But predicting how people would behave in extreme emotional circumstances? She just didn’t trust herself in that regard. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to predict that. “I’m not so sure about that. But I’m happy for Max. He’ll be a good leader.”
“No doubt about that.” Miranda leaned forward. “And the best part? The other agent up for the position was none other than Todd Barnes. I heard he’s not too happy Max got it and not him.”
Jac just stared. She’d seen the man walking around PAVAD earlier, but she’d assumed the ones stuck with him in Texas had just been using him as a courier again. From what she’d heard before, Todd Barnes was sent just about everywhere he could be—so no one truly had to deal with him full-time. “Barnes? Seriously? He’s not PAVAD material. And definitely not CCU.”
PAVAD had a very definite structure. Each division worked efficiently together. They were all parts of the cog.
Except the CCU. The CCU was the most unique division in bureau history. The people who worked PAVAD, who worked the CCU specifically, they were the FBI’s best. Everyone knew that, and the last four years had just proven that. A jerk like Todd Barnes had no business being there. Ever.
“That’s what everyone else is saying, too. I guess we’re just going to have to watch what happens. Anyway, Barnes is going to be our Max’s problem for now.”
No kidding.
The last thing Max needed was Todd Barnes screwing everything up just as he was taking the helm of his team. If he was a team leader, she’d inevitably end up working for him at some point. That was the nature of PAVAD. “I’m glad for Max. He deserves this.”
Max worked hard and took promotions and success as they came his way, but she didn’t think he had burning passions that urged him on. Max wasn’t the type to claw himself to the top, pushing others out of his way. No.
He was far better suited to being part of a team than a man with ultimate power. He could lead. And he could lead well. He was quick, intelligent, fair…
A CCU team-leader position was perfect for him.
He’d worked hard, and had earned it. The pride she felt in that didn’t surprise her at all.
Pre-superkiss, Jac would have willingly volunteered to work on any team he ran. She’d trust Max with her life—in a heartbeat. More importantly, she’d trust Max with Miranda and Nat’s. Unconditionally.
Unfortunately, she no longer trusted the man with her virtue. Not after the carnival.
She hadn’t even told Miranda that yet, though. Maybe she was imagining it. It had just been a few casual touches. A few hot looks. Maybe. She could be reading more into it than was there. Maybe because of the Kiss-That-Never-Should-Have-Been.
Jac didn’t know anymore. She never had been very good at the whole male/female kind of thing. Max had thrown everything into a tailspin with those lips of his. By the time she’d recovered enough to think, the man had hightailed it out of there.
“Yes, he does. And you can congratulate him at Emery’s birthday party tomorrow, too. Better yet, send Emery home with a little buddy, get Max naked, and cover that impressive chest of his with birthday cake and icing. Then enjoy the snack.”
Miranda leveled a smirk in her direction. Jac wanted to throw something at the other woman. She and Miranda had met at Quantico, during their training days and had taken the appointments to St. Louis together. They’d ended up on the same team within months, often rooming together on cases, until Miranda had become the one person—other than Max—that she absolutely trusted.
She’d been Jac’s best friend for more than five years now. “You going?”
Miranda shook her head. “I can’t. I’m flying up to Masterson for Meyra’s birthday. I’ve not missed one yet. I’ll only be up there for a day, then back here the next. She and Emery share a birthdate. She makes a bigger deal out of birthdays than Max’s kid. I dropped off my present for Emery yesterday.”
“Then I guess I’ll go by myself.” She already had gifts picked out and wrapped. She hadn’t missed Emery’s birthday since she’d met Max’s daughter. She was going to have to talk to Max first.
It was time to clear the air, make everything as right as it was going to get. So they could both move on. This had gone on long enough. She couldn’t keep wondering what that man was up to.
She’d go nuts, just waiting for him to do something else. Or worse—get the shivers every time his skin brushed hers.
There was just enough time before the Monday morning briefing to confront that man in his brand-new office.
She stood.
Miranda looked at her. “Going somewhere?”
“Yes. I’m going to go talk to Max.” Get some answers. Figure out what that man had going on in that complicated head of his.
“Good. I figured you be the one to make the first move.”
“Why me?”
Miranda shot her wicked smile. “Simple. You terrify that man far more than he does you. Right down to his toes. Go get him. I’ll let Seb know you’ll join us in the conference room as soon as you can.”
18
Jac had never been the type of woman to let unpleasant tasks build up. She’d learned the hard way years ago to face problems head on.
Maddox James Jones was a big problem.
Six foot four and a half, two hundred eighty-five pounds of strong, muscled, beautiful male...problem.
She wasn’t even certain what had happened to turn things between them sideways that day. They’d been in a small country motel in Arkansas after they’d spent hours searching for Shannon. They’d been arguing—something that had happened more than a few times in five years—then his hands had been on her.
Max had lifted her off her
