It Happened One Wedding by Julie James Read Free Book Online Page A

white-collar crime squad who’d gone through undercover school at Quantico, Vaughn was the go-to guy whenever an investigation required a more extensive UC role. Which was fine with him—he found the work to be interesting and challenging, and he also liked the behind-the-scenes planning that came with every investigation. Whenever he took on a new identity, he needed to think about how his character would act, what he would look like, what he would wear, the kind of car he would drive and, if necessary, the type of gun he would carry. By all outward appearances, he needed to
be
whatever bad-guy type he was playing—because without that attention to detail, he could blow the entire investigation. Or get himself killed.
    Standing in the elevator, Vaughn fought back a smile while watching Huxley carefully adjust the pocket square in the breast pocket of his custom-tailored suit. Unlike his fastidious partner, Vaughn had neither a pocket square nor a custom-tailored suit. In fact, on many days he didn’t even have a tie, having yanked it off in annoyance by ten A.M.
    He’d been skeptical when Huxley had first been assigned as his partner two years ago. All he’d known at the time was that the younger agent had gone to Harvard Law School, joined the Chicago white-collar crime squad immediately after graduating from Quantico, and wore Ralph Lauren shower shoes in the FBI locker room.
    Yep.
    But he’d since come to see why the SAC had put them together. Vaughn’s undercover assignments involved a lot of variables and unknowns, and the best way to handle those variables and unknowns was to plan for every possible contingency. That was where Huxley came in—undoubtedly, he was the most organized, efficient, and detail-oriented agent Vaughn had ever met. Because of that, surprisingly, their partnership actually . . . worked. Vaughn was the front man out in the field, assuming various undercover roles, while Huxley deftly micromanaged all the behind-the-scenes details.
    “We start training today,” Vaughn said.
    The elevator arrived at the twelfth floor and they both stepped out.
    “Morgan is going to meet us in the locker room?” Huxley asked.
    Vaughn nodded. “Six o’clock.” A week ago, he’d declared that he and his closest friend, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cade Morgan, were going to run in the Chicago triathlon. He’d made this decision for two reasons: one, he enjoyed pushing himself physically, and Cade, a former college football star, was of a similar mind-set; and two, he’d sensed that Cade had needed some sort of activity to distract him ever since his formerly estranged father had passed away after a tough eleven-month battle with brain cancer. Cade had jumped quickly on the triathlon idea, and then Huxley had come on board, and today the three of them would begin an eleven-week training program for the big day.
    “I assume you’ve already ordered your monogrammed Ralph Lauren wetsuit?” Vaughn quipped.
    “I checked. They don’t make one,” Huxley said.
    “What’s scary, Hux, is that I have no clue if you’re being funny or dead serious.” They rounded the corner and stopped at the desk outside the SAC’s office.
    “You can head on in. He’s expecting you,” said Nick’s assistant.
    As Vaughn headed to the door with Huxley, he saw that their boss was worked up about something. Nick paced in front of Jack Pallas, one of the agents from the Violent Crimes squad.
    “The whole thing is outrageous,” Nick was saying. “They corner you and suck you in with all their slick talk before draining every last penny out of you. I should haul every single one of them in here for price gouging and profiteering.”
    “He and Jordan went stroller shopping this weekend,” Jack explained as Vaughn and Huxley walked in and sat down in front of Nick’s desk.
    “These things cost more than my first
car
,” Nick said.
    “Babies are not cheap.” Jack cocked his head. “And remind me—how many are you