“No way.”
Maddock shrugged with a grin. “Yep. It’s cool, though. She’s happy. I’m happy.”
Derek wasn’t sure he could be so philosophical if he arrived in Auckland to find Reese had fallen for Ashton Chatterton over the Pacific Ocean.
“You’re happy until CJ enters a room, then you turn into a lunatic.”
Maddock grunted. “Explain to me why she got out of this trip again? Not that I mind. I’ll probably stroll the beach and find me a Kiwi girl to keep me company, but still…seems like she should be here. White gets away with murder. ”
Derek knew exactly why CJ wasn’t there and it wasn’t his business to tell Maddock if he didn’t know. In three years of working together, CJ had just now confided in him and he wasn’t going to blab her private business around.
He had known CJ was divorced. He had known she had a kid, and chalked up her lack of conversation about her personal life to her personality. CJ didn’t share anything about herself, and plenty of people were like that. But when she had come to him, to let him know she was asking Nordstrom to be excused from going to New Zealand, she had told him her son had special needs and couldn’t be left with anyone but her mother. Given the short notice, she couldn’t work out the arrangements.
He had been a little floored, but had been pleased she’d told him. She didn’t elaborate on what special needs meant, and he didn’t ask. He liked CJ, despite her reticence, and respected her. It sounded like she had a tough time of it, and he wanted to accommodate her.
“She had personal circumstances that affected her ability to travel.”
Maddock snorted. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means it’s none of your damn business.”
Maddock fingered the button of his CD player, his usual smile missing. “See, this is why I’m never falling in love. Women run the show, man, I’m telling you. Love is a circus. They just crack the whip, and you just run around them like fucking trained poodles.”
Derek tried to tell himself Maddock was wrong, but he did have a habit of panting whenever Reese entered the room. “Why don’t you save that for your future wedding vows, Wyatt? Very inspiring.”
FIFTY
Reese felt like cat woman.She was hovering in a back stairwell of the Hilton hotel in downtown Auckland, waiting for Knight while wearing a black stretchy top and black leggings.
He had called her on her cell phone a half hour earlier, on his way to the hotel from the airport, and they had arranged to meet. She had no idea what time it was, having lost all sense of time zones somewhere over the Hawaiian Islands, but her stomach was telling her it was dinnertime.
When Knight came around the corner a minute or two later, she was seriously disappointed to find he was wearing khaki pants and a navy blue golf shirt. Not only did he not look covert or FBI-ish, he didn’t even look like himself. He looked like an accountant.
He gave her the once over and raised an eyebrow. “Going to the gym?”
“Where’s your disguise? Geez, I thought we agreed to keep it quiet that you’re here.” Knight had nixed her original idea to have him be there as her fiancé. “I thought you’d be like in one of those skirts and T-shirts that all the Pacific Islander guys wear here. If Chatterton sees you like this, he’ll recognize you.”
“He won’t see me.”
Oh, please, that whole special agent arrogance got old quick. “Well, he won’t see you if you get over here. You’re just hovering in plain view.”
Reese grabbed his arm and dragged him under the stairwell, where cobwebs were dangling from the steel under beams of the steps. Dusty, but dark, just what she needed.
Knight’s lip twitched. “How was your flight?”
“Fine.” She brushed the question off. “Our room is 1212, and here’s a key.” Handing him the key card, she added, “Make sure you take the stairs. Chatterton will never climb the steps.”
He took the key without a word.
“Did you bring your gun?”
“No, I can’t be armed. We had enough trouble getting the New Zealand government to cooperate with our recording these meetings. They weren’t about to allow me to be armed.”
“Well, if you get into any trouble, Maddock should be able to handle it.”
“Hey!Ican handle it.”
Reese had forgotten how fragile his ego was, distracted as she was by the excitement of the whole project. Added to that was the dark stairwell, the impending danger of getting caught, the way his hair fell in his eyes, and the fact that she hadn’t seen him in over twenty-four hours.