Chapter 125 - Meet the Press

Cate was in the armory when Jon arrived at the range. Even if she hadn’t heard his unmistakable voice, she would have known the second he entered the building, her senses were so attuned to him. She smiled to herself as she felt a little shiver run down her spine, her nervous system’s response to the memory of his touch.

Glancing at her watch, Cate saw that it was five of ten; they were nearly an hour behind schedule. She chuckled and shook her head slightly. Shelby must be a ball of nerves by now. She was wound tight as it was; the poor woman had probably collapsed with relief when Jon had finally walked through the door to her office this morning. Cate had no doubt, though, that Jon had simply flashed Shelby his smile and his tardiness had been forgiven.

Cate tucked the unloaded Glock into her belt at the small of her back and picked up the ammo can. She had arrived at the range over a half-hour ago to find Shelby’s young male assistant, Sammy, pandering to the perky, petite blonde reporter from Entertainment Tonight. He had been so involved in pleasing her that he hadn’t even noticed Cate’s arrival until Cate approached the reporter and introduced herself.

Learning the host’s name was Leanne, Cate bit her tongue, tried not to roll her eyes, and forced a smile as they chatted. After a bit of small talk, Leanne directed Cate to the range office for a “tiny bit of makeup” to make her camera-ready. Cate submitted, and after being smeared with pancake, eyeliner, and mascara she returned to the makeshift set the crew had constructed near the armory door.

While they awaited Jon’s arrival Leanne had conducted a brief on-camera interview with Cate, covering the Center’s mission and a little about Cate’s professional history. As Cate expected, Leanne had also asked her what it was like to work with Jon. She had kept her responses complimentary but professional, despite Leanne’s giggling and winking attempts to get a juicier soundbyte for the promos. Cate lied convincingly when she told Leanne that she “hadn’t really noticed” Jon’s amazing physique as they trained side-by-side for the past week and a half.

Finally Cate told Leanne she needed to prepare the weapons and ammo for the shooting demonstration and escaped to the armory. Once alone in the secure room, she giggled softly and allowed herself to indulge in a long moment of reflection upon the morning’s activities with Jon. Good thing I’m a trained liar, she thought, remembering exactly how perfectly mouthwatering he had looked in – and out of – that creamy white towel.

*****

Jon took a silent, deep breath as he strolled across the range platform toward the group at the other end. He really didn’t want to be here; he would much rather be back at his villa, tangled up in the sheets with Cate. But this was part of the gig. He forced a small smile to his lips as he readied himself to play Movie Star.

After their passionate interlude, Jon and Cate had enjoyed another playful shower. Then Cate had quickly dressed and departed, promising on a kiss to meet him back at the villa after work for a romantic evening together. Jon had stood smiling after her at the front door, knowing that her conscience was nagging at her for being late to her assigned duties.

Feeling no such guilt himself, Jon had taken his time dressing in jeans and a tight black t-shirt, then gathering his gear before driving to the Center. He hated the necessary evil of interviews and video shoots; he sure as Hell wasn’t going to rush around to accommodate the Hollywood tabloid machine. They could wait. Besides, he had an important errand to complete before he turned his attention to the press.

When Jon finally arrived at the Center he had first gone to the Director’s office. Stacey had been happy to oblige his requested favor, printing out the contracts stored on the flash drive he presented. Jon quickly scanned the documents to ensure he hadn’t forgotten any, then returned them to Stacey. He watched her place them in a dark blue folder already containing a stack of papers, then slide the folder into a manila envelope marked “Priority.” Giving Stacey a grateful smile and a wink, Jon thanked her and made his way down the hall to the Public Affairs office suite.

After charming Shelby and the rest of the female population of the office, Jon climbed into the dark blue government minivan for the short ride to the range. He had thought about driving over himself, but he decided to humor Shelby and let her do her job without argument. Besides, that meant he could catch a ride back to his rental with Cate, stealing a few more minutes alone with her.

Jon and his escort approached the makeshift set, Shelby announcing his presence with unmasked relief in her voice. He sighed slightly then gave Leanne a bright smile. “Hi,” he responded to her high-pitched greeting, leaning in to brush her cheek with a fleeting kiss. Time to turn on the charm.

Jon made small talk with Leanne and the cameraman for a moment, then turned toward the office for his makeup session. Just as he started to head that way, Cate appeared in the armory doorway. Jon couldn’t stop the radiant grin from spreading across his face, dimpling his smooth cheeks.

“Hiya, Teach,” he said, a hint of tease in his tone. “Sorry I’m late. You gonna give me detention?”

Cate’s step faltered slightly at his words and at the sparkle in his eyes. She felt a little flush creep to her cheeks as they exchanged a smile. Recovering quickly, Cate walked over to where Jon stood, aware of multiple pairs of eyes upon them.

“I should,” she answered. “You wouldn’t get away with being late to one of my lessons.”

“Sorry,” Jon apologized contritely. “Something… came up.” He raised one eyebrow, then gave her a conspiratorial little grin.

“Uh huh,” Cate replied, holding his gaze for a moment before looking toward Shelby. “Sorry my student messed up your schedule, Shelby,” she smiled as she reached behind her to pull the Glock from her waistband. She silently handed the gun to Jon, who slipped it into the holster on his hip.

“It’s fine,” Shelby answered, a bit too brightly. Cate could tell from her expression that it wasn’t fine, and she stifled a giggle. “Mister Bon Jovi had to drop by the Di-rector’s Office first,” Shelby drawled. “And who am I to steal him away from the Di-rector?”

Cate gave Jon a quizzical look. “Director? Complaining about me again?” she teased, her gaze silently asking him the real question.

“Yeah,” Jon answered with a grin. “Tired of you beating the crap outta me. I needed a sympathetic ear,” Later, his gaze replied as it met hers.

“If we can just get you to makeup, Mister Bon Jovi…” Shelby interrupted, desperate to begin this already-delayed interview.

“Sure, Doll,” Jon replied, still looking at Cate. He gave her another little wink, then turned and walked toward the office.

While Jon had his makeup applied Cate busied herself with the ammunition, loading eight magazines with 9mm rounds. She smirked quietly to herself as she watched Leanne in her peripheral vision. The little blonde was gaping at Cate as she handled the bullets.

Leanne's eyes widened when Cate pulled her gun from its holster, smoothly popped out the magazine, racked back the slide to eject the bullet in the chamber, then inserted one of the clips of training rounds into her weapon before reholstering it. This oughta be fun, Cate thought. It was obvious from Leanne’s expression that she was extremely uncomfortable around guns. She would probably climb right up the wall when the bullets started to fly.

Five minutes later Jon reappeared, ready to begin. Leanne directed him to a chair set up in front of the lights and camera, then sat opposite him. Jon shot Cate another little grin, then turned on the charm as the camera rolled.

Cate couldn’t help but smile as she watched Jon expertly handle the interview. He knew exactly what to say, when to smile, when to raise and lower his voice. It was almost as if he had rehearsed a script, so effortless was his delivery. Jon made sure to talk up the Center and to emphasize his respect for law enforcement officers, while publicly thanking the Director and staff for allowing him the opportunity to train there.

He talked about the basic premise of the movie for which he was preparing, then answered several inane questions about “leading ladies” with a little roll of his eyes. Cate’s heart melted when he smoothly segued from Leanne’s attempt to link him romantically with a Hollywood starlet to Cate’s dedication to training him, calling her his “leading lady of the moment.” The little glance he gave her assured her that the “of the moment” reference was for ET’s benefit only.

After about ten minutes of questions and answers with Jon, Leanne asked Cate to take a seat beside him so she could interview them together. Cate obliged, and when the camera rolled she fought back a chuckle at the first question.

“So Cate, is Jon Special Agent material?” Leanne asked brightly.

Cate smiled and looked sideways at Jon. He raised his eyebrows in response. “Well… he’s got potential,” she answered. “With a full course of training, and a lot more work on defensive tactics…” Cate paused, giving Jon a little smirk. “Then yeah, I think he’d make a pretty good cop.”

“He’s tough? Smart? Loyal?” Leanne prodded, trying to get Cate to extend her answer.

Cate chuckled. “Well, yes. Maybe he’d make a better police dog, with those qualities.”

“Hey!” Jon protested playfully.

Leanne giggled girlishly, then turned her wide-eyed attention to Jon. “So Jon, what’s been the best part of your training?”

“All of it,” Jon answered promptly. “It’s all been fantastic.” He smiled at Cate. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I don’t want to leave tomorrow.” Cate’s heart clenched as she struggled to maintain a neutral expression.

“But was there one thing that you really liked?” Leanne pressed.

Jon paused for a minute, thinking. “Well… probably the bomb and arson training. I got to blow stuff up and burn stuff down.” Cate chuckled at Jon’s self-censorship, avoiding the word “shit.” He gave her a mischievous grin. “And I got to dress up like a fireman and spray Cate down with my hose.”

Leanne giggled at Jon’s joke as Cate blushed slightly. “Fireman? But Jon, you’re learning to be a cop,” Leanne replied. “What cop stuff did you like? Anything cool you got to do that you’ve never done before?”

“Oh, yeah.” Jon gave Cate another sideways smirk before continuing. “Cate and I did something really fun together. Right here on this range, in fact.”

Oh, Godddd…. Cate groaned inwardly. He wasn’t really going there, was he?

“We did this thing called Night Fire, where we turned out all the lights and I learned to shoot in the dark.” Jon continued, grinning more broadly. “And with patrol car lights flashing.”

“Really?” Leanne asked, seemingly enthralled by his story.

Jon nodded. “Yep. It was cool. We were shooting from behind the car, laying across the hood of the cruiser and everything.” He could barely contain his gleeful smirk, knowing his words were getting to Cate.

Cate closed her eyes for a brief moment, willing herself not to react. Jon, you Shit…

“Cate, that sounds like a lot of fun!” Cate opened her eyes at the sound of Leanne’s perky voice, and fixed her with a smile. “Is all your training fun like that?” Leanne asked.

Cate could feel Jon tense beside her as he bit his tongue, trying not to laugh. “No, not all of it,” she answered evenly. “But Jon really enjoyed that particular lesson.”

“Sounds like it!” Leanne responded enthusiastically. “So, was he good at it?”

This time Jon couldn’t contain his snort of laughter. Cate didn’t dare look at him, knowing she would lose her composure if she did. “He was fine,” she answered carefully. “His performance was very… strong.” Please GOD, ask something else! Change the subject! she prayed silently.

“It sounds like you’ve really taken to this cop thing, Jon,” Leanne observed. “Any plans to play a similar role in the future?”

“I’d like to,” Jon replied. “I really love being here, in ‘Cop Land.’ In fact, I’m going to be doing some work for the Center in the future, kind of a public service thing, as a thank you for the awesome experience I’ve had here.” He paused and gave Cate a sweet smile. “And I’ll definitely be keeping in touch with the amazing people I’ve met here.”

“Will you be working with Jon during filming, Cate?” Leanne asked.

Cate glanced at Jon, her eyes meeting his. “No,” she answered quietly with a little shake of her head. “I’ve given him everything I can during the past two weeks. He’s ready to do this on his own.”

“But… she’ll always be just a phone call away,” Jon added quickly, his true meaning clear to Cate. “If I need advice, I mean. She’s the one I trust.”

Cate nodded, smiling gently as his eyes met hers. “Of course,” she agreed softly. “I’m only a phone call away.”