to her feet. “Let’s take our time going back to your room. We can talk on the way.”
Trying her best to keep the wide-eyed look of wonder off her face, she knew she was failing miserably. But she couldn’t help it. Everything she had ever wanted—ever dreamed about—was right here beside her.
And he was walking her back to her room.
Chapter 2
Jake’s mission couldn’t have been going any better if he’d written his target’s lines himself. After a couple of hours and several glasses of wine, he’d already piqued Mary’s interest enough that she’d allowed him to walk her back to her room. This night would be a great start to his plan—of becoming Mary’s boyfriend.
When she weaved from side to side down the hall, he slid his arm around her shoulders. She trembled slightly under the weight of his arm. Taking a deep breath, he caught the sweet smell of strawberries coming from her hair. A perfect scent for her. Like a field full of summer sunshine.
It made him want to pull her closer. Take her in his arms and kiss her until they both lost track of their senses. Until the smell of strawberries surrounded them in a cloud of lust.
Ahem. The mission always comes first.
Straightening up, he went over the things bothering him about this assignment—in addition to his unusual physical reactions to the target. The target—Mary. He’d never met anyone quite as guileless as she seemed. Like a naive teen, she appeared incapable of holding back or fudging the truth. Was it all an act? To his trained lawman’s eye she looked about as old as the twenty-nine that was listed as her age. Those minor laugh wrinkles at the corners of her eyes gave her away.
If she was putting on a gullible act for some reason, she sure as hell had him suckered in. But he was supposed to be a pro. This was his twelfth mission in ten years. Not his first.
Still, this mission marked the first time that he had actually given out his own background during an undercover operation. Not a smart move. Once a covert agent started mixing up his cover story with his own life history, the whole backstory he’d constructed might come crumbling down around him. He understood that well.
But she had been completely open with him about her relationship to her father. Open and embarrassed about letting him see that the murdered man was not someone she was sorry to see dead. Mark Walsh must’ve been difficult for her to deal with during their years together.
Jake thought about how a good covert agent twisted with the wind. Went with the flow. The truth about his own father had come tumbling from his lips in an effort to gain her sympathy. Then he’d had a hell of a time recovering when she’d asked him why he’d chosen to go into real estate.
Real estate. Why had he ever allowed Jim to talk him into that crazy cover? Yeah, yeah. Jake understood how real estate would be the perfect occupation, allowing a man on a mission to gain information. Real estate gave him plenty of excuses for snooping around. Just looking for potential property acquisitions.
But now, hell.
“We’re almost there.”
They were. A few more doors down the hall. And they had yet to say two words to each other on the way here.
Jake checked over his shoulder, still concerned that the earlier attack on him had some connection to his mission. But the hotel hallway was quiet. Not one soul in sight. His gut told him they were as isolated out in the hall as they would be inside her room.
Mary pulled the key card from her purse and stopped. She turned to him with the most hopeful expression on her face.
“This is it.”
She was beautiful. Her eyes sparkled with youthful anticipation. Her long, full hair dared him to run his hands through it—to lose himself in the satiny texture and heavenly scent. But could he stoop to taking improper advantage of her inebriated state? It wouldn’t be fair.
The mission always comes first.
It had been eons since she’d let a man kiss her, and in Mary’s memory those previous times had been…stressful. She’d wondered why she had ever thought to give it a second try.
But wasn’t that why she’d come