Determined not to fall head over heels for the man she was pretty sure she’d already fallen for, she took a petite serving of scrambled eggs and one tiny slice of bacon. Worried what everyone might think now, she left the sweet, spicy smelling cinnamon rolls for the men. Her father had always berated her for her love of chocolates and sweet rolls, so she’d avoided them with a stoicism born from too many snarky putdowns.
But then she thought of what Jameson had said. I wish I were brave like you. Your dad wasn’t right, he was dead damned wrong.
“Am I brave?” she asked herself quietly, as she moved those fluffy eggs around her plate. “I was yesterday, kind of. And last night. Why shouldn’t I eat a cinnamon roll, too? I made them.”
“So take one,” a husky male voice breathed into the crook of her neck, sending shivers up her back and over her shoulders.
“Jameson!” she nearly squealed as her arm reached up and circled his head, holding him in that warm, ticklish spot. He wasn’t avoiding her after all.
“Take two if you want them, babe,” he whispered huskily. “Life is short. Fill it with gooey cinnamon rolls and sweet lemonade and every damned delicious thing you want. Eat up, Maddie. Live now.”
She couldn’t restrain her whole body from reacting on impulse. Spinning around on her stool, she pulled him into a hug that ended in a kiss she didn’t care if the whole world saw. Jameson Tenney loved her, and she loved him, and damn it, she was eating a cinnamon roll. The whole thing. Then she was dragging Jameson back to her room and eating the best dessert. Him.
“I saved some for you,” she told him between panting breaths.
“Already got what I want,” he murmured into her mouth, his arms around her shoulders. Which told her he wasn’t afraid if the whole world knew that he loved her, either.
“Umm, guys,” Agent-in-Charge Eric Reynolds growled from the other room. “When the hell did this happen?”
For once, Maddie wanted to laugh and sing and dance, maybe scream. Okay, so he’d caught her kissing a TEAM agent. So what? She was so happy she could cry. “Yesterday. Last night.” She didn’t dare tell him she’d been with Jameson since early this morning.
By then, Jameson had turned their bodies to face Eric. “It was a really, really loooong day,” he added without a hint of remorse.
“Don’t you believe in love at first sight, Eric?” Maddie added.
“Well, yeah,” he answered slowly. “Just…” He ran a hand over his head, ruffling his dark brown hair. “You two just met. One day. Don’t you want to—?”
“Slow down? Take it easy? No, Eric, I don’t,” Jameson replied evenly. “Been looking for this woman for too many years already. She’s mine. I won her fair and square. You can’t have her.”
Maddie giggled. He made it sound as if she were a prize. The honest, open affection in every breath and touch of his filled her like warm water filling a bubble bath. More than anything, she wanted to slide under the bubbles and get lost in this man.
“I’m married, smart ass,” Eric shot back. “That’s not what I meant.”
A silly tear sparkled at the corner of her eye, but she dashed it away before Eric saw that, too. Maybe this was too soon. She’d be a fool not to admit that. But Jameson did something to her, and she liked it, needed it. He filled her up, not only with his body, but with confidence she never knew she had. He was everything she’d been missing in her life, and she was brave, darn it. Brave enough to break out of the mold she’d been squeezed into as a little girl, and to just be her.
“Hate to break this party up,” Harley interrupted. “But I talked with Alex earlier, and you guys need to know that Taylor and Maverick found Lucy Shade, even spoke to her.”
Jameson was facing Harley by then. “I assume those are two more agents. Where’d they find her?”
“Yes. Taylor Armstrong and Maverick Carson. Boston.”
Jameson cocked his head. “Former USMC General Michael Armstrong’s son?”
“One and the same.”
“My God. Lucy Shade is Pops Delaney’s daughter, isn’t she?” Jameson breathed. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
“I have no idea how you know that,” Harley muttered, “but you’re spot on.”
“Because it makes sense. She used a word on him when they were fighting in the farmhouse,” Jameson replied. “Feck. She said, ‘So was Vlad, my feckin’ bodyguard.’ He didn’t catch it, but it struck me as an odd curse word for an American woman, which at least means she comes from strong Irish roots. That must be why she didn’t take my weapon when we were abducted. She wanted me to take out Delaney. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Mr. Vlad,” Maddie whispered. “He must’ve found out who she was. That’s why she shot him.”
“Right,” Harley replied. “Alex also spoke with Agent Morozov last night, or rather, early this morning, before he went into surgery. According to Vladimir, Shade went into this charade with the sole purpose to destroy her old man. She’d convinced Pops this was all a publicity stunt, while she’d already paid several of his men to betray him and plant the bomb aboard her jet. Once you two were dead, they would’ve turned on him and killed him. Made it look like you all died in the fire. Everything she did was to that end.”
“So the media circus she held last night was what, a smokescreen?” Eric asked.
“More like her attempt to spin what actually happened to her advantage.”
“Tell her to bring it on,” Jameson declared angrily, his chin up. “I’m not afraid of that snake.”
“You might want to think twice about that,” Harley cautioned. “According to Taylor
