Entanglement

Chapter 1

1

A dart landed in the bullseye with a nice thump, wobbling in a blur for a moment before it stilled. Seconds later, two others joined it, one on the left and one on the right. “Oh, yes!” Anna cheered.

Four brick walls surrounded this little Irish pub, three of which were lined with booths. On her left, the bar counter was operated by a tall man with graying hair and a thick goatee.

The dartboard was in the corner, right next to the fire exit, leaving them with plenty of room to play. As hangouts went, this place was pretty nice. It had taken a few months, but she was finally getting used to life here on Earth.

Anna stood with her hands at her sides, smiling down at the floor. “Well then,” she said with a shrug. “I guess I win again. Which means my next drink is coming out of your pocket, Tanaben Loranai.”

Ben stood next to her with arms folded, scowling at the dartboard. “That's not even remotely fair,” he said, shaking his head. “You've got those enhanced Keeper senses that give you perfect aim.”

“Not perfect,” she said. “But good.”

Anna spun on her heel and made her way over to a booth, dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and a light green t-shirt. As usual, she kept her short strawberry-blonde hair up in a ponytail.

She found Jack sitting with his hands folded on the table, grinning as he trembled with silent laughter. “Are you done humiliating him?” he asked. “Because you know he'll be itching for a rematch.”

She sat down across from him.

Jack looked up at her with lips pursed, blinking slowly. “The guy has a very fragile ego,” he explained. “If you don't let him win a couple games, he's going to be whining at me for weeks.”

“Not…my…problem.”

Anna leaned back with hands folded behind her head, closing her eyes tight. “Let me ask you something,” she began. “Have you ever considered asking Gabrina to join us one night?”

Jack made a face that belonged on a man with a bellyache. “No, I haven't,” he answered. “Besides, she's almost ten years older than us, and she probably won't want to hang out with the pups.”

“Oh come on!”

“What?”

Crossing her arms, Anna hunched over and shook her head. “Don't get me wrong; you guys are great,” she said. “But we need a little more estrogen to balance the group's dynamics.”

“So you ask her.”

“She knows you best.”

His reluctance set off alarm bells in the back of her mind. The urge to ask him for clarification was barely a coherent thought before the answer leaped out at her. “You like her!” Anna shouted. “Bleakness take me, you've got a thing for her.”

Clamping a hand over his mouth, Jack squeezed his eyes shut. The fit of wheezing laughter that followed told her she was way off. “Nice try, Veronica,” he said. “But your Detective skills need a little honing.”

The mix of emotions that flew through her left her feeling very off balance. There had been a time when it looked like she and Jack would become close, but an assignment off-world had put an end to those plans. They had never really defined what they wanted from one another in the months since she'd been back.

Part of that was because she wasn't entirely sure just what she wanted. Much of the spark that she had once felt had faded into a comfortable friendship. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to close the door, but…

Anna smiled down at the table, shaking her head as she forced out a little awkward laughter. “So what is it then?” she asked. “Because I can't think of any other reason why you wouldn't want to make friends with a colleague.”

“She asked me not to.”

“Huh?”

Jack leaned against the seat cushion with his eyes closed, breathing deeply to calm himself. “I tried to make her feel welcome,” he explained. “She took it as an attempt at flirting and made it clear that she wasn't interested.”

“Well, what did you do?”

He spread his hands in an emphatic gesture that made it clear this conversation was over. “Look, I'm not gonna do this,” he said. “Women are always saying that they should be allowed to be friendly without it being interpreted as a romantic overture. Well, that vice needs a little versa, if you ask me.”

Anna frowned, her cheeks burning with intense heat. She lowered her eyes to stare into her lap. “You're right,” she said. “I'm sorry. We don't have to invite Gabi if you don't want to.”

“For the record,” Jack added, “I asked her to have lunch with me, and she accepted. But after the speech she made about not wanting to give me the wrong impression, I kind of figured it'd be a bad idea to ask again.”

“That's probably wise.”

A part of her was strangely pleased with the idea of Jack finding someone else. For one thing, that would take the pressure off her. After her rather miserable experience with Daython, she didn't really want to think about dating. Jack, however, seemed quite eager to discuss the matter.

He looked up at her with those big blue eyes, and she suddenly realized she would hate to be interrogated by this man. “What about you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Is there anyone on your mind?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“No?”

“No,” she mumbled. “To be perfectly honest, I think I'm going to avoid dating for the next little while. It's caused me nothing but frustration lately.” At the moment, the very last thing she wanted was to focus on the mess that was her love life.

Ben pulled up a chair and sat down with his elbows on the edge of the table. “So,” he said, glancing at each of them in turn. “What do you say, Lenai? Are you up for a quick game of pool to close off the night?”

Anna forced a small smile, shaking her head. “No thanks,” she answered. “I think I'll spare Jack the pain of your inevitable defeat. Besides, it's getting late and we all have things to do tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Ben muttered. “Don't want to miss the show.”

“The show?”

Jack chuckled as he leaned over the table. “You know the one where Harry and Jena come in at least five minutes apart so that we won't find out they're sleeping together?”

“Oh that show.”

“What's the betting pool at now?”

Snapping his fingers, Jack pointed at the other man. “You had under ten minutes,” he said, waggling that finger. “So when Harry comes in exactly fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds behind her, I don't want to hear any whining.”

“Fine, fine,” Ben said. “No whining.”

One thing that Harry had never noticed in all his years living in this house was just how much stucco decorated the ceiling of his bedroom. Cold, gray light came in through the window on his left, glinting off the mirror across from the foot of the bed. As it was, he really didn't want to get up.

Harry was stretched out on the mattress with his hands folded behind his head, his skin still glistening with sweat. “Well,” he said, eyebrows rising. “That's one way to start the day off right.”

Jena stood up, pulling a red t-shirt over herself. Her head popped through the neck hole, and she blinked. “Best morning workout ever…” she said, turning away from him. “Much better than that lousy treadmill.”

She made her way over to the window where tiny flurries of snow swirled about behind the glass. The sight of this woman in a pair of black shorts and an old t-shirt was hotter than any underwear ad he'd ever seen.

Harry bit his lip, shutting his eyes tight. He turned his head so that his cheek was pressed to the pillow. “You know, things have been pretty slow lately,” he mumbled. “I wonder if I should just take the day off.”

Jena snorted.

He sat up.

Hunching over, Harry covered his face with one hand. The sweat on his brow left a prickling sensation. “I don't see why that's so funny,” he said. “There are a few things I need to take care of.”

When he looked up, she was standing by the window with arms folded, silhouetted by the daylight behind her. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that Anna and Jack might find out we spent the night together?”

Embarrassment made it hard to lie with a straight face. Harry had always been a very private person. Part of that might have been the result of years spent keeping Della away from his colleagues. His ex-wife had a tendency to make a scene at the very worst possible time.

Leaning against the wall, Jena glanced over to the alarm clock on his nightstand and frowned. “I need to get ready,” she said. “I'm meeting with the Senior Directors in less than three hours.”

“Doesn't sound like you have to rush.”

Jena moseyed over to the bed with her hands in her pockets, shaking her head ever so slowly. “Well…” she said with a shrug. “I wouldn't have to take a cab to the SlipGate terminal if you just went into work with me.”

“No, no; we can't do that,” he insisted. “We have to come in at least five minutes apart so the others don't find out we're sleeping together.”

Once again, she snorted.

As she made her way around the foot of the bed, Jena paused and stood so that he saw her in profile. “You know,” she said with playful exasperation in her voice. “You're lucky I'm the kind of woman who doesn't mind having a boyfriend with a bewildering need to cover up their new relationship.”

She left the room.

Harry felt his lips curl, his cheeks burning with chagrin. “I am lucky,” he said to himself. “And I know that you will never let me forget it no matter how many reminders I may need.”

A moment later, he heard the sound of the shower running in his bathroom. Now, that was a wonderful idea. “Want me to join you?” he shouted.

“No thanks!” she replied. “Intimate showers are for boyfriends who don't freak out about the possibility of someone finding out they had s*x!”

That only intensified his embarrassment, but then what could he do? Harry liked Jack and Anna and all the others, but he wasn't about to start discussing the details of his personal life with a kid that he had mentored in the ways of law enforcement. And never mind Lenai! Just the thought of her watching him with a playful smirk while he admitted that Jena had spent the night…

“Oh Harry!” Jena's voice came through the wall. “I forgot to mention. Since you're now an official member of the team, I thought it was time to upgrade your accouterments. Check the nightstand drawer.”

He pulled it open to find a gauntlet with a long rectangular touchscreen and a small metal disk attached. The sight of it left him feeling a little off balance. He had never been one of those people who swooned over Leyrian technology.

Harry frowned as he studied the device. “A multi-tool?” he asked. “I don't know, Jen…I've had the same smart phone for years. Can't I just keep on using that?”

“Harry, I can put up with exactly one phobia in a lover,” she said. “So which is it? Technology or gossip?”

Mopping a hand over his face, Harry brushed sweaty hair back from his forehead. “Okay,” he said, blinking. “I'll accept the multi-tool. But I reserve the right to grumble about you whippersnappers and your gadgets.”

For a long moment, there was silence.

Then Jena replied with more than a touch of irritation in her voice. “Wow,” she said. “You know, I've never wanted you more than I do right now.”

He sank back down into the covers, pulling them up over his chest. It occurred to him that his original assessment was correct; there was just no good reason to get out of bed today. None at all.

He wanted to be a better partner – the kind that proclaimed his love from the rooftops – but there were factors that made that difficult. This was the first relationship he'd had since divorcing Della. Melissa and Claire had been his primary focus over the last four years. That and protecting his city from aliens.

He still wasn't entirely sure how his girls would react to the idea of a new woman in his life. Melissa seemed to be happy for him, but they seldom discussed it. And Claire? She was too wrapped up in the latest episode of Southampton to care all that much about her father's girlfriend. That alone left him feeling uncomfortable. His daughter was too young to be interested in teen soaps.

Much too young.

He'd been musing on the idea of asking Jena to join the three of them for dinner one night, but he wasn't sure how she would respond to that. From what little he knew about her, she had spent most of her life gallivanting from planet to planet, never settling down. Serious relationships were not her thing. Maybe it was better to keep this casual? Della had the girls for the next few days; that left him with plenty of free time.

Harry grabbed a pillow.

He pressed it to his face and let out a groan, pretending to smother himself. “Yeah, it's official,” he muttered. “I am not getting out of bed today.”