CHAPTER TWO
“Come in, Agent Lucca.”
While Lattimore shook Scott’s hand, Cole gave in to the dozen conflicting emotions surging past her defenses. She was a police officer. She knew how to take care of herself in tense and dangerous situations. Yet, she had no idea of how to handle her reaction to this man.
He seemed taller. Or maybe it was his hair. He was no longer a skinhead, only one of the things she had hated about his undercover persona. His dark hair grew thick and tousled, as if he’d been riding his Harley without a helmet. God, how that habit had worried her. And he’d lost that prison-time, balloon-muscle physique he had deliberately cultivated their last few months together. The body beneath his dress shirt and trousers was leaner, more sinewy. Like his face.
Something inside Cole twisted with painful longing. He looked as dangerous and wild as the night they’d met.
The last time she saw him—two years, three weeks, and one huge heartache ago—he was being detained for public lewdness and suspected drug possession, and she was one of the arresting officers. Now she was being confronted with—
Task force leader?
“I don’t suppose introductions are necessary, in this instance.”
“No, sir.” Cole turned back to Lattimore while her mind and body continued to react to her ex’s surprise appearance in so many ways she couldn’t keep up. Even worse, some of the sensations were more pleasurable than they had any right to be. That was a very bad sign.
She felt Scott move to stand behind her. “Officer Jamieson and I go way back. At least there won’t be any awkward getting-to-know-you period for us.”
Cole shifted uneasily as Scott spoke. He gave off the kind of sexual energy women craved and other men envied. She felt it now, a vibe she knew too well. It said, Pay attention, danger here.
Cole focused her attention on Lattimore though she could feel Scott’s gaze on her back like radiant heat from a fire. “Sir, Agent Lucca and I are—were—we’re divorced.”
“So I’ve been informed.” Lattimore’s knowing gaze moved back and forth between them. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
“That depends.” Cole felt the embers of anger stir within her as she turned fully to confront her ex. “Why is he here?”
“We’re going to be working together.” Scott hadn’t moved and he didn’t smile. Yet, for a moment, it seemed as if his aloof tough-guy expression shifted as he stared at her.
Once she thought she’d seen the full measure of her worth in his sea-green gaze. That’s why it hurt so much when she realized her mistake.
He had let me go.
Cole did an about-face and smacked right into the back of the chair she had been sitting in. Ignoring the sharp pain shooting through her kneecap, she looked at her interviewer.
“Sorry, sir. I—ah, thank you for the opportunity but I’m not the best choice for whatever position I have been interviewing for.”
Lattimore held her in a stare just short of a disapproving glare. “I understood you had a cordial relationship.”
“I believe I said professional.”
Cole turned at the sound of Scott’s voice. He offered her a sketch of a smile. “We have a professional, cordial relationship. Right, Officer Jamieson?”
Cole ignored his attempt to get her to join in his little joke, praying that no signs of her volatile emotions were on display. She would be a professional, if it killed her. “I haven’t seen you in two years. If that’s your definition of cordial, then we are cordial.”
She shifted her attention back to Lattimore. “If I am being interviewed for a position that would require me to interact with Agent Lucca, then I must respectfully decline.”
Lattimore frowned. “You’re saying you won’t consider an offer because Officer Lucca is part of it?”
“I’m saying Officer Lucca can—” Cole swallowed hard, appalled that she had allowed emotion to leak into her voice.
She squared her shoulders, resisting the urge to simply walk out. “There is a history between Agent Lucca and myself that did not end well. Future association would not improve that history. But thank you all the same.”
Lattimore rose from his seat with a sour expression. “Then we’re done. Thank you for your time, Officer Jamieson.”
Cole shook the hand he offered, more eager than her interviewer to have the meeting over with. “Sorry to have wasted your time, Mr. Lattimore.”
Scott hadn’t moved from his position. He waited, arms loosely folded, until she was close before he spoke. “Don’t you even want to hear why you were chosen to be part of this task force?”
*
“She works on paper.” Lattimore turned a world-weary gaze on Scott and shook his head. “But I doubt, in any case, that she would have been able to get close to our target.”