Beautiful Redemption (The Maddox Brothers #2)(38)
Author: Jamie McGuire

My chest ached. The picture in that frame was the only answer I needed. Despite my efforts, I was falling for Thomas, but he was still in love with Camille. Even in a perfect world where two people who were obsessed with their jobs could make a relationship work, we had the added obstacle of unrequited love. At the moment, it was Thomas’s problem, but if I allowed myself to have deeper feelings, it would be mine.

I was always a firm believer that a person couldn’t love two people at the same time. If Thomas still loves Camille, what does that mean for me?

An obnoxious siren went off in my head, so loud I could barely think. These feelings for Thomas, Agent Maddox, my boss needed to stop now. I glanced at his couch as I worried that I would one day be begging him to love me in return, showing up drunk and emotional at his door before passing out on his couch like Jackson was on mine.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll just make a pallet on the floor. The couch doesn’t look that comfortable.”

He chuckled. “Taylor said the same thing. You’re welcome to the bed.”

“I think, given our history, that is a particularly bad idea,” I said, quoting him from before.

“What do you plan to do when we go to St. Thomas?” he asked.

“It will be your turn to take the floor.” I tried to keep the hurt out of my voice.

Thomas left me for his bedroom and then came out with a pillow and a tightly rolled sleeping bag.

I eyed his haul. “Do you keep that in case of sleepovers?”

“Camping,” he said. “You’ve never been?”

“Not since running water became a thing.”

“The bed is all yours,” he said, ignoring my jab. “I just put on fresh sheets this evening.”

“Thank you,” I said, passing him. “I’m sorry we woke you.”

“I wasn’t asleep. I have to admit that it was startling to hear a man yelling in your living room.”

“I apologize.”

Thomas dismissively waved his hand and then walked over to turn out the light. “Stop apologizing for him. I was out the door before I had time to think.”

“Thank you.” I put my hand on the doorjamb. “Get some sleep. I don’t want you to be mad at me if you can’t concentrate during your meeting.”

“There is only one reason I wouldn’t be able to concentrate during my meeting, and sleep isn’t it.”

“Enlighten me.”

“We’re going to be spending the better part of the weekend together, and I have to talk my brother into something he won’t want to do. Sunday is important, Liis, and you’re the biggest distraction in my life at the moment.”

My cheeks flushed, and I was thankful the lights were dim. “I’ll try not to be.”

“I don’t think you can help being a distraction any more than I can help thinking about you.”

“I understand now why you said being friends would be a bad idea.”

Thomas nodded. “I said that three weeks ago, Liis. The situation has changed.”

“Not really.”

“We’re more than friends now, and you know it.”

I looked over at the picture of Thomas and Camille and pointed to it. “She is what scares me, and she is what won’t go away.”

Thomas walked over to the picture and set it down on its face. “It’s just a picture.”

The words I wanted to say caught in my throat.

He took a step toward me.

I pushed away from the doorjamb, holding a hand out. “We have a job to do. Let’s focus on that.”

He couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Good night.”

Chapter Fourteen

THOMAS TOSSED A THICK STACK OF PAPERS onto my desk, his jaw dancing under his skin. He paced back and forth, breathing through his nose.

“What is this?”

“Read it,” he growled.

Just as I opened the file folder, Val rushed in, stopping abruptly between the door and Thomas. “I just heard the news.”

I frowned and skimmed over the words. “The Office of the Inspector General?” I said, looking up.

“Shit,” Val said. “Shit.”

The report was titled A Review of the FBI’s Handling and Oversight of Agent Aristotle Grove.

I looked up at Thomas. “What did you do?”

Val closed the door and approached my desk. “Grove is downstairs. Will they arrest him today?”

“It’s likely,” Thomas said, still fuming.

“I thought you took care of this,” I said, closing the file and pushing it forward.

“Took care of it?” Thomas said, his eyebrows shooting toward his hairline.

I leaned forward, keeping my voice low. “I told you Grove was feeding you bad intel. You sat on it too long.”

“I was compiling evidence against him. That was part of the reason I brought you here. Val was in on it, too.”

I looked to my friend, who stared at the file as if it were on fire.

She was biting her lip. “I didn’t have to speak Japanese to know he was full of shit,” she said. “Wait—are you the language specialist he brought in on this?”

I nodded.

Thomas pointed at her. “That’s confidential, Taber.”

Val nodded, but she seemed uncomfortable that she hadn’t sniffed that one out.

Sawyer blew in, straightening his tie just as the door closed behind him. “I came as soon as I heard. What can I do?” he asked.

Val shrugged. “What you do best.”

Sawyer seemed disappointed. “Seriously? Again? He is my least favorite target. You know if we took a black light Grove’s bedroom room, every inch would be glowing.”

Val covered her mouth, disgusted.

I stood, pressing my fists down on my desk. “Would someone mind explaining what the hell everyone is talking about?”

“We have to be extremely careful with how we proceed,” Thomas said. “Travis could be in real trouble if this isn’t seamless.”

Val sat in the club chair, defeated. “When Maddox transferred to HQ in Washington before he was promoted to ASAC, he caught a lead on one of Benny’s goons from an agent working in HQ’s Asian Criminal Enterprise Unit.”

I looked to Thomas, dubious. “You caught a lead on one of your Italian mob bosses in Vegas from the Asian Crime Unit in Washington?”

Thomas shrugged. “I’d call it luck, but I’ve worked on this case day and night since it landed on my desk. There isn’t a fingerprint I haven’t checked or a backlog I haven’t accessed.”