Ryan had been asked to hang around the house until Jamison’s guest left, which was fine by him. It gave him an excuse not to catch up with Annaliese before she caught up with her friends for their Thursday night dinner. He tried to keep her at arm’s length without making it noticeable. Hopefully it was working, maybe it was even keeping her keen, with him playing hard to get.
‘Thanks for helping out, Reece,’ said Randall after they both saw off the guest.
Ryan couldn’t find out much about him but his car number plate was locked away in his brain. He’d pass that on and Anna could find out who it belonged to.
‘No problems, I don’t mind. I was only going home to a takeaway dinner and TV,’ said Ryan, hoping Randall would take the bait. He counted to five in his head.
‘You know the guys are down at The Duke. You should drop in and say hi. I’m sure they’d appreciate a beer or two,’ he said straight-faced. Randall had a strong, cemented facial expression that gave nothing away. Ever. He was a solid man, and his bulk may have you thinking there was nothing much between his ears but Ryan knew better than that. He’d seen Randall at work and knew he would be cunning and clever. He was not a man you wanted to slip up in front of and Ryan could tell Randall took his job seriously. To the point that it was all he lived for. He’d bet a hundred bucks that Randall was single, no family and no outside interests unless it was cleaning his gun.
‘Thanks, Mr Randall, I might just do that.’
‘Just call me Randall,’ he said. ‘The others do.’
Ryan had finally been accepted. He almost smiled at the win.
He nodded. ‘I’ll be off then. See you tomorrow.’
‘Righto. Make sure Wilkins doesn’t get out of hand. He gets fired up easily.’ Randall turned and went back inside, leaving Ryan to ponder his words.
Hopefully Wilkins didn’t get fired up over Ryan taking his job.
Ryan went home first, well, to the agency flat, and had a shower, changing into a pair of jeans and a white V-neck t-shirt. He drove to The Duke; he already knew where it was from other operatives who were watching Jamison’s men before he even went undercover.
He pushed open the door, the familiar pub smell greeting him. Around the corner he saw the main bar area and it didn’t take him long to find Bud, Stevo and Wilkins. Taking a deep breath, he headed their way. Stevo was the first to spot him as they sat around a table with beers and nuts while they talked.
‘Hey guys, Randall said I’d find you here. Next round’s on me,’ he said quickly, trying to butter them up before they shut him out.
‘Randall sent you?’ said Wilkins. His voice was gruff and a little on the disbelieving side.
‘Yeah, after we knocked off he suggested I come to The Duke and catch up with you guys. Not a bad pub. So who’s for a beer?’ Ryan chose to ignore Wilkins’s confusion and uncomfortableness. For all he knew they were probably having a big bitch session about him before he walked in.
‘I’d go another,’ said Bud. He lifted his arm and waved towards the bar.
‘Me too,’ said Stevo.
‘Jeni, over here,’ said Bud, almost singsong.
‘Hey Bud, what can I get you. Another round?’
That voice! It sounded just like Jaz. Ryan’s heart raced instantly, like a shot of adrenaline. He closed his eyes for a moment as the barmaid’s voice triggered Jaz’s image. He’d take any reminder of her at the moment, it had been so long. But when he opened his eyes and turned to say, ‘I’ll get the round,’ his words just about fell from his lips.
It was Jaz.
He blinked a few times. Still Jaz.
He should know; those amazing electric blue eyes, that raven hair, which haunted his sleep, and that soft subtle skin that his fingers itched to touch. Oh my God, it was really her.
She was looking at him in less shock than he probably was. ‘Got some money?’ she asked.
Quickly he gathered his thoughts and pulled out his wallet. ‘Yeah, sorry. Long day.’ His hand almost shook as he held out the note. She lifted it from his fingers and floated away, a hint of frangipani all that remained. He couldn’t help but turn to watch her walk away. But he knew he had to cover his tracks. ‘Now I see why you guys come here.’
‘I know, right? Jeni is great,’ said Bud.
‘You better not keep looking at her like that or Annaliese will have your balls on a platter, or Jamison will,’ said Wilkins with a smirk.
Ryan laughed and pulled out a chair and sat. ‘He’d bloody skin me alive, after Annaliese had dropped my balls in a blender.’ He pulled a face and reached for some nuts as the guys laughed. Which was good because he needed a moment to gather his thoughts.
Jaz was here at the bar. Working. How? Why? His body was going mental on the inside while outside he tried to remain calm and relaxed. Every fibre of his body wanted to glance at her again but he knew he couldn’t, he had to wait until she returned. He couldn’t bring any more attention to her. The guys had started chatting again but Ryan kept munching on the peanuts so he had an excuse not to participate just yet. He was still in shock. When his eyes had found her it had blown him away. He hadn’t realised just how much he’d missed Jaz and he ached with longing to reach for her, press her hard against his chest and hold her for eternity. Even now his heart was still racing, his body alive with electricity. He wasn’t sure if he could get it to function properly, because all it wanted was Jaz.
‘Here ya go, fellas.’
She was back, he got to look at her as she deposited the glasses full of cold beer on the table in front of them. Jaz came around to him to put his beer down, her hips brushed against his arm and it was such sweet, sweet pain. She was so close it was killing him. This was worse than any torture he’d ever endured. His teeth were crushed together, his jaw aching, his chest thumping, his skin on fire.
‘Here ya go, mister,’ said Jaz.
Those blue eyes cut right through him. A hit like a bolt of lightning.
Jaz was his reason for getting through this mission, she was what he wanted to come back for, she was all he could think about and, he knew now, she was his life. He loved her. He loved her like he’d never loved anyone before. It was all consuming. From his toes to his fingertips he knew she was the girl for him, for life. The more he’d tried to push her away the more she seemed to seep into his heart. How had he not known, not realised?
‘His name is Reece,’ said Stevo.
‘And he has a girlfriend,’ said Bud.
Ryan was shaken from his musings and those piercing eyes.
‘Hi, Reece with a girlfriend. I’m Jeni. Here’s your change.’ Jaz waited for him to hold out his hand before dumping the coins into it.
Then she moved over to where Bud sat. ‘I reckon I have time for a game soon. You think you’re ready? Want to go practice some more?’ she teased.
Ryan felt his chest tighten as he watched her flirt with Bud. He’d already figured when they called her Jeni that she was undercover too. Who had sent her in? He could guess why they got her to do it, already she was making headway with these boys. She knew all their names and seemed to be on good terms with them. Just how long had she been working here? It had been, what? Nearly two months or more since he’d last seen her? Was it three? Yet he knew she was the girl for the job, going on the performance she’d just given. She was cool as a cucumber around him, but he was dying to know if she was jittery on the inside like he was. Did she still want him? Probably not after he’d pushed her away, but that was for her own good, he’d been protecting her. Or maybe was he protecting himself?
As he admired her perfectly fit backside from all those high kicks she loved to dish out when they used to spar, he wondered if he had been in love with her all along and was just afraid to admit it. With the agency and their undercover roles, how would it ever work?
But for the first time Ryan realised he didn’t care. He loved Jaz and having this time away from her had made him understand he never wanted to be apart from her again. He wanted her to be his girlfriend. His real one, just his alone.
‘Can you play pool, Stevo, or darts? Wanna game?’ he asked, trying to focus on his mission and not Jaz’s gorgeous body taunting him. He needed a distraction and pool or darts seemed like a good idea.
‘Yeah, I don’t mind darts. These buggers’d rather play pool but I used to play in a club back in the day,’ he said rising from his chair.
‘Cool. Best you take it easy on me then.’
‘Take him to the cleaners,’ said Wilkins.
Ryan didn’t glance back to see Jaz, instead he put all his energy into playing with Stevo. He had to work hard to give the old guy some competition. ‘I don’t think you’ve got rusty at all, Stevo,’ he said after their first game.
‘You’re doing alright, don’t you worry. Give it a few more rounds and you’ll get your eye in. You’ve got a good throw.’
‘You think?’ Stevo nodded and finished his beer. ‘Would you like another one?’
‘Yeah alright. Let’s get this next game started first.’
‘So how long have you had this job?’ Ryan asked him as he threw his three darts.
‘Working for Jamison? About fifteen years. I watched Annaliese grow up before my eyes.’
‘I bet it was hard on her growing up without her mum,’ said Ryan.
‘Yeah, and with Jamison off doing his work. Sylvia, Mrs Latina, his housekeeper, practically raised her. She still works at his first home, where Annaliese grew up.’
‘I met Mrs Latina, she helped fix up my cut. She wasn’t afraid to speak frankly to Jamison,’ he said as he remembered her telling Jamison that his cut needed stitches.
‘She’s the only person who can get away with that, ya know. Probably because she helped raise Annaliese. I wouldn’t want to cross her.’
‘That’s how I feel with Randall,’ said Ryan with a grimace.
‘Na, Randall’s alright once you get to know him. He sometimes comes to the pub but it’s not often he likes to leave Jamison’s side. He is the job. But he seems to like you if he sent you down here.’
‘Told me to call him Randall, too,’ Ryan added.
Stevo’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Well, there you go. You’ll fit in here okay. It’s just different for the guys to work with someone who’s dating the boss’s daughter, you know?’
‘Yeah, I get that. It’s not easy for me either. Actually, Annaliese makes it hard to stay professional.’
Stevo chuckled. ‘She’s always loved the attention, that one. And Jamison gave it to her in spades when he could. Spoiled her more like it, but as a dad, we tend to do these things.’
Ryan put down the dart he was about to throw. ‘You got kids?’
He nodded. ‘Yep, just a girl. She’s all grown up now. Lives with her mother north of the city. But I tried to be there for her when I could. They change your life.’
Ryan finished off throwing his darts and wrote up his score with the chalk on the board. ‘So is Wilkins okay? Does he hate me for getting his job? It’s not like I was after it.’
Stevo stepped closer, his darts in hand. ‘Pay no mind to Wilkins, he’s a slack bastard who complains far too much. This is probably just what he needed to get him moving. He’ll get over it soon enough cos everyone will have stopped listening to him.’ He gave Ryan a wink. ‘And Bud you don’t have to worry about. He likes everyone and loves to chat.’
‘Chatting up the barmaid, more like it,’ Ryan said with a chuckle.
They both turned towards the pool table where Jaz and Bud were playing a game while Wilkins watched on.
‘He’s not the only one. Wilkins will give it his best shot if he doesn’t bore her to death. But she’s a good sort, Jeni. She reminds me of my sister when she was younger. So free, full of life and friendly as. You don’t get those sorts these days, that want to take the time for a chat.’
Ryan was trying to keep an eye on their pool game, hoping that when they finished Jaz would go back to the bar and he could go and get their beers at the same time. He just wanted to have a moment with Jaz, without the other guys. Luckily they went into another game as Stevo was enjoying himself, his empty glass forgotten. He pushed Jaz to the side so he could focus on asking Stevo some more questions. This was the most he’d ever got out of Stevo besides the morning ‘hello’. This is where he could cement a better relationship, one where Stevo and the others would open up to him. Still, he knew it could take time before they shared anything of use.
A roar of laughter went up by the pool table. Jaz looked like she was having fun, she was so good at her job. But it did make his ten times harder.
The love of his life was across the room. His eyes feasted on her in the short time he was allowed, while his body remained in tune to her position always.