Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,43
was Xavier. He had some kind of magic pull over her. All he had to do was breathe to make her hot. And when she was aroused by him, all her inhibitions seemed to fly right out the window. It was a phenomenon she’d never encountered before. Xavier was a law unto himself.
“You were in grad school when the towers fell?” She tried desperately to get the conversation back on track, away from dangerous waters. “You have a master’s degree from MIT?”
Xavier looked up at her, a sort of sheepish smile on his face. “Actually, it’s a doctorate. I warned you I was a geek. I skipped a lot of grades and was one of the youngest in my graduating class. I’ve been around computers all my life. I helped my dad build and program systems when I was a kid. I could’ve taught most of the lower-level classes. I didn’t really start learning anything until I hit the doctoral level.”
“Good Lord. You’re some kind of computer genius and you’re risking your life as a special ops soldier? And I thought I was crazy.” She went back to searching the files, even though her mind was racing. Not only was Xavier out of her league as far as men went. He was, after all, an Adonis in camo. He was also some kind of millionaire heir to a giant corporation and brilliant to boot. It was like something out of a movie. No way did people like him exist in real life. And never in her experience. Everyone she knew was solidly middle class. They worked hard for a living, and if they risked their lives on the job it was because they had a deep sense of honor, duty and justice.
That thought stopped her short. Xavier had all of those things as well. So maybe there wasn’t as much difference between him and the men she knew as she’d thought.
“I like the army. I like what I do.” He shrugged. “I made a commitment to my country and myself. I mean to see it through.”
She understood that kind of philosophy. It was a code she tried to live up to every day she put on the uniform. Though they were different uniforms, the ethic was the same.
She paused in her search to look at him. “You’re a good man, Xavier Beauvoir.” Their gazes met and held for a timeless moment. Then he smiled at her.
“I’m glad you think so.” He returned to tapping at the keys. “So what made you become a cop?”
“Come on. You’ve read my file. You probably know all about me.”
“Humor me.” He stretched his fingers before returning to the keyboard with new zeal. “I know the dry facts but reading them in a report and hearing it from you are two very different things.”
“My father was a cop. He was a detective with NYPD. My brothers followed in his footsteps, mostly. The oldest, Bryan, just made detective, though he did a stint in the marines to earn money for college. The twins, Jesse and Jimmy, are both still in the Corps. They love being marines and I doubt they’ll leave until somebody gets wise and kicks them out. The youngest, John, was also a marine, but he got recruited away by a government agency.”
“The CIA, right?”
She shot him a teasing look. “That’s on a need-to-know basis, Captain.”
“Hey, I needed to know,” he protested with mocking innocence. “So I got dossiers on your family from my chain of command. It’s amazing how much of John Petit’s file was redacted for reasons of national security. Even I was impressed.”
She laughed at his blatant teasing but knew there was probably more than a hint of truth in his claims. Johnny was a risk taker and she worried every time he mentioned offhandedly that he was leaving the country. He’d taken to not telling her much about his travels until after he got back. It didn’t help. She still worried about him.
“Bingo.” Xavier’s focus was on the screen in front of him.
“What?” He’d no doubt found something.
“I’ve got an address, and it’s not the one Sellars listed on his employment contract.” Xavier took out his pad and pen, writing furiously. “He thought he’d deleted this e-mail, but it was stuck in the cache. Someone arranged a little hideaway for Dr. Sellars as some kind of perk. I’m forwarding this to my team. They can trace the metadata while we visit the scene and clear it.”
Xavier spent a few more