LITMIR.BIZ

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curled into a smile. “I remember the day we discussed our vows. You were on a porch swing, wearing a flowing pink sundress.”

      She laughed. She had so never worn a sundress, much less pink.

      He ignored her, continuing with his story. “And you said ‘darling’—” He cleared his throat, then pitched his voice ridiculously high. “’Darling. When we marry, you’ll be my master, my one and only, and I’ll be your obedient little wife.”’ He coughed, then took a sip from the bottle of water tucked in by the emergency brake. “Trust me. I remember it clearly.”

      “I’ll bet you do.” She crossed her arms and tried to look stern, but she couldn’t quite manage it. She’d been expecting him to rub in the fact that he was leading their team, and instead he was goofing around. She hadn’t expected this side of him at all, and while she was a little confused, she had to admit it wasn’t unwelcome.

      “I’m hurt you don’t remember such an important day in our lives.”

      “Oh, but I do.” She leaned forward, trying to concoct a story of her own.

      “Exactly,” he said.

      “What?” She frowned. He was back to not making sense.

      “I do. That’s what you said. Those two little words are what got us into trouble.”

      “Ha, ha.” She twisted in the seat again, then kicked her shoes off and propped her feet on the dashboard. “What I remember is that I wanted less traditional vows. You know, more modern. Husband and wife as equals. That kind of thing.” She aimed an appraising look his direction. “You didn’t like it at first, being basically a Neanderthal, but eventually you came around.”

      He kept a mostly straight face, but the tiny crinkles that appeared around his eyes told her she’d scored a few points.

      “Nice to know I’m a trainable Neanderthal.”

      “Hell, yeah. You’re very malleable. Just like putty in my hands.”

      “My flesh in your hands.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Sweetheart, I like the sound of that.”

      Both his words and his low, sultry tone caught her off guard, and she had the overwhelming urge to cross her legs tightly. Suddenly her hard-earned points were slipping away. “Glad to hear it,” she said, forcing bravado, “because the most we’ll ever do is talk about it. No perks with this job.”

      “And here I’d gone and signed up for the fringe benefits. I’m sure as hell not here for my government salary.”

      “Then I guess I must be a huge disappointment.”

      “Hell, yes. Especially since this was your idea,” he said.

      “My idea?”

      “About getting to know each other.” His voice changed, and she recognized that they were moving from banter to work. “You’re right. There’s no way we can pass as a happily married couple if we don’t practice. Just like you said at the airport.”

      Practice. She swallowed, trying to force some moisture into her mouth. She really had said that. It was number one on her list of points to address with him. And now he was praising her work. She should be thrilled. But what had seemed a reasonable plan at first now seemed dangerous. And not the kind of danger she’d anticipated when she’d joined the Bureau.

      He was staring at her, gauging her reaction, and there was no way she intended to let him see that he’d thrown her. “Be careful, Sinclair.” She shot him her jauntiest glance as she pulled her feet off the dashboard. “I may have taken an oath when I joined the FBI, but you can be damn sure it didn’t include that.”

      Not that that would be all that unpleasant, but there was no way she’d ever sleep with Sinclair. She’d come close once, and look at the trouble that had caused.

      He shifted gears, his knuckles grazing the side of her thigh. “Don’t worry, agent. I’m not any more inclined to subject myself to that kind of peril on this mission than you are.” He reached over and squeezed her knee. “You’re safe with me.”

      She jumped at his touch and yanked her leg away, a stupid knee-jerk reaction that was sure to cost her, because he knew he’d really gotten under her skin.

      And that, frankly, made this mission more dangerous than anything else she could have been assigned to.

      CARTER HUMMED to himself as he maneuvered up Highway 101 toward Santa Barbara. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected himself to start teasing Tori. And he certainly had never expected her to respond in kind.

      But he had, and she had, and the entire scenario made his head spin.

      It was also a good sign.

      No matter their history, and no matter any past animosity or competitiveness, first and foremost they were partners. And if there was one thing Carter believed in, it was that partners stuck together. Partners trusted each other. And, yes, partners were friends.

      A few hours ago, he hadn’t been certain he could hit that level of relationship with Tori. Now, though, he knew they were at least on their way.

      Still, it was only baby steps. They might be getting along, but he knew Tori well enough to know that when it came time for him to pull rank, she’d likely balk.

      But he’d cross that bridge when he came to it. At the moment, he had no reason to play team leader, not when her idea about spending their first few days practicing being married made so much sense.

      For that matter, Tori had a lot of good ideas. Not that he’d expected anything less. Everyone at Quantico had known within minutes of meeting her that Tori had brains and drive. Carter wasn’t entirely certain how Tori would perform undercover—analysis seemed to be where her real talent lay—but if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Tori would throw herself into this assignment.

      He only hoped that was a good thing. In undercover work, overzealousness could often work to your detriment. And if Tori screwed up, that meant the mission could be jeopardized. And that meant his reassignment might go out the window.

      With a quick glance in her direction, he pushed the thoughts away. He had no reason to think the mission would go anything but smoothly. Positive thinking, right? The power of positive thinking would surely see him through this assignment.

      “I read your report,” he said.

      She hooked her finger onto the bridge of her sunglasses and pushed them down her nose. “Well, yeah. I mean, I hope you weren’t planning to throw yourself into this assignment without reading the background info.”

      Touché. “My point wasn’t to tell you that I’d read it.”

      “Then what are we talking about?”

      He tightened his hands around the steering wheel, wondering if she was intentionally baiting him. Considering the way she had her hand draped over her mouth, probably hiding a grin, he figured she was. “We’re talking about your conclusions,” he said. “Your report didn’t really have any.”

      So much for light teasing. She dropped her hand, revealing a mouth set into a firm line.

      “Are you nuts? Of course it did. Why do you think we’re driving this highway? Because we’re heading to the resort that appears to be at the center of a blackmail ring. That my dear Agent Sinclair, was my conclusion. And, I might add, pretty much the entire point of the report.”

      “All of which gets us to where we are today. But I’m wondering about when we get to the resort. Any prime suspects on your radar? The owner? Anybody?”

      She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, then licked her lips.

      “Tori?”

      “No, not yet. I mean, I was pretty proud of myself just for making the connection to the resort.”

      “You should

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