Falling Into You by Maureen Smith

your real name?”
    “Yes, it is,” he said quietly. “My name is Vince
McCall, and I’m a detective with the Baltimore Police Department.”
    “Why did you lie about that?”
    He hesitated, his gaze flicking past her to
the open doorway. “Would you mind if we closed the door?”
    She started to say yes, then changed her
mind, deciding he couldn’t pose too much of a threat to her, being a member of Baltimore’s finest.
    She turned and closed the door, but remained
right where she was. The look in her eyes dared him to come anywhere near her.
    His mouth twitched wryly. “I guess I brought
that upon myself.”
    “Damn right you did.”
    He hesitated, then turned and crossed to the
plush white sectional that dominated the seating area. He sat down and leaned
forward, bracing his elbows on his muscled thighs as he began speaking. “The
reason I didn’t tell you my real name is because I’m working undercover. Or at
least I was until four o’clock this afternoon.”
    Rebecca frowned. “I don’t understand.”
    “For the past two months, Bruno Rossi has
been under investigation by the BPD and FBI. He is— was —suspected of money laundering. I’ve been working
undercover as an investment broker to gather incriminating evidence on him.”
    Rebecca felt lightheaded. “And have you?” she
whispered.
    Vince gave her a grim smile of apology. “I’m
not at liberty to discuss the specifics of the case. However, I can tell you
that as of today, the government has dropped the investigation, and no charges
will be brought against Bruno, now or in the future.”
    “What happened?”
    “Rebecca—”
    “I think you owe me at least that much, don’t
you think?” Of course he didn’t, but she wasn’t above pulling the guilt card.
    Vince knew it, too. “This is what I’ll tell
you,” he said evenly. “The order to cease and desist came from the top of the
food chain, both within the BPD and FBI. I was called into my boss’s office
this afternoon and given the official rundown, then reassigned a new case and
sent on my merry way. End of story.”
    Rebecca knew it wasn’t that cut and dried,
but she realized he wasn’t going to provide any more information, no matter how
much she pried.
    “I had no choice but to lie to you, Rebecca,”
Vince said. “You work for Bruno Rossi, the man I was supposed to be investigating.
I couldn’t take a chance on you blowing my cover.”   
    Rebecca said nothing. He was only doing his job , one side of her rationalized. Whether or
not she agreed with his reasons for going undercover, she couldn’t fault the
man for doing his job. On the other hand…
    “You lied to me,” she accused. “You entered
my life under false pretenses.”
    Vince shook his head. “There was nothing
false about the way I felt when I saw you for the first time.” His gaze roamed
across her body clad in a soft white blouse and a short black skirt—the
regular waitress uniform now that Halloween was over.
    “You were wearing less than you are now,” Vince
said huskily, “and I wanted you. Wanted you so damn bad it was all I thought
about for days. Believe me, Rebecca, there was nothing ‘false’ about that.”
    Her belly quivered traitorously. “I never
disputed the fact that you wanted me, Vince. You made that very clear from the
beginning.”
    “And you wanted me, too, Rebecca.”
    “We’re not talking about me!”
    “Yes, we are. We’re talking about the fact
that you now question everything we’ve shared over the past four days.”
    “ ‘Everything we shared’ was based on a lie,”
she said angrily. “Nothing you told me about yourself was true!”
    “That’s not true,” Vince insisted, rising
from the sectional and starting toward her. “I’ll admit that there were some
details, some embellishments, that had to remain consistent with my undercover
identity. But those intimate things I shared with you, like the way my parents
died and what it did to me and my sister.