“Thank you for saying yes. I’ll owe you one.”
“A senator in my pocket, just what I always wanted.”
His smile was subtle. “Brady will take you home to pack. Don’t forget your bathing suit and something appropriate for a formal dinner, in case Burke decides to have one. I’ve got a few calls to make and then we’ll discuss the rest of the details tonight.”
Stephen moved away from her chair and her touch and, just like that, she was dismissed. Too confused and off balance to take offense, she rose on legs that were still weak and headed for the door.
“Natasha?”
She paused with her hand on the doorknob and looked over her shoulder. “Yes?”
“It goes without saying that this is just between us.”
“Obviously not, since you keep saying it.”
He shook his head. “I’m repeating myself so you know that between us doesn’t include Jeremy Porter.”
Damn it. What fun was it to play spy for the government at a kinky house party if you couldn’t tell your best friend about it?
She sighed in disgust. “Fine. It’s not like he’d believe me anyway, right? I mean, this is you we’re talking about. Now if it were Owen—”
“Goodbye, Natasha.” He opened his laptop and stared at it as if she’d ceased to exist.
An image of him tied naked to a bed sprang to mind and she smiled as she opened the door. “Don’t worry, Senator—I can keep this secret.”
Chapter Three
“You sound like an old woman, Jeremy. Is this what monogamy is doing to you? Making you a prude? I don’t have to give you references to go away with a strange man for a week of kinky, sweaty sex at an undisclosed location.”
Tasha winked at Brady Finn, who was listening to her end of the phone call as he pulled up in front of Stephen’s brownstone. He shook his head, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement.
Jeremy didn’t find it as funny. “You’re telling me you just met a guy and you’re going away with him for a week. Am I supposed to shrug it off? What if something happened? I’ve heard you and Owen lecture on responsible play and safety before. At least give me his phone number or text a picture of his driver’s license in case of an emergency.”
Tasha groaned. Jeremy was genuinely worried and she hated not being able to tell him the truth. He’d found out about her occasional hookups with Stephen the same day she’d learned about his romance with Owen. When the shock wore off, she and Jeremy had promised to never keep things from each other again.
She probably shouldn’t have called, but she needed someone to be a contact for her employees. She didn’t trust anyone else. And she desperately wanted to tell him something, despite Stephen’s warning. A half-truth couldn’t possibly hurt the investigation, could it?
She glanced away from Brady and lowered her voice. “This isn’t any different than that time in college. I survived that, right?”
Tasha could practically hear the gears turning in his head through the silence on the line.
“Oh.” More silence, then a sharp intake of breath. “Oh.”
She smiled. “Exactly. So don’t worry. And don’t let Adrian and Sue burn down my shop. Oh, and I know you’re on deadline, so don’t do anything to my favorite little demon that I’ll make you regret. Complete those missions successfully and I’ll give you every sordid detail next weekend. We’ll order from that Indian place you love and dish the dirt.”
“And don’t tell Owen. That’s what you’re really saying isn’t it? Don’t tell Owen that you’re spending the entire week having a secret tryst with his older brother, the senator. Don’t tell Owen, even though the last time he found out I’d kept something from him, I couldn’t sit down or lean back comfortably for three days.”
“And you loved it,” she reminded him. “Don’t deny it, honey, I know you too well.”
“And I know you.” Jeremy sighed into the phone. “Are you sure about this, Tasha? Whatever it is between you two hasn’t exactly been resolved, and Stephen is as bad as Owen when it comes to communicating his feelings. Worse, if you listen to Seamus. Hasn’t he proven it, the way he’s avoided you since Scottgate?”
Tasha’s lips twitched at the name he’d chosen for the day their secrets were revealed. “I can handle it.”
“I don’t want you setting yourself up to get hurt.”
“I won’t. I can handle it.”
She glanced over at Brady, but he’d gotten out and was already carrying her bags into Stephen’s house. She exhaled wistfully at the snug fit of his jeans. The muscular man with his short-sleeved black shirt and tightly cropped dark auburn hair had a look about him. That look. In his jawline. Around his eyes. Not to mention his almost-as-squeezable-as-Stephen’s ass.
There were differences, of course. His lips were fuller and his nose had been broken at least once, but even if they’d never met before and a picture of him in uniform wasn’t hanging proudly in the pub, she would have known he was a Finn as soon as he showed up on her doorstep this morning.