Thinking about A.J. was definitely a distraction from work. Probably not the distraction she needed, though.
“And if you didn’t feel something then, you wouldn’t be so afraid to see him now.” Adriana was a master at pulling off an inquisitive look by using her brows and narrowing her eyes. She could have taught their UC division at the FBI how to get informants to better open up.
Adriana was right. Of course she was right. Or why else would Ana be avoiding A.J.? She was coming up on about eight months divorced.
With her glass in hand, Ana left the kitchen and made her way to the living room, dropping onto the gray-blue couch from IKEA with a sigh. It’d been her first official purchase following her divorce. “I’m not ready to test out my single shoes.” Especially not given my current assignment.
“Does that mean he’d be the guy you’d like to date when you are ready?” Adriana came over to stand in front of the couch. She positioned her back to one of the columns that served as a divide between the room and the hallway off to their left.
“The fact I still haven’t forgotten about him since we worked that case together last year . . . you really think that means something?” She frowned, embarrassed to be talking like this so openly. This kind of conversation wasn’t in her wheelhouse, not when it came to discussing her own life. She could psychoanalyze and profile people better than anyone else, but she herself was off-limits.
Adriana sat next to her and slapped a hand to her knee. “I’m thinking so. But listen, Knox and I waited like twenty years to be together. So, I’m basically the last person on the planet to give dating advice. Probably the galaxy.”
Ana smiled. It was easy to do with someone as nice as Adriana. So accepting. “I’m a shitty friend. Having you lie to Knox as to where you are tonight. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, he kept me a secret from his friends for like forever,” she replied, her tone casual. “I can handle Knox. I just think—”
“I should woman up and not hide from your friends?” One friend in particular. “And what if A.J.’s dating someone? If we ever see each other again, he might not be interested.”
“Or maybe you won’t be.” Adriana was already on her feet again. Clearly, she’d gotten her eight hours of sleep last night, unlike Ana. She set her wineglass on the oak coffee table and faced Ana with her hands on her hips. “And A.J. hasn’t so much as looked at a woman sideways since he met you. Now, I say that two people who still can’t stop thinking about each other after so much time has passed, well, that definitely has to mean something.”
“Has he mentioned me?” She swallowed the ball of nerves down her throat, nearly coughing like a cat choking on a hairball.
“What do you think?” Adriana asked while at the same time answering her question with a vigorous nod, then went over to a stack of boxes and cut one open. “You never want to talk about him, so I didn’t bring it up. What can I say?”
“I’m not great at the talking-about-me thing,” Ana admitted the obvious.
“Most of the guys on Knox’s team are the same. Trauma can do that to a person.” She closed her eyes as if regretting her words. “I’m sorry. I just assumed that maybe . . .”
Ana let go of a deep, uncomfortable breath and rose, her legs a bit wobbly. Her feet sank into the plush area rug beneath the coffee table. The air-conditioning was making a sputtering noise from the vents as if it were on its last leg. Another thing to fix. If it weren’t for the rooftop patio and its view of the Capitol building dome in the distance, she probably wouldn’t have lived there. The place was a fixer-upper that the owner clearly didn’t feel the need to fix up before renting out. Her section chief, Porter, had mentioned it was available a few weeks ago when he realized she was still living out of a hotel. Since his place was only five blocks away, they took turns carpooling to the Bureau.
“It’s okay,” Ana finally spoke up. “Not many people can read me. You’re talented.”
“Occupational hazard,” Adriana said with eyes now open, her focus back inside the box. “Plus, my husband is suspicious of everyone and everything, so I swear that man always has me on alert about who to trust these days.”
God, she felt that in her bones more than she wished to admit. “Where is Knox, anyway?”
They usually only hung out when her husband was out of town, which was quite a lot lately.
“Overseas doing something with Luke.” Her vague answer was typical.
They both had secrets, and maybe that was why their friendship worked so well. Neither would push or press. “And the rest of his friends?”
Ana had made a mental list of names when she worked with A.J. and the guys from “Scott & Scott Securities” down in Charlotte, but she hadn’t met everyone then, so Adriana had filled in the blanks. And yeah, she used air quotes in her head when thinking about A.J. and Knox’s jobs because she had a gut feeling their security company was a front for something else. Most civilian security companies didn’t manage to get themselves onto an active FBI, Homeland, and Secret Service investigation as “Scott & Scott” had last year, even if Knox’s dad had been the one running for president.
“Well, you remember Liam and Emily had their baby, Jackson, this month, so Liam’s here at home,” Adriana began, and it was clear she was going to slowly work up to the one person she knew Ana was really curious about.
Emily worked for the Attorney General, and if she wasn’t on maternity leave right now, Ana would probably have already bumped into her since the FBI worked with the AG’s office a lot.
“Asher and Jessica are still at home with the twins?” Ana asked.
Jessica had been pregnant last fall when working the case with Ana, but she remembered Asher had stars in his eyes for that woman every time he so much as peered Jessica’s way.
Ana had no idea what it was like to love someone that much since her first and maybe last marriage hadn’t been all that passionate.
“They’ve been home for three months now, and from what I hear, they’re going a bit stir-crazy. I’m betting they’ll be working soon.” Adriana set the box on the ground after removing a few candlesticks.
Ana reached for a box instead of simply watching her friend do all the work. “And the others?” she prompted.
“Samantha said their son is sick, so Owen hopped on an early flight home this evening,” she said. “He was with A.J. and the others at a bachelor party down in A.J.’s hometown in Alabama.”
“Is this Wyatt’s bachelor party?”
“No, Wyatt said he doesn’t want a party.” Adriana’s long lashes lifted to catch Ana’s eyes. “A.J.’s sister is marrying some banker who A.J. has decided he doesn’t like for whatever reason. He asked the guys to have a so-called party, probably involving bullets, hopefully fake ones, to interrogate the future brother-in-law. See if he’s good enough for his sister.”
A smile flitted to her lips at the idea of A.J.’s protectiveness over his sister. And the surprising sensation of butterflies fluttering around in her stomach had her hand falling to her midsection.
“Is A.J. heading to D.C. after Alabama?” And why did her stomach do a little cartwheel at that idea?