“Good morning, Sunshine,” Heath said as Aileen stumbled into the brownstone’s kitchen, looking like death warmed over. He didn’t miss her flat glare or the fact she seemed to be staring at the empty coffee pot like she’d just lost her favorite puppy. “Don’t worry,” he said, taking pity on her at last. “The carafe over here is full.”

“I don’t do breakfast. Sorry,” she said, slumping down into the chair across from his at the table and grabbing the pot. “Guess I should’ve told you that before you made all this food.”

Heath snorted. “I didn’t make this, I ordered it. From the little diner down the block. Best brown-sugar bacon in town.” To prove his point, he took another large bite of it from the strips on his plate. “And all of this is actually mine. I might’ve been persuaded to share, but now that you’ve disparaged my favorite meal of the day, I don’t think I will.”

Now, it was Aileen’s turn to snort. “I didn’t disparage breakfast, I just said I didn’t do it.”

“Same thing.” He downed several bites of fresh strawberries—out of season; being rich had its advantages—followed by a healthy mouthful of smoked salmon and cream cheese on an organic whole wheat bagel. “Why don’t you eat in the morning? You could stand to put on some weight.”

“Please. I’m healthy. I’m fine.” She shook her head and gulped her black coffee. “Why are you so concerned about my eating habits anyway? Don’t we have more important things to discuss today? Like how we’re going to nab Senator Lawrence. I called my office at the paper. They’re going to messenger over the work laptop from my desk today so I can continue researching remotely.”

He finished his bagel then wiped his mouth, sitting back to watch her closely, his inner analyst on high alert. A work computer would have all her links and information along with her passwords. If he could get that intel to Daveed, then they could hack into her research and find out for themselves what she’d uncovered. “What proof do you have of his dealings with EnKor?”

Her crestfallen expression told him everything he needed to know.

“That’s what I thought.” He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, still not sure he quite believed her and wanting to see the proof for himself. “Listen, I think Lawrence is as crooked as they come, despite his squeaky-clean reputation and his forty years in Congress. Nobody’s that pristine. But if you want to nail this guy, you’re going to need solid, irrefutable proof of his misdeeds. Otherwise no one’s going to believe you and the senator and his nephew will get away with whatever nefarious deeds they’re doing.”

“Oh, I’ll get it, don’t worry.” Aileen shifted in her seat and leaned forward over the table to grab a strawberry. Her position allowed him a peek down the front of her PJ top and he glimpsed an expanse of creamy, soft flesh and the gentle rise of the top of her breasts. Heath had mentioned her being too skinny earlier, but that had mainly been to get some kind of rise out of her because honestly, right now she looked damned near perfect to him. He coughed to cover a small groan and his cock twitched in appreciation of her fine assets.

Not cool, bro. Not cool at all.

This is Murph’s little sister, not some late-night booty call that lingered over into the morning, he reminded himself. Then Aileen dropped her napkin on the floor and she bent over to pick it up and his mouth went sandpaper dry.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what a beautiful booty it was too.

All taut and pert and just begging for him to cup those globes and hike her up against him as he pressed her to the wall and thrust his cock so deep inside her that she begged for more. He’d give it to her too, over and over and…

Aileen continued on, oblivious to his carnal fantasies, and Heath shifted in his seat to accommodate his rapidly hardening dick. Scowling, he refilled his coffee mug then took a large swallow of the scalding hot liquid, enjoying the distraction of the burn in his throat.

“My plan is to pressure the senator into making a mistake,” she said, now nibbling on a buttery croissant. For someone who didn’t eat breakfast, she seemed to be devouring his food pretty well. “From my research, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what he’s doing. I’m guessing he helped set up EnKor as a fake company and he’s using it to skim millions of dollars from their investors by having them buy into all that green energy technology that doesn’t actually exist. Believe me, I’ve tried locating the guy EnKor claims invented their systems and he’s a ghost. No face, no birth date, no address, no nothing.”

“Yeah, Murphy went looking for him too, with Shayma and couldn’t find anything.”

“Huh.” She frowned. “How long’s he known this girl?”

“You could find out for yourself if we took a little trip over to The Plaza today.”

“Ha, ha.” Aileen gave him an incredulous stare. “We have a deal, remember? Besides, I don’t want Murphy involved until I know what I’m dealing with. So, tell me more about this girl. How did they meet? Where’s she from? Is she nice?”

“They met through Daveed. Shayma’s from Al Dar Nasrani. And yes, she’s very nice.”

“What’s she doing all the way in New York City at Christmastime?”

“Now here’s where things get interesting.” He sat forward and grinned. “The reporter in you should love this. Shayma came here because she was engaged to Daveed.”

“Wait.” Aileen sat back and crossed her arms, only serving to highlight her excellent rack. Not that he noticed. Nope. “I just read in the tabloids Daveed’s engaged to someone else.”

“Yep. My ex-fiancée, Melody Haskall-Ebons.”

The confusion in her expression deepened. “Let me get this straight. Shayma, who’s dating my older brother Murphy, originally came to New York to marry Daveed, but she couldn’t because he was already engaged to your ex-fiancée?”

“About sums it up, yeah.” He raised a brow. “How’s that for soap opera?”

“So Daveed’s got someone and Murphy’s hooked up, but where does that leave you?”

“Alone.” The word emerged harsher than he’d intended, but he didn’t want her getting any ideas about him needing a matchmaker. He was fine by himself. Gave him more time to concentrate on his new tech business and work on this mess with the senator. Besides, after the whole debacle with Mel, he wanted to lay low and not stir up any more shit in the media about his personal life. “Just the way I like it.”

“Amen,” Aileen said, though he could’ve sworn he saw a flicker of disappointment in her amber eyes before she looked away from him. It was for the best, really, no matter how awkward and uncomfortable it might feel now. The two of them together was way too far out in left-field to ever work. They were too different, too focused on their own careers and life goals, too independent. Weren’t they?

She sighed and brought his attention back to the present. “Anyway, from the reports I’ve been reading from Capitol Hill, Senator Lawrence is gearing up to have his committee vote on whether to give EnKor a huge government grant. If it passes, he’ll end up pocketing the money himself, eventually. That’s why I need to stop him in his tracks.”

Glad to have something else to focus on other than her delectable body and his raging libido, Heath began clearing up his breakfast dishes. “And how do you propose we do that?”

“Mind if I take a look at your morning paper?” she asked.

“Be my guest. It’s in the living room.” He tossed the trash and stuck the leftovers in the fridge for later then joined her near the front of the brownstone. “Find what you were looking for?”

“Yep.” Aileen turned to face him, putting them much closer than he’d expected. Form here, he could see just how long and dark and thick her eyelashes were, feel her warmth through the T-shirt he’d pulled on after his shower this morning, smell a hint of her coconut shampoo and fabric softener from her sheets. She stared up at him a moment, seemingly as stunned as he was, and bit her lower lip. “Uh, it says Senator Lawrence is still in town making pre-holiday appearances. To keep the pressure on him, we need to follow him, see where he goes, what he does.”

“He’ll recognize your face from the park though, won’t he?”

“Not if I go in disguise again.” Aileen’s little smile gave him all sorts of wicked ideas. “And this time I’ll have a boyfriend with me. How about you and I pretend we’re a couple out to buy our Christmas tree and admire the window treatments at Barneys? Newspaper says he’ll be there in about two hours to shake hands and kiss babies.”

Spending more time in close proximity to Aileen probably wasn’t the wisest idea in the world, but Heath had made a deal with her and he always kept his word, no matter how difficult it was. Besides, he didn’t plan to let her roam the city alone and allow her to escape again. It was only by his instincts and the grace of God he’d found her the last time at the MacLean’s. Something told him that if she disappeared on him again in the future, she wouldn’t be so easy to track.

“Fine.” He stepped back and headed for the hallway. “Meet back here in an hour to talk logistics.”

“Hey, do you happen to have any old costume stuff laying around? Wigs or whatever?” Aileen called from behind him.

Heath stopped and peeked back into the living room. “As a matter of fact, I think there’s a trunk of stuff up on the second floor the previous renters left behind. They were a couple of actors. Might find something in there.”

“Cool, thanks.” She smiled and his whole day seemed to brighten. “See you in an hour.”

* * *

“Well, how do I look?” Aileen walked back into the living room fifty minutes later in her new get-up. The pickings had been slim in the trunk upstairs, but she’d done the best she could. At least she’d managed to find a wig in there, so she didn’t have to wear Santa’s gray locks anymore. The fire engine-red long fall of hair was actually quite eye-catching and she intended to keep this wig around for future use. Otherwise, she’d pulled together a staid outfit of jeans and a thick green sweater with a reindeer on the front from the garments Heath had had sent over for her the night before. She’d layered a couple of extra T-shirts underneath it to give her a bit of added bulk and make her look heavier than she really was. Not because of his comments earlier. She didn’t care what he thought about her looks. Of course she didn’t. That would be silly. They were working on this senator story together. That was it.

At least the paper had delivered her laptop as promised. It wasn’t the usual one she’d become accustomed to since going undercover, but it would do. And because she kept all her research in cloud files, she could access them anywhere. Aileen planned to login later and add what little information she’d gleaned over the past couple of days, mainly about Heath Goldwin. That he was rich, opinionated, and irritatingly correct about a lot of things.

Said man looked up from the paper to give her a slow head-to-toe appraisal, and that spark of heat in his stormy gray eyes felt anything but co-worker-ly. Those damned tingles fired up in her core again, causing molten warmth to spread outward to her extremities, and her traitorous knees gave an unsteady little wobble. Bastards.

“Well?” She gave a slow spin, and her cute navy-blue rubber boots with white snowflakes covering them squeaked on the hardwood floor. “What do you think? Am I girlfriend material?”

Heath’s eyes widened a fraction and his mouth dropped open, only to snap shut again. He looked ready to say something, but then he coughed and set his paper aside before standing. “Fine,” he said, his voice a tad gruffer than she remembered from earlier. “You look fine.”

Disappointment had her shoulders sagging. It didn’t matter. It didn’t. “All that time spent perfecting my disguise and all I get is fine?”

He smoothed his hand down the front of his faded jeans that molded to his muscular thighs and butt like a second skin and exhaled slowly. “Great, perfect, extraordinary. Exquisite.” His gaze met hers and for the briefest second, time seemed to slow and her heart tripped. “Is that better?”

“Much.” The word escaped her lips on a sigh of wonder.

Maybe his opinion mattered after all. A lot.

Aileen cleared her throat, and her head, of all those silly ideas. Yes, Heath was gorgeous and looked even more so since he’d changed into a dark brown turtleneck sweater and dark wash jeans that only made him look taller and leaner than ever. On his head was a black knit skull cap to hide his blond hair and on his feet were a pair of black combat boots, probably left over from his military days, she supposed. He slid on a black wool coat then helped her into the puffy down jacket she’d carried out with her. It was neutral gray, so she hoped it wouldn’t clash with her fiery red wig.

“Ready?” she asked as she slid the long hair out of the back of her jacket.

“Yep. Here.” He stepped behind her and before she could ask what he was doing the whisper touch of his fingers along the back of her neck made Aileen shiver. “You still had some hair caught inside.”

His warm minty breath tickled her cheek and she nearly groaned with pleasure. It had been too long since she’d dated a man, let alone gone to bed with one. That had to be it. Between her hectic schedule at the paper and then going undercover on this story, it made any sort of relationship hard to maintain. And one-night stands weren’t really her thing.

“Uh, thanks,” she said, slipping her suede hobo bag over her shoulder then starting for the door. Keeping space between her and Heath today was of paramount importance. Given how strongly her body reacted whenever he was around, that was the only way she’d keep from jumping him in some alley somewhere and having her wicked way with him. “We should go. The senator’s appearance is due to start in about half an hour and I don’t want to miss it.”

Heath nodded then patted his pockets. “Got my keys and my wallet. I’m ready.”

They walked out and he set the security system then locked the doors. This time at least he didn’t try to block her view, so she managed to get a better look at the code. Might come in handy later if she needed to make a quick exit.

He hailed a cab and they rode twenty minutes in traffic downtown to a block or so from Barney’s on Madison Avenue. Heath paid the guy then helped Aileen out of the vehicle. The place was packed as always with an array of tourists taking pictures or admiring the decorations in the windows beneath the famous black awnings. Spectacular didn’t begin to cover it.

Aileen stared up at the massive gold gilded candy canes flanking the main entrance to the store, topped with ornate scrollwork banners etched with the opening lines from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and interspersed with puppeteer ballerinas en pointe. Beneath all that were two of the most beautiful window displays Aileen had ever seen—one with a glittering midnight blue background highlighting huge silver and gold ornaments twined together to make enormous wreaths; and the other filled with towering iridescent mushrooms and shiny gold walls, ceiling, and floor titled “Baz Dazzled Holidays,” named after the famed movie director Baz Lurhman and his costume designer wife, who’d made it.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day, huh?” Heath said, moving in beside her and slipping his arm casually around her waist. Despite their nearly twelve-inch height difference, they fit together well and she pulled away, enjoying his closeness too much.

Heath frowned down at her. “I thought we were supposed to be a young, happy couple in love shopping together.”

“We are.” Aileen glanced around to see where the stage was set up for the senator, hoping to distract herself from his too-yummy bod beside her. “Just not yet.”

“I need the practice.” He took her hand and tugged her close again, his jaw tight. “Besides, you don’t know how many plain-clothes security might be lurking about. If they see us acting suspicious, they could kick us out before your guy Lawrence ever arrives. Best to act the part consistently than risk it, right?”

Much as she wanted to argue the point, he was correct, dammit.

As he settled her into his side again and his comfortable warmth surrounded her once more, Aileen’s heart gave a little tug of affection. So much for staying detached today.

To stay on track and out of trouble, she pointed toward a cordoned off area on the opposite side of the entrance. “That must be where he’s going to do his thing.”

“Looks that way,” Heath said, glancing around them. “You want some cocoa?”

She might be undercover and in disguise, but Aileen never turned down the opportunity for chocolate. “Sure.”

They walked over to a nearby vendor and got two small paper cups of the steaming liquid. After Heath paid, they strolled the area, keeping an eye out for guards and other roadblocks that might keep Aileen away from getting into the senator’s eye line and letting him know she wasn’t giving up.

As they browsed through a selection of fresh Christmas trees around the corner from Barney’s, Aileen couldn’t help eyeing Heath from beneath her lashes. He really was playing his part well, doting on her as they walked through the pines and blue spruce, holding her hand and occasionally tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. If she wasn’t careful, it would be easy for her to forget this was all pretend.

“Hey, look over there,” he said, pulling her in front of him and locking his arms around her waist, pulling her back into his solid front. “Looks like the senator’s about to arrive.”

Aileen shook off her errant daydreams about Heath being her real boyfriend, and squinted at the line of black limos and SUVs that had pulled up to the curb in front of Barney’s. Several intimidating guys got out, wearing their aviators shades even on this overcast day, and started walking the perimeter around the stage area. “Yeah. Those are his Secret Service guards.”

“They’re different from the ones in the park,” Heath said, frowning.

“I’m guessing those guys were private security.” She tried to pull away but he held her fast in place. “C’mon, let’s get over there.”

“Wait here for a minute,” he said. “Let the crowds settle, then it’ll be easier to stake the best spot for him to see you.”

“Okay.” She resisted rolling her eyes at his commanding tone, but didn’t pull away either. Truth was, she was enjoying the feel of his embrace far too much to leave just yet. Not to mention his whole alpha-military-leader vibe was kind of a turn-on. “I’ll wait. But only because I want to.”

He snorted and she felt the delicious low rumble of it through her back and straight to her core. This was getting ridiculous. They were only doing this to get closer to Senator Lawrence, but man, was it fun. Honestly, she couldn’t remember ever enjoying herself this much on an undercover assignment before—at least, she’d enjoyed it after Heath had shown up. Before him, well, things had been getting pretty lean. And there certainly hadn’t been any cozy hugs like this.

They stood there for several minutes, under the gently falling snow, surrounded by fragrant pines and white twinkle lights strung above them, Heath’s chin resting atop her head, and for a brief, shining moment, all felt right with Aileen’s little world. She felt contentment, an emotion she hadn’t felt since she’d been six years old and at a friend’s house for a party. Between Murphy and their dad, she’d always been treated like a princess. Then one kid had asked her if it bothered her not having a mom. She’d never really thought about it at that point, considering her mom had left when Aileen was still a baby. She didn’t even remember the woman. But she did remember all the stares of the other kids at that party, the way they’d looked at her like she’d grown another head. Children weren’t kind about differences.

It had been then and there that she’d started down the storytelling path, figuring it was better to embellish a bit than admit the truth. She’d improvised, made up some tall tale on the spot about her mother not being gone, but rather having some fancy, top-secret job in Washington, DC. It was all very important and hush-hush. Then those same kids had been super-impressed. She’d suddenly had more friends, gotten invited to a lot more parties. Her career as a writer was born.

Only trouble was that now she’d told so many stories, mainly about other people, but also a few about herself too. And those stories, the ones about her, were getting harder and harder to keep separate in her heart—to discern the truth from the lies. Like the one she always told about not needing anyone. Or the one about not wanting a permanent relationship.

Those ones were especially tricky right about now.

“C’mon,” Heath said, stepping away from her to take her hand. “Let’s start moving closer. From the sound checks, he’s about to start.”

Her back felt cold and unprotected now without him standing behind her, but she stumbled along at his side, trying hard to get her head back in the game. She’d always had a vivid imagination, which sometimes got her in trouble. Even her boss at the paper was always warning her to make sure she backed up the accusations in her stories with hard facts and proof. Which was exactly why she’d gone undercover on this EnKor case. When her usual sources had turned up nothing on the evidence front, more drastic measures were needed.

By the time they’d reached the outer edge of the crowd around the stage, Senator Lawrence was getting out of his limo. From this distance, he looked so benign, like a kindly old man who volunteered at church on Sundays and played bingo during the evenings. That was totally false, Aileen knew. The senator had carefully cultivated that doting old man routine to cover his shrewd, shifty business dealings behind the scenes. Now, if Aileen could just get her hands on the proof she needed, she’d be all set to run with her story. It would bust open his fraudulent green energy deals and had the potential to bring down the whole crooked EnKor enterprise. It could win Aileen a Pultizer, it was that volatile.

“See a good spot to catch his eye?” Heath whispered as they weaved through the people to get closer. “I’d think maybe off to the side there, near where the babies are, that way when he goes in for a photo op you’ll be there to ruin his day.”

“Good thinking.” She pulled him in that direction and soon they were standing shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of young moms with drooling babies in their arms while Senator Lawrence—windbag that he was—went on and on about holiday spirit and clean energy to power all the decorations and what his agenda would be for the next term in Congress when they all met again after the first of the year. Finally, he stopped talking and began shaking hands, working his way around the stage slowly until he approached where Aileen and Heath were standing.

She glanced over and spotted a Secret Service agent standing guard nearby, but thankfully no one had recognized her and Heath yet, so their disguises must be working.

As the senator approached, Aileen squared her shoulders and stepped forward, ignoring Heath’s stiff posture beside her and his warning look. At first Milford Lawrence didn’t seem to see her, engrossed as he was with the whining, fussy baby in his arms. But then, as he handed the infant back to its mother after the photo op, he glanced over and spotted her, the flash of the cameras gleaming off his wire-rimmed glasses. He froze, his polite smile faltering a bit as he stared into her amber eyes. No disguising those.

“Senator Lawrence. It’s me. Aileen Coen. Just didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about you or your shady dealings. I’m watching. Even when you think I’m not, I am. And if you’re doing anything wrong with your deals with EnKor I will find out and I’ll take you down so fast your head will spin. Bank on it.”

Heath grabbed her arm and pulled her back into him again. “We need to get out of here now, before the Secret Service hauls our asses off to jail.”

“It’s a free country and I can voice my opinion.”

Senator Lawrence gestured at the guard closest to them and Heath took over, guiding her back into the thick of the crowd and away from the stage.

“Hey!” Aileen protested, trying to pull free once they were outside the perimeter of the crowd and away from the Secret Service’s watchful eye. “Why’d you pull me away from there? I was getting to him. I could tell.”

“Yeah.” Heath hailed another cab then opened the door for her. “And he was getting to us. Pardon me, but I’d rather not spend the night in a dirty cell when my nice clean brownstone is so much comfier. Now get in.”