You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(42)

Chelsea waved him off. “I’m doing it for good. She’s obviously evil. And Ten’s giving me a ten percent raise if I don’t leave. You can bet Ian won’t be doing that with Miss Happy Trigger Finger.”

“No, I think it’s safe to say I’m going to be looking for another job.”

Jesse turned and there was Phoebe. She’d let her hair down at some point and gotten rid of the sweater she always wore around the office, swearing Taggart kept it too cold for her. Jesse was pretty sure now she’d done it all to hide the fact that she had the most beautiful set of breasts he’d ever seen. They weren’t huge, but they were so perfectly formed he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

“And I prefer Ms. Grant,” Phoebe said as she walked into the room. “My trigger finger is very precise, not happy, which is why our boy is standing here right now. I didn’t follow direct orders. I didn’t shoot him and I wouldn’t have. And I hate flying, so you’ll have to come up with something better than the no-fly list.”

“How about the APB where I tell them to shoot on sight, bitch?”

“Chelsea, down,” Simon growled.

Phoebe just sent him a sad smile. “Don’t bother. I’m not going to win with her. We weren’t friends before so there’s no relationship to fall back on. Also, we’re a little too much alike to ever really get along.”

“As if.” Chelsea didn’t seem ready to give up the fight. “I want to know why my brother-in-law trusts you to be alone with Jesse.”

“He trusts Ten so he trusts me. He also saw me not pulling the trigger. Ian and my brother are downstairs right now talking. You could ask him.”

“Your brother,” Jesse said, testing the words. He was still having a hard time believing it. “Ten is your brother.”

“Adopted, but yes, we consider each other family. The only family we have left,” Phoebe replied. “And that stunt he pulled today was stupid, but I have to admit that if I thought he was going to die, I might do the same thing.”

“Well, I think this plan is stupid,” Chelsea said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“This plan depends on you,” Phoebe pointed out. “You and Adam are supposed to trace the assassin. We’re stuck in here until you do. Are you telling me you can’t do it?”

Jesse had never heard that challenging tone from her, and he realized what had been missing from his relationship with her before. Challenge. Oh, she’d held him off when he’d wanted her, but that desire seemed like a sad little thing compared to what he felt now. She’d seemed like she could use a lover and he knew he wanted one.

Had the old Phoebe just been sweet and convenient? Why did he want to get to know the new one so f*cking bad? And yeah, he meant that in a strictly biblical sense because he wasn’t a f*cking idiot. He had to admit, the new Phoebe got his motor running. Hence the “sharing a bed, bad idea” problem.

Or was it?

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Chelsea said, getting in her space. “I’ll find this guy and then you can leave, and nothing Ian says or does is going to change that. I’ll get rid of you myself if I have to.”

“Chelsea,” Simon began, “don’t forget where we are.”

Chelsea turned to her husband. “You can spank my ass all day, babe, but I’m still saving Jesse from her. God only knows what Ian was thinking.”

It was good to know someone wanted to save him. He just wasn’t so sure he wanted to be saved. Now that she was standing here, he was wondering if it would really be so bad to have a few days with her. He would never have even thought about seducing Phoebe Graham because she’d seemed so very fragile, but Phoebe Grant could obviously hold her own.

Would it be so bad to f*ck her out of his system? He was stuck here with her for days, weeks maybe, with very little to do. He could view it as a challenge. Get her into bed for the duration of their time together and then wave as she walked away and never think about her again.

“Ian was thinking that this is a fairly safe house. It’s got security and Jesse and Phoebe are contained. While you conduct your investigation, they should be safe here.” Simon neatly summed up Big Tag’s plan.

“Then I should get to work because I don’t want to leave him for long with that woman.” Chelsea turned on her heels and strode out.

Simon sighed. “I’m sorry. My wife loves very few people, but when you’re one of them, she loves quite fiercely, though she doesn’t always see reason. I for one thank you for not pulling that trigger as I was very close to Jesse at the time and this is my favorite suit,” Simon said with a wry twist of his lips.

Jesse had to smile. “Yeah, I would never have heard the end of that. Si, tell Chelsea thanks for picking up my stuff.”

“I’ll take care of your place, and I believe Mr. Smith is handling things on his sister’s side.” Simon nodded Phoebe’s way. “Are you two going to be all right?”

“We’ll be fine,” Phoebe said. “I promise I won’t let anyone kill him. I gave up my cover to save him.”

“Your cover was already blown. See that you don’t f*ck up again. We’ll see you in a few days, Jesse. Or are you planning on skipping downstairs while you’re here?”

Friday. He was talking about Friday night. Sanctum would be open for business. He would be stuck here with Phoebe for days. There was no way he was going to miss playing. “I’ll be there.”