Phoebe couldn’t help but stare as she sat in the bar of Sanctum. Not that there was much to stare at. The club was closed at this time of day, but she’d been told there were a couple of employees working. It was a good time to take in the place she’d wondered about for so long. Taggart sometimes had meetings here, but only with the core team. She’d been invited to come to the club once, but she’d passed on the invitation.

She’d been too scared to come. At first she’d been scared because she didn’t understand and then she’d understood far too well and the idea of seeing Jesse in leathers was too tempting.

She didn’t have a choice now. She was staying at Sanctum for the next few days and she wasn’t staying alone.

“Do you need a drink?” Ten asked as he eased down onto the sofa. Only the tightening of his eyes betrayed the pain he must have been feeling. Taggart had done a number on him, but then he’d gotten some good licks in on Taggart.

“I think I need all my faculties around me. I wasn’t expecting to be turned into bait today.” Hell, she hadn’t been expecting any of this. Her plans this morning had been to finish up the quarterly taxes, wince when she showed Ian how much he owed on quarterly taxes, secretly giggle because it was fun to watch the big guy explode, go to the baby shower and watch as Eve opened the bouncy seat she’d bought at Target for little Cooper. She hadn’t had any idea her whole world was going to blow up in her face, but then it wasn’t the first time that had happened. She hadn’t expected Jamie to die in a hellhole thousands of miles away from her.

“If you’re nervous about the plan, we can come up with something else,” Ten offered.

“It’s a good plan.” She’d come up with part of it herself.

“It’s a desperate plan. I still can’t believe one of them is a traitor. I chose every single one of those men.”

She felt for her brother, but she couldn’t fool herself. “Someone sent that message to Jesse and they knew the number to my private line. They knew what to say and they knew how to prep that room. What did you find out about whoever booked the room?”

“According to Chelsea, it was done on a stolen credit card over the Internet. The concierge took the case from a delivery service—also paid for by the stolen card—and he had instructions to set the case on the bed as a little gift for the man’s wife.”

The traitor never had to even enter the hotel, so they wouldn’t have any CCTV footage. Thank you, Internet. “Any word on the phone used to text Jesse? Wait. Let me guess. It was a burner.”

“Purchased with cash and no longer in use. You sure you don’t need a drink?”

She shook her head. “Not now.”

“Phoebe, that was my very special way of saying I need a drink and I don’t think I’ll make it to the bar.”

“Stubborn.” She got to her feet and quickly found where they hid the good stuff. Glenlivet, old enough to do anything it damn well pleased. She poured two fingers into a Scotch glass and then added another two because her brother wasn’t going to the doctor anytime soon. “Are you sure we shouldn’t call a medic in?”

“Nah. Bear was the medic on his SEAL team. He patched me up. I’m fine. Damn Taggart got the jump on me. I’m getting old.”

And there was a reason he didn’t go into the field anymore. His body had taken enough damage to kill most men. He never talked about it, but she and Jamie had been at his side after a mission in South America had gone south. They’d helped him recover from numerous surgeries, including the metal plate he now had in his head. She hated to think how close she’d come to losing him. Which was the only reason she was still talking to him now. “That was not the smartest move. Taggart wouldn’t have killed me.”

He took a long swig of Scotch. “When he said you wouldn’t be a problem anymore, all I could think about was him tossing your body in a dumpster. I got a little upset.”

“A little?” He’d risked everything he’d ever worked for. If Taggart wanted to he could cause Ten no end of grief. Luckily, he was more worried about Jesse than he was angry about what Ten had done, and if her brother had really thought about the situation for two seconds, he would have known it.

“Fine. A lot.” He sat back, regarding her seriously. “Did you really take the bobble heads up to McKay-Taggart? I thought they were in storage. I packed them up when I packed up your house.”

God, she’d hoped he’d forgotten that little tidbit of information. “I changed my mind the night before. I just needed them close.”

Every time she looked at them she remembered how she’d laughed when Jamie had given her the first one for Christmas the year she turned seventeen. He’d bought them for her every birthday and Christmas until she had a complete set. They would laugh and have little races to see whose head bobbled the fastest, and then they would go back to reading because of all the books she’d read, Harry Potter had been her favorite. Jamie had read them after he realized how much she loved them. Those stories had become the first way they had really communicated.

“Are you sleeping with Jesse Murdoch?”

Her heart twisted at the hardness in Ten’s voice. “No.”

“But you want to.”

“I’m not going to.” She was tired and it was hours before she could do anything about it. She wondered if she could even sleep with Jesse in the same room. It was part of their “cover” that they stay together. “I understand why we’re playing things the way we are, but nothing is going to change. We’re pretending to be lovers. Nothing more. Did your men buy it?”

“It doesn’t matter. I told them we’re out of it, that you decided to stay on at McKay-Taggart with your boyfriend and Taggart is stashing you here until he can find the assassin. They now understand that it wasn’t a drill and there was no misunderstanding. They definitely got the point that Taggart is going to find the assassin.”

“So it’s safe to say that if this person is really hell-bent on killing Jesse, they’ll pick up the pace.”

“And they’ll know exactly where he is and who he’s with. I suspect they’ll underestimate you. All of my men now have tails. The minute one makes a move, we’ll be on them.” A long moment passed with Ten taking one drink and then another. “You know you can’t stay alone forever, Phoebe.”

“It’s too soon.” Her stomach knotted. She wasn’t ready to talk about this.

“It’s been two years.” Ten wouldn’t let it go. “Do you think Jamie would want you to be alone for the rest of your life?”

“I think it doesn’t matter because I’m not sleeping with Jesse.”

“But you want to.” He said it more softly this time.

“Damn it, Tennessee. What do you want me to say? I like the man. I think we were wrong about him. In all the time I’ve watched him he hasn’t done anything suspicious.”

“He talks in his sleep. A whole lot of Farsi. He talks about the man he called the Caliph.”

“And what does he say? Does he pledge his will to him?”

A sharp shake of Ten’s head was answer enough.

“He’s scared of the man.” If there was one thing she knew it was that Jesse hated the man who had tortured him.

“He’s angry, too,” Ten conceded.

“Has he done or said one thing in all the time you’ve watched him that made you believe he’s some kind of sleeper?”

“I think that sleepers are asleep until someone wants them to wake up. That’s why they work so well. They can stay inactive for years,” Ten said ominously. “I worry someone is going to wake that boy up and we won’t know how to deal with him. You won’t be able to handle him. You’ll be right there in the line of fire.”

She couldn’t help but think about how Jesse had calmed down at the sound of her voice. He hadn’t once threatened her even when he was in that state. He’d been protective. “He won’t hurt me.”

Ten stared ahead. “Nah, this is my fault. I made a mistake sending you in. It was a stupid idea. I should have given you a team and settled you in at Langley. You would have been safe there.”

She couldn’t let him go on feeling guilty about assigning her to McKay-Taggart. It was time to confess. “I wouldn’t have been okay at Langley. I wouldn’t have taken on a team. No matter how it turned out, this was the right assignment at the right time.”

“You would have settled in.”

“I thought about killing myself.”

The room seemed to stop. She’d never said the words out loud, never told a single soul, but now it weighed on her.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“After you brought Jamie’s body back, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to eat. I thought I had accepted that he was dead, but until you brought his body home, I think there was a part of me that was waiting for a miracle. It might have seemed like I threw myself into work, but my mind was always on him. When you came home with him, I couldn’t even hope anymore. Right before the funeral the doctor gave me some sedatives and I counted them out. I sat there and I counted out all of them, trying to decide the right dosage. It’s hard because if you take way too many, you can throw them back up, and then it’s all for nothing. I needed just the right amount so I could be wherever Jamie was. That’s the worst part you know. Not knowing where he is.”

“You did not.” Ten’s jaw had tensed and she could see the sheen of tears in his eyes. “Tell me you didn’t try that.”

“I thought about it, and then I decided to honor you and wait until after the funeral.”

“But that was when we decided to send you in.”

She smiled just the tiniest bit. “Yes. You gave me something to do, something about Jamie. I wouldn’t have taken on a team. I would have pled off and then I would have done what I needed to do. But you gave me a way to avenge my husband and that saved my life, Ten. And then I got to be Phoebe Graham. I liked being that Phoebe, and suddenly I realized that avenging Jamie wouldn’t bring him back. Slowly I started to really like the people around me, and I knew that revenge on Jesse Murdoch was stupid because he was innocent. He needed protection, not surveillance.”

Ten drained the Scotch. “I’m going to need another.”

She reached out and covered her brother’s hand with hers. “You saved me, Ten. I know it might have ended up costing you your relationship with Taggart, but you saved me.”

“Tag and I have an understanding.” His hand turned over and grasped hers. “I tell him everything and he only gets to punch the shit out of me ten more times. He’s holding them in his back pocket for when he needs to let off some steam.”

She didn’t like the idea of Taggart jumping her brother. “No.”

Ten shook his head. “It’s fine. No broken bones. That’s our only rule. You stay out of this. You let me handle Tag the way I need to. I made mistakes. Big mistakes.”

“You made them for your family.” She’d caused him to make some of those errors.

“And he’s protecting his. Speaking of the devil.” Ten nodded as Taggart stalked into the room. He was carrying a duffel bag of some kind and there was a grim look on his face. “Nice place you’ve got here, Tag.”

“You motherfucker. You got into my Scotch.”

Ten immediately shot him the finger. “I need more. My spleen hurts, damn it.”

“Pussy.” But it was said in that guy way that seemed almost affectionate. He took the empty glass from Ten and stepped over to the bar. “And that’s not the good stuff. That’s a twenty-five. I’ve got the fifty hidden. I think we could both use middle-aged Scotch. Phoebe, could you join me? I’d like to go over the rules of the club with you.”

There were rules? She thought the only rule was to not let Jesse get horribly murdered. She glanced at Ten, who nodded and then joined Taggart at the bar.

“So I take it the crying every time I came close was a protective measure,” he began.

No one said he was a dummy. “It was a way to make sure you didn’t spend too much time with me. If you had spent any real time with me, you likely would have seen more than I wanted you to. I quickly figured out you’re an intolerant bastard. A couple of hysterical fits of tears and a dash of drama and you didn’t want to be in the same room with me.”

“Nice play. It won’t work on me again. So, what’s your poison? Don’t tell me you don’t have one because all spies drink. It’s a rule.”

“Vodka tonic.” If she was going to have some kind of discussion with Big Tag, maybe she did need something.

“I thought you were more a margarita girl.”

So Jesse had talked about her. “Phoebe Graham drinks margaritas and piña coladas. Phoebe Grant drinks vodka.”

A single brow arched over his stark blue eyes. The man could really convey serious judgment with that one brow. “Damn, you’re going to hurt Jesse’s feelings.”

“I think I already did that.”

Taggart huffed a little. “I was talking about the fact that Jesse finally had someone to drink those fruity things he likes so much with. That boy never met an umbrella drink he didn’t like.”

She could imagine how Tag teased him about his love of piña coladas and mai tais. “You have to stop making fun of him.”

“Then how will he know I like him?” Taggart expertly sliced and twisted her lime. “I don’t think you’re going to have a lot of say in Jesse’s life once you dump him.”

Of course he could convey tons of judgment with words, too. “I’m not dumping him. We were never really together as anything more than friends, and now I have to leave. My job here is done.”

“Oh, I think he feels like he’s been dumped. Maybe not dumped so much as betrayed and gutted.”

She hated the guilt that flooded her system. She’d fucked up so badly. The first rule of the game was to never make it personal, but she’d failed at that before she’d even begun to play. “I never meant to make him feel that way.”

“You care about him?”

“Yes.”

“Then spend the next few days proving it.”

She just managed to not roll her eyes his way. “And how should I ‘prove it,’ as you say so eloquently?”

Taggart laughed. “Hey, women think sex is purely physical for a guy, but for most of us, it’s really how we express shit.”

“You mean like feelings?” She loved the way Taggart went slightly green at the very word.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Look, Ten told me about your husband. I hope you don’t hold it against him. He’s really good at keeping secrets. I didn’t even know he had a family.” He slid the vodka tonic her way and then turned and opened a small door revealing his Scotch. “I’m not telling you to fuck Jesse, although you would probably both feel better, but I get that you’re going to be a nun for the rest of your life. That’s cool. It’s a choice at least.”

“Screw you, Taggart. My life, my choice. You just don’t have any idea what it means to lose someone.”

There was that judgmental brow again. “Really?”

She’d forgotten about his wife. It was easy since she was alive and such a part of his life now. “Fine. You do and you chose to deal with it differently. I don’t judge you. You should understand how I feel. Do you honestly believe you could ever love another woman? If she hadn’t come back, would you have found someone else?”

He poured out the Scotch, more liberally than she had. “No idea, but she did come back. According to Ten, your husband is never coming back. So I think I can tell your future.”

“Nice. I didn’t know you were clairvoyant.”

“I have many hidden skills.” He grabbed a second glass for himself. “You’ll head back into the service, but you won’t play things the way Ten does. You’ll go back in as an operative, and you’ll take all the risks you can because you’ll have a death wish. The good news is in our business, people with a death wish usually find their desire granted and quickly. Does Jesse know he was in the same prison as your husband?”

She wished Ten hadn’t mentioned that little truth. “No.”

Taggart slipped the Scotch back in its hiding place. “Then I’ll talk to him about it.”

“No. He doesn’t need to know.” She couldn’t see how having that information would do anything but hurt him. “Look, as soon as this mission is over and we figure out who’s trying to kill Jesse, I’ll be out of here and he can go on with his life.”

“His life in Wyoming? Because he’s planning on quitting and punching cows and stepping in their shit.”

She shook her head. “He’s not serious about that. Just tell him he can’t quit and he’ll settle back in.”

“It’s not about the job,” Taggart replied. “It’s about you. He’s been fine on the job, but finding out his awkward little princess is really a warrior queen put him on his ass. Now he’s questioning every single friend he’s made. You did that to him. You broke him. You better fix him.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

One big shoulder shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not my problem. I gave you a very viable solution. Men are simple. Sleep with him for the rest of his life and he’ll probably be fine. See, simple. You women are the ones who make things hard.”

“I’m married.” The words came out of her mouth before she could think to stop them.

“No. You’re a widow. Your vows were until death parted you and it did. Your story is not going to end like mine. He is not going to walk through those doors. He’s not going to sneak up and tell you it was all a trick. He’s dead and unless he was a sorry son of a bitch, he likely wouldn’t want you to be alone.”

“He was the best man I ever knew,” Ten said quietly. She hadn’t heard him walking up behind her. He groaned a little as he leaned against the bar. “We were just kids when we met. Nothing fazed Jamie. I mean, it did, but it didn’t. He came up through the same system Phoebe and I did, but it didn’t wreck him the way it did us.”

Phoebe shook her head. “He was lucky. He didn’t have the same trouble we did, Ten.”

Ten’s lips firmed as though he was holding something in. He finally turned her way. “No. That’s not the truth. He never told you about it. He went through every single thing we did. Some worse.”

Her heart twisted. “No. He said he was all right. He lived with his aunt until she died.”

“Who beat the shit out of him,” Ten said. “He had those scars on his arm. You remember the one.”

“He said he was playing with a nail gun.”

“She burned him with cigarettes when he didn’t behave,” Ten stated flatly. “She was a monster and yet Jamie was still open, still willing to try in a way I wasn’t when Franklin adopted me. He was a light and I miss him every fucking day, Phoebe. And I know one thing. He wouldn’t want you to die with him. He would want you to be happy.”

He would, but she wasn’t sure she could be happy without him. How many shots did a person get? In her experience, it wasn’t many. She’d had her real true love. There couldn’t be two of them. She took a deep breath. Explaining that to these particular two men wouldn’t do a damn thing. Ten had never been in love and Taggart wasn’t exactly being logical. It was apparently okay for him to have shut himself off after he thought Charlotte died, but she was supposed to just jump right into bed with someone else.

Except it had been years and she missed the feel of arms around her. Jesse Murdoch made her miss the feeling.

“Look, I’m here for a few days. How about we just say that I’ll keep an open mind.” She couldn’t say she wasn’t intrigued by what happened here at Sanctum. And if spending time with Jesse helped him at all, she would happily do it. She just couldn’t allow herself to feel too much for him.

Taggart handed Ten a glass. “I can’t ask for more. Oh, wait. I own this place and I totally can. I can give you an entire contract to look over and sign, or I’ll shove you out on your pretty ass and let Erin pretend to be you.”

“Erin so can’t pretend to be me. I don’t think Erin has a sensitive bone in her body.” Everyone kept trying to shove other women at Jesse and she really didn’t like the idea. It was totally illogical and unreasonable, but the thought of Erin with her hands on Jesse made Phoebe want to rip all that red hair off her freaking head.

“Apparently she’s sensitive enough to know my little brother gets a boner around her. I need to have a long conversation with that boy. Talk about a death wish. Hey, Ten, put the glass down.” The minute Ten set the glass on the bar, Taggart casually popped him right in the nose, the sound crunching through the air.

Ten cursed and held his nose. “You asshole.”

Taggart grinned. “Oh, I’m never going to be able to hoard them properly. It’s too much fun. And I’ve got nine more of them. I should have gone for an even dozen. Imagine how much fun meetings will be. We’ll be sitting at some briefing and I’ll just punch you right in front of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Good times are coming our way, buddy.”

“I thought you were done with me,” Ten managed to say.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you had a family. We do strange things for a family, and sometimes we forget who our family is and we walk away without saying the things we should,” Taggart allowed, and Phoebe got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about today. “I’m still pissed about you keeping things from me.”

“He was going to tell you about Case and Theo.” She could clear one thing up very quickly. “He just needed time to get them on the team. If you had met them in the beginning, they would probably be working for you. Ian, we need men like them. I know you do good work, but this country still needs the Agency and the Agency needs men like your brothers. Like you.”

“I walked away because of my family. I suppose I could walk back in for them, too. Don’t think this means I answer to you, Ten. It just means I’m willing to work with you if it means getting to know my brothers. And you. I walked away when you needed me. I’m not without blame here. Now, Phoebe, go and read the contract and talk to Jesse because I’m sick of the drama. It’s getting late. Ten and I need to drink some Scotch and discuss how we’re going to torture and kill the asswipe traitor when we find him.”

“Are you going to punch him again?” She wasn’t sure she should go.

Ten waved her off. “Go. Let us talk about manly stuff. Call me if you need me, but I’ll be back when the club opens for business. Maybe I can look at some pretty girls. I can’t say I want to have anything to do with the whipping crap, but the costumes are nice.”

“Your sister’s going to be in one Friday. That is if she doesn’t hide in her room,” Taggart pointed out.

“Maybe I’ll just stay outside then,” Ten said, going a little green.

Taggart laughed and poured Ten another. Someone was going to have to drive him back to base. “Do you have any idea how happy I am that my asshole dad only knew how to make boys? I’m so glad that baby in Charlie’s belly has a penis. I have no idea what to do with girls.”

As she walked away, she kind of hoped whatever sonogram Charlotte Taggart had proved false. If any man deserved a daughter, it was Ian Taggart.

What did Jesse deserve? A woman with a whole heart. A woman who could love him without reservation or regret. Unfortunately, for the next few days, all he had was her. So why did a little piece of her thrill at the idea of walking the club with him? For the first time in forever, she had no idea what was going to happen that week.

It made her feel alive. Yeah, that was dangerous.

* * * *

Jesse stared at the bed. Damn Tag. What the hell was he thinking forcing him to share a bedroom with Phoebe for god only knew how long?

They should have let him go back to Wyoming. He had half a mind to bust out and leave anyway.

“Hey, we brought your things,” a soft voice said behind him.

He turned and Chelsea Weston stood in the doorway, her husband behind her. Simon towered over his wife, but his eyes were soft as he looked down at her. “She packed for you. She claims I would pick the most uncomfortable things possible. I tried to tell her you don’t own anything that qualifies. And you should really prepare yourself.”

He was about to ask for what when Chelsea flew across the room and threw her arms around him.

Simon laughed indulgently, picking up the bag she’d dropped. “Sorry, she hugs now. I can’t quite stop her.”

Jesse sighed and hugged her back. How had he ever doubted Simon? Simon was his partner, and maybe it had started out with Simon being forced to watch him, but they were friends now and Jesse promised he wouldn’t question that again. He would be grateful for the friends he’d made in this place. “I don’t mind.”

He’d spent so much time with no one to hold on to that he liked the fact that the women of McKay-Taggart hugged often and well.

Phoebe had started hugging him about three months after they’d met. She would wrap her arms around him and lay her head on his shoulder for a long while before breaking it off and saying good morning or good night.

Chelsea broke away, sniffling. “I can’t believe she nearly killed you.”

He hadn’t thought about the fact that Chelsea could get a little protective. Chelsea likely wouldn’t listen to logic, but he had to try. “In her defense, she didn’t pull the trigger.”

“There is no defense for what she did,” Chelsea said with complete conviction. “I don’t understand why Satan hasn’t taken her out yet. She should be strung up. You know what, if Ian won’t do what needs to be done, then I will. I will make her life a living hell. She will wish I’d just put her on the no-fly list. I’m going to put an APB out on her ass. I’ll get her on the sex offender list. Hell, I’ll put her number up at Craig’s list with a long menu of sexual services she’s willing to provide for very little money. See how she likes that.”

Chelsea could be a little fierce when she cared about a person, but Jesse thought she was also being the slightest bit hypocritical in this case. “Uhm, aren’t you kind of doing the same thing to Ten’s unit? He knows about that now, by the way.”

Chelsea waved him off. “I’m doing it for good. She’s obviously evil. And Ten’s giving me a ten percent raise if I don’t leave. You can bet Ian won’t be doing that with Miss Happy Trigger Finger.”

“No, I think it’s safe to say I’m going to be looking for another job.”

Jesse turned and there was Phoebe. She’d let her hair down at some point and gotten rid of the sweater she always wore around the office, swearing Taggart kept it too cold for her. Jesse was pretty sure now she’d done it all to hide the fact that she had the most beautiful set of breasts he’d ever seen. They weren’t huge, but they were so perfectly formed he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

“And I prefer Ms. Grant,” Phoebe said as she walked into the room. “My trigger finger is very precise, not happy, which is why our boy is standing here right now. I didn’t follow direct orders. I didn’t shoot him and I wouldn’t have. And I hate flying, so you’ll have to come up with something better than the no-fly list.”

“How about the APB where I tell them to shoot on sight, bitch?”

“Chelsea, down,” Simon growled.

Phoebe just sent him a sad smile. “Don’t bother. I’m not going to win with her. We weren’t friends before so there’s no relationship to fall back on. Also, we’re a little too much alike to ever really get along.”

“As if.” Chelsea didn’t seem ready to give up the fight. “I want to know why my brother-in-law trusts you to be alone with Jesse.”

“He trusts Ten so he trusts me. He also saw me not pulling the trigger. Ian and my brother are downstairs right now talking. You could ask him.”

“Your brother,” Jesse said, testing the words. He was still having a hard time believing it. “Ten is your brother.”

“Adopted, but yes, we consider each other family. The only family we have left,” Phoebe replied. “And that stunt he pulled today was stupid, but I have to admit that if I thought he was going to die, I might do the same thing.”

“Well, I think this plan is stupid,” Chelsea said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“This plan depends on you,” Phoebe pointed out. “You and Adam are supposed to trace the assassin. We’re stuck in here until you do. Are you telling me you can’t do it?”

Jesse had never heard that challenging tone from her, and he realized what had been missing from his relationship with her before. Challenge. Oh, she’d held him off when he’d wanted her, but that desire seemed like a sad little thing compared to what he felt now. She’d seemed like she could use a lover and he knew he wanted one.

Had the old Phoebe just been sweet and convenient? Why did he want to get to know the new one so fucking bad? And yeah, he meant that in a strictly biblical sense because he wasn’t a fucking idiot. He had to admit, the new Phoebe got his motor running. Hence the “sharing a bed, bad idea” problem.

Or was it?

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Chelsea said, getting in her space. “I’ll find this guy and then you can leave, and nothing Ian says or does is going to change that. I’ll get rid of you myself if I have to.”

“Chelsea,” Simon began, “don’t forget where we are.”

Chelsea turned to her husband. “You can spank my ass all day, babe, but I’m still saving Jesse from her. God only knows what Ian was thinking.”

It was good to know someone wanted to save him. He just wasn’t so sure he wanted to be saved. Now that she was standing here, he was wondering if it would really be so bad to have a few days with her. He would never have even thought about seducing Phoebe Graham because she’d seemed so very fragile, but Phoebe Grant could obviously hold her own.

Would it be so bad to fuck her out of his system? He was stuck here with her for days, weeks maybe, with very little to do. He could view it as a challenge. Get her into bed for the duration of their time together and then wave as she walked away and never think about her again.

“Ian was thinking that this is a fairly safe house. It’s got security and Jesse and Phoebe are contained. While you conduct your investigation, they should be safe here.” Simon neatly summed up Big Tag’s plan.

“Then I should get to work because I don’t want to leave him for long with that woman.” Chelsea turned on her heels and strode out.

Simon sighed. “I’m sorry. My wife loves very few people, but when you’re one of them, she loves quite fiercely, though she doesn’t always see reason. I for one thank you for not pulling that trigger as I was very close to Jesse at the time and this is my favorite suit,” Simon said with a wry twist of his lips.

Jesse had to smile. “Yeah, I would never have heard the end of that. Si, tell Chelsea thanks for picking up my stuff.”

“I’ll take care of your place, and I believe Mr. Smith is handling things on his sister’s side.” Simon nodded Phoebe’s way. “Are you two going to be all right?”

“We’ll be fine,” Phoebe said. “I promise I won’t let anyone kill him. I gave up my cover to save him.”

“Your cover was already blown. See that you don’t fuck up again. We’ll see you in a few days, Jesse. Or are you planning on skipping downstairs while you’re here?”

Friday. He was talking about Friday night. Sanctum would be open for business. He would be stuck here with Phoebe for days. There was no way he was going to miss playing. “I’ll be there.”

Simon turned to Phoebe. “If you intend to play, Ms. Grant, I suggest you spend the next few days learning how to behave in this club. Jesse is the Master here, and he’ll decide if you play or not. You’ll obey him in the dungeon or you can stay in your room. I assume Tag gave you a contract.”

She suddenly didn’t look so tough. “I’m supposed to read it, but I’ll probably just stay here.”

Oh, he had to fix that. If one good thing was going to come from this, he intended to play with her.

“That’s probably for the best,” Simon said. “I’m sure Kori would be jealous if you didn’t. She sends her love, Jesse.”

“Does she?” Jesse stared at Simon, wondering if he’d lost his damn mind. Kori was one of the club submissives. She and her friend Sarah were two of the funniest brats Jesse had ever met, but she certainly wouldn’t be jealous. She was a friend. He scened with her from time to time, but it was in a buddy way.

“Yes, she’s worried about you. Call me if you need anything. We’re all taking shifts watching the club, so don’t think you’re alone.” Simon closed the door behind him.

Jesse was fairly certain that Kori wasn’t worried about him since no one would tell her a damn thing. She wasn’t a member of the team, so no one would mention anything to her. She worked for Kai Ferguson, keeping his records and making his appointments, which was why she was allowed in the club. Why would Simon mention her?

“Kori? You have a girlfriend?” Phoebe was staring at him, her eyes narrowed.

Oh, now he got it. He shrugged. “She’s a friend and a girl.”

“And a play partner, I take it.”

“Sometimes.”

“Well, you never mentioned her before, so I’m a little surprised to find out that you have a regular woman you see.”

Was she fucking kidding him? “I never mentioned her like you never mentioned that you weren’t really the person you said you were. Like that never mentioning her?”

She frowned. “I was surprised because you talked about all the people in your life, but you never mentioned her. Even when we were dating, you didn’t mention you had a lover.”

She was so jealous. There was no way to mistake the hard set of her eyes. She was pissed about Simon mentioning Kori. “Why the hell do you care?”

“Because whatever I did, I really was your friend. I really did spend all that time with you. You never told me you were sleeping with another woman.”

He couldn’t lie to her. Lying would make it that much harder to get inside her Agency-issued panties. “I don’t sleep with Kori. She’s a friend. Simon was trying to push you into a corner to see how you would react. I did, however, sleep with a prostitute for a while. It seemed better than getting into a relationship with a woman I didn’t really want when the woman I did want so obviously had no interest in me sexually.”

She flushed, the pinkening of her skin evident even in the low light of the room. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Wasn’t like what?”

“I didn’t have no interest in you. It’s just…I’m married.”

“You’re a widow.” He’d been told that much. She hadn’t seemed very willing to talk about her husband or how he died, but Jesse had been told he’d been Agency and dead for a few years. According to Ten, they’d all been trained by their adoptive father to enter the CIA.

He was utterly fascinated by her.

“It doesn’t matter, Jesse. As soon as we find the traitor, I’m going back to Virginia. I’m going back to the Agency and I’ll disappear. I’m an excellent long-term operative, despite the debacle of today. So no matter what I do or don’t feel for you and all the others, I will leave and go back to my real life.” She walked to the window and touched it, tapping gently. “Bulletproof glass?”

“Tag’s a paranoid freak, but then everyone really is out to get him.” Weariness bore down on him. It was getting dark. He didn’t want dinner, didn’t want a shower, didn’t really want to talk. He wanted to sleep and forget the day had happened. “I’ll sleep in Kai’s room. It’s across the hall. He’s in DC at some conference. He’s not due to be back for a few days, so I’ll crash in there.”

“No, you won’t. We’re staying right here, watching each others backs.” She unzipped her bag and brought out a SIG, checking the clip. “I had the security feed sent through my computer so if anything happens, we’ll get an alarm, but we need to stay together.”

“There’s only one bed.” Shit. “I’ll sleep in the chair.”

“Jesse,” she said softly. She laid the SIG down on the nightstand beside the bed. “It’s a big bed. There’s no reason we can’t both be comfortable.”

“I probably won’t sleep,” he confessed, but he was already thinking about how much better it would be to rest beside her. If he got into bed with her, he had a chance at getting physical. He really wanted that chance. If she was going to leave, he wanted to know what it felt like to be inside her, but he had to weigh that against what he knew tended to happen when he slept. “I have bad dreams sometimes. Really bad dreams. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know,” she said softly. “Despite everything I’ve done to you, I know you won’t hurt me.”

He wasn’t sure he could hurt her. She would have to really care about him to be vulnerable, and she’d made it plain that she couldn’t really care about him.

She looked at him across the bed. “Jesse, I can handle your bad dreams. And I think we could both use some sleep. It’s been a horrible day.”

It had and yet he wanted to hold her. The day might not be so bad if he could hold her. He really was stupid. “All right.”

 “According to Chelsea, she’s a genius, so she will find our bad guy with very little trouble. This shouldn’t take too long.”

It probably wouldn’t. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his body on his side of the bed. He wasn’t going to argue with her anymore. He would likely never have taken the chance with her before, but she’d proven herself to be far tougher than he could have imagined. Hell, if someone had told him Phoebe knew how to handle a gun, he would have laughed.

She’d really looked competent with that SIG. Kinda hot. Really hot.

Damn it. New super spy Phoebe was sexier than sweet, needed protecting Phoebe.

He closed his eyes, wondering how much time he had left with her and what the hell he was going to do when she was gone. She’d been his goal for months and months. He’d believed if he could get someone as gentle and sweet as Phoebe to love him, maybe he would be able to think of himself as worthy. Love had been his goal. He’d wanted what Li had with Avery. What Sean had with Grace. A soft, gentle woman to take care of and protect and prove that he wasn’t some animal.

New Phoebe didn’t need protection. New Phoebe likely didn’t need him at all. So why did new Phoebe get his dick hard so damn fast? He turned to his side, away from her because he had a freaking hard-on. Yep, he was the fidiot who got an erection for the woman who’d lied to him.

He heard her moving around, heard her snap the blinds shut and close the bathroom door. The door to the bedroom snicked into place and then everything went dark as she turned off the light.

The bed shifted as she slid under the covers.

“Do you hate me?”

He rolled on his back again. Did he hate her? He should. He should despise her for what she’d done, but hate seemed to be one thing he wasn’t capable of. “I’m mad at you, but I don’t hate you.”

A long moment passed between them, and he thought she might have dropped off to sleep.

“I’m glad because you’re the best friend I’ve made in years.” She sniffled and turned to her side. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I didn’t mean to. I really do…I just hope after all this is over that you find someone. I can’t think of anyone else in the world who deserves it more than you. You’re going to make someone an amazing husband, Jesse Murdoch.”

The room went quiet again. Jesse stared at the ceiling and hoped Chelsea and Adam did their jobs as slowly as possible because no matter what Phoebe said, he intended to get inside her soon. He would let her go on to her happy Agency job afterward, but he was going to have her.