Bulletproof (Unknown Identities #1) by Regan Black

scandal during last year’s elections.”
    He rolled his hand, signaling her to keep going when she paused.
    “Naturally I felt bad for the guy in Ohio. A heart attack that dumps you dead in your salad plate is a lousy way to go.”
    “Quick isn’t a bad way to die.”
    She watched that muscle jump in his jaw again. “Right.” Her mind whirled with more questions. Not about the senator, but about him . John Noble. Every time he said something like that, she wanted to divert her energy to learning his story.
    Well, she had his name, phone number, and profession. She’d unraveled bigger stories with less to go on.
    “As my boss is fond of saying, I’ve managed to make enemies in every political camp, so at first I thought it was just someone taking a jab at me or trying to make me feel guilty for this guy’s untimely demise.”
    “What changed your mind?”
    The security checkpoint was only a few yards away, and the roped-off queue was full of people wearing the requisite irritable expressions. John pulled them to a stop between two large advertising displays touting Boston tourism and leaned back against the wall, drawing her close to his chest. “Keep going.”
    With his hands resting lightly at her waist, her breasts pressing against his chest, she wanted to keep going, but in a completely new direction that would likely get them cited for public indecency.
    “What sleeping monster did you wake?” he prompted.
    “It’s almost that bad.” She chuckled, stopping short as the light friction brought her nipples to hard peaks. Christ. To save herself from certain embarrassment, she took a step back. Pretending, playing a role to get the story, was something she’d done countless times. Unfortunately, her body was far too eager to make this act real.
    “I dug around, curiosity does that to some of us. The dead politician in Ohio owned the online retailer that had been breached. By way of shell corporations of course. Again, not big news, until I poked around at the nature of that business.”
    “Gambling or porn?”
    She arched a brow and he shrugged a shoulder. “Odds are good it’s one or the other when it comes to politicians.”
    “I thought so too. But it was a farm supply site.”
    “No way.”
    Her grin was completely sincere this time. “We think a lot alike, but this was a legit operation. The shell stuff was to avoid the taxes. It took a few more calls, but I learned the stolen information only affected the politician’s newsletter subscribers.”
    “Gambling or porn hidden in the newsletter?”
    “You’d think so, but no. I was about to go back to more relevant story ideas when I got another letter.
    “Again, no return address and this time it was a print out of my latest Torch article. At the bottom someone had handwritten several lines of numbers.” She swallowed back the remembered fear. “They were my numbers. My bank account, credit cards, social security, department store accounts, everything. It was signed with a phone number that wasn’t mine.”
    “Your source.”
    “Yes. My first source.” She rooted through her purse and pulled out the worn page she’d kept with her these past weeks. While he looked it over, she continued. “Naturally, I made the call. Whoever answered altered their voice, but they assured me they could destroy my life with a few keystrokes.”
    “You were convinced.”
    “Yes, after a demonstration against my primary credit card,” she admitted. “My source claimed he was only proving a point and wouldn’t ruin me if I cooperated.”
    “He?”
    “At the time it was just a guess, based on the handwriting, but it was confirmed when he was found dead.”
    “He’d offered me the exclusive about how he’d been gathering sensitive information on people to assist and enable a high-level politician on the rise.”
    “Senator Larimore.”
    He said the name with a surprising amount of venom and distaste. “You keep up with politics?”
    “Only enough