Jaimie: Fire and Ice (The Wilde Sisters 2)

Zacharias’s voice rang out, loud and clear.

“Honey?”

He was looking for her. Maybe he wanted a repeat of last night. Sex whenever he wanted it. From the woman your friend wanted you to protect.

A shudder went through her. Slowly, she rose to her feet and headed down the hall.

“Jaimie. Babe… There you are.”

Indeed. Here she was. Available. And stupid. So pathetically stupid.

“Honey. I have wonderful news.” He came toward her, smiling that damn blinding smile, and reached for her. “Young is finished. I just had word from D.C. The police arrested him. Seems he had a confrontation at your office—your former office. He beat up your old boss. The manager called the cops and Young didn’t take it well. This part’s not so nice, honey, but he broke into her place last night and—and—” Zacharias frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“What could possibly be wrong?”

“I don’t know, but something is. Have you been crying?”

“Why would I cry? And what could be wrong, now that you’ve completed your task?”

Did he flinch? Yes. He flinched. He knew something had changed.

“What task?”

“Oh, come on, don’t be shy. The favor my brother asked of you. Or did you and Caleb think of it as an assignment?” She wrenched free of Zach’s hands. “Me.”

His belly knotted. She knew. He didn’t know how, but she knew.

This was no time for denial or pretense.

“Jaimie. We have to talk.”

“Wow. I’m impressed. You’re not going to say, ‘What are you talking about?’ You’re just going to deal with this, head-on?”

Zach took a steadying breath.

“How did you find out?”

“That my brother paid you for babysitting me?”

Zach’s mouth flattened. He stepped forward, grabbed her by the arms.

“That’s a lie. Nobody paid me a dime.”

“What, then? Was I a charity case? Or was this simply a little arrangement between old friends? He does you a favor, you do him a favor—”

“Goddammit, it was nothing like that! Caleb was worried about you.”

“So he got in touch with you. Where do you know him from? That—that ring of spies he calls The Agency? Am I right?”

“Jaimie.” Zach’s fingers bit hard into her flesh. “I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how. I was afraid you’d look at me exactly the way you’re looking at me now.”

“Let go of me, Zacharias.”

“Not until you listen!” He stepped closer, so close that she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. “I never found the right moment to tell you. Not without hurting you, not without ruining what we had.”

“We had nothing. We have nothing. You—you used me.”

“Never!”