She nodded.
“How did that happen?”
She lifted her lips at the incredulity in his voice. “I majored in police science in college, then went to the academy after graduation.”
“What about law school?”
“That was my father’s dream, not mine.”
Mac shook his head. “Bet your dad was pissed about that.”
“Oh, he was so angry.” She grinned at the memory.
“Threatened to cut off my funding, refused to pay for college.
His way of getting me to toe the line. It backfired on him. I got loans instead, determined to do what I wanted to do. When he realized I wasn’t going to back down and return to the fold with my tail tucked between my legs, he relented and paid for my education.” She looked at her hands. “Not that it did me much good.”
“Why not?”
“Three years on the force and he used his influence to keep me off the streets. I got tired of his interference, tired of being assigned desk jobs and fighting him. I quit.”
“And now you’re a PI?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you end up in Chicago?”
“I couldn’t get hired anywhere in Dallas. Dad’s power was too great there. I moved to Chicago to get away from him, so I could actually do my job without him sticking his fingers in everything I did.”
“You own the agency?”
“Not yet. I figure Dad would hinder me less if I just work for an agency right now, so I found someone who I thought couldn’t be bought or manipulated. Maybe someday I’ll start my own. We’ll see how this goes.”
“You like it?”
She shot him a sideways glance. “Actually, I do. A lot.”
“And here I thought you’d end up a lawyer in your father’s company.”
“That’s what he wanted. Hence the ‘pissed’ part.”
“You always enjoyed digging at him.”
She lifted her chin, thoughts of her father inflaming her nerve endings. “He deserves it.”
“Yeah, he does.” He shifted on the log. “And you turned out so damn different than what I thought.”
She wanted to say ‘and you dumping me did no good, did it?’. Instead she kept silent, knowing it would come across shrewish and petty. But she couldn’t help wondering how different things would have been if they’d stayed together, if he’d given them a chance.
“I turned out exactly the way I wanted to.” Sort of. “I did what I wanted to do. Nothing you did ten years ago stopped that.” There. She’d said it.
“I guess not. All those years ago you talked about taking a walk on the wild side. Did you ever do that?”
Had she? She’d changed direction in her life and career, taken risks, but done anything wild and crazy? “Not really.”
“So how about doing it now?”
She studied him, trying to decipher his meaning. Did he mean the trip to deliver the virus, or did he mean something else entirely? Was this about sex, about picking up where they’d left off…where they’d never really had the chance to go all those years ago? They’d barely started before he walked out of her life.
This was her chance to experience bad boy Mac Canfield. In the flesh. At least for a while…as she furthered her career.
He might be a thief and he might be going to jail when this was all over with, yet she couldn’t help but want what she hadn’t had ten years ago.
The experience, the lifestyle. She admitted it. She craved it, wanted to know what it was like to ride on the back of Mac’s Harley and just live the wild life with him.
And she’d get answers at the same time. It wasn’t like she was going to allow him to get away with anything illegal, so why the hell not? As long as she considered it part of her job and didn’t let her foolish heart get involved, then she could handle it, right?
Heat seared her as she met the promise in his dark gaze.
“What about it, Lily? You game?”
“It’s insane.” She shook her head.
“You used to be all in for adventure.”
He was baiting her. “I used to be a lot of things I’m not anymore.”
“Don’t hesitate. Don’t think about it. Just do it.”
He had no idea what he was asking. Then again, he had no clue about a lot of things. She looked up at him, unable to believe how much her body still swelled with heat just looking at him.
She nodded. “Okay, Mac. You’re on. I’ll take that walk on the wild side with you.”
Chapter Three
Mac didn’t believe for one second that Lily had just had an about face and agreed to go with him. She had a plan in mind, no doubt to lull him into some false sense of security, steal the virus from him and return it to her client. Which, of course, was in direct opposition to his assignment.
Not only did she think he was a thief, she also thought he was stupid. Whatever idea she had in her gorgeous head didn’t matter. As long as she came with him without argument, he could deal with anything she tried to pull.
He moved through the thick woods, having used the excuse of hunting for more firewood to put some distance between himself and Lily. He needed to make a call—one she couldn’t listen in on. He had to call General Lee.
As the head of Wild Riders, General Grange Lee was not a patient man. And Mac was already late phoning in his report. His cell had been buzzing incessantly for several hours, but no way could he take a call with Lily lurking nearby.
Grange answered on the first ring.
“What the hell took you so long?”
“I ran into a little trouble.” Understatement, since it was a dump truck of shit kind of trouble. He filled Grange in on what happened at the museum, including being shot at and running into Lily and the fact she was a blast from his past. He also told Grange about Lily’s former occupation as a cop and current job as a PI.
“Christ, Mac. This was supposed to be an easy lift.”
“So you said.”
“Any clue who was shooting at you?”
“None. My guess is someone else who wanted the virus. But who?”
“That’s the billion dollar question, isn’t it? What about your friend Lily. Could she be involved in this virus thing somehow? Do you think she’s dirty?”
Mac laughed. “Lily? Not a chance.” It might have been a decade since he’d last seen her, but no way had she changed that much.