“Sounds like the perfect retirement.”
“I don’t know that I’d want to spend that much time on the water, but my mother loves it. And for so many years they were apart when he was at sea.”
“Squid are a species unto their own,” he said, shaking his head. “The idea of spending that much time under water gives me the heebies,” he admitted.
“Seriously? I thought big tough Marines weren’t afraid of anything?”
“I didn’t say I was afraid,” he corrected, puffing out his chest. “Just that I’m not particularly fond of the idea of being under several hundred feet of water.”
“Ah, okay, I see the distinction,” she said.
“Thank you.”
She grinned and threw a grape at him, which he caught in his mouth.
“So what about your brothers? I was sorry to read about Garrett losing his wife—how tragic,” she said, more serious.
“It was beyond tragic. We weren’t sure he was going to make it through for a while,” Ely said, still feeling punched in the chest when he thought about his older brother’s loss. He’d liked Lainey a lot, too. It had been a loss for all of them.
“And Jonas, Chance? They’re well? Married?”
“Chance is Chance. I don’t think he’ll ever settle down, or find a woman who can put up with his need to jump off high things every other day,” he said, laughing. “But Jonas has been in tough shape.”
Ely related the story of Jonas’s protection detail, and about the loss of his sight.
“That’s terrible!” Chloe commiserated. “But he’ll get it back?”
“So they say. No word yet.”
“And you said he’s involved with Tessa Rose, James Rose’s daughter?” she asked in a tone that alerted Ely’s radar.
“Well, it seemed that way, until he backed off big-time after the accident. But she keeps coming around. That’s like one determined lady,” he admitted. “Why?”
He liked Tessa, actually, and thought it was high time his older brother found a steady woman, but Jonas was even more of a lone wolf than Ely had ever been.
Even with his own brothers, Jonas had always held himself separate to some degree. When they were kids, Jonas was the one who spent more time doing his own thing rather than playing in a group, who spent more time in his room, reading or studying, than out partying in college.
He’d become even more isolated after he left the police department, or so Garrett and Chance reported. Ely had been off to basic training back then, and had only heard of what happened to his brother.
Jonas didn’t talk about what went down when he’d been caught in an undercover mess, but Ely knew it wasn’t the way the papers had painted it. After being in a war, he knew exactly how the media could spin things.
Chloe shifted uncomfortably, taking another sip of her wine before she replied, and then he felt her reporter persona slip back in place, the distance reasserting itself.
He was willing to bet she knew something about James Rose that she didn’t want to share.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“There’s a huge story breaking in a few hours,” she said. “Rose’s office is one of the ones that will be implicated.”
“For what?”
“There’s an embezzlement ring on the Hill. Several aides have been using their resources to siphon off funds from campaign coffers, using it for all manner of criminal business. I was clued in, and it’s going to be a huge scandal,” she said, her eyes lighting up.
“And Rose is in the middle of this?”
“Not him directly—but his aide, yes. You can’t say anything about this, Ely, not until the story breaks. The arrests won’t happen until morning, right before.”
Ely smiled at how her color rose and her eyes brightened at the prospect of a hot story. She was passionate about her work. It was one of the things he loved about her.
“I won’t say a word, I promise.”
Still, his mind went to his brother and Tessa. They weren’t together, but he hoped none of this would hurt the reputation of their agency.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, and not even a little glad,” he said. “That guy, the aide, Howie Stanton, is a slug. He came to the hospital the night Jonas was admitted and told him if he went near Tessa again, there would be bad consequences for the business.”
“You’re kidding. Well, the only bad consequences I see are ones coming down on him.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Ely said, smiling.
Chloe was the kind of woman men dreamed about. Beautiful, smart and sexy, she knew how to do her job. It was one of the things he found sexiest about her.
Setting down her wine and reaching to take his glass, her eyes told him she didn’t want to talk anymore. Loosening the tie of his robe, she trailed kisses down his chest, obviously intent on ending the conversation and returning the pleasure he’d provided her earlier.
Ely was determined to be a better man this time, to not be as selfish and self-involved as he was when he’d first been with Chloe.
He also loved how she took control and pushed him back to the cushions, focused on her task.
She stroked his erection, looking at him with sheer pleasure and mischievous intent as her tongue darted out, tasting him, making him catch his breath.
“You stay put, Marine, and don’t come until I tell you to. That’s an order,” she commanded with mock seriousness as she closed her mouth around him, sending his heart rate through the roof.
Ely gladly submitted. He was trained to take orders, and knew he wouldn’t disobey this one if his life depended on it.
8
3:00 a.m.
TESSA WAS EXHAUSTED and had actually nodded off for a few minutes curled up on the seat, her head cradled on Jonas’s shoulder as Collins took them back to the store. The intimacy of the night and the dark in the restaurant was giving way to morning, allowing her some light to study him.
He was dozing, too, the manly lines of his face softened in sleep. She stared at the fullness of his mouth, which she couldn’t get enough of. He looked peaceful, which was rare for him, she thought. They’d turned a corner of sorts, leaving the restaurant with the connection between them stronger.
Still, she worried. She hadn’t asked Jonas the question she was dying to: why he had thought so badly about her after the accident. What had Howie said to him? Was her father up to his old tricks, controlling her life, and her love life?
Jonas was clearly under the impression that she had used him to get back at her father, or that her father had not thought he was “suitable” enough for her. There were things going on beneath the surface, and Tessa planned to find out what they were.
One thing she knew for sure was that Howie was a snake. She’d never liked him. Her father had suggested once that Howie had an interest in her, and that they would make a “solid match.” The thought made her gag. Her father occasionally pushed one of his plastic political harpies in her direction, even though she never showed any interest.
Jonas said she didn’t care about the cost to others. What costs? Could her father have threatened his business?