“More like a chocolate molten lava cake. A dessert so sinful, so luscious, so filled with inner heat it made a girl want to lick each and every crumb right off the plate. That was Jack Pallas.”

“And as for you Agent Pallas – man-to-man, if you ever insult my girl on national television again, I’ll…” he stopped.Everyone in the room waited, hanging. Jack raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”Collin turned to Cameron with a look of astonishment. “I’ve got nothing. I had this whole exit speech going and I was gonna end with some big macho threat but when I got there, it was like – bleh – nothing. That’s a pisser.” He appeared disgusted with himself, then shrugged it off. “Oh well. Catch you guys later.”He strode out without a second glance.”

“First Pallas and now you,” the gray-haired man said, shaking his head at Nick. “It’s like I’m running a goddamn dating service around here.”

“Thank you, I guess.It’s good to see they’ve replaced Silas Briggs withsomeone who’s a little more reasonable.” He grinned.“Not to mention, someone with a much prettier face.”Agent Pallas snapped the ankle monitor on, and Kyleyelled out in pain.“Son of a bitch, you got some skin there!” he said toPallas.Cameron threw the FBI agent a look. “Jack.”He shrugged. “It slipped.” He turned back to Kyle witha look that could wilt plants.”

“I’ve licked stamps who were more excited than you by that kiss.”

“I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the fact that you knew about this before I did.""Don't be disappointed," Jack said. "The fact that I've been ridiculously proud of you for days doesn't change how excited you should be about this. Besides, I pretty much know everything. You should probably just start getting used to it.""And on that note, I'm hanging up," Cameron said."Rushing me off so you can call Collin next?" Jack teased."No" she said emphatically. Damn, he really did know everything.”

“Jack turned to Cameron. "Do you just line them up, waiting to yell at me, on the off chance I'll stop by?”