Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(16)

“It’s hard for me to imagine Gus running something so important. I remember when she couldn’t keep Kool-Aid in a cup.”

Gabe shook his head. “That’s because you still see her as your little sister and not the man-mangling, tear-inducing, mega shark with a perfect blowout she’s become. Everyone at the White House is afraid of her. She’ll keep those damn reporters in line. I heard she made the head of ABC News cry last week.”

“My sister is a sweetheart.”

“She is to you and her family,” Gabe agreed. “She’s a man-eating T. rex to everyone else. But you should know Roman swears he stopped sleeping with her when they started working together.”

“Jeez, I don’t need to know that.” He took the file from Gabe’s hand.

“Yeah, well, you should also know Mad’s hot to see her again. I swear, I’m so happy my sister has zero interest in my friends. Sara thinks you’re walking venereal diseases. Take a look at the notes in the back. Everything else you can go over in your leisure time.”

He flipped to the back and found Connor’s list of recommendations for how to proceed. One name stood out.

“Beau Kirk? I’ve never heard his name mentioned in conjunction with my father’s case.”

“Because you’ve only been working it from the Navy’s perspective. Connor found out the case was largely handled in the civilian world. They only relinquished control to NCIS when it became clear the news was going to explode,” Gabe explained. “Holland’s uncle works for NOLA PD and he handled the civilian side of the investigation. If anyone is going to know how to look into this, it will be him.”

Dax had a name. It was really all he could ask for right now. Though at some point he intended to sit down with Holland and ask why she’d never mentioned her uncle had kicked off the investigation. “Let’s go get some breakfast. I’m starving.”

For the first time in months, he meant that.


*

Holland sighed gratefully as the bartender passed her an ice-cold beer. It had been a shitty day. She’d had to arrest a lieutenant junior grade for beating the crap out of his wife. The whole time the wife had pleaded with her not to take her husband, crying and begging and trying to say the whole thing had been her fault.

The Threat Management Unit usually handled cases like this, but the agent’s partner had called in sick and agents didn’t go in without backup. Holland had agreed to assist, even though she hated cases like this. She hoped the lieutenant’s wife got the help she needed, but the likelihood was she would follow her abusive husband right out of the military.

“Yay! Margarita!” Courtney’s eyes widened as the bartender placed the fishbowl-sized cocktail in front of her. “This afternoon was so pleasant. I swear I could look at that man all day. We were supposed to go over how we’ll lay out the training materials, but mostly I just looked at his arms. Do you think I could convince him to work without his shirt? I mean, writing training manuals is a really hard job. Oh, I’ll tell him the air conditioner is broken and see if I can fast-talk him down to his underwear.”

Courtney’s antics usually amused her. They’d become fast friends right after Holland had taken the New Orleans job. It was good to have a girly friend. Most of her work colleagues were male. The lone exception was Berta, who looked as if she’d been a former pro wrestler in a past life. She was a nice lady, but she didn’t give a damn about mani pedis or where to get her hair done. Courtney was smart and funny, if a little shallow when it came to men.

The problem was Courtney was talking about her man.

Stop. Halt. Do not go there, Holland. He is not yours and he never will be.

It had been a whole ten hours since Dax had made her coffee and then left to go back to his mother’s house. He’d slept on her couch and she’d let him. What had she been thinking? She’d taken a shower and hustled into work after he’d left this morning, but all she could concentrate on was the file he’d given her. And how masculine he’d looked standing there wearing nothing but a thin T-shirt and a pair of khaki pants. They’d rode low on his hips, and that white, almost transparent tee had shown off how well shaped his body was.

“Earth to Holland?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I was thinking about something else.”

“Yeah, I can tell. What’s his name?”

Holland stared down at her beer, wondering how much to tell her friend.

Courtney put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, seriously, what’s wrong? Did I say something?”

“I know Captain Spencer personally.”

Courtney sat back. “I was wondering about that. You don’t like to talk about it, but I know you were friends with Joy Hayes. That means you probably knew the PGs.”

She hated that nickname. The Perfect Gentlemen. The press used it all the time. Somehow Captain Awesome was a better fit for Dax Spencer. “I wasn’t his girlfriend or anything. We’ve never been anything but friends.”

Courtney stared at her with disbelieving eyes. “Really? That’s good because I’ve got a date with him tonight.”

She felt herself flush. Well, she’d told him flat out she wouldn’t date him. She’d said it in no uncertain terms. Somehow she hadn’t expected him to give up so easily. But she’d also thought that maybe he’d give it a few days before he moved on to the next woman. This underscored one of the main reasons she refused to get involved with him.