Thirty seconds later, Nick had his boss on the line.

“Pallas filled me in on everything,” Davis said. “I’m still trying to decide who’s going on my shit list for this mess.”

“Xander Eckhart is at the top of mine,” Nick said.

“Well, I can’t yell at him,” Davis grumbled. “How about Huxley? He’s been working this up for months; he’s the one who picked Jordan Rhodes. A heads-up that there’s a romantic connection between her and Eckhart would’ve been appreciated.”

“There’s no romantic connection,” Nick said. “Don’t blame it on Huxley – we had no way of knowing this was going to happen.”

“You know what it means now that Eckhart has someone following you.”

Yes, he did. Nick had known what it meant the moment Pallas had called him at Eckhart’s party. “It means that I’ll be playing the part of Nick Stanton longer than expected.”

Davis paused. “Obviously, you can’t go to New York tomorrow.”

Nick pinched between his eyes. “I know.”

“I’m really sorry, Nick. I roped you into this and now you won’t be able to make your mother’s party.”

“It comes with the job. You know that, Mike – you did this for years.”

“I did. And I also know that after a while, it takes its toll. Six years of nearly back-to-back undercover assignments is a long time. If you weren’t so good at it, I would’ve reassigned you already.”

But he was good at it. Nick changed the subject. “What do we know about this Mercks guy Eckhart has following us?”

“We ran a background check and cross-referenced him in our database. He owns a private investigation firm in the Loop. Seems to have a lot of wealthy clientele.”

“Any connections to Roberto Martino?”

“None that we’ve found. He might be nosy and highly inconvenient, but I don’t think he poses any threat.”

Nick was relieved to hear that. That last thing he’d wanted was anyone connected to Roberto Martino camped outside Jordan’s house.

“There’s one final matter we need to discuss,” Davis said.

“Jordan.”

“You understand what this development with Eckhart means in terms of her continued involvement in the investigation?” Davis asked.

“Yes.”

“Does she?”

“Not yet,” Nick said. “I’ll explain everything to her as soon as we hang up.”

“She’s not going to like it.”

No, she isn’t. And it wasn’t exactly a conversation Nick looked forward to, but he had a job to do and this was part of it. He and Davis discussed a few outstanding matters related to the investigation, his boss wanting to be certain they were on the same page. Then Nick hung up and went into the kitchen, ready to be the bearer of bad news.

JORDAN STOOD AT the counter while she waited, checking her e-mail on her iPhone. She did this more out of habit than interest, since the only person she wanted to hear anything from right then was Nick.

She set the phone off to the side when he walked into the kitchen. Her eyes lingered momentarily on the shirt buttons he’d undone at his throat. He’d loosened his tie, too, and wore the shirt casually open-necked, giving her a peek of smooth, tan skin.

She refocused. Bad guys outside her house. Not good. “Now can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Your friend Xander is causing all sorts of problems.” Nick told her about the private investigator Eckhart had hired to follow him.

Jordan sank into one of the bar stools. “I just assumed Xander was flirting with me, like he does with everyone else. I didn’t think he was actually serious. In my defense, the entire time I’ve known him, he’s never dated any woman over the age of twenty-five. I assumed that was some kind of rule of his.”

“Apparently, he’s willing to break the rules in your case,” Nick said. “And now we deal with it. Which brings me to my next point: since I’m being followed, I can’t go back to my place tonight. Obviously, there can’t be any connection between Nick Stanton and Nick McCall. Which means I’m stranded here.”

Jordan raised an eyebrow. “I see.”

“Just for tonight,” he told her. “By tomorrow morning my office will have worked out alternate arrangements.”

She checked her watch. “It’s after midnight already. You FBI guys move fast.”

“We have to, given our predicament. That is, unless our characters were thinking about moving in together.” He grinned. “I didn’t think we were ready for that step yet.”

“I think that’s good thinking on your part. What happens after tomorrow?”

“Well, see, that’s where things get a little interesting,” Nick said. “Now that I’m being followed, we can’t give Eckhart a reason to suspect that anything is off. Which means that until we get the evidence we need through the electronic surveillance, I have to remain undercover. So for the time being, I’ll continue to be Nick Stanton, a real estate investor who rents properties to college kids and people in their early twenties. And who also is … dating you.”

It took a moment for this to sink in.

“We have to pretend to be dating?” Jordan asked. “As in, for more than just tonight?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t help but feel as though she’d been given the bait-and-switch routine. “My agreement with the FBI was a one-shot deal. Now you’re changing the game on me.”

“Xander Eckhart changed the game,” Nick emphasized. “On all of us. Trust me, if we had known about his interest in you, we never would’ve come to you with this deal.”

Jordan bit her lip, still feeling guilty about that.

“I’m not blaming you,” he said. “I’m just trying to explain why we’re in this position. After tonight, it will look odd if you and I are never seen together again. And not looking odd is the number one rule in undercover work.”

“Okay. Let’s say that I agree to this. How long would we have to pretend to be dating?” Feeling thirsty, she got up and walked over to one of the cabinets. She pulled out two glasses. “Water?”

Nick nodded yes. “I can’t give you an exact time frame, although I don’t expect it to be very long. A week? Maybe a little longer? However long it takes for us to get the evidence we need through the bugs in Eckhart’s office.”

Jordan filled both glasses with water from the refrigerator, then set one in front of him. “So walk me through this. What would I have to do as the supposed girlfriend of a real estate investor who rents properties to college kids and people in their twenties?” She took a sip of her water.

“You’d need to have lots and lots of sex with me.”

Jordan choked on the water and began coughing.

Nick blinked innocently. “No good?”

Her watering eyes undoubtedly lessened the effect of her glare.

Nick smiled. “The answer is that we need to act, from all outward appearances, as if we’re a real couple. Xander thinks that you like me enough to spend five thousand dollars to bring me to his party, and that I’m similarly smitten enough to cancel work plans to be with you on Valentine’s Day. If that was all true, what would you do next?”

“I don’t know … I’d probably start by calling my girlfriends and meeting them for brunch tomorrow to tell them all about you,” Jordan said.

“There you go.”

She pointed for emphasis. “No way. You need my help, and … well, I agreed, so I’ll help you. But it stays between us. No bringing my friends and family into this.”

Nick thought this over. “All right. To the extent we can reasonably keep your friends and family isolated from this, I’ll go along with that. It’s not like I want to lie to them, either.” He turned oddly serious. “Speaking of family, there’s something else I have to tell you. And you’re not going to like it.”

Not exactly Jordan’s favorite lead-in. “What?”

He rubbed his hand over his jaw and sighed. “You’re really not going to like it.”

“Okay, now you’re making me nervous.”

He looked her dead in the eyes. “We can’t release your brother on Monday.”