CHAPTER 12
The low murmuring of Zane on the phone in the other room made Missy want to listen closer.
She shouldn't. She trusted him. Mostly.
No, she did trust him. But what was with the whispering?
If he was discussing some matters of national security or something, he could trust her not to spill the beans. She was a freaking senator's daughter, after all.
And if the topic of conversation was so important then he shouldn't be discussing it in their apartment on the cell phone anyway. Mr. Paranoid should realize the apartment could be bugged or something.
Farfetched, she knew, but hell, it could happen.
In any case, she hated he was in the spare room he'd turned into an office with the door closed. Hated it with every fiber of her being.
Maybe she should bug the apartment herself.
Now she was being crazy. But if she were, it was because Zane was making her so. Along with Amelia and the pressure this wedding party responsibility was putting on her.
She still had yet to tell Zane about it. She really needed to do that and soon now that Meli had finally chosen the date, and it was only six months away.
A Christmas wedding. She wanted to roll her eyes at that and say it was a foolish time of year to have a wedding when everyone is so busy, but she couldn't because it sounded lovely.
The jiggling of the handle heralded the opening of the office door. Missy spun and pretended to be very busy folding the throw on the sofa.
“All done with your business call?” she asked, in as bright and cheerful a tone as she could muster without sounding guilty for trying to eavesdrop.
Nope. Not suspicious at all. Not her.
“Yeah, but you're not going to like what I have to say.”
“Why.” She frowned, suspecting what that comment meant.
“I’ve got to be away for a couple of days.”
Yup. Just as she’d guessed. He was going away again, like he did so often.
“With Jon?” she asked.
“No.” He hesitated and finally met her gaze.
Wow. Now that was suspicious. Maybe she really did need to start bugging his office. She waited for him to elaborate.
“I'm working on something outside of GAPS.”
Her eyes widened. “Not like what Jon did last year. Please tell me you're not going undercover in Iraq or Syria or wherever the hell he went and got himself blown up while poor Ali was home and didn't know where he was.”
“No. No worries. I'm not that stupid. Believe me. And Jon won't ever be doing that again.”
“That's good to hear.” But it still didn't explain where Zane was going and why he was going alone.
She knew damn well she might never know. Such was the nature of the world of government contracts and national security in which he worked. But she really wished he'd tell her something.
Zane took both of her hands in his. “Can we sit?”
“Um, sure.”
Uh, oh. This sounded serious. Like I think we should break up kind of serious. Maybe she didn't want him to tell her anything after all.
He led her to the sofa. When they both sat, he said, “I promised to keep what I'm working on confidential, but as far as I'm concerned keeping the details out of the press and from the public doesn't mean I can't tell you. Especially since it's going to affect you.”
“Okay.” Her mind spun but guessing was getting her nowhere so she gave up and just waited for Zane to reveal what he was talking about.
“I'm doing a job—more like a favor—for Brent. His cousin has gotten involved with a guy online and he's concerned so I did some digging. And I had a friend do some more digging.”
“And?”
“And what we found didn't alleviate our concern.”
“Oh no.”
He nodded. “Anyway, that's who was on the phone. Brent. I was relaying what I've learned and now he wants to confront this guy.”
Her eyes widened. “Is that a good idea?”
“Probably not. And he definitely shouldn’t be the one to do it, but I do agree something more needs to be done to at least figure out what this guy's really all about. So . . .” He raised his gaze to hers. “I offered to go meet him.”
“You?”
“Yeah, I have the training. I'm not emotionally involved the way Brent is. I won't attract the notice of the press like he will. And if things go south I know I can handle it.”
“Do you expect that?”
“No. But I also know to be prepared for the unexpected.”
She absorbed it all. The fact he was doing so much to help out an old friend. And the fact he was confiding in her, which was a nice change from the secrecy. She liked he trusted her enough to tell her. Liked being included in the work part of his world.
“I understand. Of course you should go. He's a friend and he needs help.”
“But what you don't know is that this guy is in California. So it could take a couple of days because of the travel.”
“Zane. It's okay. I'm used to it. You travel all the time.”
He dropped his chin. “I know. I travel too much. And you've always understood. I'm not sure I express how much I appreciate that.”
She didn't know what had inspired that apology or what had bought out this new appreciative side of Zane. It was odd, but she wasn't complaining.
Especially not when he pulled her to him. “So, we had our dinner with your parents. I handled the phone call I had to make. Now, what do you say we head to bed?”
When he looked at her like that she might as well be a teenager again. Her heart fluttered—with anticipation and love and, yes, lust too.
It wasn't even eight-thirty yet but she had a feeling they wouldn't be going to sleep.
“I say that sounds good.”