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His voice implored her to agree, but his chocolate brown eyes laughed at her as if he knew she couldn’t refuse him. Gennessey leaned even closer until their noses almost touched.
“Then walk. You could use the exercise.”
She yanked on the driver’s door, hoping it would push him out of the way, but the locks had reengaged during their conversation. She grunted in frustration and went to depress the key fob again. BB covered her hand with his, not holding her in a way to stop her but surprising her into freezing. She thought she felt an electric pulse where their skin touched, but she brushed it off as ridiculous.
“Please, Gen. I swear I won’t say a word during the whole ride to KSI. We can swing through a drive thru, and I’ll pay for whatever breakfast you want to order without saying anything. It’s just one friend helping out another friend.”
Damn him. He’d managed to twist the situation where if she refused, she was the bitch who turned down someone in need. She knew he’d never keep his promise to not talk. He would find a way to needle her as he always did. She was in no position to refuse him, even if she didn’t consider them even close to being friends.
“Get in before I change my mind.”
He had the good sense to erase his grin as he crossed the front of the car to the passenger side. Gennessey bit back a laugh at how ridiculous he looked folding his tall frame to fit into her mid-size car. His knees were practically up his nose, and she considered it poetic justice that he would be uncomfortable during the ride he’d conned her into giving him. He uttered a quick word of thanks as they secured their seatbelts, and she purposely turned up the volume on her satellite radio to discourage any more conversation.
The ride to KSI was a short one, but holding him to his word, she pulled into a drive thru at a fast-food franchise on the way. Once they had their food orders in separate bags on the console between them, they continued the ride in silence.
She barely paid attention to him, her mind remembering the information he’d shared earlier. Delta left on assignment. She’d tried not to let it bother her, but considering her plus-one for Cohen’s wedding was one of the Delta Team, she realized she was back to square one.
When she’d gotten the invitation, she’d asked the man she was dating to be her date. Part of her was surprised when he’d agreed considering they both wanted to keep the relationship casual. Unfortunately, he broke up with her not long after his ex called him begging for a reconciliation.
Gennessey started asking the single men she worked with — with the exception of the man beside her now — knowing they would play along with her ruse to fool her family. Delta Team member Alexander “Lex” Bishop had agreed, but now…
“Did you find out where Delta was heading?” she asked, momentarily forgetting her command for radio silence.
“Guatemala.”
She didn’t ask about the nature of their assignment. More than likely BB wouldn’t know the details, and it didn’t matter. Even if their mission wrapped up quickly, Lex wouldn’t be back before she had to leave for the start of Cohen and Autumn’s wedding activities.
When they arrived at KSI, Gennessey beat BB out of the car with her bag and breakfast in hand. She walked at a brisk pace into the lobby, barely pausing to greet Jordan Raines, the security guard who monitored anyone coming or going from the building as well as activity outside.
She took the stairs rather than the elevator, hoping BB wouldn’t follow. Not long after she settled at her desk, her breakfast getting cold, she heard a knock on the door a moment before Isobel Garcia came inside.
Isobel and Gennessey were the only females at KSI with roles which placed them in the field, though as the company continued to grow, she expected Jay to hire more. The others were computer analysts who stayed in the command center, providing technical support to the investigators and the teams in the field.
“So you and BB rode to work together,” Isobel said as she sat down.
Gennessey rolled her eyes. “I see the KSI grapevine is alive and well, though I think it’s moving faster these days. We only just got here. He had car trouble, and none of the Delta guys were around to give him a lift.”
“They left on a search and rescue mission in Guatemala. A federal judge’s daughter has disappeared while on vacation with friends. The friends called the judge when they lost contact with her. Sydney’s trying to gather as much intel as she can while Delta’s in the air, but the trail has grown cold. We should have been called in before now, but the judge wanted to keep it contained,” Isobel explained.
Isobel had a way of knowing everything about everyone, a skill which served her well as an investigator and made her an enigma. Nothing escaped her notice, which is why when she narrowed her eyes to study her friend thoughtfully, Gennessey busied herself with unwrapping her breakfast sandwich, now too cold to be edible.
“I’m guessing the bug up your ass is either because BB was especially annoying on the ride here or because the Delta Team is gone, and you’ve lost your date for the weekend.”
Gennessey sighed. “BB was actually quiet the whole ride here. For once, my bad mood is not him. Well, not entirely him. Lex was my last hope for a buffer to keep my family off my back during all the wedding stuff, and now I’m stuck going on my own. Unless you and Egan want to come. I might can convince my mom and aunt we’re a threesome.”
Isobel cocked an eyebrow. “That could be fun, but Egan’s on call this weekend. Mo and I are planning to spend the weekend with him.”
Egan O’Connor was a doctor in a small medical clinic in Charlottesville. Since he and Isobel had fallen in love while helping his brother out of trouble, they kept up the long-distance romance by taking turns making the commute to each other’s homes.
For a long time before that, Isobel had been on her own with only her German shepherd Mo to share her life with. Gennessey was thrilled her friend had found happiness, though she expected Egan to lure Isobel away with a marriage proposal sometime soon.
“Well, if you have any ideas, feel free to share. I’m desperate at this point.”
Isobel’s smile put Gennessey on edge. “There’s still one person you haven’t asked. I bet he’d say yes.”
Gennessey glared at her friend. “No. It’s not happening. No way can I pretend BB is my boyfriend.”
“What do you have against BB? He’s not a bad guy. He’s not even as big a player as you think he is. Not to mention, he knows how to charm people. Your family will love him. Everyone loves him but you.”
