Twice the Temptation

“That’s the plan,” Cody said. And that was part of his problem. She still had to get through the trial. And there was still a good chance she might have to go back into witness protection. “But now that Maxine’s in custody and the marshal’s office is under scrutiny, she’ll be safe. At any rate, I won’t be leaving her side.”

Mac glanced at Brie and then back at Cody. “What do you know about Brie’s background?”

Cody’s brows shot up. “What’s your interest?”

“When I first heard her sing…for a moment, I was certain I’d heard her voice before. Is she by any chance adopted?”

“Yes. When she was two,” Cody said. “I checked, but the records are sealed.”

Mac nodded. “I know I’ve never seen her perform before tonight. I wouldn’t have forgotten.”

“I doubt anyone would,” Avery added as he rejoined them. “A set of pipes like that doesn’t come along very often. I heard Streisand live once when I was a kid. Brie made me think of her.”

Mac shook his head. “It wasn’t Streisand that she reminded me of. But I’m almost sure I’ve heard that voice before. It’ll come back to me. In the meantime, I think I’m going to collect Reese. It’s been a long day for her.” He glanced at Avery. “For all of us.”

Cody’s cell phone rang.

“More good news,” Nate said on the other end. “One of the Feds here just got a call. Dicky Ferrante will not be going to trial on Monday or any other day. He’s making a deal with the Feds as well, and he’s singing his lungs out. So we’ve got a competition going on between Dicky and Maxine to see who can tell the most and work out the better deal.”

“News certainly travels fast.”

Nate laughed on the other end of the phone. “All it takes is a dozen or so men in suits, all on their cells.” Then he cut the connection.

Cody repocketed his phone and signaled Avery and Mac to follow him to the booth where he passed on Nate’s good news.

“So I’m a free woman?” Brie asked. “I can go back to my old life?”

“Perhaps an even better one,” Mac said. “I can put you in contact with people in the music business out in L.A.”

Reese reached across the table and took her hand. “And you could probably use a new agent. I’m going to call mine first thing in the morning.”

Brie pressed her free hand to her heart. “Oh, my God. I don’t think I can breathe. I—”

“I’ll get the champagne,” Avery said.

“And the fantasy box,” Brie said. “You promised me I could draw out a new one.”

“That I did,” Avery said.

Cody’s stomach sank. And something clutched tight around his heart when Avery brought over the box. Why in hell did she want a new fantasy?

Only one answer occurred to him. She was ready to move on. He watched her dig deep for an envelope.

But when she drew it out, she didn’t open it. Instead, she handed it to him. “I don’t want to read it until we’re in the tower room. Coming?”

BY THE TIME THEY’D CLIMBED the iron stairs, Brie wasn’t sure she’d be able to speak. She had the speech planned. She’d even practiced it with Reese while they’d been sipping brandy. But this was where she wanted to deliver it.

Hattie had helped her before. In those few seconds before the mirror had shattered behind her, she’d known that she’d sensed another presence on that piano. Not that she’d seen anything. But she was almost sure she’d had help dodging that bullet.Now she needed Hattie’s help again. And she’d taken precautions to have it. That’s why she’d asked Avery to let her draw out another fantasy. Because she didn’t want the onetime fling. She wanted more.

The problem was that sometimes, you just couldn’t have more. She was getting her old life back and then some. Mac Davies and Reese were going to open doors for her that never would have been opened before. Twenty-four hours ago, that would have been enough. But not now. She still wanted more.

Brie walked into the darkened room on legs she couldn’t feel. Moonlight poured through the windows, leaving rectangular patterns on the floor. The sound of her footsteps echoed eerily.

She couldn’t remember when she’d ever been this nervous, this scared. Not when Avery had lifted her onto the piano earlier and she’d known there was a killer in the room. Not hiding behind that same piano, dodging bullets—and not even that morning when the motorcycle had nearly forced them off the road.

That morning. Yesterday, she hadn’t known Cody. How could he have been in her life such a short amount of time and still have become so…essential?

There was a click, and a soft light filled the room. It was only then that she caught a glimpse of herself in the beveled mirror. The other image in the glass faded instantly. But not before she recognized the woman who’d sung to her from the Steinway.

And the melody filled her mind. “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Drawing in a deep breath, she shifted her gaze to one of the windows. There were thousands of stars out there, but all she needed was one. The brightest one. Then, closing her eyes, she made the wish and prayed with all her heart that it would come true.

“Why did you take another fantasy, Brie?”

Pressing her hand against her stomach, she turned to face Cody. “I decided I didn’t want the old one.”

“But you do want a new one.” That was the fear that had been pounding through him ever since they’d left the bar. From what he’d learned about Hattie’s fantasies, they were designed to hook you up with one person—for good.

“That’s right.”

Brie wanted someone new. Cody felt as if someone had opened up his chest, closed hard hands around his heart and squeezed.

“So you’ve decided to move on.”

“Yes.”

“No.” When he lifted the parchment envelope she’d given to him, he discovered that he’d already crushed it. No matter. After smoothing it out, he ripped it in two and tossed it on the floor.

Brie took a quick step back. “What did you—”

“You’re not going to have a new fantasy,” he said as he started toward her. As he passed the computer desk, he picked up the parchment envelope he’d dropped there earlier. “And you’re sure you don’t want the old one?”

“I’m sure.” But she wasn’t meeting his eyes. She was staring at his hands.

“Good. I was never a fan of onetime flings.”

She met his eyes then. “You read my fantasy?”

He raised his brows. “You left it lying around. I’m a trained investigator.” Then he ripped the envelope in half.

“No.”

She took a quick step toward it and was about to lean down when Cody grabbed her wrists. “I’m not letting you move on, Brie. Not without me. If you want new fantasies, they’re going to be with me, too.”

Her head went into a spin and she couldn’t seem to pull air into her lungs again. She was going to have to work on that. A singer needed to breathe. And maybe, just maybe, she hadn’t heard him correctly. At any rate, she needed to know. Using all her strength, she drew in a breath and tried to clear her mind. “And what if I don’t want new fantasies?”

“What do you want?” he asked.

She could see what was in his eyes now. A trace of anger, a glint of fear. But there was more. And it was the more that gave her the courage to speak. “I want you. I have from the first moment I saw you. I don’t understand it.”

He smiled slowly. “Looks like we’re on even ground then. I wanted you in that same instant. I want you now. For keeps.”

“For keeps.” She just had time to get the words out before he closed his mouth over hers and dragged her to the floor.

His hands made quick work of her dress, his whisper hot in her ear. “I’ve wanted you out of that since you put it on.”

Heat exploded then. She heard the slide of silk as he shot it across the floor, then the snap of his jeans, the scratch of a zipper. As he rose above her, thrust into her, Brie was sure that lightning crackled in the room.

His eyes were so dark. She found his hands and linked her fingers with his as he rocked into her. “It’s not a onetime fling if we do this again. And again.”

“No.” Pleasure rippled through her, filling all the empty spaces. But when she would have arched against him, he held her still. “You want your career, and you’ll have it. You’re amazing.”

“I thought it was all I wanted. All I could have.”

“Yeah.” He smiled down at her. “But now we can have more.”

Something inside of her melted and flowed into him.

“I’ll show you,” he said.

And he did.

A long time later, they lay on the floor in front of the mirror. Her head was on his shoulder, his arms holding her tight.

“I’m surprised that lightning didn’t strike us both when you started ripping up those fantasies.”

He turned his head and grinned at her. “In a way, it did.”

She grinned right back. “True.”

“But I’ve been thinking about your fantasy ever since I read it. And I have a theory.”