Straight to the Heart

“Eat, then we can talk,” he said, grabbing his own sandwich.

She had no argument with that.

Polishing off his burger, he sat back and waited for her. She didn’t rush, and also sat back with a contented sigh when she finished.

“I don’t know what Charlie does to these burgers, but he deserves some kind of medal,” she said to break the ice.

“He does have talent at the grill,” Callahan agreed, and didn’t break eye contact as the tone shifted between them. “So, tell me a little about yourself. I know Charlie crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, but I like to know who’s working for me.”

She shrugged. “What do you want to know?”

“You’re clearly from Texas, but not local. Where’d you grow up?”

“Just outside Corpus Christi, though I’ve lived in San Diego for the last eight years. Came back to El Paso with my boyfriend, Lenny. It didn’t work out.”

The best lies were couched in as much truth as possible, and while she had been living in San Diego when she was shot, and she did have a former boyfriend named Lenny, everything else was pure fiction. She waited for him to respond.

Taking another sip of her drink, her throat was suddenly dry for no reason other than he was one of the best-looking men she’d ever seen. Six-foot-plus of lean, incredible Texas male.

She had been raised by two strong men, her dad and her older brother, Jarod, who were both Texas Rangers and were also all the family she’d ever known after her mom had taken off when Joanna was seven. For this reason, she had always been very comfortable around men.

She worked with lots of very good-looking men in her job—ones easily as good-looking as Ben Callahan—but they were marshals, and she never thought of them romantically. Even back in high school, she’d found the boys easier to get along with, and had had more male than female friends.

For that reason, Joanna dated very rarely. She’d been halfway through college before she’d lost her virginity, and even that was with a guy she considered more of a friend than a lover. He was an Assistant District Attorney in Houston now, married, with four kids.

None of that was ever part of Joanna’s plan. She was all about the job, just like her brother and her father.

Except that Jarod was married now, and even her father had met someone.

That was nice. She was happy for them, and she loved her sister-in-law Lacey. But she wasn’t about to follow suit.

For all these reasons, it was mortifying that her breath caught when Ben Callahan leaned in closer over the table. She snapped her mouth shut, realizing she had actually licked her lip.

Make it work for you, you’re supposed to be nervous. Play the part.

He had to believe she was just a waitress, a girl down on her luck who’d made some bad choices and who needed the job. If she couldn’t pull that off, her supervisors would think she had really lost her touch.

A dark-blond lock fell forward on his forehead, and he pushed it back, every muscle in his arm showing off in the process. She could almost make out the movement of his abs under the white T-shirt he wore.

She’d memorized his file, of course, though none of the pictures there did him justice. He’d been out of the SEALs for less than a year, retired with an honorable discharge. She wondered what had happened. In her experience, those guys never left until they were forced to. Whatever it was, he still stayed in fighting form.

She dropped her eyes to his hands where they rested on the table. It crossed her mind that she could have gotten laid sometime in the last four or five weeks.

Joanna liked sex, but had always thought of it more like a sport, something to do that scratched an itch more than anything else, though there hadn’t been much chance for that recently. In fact, it had been the last thing on her mind until about two minutes ago. Ben Callahan was sex personified, and her previously dormant hormones were picking a hell of a time to wake up.

He was talking to her, and she was so busy processing her lust that she wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, yanking herself back to the present moment.

“Charlie said you were sleeping in your car, and he rented you the room upstairs?”

“Yeah, he’s a great guy,” she said.

“So there’s no family to help out, no other place you could go?”

She shifted in her seat. She had to give him something he would believe.

“Well, I do have a brother, but to be honest, he’s not too interested in having me around. I’m also trying to stay off the radar. I don’t want Lenny trying to find me. Not that he would, but you know, it can’t hurt to be careful.”

“Why?” His tone lowered, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

“Well, I thought I was giving him money to get his truck fixed and it turns out it was for drug deals. I swear, I had no idea,” she said quickly, appearing as desperate as she could. “I had no idea he was buying stuff and reselling it until he got really angry when he came up short, got in some trouble, and I refused to help.”

“And?”

“Well, he got a bit rough, and I knew I was in trouble if I stayed, so I sort of stole his truck to get out of there. He owed me, you know? I had given him hundreds of dollars.”

“And you had no idea he was into drugs?”

“Not really. He had used a few times, but that’s a long way from dealing. And I don’t have anything to do with that stuff,” she said convincingly. “I thought he was a nice guy, but I thought wrong.”

He watched her carefully for a few minutes, and she closed her hands into fists on the table top, a not completely false show of tension.

“So where’s the truck?”

“I traded it for my car at a used car place—you know, roadside, the guy didn’t ask many questions since the truck was worth more than the car I got. I paid him extra not to tell anyone. Then I was out of funds and I was sick of living in my car, so I looked for a job.”

She saw Callahan’s spine straighten. “I see. So you’re afraid this guy will come after you? Lenny?”

“He probably won’t, but if he does, he’d never think that I would stay here,” she said, smiling slightly, as if pleased with herself. “He’ll think I went back to San Diego.”

Ben didn’t smile back.

“But he might. I don’t appreciate trouble like this being brought to my door and not being told about it. You weren’t exactly straight with Charlie.”

She frowned and leaned in, too, getting closer. His pupils dilated slightly, and from that, and how he had looked at her earlier, she knew he was attracted to her. That gave her some leverage.

“I know, I’m so sorry,” she said, licking her lip again in a gesture of nervousness. “But I had to get away, and I did what I had to do. I just want to get back to my life. I honestly don’t think Lenny will come after me. He’s not that ambitious. I’m sure he’s found someone new to sponge off by now.”

There was no Lenny, of course, so she was one-hundred-percent sure that no one would be showing up here after her.

Ben considered, and then nodded slowly. “He didn’t report you for stealing his truck?”

She snorted. “He would have to risk me telling them about the drugs.”

“That’s true,” he said, nodding. “Well, I’m glad you got out. And you’re doing a good job here, so I have no problem with you staying on. But if he does show up, or if there’s any kind of trouble—”

“I’ll leave,” she finished for him.

“No. You’ll tell one of us—me or Charlie—directly.”

He really was a white knight, she thought. It made being here for him better, and lying to him harder.

“Oh, okay. I’ll do that,” she promised.

“Good. Anything else I should know?”

“I’m a really good waitress. I’ll work hard, keep my hands out of the till. I never stole a dime until taking that truck, so you don’t have to worry. I just need to get back on my feet,” she said, hoping she’d hit the sweet spot between being someone he would want to help, who’d had trouble but who wasn’t going to be trouble.

Ben nodded and sat back. “What about your brother?”

“He wrote me off years ago. Never really cared much about what happened to me after our parents were gone.”

Sorry, Jarod, she offered the mental mea culpa to her brother, who was the best of the best. She loved him madly, and he’d always been there for her and always would be, but she knew plenty of people whose families weren’t. Thinking of her mom, Joanna never failed to be surprised at how easy it was for some people to walk away from the ones they were supposed to love most.

“That’s tough. Well, the job is yours as long as you want it.”

She smiled in relief. He’d bought it. She was in.

“Thanks. I really appreciate that. And the trade on rent. I really didn’t want to find a motel, and the nearest one is ten miles down, from what Charlie said,” she added. “And you know, with gas prices so high …”

“It’s good that someone’s using the apartment. Anything you need up there? It didn’t come with much.”

“I don’t need much. Though I do have to find a discount store to buy a few fans. It’s hot at night,” she said, absently moving a loose strand of hair from her cheek.

He followed the movement closely, and she was surprised to feel an answering sizzle of interest in her own bloodstream.

“I may have an extra one or two at my house. I can bring them up tonight.”

“No need, I—”

“No problem. Supposed to be over one hundred tomorrow. No point in being uncomfortable up there. It’s a small space as it is.”

“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “Is that all?”

“Yeah, for now. Thanks,” he said, standing, so she did too.

She was nearly his height, but he still was a few inches taller than her five-eleven and considerably more massive.

Still, she’d taken down guys his size and couldn’t help thinking about what it would be like to wrestle with Ben Callahan.

Before she gave anything away, she shelved that thought and turned toward the door, leaving without another word.

Ben Callahan was smart and perceptive. She had her work cut out for her, Joanna knew, walking through the kitchen and back up the stairs to her small apartment. She had to pull this off; her career and his life, potentially, counted on it.

No pressure at all.

2

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, BEN watched Joanna from the kitchen door, following the perfect shape of her ass in those jeans as she worked the lunch crowd as though she’d been doing it for years.

He stopped gawking to go help at the bar, serving up beers and getting into the flow and rhythm of the lunch hour, which didn’t leave time to think about much else. Except when he handed a tray of drinks and sandwiches to Joanna who took them with a polite, businesslike smile and turned away.

His thoughts were not as businesslike every time he thought about those long, long legs.

She’d checked out, though. He’d run his own background check, run her car, called a few people, and nothing seemed out of place. So, for now, he was just enjoying the view, he thought with a smile as he watched her walk away.

He hadn’t kept his promise about bringing the fans up to her the night before, and she hadn’t said a word about it. He knew the apartment was hotter than a sauna in mid-summer, but she didn’t complain or make demands.

Truth was, his fans weren’t going to help much, and so he’d driven into Midland the evening before to buy an air-conditioning unit for the space, and had gotten back too late to bring it up to her. He planned to install it today.

“You have the look of a starving man, bucko,” Charlie said with a laugh, sidling up beside him. “And Joanna looks like dinner.”

“You’re imagining things, Charlie.”

“No, I’m not. Been a while since you hooked up with anyone. Do you some good,” Charlie, always the practical one, said. “She looks like she could give you a good—”

“Don’t,” Ben said, cutting his friend off a little more harshly than he meant to, and then slapped his buddy’s shoulder to ease the words. “I need a waitress more than I need to get laid,” Ben said, turning away.

“Says you,” Charlie said, grabbing a bucket of glasses to carry out back.

Ben had been in a less than cheerful mood recently. He couldn’t wait for this damned trial to be over with so he could return to his life. The noise in the bar softened as the lunch crowd started thinning, as workers from the local ranches and other businesses headed to their jobs.

Joanna returned to the bar, took a seat, a thin shine of perspiration on her forehead as she smiled at him. He liked her dark, espresso-brown eyes. She was friendly with the customers, but didn’t flirt—with him, either, though there was chemistry between them—no doubt about that. There was a seriousness about her that suggested depth, and he suddenly wanted to know what books she read, what movies she liked. In the next second, he pulled those thoughts out by the root. This wasn’t a good time, and fooling around with the help was never a good idea.

Ben pushed a glass with ice and a soda across the bar at her and pretended not to notice the slim muscles in her arms, or the delicate arch of her throat as she drank it.

“Can I get you some lunch?” he asked.

“In a little while. I have to help Lisa finish cleaning up, but thanks for the drink. Hot today, even in here, with the AC.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, I’m sorry I didn’t bring the fans up last night, but I went into the city and got an AC unit instead. I can put that in today. It should help a lot. Fans would just push the hot air around.”

She looked sincerely surprised, like someone who didn’t expect people to do nice things for her.

“Hey, hot as it is, it’s a million times better than my car,” she joked with a grin.

“It’s no problem. I should have done it a while ago. If you want, I can go up and put it in while you’re helping Lisa, and—”

“No, really, it’s fine if you want to just wait until later,” she said quickly.

He paused. There it was again, that itchy feeling that something was off.

“I mean, I’m kind of a slob. I don’t want you walking in when I’d left stuff all over the floor, you know, laundry and that kind of thing,” she said with a self-effacing grin.

He relaxed again. “Sure, no problem. Tonight’s fine,” he agreed.

Ben supposed that made sense. It was her space for as long as she was renting, and it wasn’t unreasonable not to want a stranger pawing through her things, not that he would. Considering the relationship she was in before now, he couldn’t blame her for being apprehensive.

“Thanks for the drink. I’m going to go help Lisa,” she said, slipping from the chair and walking back to the kitchen.

Ben put the glass he had been polishing for the past ten minutes back on the shelf behind the bar and closed his eyes, taking a breath and trying to focus. He was rarely this scattered, but Joanna was very distracting.

Maybe Charlie was right. Maybe he should do something about that. It wasn’t good policy to sleep with the help, and she was bouncing off a bad relationship—not the best situation for either of them—but his mind kept traveling back to the same idea.

And he kept pushing it aside. There were plenty of women around to sleep with, if that’s what he wanted, but he needed Joanna on the job.

That was a shame, he thought, as she came back out from the kitchen carrying a tray of freshly filled ketchup bottles, the motion of it deepening the slight cleavage at the edge of her tank top.

A real shame.

JOANNA DUSTED HER HANDS OFF ON her jeans, feeling better as she made her way around the small, basic apartment where dust had collected everywhere. She hadn’t had much time to clean or set the place up yet, and so she worked off some excess energy doing so now.

Changing into her comfortable jeans and a loose white T-shirt was nirvana, shucking the boots for a pair of well-broken-in sandals. Her job took her everywhere, but having her comfortable clothes with her was how she felt at home wherever she was, and this was no different.

After two hours of cleaning, the place sparkled. Callahan wasn’t kidding when he said it was small. One main room had a sofa, a small easy chair and a television. Off the hallway that led to the back, there was a galley kitchen with a mini fridge but no stove.

There was a hotplate and an old-fashioned metal coffeepot on the counter, but she supposed a stove wasn’t necessary when they had a whole restaurant downstairs. Down at the very end of the hall was a bedroom with a futon-like bed and a table, next to it was a tiny, utilitarian bathroom.

Everything was painted a monotone beige, not that it mattered to her at the moment. Her apartment in San Diego had been painted in rich, nourishing colors that were a warm welcome when she came home after a long time on the job. Now, she was between living spaces. During her recovery and transfer, she had lived with her brother and Lacey. She wasn’t sure where she wanted to land permanently yet, though she thought being back in Texas might not be all bad. Spending time with her family again had been nice.

When she had first walked in to the apartment, the windows were closed and the heat was stagnant and suffocating. Now, it was early evening and with every window open—thank goodness the screens were intact—there was a nice breeze coming in. It was still warm, but pleasant enough. She relaxed for a few minutes, looking out over the pastures and hills that sprawled beyond the parking lot of the roadhouse. It was probably going to rain tonight. She could smell it on the air.

Crickets were singing down below. After her mom had taken off, Joanna had had nightmares for months, and she had often had fears of someone being outside her bedroom window in the small, one-floor ranch home that they lived in. It was irrational, but she would wake up terrified and ask her dad to check outside her room several times each night.

So her father had shown her one night how if she listened for the crickets, they would let her know if anyone was really there. He went outside and walked up to her bedroom window several times, and each time, sure enough, the crickets went silent.

Crickets still made her feel safe, content, to this day.

The place was more than adequate for her needs, and it allowed her to be right on top of Callahan a good part of the time. She stopped in the middle of grabbing a beer from the mini-fridge, thinking about all the different ways she’d like to be on top of Ben Callahan.

Being closer to Callahan, however she managed it, would be a good thing—or potentially a bad one—if she let things go too far. There was a definite spark there. She knew he wanted her—and in some ways, she’d be stupid not to capitalize on that attraction to keep a closer eye on him.

However, there were strict rules governing the relationship between marshals and the people they protected, and non-fraternization was one of them. However, Callahan wasn’t a part of the WITSEC program, so those rules technically didn’t apply, though sharing his bed could be a problem in a number of professional and ethical ways.

Not that anyone would have to find out.

The problem was … well, she wasn’t exactly sure what the problem was, she thought, slouching back in the chair by the window. It wasn’t as if she was going to fall in love with him or something. If it got the job done and took the edge off, why not?

But she couldn’t talk herself into it.

While no doubt it would be entertaining, Joanna found the idea of sleeping with someone as part of her job distasteful. Flirting a little, or even going on a date, was acceptable. If it helped her to keep him safe, she was okay with that.

Luckily, her phone ringing on the counter discouraged any further fantasizing. She grabbed it, looking at the screen and seeing her brother Jarod’s name pop up.

“Hi, Jarod. What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Everything’s great. How’s it going?”

Her brother cared about her, but he never checked up on her. He absolutely never called her when she was on assignment. Knowing what undercover work was like, he wouldn’t want to do anything to throw her out of her mindset.

“Lacey pestering you to call and see how I am?” she asked, smiling as she realized why her brother was making an exception to the rule.

“How’d you guess? Sorry about this, but she’s been worrying about you all day. She wouldn’t have slept a wink unless I spoke with you.”

“Tell her thanks, and it all went great. Got the job, and even scored an apartment above the bar.”

“Excellent for surveillance.”

“Exactly.”

“How’s your new employer?”

She shrugged, moving out of the kitchen to go sit on the sofa by the window. “Okay. What you would expect, I guess.”

Both of them knew better than to share anything too specific on the phone. She’d have to keep this short, as nice as it was to talk to her brother.

“By the way, Lacey wants me to let you know there’s a ‘cute condo’ here in San Antonio that her friend is selling, if you are interested in seeing it when you get back,” Jarod related, obviously being pushed to do so.

“Tell her maybe I’ll look at it,” she said, and then her phone beeped and she saw her boss’s name pop up.

“Jarod, gotta go—Don is on the other line.”

“Take care of yourself, jelly bean,” Jarod said affectionately, making her smile again by using the nickname he always called her.

“You, too,” she said, hanging up, and answering the other call.

“Wyatt,” she answered, as she always did for work.

“You in?” Don asked in a no-nonsense tone as she stood and paced the small room.

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Good. You’re not still sleeping in your car, are you?”

“No,” she said, stifling a grin. Don was her boss, but he was also a friend who sometimes acted like a second big brother. Although he never cut her any slack when it came to work, and she wouldn’t expect him to. “Callahan had a room free up over the bar, so I took it.”

“Good work. Anything going on?”

“Nope. Pretty dull.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed. You could use some dull.”

“Then I’ll be back chasing bad guys in a few weeks?” she asked hopefully.

“We’ll see. A few things are still to be untangled about your part in that last case. And you could use more recovery time before you’re back out there.”

“Don, seriously, I’m—”

“Just go with it, Jo,” he interrupted, reminding her that chafing at the restrictions wouldn’t help. “This is an easy assignment, but an important one.”

“Just keep an eye on him, and keep a low profile—or try to. I know it’s not your strength,” he said dryly.

“Fine. If you could send me dossiers on a couple people he has working here, that would help.”

She gave him Charlie’s and Lisa’s names. She would feel better once she knew more about the people around Callahan. You never really knew who the enemy was in these cases.

“Will do. You’ll get them electronically. Check in when you can. We don’t have any backup out there for you in the immediate vicinity except for local law enforcement, so if you see trouble, let us know ASAP. Don’t try to handle it yourself. Do you hear that, Jo?”

Hearing a squeak in the boards outside her door, she turned, and changed her tone to a whisper.

“Same as I’ve heard it the twenty other times you said it,” she responded smartly. “Gotta go. I’ll be in touch,” she said, hanging up and walking closer to the door, listening.

She didn’t know if she had just imagined the noise or not.

It could just be the musicians setting up downstairs. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays the roadhouse had live bands playing, and she’d seen the guys drive in and unpack their gear while she was on the phone.

Her apartment would not be quiet until well past midnight tonight, or for the next few nights, but if the music was good, maybe she’d go downstairs and enjoy it.