A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(12)

Not that he hadn’t thought about tracking her down, seeing where she’d ended up. If he had found her online, he wouldn’t have trusted himself not to try to see her again. Or worse, he’d hated the thought of her ending up married to someone, having someone else’s kids. Not knowing had seemed like a hell of a better deal. Then three months ago he’d almost died in an op. He hadn’t wanted to die without facing his past. Without facing her.

So he’d opened a fake social media account and had slowly started going through Facebook profiles in Miami and Florida—not that he’d found her. Yeah, he could have used company resources and located her a lot sooner, but he hadn’t wanted to for multiple reasons. The main one: the longer it took for him to find her, the longer he was still in the dark about her life. Despite his near-death experience, he still hadn’t wanted to find out that she was happily married and he was just a footnote in her life. Pathetic? Yeah, but he didn’t care.

“Hmm,” was all Cade said. “So, why’d you turn off the recorder?”

“I wanted privacy.” He’d have to call Burkhart tonight, tell him everything. Mostly everything. Burkhart might pull him from the op, but he was going to plead his case. It wouldn’t make sense to pull him when he’d established contact with Mercado already. And if Amelia didn’t blow his cover, there was no need to step back from this. He wanted to keep her away from Mercado anyway. That possessive need he felt for her was still there, even after so many years. It was as if it had just locked back into place after seeing her. Which pissed him off. He’d spent years keeping all that shit under wraps, but seeing her again brought it all back to the surface.

“You’ve got to tell Burkhart,” Cade said, mirroring Nathan’s thoughts.

He nodded once. “As soon as Maria meets with Amelia, I will.” Because he and Cade were going to be with Maria at Bayside. They’d stay out of sight, but the conversation between the two women would be recorded and he and Cade would be in the next room. His gut told him that Amelia wasn’t involved with the missing women—at least not the Amelia he’d known—but they had to be sure whether she knew anything relevant or not.

The back door opened and Maria slid in. “I feel like a super-spy tonight,” she said breathlessly. “Did you guys get our conversation?” Amelia had been one of Cade’s future targets, but since Maria had a relationship with her, and Amelia had been at the auction, they’d decided to reach out to her tonight. They’d be able to gauge her reaction later one way or another.

Maria’s office had been wired to include video and audio capability. They’d planned to get Amelia down there later in the week, but now turned out to be a better time. She couldn’t have been prepared for Maria to ask her to her office tonight, so she’d be off her game. Not to mention that seeing Nathan after so long would have messed with her—he’d witnessed that clearly in her eyes. Nathan could admit that he’d been shaken seeing Amelia too. It was much better to have this meeting when her guard was down. And Cade had been right—getting her to meet with Maria had been easy. Hopefully it was because she was concerned about Danita.

Cade nodded at Maria and shot Nathan an unreadable look as he started the SUV. Thankfully Cade didn’t say anything about what Nathan had done. Instead he turned back to his new wife. “You did great, sweetheart.”

“Thanks. I don’t think she’s involved, though. Honestly Amelia is awesome. I saw her expression. She’s concerned about Danita and unless I’m wrong, she’s kinda peeved about the other women quitting on her.”

“She or her restaurants are connected to some of the women,” Cade said as Nathan steered out of the parking lot. They’d opted not to use valet tonight so they could make an easy getaway and because they didn’t want any nosy drivers having access to their vehicle.

“Yeah, well, so is Bayside, and I’m not involved.” Maria sounded almost indignant. “I just don’t think she’s tangled up in whatever’s going on.”

“We’ll find out soon,” Cade said noncommittally.

“So, what’s the deal with you two?” she continued as Nathan drove.

Frowning, he looked at her in the rearview mirror. “What do you mean?” She wouldn’t have been able to hear them talking, and unless Cade communicated to her telepathically, she shouldn’t know anything.

“The way you and Amelia were dancing . . . caliente.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, laughing lightly. “I mean, it was subtle, but there seemed to be a vibe going on.”

He just shrugged. Maria might be Cade’s wife and yeah, she’d been read into this op because of the unique situation, but he wasn’t divulging any more until he talked to Burkhart. Still, it bothered him that Maria noticed the attraction between him and Amelia. If she’d seen it, others had too. Including Mercado.

He’d been taken so off guard, still felt raw at being so close to her. Shock had punched through him when she didn’t call him out on his use of an alias. And damn, had she looked good. Better than he remembered, which should be impossible. He’d wanted to pull her into his arms and devour her. Her arms had been bare in the long dress she’d worn. They were lean, muscular, maybe from her job. From the file he knew that she owned two restaurants and worked long hours. She was still curvy with a small waist, but there was a leanness to her now that hadn’t been there before. Her blue eyes were still the same. They reminded him of the Caribbean, so bright and beautiful he could drown in them.