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Jennie sat in the comfortable seat in first class but she was anything but comfortable. Her head had been spinning since that morning when Jack gave her and Chad a new assignment.
She’d barely had time to go home and pack for the two-week-long trip, let alone think about what it would mean to be pretending to be Chad’s wife in a tropical resort set up for romance and seduction.
When Jack first explained the assignment to them, she’d had a flash of panic, but there was no way she’d refuse an assignment from him. She loved her work at Sutton Capital and wouldn’t jeopardize it even though going through with this particular job terrified her.
After Kyle died, Jennie had floundered for quite some time, bouncing from one temporary job to the next. The truth was, she hadn’t had much interest in ‘finding her way’ as her parents had encouraged her to. She had just wanted to get by.
That changed when Jack took her on as a permanent member of his security and investigations staff. She had no idea why Jack took a chance on her the way he did. As his temporary assistant she had overstepped her job description and could have been fired for listening in on Jack’s private conversations.
But, her eavesdropping had ended up helping Jack out and Jack Sutton never did anything conventional.
She liked the work. Really liked it. The only downside had been her insane attraction to Chad, but she’d managed to keep her walls up with him. She made sure she kept him at arm’s length at all times and didn’t let their interactions get past superficial conversation and impertinent jokes.
And yet, somehow, they did get closer. Despite her best efforts, she knew Chad saw through her. And there was the one time she’d made a mistake and let him get too close. He kissed her and nearly brought her to her knees. For one sweet incredible moment, she forgot about Kyle. Forgot the hurt. The pain. The loss. The guilt.
And then the kiss broke and the realization had hit. How could she let another man make her forget? How could she do that to Kyle? Hadn’t she done enough to him already?
Jennie chanced a glance at Chad. He’d been even more quiet than usual through the whole morning. He hadn’t said much of anything in Jack’s office, though she’d felt his eyes on her, assessing her reaction. He picked her up at her house and carried her bags to the car, all without a word. He spoke as little as possible as they drove Zeke over to Jill and Andrew’s house, where he would stay for the two weeks she and Chad were at the resort.
And now, he sat silent, by her side. Usually she hated it when he was this quiet. It made her want to fill the silence and when she did, she ended up babbling, spewing verbal diarrhea all over the damn place.
But, Jennie didn’t feel much like talking right now.
Two weeks pretending to be in love with Chad.How will I do this? Never mind ‘do this’ – how will I survive it?
She bit down on her lip and looked out the plane’s window. She felt like crying. Then Chad took her hand and squeezed. He leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“Don’t worry, Jennie. We can do this.”
That was it. That’s all he said and then he leaned back and fell asleep in his chair. But he didn’t let go of her hand. And she didn’t let go either.
Chad began to relax as he listened to Jennie babble to the driver on their way from the airport to the resort. She didn’t let the driver’s limited ability with English stop her. She chatted on and on like a little songbird. This was Jennie in her undercover persona and Chad was happy to see her there.
He felt a grin crack his face for the first time since he’d walked into Jack’s office that morning. Watching Jennie in work mode always made him laugh because no one ever saw her coming. She would have made a brilliant actress.
At the moment, she was telling the driver about a pattern she’d found to crochet a baby yoda costume for her dog and how she was planning to learn to crochet just so she could make it.
When Jennie went undercover, she acted like a complete airhead. It was what made her so good at their work. She could befriend everyone and most people assumed she was a total idiot, the way she prattled on about anything and everything.
And because they believed she was the ditzy girl she portrayed, they spoke freely to her and in front of her. Jennie, who was anything but an airhead, soaked it all in, remembering every detail. She knew when to prod further and when to back off.
When they teamed up together, the effect was even better. With his size, most people assumed he was a giant meathead. As long as Chad stayed quiet and let them think that, people had the same habit of speaking freely in front of him.
When he and Jennie worked together, it was usually just a matter of putting themselves in the right places to overhear conversations and observe a business’s day-to-day operations. It was an unorthodox approach, to say the least, but it worked. If there were any weaknesses in a company, they found them.
The driver pulled into the circular entrance of the sprawling main building of the resort. A smiling doorman came forward to open their doors and load luggage onto a polished brass, rolling cart. Chad took Jennie’s hand to help her out of the car and watched her face as she took in the gorgeous white stone building with its terra cotta roof and ornate open-air entryway.
The sight of her still took his breath away. He saw her almost every damn day at work or out on the weekends with his friends, but it didn’t seem to lessen the impact she had on him. Every time Chad looked at Jennie’s peaches and cream skin with the dusting of light freckles across her nose and the tops of her cheeks, he felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He wanted to lose himself in the long strands of her wild hair, its crazy strawberry-blond curls tangling in his fingers as he pulled her in to taste her mouth. The mouth he couldn’t forget after just one kiss.
She looked at him and grinned, snapping him back to reality. A reality where Jennie Evans would never be his.
“Remind me to thank Jack.” Then she leaned in close so only he would hear, the proximity sending him back into fantasy land. “I can’t believe we’re getting paid for this. Two weeks in heaven.”
Heaven? Nah. This is going to be two weeks in hell, Jennie girl. Two weeks in fucking hell pretending to have what he never would.
Chad put his hand on Jennie’s waist, pulling her close and walking with her into the lobby. There, they were greeted by another staff member who offered them flutes of champagne. Jack had apparently booked a very high-end package for them because they never even made it to the front desk. They were greeted by name and shown immediately to a secluded villa on the beach.
Chad would have preferred to be a little less obtrusive. He’d learned it pays to blend in with the masses and not stand out like a sore thumb when you’re trying to gather information. If he’d planned this trip, he would have chosen a room that was in the middle of the price range with the right number of amenities to allow them to conform to that of most of the people there.
