Snow White Espionage (Barely a Fairy Tale Book 2) Read online

  She tried not to laugh and failed. “You are a terrible stepsister, you know that right?”

  “You know you love me. Okay, where was I?” Mackenzie popped the rest of her bagel in her mouth and spoke with her mouth full. “Right, so the high school reunion would be a good place to get to know him better. There will be drinks, dancing…it’ll be a proper date.”

  “I don’t think high school reunions count as a proper date,” Jenna said. “Besides, I barely know this guy. All I really know about him is that he’s lying to me and doing something shady at my dad’s office.”

  Mackenzie shook her head. “Whatever he’s doing, I don’t think it’s shady. I talked to a few of my sources on the police force and they remembered him. He has a good reputation. Stand-up guy, strong ethics, all that good stuff.”

  “So what is he doing for Margaret?”

  Mack arched her eyebrows over the rim of her coffee cup. “That’s the question, isn’t it? One that you could ask him on Friday night.”

  Jenna toyed with the spoon in her coffee cup. “It has occurred to me that maybe my dad isn’t the only one who’s had something suspicious happen to him at the office. Maybe Margaret knows something…”

  “You think Margaret brought him in to investigate just like your dad brought you in?”

  Jenna shrugged. “It’s possible.”

  Mackenzie nodded, her lips pursed in thought. “From what my sources say about him, that sounds far more plausible than the other option—that he’s somehow involved in corporate espionage.”

  Jenna gave a short laugh. “If there really is any espionage going on. Don’t forget, my father is the king of paranoia.”

  Mack’s eyes widened. “Oh, I remember. He accused my mom of cheating no less than five times during the two years they were married, remember?”

  “Yeah, but to be fair, she did cheat on him at least once.”

  “Fair enough.” Mackenzie tilted her head to the side. “Considering our parentage, is it any wonder that you and I are such idiots when it comes to love?”

  “Hey, speak for yourself,” Jenna said.

  “Uh uh.” Mack shook her head. “I worked out my issues, sis. Marrying the love of my life, remember?” She held up her sparkly engagement ring and wiggled her fingers. “You’re the one who ran away from a kiss.”

  Ugh. She couldn’t even argue with that. As Mackenzie did a terrible job of disguising her laughter behind a fake cough, Jenna bit back a weary sigh.

  Yeah, she was never going to live that down.

  Hunter may have mastered the elevators but he’d be damned if he could figure out their phone system. Rather than try to crack their code on how to actually access the outside world, he used his cell, making a mental note to delete all of his outgoing call information lest a certain someone with the legs of a supermodel should decide to snoop again.

  His old informant from his police days answered on the first ring. “Hunter, I swear to God I don’t owe you any favors anymore. I paid off my debts.”

  He gave a grunt of acknowledgement. That much was true—he’d caught Spencer Hastings helping out a group of criminals he’d been after years ago. Spencer had been in college at the time—a young man with no criminal record but who was too good with computers for his own good. He’d made a deal with the little punk—he’d let him off the hook if he helped out the good guys every now and then.

  Over the years Spencer had become his best go-to source for all things tech-related. But one thing hadn’t changed—he was still a dick. “Good to hear your voice too, Spence.”

  “What do you want this time?”

  Hunter could hear Spencer typing in the background. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d spoken to his CI without that constant tapping going on in the background. “I’m sending over a report from my client’s IT team. Looks like someone tried to get access through their emails. I’m hoping you can pinpoint where it came from.”

  Spencer’s sigh was far too world-weary for a man who barely ever went out into the world. “Fine, but this time you owe me a favor.”

  Hunter didn’t respond. They both knew Spencer had paid off his debts years ago. But he still helped him out without too much of a fuss. Hunter had a sneaking suspicion he might actually be the recluse’s friend, in some weird sort of way.

  Not that he’d ever insinuate something like that to Spencer. The guy would rip his head off for even considering it.

  “Who’s the client?”

  “Corporate law firm called Knight & Knight.” Hunter hit send and waited patiently as Spencer opened it and did whatever it was he did to ferret out information from a string of numbers and IP addresses. “So, what can you tell me?”

  “Well, whoever did this was a total hack, for one. No pun intended.” Spencer muttered something under his breath.

  “Can you tell me exactly where this was sent from?” All the IT guys had been able to determine was that the fishing attempt had come from a computer within the office, but he was hoping Spencer could narrow it down even further.

  He heard a pause in typing. The lack of clicking noises was unusual and the silence lasted just a second too long. Then Spencer said, “All I can tell you at this point is that it came from outside the office.”

  Hunter stared at the laptop in front of him where the email from the IT department stared back at him. They seemed pretty damn certain that this was sent from inside the company. Spencer was too good at what he did to be wrong.

  So either the IT guys were wrong or…Spencer was lying to him.

  But why the hell would he lie? Hunter squeezed the bridge of his nose as a headache made his skull throb.

  “Let me do a little more digging,” Spencer said. “I’ll get back to you later this week with more details.”

  “Sounds good, thanks.” Hunter hung up but continued to stare at the phone as his brain ran through all the possible options.

  After a while the staring turned into plain old procrastinating. He’d been cooped up in the office all morning but he couldn’t hide out any longer. At some point he had to seek out Jenna and apologize.

  He’d hoped to run into her the day before but their paths never crossed. He should have sought her out but he’d been too chicken. How the hell could he explain that kiss?

  Sorry to publicly accost you, but you see, my ex walked in and I panicked.

  No way. The truth would just lead to more questions that he couldn’t answer. He’d just have to apologize and hope she believed that he’d just been caught up in the moment. Which wasn’t a stretch, really. The woman was too beautiful for her own good. She must be used to men coming on to her left and right.

  And did those men kiss her in front of all of her coworkers at an office event?

  Probably not. He had a feeling Jenna only dated gentlemen—the type of guys who had good breeding, the right last names, and bank accounts that would make the puny nest egg he’d lost in the divorce look laughable.

  She sure as hell wouldn’t be interested in a washed-up cop who had a bum knee and just barely paid his rent each month by spying on cheating spouses.

  Not that it mattered. He wasn’t in the market for a girlfriend anyway.

  Still, the knowledge that she was out of his league stung. But that was just his pride talking and his pride would get over it. He was here for a job and he had no business obsessing over one foolish kiss with a woman who would never look at him twice.

  Even if that kiss had been amazing. And it had. Holy hell, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. The woman who seemed like an ice queen had melted in his arms. She’d been warm, and soft, and unbelievably sweet. And the sparks—shit, is that what people talked about when they spoke of chemistry?

  He’d never experienced anything like it. It was like the earth had stopped its rotation and flipped upside down. Life as he knew it had come to an end.

  Okay, maybe that was a tad melodramatic, but it was the truth. He’d been stunned by a kiss. She’d been a
s well, of course, but clearly for a very different reason. When he’d pulled back the shock on her face was clear, but there was also something else. He wouldn’t call it fear, necessarily—Jenna didn’t strike him as the type to be scared of much—but there was definite unease there. Maybe even revulsion.

  He groaned aloud at the memory. He’d had the kiss of his lifetime and the woman in question had been revolted. Well done.

  Shaking his head, he closed his laptop. Amazing or not, it was just a kiss. And she was still a suspect in his investigation. Not to mention she wasn’t his type and he would bet money that he wasn’t hers. He shoved the chair back from the desk. So that was it then. He’d find her, apologize, and assure her that it would never happen again.

  She’d be relieved, of that he was certain. He might have a lot of questions about Jenna, but whether or not she’d want to date him was not one of them.

  He stood up and headed toward the door but stopped short when she appeared in the doorway as if summoned by his thoughts. For a second he was speechless.

  Holy crap, this woman was his kryptonite. She turned him into a blithering idiot without even trying. Like right now—she wasn’t doing anything seductive, just standing there, her hands clasped in front of her, wearing a black pantsuit that wouldn’t be described by anyone as sexy. Except on her it was. It added to her sleek lines and willowy silhouette. Add a cigarette with one of those long holders and she’d be perfectly cast as the femme fatale in a classic film noire. The detective and the dame.

  That ridiculous thought was enough to bring him back to his senses, though not enough to help his brain form words, apparently. He stood there staring at her like he’d never seen a woman before.

  “Can I come in?” she asked as she took a hesitant step forward.

  “Of course.” Crap, had that come out too loudly? “Of course,” he tried again. “Have a seat.”

  He gestured toward one of the chairs across the desk from him but she shook her head. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized she was probably here to give him hell for that kiss. Scold him, maybe, or threaten legal action if he manhandled her like that again. He braced himself for her anger.

  “So sorry to interrupt,” she said.

  “You weren’t interrupting,” he said. “I was actually on my way to find you.”

  “Oh.” That unflappable cool aura of hers faltered for a brief moment and he realized that he’d caught her off guard for once. Well, twice. But the kiss hardly counted.

  After an awkward pause, he bit the bullet and blurted out what he’d intended to say. Unfortunately she opted to speak at the exact same time.

  “I’m sorry I kissed you, that was a mistake.”

  “Would you like to be my date this Friday night?”

  The ensuing silence was deafening as they both realized what the other had said. He broke the pause with an eloquent, “What?”

  He honestly thought he’d heard her wrong—there was no way in hell Jenna, the Ice Queen, had just asked him out on a date. But even as he told himself that, she started inching toward the door and he saw splotches of color on her cheeks.

  Holy shit. Jenna Knight had asked him out.

  And now she was clearly embarrassed and trying to make a run for it.

  Crap, crap, crap. He’d made a mess of this already and he’d barely even opened his mouth. “Jenna, wait. Don’t go.”

  She held up her wrist with its nonexistent watch. “I have a meeting I have to get to. I just remembered. So, I should, uh…I should go.”

  She turned on her stiletto heel and headed toward the elevators. He opened his mouth to stop her, but what could he say? I haven’t dated anyone other than my ex and I have no idea what to do.

  Not exactly the type of thing one shouts down the hallway of his new workplace.

  When she turned a corner and was out of view, he slumped against the doorframe and banged his head against the wall.

  Way to go, detective. You just ran off the dame.

  He followed her but he’d waited too long. By the time he hit the receptionist’s desk, he could hear the ding of the elevator. On the off chance he was wrong, he turned to Andrea. “Did Ms. Knight leave for the rest of the day?”

  The pretty blonde nodded and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Yes, she said she would be working from home.”

  “Is something the matter?” Margaret spotted him talking to Andrea and joined them.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “I was just hoping to speak with Jenna about the case but unfortunately she’s left for the day.” Because I shoved my gigantic foot in my mouth.

  He couldn’t shake the panicky feeling that he was too late. Or he would be too late if he let her walk away.

  Margaret was giving him a funny look—part knowing, part curious. Like she thought he was speaking in code, or something.

  “I don’t suppose you have Jenna’s address?” He could find it, given a little time. But time was running out. His gut told him that the window of opportunity to make this right was closing fast.

  The blonde was giving him a funny look—like maybe he was some deranged stalker or something—so he added. “It’s just, what I need to talk to her about…it’s extremely time-sensitive.”

  Margaret’s eyes lit up. “Of course it is.” Her voice was too loud, as if she was addressing a large audience and not just him and the receptionist. She continued in that over-the-top tone. “I’m sure it’s crucial to the case.” Then she turned to Andrea. “Would you please look in my files for new-employee-hire paperwork? I had Jenna fill it out the other day. I’m sure her address is there.”

  Andrea nodded and ran off, leaving him alone with an excitable, melodramatic client, who was quite possibly the least subtle person he’d ever met.

  Leaning forward she whispered. “You can tell me, what is this about? Do you have evidence on Jenna?”

  “Uh, no. Not yet. But I do have some questions for her—” Namely, will you forgive me?

  Margaret narrowed her eyes. “Good, good. Stay on top of her. That girl is just like her father. She can’t be trusted.”

  Spencer Hastings rested his elbows on the arms of his wheelchair and leaned forward to scan the file Hunter sent over one more time. He’d recognized the name of the law firm immediately but it had taken him a minute to put two and two together.

  Luckily he’d made the connection in time. He had no doubt who was behind this but he’d be damned if he was the one to blow the whistle. It took all of two seconds to confirm his suspicions on the firm’s website.

  Picking up his phone, he dialed the number by heart. Damn it, voicemail. “Hey, it’s me. Call me when you get this. Just what the hell do you think you’re doing at that law firm?”

  Chapter Six

  By the time Hunter wrapped up his work at the office and drove up to Jenna’s brownstone apartment on the Upper West Side, rush hour had set in and he found himself crawling in traffic. The traffic somehow seemed to be worse than usual thanks to the downpour of rain that made it look like it was later than it was.

  He could have been there in a fraction of the time if he’d left his car in the office’s underground parking lot and taken the subway. But eventually he made it, even lucking out by finding a parking spot across the street.

  He’d reached a hand out to open the car door when he spotted her. Jenna was walking out of a corner bodega with a small brown bag in her hands and a hooded raincoat covering her head. Even from this distance he could see her blue eyes and red lips, which looked otherworldly in the gray lighting.

  The sight of her stopped him in his tracks—holy hell, she was gorgeous, even in the rain. But that wasn’t what made his adrenaline start pumping and his police instincts kick into overdrive. That was the figure behind her.

  He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, the person’s face was entirely covered by a hood and his or her body was formless thanks to an oversized raincoat. Whoever it was, he or she wasn’t tall or stout—it
was a slight figure, but that was all he could make out.

  At first he told himself he was being paranoid, but he stayed where he was to keep watch. Sure enough, when Jenna walked up the steps to her front door, the figure paused. And once Jenna disappeared inside, the person who’d been following Jenna stepped up to the windows at street level and peered in.

  What the hell? Either it was a coincidence that Jenna had a friendly neighborhood stalker or Jenna was being watched by the same person who was targeting Margaret.

  Now that was a leap, but it made more sense that the two instances were related than separate and random occurrences, didn’t it? Unless this stalker was an ex-boyfriend or something, but even then, what were the odds that she’d obtain a stalker the same week she started working for Knight & Knight?

  He opened his car door then and headed across the street, his head ducked to avoid the rain. He didn’t want to scare off her follower so he kept a normal pace and tucked his hands into his pocket. Just your average, harmless man crossing the street over here…

  But the person at her window turned and headed down the block, his or her head still bent so he couldn’t catch a glimpse. He thought about running after the person but they were walking quickly and if he ran to catch up, surely he would scare them off.

  Besides, his first priority was to check on Jenna, make sure she was all right. Though it was a longshot, he had a vague fear that there was more than one person on her tail. What if someone had been waiting inside her lobby?

  With that thought he sped up toward her front door and rang her buzzer aggressively.

  Possibly too aggressively because a moment later the door swung open and he found himself face to face with Jenna…and her baseball bat.

  Hunter’s eyes widened as he looked from her face to the bat and back again. Her heart was still racing in her throat but she had the good sense to drop the weapon.

  This guy might be lying to her but he wasn’t her enemy—and he definitely wasn’t the person who’d been following her ever since she left her house to grab a few groceries. She hadn’t gotten a good look but enough to know that person had been smaller in stature. Probably half the size of Hunter.