Page 34 of Last First Kiss
A moment ago she’d felt languid and relaxed, now she was charged and confused. “What for?”
“I’ll see you soon.” And the sonofabitch hung up without an explanation.
Before setting her phone down, she noticed she had a dozen messages and a ton of Google alerts. She clicked on the first alert and there she was, fists clawing at Rocco’s shoulders, his big palm cupping the back of her head with one hand and the other arm wrapped around her waist, their lips fused together. It wasn’t the kiss of a budding relationship or an awkward first date, it was a kiss that screamed lust and sex. But worse than that photo was the next one. It was when they’d stopped kissing. In this one her lips were swollen and parted, and her face and neck were completely flushed as she looked away, almost shyly, but his eyes were honed in on her as if he couldn’t wait one more second to strip her naked and devour her. His nostrils were flared, his shirt slightly crumpled, his hair a mess from where her fingers must have gripped. It was erotic and intimate and she didn’t know what the hell to do about the fact that it was now out there for the world to see. She lived mostly under the radar, and now here she was, front and center in a Hollywood scandal.
She knew it would be all over the news this morning, but for some reason she’d buried it in the back of her mind. Seeing it in photos was freaking her out. And the emails—which she was going to ignore for the time being—were surely about the photos.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she didn’t even take a moment to meditate or stretch. She went straight to the bathroom to shower and get ready for whatever it was that Joey wanted to tell her. If her overprotective brother was going to give her a hard time about that kiss, he had another thing coming. She was a grown-ass woman doing her job, a job he’d all but forced her to take.
Twenty minutes later she was sitting outside the house waiting for Clark to get there, not wanting to wake Rocco.
“Hey, kid.” Clark, an older member of ICS, greeted her when he pulled up in one of ICS’s vans. He was maybe thirty-five. It annoyed the hell out of her that they saw her as a kid.
“’Mornin’. Rocco is a late sleeper. We have an event tonight, but I’ll be back by then. Make sure he stays indoors. He has two video meetings and will likely be holed up in his office. There’s some construction people coming in to install a new window, but other than that, keep the alarm on. If he wants to go for a run, go with him or tell him no.”
“No? You want me to tell Rocco Monroe no?”
“Yes.” She stepped into the van, which he’d left on for her. “Clark, you sure you’re up to this?”
“I’ve been serving this country since you were in diapers.”
“But this isn’t Iraq, Clark. This is a hardheaded actor who doesn’t think there’s a threat.” She pulled out the buzzing phone from her pocket. It was Joey, texting her to hurry up. “Shit. Just don’t let him out of your sight. Call me if there’s a problem. The front door is open, I’ll close the gate when I leave,” she said as she prepared to meet her fate.
* * *
“What’s going on, Joe?”
Joey sat behind his desk at ICS. Jax was sitting on a chair in front, his legs stretched out casually. As if they’d just been discussing baseball rather than one of the many highly dangerous missions ICS had been contracted to do—or the damning photos they’d seen earlier.
“How are things at Casa Rocco?” Jax asked.
Annie went around and sat on the chair next to him, annoyed at how cavalier they were acting when they’d just demanded her presence at headquarters as if there had been some sort of emergency. “Other than the broken window the other day, it’s been quiet.” They already knew what had happened and had been updating her on the guys who’d been arrested, currently out on bail. “What’s the problem? Why’d you pull me today?”
“So we’re ignoring the elephant in the room?” Joey chided.
Huffing, she crossed her arms over her chest. “So we kissed. What’s the big deal? I was hired to be his girlfriend, wasn’t I?”
“Fake girlfriend. That didn’t entail making out with him in front of all the paparazzi in Miami.”
“Shut up. I’m not having this conversation with you. Is that why you summoned me here?”
“No, but as your big brother, I thought I’d remind you that this is just a job and that Monroe isn’t boyfriend or husband material. I don’t want to see you get hurt, Annie. Don’t forget this is all pretend.”
“I know, Joey. It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. What else did you want to discuss?”
“We’ve started coordinating things for the filming in Colombia. I don’t like it.” Joey said. “We don’t like it,” he clarified. “Colombia is where all the threats are stemming from, and I don’t think it’s safe.”
“Yeah, I know, you’ve made it perfectly clear how you don’t like me anywhere except holed up in here in your protective bubble. But it’s happening, so if you brought me in to bitch, you can just stop it right now, Joey. We already resolved this shit at my apartment before I agreed to do the job.”
“I’m just expressing my concern now that Colombia’s back in the picture.”
“Okay, got it. Now that you’ve gotten all of that off your chest I’m leaving.” She stood up.
“No, that’s not all.” Joey leaned forward on his desk. “I want you back in the Gridiron. I wish you’d been able to do more hands-on training in there before the movie starts. I want you to do a run-through. See how you do. If there are any weaknesses, we can try to squeeze in a quick refresher before filming starts here in Miami next week and definitely before you head off to Colombia.”
“You want me to go through the Gridiron?” The Gridiron was a state-of-the-art training facility that ICS used to simulate a variety of situations. To say it was hardcore was an understatement. Normally, Annie would have thrived on the challenge and the chance to show her overprotective ass of a brother up, but right now was not normal. And it wasn’t procedure. Joey didn’t want her to go through the Gridiron as extra training; he wanted to try to trip her up and remove her from the case.
She stood up, feeling the anger starting to boil. “That’s absurd. I’m in the middle of a job. I don’t have to prove anything to you. I can pass the Gridiron in my sleep.”
