I frowned, "HOW?"
He leaned in, "Sometimes we Burrow agents would come upon an invention that wasn’t dangerous to the world, but the scientist was being carted off and would never be allowed to sell it. Sometimes we sold those inventions for them."
I gasped, "Fitz?"
He pointed at me, "Judge me when you're my age and you are still alive, Evie. I have done a lot of bad things to stay this way, but I regret none of them. Your friends would be dead if I hadn’t had the jet. Someone in your organization is putting hits on people who know about the Burrow."
I looked back at Coop. He was pretending to sleep but listening to everything we were saying. Luce was reading on a Kindle and Jack was playing a video game. I knew they were technically listening to it all. I climbed into the seat next to Fitz, "Alright, let me see this code."
When we landed in Rome, my stomach was in my throat. I felt sick and couldn’t shake it. Servario being hurt made me angry, but the fact that I would be seeing James made me feel homicidal things that weren’t healthy for anyone to feel.
Fitz waved as we left the plane, "I'll keep my eyes glued, in case you get into trouble. Remember, you are being double-crossed on this one by everyone. Trust no one."
I nodded, nervously.
Jack laughed, "He sounds like Mulder off X Files."
I laughed and tried not to cry as we left him. We had fake ID's and all the right passports, but I still felt like we were making a mistake. Steve had given me the last place they had been in Venice, and the back of the note from James had a hotel stamp on it. A hotel in Rome.
Coop nudged me, "You ready?"
I shook my head, "I feel sick."
He laughed, "That’s ‘cause this is the big time."
Jack nodded, stretching and walking next to me, "That’s true. You and Servario dicking around on his plane probably felt dangerous, but it wasn’t. This is actually really dangerous."
Luce swatted him, "Dude, not helping."
I shook my head, "I need a bathroom."
Luce wrapped her arm around my shoulders, "You just need to get in good and deep. The strength, training, and abilities will come back. Nothing like fear to bring back all your old skills."
That was a huge gamble with my life.
I followed them to clear customs as Canadians and ignored the horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
We caught a cab outside of the airport and ended up in the hotel district of Rome. It was beautiful. The stonework and architecture were like nothing I had ever seen. It was hard to focus with James and Servario tugging at my ability to maintain my composure. I looked around the courtyard as we stopped at a massive stone hotel. It was breathtaking. Coop leaned in, "You ready, Mrs. Rinaldi?"
I gave him a frown, "Yes, Jon. Let's do this." His eyes couldn’t contain the enjoyment he was having. Jon and Kim Rinaldi. Who knew we would get married so quickly.
I whispered back, "You know I look like a pervert being married to you."
He kissed my cheek softly and whispered in my ear, "You are that hot cougar who was able to land a stud like me. Clearly you can suck a watermelon through a garden hose."
He pulled away and passed the driver cash as he jumped out before I could say anything. I sat there for a minute with a red face and a thousand comebacks floating through my brain. Damn him, none were good enough.
He opened my door. I stepped out, walking past him. Little shit.
When we got to the front door, the valet grabbed our bags, eyeing me up with a grin. As we got inside, Coop leaned in again, "See, he's thinking you are a machine in the sack. It's a known thing about the older ladies, sex-addicted maniacs.
I shook my head, "I'm telling everyone you're my son."
He nudged me as we got to the desk, "Check your passport age."
I pulled it from my beautiful purse that Fitz had given me when I was on board. I smiled when I saw the birthday, "Twenty-nine, really?"
He shrugged, "You can pull it off easy."
I tried to resist the charming smile and compliment. "This feels like a trap. How old are you?"
He ignored me and smiled at the front desk girl, "Hello there. How are you?" He was doing his over-the-top, friendly-Canadian thing. He even sounded like he was from Wisconsin and the girl ate it up. She didn’t even know I was in the room. I looked around at the stunning décor and wondered if I was there or if it was a dream, a terribly-amazing dream.
He got our keys and a box that had been waiting for him and walked to the elevators. "Luce and Jack should be in their hotel any minute. We should be able to see each other when we get to the room."
I nodded, not really paying much attention; I was very focused on exits and how strong my legs felt. In the elevator he leaned over, pressing his lips against my neck. He paused there, breathing his hot breath onto my nape, "Stop looking so scared, Evie." His words were such a whisper, I think I felt them more than heard them.
I swallowed hard, ignoring him. When the doors opened, he took my hand in his and pulled me down the hall. Our room was beautiful, not Servario beautiful but far more than I would have stayed in with James. Of course, I never would have come to Rome with James. He was hoarding all his f**king money….
Deep breaths.
I needed to not be that savage, angry bitch I secretly was, until it was perfect. I needed to keep that bottled up and only released at the exact right moment.
Coop went straight to the window when we were inside. He was back-to-business Coop. He loved toying with me. He was always leaning into my neck, kissing the side of it. Pretending it was because he wanted our cover intact. But I knew… I knew… He was using his little games and playing hot and cold to keep me at a distance. He was just as scared of falling for me as I was of him. But neither of us was ever going to admit it. Instead, his games were making me crazy.
I sighed, “Little bastard.”
Although, having seen him in very tight jeans, I had to agree with him, there was really nothing little about the boy.
I mentally slapped my whorish self back into submission. She had already gotten us both into enough trouble.
The past months had been all her doing… Well, if I were being honest, the last decade had been all her fault.
Slut…
"They're in place." He held the binoculars out for me. I walked to him, taking them from him. He stayed close to me and pointed. I shivered from the warmth of him as I glanced through the binoculars, seeing Jack and Luce looking around their room, which was much nicer than ours. Jack looked at Luce for a moment, saying something, but I couldn’t read his lips from that distance. He crossed the room in several large steps, took her face in his hands and said something. She blushed and he bent his face down on hers. My jaw dropped as an awwww left my lips. Coop tried to take the binoculars from me, but I shoved him back, "No. That was the sweetest kiss I have ever seen."
"I knew it!" he sounded less than impressed. In fact, he sounded downright angry.
I gave him a rotten smile, "Jealous?"
He scoffed and gave me a cruel look, "Hardly. I always worry when one member of the team falls for the other. It never ends well. They should be able to joke around, like me and you. We can be around each and not fall in love."
I flinched as Servario's words of how I should never love him or make him love me drifted through my mind. Neither man wanted to love me, they both just wanted to screw around. I hated that I had never been able to be that girl who was able to just have sex and move on with it. Oh well, at least Luce was lucky in love.
I cleared my throat and placed the binoculars on the table, "Let's give them a few moments."
He gave me an indifferent look. I almost was able to hate him again. He was a master of switching his moods and feelings and closing things off. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t falling for him, and the only thing saving me was that he was in his twenties and acting like an a**hole. I shook my head, "What is so wrong about falling in love?"
His eyes hardened, "Gets you killed, Evie. If I loved you, I would always save you. I would die saving you. I would do anything possible to keep you alive. See the theme? You. Not me. This job is about keeping me alive, not you."
I felt sick, instantly. I wrinkled my noise at him, "I would rather be like Jack and Luce a thousand times, than be like you for a second. I could never live with the fact I let someone die. I also couldn’t live without love."
He scoffed, "Clearly. Look at your track record. Fall for guys at basic. Fall for guys on mission. Fall for guys who say hello to you too nicely. You would let me have you in a heartbeat, if we were in different circumstances than this. You fall for guys too easily and it's a weakness. You need to learn to detach your libido from your heart." His words were cutting and venomous.
I shook my head, "Fuck you, Coop."
He nodded his head, "That’s all it would ever be for me, Evie. That’s as far as I would let things go. That’s why I'm actually good at this, as you so eloquently pointed out once." He walked past me to the bedroom. I stood in the sitting room, hating him and wishing I had been paired with Jack. Seeing the urgency of his kiss made me jealous. I couldn’t think of a single man that had ever needed to kiss me that way. He was desperate to hold her face, I had seen it in his trembling hands. They had maintained their act of indifference for hours, and only when they were alone, would they be true to themselves. Coop was the opposite. He was sweet, funny, and sexy in front of other people, but the moment we were really alone and in a situation where no one would ever know, he was a f**ker.
I sighed and told myself it was for the best. He was jailbait.
He came out of the bedroom with the box, "Put this on. I had it all shipped here yesterday."
He left it on the couch and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. I opened the lid to the box, stunned to find a sexy black dress and a pair of killer shoes. Underneath that there was a water bra. I sneered at it.