Perfect Cover (The Squad #1)(57)
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I averted my eyes, even though I couldn’t see anything.

The next thing I heard was the sound of the copier. Moments later, Jack was back by my side. “The price of defeat,” he said, handing me the Xerox.

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “You take defeat so well,” I said, looking at him out of the corners of my eyes. “You must be used to it.”

“Now, Ev,” Jack said. “That was almost a compliment.”

I shrugged, letting my hand fall away from the necklace.

“Almost is about as much as you’re going to get, Butt Boy.”

“You know,” he said. “You’re really not very likeable.”

“Color me heartbroken.”

It took about two seconds for the smirk to take hold of his face, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. “Your turn.” He looked toward the copier.

“I won,” I said. “Winner doesn’t pay the cost of defeat.”

I was feeling pretty cocky, but then he said the three words that put the nails in the coffin of my dignity.

“I dare you.”

I have this thing about dares. It is physically impossible for me to turn one down. My cheek twitched, and I glared at him.

“I double-dog dare you.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, overcome with the urge to punch him in the stomach. “But that means you still have to pay the cost of defeat.”

“And what might that be?”

Something that would get me inside his dad’s office. What would get me inside his dad’s office?

“I’ll let you know.”

For the sake of my own dignity, I will not go into any of the details of what came to pass in the next few minutes. Along with taking things in and out of my bra, photocopying my butt in a stealthy manner was not a skill I possessed in any abundance. It figured—tonight was the one time I wasn’t wearing a skirt.

Eventually, however, I managed it. Jack, being the gentleman that he was, turned around completely.

As I walked over to hand him the finished product, all I could think was The things I do for my country.

“So what’s the price of defeat?” Jack asked, the corners of his lips twitching madly.

My mind whirled. I needed to think of something that would (a) get me into his dad’s office, and (b) make him pay for my loss of dignity.

The answer came to me then, and my own mouth pulled up in a smile that was nothing short of evil. “You got a scanner?”

Five minutes later, we were in his dad’s office, and Jack was composing an email.

“Who am I sending this to again?” he asked.

“You know who,” I said. “And you know what to say.”

“Claiming this is a picture of Prince William’s butt has got to be illegal.” Jack stalled for time.

“Yeah. Butt forgery. I’m sure it’s a felony.” I was implacable, and Jack groaned as he typed in the names of his admirers from earlier that night.

“Do I have to sign it?” he asked.

I took pity on him. After all, I was inside his father’s office. I could afford to have some mercy. “No,” I said. “It’ll be coming from your email account. I think that will suffice.”

He attached the scanned copy of his butt and hit send.

“Remind me never to lose to you again,” he said.

“My heart bleeds for you,” I said. “Really.”

While he’d been typing, I’d been messing with my gel bra. I now had the bug in my hand. It was small, nearly invisible, and equipped to cling to any surface. All I had to do was find one. As this thought raced through my head, the phone in the office began to ring, and I visibly jumped.

“Do I make you nervous?” Jack asked.

“No,” I said, torn between being scornful and coming up with an excuse for my jumpiness, lest I tip him off to the fact that I had ulterior motives for what had, in all truth, been one of the best nights I’d had since my family had moved to Bayport. “I have phone fear.”

“Phone fear.” Jack repeated my words, no tone whatsoever in his voice, but his lips curled up. Reflexively, my lips mimicked the motion, and even though he didn’t move, it suddenly felt like the two of us were standing really close together.

The phone rang again and again, and with each ring, Jack’s eyes bored deeper and deeper into mine. I silently begged the phone to stop ringing. If it didn’t, something might happen here. Something big.

Something unexpected.

Something new.

Heeding my wishes, the phone stopped ringing. For a split second, there was silence, and then the answering machine picked up. “John. It’s Alan. I need to talk to you. It’s about Jack.”

At first, I was disturbed by the fact that someone was calling the evil law firm to talk about Jack. The two of us were standing mere feet apart, my entire body felt flushed, and Jack had never averted his gaze.

“Who was that?” I asked, my throat constricting with something I couldn’t quite describe.

“My uncle. He and my father don’t get along.” Jack didn’t offer any more explanation, and in the back of my head, somewhere behind my mind’s acknowledgement of the way my skin was humming and the rising ball of lovely dread in my stomach, I realized that Jack’s uncle sounded very familiar.

“So,” Jack said.

“So,” I repeated.

He inched toward me, and the look in his eyes made my heart jump.

All thoughts of voices gone, I stepped backward. Slowly, he advanced on me, and I backed up until my shoulders were pressed against the paneled wall. Trying to concentrate on something other than Jack’s lips, which were moving closer to mine by the second, I pressed my hand firmly against the wall, finally slipping the bug I’d been sent here to plant into place.

Mission complete.

“Care to share your thoughts with the class, Ev?” Jack asked. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my cheeks.

My thoughts were as follows.

He was going to kiss me.

I wanted him to kiss me.

I hated that I wanted him to kiss me. How one of those girls could I get?

Kissing him would be wrong. He was my mark. I was using him.

The entire Squad would probably watch this footage on repeat as soon as April’s party was over.

In that moment, I made three impulsive decisions.

I grabbed the charm around my neck and twisted it, turning the camera off completely.

I leaned forward and beat him to the punch, planting the world’s biggest, longest, hottest kiss on his mouth.