Page 72 of Keeping Collette

“They are, but it’s also because of what we do. We wouldn’t be effective at our jobs if we weren’t in good physical condition.”

This was the little crack in the door that Collette needed to ask about how the meeting went. She doubted Deal had forgotten that he was going to talk to her about it. They’d gotten a little off track, in a good way, but now it was time to deal with reality.

“Speaking of work…”

“Yeah, as much as I don’t want to bring down the mood of the night, I promised I would tell you want happened, and I don’t go back on my word.” He gathered up their plates. “Let me deal with these, while you go put your feet up, and then we’ll talk.” He kissed her forehead, and she admired the back view of him. His ass filled out his sweatpants nicely.

He’d left a few items of clothing at her place, and after they’d gotten up, he pulled on the black sweats instead of his trousers. She wasn’t complaining at all. Although if truth be told, he looked good no matter what he wore, or didn’t wear.

“What’s that smile for? And didn’t I say you should go to the couch?” Deal gently pulled out her chair, and before she could register what he was doing, he scooped her up and sat down on the couch with her snuggled against his chest on his lap.

“Give a girl some warning before you sweep her off her feet.” She brushed her lips against his jaw, his stubble tickling her.

“Now where would the fun be in that?”

“I was thinking about how good you look in anything you wear, and out of it as well,” she said, answering his question.

Beneath her ass, she felt the way his body hardened at her confession. As tempting as it was to wiggle her behind against him, she didn’t. They needed to talk, and there was plenty of time for another bedroom session later.

“You expect me to concentrate after you say that?” he grumbled.

“Yes, because you’ve been trained to ignore all temptations and do your job.”

“Right, but those temptations weren’t you.”

His words warmed her soul, and she loved that they could tease each other like they were doing. It seemed, after both of them confessing their feelings, it freed them to be even more relaxed with each other than they previously were.

Collette bided her time as a comfortable silence settled around them. She didn’t doubt that Deal would start telling her about what had gone down. Yet she couldn’t help asking. “Was it that bad?”

He sighed. “It wasn’t easy for Hound. He didn’t say anything to me, but I could see the strain on his face when we returned to the office. He played the part he wanted to well, and he got information from his brother about the comings and goings of certain individuals. Whether it’s solid information remains to be seen. We’ll set up surveillance around the times he said action was going to take place, and pass that onto Julian, and he and his FBI team can take it from there. If we’re needed, which I’m sure we will be, he’ll let us know.”

That sounded dangerous to her, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. During his time as a SEAL, he’d been in far more dangerous situations than what would likely go down at that convenience store.

“And Courtney? Was he able to get anything out of him as to what happened to her? If they saw someone take her?” Somehow she knew the answer before Deal even said anything.

“Sorry, babe, we showed the pictures of a few of the victims, and they didn’t give us anything. Although Mal did say that he recognized Courtney from our visit. He added that he saw her get in a car but didn’t know where she was going.”

“So, in terms of the serial killer angle, you’re no further along in finding out who it is.”

“No. But we’re not going to give up. There is a connection there and we will find it.”

Collette was beginning to believe it was never going to happen.

Chapter Thirty-Four

It had been two weeks since Jim had given Hound information about possible trafficker movements. Surprisingly, the details were accurate, and after watching the footage obtained from the drone, they were able to track them from their point of origin to the convenience store and then to where they were dropped off.

They’d been watching the ports, and no one had been shipped out yet. Deal and the rest of them had wanted to go in and rescue them all. Julian had wanted that too, but the power brokers above him in the FBI all wanted to wait a little longer.

“They’re going to be shipped off, and we won’t be able to find them,” Jag argued, the issue very close to him considering his fiancée had been a victim of traffickers.

“Trust me, I agree. My hands are tied, though.” Julian pushed a hand through his hair. He was tense as well, because Lilith his wife was due to go into labor any day now, and he wanted to be there for the birth of their first child, but also wanted to be involved with the rescue mission—when it ever happened.

There were times Deal wondered if Julian would rather work solely for Alliez. He’d never asked the man, but considering they got work from the FBI and Julian was part of that reason, he assumed that was why he stayed there.

“What if we went in anyway?” Fox asked. “I’m going to leave in the next couple of days to go on this fucking tour with Zadie. I would rather know that they were safe before I go, than find out while I’m away we’d missed our window because we were sitting on our asses.”

Fortunately, Rowan wasn’t at the meeting, because there was every chance that they would’ve gotten into an argument about the trip. She hadn’t been happy when Fox had put his foot down and informed them he wasn’t going to go to Australia with Zadie after all, and had, behind Rowan and Zadie’s back, got in contact with Power Security in Perth to do all the security work. It was only after some heated calls and discussions that Zadie and her team had agreed to the change. Power were one of the best security companies in that country so Zadie was in good hands.