Gus took a calming breath and again surreptitiously read the text message she’d received while Roman had been questioning Yolanda. She prayed he didn’t pay her any notice now.

 

If you want the truth about Constance Hayes, meet me in the village cemetery at midnight. Come alone or bring the Hitman with you. I don’t care, but you’re the only one I’ll give the information to.

 

Deep Throat

 

The message sent a thrill through her. Sure it was ninety percent abject terror, but she felt the adrenaline rush, too. Maybe this person had answers, like the Deep Throat of Watergate, the source who’d led reporters Woodward and Bernstein to the truth about the break-in at the Watergate Hotel. The information had blown up Nixon’s presidency and forced him to resign.

Sure, she’d considered sharing the message with Roman, but then he’d reminded her once again that she was outside the Perfect Gentlemen’s circle and she always would be. And if this source could tell her something useful, it might put her back in this game. After all, if she got answers, Roman and the others wouldn’t be able to shut her out anymore.

Then, after this mess was unraveled, she could walk away on her own terms.

But if she shared the meet time and place with Roman now, she would likely find herself surrounded by armed escorts, being hauled back to London. Connor would take her place. Roman would throw a wig on the former CIA agent and style him in her Herve Leger bandage dress rather than letting her go to the cemetery.

So now she had to find a way to persuade Roman they needed to stay in the village tonight, instead of returning to London. They’d retire early because she was so exhausted, of course. Once he’d drifted off, she would slip out.

Roman emerged from the small law enforcement office he’d insisted on visiting. “That was a complete waste of time. They have the same police report I’ve read a hundred times. Constance’s blood alcohol level was five times the legal limit, etcetera, etcetera. But when I asked the cop how he thought she could have possibly driven even a mile that intoxicated, he shrugged and said he’s seen worse.”

It must be super frustrating for Roman not to be able to use his powerful position to force people to follow his orders with the snap of a finger. He was so used to it. “Were you able to talk to the officer who wrote the report?”

“He retired last year and now lives in Aruba, believe it or not,” Roman replied. “Come on. Let’s drive to the site of Constance’s crash. I didn’t notice much when we drove past earlier, and it probably won’t tell us anything since it’s been years, but I feel as if we should see whether the police might have overlooked anything relevant about the road or the surroundings. I owe it to Zack to be as thorough as possible. Then we can head back to London before it gets too late.”

“Or we could talk to some of the locals,” she suggested. “Villages like this are similar to small towns back home. Their residents have long memories about events like these. I’ll bet someone remembers that night. Going to the site might even give us an idea about who we should talk to.”

He opened the car door for her. “I thought about questioning the locals myself. That’s not a terrible idea.”

It was a brilliant idea, thank you very much, but she was used to his faint praise. “I know you need to head back to London tonight, but I could stay for a while. I saw a B and B on the edge of town. I’ll see if I can get a reservation. Tomorrow, I’ll shop in the village and have lunch at the local pub, see what I can find.”

Roman shut the car door and before she knew it, he was sliding in beside her. He had the engine purring and they were making their way down the road that connected the village to the sanatorium again for a closer look at the crash site. “What are you up to, Augustine?”

“The same thing you are, trying to investigate without drawing too much attention,” she replied carefully. “If you’re worried about me being up here alone, call in Everly. She’s worked security and she’s nonthreatening. We’ll say we’re having a girls’ trip. People will talk to us.”

She could deal with Everly. Gabe’s wife was perfectly reasonable and would treat Gus like an actual adult.

“Yes, I’m sure Gabe would love me for that.” Roman turned the car right and kept his eyes glued on the narrow, hilly road. Still, she felt as if his attention was weighing her down. “I can hear the conversation now. ‘Hey, buddy, my girl wants to draw yours into a shit ton of trouble and danger. What do you say?’”

“You don’t have to be an ass about it.” She should have known exactly how he’d respond. All these men seemed to think their women were made of glass.

Gus held in a sigh. Could she return to London and find a way back here before the meeting? She wasn’t missing this opportunity. If someone wanted to play Watergate, Gus would happily play along.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t say it wasn’t a good idea. I just don’t think Gabe would be all right with me luring Everly into a situation that might require body bags. As it happens, I have a room at that B and B tonight. If you’re intent on doing this, I’ll go with you. I’ll keep my mouth shut since you think I scare people away. You can say I’m your mute boyfriend or that I speak no English. Hell, half the time I’m in Britain I’m sure I don’t. I asked someone where the PCSO was and I was told the bizzies lived on Main.”

“It’s a slang term for the police.” Gus had spent a lot of time in England over the years. She’d come to know a bit of the local dialect. “Though that’s usually used more north of here. Don’t you have to be back in meetings with Zack in the morning?”

“He’ll survive a few hours without me. He thought I was staying overnight in the first place. That was the plan before…” He fell silent, the thud of the tires against the road and the gentle rap of the rain as it began to fall the only sounds in the car.

Before…what? Then the truth clicked in her brain. Naturally he’d had to change the rules of the game when he’d realized there was a new player. “You needed to get back to London so I wouldn’t know you’d been gone.”

“We’ve been over this,” he said, tone grim.

They had—about a million times. There was nothing left to say.

She turned the focus back to the case. “Did you get the police report on the nurse’s death?”

“In my briefcase. You’re welcome to look, but I didn’t see much information. The police didn’t have much to go on. The nurse lived by herself in a cottage on the edge of town. No nearby neighbors to witness anything. She was known to take a walk every evening when the weather was nice. She was found dead just off the roadside two days after her daughter reported that she wasn’t answering her phone.”

Gus thumbed through the file. “No CCTV cameras out here in the country. And it’s a charming little village that relies on tourism, so it’s not as if any single stranger would stand out. That must have been a frustrating investigation.”

“I don’t know. It seems like a fairly thin one to me. And that doesn’t surprise me at all. Here’s the site of Constance’s crash.” Roman nodded in the general direction. “There is absolutely nothing out here. I’m not sure anyone would have seen the accident unless they happened to be coming or going from the hospital. The village is a mile back and the accident happened after midnight.”

The road definitely wasn’t a main thoroughfare. And Roman was right. Nothing about it looked particularly dangerous or remarkable. “My main question is who would have signed her out? And why would the hospital allow her to leave so late at night? I can’t remember… How long had she been at Homewood?”

“Almost nine months,” Roman replied. He stared out the windshield as though contemplating exiting the car and wandering out into the rain. “I remember Zack worrying…”

Of course he had. Gus’s heart ached for him. She knew exactly what it was like to lose a parent under mysterious circumstances. “It wasn’t her first time in such a place. There were two other stints in rehab, as I recall. But she stayed here the longest.”

“Yes, her previous stays in facilities in both the States and France were far shorter, maybe a month.” She could figure out why, given when the stays had occurred. “Did Franklin shove her in rehab so she could make campaign appearances for Zack?”

No one had really talked about it. It had been the dirty little secret of the Hayes family. But she wondered if Constance’s problems had run much deeper than her love for vodka.

He sighed. “Yes. If Franklin cared about her alcoholism at any other time, I never saw it. And I spent a lot of time with Zack, so I should know. The two short stays occurred during Zack’s runs for the senate. Franklin would sober her up, and she would be okay for a few months. Then once the election was over and Zack was victorious, she would go right back to the bottle.”

“No one really knew what a problem she had.”

“Franklin kept her at home so she didn’t embarrass anyone.” Roman stared out straight ahead. “I advised him to, especially after the spectacle she made at Zack’s wedding. We couldn’t have her in public, making waves. And yes, I know that sounds harsh, and you’re probably thinking I’m some kind of a monster.”

Gus watched him carefully. He got a tic above his right brow when he was really upset. It surfaced now. She wondered if he’d had it all those years ago. She’d only noticed it once they’d begun to work together. Now when he was angry, he didn’t yell. No, Roman went deadly quiet. That vein in his forehead would twitch as if he was reining in an imminent heart attack.

It looked as if Roman had dealt with too much for one day. If she wanted to go it alone tonight, it would be so easy to start a fight with him now. If she got him good and mad, he would let her have her own room, and she wouldn’t have to sneak away. All she had to do was plunge in a few well-placed knives, and freedom would be hers.

He dragged in a deep breath, jaw clenched. He gripped the steering wheel like a lifeline, trying so hard to keep his shit together. Gus couldn’t stab him.

Instead, she leaned in and slid her hand over his. “No. I see a man who was doing his job, one he’s been obsessed with since he was a kid. You’re extraordinary, Roman. What you and Zack have accomplished is nothing short of legendary. You are single minded, something you must be to achieve the things you have. She wasn’t your mom.”

“But she was a human being.” He fell quiet again. “I haven’t talked to my own mother in months.”

“You have a complicated relationship with your parents,” she allowed.

“We don’t all get the perfect parents,” he replied, flipping his hand over to hold hers. He brought it to his lips and then held it to his chest. “Or even good ones.”

“Mine weren’t perfect.” Though she’d loved her dad, she’d eventually learned about his flaws. “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that there are always two sides to a story. Don’t make yourself out to be the bad guy. You were there to protect Zack’s interests. Joy tended to Constance’s. Joy watched out for her, spent a lot of time with her, even when she and Zack were just dating. So Constance had someone in her corner.”

“There’s something I have to tell you. Maybe I shouldn’t but…”

She gripped his hand tightly. “What is it?”

“One of the things we’ve uncovered is that Joy’s death was no accident.”

Gus froze. “What do you mean?”

“Whoever pulled the trigger that day wasn’t trying to kill Zack. He didn’t miss. The assassination wasn’t botched.” Roman swallowed. “He was trying to kill Joy.”

“How can you know that?” she asked, feeling cold all over.

“One of Lara’s friends dissected video of the last three rallies we attended. He managed to isolate the appearance of a laser sight on each one. To most, it would have looked like a blip on a screen or a temporary camera malfunction. But all three marks occurred at the same time in Zack’s stump speech, and every time they were pointed directly at Joy’s chest.”

The implications crushed Gus. Someone had planned to kill sweet, selfless Joy? “So…I was right. All these deaths are related. And you’re saying that whoever is behind them killed Joy, too.”

His hand squeezed hers. “Yeah. We didn’t know until recently.”

“Why would anyone want Joy dead?”

Roman frowned, hesitated as if he debated the wisdom of answering. “We think they killed Joy to swing the election. It was close, but we were going to lose. I knew it. Zack knew it. The honest to god truth is, there was something almost freeing about that. I had made plans for my life after the campaign. Zack was going to finish out his term in the senate, then we’d talked about practicing law together. It sounds stupid now, but I was almost happy.”

Of course he had been. Because if he’d lost, Zack likely would have divorced Joy to pursue Liz. Gus had always felt the attraction and the bond between those two. That would also mean Joy would have been available to become Roman’s ideal wife.

What would the world look like now if that had happened?

“Augustine, are you ever going to forgive me for our past?”

“You’re forgiven.” She watched out the window because she couldn’t look at him; she couldn’t stand knowing that he’d been thrilled to hustle Joy to the altar. The only place Roman had ever been thrilled to hustle Gus was to bed.

She squashed the thought, looking out at the landscape, so hazy and lush and green. There was no green quite as verdant as the land here in England. She’d thought often that when she retired, she might move here and write her memoirs, adopt cats, and drink tea. And watch the rain.

He released her hand and made a U-turn. “I wish I believed you.”

“I forgive you, Roman. I just don’t know where we go from here,” she said sadly, pivoting her thoughts back to Joy again. So fucking complex. Joy had been her friend…and her rival. She’d been soft and sweet, and yet on those rare occasions when she dug her heels in, there had been a whole other side to the woman.

He turned to her, looking weary, almost lost. “Let’s go have dinner and a drink. In the morning, you’ll talk to some of the villagers, then we’ll return to London. Right now, I can’t think past that.”

And that was one of their problems. He could never see a future with her. But they had a few more days together until she had to let go of their past.

 

* * * *

 

“I expected you to fight me more,” Roman said as he locked the door to the room they would share tonight.

Gus set down the small bag of items they’d purchased before the shops closed. They’d spent the early evening in the village. Since she’d planned to head back to London, she hadn’t come prepared to spend the night.

She certainly hadn’t intended the rest of the evening to be so pleasant. They’d had tea and talked to a few locals. They continued on to some of the stores, poking about and asking members of the community subtle questions while they shopped for a few necessities.

“About spending the night with you?” Gus asked, pulling out the toothbrush she’d bought.

“Staying in the same room. And yes, spending the night with me.”

She could guess what he was really saying. “No, we’ve done that plenty of times. What you really meant was having dinner and shopping in public while holding your hand.”

He’d done the latter incessantly. He’d told her it was best if everyone in the village saw them as a couple—less suspicious—but he’d done it even when no one was around. Roman’s mixed signals were making her crazy.

“All right…I guess so. Yeah. It was nice. Spending time together without talking business felt surprisingly good.”

It had felt good. They’d talked about their past—not the heartbreaking parts, but some of the good times. He’d reminded her that before their falling out, they’d had a lot in common, shared a similar sense of humor. They also shared a lot of memories—the teenage antics of the Perfect Gentlemen. Gus had managed to get her brother’s friends out of a scrape or two, as well.

“You may not see it, but I always thought of you as the original girl in the gang.” A smile played at Roman’s lips as he crossed to the small desk and laid his briefcase on it. “You know we were all kinds of intimidated by your big attitude in the beginning. Well, everyone but Connor.”

“Connor spent summers with me. He viewed me as a big sister, nothing else. The rest of you were horny boys, and I was just the queen of all of your teenage fantasies.”

“I will not deny that.” He opened the tiny closet and hung up the slacks and blouse they’d found for her. Not her usual designer stuff, but it would do. She should be able to sneak into tomorrow’s afternoon meetings without raising brows. “But I like to think we were also friends.”

“I was your bail-out girl,” she corrected, trying to keep the conversation light. “You know I charged Dax interest, right? Ten percent. It was a good business model.”

Roman eased out of his suit coat. “You did not.”

“Oh, I did.” The memories played through her mind. “I also charged him mileage. It wasn’t an easy trip from my university to wherever the hell you guys got caught. And then I usually had to bribe someone to keep your stupidity out of the press.” She gave a little gasp. “Holy shit, Roman. I was already working publicity for Zack, even back then.”

He chuckled, the sound warm and inviting. “You were, and you were absolutely the person we called when we were in trouble. I think we all missed you during our years apart.”

She placed the toothbrush and other sundries in the small and thankfully private bathroom. The B&B was a charming old English manor house. It looked like Roman had rented out the Lord’s suite since it was much larger than she’d expected.

But once she was done arranging her temporary things, Gus had nothing left to do but stare at the clock and try not to think about why they’d missed her. Because she’d been foolish enough to give her heart to one of them. He’d merely thought of her as a fuck buddy.

Gus sighed. “It’s been nice watching the guys finally get their shit together. I never thought Bond would find a woman who could handle him.”

The air of sadness that had briefly loomed over Roman evaporated, and he smiled again. “Oh, Everly can. When we first met her I couldn’t believe Mad had hired her as his security chief. I thought it had to be one of his jokes. Or hookups. Of course, at the time, we didn’t know she was his half sister.”

“I would love to have seen Mad handle his sister falling for his best friend.”

“You know what you really should have seen? Everly basically handed your brother his ass when she decided she wasn’t taking Gabe’s shit anymore. Unfortunately, she nearly walked into a sea of reporters, so Dax had to force her back inside. She did not accept their manhandling well. Connor had to take her down.”

Oh, she wished she’d been there to see her big Navy captain baby brother get a verbal smacking down by Everly. “I like her. I like Lara, too, and Holland is everything I could have wanted for my brother. He just handled their relationship like a dumbass when he first met her.”

“He did. But even when your brother was at his stupidest, you watched over her. You knew how much he cared about her and you sent someone to protect her,” Roman mused as he fiddled with the big fireplace. He found a switch and it poofed into life.

That embodied Roman’s whole existence. No taking hours to start a roaring fire. He merely found the right switch and it stoked to life for him. It was why she sometimes forgot that he was merely a man, with all their insecurities and troubles. “I knew something was going on, that Holland had put herself in a bad position. I merely sent in backup.”

“You’re a remarkable woman, Augustine Spencer. I don’t know if I really understood that until recently.” He found the crystal decanter of Scotch the hosts had left for them and poured two drinks.

Gus sank to the comfy couch, the fire already warming her. “You’re larger than life yourself, Roman.” Now was the time. She didn’t want to fight with him, but he’d bent a lot this evening. She should probably return the favor. Since they were warm and getting along…and she only had two more hours before she was supposed to meet Deep Throat. If she didn’t tell Roman about the meeting now, it would be too late. “You handle everything that gets thrown at you with reason and intelligence.”

Gus hesitated. If she told him about the meeting now, how fast could he get a helo up here? Zack didn’t have Marine One at his fingertips in the UK, but Gabe had some pretty serious connections in the aeronautics field. And he knew lots of billionaires.

Roman stood over her, two glasses in his hand. He’d chucked his tie and opened the first two buttons of his dress shirt, giving her an intriguing glimpse of what she knew to be a spectacular chest. He looked yummy and sexy. And very suspicious. “Reasonable? That is not a word you usually use to refer to me.”

“An oversight on my part.” She took the glass from his hand and wished she wasn’t about to ruin the companionable state they’d found. The old Gus would have blurted it out, ripped the bandage off, and told him what she was doing. Her younger self had been a bit of a reckless bitch. Now she wanted some peace with this man. “What do you think about the lady who said she remembered Constance and a woman hanging out at the pub?”

He stared for a moment, then sank down on the couch beside her. “Is that what she said? So hard to tell…”

He really did struggle with English country dialects. “Yes. She said she remembered seeing Constance in town a few times because she was always dressed up.”

“Posh,” Roman recalled. “She said Constance was a posh snob.”

“Nob,” she corrected. Seeing powerful, always-in-control Roman out of his Beltway element was almost cute. She wished they could go to Paris so she could watch him depend on her to order food and navigate the city because he didn’t speak a lick of French, which she’d mastered long ago. “It’s slang for a wealthy person. And for a tiny penis. But I think we can safely say the elderly lady we were talking to was using the word in the former sense, not the latter.”

“Probably,” he allowed. “She said she’d seen Constance with a man and a woman at different times.”

“The man was probably Franklin. But the woman…” Gus shook her head, replaying the conversation they’d had with the local workers behind the counter at one of the shops. “She said Constance was with a younger woman, right? But she didn’t remember much except that she’d been a blonde whom Constance appeared to know well. Did Joy take any trips here to visit Zack’s mom?”

Roman’s jaw tightened momentarily, the way it always did when she brought up Joy. “I’m sure she did. You know she and Constance were close. And I think she viewed dealing with Constance as one of her roles as Zack’s wife. When we get back to DC, I can probably find Joy’s calendars. She kept them. I think Zack boxed them up after she died and had them moved into storage, along with all her other things, since he couldn’t bring himself to give them away. And I don’t think he wants to deal with them now.”

“Well, some of her things should be preserved for his presidential library. When we get back, I’ll recruit Holland and Sara to help me go through her things.”

Roman shook his head. “How do you do it? How do you compartmentalize like that? You offering to do that makes you one hell of a saint.”

“Because you loved her, and now we’re involved again? Why would I throw out the friendship I had with her and view her purely as the enemy? You didn’t do that with Mad.”

“Didn’t I? We weren’t close again for years, and never the way we had been. Honestly, when I found out you were sleeping with him again, I…”

Gus frowned. “You what?”

He stared into the fireplace as if he couldn’t look her way. “I don’t know. I’m starting to wonder how much of my flirtation with Joy was to get back at you for Mad. Gabe told me about it. He said you’d shown up in Vegas while he and Mad were partying and that you’d spent the night with Crawford. A couple of days, too. He laughed about it, said how nice it was to see you again. And how funny it was that Mad laid off the hookers because he claimed you were better in bed.”

That had been a wild weekend, and there had been more to it than even Gabe had known. “I was there because Mad asked me to come. His father had passed away. Yes, we slept together, but mostly I held him while he cried, Roman. He was my friend. He didn’t know how to show that vulnerable part of himself to you or any of the other guys. So when it got rough for him, he turned to me. It might surprise you to know that we often didn’t have sex at all. We would sit in bed and eat room service and watch movies and talk.”

“If you got along so great, why didn’t you marry him?” he bit out.

Gus turned to glare…and saw Roman’s hurt. She was starting to see through his knee-jerk responses, which made it so much easier not to take his bait. He might not even be aware he was tossing out the juicy line on purpose. Because he was emotionally dumb. Smart as a whip about everything else, but in this Roman was behind the curve, like a lot of men she’d known. Men like Mad, whom she’d always tried to help. But she’d avoided sifting through the emotions of the one man she’d truly cared about because he had the power to hurt her.

That realization made Gus terribly sad.

“I didn’t love him that way and he didn’t love me.” She didn’t tell him that Mad had offered once, that she’d turned him down because she’d been so in love with Roman she couldn’t envision herself married to anyone else.

She tried not to admit to herself that was still true.

“I don’t understand,” he admitted.

“That’s because women are infinitely more reasonable than men.” It was true in most cases. At least the majority of her friends were reasonable about the high-powered, single-minded men in their lives who rarely saw anything in life but the goal in front of them. “I need to find out if and when Joy came to see Constance.”

“But you said I was reasonable.” He raised a brow at her. By the firelight, on the sofa with one arm around the back of the couch, lightly touching her shoulders, he looked so handsome, a little devilish, as he poked at her.

Gus melted. Roman rarely teased. He was so serious, so focused on his goals and the future, on climbing new pinnacles. She hated to intentionally end his mood and drive a wedge between them but time was ticking away. She was going to have to tell him about her upcoming late-night adventure. And the more she’d thought about it, the more she’d realized that sneaking out of the room alone would be difficult. And reckless. It would definitely piss him off if he caught her—and he almost certainly would. The floors creaked, and Roman was a light sleeper.

“You can be very reasonable…when you want to be. I would very much like you to be.”

Those intense dark eyes of his narrowed. “Why would I need to be reasonable, Augustine? If you’re going to tell me you want your own room, I won’t be reasonable about that. Kemp is going to be coming this way in the morning. Hell, might already be on his way now. Connor is going to be on his trail, but I’m not risking you. If you don’t want to sleep with me, I’ll stay here on the couch.”

How to handle him? Ease him in. Yes, that was the best path. The one thing she didn’t want to see was that vein above his brow start to throb again. Because he took things far too seriously, he could easily be on his way to an early heart attack. Tonight could be a great adventure, something they’d look back on fondly. If she pitched it right, maybe she could get him to see it that way.

“What if I said I want to sleep with you…but I also want to visit a cemetery tonight, see who we run into?”

His forehead crinkled in pure confusion. “What?”

She downplayed her suggestion with a shrug and took a nice sip of Scotch. Not as good as what Zack would have served, but she wouldn’t complain. “I’ve heard the cemetery here is extremely romantic at night, and there’s a full moon.”

“You want to make out in the cemetery like a couple of horny teenagers? Have you ever seen a horror film? Even one?”

So no to the adventure. “I just thought it would be nice to take a stroll.”

“When would we take this stroll, Augustine?” His voice deepened as his suspicion returned.

She gave him a weak smile. “Midnight might be fun.”

“Just say it. What horrific and terrible plan have you concocted?”

“I didn’t concoct anything. I was contacted by someone who claims to have knowledge about how and why Constance Hayes died.”

Roman stood, slamming his glass on the side table. “Are you kidding me? When did he call? What did he say? Did he call himself Deep Throat?”

It was Gus’s turn to be surprised. “He didn’t call. He texted. The number was blocked. He told me to meet him in the cemetery at midnight. And yes, he called himself Deep Throat. I know that’s a cliché, but something tells me you’re not commenting on how passé his moniker is.”

Roman grabbed his cell phone with a curse and pointed her way. Accusation tightened his face. “He’s a menace, is what he is. I swear I’ll beat the shit out of him. He always goes for our women. He went after Everly, then Lara. He’s never brave enough to show his damn face to one of us, merely puts our women in danger.”

“Maybe he contacts the women because we’re the reasonable ones. You look a little crazy pants right now, babe.”

And that damn twitch was back.

“Did he say he would only give the information to you?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck him.” He hit a single button on his screen and put the phone to his ear. “Connor, Deep Throat’s back and he’s all over Gus. Yeah. The same old stale play. I need you to shave your legs, get a long, dark wig, and heels. No, make that flats. When Gus wears heels she’s almost as tall as you so flats should work. Tell Lara to do your makeup. Sometimes Gus does those smoky eyes, I think they call it.”

He’d gone off the deep end.

Gus plucked the phone from Roman’s hand. “Connor, it’s Gus.”

“Please tell me you’re going to save me from doing a one-man drag show,” Connor all but pleaded. She could practically see him standing there with his mouth hanging open.

Because Roman didn’t lose control. He was always cool and confident.

“Yes. Forget the flats and the smoky eyes,” she promised. “Deep Throat did contact me, but his invitation included a plus one. He knows I’m going to bring along Roman. Everything will be fine.”

“Everything will not be fine,” Roman insisted. “And since you get a plus one, maybe Lara can stand in for you. Or Everly.”

“There isn’t a heel tall enough to make either one of them look even slightly like me.” What had happened to him not risking his friends’ wives? She clicked his phone over to speaker. “Connor, Roman is going with me. Contrary to what Mr. Optimism here thinks, we’ll be fine. I’m not doing anything but talking to this person, and the cemetery is an easy walk to the police station.”

“It’s an easy setup for murder, you mean,” Roman ground out. “It’s a freaking cemetery, Gus. It’s possible he’s already dug our graves.”

“He’s watched way too many horror films,” she told Connor.

“Roman, calm down. Every time we’ve come up against this guy, he’s given us information we needed and gone on his way. It was total coincidence that the crazy chick from Everly’s office tried to kill her while she met with him, and Lara didn’t realize she had a couple of Russian assassins on her tail, which she would have known if she’d been as reasonable as Gus is being right now. You win the medal for best girlfriend because you actually told Roman instead of sneaking behind his back like the others.”

“I took Everly with me.” Lara’s protest came over the line.

“Still haven’t forgiven either of you for that,” Gabe complained.

Roman shot her a pointed look.

“Hey, Gus, it’s Everly. Can you try to surreptitiously take a picture of this guy because Lara and I are pretty sure our Deep Throats were actually two different men.”

Roman gaped. “She is not taking a damn picture.”

Gus would try. Maybe if she hid her phone in her jacket pocket and managed to maneuver it at exactly the right angle.

“Absolutely not,” Roman barked, just in case they hadn’t all heard his first edict.

“Fine,” she replied, mostly because unless she used her flash, the image wouldn’t look like anything except a black blob in the dark. “But when we come back to London, we’ll all sit down and compare notes. I’ll try to remember as much as I can.”

“Roman, are you okay with this?” Connor asked. “I don’t think I can pass as Gus, but I might be able to hop on that helo and pass as you. I know from experience this guy is serious. He won’t talk to anyone but her. For once, he’s giving a little by letting you come along. I’m surprised. Maybe he learned his lesson from forcing Everly and Lara to come alone.”

“No.” Roman sighed. “I’ll go with her. I’ll take care of her.”

He sounded resigned, but he’d clenched his jaw so hard it looked ready to break. That vein over his brow was thumping double-time.

She needed to calm him down. “I’ll text and let you know when we’re done. Then we’ll debrief when we get back to London.”

“I’ll be on Kemp’s trail, but you can fill me in later,” Connor replied. “And Gus, you carrying?”

“Of course.” She had a small pistol in her purse.

“Don’t be afraid to use it.”

The phone clicked, and Roman stared at her.

“What are you carrying? Please tell me it’s a rape whistle.”

The poor man had no idea how to deal with her. Luckily, she was catching on quickly how to handle him. It all came down to bending a little. He was arrogant, but he did care about her. He was scared to care too much, of course. But he was here beside her. No, it likely wouldn’t be forever…but how would she know for certain if she never tried? She’d never told him in the past how she’d felt, just lashed out in hurt when he hadn’t felt the same. As he’d pointed out, they were older, wiser. More tempered. Maybe with honesty and communication, they had a better shot.

She set the phone down and took his hand. “A rape whistle would only annoy the man. My Ruger, on the other hand, will take care of him. I have a license to carry. I’m trained and everything. My dad started taking Dax and me to the shooting range when we were tall enough to see over the counter. I got it into the country by having the Secret Service carry it for me.”

“Damn it, Gus. It’s illegal for you to carry that here. England is serious about their gun laws,” he insisted.

He was right, but he’d also forgotten a few things. She smoothed her hands up his shirt, all the way to his broad shoulders. Telling him about the midnight meeting hadn’t gone as bad as she’d feared. With some maneuvering and help from his friends, he’d agreed to go with her, and he’d only had a little fit. “That’s why I travel with a super-hot lawyer. He’ll get me out of whatever mess I land in.”

“That is not how it works, Augustine,” he argued. But he wasn’t putting distance between them.

“Are you saying you won’t save me?” She softened, looking up at him. She’d kicked off her shoes and was well aware that now he stood a few inches above her.

“You don’t need me to save you.” His hands encircled her waist. “You never have.”

“Everyone needs a little help now and then. I wasn’t going to sneak out on you. I admit, I considered it, but I’d rather have you with me.” She smoothed her thumb over that angry vein popping along in his forehead. “Stop worrying. Everything will be okay because we’ll be together. Besides, I would rather have you watching my back than Connor. He’s too sneaky for my taste.”

He took a deep breath and pressed his forehead to hers. “I know what you’re doing. You’re placating me.”

That wasn’t all she was doing. She was seducing him, too.

Gus raised her hands to his hair, running her fingers through the normally coiffed strands, and breathed him in. She loved how he smelled. He still wore the same aftershave he had in college. She knew if he didn’t pay someone to buy his suits, he likely wouldn’t have changed those either. He was a rock…and she’d been a hard place. What if they could manage the feat they hadn’t been able to all those years before? What if they could actually stay together and make them work?

“I’m calming you down so we don’t have to fight and you don’t have to have a stress-induced heart attack. Sit down for me.”

His hands tightened on her waist. “I don’t want you to go out there.”

Because he cared. Maybe more than a little?

“I’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. We’ll get whatever information Deep Throat has and we’ll be one step closer to untangling this mess.” Not to mention discovering who had killed her loved ones.

“You have to promise me something.”

She groaned inwardly. Was he really going to ask her to step back after tonight? Yes, he probably would insist she give him all the information she collected, so he could take it to Zack. Then he’d cajole or bully her into keeping her pretty nose out of the rest. She was doing her best to understand and accommodate him. Couldn’t he at least try to reciprocate?

He wasn’t there yet, and she had to accept that getting Roman to change his mind about anything wasn’t a quick process. So if he asked her to back off, she would give in. It would hurt, but this was likely all Roman could give her now if she wanted a tomorrow with him.

“What is it?”

“Promise me when we find out who did this to our friends that you won’t do anything rash. You won’t go after them by yourself. You’ll let me hire someone to make them die terribly and painfully while we sit back and watch.”

Gus smiled. That was more concession than she’d expected from him. It told her that he really was trying. “I will let you arrange the appropriate violence. But I get a front row seat.”

“How long before we have to leave for this crazy clandestine meeting we really shouldn’t take?” Roman asked, his lips touching her forehead, skimming down her nose.

“Long enough,” she murmured in a husky voice. “Why don’t you sit down?”

“I don’t want to talk anymore. I want to kiss you and touch you, forget we’re doing something reckless that may end badly.”

At least he no longer considered kissing and touching her in the reckless category. Another mark in the win column. “If you’ll sit down, I promise there will be very little talking, babe. I can’t talk with your cock in my mouth.”

He fell to the cushion below in an instant, spreading his legs wide with a groan. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve fantasized about this in the last thirteen years?”

Her body hummed with energy, brimmed with desire. They didn’t have to be angry with each other to feel burning passion. That realization eased something deep inside her. She’d always been afraid they’d brought out the worst in each other, but this…this was different. They were different. She’d given him some trust, and he was repaying her with his own.

“Really?” she drawled. “Tell me exactly what your fantasy is. Do you want some hot secretary to come in and take care of your needs?”

She could role-play. It might be fun.

He shook his head, his stare focused and serious. “My fantasies aren’t about some random woman. They’re about you, Augustine. They’re always about you.”

His words melted her, and she banished the tears that threatened. She didn’t remember him being so sweet, so open. Then again, they hadn’t talked much back then. If she’d challenged him by suggesting a midnight stroll with a potentially dangerous informant years ago, they would have moved immediately into the screaming-match portion of the evening. Now, they were able to have a non-confrontational negotiation. Maybe they were more equipped to deal with each other—and have a future together—after all.

“Tell me your fantasy about me, Roman.”

She started to unbutton her blouse, slowly, one button at a time, watching as his eyes flared, turned hot. They’d had so much fast and furious sex, so much raging passion without a lot of thoughtfulness or ease. Going slow and easy now seemed almost forbidden.

He reached for the Scotch, his body relaxed—with the single exception of his erect cock. It tented his slacks and made him look so masculine. Money and power and sex rolled off him, all directed her way.

“I’ll sit in my office and watch you walk by,” he confessed. “Sometimes, I leave my door open because I know what time you’ll pass. Every morning you grab a latte and walk to the press office at a quarter after nine, and every morning I think about calling out and asking you to come inside and shut the door.”

When she freed the last of her buttons, she shrugged her blouse from her shoulders and let it drop to the ground, gratified when his stare clung to her breasts. “And what do you intend to talk to me about, Mr. Calder?”

“Who said anything about talking? I’ll have you lock the door, and even though you’re a little surprised, you know that some of the work we do is important and requires secrecy. You are a bit surprised when I insist you strip naked for me.”

Now they were getting somewhere. She felt her lips curl up. “Do I comply? Do I strip for you, Mr. Calder?”

“You’re hesitant at first, but I explain how stressed I am and the only thing that can possibly fix my problems so I can help the president is for you to take off your clothes and get on your knees. I inform you this is a new part of your duties.”

“And I do it for my country?” The grin stretched into a wide smile. To have Roman both playing with her and sharing his thoughts filled her with a lightness she hadn’t been expecting. In their past, sex had been an outward expression of lust and some weird power struggle in which neither of them had been willing to bend. This was something more. This was fun. This was Roman telling her his fantasy and her playing it out for him.

Give and take. No struggle. No war to see who came out on top. This was two people who cared about each other finding middle ground so they could make it work.

Hopefully, just like their relationship.

“You’re a patriot, Augustine.” Something warm dominated his expression. Affection and lust wrapped up in a killer smile.

She eased the slacks off her hips and drew her lacy panties down with them. She didn’t need to draw this out unnecessarily. They were on a clock, but she was already looking forward to getting back to DC where she would absolutely be fucking the chief of staff in his office. She would show him exactly how patriotic she could be.

“Damn, but I’ll never get used to how beautiful you are. And how the hell did you wrap me around your finger? I should be fighting to get you home and safe, but all I can think about is how much I want that sinful mouth of yours on my dick.”

She dropped to her knees. “I would rather be in danger with you than safe without you, Roman.” The words slipped from her mouth without thought. Immediately, she looked for ways to walk them back. Yes, she and Roman were getting along better. And yes, he did seem more reasonable. But just because she wanted a future with him didn’t mean he felt the same. She couldn’t want it enough for both of them. Making herself vulnerable only made the risk to her heart more perilous. So she plastered on her brightest smile. “I mean, you’re such a big strong man, Mr. Calder, that I know you’ll protect me if the press finds out what we’re doing.”

He frowned and sat upright, leaning in just enough to cup her face in one hand. “That’s not what you meant. We’ll play tonight your way because I can’t stand the thought of not being with you. I know I’ll hate myself if you get hurt, but I can’t not take this chance with you. I was an idiot in the past, and it cost us years. Don’t pull away from me now.”

Sincerity warmed his dark stare, and she shuddered in his grip. God, Roman was always sexy, but even more so when he was being open and honest with her. She braced her hands on his knees. “I don’t know that I could if I wanted to. I’m afraid, too, Roman. You have always scared me, but I can’t stay away. I’ll be honest, though. I worry that we’re trying to reclaim our youth or find something we lost long ago.”

He’d been her whole world for that year, and she’d been so certain they were meant to be. Assuming he shared her feelings, then showing him her sass rather than her honest vulnerability, had been fuel that sparked their destructive fire.

“No, we’re finding something new, something better. We’re not the same people. We’ve lived more…and hopefully learned which battles are worth fighting and with what weapons. We’ve both learned to value the connections that are important. Let’s find out how we are together now—this Roman and this Augustine. No looking back.”

She wasn’t sure the shambles of their past wouldn’t always be a barrier between them, but she wanted to believe what he was saying. She wanted to give them her all so badly. “Is this anything like your fantasy?”

She slid her palms up his muscular thighs to his belt buckle.

“You’re better than any fantasy. I think that’s been the trouble my whole damn life. I preferred fantasy to reality.” When his belt came undone under her ministrations, he moaned. “You’re going to drive me crazy, aren’t you?”

“Only in the best way.” She eased the zipper down, carefully separating the front of his slacks so she could see his boxers. That eager cock of his was straining against the fabric. “It looks like you don’t mind my kind of crazy.”

“If you don’t touch me soon, you’ll see my crazy, baby. It won’t be pretty. I’ll start to beg, then the fantasy of you on your knees doing my bidding because I’m the all-powerful White House chief of staff will go up in smoke.” His fist curled around the Scotch. “You see in my dream world, you do this twice a day. You show up in the morning and set aside your coffee and spread yourself on my desk so I can have you any way I like. It’s my morning exercise.”

She grinned at that. “And at night?”

“At the end of a long day, I pour myself a glass of ridiculously expensive Scotch and you suck my cock until I can’t see straight. Then we go home and get into bed and I make love to you until we can finally sleep, and we start all over again the next day.”

She peeled back his boxers, his cock bouncing free. It was a thing of beauty, the head a lovely shade of red and purple and already shiny for her. “That sounds like a schedule I can appreciate.”

“You know I believe in keeping a rigorous one,” he murmured as she stroked him softly. “You’re killing me, baby. I’m going to beg any minute now.”

Gus couldn’t have that. She leaned forward and licked at the head of his cock, gripping him with one hand, holding him upright so she could explore him with her lips and tongue all over again. Roman enjoyed a firm hold. He demanded it. One of the things she could never forget was how he’d always loved to sink his hands in her hair and clench, insisting she suck at the pace he set. Now, he let her have free rein to explore him at will. Eventually he would take control, but now he seemed content to let her exercise her own.

Subtle changes, more evidence that they were, in fact, different people. But Gus appreciated them.

If they’d managed to be a little more tolerant when they’d been younger, where might they be now? Married? With children? Happy? The thought of all those missed years made her heart ache.

No. Roman was right. She had to focus on the future, not the past. It was done, and nothing could be gained by what-iffing all that. She had the now, and it was a pretty good place to be.

Gus dragged her tongue down the thick stalk of his cock, loving the way he hissed at the sensation. She sucked him into her mouth, lightly playing and teasing, before she eased back to nip at his sensitive crest with her teeth. He shuddered. And all the while she could feel her body heating, softening. The very act of pleasing him aroused her.

She explored his silken length with a moan, flattening her tongue and trying not to miss a single inch. He expressed his appreciation for her thorough efforts with a curse and a groan.

The sound of the glass clinking against the table resounded right before his big palms enveloped her head, his fingers tangling in her hair. “Do you have any idea how good you feel?”

She certainly hoped she knew. To be sure, she swirled her tongue all around him, lowering her head again before sucking her way back up, hollowing her cheeks with an appreciative wail.

Glancing up at him through her lashes, Gus caught Roman staring down at her. His whole being seemed focused on her. He wasn’t thinking about anything now except the sensation she laved all over his dick and the pleasure jetting through his body. And that was a feat because shutting down Roman Calder’s always-whirling, considering-a-thousand-problems brain almost never happened.

When she lowered her mouth on him again, taking him in inch by slow inch, he watched, gripping her tightly. “Hmm. Yes, I should have my secretary put this on my daily schedule.”

Loving his smoke-and-sin voice, she tilted her head up and pulled free with a grin. “I’m sure Sandra will love writing that in. ‘Your nine a.m. blow job has arrived, Mr. Calder.’”

“No. All she’ll say is your Augustine is here.”

His Augustine. Her Roman. Still, there were some problems with his fantasy. “If I’m in your office every morning, people will talk, especially if they hear moaning coming from behind closed doors.”

“They’ll talk about how fucking lucky I am. They’ll wonder why I get the hottest girl and the best office and all the damn perks. If they say anything else, I’ll show them why they call me the president’s Hitman.”

“I don’t care what any one of those assholes say, as long as I get to do this to you.” She swallowed him down in one long gulp.

Above her, he hissed again, his hands tangling in her hair. He’d been gentle up until this point, as though he merely wanted the connection with her, was enjoying their banter and playfulness. But now she felt the intent in his grasp.

His fingers twisted in her hair, lighting up her scalp. “You will. Suck me, Augustine.”

She picked up the pace. This was what he needed. What she needed. The emotion between them was real and tangible when they were making love. Maybe if they did it often enough they could transform that feeling into a bond that couldn’t be broken, one that would stand the test of time—and whatever shit came their way.

Maybe they really could use it to start over.

Gus laved Roman’s cock up and down, lips and tongue working together to make his toes curl. He set a hard rhythm and she followed, shuttling him in and out of her mouth and cupping the soft sac of his balls. They were swollen and desperate in her palm. She gave them a gentle tug, and a growl tore from his throat. He couldn’t possibly last long. She could feel it. His orgasm was evident in the way his balls drew up and in the stiffening of his cock.

Any minute now he would groan and surrender to the pleasure. He was so far gone, it was inevitable. She would suck him hard and he would come in her mouth and be gratified that she had given him ecstasy. All she had to do was let him find that soft place in the back of her throat where she swallowed him whole, and he couldn’t resist her a second more.

Instead, his fingers tightened in her hair, forcing her up and off his cock.

“No. Not tonight. I might have my office fantasies, but they don’t work now. I want you up here, riding my cock. I’m not coming until I’m deep inside that hot pussy of yours.”

When he tugged her up, Gus straddled his lap, resting her knees on either side of him. She wanted him inside her so desperately. Her whole body pulsed with pure arousal. She could feel her blood thrumming through her system and her clitoris beginning to throb in reaction.

Even more, she needed him—the connection, the closeness. The promise of their future.

She positioned herself over his thick erection, letting her palms skim over her breasts and down to her waist.

“Fuck, you’re sexy. Yes, this is what I want.” His grip tightened on her as he positioned his cock against her intimately. “If I could, I would keep you naked all the time, always ready for me.”

It was a nice fantasy. She didn’t mind entertaining that one, especially if Roman remained dressed and did all kinds of dirty, unspeakable things to cajole her complete surrender.

With a gasp, Gus lowered herself down, sliding his massive length inside her inch by inch. Slowly. God, she wanted to feel every second of his penetration, so she moved as if she didn’t have a care in the world, as if they had all night to simply feel each other.

He filled her completely. No one ever had filled her quite the way this man did. She was deliciously stretched and feeling thoroughly adored by his unyielding grip on her hips and the blistering heat of his stare.

“You feel so damn good. Kiss me,” he growled.

With pleasure… She lowered her mouth, brushing her lips against his as she found a rhythm, her hips moving in time with his. He held her so close, as if he would never let her go.

The tension built with every thrust, his cock and his tongue working in tandem to drive her out of her mind. Heat balled in her belly. Tingles snaked behind her clit. Gus held onto him, letting him take over because she was so close to finding that perfect place where nothing mattered except the wild pleasure she found in his arms.

It burst over her and she shook. Only his arms around her kept her from falling apart. He held her even tighter as he ground out his own pleasure with a chest-deep groan.

Once the sweet pleasure had subsided to a delicious little pulse between her legs, she slumped against Roman, breathless, heart about to burst with joy and something that felt a lot like love.

“Next time my pants come off,” he murmured.

She managed a laugh. “And I probably should put mine back on.”

He shifted, rolling her on to her back across the long sofa. “Not yet. We still have time, Augustine.”

Then he lowered his head to her breast, laving the starkly sensitive tips and igniting the heat inside her all over again. It looked like he meant to make the most of whatever time they had together. Gus hoped it was a long while.