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The very thought of sleeping in the same bed as Ryan Vail made her skin tingle, made her want to hide under her desk. For all his colorful reputation, he would be a perfect gentleman, she had no doubt, but that didn’t mean she could be a perfect lady. Knowing she’d never be with Ryan in real life had no effect whatsoever on what she did with him in her fantasies. The idea of actually sleeping with him … She felt sick with panic.
Taking her own idiotic issues out of the equation, there were several practical reasons to turn down the assignment. She might have helped with the cover stories, but she couldn’t step directly into Jeannie’s shoes.
However, she couldn’t dismiss the short- and long-term benefits of saying yes. She didn’t want to let down the team. And if she’d thought writing the search engine code would get her noticed, agreeing to the undercover work would put her front and center in the Deputy Director’s radar.
She weighed the pros and cons: pretending to be Ryan’s wife all week versus nailing the job in D.C.
She stood. “We don’t have much time. Jeannie and I aren’t close to the same size so I’ll have to get a new wardrobe. We’ll need to put my paperwork and computer cover in place faster than is humanly possible.”
A.D. Palmer shook her hand. “Thank you, Wolf. Or should I say, Mrs. Ebsen.”
2
HE WOKE TO THE BED DIPPING. For a few seconds, Ryan’s adrenaline spiked until he remembered where he was. He groaned at the bright red numbers on the clock. “One a.m.? What the …?”
The rest of the question got lost in the dark, but it didn’t matter, because Jeannie didn’t answer. He didn’t blame her, she must be exhausted. At least she hadn’t turned on the lights. And he had asked her not to wake him. “You okay?”
She tugged sharply on the covers, pulling more of them to her side of the bed. But she didn’t confirm or deny.
Ryan craned his neck until he could just make out her head on the pillow, her back to him, hunched and tight. Must have gotten stuck at the airport or something. If she didn’t want to talk about it, fine.
He curled onto his side hoping to find the dream she’d interrupted. It had been nice. Smelled nice. He sighed as he closed his eyes, thinking vaguely that he’d been right that sharing a bed with her was no big deal. Especially when he considered what else was going to take place in the next few days.
It was amazingly quiet; they weren’t in the hotel proper, but a separate group of bungalows that had their own locked gate, their own pools, even an exclusive bar. That’s why the retreat cost an arm and a leg. So they could be near the secluded Namaste courtyard where the private couples retreat would take place. Too bad he had to work. This was the best vacation spot he’d been to in years.
He sighed as he let himself slip deeper and deeper into sleep…. The scent came back, a little like the beach and jasmine, low-key and sexy like—
His eyes flew open. His heart thudded as his pulse raced and it had to be the dream. The dream had gotten him confused. That’s all. No need to panic. That was Jeannie next to him. For God’s sake, who else would it be?
So why wasn’t he turning around? Even in the dark, it would only take one look to know for sure and then he would cool his jets and go back to sleep. Undercover jitters. It happened. Not to him, but he’d heard tales. Nothing to see. No chance in hell the boss would do something insane like pull a switch at this stage of the game.
Moving slowly, not wanting to disturb her, Ryan twisted until he could see his bed partner. He hadn’t used the blackout curtains because he never did—might have to see in the middle of the night. Like now. Just to check. Just to be certain.
He swallowed as his gaze went to the back of Jeannie’s head. Shit. It was a trick of the moonlight. Jeannie’s blond hair looked darker, that’s all. And longer. He bent closer, grabbing his side of the mattress so he wouldn’t tumble on top of her, then took a major sniff.
“What the—” Ryan sat up so fast the whole bed shook. His hand flailed in his search for the light switch, but even after he’d found it he didn’t blink.
It wasn’t Jeannie. The woman next to him. Wasn’t. Jeannie. Jeannie smelled like baby powder and bananas. The woman next to him smelled exactly like …
She groaned and as she turned over, he whispered, “No, no, no, no.”
Special Agent Angie Wolf glared back at him with red-rimmed eyes. She wasn’t supposed to be here. In the bed. With him.
“Jeannie is being held over in court,” she said, her voice as gruff as the hour. “They weren’t able to get a postponement. If you’d answered your phone or picked up your messages, you would know that. Palmer asked me to take her place. I would prefer not to be here, but we really don’t have a choice if we want to salvage the operation. Now, turn off the light and go back to sleep. Please.”
It took him a minute to digest what she’d said. Eventually he nodded. “Okay.”
She punched the pillow, looked once more in his general direction and said, “Oh, and if you wake me before eight, I’ll kill you with my bare hands,” then pulled the covers over her head while Ryan thought of five different reasons he should get up and go straight back to L.A.
That would end any chance he might have had for the D.C. job, but hey, he was a good agent. He could still rise to the top, even if he had to climb stairs instead of ride the elevator. Which would leave one of the other candidates to slip right into that sweet, sweet position working for the Deputy Director. For example, the woman sharing the goddamn bed.
What he couldn’t do was pretend to be married to Angie Wolf. This operation was possible because Jeannie and him, they had seen each other in their underwear before. It had been funny. No embarrassment whatsoever. Hell, he was pals with her husband. He played with her kids. They were cool, him and Jeannie, no matter what cockamamie new-age tantric yoga tofu-covered bullshit they might have to sit through.
Angie Wolf was a whole different kettle of fish. She was hot, for one thing. Hot as in smokin’ hot. Tall, lean, small up top, but on her it worked, and legs … Man, those runner’s legs. Her dark hair was straight and thick and flowed halfway down her back, and he’d found himself too often staring into her cocoa-colored eyes.
Worse than that, he’d almost broken one of his cardinal rules because of her: he did not cross the line with anyone connected to the job. But at last year’s Halloween party they’d come uncomfortably close. He’d been joking, sort of, but then there was this heat between them, and he’d realized that the fire had been smoldering for a long time, probably since they’d met. But A.D. Palmer had interrupted what had been dangerously close to a kiss and she’d stepped back. He’d laughed as if it was no big deal, as if his heart hadn’t been beating a wicked drum solo in his chest or that he’d been half-hard just from the scent of her perfume. They’d kept their distance since. Sixteen months later they still had to be careful because the pull hadn’t diminished one iota. At least not for him. She was kind of hard to gauge.
God, just a few hours ago, he’d been laughing about the Intimate At Last brochure. Body work. Couples massages. Delightful homeplay assignments. Shit. How was this supposed to work now?
Once the light was off, he stared into the shadows of the room. He wasn’t about to fall asleep anytime tonight. Angie Wolf was going to be his wife. For a week. Holy hell.
THE FIRST THING ANGIE thought when she woke up was how surprised she was that she’d slept at all. She’d assumed sharing a bed with Vail would have kept her wide-awake for the entire night, but the exhaustion of the day had won out. At least the bed was big enough that they wouldn’t have to touch. The thought of feeling his bed-warmed body brush against hers was enough to cause a surge of panic that woke her more efficiently than a cold shower.
“I’m ordering coffee,” he said, shifting behind her. “You want?”
She exhaled as she remembered her role. Not the one as his wife, but as his partner. “Yeah, thanks.”
The sound of the bedding rustling as he reached for the phone caused her muscles to tense and her jaw to tighten. So much for her resolve. She’d made a choice yesterday. She could have refused the assignment. As with everything worth having, and there was no doubt that the job in D.C. was, compromise and sacrifice came with the package.
No matter what her personal feelings were toward Ryan, her only task this week was to play his loving, entitled, slightly insecure wife so that Ryan became the perfect target for blackmail. The end. Nothing else mattered. Not sharing a bed, not the intimacy exercises they would participate in, not the inevitable touching. As long as they were both completely clear that no “optional” nudity was going to occur under any circumstances, they’d be fine.
Behind her, Ryan hung up the telephone, then the comforter shifted as he stood. Angie stayed frozen on her side just long enough for things to get really awkward. A quiet huff broke the silence and a moment later, the bathroom door closed.
She rolled onto her back and the way she relaxed told her just how tense she’d been. She hadn’t moved all night. Good thing because she’d been so close to the edge she could have very easily fallen right on the floor.
A shower would help things immensely. Personal issues aside, yesterday had been a killer. She’d barely made it on the last flight to Vegas. Getting into character had been insanity. While she’d had to suffer a mani/pedi, two of the L.A. team had hit Rodeo Drive armed with her measurements and crossed fingers to pick up a complete designer wardrobe. Underwear. Bras. Shoes. Earrings. She hadn’t had someone buy her panties since she’d been twelve.
Her own style was business casual, built around the fact that she carried a Glock in a shoulder holster. She’d be more comfortable dressing up as a vampire than pulling off Prada or bebe.
The bathroom door opened, and there was Vail. Shirtless. Wearing UCLA Bruins sweats that hung low on his sharp-edged hips. Of course, he was sculpted like a professional athlete, a swimmer, damn him. Even worse, he had a Hollywood-handsome face to go with it. Dark hair, piercing green eyes, goddamn chiseled jaw. She let out a groan but immediately stretched, trying to make it seem natural, and not a reaction to the six-pack and the shoulders-to-hips ratio.
He tried to fight a grin, not very convincingly, then took a few more steps toward the big dresser. “The bathroom’s all yours. I showered last night.”
Angie threw the covers back and swung her legs over, determined to get her act together. What she needed was to talk to Liz, who couldn’t have picked a worse time than yesterday to be incommunicado.
“You gonna sleep in your clothes every night?” Ryan asked. “I suppose it wouldn’t blow the gig, but I imagine it won’t be very comfortable.”
“Yeah, no, it was late,” she said, keeping her head down as she went to get her suitcase. Why wasn’t the room bigger? Like the size of Montana? “At least the room’s nice.”
“So is the minibar.”
She didn’t look up at him. “I don’t think the budget’s going to cover twenty-dollar beers.” The snick of the pull handle on her suitcase seemed alarmingly loud, but then everything since she’d agreed to this … situation had felt excessive.
To give Ryan credit, he was being extremely civil. She’d been worried he’d be in her face about the change in plans. She’d also imagined him very, very pissed. But then, they were officially on the job, and working for the government made acceptance of the absurd a necessity.
Ryan was a good agent. He was dedicated. More than that, he was smart. He wasn’t as concerned with rules and regs as the brass would like, but that wasn’t a big deal, not to her. He got the job done. He could be pleasant. Nice, even. He’d never been anything but professional, even after they’d had that brief … misunderstanding at the Halloween party. Hell, he’d moved on without missing a beat.
It was as a man that he failed spectacularly.
No, that wasn’t fair. He had different values than her own, that’s all. It wasn’t up to her to judge someone’s sexual practices. If he wanted to sleep with the entire female population of Los Angeles, it was his own business.
She made sure she didn’t look too anxious as she made her way to the bathroom, but slamming the door might have given him a clue. When the back of her head bumped the door she realized that she’d done nothing but behave like a child since she’d opened her eyes. Not moving, not looking at him, avoiding his touch. The man didn’t actually have cooties, and she would eventually have to meet his gaze. Touch him. Act like a professional. Act like his loving wife.
The first thing she did was turn on the shower. The second thing was to pull her iPad out of her suitcase and turn it on to Skype.
Liz answered the call in seconds. “I got your message. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?” she asked, and Angie could see her redheaded friend perched at her breakfast counter, still wearing her Nike running gear. In front of her was a glass of orange juice and a bowl, probably oatmeal.
“I’m already in Vegas,” Angie said, keeping her voice low. She didn’t want Ryan to hear, God no. “With Ryan Vail.”
“Holy crap, Angie. Did you not have a choice?”
“Yes and no. I mean, how could I tell Palmer I didn’t want to step in? The whole case would’ve gone down the drain.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The job.”
“But …”
“I know!” Angie said. “God, why weren’t you around yesterday? I have to sleep in the same bed with him.”
“Oh, sweetie, that is the least of your worries. Do you know what tantric massages are like?”
Angie closed her eyes. “Stop it. That’s not helpful.”
“Well, I’m not sure what I can do from here.” Liz lifted the iPad and brought it up until her face almost filled the screen. “You can do this. I know you can do this, because you are fierce and you are a woman to be reckoned with. Besides, Ryan isn’t about to cross any lines with you. In fact, I’d bet a million he’s going to go overboard to make sure nothing hinky could even be implied.”
“I wish I could fit in a run,” Angie said. “I’m exhausted, but I’m wired.”
“Find time later. What do you have to do right now?”
Taking a deep breath, Angie let her friend’s steady voice calm her down. “Shower. Dress like Angie Ebsen. Coordinate our stories so we don’t contradict each other. Go to the first session. Introductions, filling in forms. Then lunch, and after that, there’s some kind of bonding ritual. God, Liz, a bonding ritual.”
“Don’t think about anything past lunch. Introductions are a piece of cake. You know the backstory, you’re expected to be nervous. You’ll be fantastic.” Liz smiled broadly, and damn if that didn’t help, as well.
“Now go get clean, then put on your disguise. Break it down like your training schedule. I’ll be in the field, but you can call me during the day. I shouldn’t be late, though, so we can Skype tonight, okay?”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
“No problemo. Later.”
The screen went dark, Angie clicked off the tablet and stepped into the shower in no time. She’d already solved her first problem. No way she could have lasted the week with people calling her Jeannie. Thankfully Brian had thought of a way out of that little mess. Angie would be her middle name, the one she preferred. The computer guys had woven it into all the paperwork and background references.
The story of the Ebsens would remain intact. Unfortunately the team had used a lot of Jeannie’s personal history for Mrs. Ebsen’s childhood, and because Jeannie and Ryan had known each other so long, no time had been wasted filling in all those details.
Now those blanks would, by necessity, have to be replaced with Angie’s past. And Ryan needed to give her the Cliff’s Notes version of his history, as well.
With the shower running, she stripped, grabbed her toiletries and used her time to visualize herself as Angie Ebsen. She imagined the way she’d carry herself as someone wealthy, who had high-level expectations about service and general conversation. She could see herself playing the part, she really could, up until the point where she had to act as though she was in love with Ryan.
God, this was going to be tricky. Even in her own head, all she could picture was the humiliation of that single horrifying moment if, no, not if … when Ryan figured out that she still wanted him. How he’d been the man in her fantasies for more nights than she cared to admit.
She stared down at the unbelievably expensive engagement and wedding rings on the third finger of her left hand. She was so screwed.
RYAN REALIZED HE’D BEEN staring at the bathroom door for a while and that he might want to move before Angie finished with her shower. He shook his head as he turned back to the dresser to get ready for their first day of marriage.
He supposed they’d have to talk about it now. It being the distance they’d been maintaining for over a year. The polite nods without eye contact, the apologies that followed accidental touches. Walking on eggshells like that at work had been bad enough, even though their jobs required minimal interaction. But behaving that way here would ruin the mission.
What they needed was to be all over each other. Just shy of obsessively on his part, a little less so on hers. Jeannie and he had been A-OK with that plan. They’d practiced until they’d been able to stop cracking up with each vaguely sexual touch. But with Angie he faced the opposite problem.
Every touch was sexual with nothing vague about it. Hell, the slightest brush of Angie’s skin had caused a chain reaction that left him unsettled and heading toward hard. Thank God he wasn’t a teenager anymore, or he’d have had to walk around the office with a textbook handy to cover himself. As it was, he always managed to make a quick exit or distract himself long enough to settle down, but that wouldn’t be a viable option when they were in public here.
He pulled out a pair of khakis and a striped polo shirt, selected, along with the rest of his wardrobe, by a personal shopper who specialized in outfitting guys who made fifty times Ryan’s yearly salary. Even his boxer briefs and socks were ridiculously expensive, and he paid attention to his clothes.
The sound of the shower registered and, of course, his brain went straight to a very detailed picture of Angie naked with water running down her chest, a drop hesitating on the edge of her rigid nipple, streaking down her stomach only to get caught in the trimmed thatch of dark hair that signaled the approach to his happy place. Never mind that he hadn’t actually seen her naked. He had a good eye and could connect the dots.
And right there was the crux of the problem. The big, elephant-size problem.
In order to make the sting operation a success, they would have to break every boundary they’d very carefully set in place, consciously or not, at the risk of his libido overtaking his good sense.
Angie was not the kind of woman who would make exceptions for special circumstances. Even if they hadn’t been colleagues, she wasn’t his type of woman at all.
Physically? No question. She was a wet dream even when she wasn’t in the shower. But he suspected she wanted someone she could count on. Someone who would be there for the long haul. A man who would be an excellent husband and father. A stand-up kind of guy to share her life with.
He wanted a woman who didn’t particularly care who he was, as long as there was a bed and he could keep up his end of the bargain.
So not only were he and Angie required to mix business with pleasure for an entire week, they already knew that getting too close was playing with fire. Hell, all they’d done was consider, for like five minutes, hooking up, and they’d both backed off so fast they’d left skid marks.
This arrangement did not bode well. For either of them.
As soon as he was finished dressing, he speed-dialed Jeannie.
“I was going to call you.”
Ryan sat on the edge of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees. “How is this gonna work?”
“She can do it,” Jeannie said, in her I’m being serious voice. “We spoke last night and she’s completely committed to getting the job done. Just spend as much time as you can this morning going over your personal histories. Between the two of you, you’ll make it happen. I doubt there’s going to be anything heavy on the first day.”
“We can still postpone this. A family emergency or something. Before they meet her.”
Jeannie’s silence had him wishing he’d kept that last thought to himself. She didn’t know about the thing between him and Angie. Didn’t need to. No one did.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jeannie said finally. “Delaying could blow the whole sting. We’ve all worked too hard to get this far. Sometimes we’ve just got to roll with the punches. I figured you better than anyone could deal with that.”
“I know, I know. You’re right.”
Again she hesitated. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Nope. Nothing. I’m good.”
