“If I say no, you will merely do it anyway and go against my orders,” he said.
“That’s very Henry and Delilah.” She smirked. “And yes.”
Abe looked directly at me. “We’ve got big problems though.”
“Name ’em,” she said.
“If you are to go undercover and bid on these letters, you’ll need access to millions of dollars. What I know of shady black-market auctions is that you can’t just walk in, bid, and walk out whistling. They expect you to give up your offshore bank account as soon as you’re inside. And they’ll expect a wire transfer immediately between the accounts.”
“Okay,” Freya said cheerfully. “Can Codex float like ten million?”
“You know we can’t,” Abe said. But he was still staring at me. My nerves started to hum, sensing his thought pattern.
“And we’d need better tech than we have,” he continued. “A team that could go in and rescue the two of you if you needed it.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away from Abe. A few hours ago, sitting in the back seat of my car, I’d started to feel the very beginnings of freedom from the Bureau. The smallest sense that maybe, just maybe, I could do this on my own.
No, please don’t say it.
“Sam, I think you know what we need to do.”
“Wait, what?” Freya asked, looking between the two of us.
The silence dragged until she nudged me.
I sighed. “You honestly think it’s necessary?”
“I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t,” Abe said.
“Won’t involving them void our contract? Scarlett wanted no authorities involved, no splashy press.”
“She’s already voided the contract,” he countered. “Now it’s about getting the damn letters back. It’s about justice.”
Freya rubbed her hands together, expression excited. “That’s the spirit, old chap. Now what the fuck are you two talking about?”
Abe glanced at his watch. “And if I remember your father’s work habits, he’s already in the office terrorizing his staff.”
“Oh, goddammit.” Her head fell back against the couch. “Not that asshole.”
I pulled out my phone. Asking my father’s help right now felt like the worst possible thing I could do. Would this help him trust me again? Or would this only prove his point that I was now too soft to do the job of a real agent?
It’s about justice.
Except Abe was right. A win for this case could only come with the help of the FBI. There wasn’t another option. But maybe it could still be my and Freya’s win. A case that we’d close together, as partners. And I’d do anything to make her smile at me again the way she had today. Like her smile was a gift, and I was the luckiest bastard in the world to receive it.
“Abe’s right.” My tone was grim but determined. “We need the Bureau.”
35
Freya
Abe left the room to call and wake Henry and Delilah. And Sam, with a curt nod, slipped into the back bedroom to call the Deputy Director of the FBI.
I lasted all of a second before I went to stand outside, giving Sam a tiny wave as he put the phone to his ear. Call it a consequence of our earth-shattering sex, but I was feeling extra-protective of my partner.
And I knew firsthand the effect his father had on him.
Our eyes locked in the dawn light, and my heart sparkled with feeling. Sam was the first sexual partner I’d ever been that unrestrained with. There was no shame or discomfort, no hesitation. I took what I wanted, and Sam let me. I had a sneaking suspicion I was the first woman to truly see Byrne unleash his inner sex-beast. The man had fucked me with the single-minded determination to get me off. And when he had come—when quiet, stoic Sam let out a hoarse, gratified groan against my breasts—I’d nearly climaxed again. I’d loved every fucking second. And then I’d gone and spilled my secrets.
I’d loved every second of that too.
Never—not in a million, billion years—could I have anticipated that Sam and I would give in to our angry sexual frustration. Then end up sweetly holding each other while unveiling our personal mysteries. I missed you, Freya. I missed you so much. It was a bittersweet ache, acknowledging all that we’d denied each other over the years—attraction, intimacy, romance.
Friendship.
I leaned against the door, arms crossed, and listened to him request an exorbitant amount of Bureau resources on the fastest deadline imaginable. It couldn’t have been comfortable to be that vulnerable to a man I knew was an