been this happy? She found herself smiling as she closed the bathroom door.
“Samantha, can you hear me?” It was Rachel. She sounded worried.
“Yes. Sorry. I dropped the phone.” She had tucked the phone against her hip as she was looking back at Alex and now realized that Rachel had been speaking that whole time.
“Is everything all right there?” Rachel asked.
“Great.” The word was out before she could catch it back. But it was the right one—just not one Rachel was used to hearing from her. “Fine. Everything is fine.”
“I woke you,” Rachel said.
Samantha glanced at her watch and realized it was after nine. “No, that is…” She mugged a face at the bathroom mirror, grimacing at how ridiculous she must sound. Rachel was no fool. Of course she could tell she’d awakened her.
“Is Alex there?”
“No.” Samantha took a breath and let it out slowly. “He’s in the next room.”
“I see.”
She figured Rachel did see.
“Does he know?”
Samantha didn’t have to ask what she meant. “I had to tell him about me, but not about the team.”
Silence, then, “You do understand that this puts your position in jeopardy?”
Samantha knew what she was asking. Was her relationship with Alex important enough to put her work on the line—as well as her life? “Yes.”
“You surprise me, Samantha,” Rachel said. “In the four years we’ve worked together has there been anyone else?”
“No. No one.”
“And within a matter of days you have fallen for this man.” It wasn’t a question but Samantha answered it anyway.
“Yes. But it won’t affect how I complete this assignment.”
Rachel chuckled softly. “That’s what they all say.”
Samantha had seen others come and go at Miami Confidential. Some not under the best of circumstances. At least one had gotten herself killed. Samantha knew Rachel was concerned for her welfare—and that of their clients.
“I will do my job. No matter what,” Samantha said with more force than she’d intended.
She could hear the smile in Rachel’s voice when she spoke, “I believe that. Clare wants to talk to you. Let me know when you fly out.”
“I will.”
Clare came on the line. “I did that financial you asked for on both Presley Wells and Caroline Graham.”
Samantha held her breath.
“Looks like they have everything invested in an area called Sunrise Estates.”
The project where Caroline’s condo was located. “So everything is riding on it?”
“Everything.”
Samantha glanced toward the bathroom door. “I need you to check out a couple more names,” she said and turned on the shower, covering her words. “Brian Graham, C. B. Graham and—” she took a breath and let it out slowly “—Alex Graham.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
“Any irregularities, recent large investments, anything that sends up a red flag,” Samantha said. Rachel didn’t think she could be impartial, objective. Rachel was wrong.
“I’ll get back to you.”
Samantha stepped into the shower feeling guilty and yet righteous. She had a job to do. If Alex was the man she believed him to be, he would understand that. She just prayed he was that man and that she hadn’t just jeopardized not only her career but her life for a man she couldn’t trust.
ALEX ROLLED OVER on his back and stared up at the ceiling. After a moment he heard the shower running and thought about joining Samantha.
Last night had been amazing. The intimacy they’d shared surprised him. He’d never felt anything like it before.
He heard the shower shut off. As he turned to watch her come out of the bathroom, one towel wrapped around her hair, the other around her slim body, he reminded himself who she was.
A federal agent masquerading as a wedding planner. He corrected that, a wedding planner masquerading as an ordinary woman.
Samantha Peters was no ordinary woman. Not by a long shot. And Alex Graham wondered if he could handle this much woman.
She stopped beside the bed and looked down at him. He wondered who’d been on the phone, but he only wondered if for a moment.
Light shimmered in her brown gaze like an expensive whiskey. He could smell the fresh scent of soap on her smooth skin. Her lips parted slightly and she knelt forward and kissed his cheek.
He closed his eyes, weak with desire for this woman. He opened them when he heard her straighten.
Slowly she took the towel from her head, dropping it on the floor. She raked a hand through her wet curly hair. She couldn’t have been more beautiful, her skin glowing from the shower, her face flushed—just as it had been during their lovemaking.
And those eyes, deep