Page 59 of Bad Situation

She tips her head and smiles a smile that isn’t her normal one. “I guess you would know. You’re sort of a cop.”

“It was your texting that gave you away. Though, I’m impressed how well you walk in those shoes drunk.”

“I’m really good at walking in heels. I bought these specifically for tonight and they might be my new favorites.”

I lower my voice. “Get your bags tomorrow. Let me get you out of here.”

She sighs and I take that as an affirmative. Not letting go of her, I turn her toward the meadow where I’m parked and grab her hand.

“I feel like I’m in high school, sneaking out of the house with a boy,” she says.

“Yeah?” I glance over at her. “Did you sneak out of the house with a lot of boys?”

“Hell, no.” She hiccups. “With all this security? I was too scared. Ellie, on the other hand…”

“Your sister?”

She nods and widens her eyes. “She wasn’t afraid of anything.”

She trips on the uneven ground and just when I grab her so she doesn’t fall, I tense when I hear from my side, “Pettit? Is that you?”

I turn and can’t believe who I see. What are the fucking odds.

I look down at Jen and she’s wide-eyed when she whispers, “What the hell? Do you know him?”

*****

Jen

“Fuck,” Eli mutters under his breath.

Well, fuck is right.

I watch Paige’s pregnant cousin, Gabby, and her husband walk toward us. For the life of me, I cannot remember his name even though I sat across from them at dinner last night and we talked about everything under the sun. I even remember that he’s from Colorado. It probably didn’t help I drank all the wine last night and—damn Ellie, because of her—I drank all the vodka tonight. How am I supposed to remember names when I’ve consumed this much alcohol in a mere twenty-four-hour period?

This is why I don’t drink at dinner meetings. Obviously, I turn stupid.

“It is you. What the hell are you doing here?” what’s-his-name asks as they make their way to us through the dark. I got to know Gabby because she was a bridesmaid, too. She’s probably sharp as a whip since she’s stone-cold sober.

What Eli should do is push me under his truck, or demand I quit holding his hand, or explain that I mistook him for some other hot guy and latched onto him like he was mine even though we’re complete strangers and he hasn’t ever given me an orgasm. But, like the crazy federal agent he is, he pulls me closer and tucks me under one arm as he extends the other. “Jude Ortiz. Gotta say, this is the last place I expected to see you.”

Jude. That’s his name.

Jude takes his hand and shakes it. “I could say the same about you. I heard you were shipped to the Dallas Division.” Jude’s eyes flick to me and he looks oddly … hmm, I don’t know, curious? Definitely weird when he turns back to Eli. “But I didn’t know you knew the Montgomerys.” Jude turns to his wife. “Sugar, this is Eli Pettit. Remember me telling you about the MacLachlan case? This guy is solely responsible for cracking it. He was under for years. We went through the academy together.”

“Wait. What?” I ask as my vodka-laden brain does everything possible to turn this into something I’m sure it isn’t. Like, the academy was some sort of summer camp in middle school or something. Jude’s a big guy, too. Maybe they played basketball together back in the day.

But no. Gabby confirms my fears that they are definitely not basketball—or even fishing buddies for that matter—when she exclaims, “Right. I saw you on the news. I remember telling Jude he can’t ever go undercover like that. There’s no way I could live without him for that long.” Then her gaze moves to me, her blue eyes light up the night as she smiles. “Are you two dating?”

“Oh, shit,” I mumble.

Jude turns to his wife and mutters, “Gabby.”

“Why didn’t he come to the wedding?” she asks further. “Oh, was he working? I get that. I mean, Jude doesn’t work undercover, but they’re always on call, right?”

I look straight at Jude and can’t help my tone when I basically accuse him of lying. “I talked to you all through dinner last night and you never said you worked for the FBI.”

He has the nerve to look sheepish. “Cam wanted me to keep it on the downlow—didn’t want you to know—because of your case. He thought it would stress you out.” He looks at Eli and for some reason his expression turns amused. “But I guess you don’t have a problem fraternizing with federal agents.”

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