C.J. had just stared at him after he had told her so matter of fact that he would be working at the nursery, and that meant that they'd be in the same vicinity. Not what she wanted at all but he stood there, stubborn as always and just told her how it was going to be.

Damn him, she thought as he smiled at her, knowing that she would have to yield to him on this issue. At least for now while she thought of different ways to get him out of here and back in his car or Lear jet or whatever to L.A. where he belonged.

"Well I'd like to talk to you but I've got to start loading…"

She raised her brows at him.

"Manure…that's right, your area of expertise," she said.

He just smiled and the way he looked at her, he looked right through her. She felt her body warming up against her will. She felt her breasts harden…at least her clothes would hide him. Why couldn't she control the way her body reacted around him?

Because there had been times before their falling out when he had made her feel so damn good…had held onto her tightly as he nursed her straight into some place pleasurable with his mouth or his fingers or…she clamped her mouth shut and then looking straight at him, daring him to keep looking at her like that.

"No that's only one of my areas…you know some of the others…"

He winked at her and then walked off, heading to the office to no doubt finalize his hiring by Adela. She just sighed as she watched him go, and how his pants molded so nicely to his ass, the same one she'd squeezed with her hands many a time…as their bodies collided before meshing together in harmony not so sweet. But no, she had to be strong here because she no longer cared about him…did she? After what he had done, the words he had said…she felt them anew, like a splash of icy water in her face when she remembered them.

She returned to the ground where she crouched as she stacked the potted herbs on the shelf, where she knew they'd sell rapidly enough because it was the perfect time of year for them. Working kept her mind off of him, didn't it…but then she remembered what he had said about Rodrigo making bail and that sent a chill through her because she knew he was right in that he might coming looking for her. If not him, he might send some hired men to do the job. No, she thought knowing Rodrigo he would want to deliver his message to her personally. He had promised her as much the last time she'd seen him.

And probably very painfully before finishing her off….she felt fear fill her at the thought that he might want her to suffer so much she would beg him to kill her. No, she definitely had to be a realist in that she needed to find some way to protect herself from that king of the thugs if he came for her. Because despite what Matt might believe, she had nothing left to feel about anybody but hate…Matt had his way of getting through that last assignment they had done together and she had hers.

His had involved taking off one day armed of course to go hunt down the members of Rodrigo's posse who had slipped through the Feds' net. He had gotten some of them and a couple of them didn't live long after meeting up with him.

Her way of dealing with the botched assignment hadn't involved murder.

She sighed, rubbing her face smudging more dirt on it but that was the story of her new life, was to not work inside an office building, tied to a desk except when she and Matt had been out doing investigations on contract. He had added that wrinkle to their firm's business, to lease out their services to the federal government primarily because of his personal ties with Brock. But he didn't know everything about the man he'd played football with at the university or had backpacked with in Europe after getting his degree before heading off to basic training in the army with Will.

But she liked her job because she had grown up living off the land with her family when she had been younger before her parents had died and she had been made a ward of the state.

"They look nice…"

C.J. looked behind her and saw Adela standing there.

"I hear you hired a new guy," C.J. asked, "Sure you made the right decision?"

Adela smiled at her.

"He told me he had a history with you but no specifics and I didn't pry," she said, "as long as he can hoist those heavy bags of potting soil and manure, he stays."

C.J. rolled her eyes.

"Okay I hope you know what you're getting yourself into with him."

Adela's eyes danced, her mouth pursed.

"I'll let you also know I invited him to the beach party tonight," she said, "to welcome to our nice village."

C.J. shrugged after she got on her feet.

"Whatever… I don't know if I can go…"

Adela's eyes grew sterner.

"I think you should reconsider…it's one of those corporate events and everyone who works here's got to go."

C.J. almost protested but then she saw what Adela was up to…the woman had a razor sharp mind for plotting escapades, which was fine but count her out.

"He's really gorgeous isn't he," Adela said, "I almost wanted to squeeze his ass while he walked by but that's harassment isn't it?"

C.J. didn't really respond to that because not only had she been tempted, she had actually known how it felt just like how a few other things felt about him. Like when the hardness of his muscular chest pressed against her breasts and what it felt like to have his tongue inside her mouth and his fingers massaging her sweeter spots, as he called them. Oh if she had ever needed anyone to help her find it…she knew who the expert in that department was.

"He might enjoy it. He enjoys women a lot."

Adela arched her brow.

"I wouldn't think of it, not while I'm going out with Randy but he's sure nice to look at isn't he?"

"I don't think about that," C.J. said, "I'm really too focused on my work here."

Adela just shot her a look like she definitely didn't believe one word she said, but then she hadn't sounded convincing. Yeah, she looked at him and part of her wanted him but all she had to do then was remember what happened.

How he had treated her and said about her. He hadn't actually called her the names but he implied that's how he viewed her when he found about what happened on the assignment and who had botched it. .

Or what he thought had happened.

The truth hadn't interested him, he had proven that and she had walked away from him and her career in the firm they had built together. The truth would remain with her with the rest of the memories.

"So I'll see you there later then," Adela said as she breezed away not waiting for an answer.

Not that C.J. would give her one because she hadn't made her mind up yet. She'd think about it…not him as she continued working.

Miles away, many miles away, Rodrigo sat in his lawyer's office right next to one of the tallest buildings in L.A. a free man.

Technically not free because he had only posted a hell of a lot of bail money to get out of jail until his trial and his lawyers had warned him that the really difficult work lay ahead. He had been charged with multiple felonies including orchestrating assassinations of his competition or those who betrayed him including a couple of federal agents including the one who had once worked closely as his administrative assistant.

Slitting her throat after his squad of guards were finished with her where she had been tied up on a bed inside one of the cottages on his estate had been pleasurable. He had waited until the last one had gotten off of her and zipped his pants before pulling out the stiletto, which he simply cleaned off with a handkerchief after pulling it out of her.

It had been easy enough to set up her fed contact to pick her up and taken him down much more quickly, a shot to the head before placing them both in the trunk of the car and setting it on fire.

He had left that part of the task up to the experts and then he set out to get ready for one of his millionaire partner's party out on an estate overlooking an impressively sculptured coastline.

There had been a beautiful young woman who hadn't turned out to be what she appeared, yet another operative who had tried to mess with his plans. But not a fed, simply part of a team of investigators they had hired freelance to more easily slip past Rodrigo's own team of operatives who had hacked successfully into the federal files of the operatives.

Her name had turned out to be C.J. Parsons and she had left L.A. at some point after…after having some sort of confrontation with the head of the assignment, Brock. Rodrigo's own team of attorneys was busy working on how he and his men had been entrapped by the millionaire through the Feds and their hirelings. After leaving jail, he had gone to stay in a hotel bungalow near Malibu and had gone on a 10 mile run, to get all that pent up energy out of him before dawn and later after a nice hot shower, he had dined on brunch at one of the five star restaurants off the beach. He made up for lost time enjoying the finer things that he had missed during his six weeks in a federal detention facility while keeping his body physically hardened by all kinds of exercise including martial arts.

Then he started planning his next moves. He had to appear up and up while out on bail to please his expensive attorneys but he had already started sending some of the best men he had on a hidden payroll to search for her. And he promised a lucrative bonus to anyone who could pinpoint her location and bring it back to him. His top guy, Milan had already started working on locating his elusive prey.

So far there hadn't been much luck but he knew that if she had left L.A. it hadn't been to get away from him…so she wasn't in deep hiding and she wasn't in federal protection. That would make it easy enough to locate her quickly and then when he got the call that she'd been found, he would travel to where she was and move on her himself.

He had missed her in his own way…the feel of her silky smooth skin under his touch…the way her body felt when taking him inside of it…the exquisite feeling of lying in between her thighs, pressing her against the sheets of the bed. It made him go hard just thinking about it…so she hadn't meant it…that didn't mean anything now.

As soon as he had her alone and away from the rest of her world, everything would change.

C.J. had left the nursery and headed back to the cottage in her truck. She pulled in the driveway and walked through the path through the flower beds on either side of it to the front porch. The swing where she loved to sit on warm nights waited but she just sighed and after opening the door, walked inside to the cozy living room where she put her purse down.

She had locked the door behind her and had checked the windows, drawing the curtains so that no one could see inside. And then when she realized what she had done, she cursed.

No, she wouldn't let what Matt told her affect her in any way. She had her life to live and wanted to keep it from getting too complicated. She walked into her kitchen to pour herself some juice and then settled in the kitchen nook.

She wondered where Matt would be spending his nights… probably renting a place just like hers. Hopefully way across the village from hers…because if he lived too close to her, she didn't know if she could stay away from him…

C.J. wanted to be strong but as much as he had hurt her, she had missed him. Walking away from him had been both easier and harder than she could have guessed, but seeing him again…no she couldn't let that change anything.

What did you do when half of you wanted to run away from a man and the rest of you wanted to reach for him and pull him close to you, skin to skin and allow him inside not just your body but your heart?

No, she couldn't think that way…there was no way for them to go back to where they'd been before they broke…and he hadn't tried. Coming all the way here to find her had been about protecting her out of some sense of remaining obligation.

Clover had left a message on her phone to join her at the party because there were some guys that would be interested in her. She texted back and said she might think about going but only stag. She had no interested in hooking up with anyone.

Even Matt, Clover had asked, and she didn't know if the other woman knew their contentious history.

But the answer she shot back was both terse and final, no. And she meant that, she told herself as she went to shower and change for the beach party.

C.J. dressed simply for the beach party, picking out a pair of denim cutoffs and a tank top along with a light wrap for after sunset, when it grew cooler. She let her hair air dry, its curls slightly tighter than normal and wore some light makeup. No reason to pile it on because she wasn't looking to impress anyone.

Certainly not Matt who had said he'd be there. Okay, then she would just pretend that he didn't exist and maybe she would hang out with the guys that Clover had said would be there. Not that she planned anything by it, because she wasn't looking to hook up with anyone, Life was already complicated enough.

She locked up her cottage and got in her car to head down the highway out of the village a couple miles down to the beach. Farmland dominated the landscaping on the drive and she finally turned into a clearing that served as a parking lot. Others had arrived and parked already and she saw the activity out on the sand. Barbecues were cooking burgers and hot links and she saw some ice chests filled with beer and sodas. A group of guys had brought guitars and some hand held drums to play music. Couples walked together down the beach or sat on blankets on the firmly packed sand.

C.J. looked around and saw Clover who smiled and walked up to greet her. They walked by an ice chest and Clover called for a guy to toss them some cold beers and he did. C.J. caught hers and popped the tab before taking a drink.

"Hits the spot doesn't it," Clover asked.

C.J. nodded.

"You checked out the guys yet?"

It seemed that Clover had men on the brain. C.J. just sipped her beer thoughtfully, looking out across the beach towards the ocean.

"I'm just here because Adela forced me to come."

Clover made a face.

"Yeah well, she thinks because she's found a guy to make her happy that she'll do whatever it takes to help the rest of us out but I don't need her help."

"I don't want it."

Clover looked her over.

"Do you even like guys?"

C.J. just threw her a look.

"Of course I do, just not right now," she said, "I'm living to make myself happy not someone else."

Clover looked puzzled.

"Why can't you do both, I mean doing a guy can make you really happy."

C.J. knew that well enough but that kind of happiness she could do without because it caused a lot of pain as well.

"I haven't given up on men; I'm just taking a break from them."

Clover didn't really look like she understood that any better but she nodded.

"Okay then that leaves more for me."

C.J. shrugged.

"Go knock yourself out…I'll just take get something to eat and then maybe take a walk down the beach."

Clover's brows rose.

"Alone?"

C.J. sipped her beer again.

"Well yeah. That's how I like it."

Clover just shrugged and sauntered off with her beer. More people arrived at the party as the sun sunk lower in the sky, coloring it with a blend of soft orange and red hues. She hadn't seen Matt and didn't think he'd show as she went to grab herself a hamburger off the grill before sitting down to eat it. Adela and Rick were talking to another couple by the makeshift band which wafted the air with rhythm and blues, intermixed with classic rock.

The food was delicious and as she finished her burger, she looked up and saw Matt dressed in faded jeans and a jersey shirt talking with Clover. A shard of pain sliced through her but she looked away from them and out into the ocean. A couple guys approached her and she talked with them a little bit.

But after she finished eating, she grabbed another beer and after wrapping her jacket around her waist, she took off walking down the beach, before it got dark and the bonfire started.

The tide had started to come in a bit and the water wrapped itself around her bare feet delighting them with some chill before receding back out. The sound of waves breaking on a beach had always been one of her favorites so she focused on that as she walked past the sand dunes.

It reminded her of the beach many miles away near Rodrigo's compound on the island She had walked along the strands of sand in the evenings eager to get out of his mansion and decompress after another tense day playing her dual role. Eager to put this case behind her and anxious that she would somehow tip him off that she was an operative. Even on the nights that Matt had been away on an errand, she had walked by his empty bungalow, missing him but secure in the knowledge that he'd return soon.

Now months later, she walked on another beach but not far away from him, at least not in distance.

But she couldn't stop thinking about him even though she tried to put him out of her mind…they had been friends for so long but that's what made what he did all the more painful…if he couldn't forgive her for what he thought she did, how could she forgive him?

The waves curled into shore and she enjoyed how the water rushed over her feet, massaging them with grains of sand and then pulling the tide back out again. She flashed back to a time when she had been with Matt on beach someplace and he had been chasing her into the surf, the water a brighter shade of blue, with the sunlight causing the tips of the waves to sparkle like diamonds. It had felt pleasantly warm but when the hot breezes brushed against her body, she had felt the coolness. And when he had caught up with her and pulled her to his bare chest and kissed her on the mouth as the water surrounded them, giving them a gentle tug until he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the shore.

Oh, how it had felt back then, so carefree and the rush of desire tearing through her faster than they could give into their passion…but now it just caused her sadness and she pushed it away as she continued walking toward the rocky jetty extending out into the ocean.

"Hey wait up…"

She turned around to see him heading towards her, his feet bared just like hers and the bottom of his jeans a brighter blue from having waded in the incoming tide. She just folded her arms and stood there staring at him.

"Why did you follow me?"

He sighed.

"You know why C.J.."

She tilted her head.

"No I don't Houston, why don't you enlighten me?"

He just looked at her standing there, a stubborn line above her beautiful green eyes, and her full mouth turned up slightly at the corners. A part of him wanted to rub her lips gently with a finger before stroking them with his mouth. She kissed better than any woman that he had ever been with and she sure knew what to do with her hands, with those slender but surprisingly strong fingers.

He wouldn't be surprised if she started pointing a couple of them at him right now.

"You really shouldn't be going off by yourself, not with Rodrigo out on bail."

She pursed her lips.

"Oh why are worried, I still think it's your ass he wants to kick…"

He frowned.

"This isn't funny C.J., the guy's out there somewhere and probably gunning for you."

She sobered, rubbing her forehead.

"Look I know…but running scared just plays into his hands by making it clear he's got the power and he's really into control."

His brow arched.

"You saying you know from experience?"

She just sighed in exasperation.

"I don't want to talk about it with you so just drop it."

He shook his head.

"I can't…not if he's aiming for you because if anything happened to you…"

She put up her hand.

"Don't tell me that you'd feel responsible because I told you that you don't have to worry about that. I'm a grown woman."

He sighed.

"Hard not to see that C.J.…but that's not what I'm talking about."

She felt her face prickle. Damn him for trying to tip the balance between them that had become precarious enough.

"I know...but really I didn't leave L.A. to run away from Rodrigo…I did it to get away from you."

She could tell he didn't like that statement but tough for him because he had earned it and if he proceeded like this, she wasn't pulling any punches. No way, would she ever give him that satisfaction.

Now if he'd stop looking at her like that, because she could imagine what it'd be like to slip her hands underneath his jersey and feel his muscles twitch beneath her more than capable touch. She loved his tight abs, which tapered up into a chest with enough dark hair to make things interesting for him when she tugged gently on it, with her fingers, while she kissed his mouth.

Damn she really had to stop thinking like this, she had to be strong and remember what he had done to her, all those things he had said.

Why was it so damn difficult right now?

He approached her and she just stood there and let him. And when he got near enough so she could almost feel him, he reached out to stroke her face. She thought about flinching for a millisecond but her body said no.

And then his lips met her own mouth and her body nearly jumped at first but then she recovered soon enough as he brushed them against her. Barely touching her at first but then a second later, he kissed her leaving her no doubt what he was doing. She responded by opening her lips a bit to deepen it. Then he placed his hands on her shoulders and drew her closer to him and damn it, she let him. She felt his tongue probe her lips, around the edges…in a way that sent shivers through her. She sighed and then her arms went around his waist and soon their bodies touched.

She felt him hard against her and she broke the kiss and just looked at him suddenly.

"Matt…what the hell are you doing?"

He brushed her hair off of her face, looking at her.

"You know what I'm doing…and you want me to do it."

She shifted her balance feeling totally off balance.

"I don't want anything with you…"

He still held onto her, not feeling like letting her go.

"What if I don't want to stop?"

She just looked at him, shaking her head.

"Please don't…"

His lips descended on her mouth again, and sent those delicious sensations racing through her. His hands slipped underneath her shirt, stroking the silky smooth skin of her back. She flinched when she felt his hands there. He looked at her while he did it.

"What's the matter?"

She pulled away from him then and just glared at him, and he watched her not knowing which emotion that he saw predominated the rest. But he saw anger and hurt, mixed with indignation and…desire.

But then she'd always been a complicated woman in and out of bed.

"What is it that you're not telling me?"

"Nothing Houston…not everything's about you."

He got that persistent look in his eye, the one that reminded her of his background, of what they had shared together for years.

"Then why did you pull away?"

She shook her head then sharply, could the man in front of her be any more clueless? Did he really think the way back into her good graces was to slide between the sheets? But she tried to reign in the anger that threatened to be released from deep inside her.

"No…It's because I don't want anyone…I don't want to be hurt by you …"

She started to walk further down the beach and he knew then if he grabbed her arm, she might slug him. But she had known that he wanted her…she had felt that proof against that part of her that wanted him too. Only a few layers of clothing separated them and he knew that she knew that too.

"I'm less lethal than he is, I hope you know that much."

She didn't flinch looking back at him.

"Yes I do but that doesn't make you less dangerous in other ways."

She turned around and started to walk back to the party. He stood there watching her go wondering how he was going to keep her safe if she withdrew from him like she did now. Sure he wanted her, a part of him wanted nothing less than to show her that now but he didn't think she'd be receptive.

And although he tried damn hard he kept thinking of her with Rodrigo, the night of that party before it all went down when he had been by the wet bar, keeping an eye on a couple of Rodrigo's guys, he had noticed that both Rodrigo and C.J. were no longer in the room.

And when she had returned not long later…he read her face and hadn't liked what he'd seen there.

He just shook his head, watching her grow smaller in the distance, her curly hair blowing softly against her back before heading back to the party.

Wondering what the hell he was going to do next.