"Something bigger than moving two million dollars of cocaine through this place?" Rocco didn’t hide his shock. If anything went wrong with the cocaine coming from South America, it could ruin his deals with the cartels down there.
"It has to be, right? But I don’t know for sure, and he’s not telling me shit. Now you see what I’m talking about? The whole fucking situation is strange. You need to watch your back with Eddie,” Dante warned, his gaze sharp and earnest. “I don’t trust him, and you shouldn’t either. The shipment through the clinic is a big deal, despite how El Sombro dismisses it. If Eddie screws up, I’d hate to see you take the fall and end up behind bars.”
Chapter 36
Rocco folded his arms, his jaw setting in a hard line. “Where were you today?” He stood menacingly across the living room. She swore he was the only man who could make black scrubs look sexy. But that scowl on his face was throwing her off.
Jemma closed her laptop and placed it on the coffee table before responding. “I was here doing research on the op.”
She preferred a sweet, ‘Hi honey, I’m home’ over this surly version of Rocco, who’d returned to the bungalow near midnight.
“You weren’t here. I came home to have lunch with you, but you were gone,” Rocco said, his dark eyes shrewd and full of suspicion.
“I went to the park to have a picnic lunch,” Jemma said, her anger rising. “I was out for a few hours, then came back here.”
“And I guess you left your cell phone at home?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. I had my laptop and access to wifi if I needed it,” Jemma said, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn’t like explaining herself to anyone, especially not the man who’d been sweet, funny, and caring this morning. Who the hell was this Rocco?
“Did it cross your mind to check if I’d called or left you a text?”
“You know what, it didn’t. So sue me,” Jemma said, then threw her hands in the air. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“Funny, I could ask you the same thing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Any reason why you didn’t tell Lenny and Tank about the man we saw with Vance and Eddie in Samana? Not only did they not know about him, but they also hadn’t received any of the photos you took to cross-reference him to criminal databases,” Rocco thundered. “Why is that?”
“Because while you’re at the clinic playing doctor all fucking day, I need something to do. You think it’s easy for me to sit around waiting for you to come home when I’m used to overseeing a half dozen undercover operations across the U.S.? I didn’t need to ask Lenny to do what I could do from my own laptop,” Jemma said, nervousness leaking into her voice.
Was Rocco suspicious of her? Could he be on to her search for Nomar? But how? The only way would be if he remembered where he’d seen the man before. That it was the same man who’d attacked her in the club at La Placita.
Her mind raced. She didn’t know what her next move would be if he called her on it. Telling him the truth wasn’t an option.
But there had to be a reason for this change in him. Rocco was acting like he didn’t trust her. Like she was going behind his back and keeping him in the dark. Jemma groaned inwardly. That was what she was doing, but it didn’t give him the right to act like some jealous, jilted lover, questioning her every move.
Wait … was that what was going on here?
“Why are you coming at me like this? It’s not like you, and it’s pissing me off,” Jemma said, pointing a finger at him.
Rocco unclenched his fists and rested his hands on the bar separating them. “Did it ever occur to you that I might be worried about you when I didn’t hear from you all day?”
“Worried? Damn it, Rocco. I never should’ve told you why I can’t go undercover anymore. I went from being a strong, badass supervisor to some weak damsel you need to protect from the big bad men of the Sombro Cartel.” Jemma lashed out. A flare of annoyance and determination surged within her. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to worry about me because I went a few hours without talking to you.”
“I know you can take care of yourself. That’s not why I was worried …” his voice trailed off, and he heaved a deep sigh.
“Then what’s the reason?”
“Because you’re fucking important to me. The most important person in my life outside of my mother, and I care what happens to you,” Rocco blurted out. “I care about you.”
Jemma’s mouth fell open but she couldn’t make herself speak.
The vulnerability in Rocco’s words touched her so deeply that it melted all her anger away.
“I care about you.” Jemma rose from the couch and closed the distance between them. She stroked the taut muscles of his arm.
“I’m not going to apologize for wanting to know you’re safe,” Rocco said, resisting her attempts to ease his frustration.
