by Cynthia Eden
Piper nibbled on her lower lip. That sexy, full lip.
Did she want him to beg?
She let her lip go. “I’m sure there’s a junior agent who can be my guard. You have other things to do. I don’t expect you to—to give me like the deluxe, white glove treatment or anything.”
He leaned closer to her, putting his hand on the top of the car and caging her there with his body. “I don’t usually work bodyguard cases, but you aren’t a routine case.” He needed to stay close to her. When he’d seen the fire at her place…
Dammit.
He should back away. Get in the car. Stop inhaling her sweet scent and remembering how good she’d tasted.
He’d been craving ice cream all day long.
“Eric?”
“You said you wanted to go to your gallery.” A brisk nod. “I want to check out the place, too. See what additions I can make to the security there.” And while I’m at the gallery, I can walk down the street, maybe check out the tattoo artist. “We’ll stop there next.”
“That’s awfully nice of you.”
A soft rumble of laughter escaped him. “I think we’ve covered that I’m not the nice one. That’s Ben, remember?”
A car horn sounded in the distance, and his head whipped to the left. They were inside a cavernous parking garage, and a blue SUV had just slid around the corner.
They needed to get moving. He backed away, opened her door, and waited until she slid inside. A few moments later, he was in the driver’s seat and reversing the vehicle.
“I-I think you are being nice.” Her voice was halting. “And you’ve…been nice to me a few other times over the years.”
He’d also been a dick over the years. His hold tightened on the steering wheel. “I should have always been better to you. It’s time things change.”
Her scent came to him again as they drove. Did she have any idea how much he loved her lavender scent? How much he—
“I need to pay for your services.”
He braked at a red light. “What?”
“Your protection. I need to pay for it.”
Eric slanted her a glance, but she just looked so damn innocent. “You’re not paying me, Piper.”
“Oh, yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not. I’m helping you because security is my business.”
“But you don’t run a charity business! Look, it’s bad enough you wouldn’t let me pay when you installed the initial security system at my gallery.”
And he sure as hell wished he’d been the one to install the system at her home, too. But they’d gotten into a fight at her gallery that day…because he’d been a jealous dumbass. Some idiot artist had come in, calling her his muse, going on and on about how she’d inspired him…
Eric was pretty sure he’d told the fellow to fuck off because they were busy.
Piper hadn’t liked that response very much. After he’d finished the install, she’d kicked him out. Eric didn’t know what had happened with the dumbass artist. What had his name been? Dillon? Dante? He’d have to check with Simon to make sure the fellow was on their investigation list.
A car honked behind him. He wondered how long the light had been green. Eric shoved down on the gas, and the Benz surged forward. “It’s not charity to help a friend.”
“Is that what I am?”
Another red light. He braked. Turned toward her. “What do you want to be?”
Her golden eyes were so deep.
“That’s the real question, Piper. What do you want? Do you want to be my friend? The way you are friends with Ben? Or do you want to be something more? Because I’m telling you right now, I want more.”
The light changed. He didn’t wait for a honk. He just drove straight ahead. Piper hadn’t answered him. Not yet. They drove in silence the rest of the way to her gallery, and when he pulled into the open space right in front of her building, he was still trying to figure out exactly what he should say to her.
After killing the engine, Eric turned to her. He needed to tell her something reassuring. Something charming and easy. But when he opened his mouth—“Why only two lovers?” Those words burst out.
A small furrow appeared between her brows. “Two what?”
“Lovers. You only had two lovers. Why only two?”
“Because…” She leaned closer to him, as if she was about to impart a massive secret. “I don’t let just anyone into my vagina.”
God, she had not—she’d just—
Piper smiled at him. Then she laughed. “Your face is priceless.”
Her laughter was sweet and soft.
“I choose my lovers, Eric, and I choose carefully. I need to feel a connection, a white-hot intensity, and if that’s not there, then I don’t want to waste my—”
He kissed her. Because her smile was beautiful. Because her laugh was the best music he’d ever heard. Because he craved her, not ice cream. And as soon as his lips touched hers, the explosion of need erupted again.
He’d been trying for a tender kiss. A careful brush of his lips against hers. Instead, he kissed her once, softly, lifted his lips, and then he went back for more. His hands rose and sank into her hair as he kissed her with a wild ferocity. A stark lust.
She gave a little moan in the back of her throat. And she kissed him back the same way. With primitive, desperate desire. With a sensual need that shook him to his core. With a fierce hunger that made him ache.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears as he forced his head to lift. “Is it there?” A white-hot intensity.
Her breath came fast. Her eyes had darkened. “Yes.”
“Then what are we going to do about it?”
She turned away. Fumbled with the door. Forced it open and climbed from the car. Swearing, he hurried to follow her. Eric caught her wrist in his hand. “Piper—” He surged closer to her.
“Everything will change.” She stared up at him. Fear flickered in her eyes. “What happens then?”
Anything we want.
But he needed to back off. Piper was right. Everything was her choice. So, he sucked in a breath, and he let her go.
While she unlocked the door to her gallery, he scanned the street. He didn’t see any sign of Piper’s stalker, but the guy could be very good at hiding. It was late on a Friday evening, and the sky was already starting to darken. It would be easy for someone to hide in the darkness.
The bell over her shop gave a cheery ring as Piper slipped inside, and he entered right behind her, watching as Piper reset the alarm.
“I had already scheduled for the gallery to be closed today.” She put her keys on the counter. “I’d been out of town on a scouting trip before…” Her hand waved vaguely in the air.
“Before you came back and found your home trashed?”
A quick nod. “I’d intended to do some re-organizing in here next week. I gave my assistant last week off while I traveled. We were planning to start fresh Monday.” She let her hand fall. “Everything looks okay in here.”
Her gallery. For as long as he could remember, Piper had loved painting. When she’d been a kid, her shorts and t-shirts had always been covered with paint splotches. He’d thought it was funny, just kind of a Piper thing, until he’d actually seen her work.
Piper wasn’t just a good artist. She was phenomenal. Even at twelve, she’d painted things that—damn, he didn’t always have words for them. The woman had simply been born with a gift. She could make emotion explode off a canvas.
She’d just gotten better and better as she aged. And the gallery—hell, she didn’t need the place. But it had been her brainchild. Her work had been selling like crazy, and she’d started to get some national attention. She’d come up with the idea of opening a gallery to spotlight other artists, too. Emerging talent.
At least, that was what she’d told Ben. Because she hadn’t come to Eric with her plans.
Maybe one day, that would change.
She usually kept the gallery open three days a we
ek. The other four days, she worked on her art. She held big shows two to three times a month at her gallery, and he knew that they were always hits. He’d come to a few. Drank the champagne she offered. Watched her charm and impress.
That was Piper.
Everyone always loves Piper. Yeah, they sure as hell did.
“I want to go and check upstairs. I’ve got some of my new work up there, and I want to make sure it’s all okay. Give me a minute, will you?”
Her studio was upstairs—so that she could look out on the street below. So she could see the sunrise and sunsets. He knew she could get lost in her work.
He could, too. He could stare at her work for hours because he felt Piper in those canvases. She put all of herself into the art.
She hurried up the small, spiral staircase. Her steps echoed when they thudded over the metal stairs. Faint light from the setting sun drifted through the upper windows. He kept his gaze on her as she neared the second floor—her loft area. Her work area, her—
She disappeared, just for a second when she left the stairs. He waited for her to reappear.
“Eric!”
There was fear and anger in her voice, and he immediately bounded up the stairs after her. He grabbed the metal railing and rushed up, his heart racing, and when he cleared the top, sonofabitch, there was blood everywhere.
Every-fucking-where.
Chapter Seven
The truth sank in with his second, frantic glance. No, it wasn’t blood. It was paint. Red paint had been poured all over her floor. Thrown onto the walls. Thrown onto the canvases.
Shit. The canvases.
Piper stood—statue-still—in front of a large canvas. The red paint had dried in streaks on it. “I was almost finished with this piece. It…it was for a show I’m doing next month.” Jerkily, her head moved as she looked at the other canvases that had been covered in red paint. “They were for the show. I’ve lost them all.”
Rage poured through him.
Her hand lifted, as if she’d touch her canvas.
He rushed to her, catching her fingers in his. “Don’t touch anything, baby. I want my team out here.”
She blinked. “The alarm didn’t go off.” Her lower lip trembled. “After the break-in at my house, I came here. I looked downstairs. Everything was fine there, so I didn’t even think to come up here and look around. I didn’t know.” Tears filled her eyes. “He torched my home. He destroyed my work. He—”
Eric pulled her into his arms, pulled her against his chest, and wrapped her in his embrace. He held her tightly and wished that he could take away every single bit of her pain.
Even as he wanted to destroy the sonofabitch who’d done this to her.
“What is he going to do next?” Piper whispered. “What will he do to me next?”
“Nothing,” Eric promised her. “I’m not going to let him. I swear it.” The security system there was his. He’d find out why the hell it hadn’t sent out an alert. He’d review all of the camera footage and motion sensor data. He’d find out when the bastard had come to her place.
Then he’d get local traffic cam videos. He’d nail the piece of shit.
“We need to get out of here, Piper.” He was still holding her in his arms. “We don’t want to destroy any evidence left behind. I’ll have my team here within the next five minutes.”
“We should call the cops.”
Yeah, he would. But he wanted his team on scene first.
He stared down at her. Hated the tear that had slid down her cheek. His hand rose, and he brushed it away, his fingers lingering against her silken skin. “I will make this better.” A promise that went soul-deep. And the first way to make it better? Get her out of there. Take her to safety. “Come on, Piper.” He twined his fingers with hers and led the way downstairs. Every muscle in his body was tight with fury and tension. Piper had been hurt, again, by this bastard. That shit wasn’t going to keep happening. Not on his watch.
Before he took her out of the gallery, he texted his team. Eric knew he’d get an immediate response. They exited the building, he secured the door behind them, and his gaze swept the area as he looked for any potential threats.
And, sure-the-hell-enough, he saw a shadowy figure moving toward them. Eric pushed Piper behind him, shielding her with his body as the figure came closer. A guy, tall, with a quick pace and wearing a hoodie—
“Piper!” The shout came from the guy as he finally cleared the shadows. “Thought I saw lights in your place.” He took another step toward them. No, toward Piper.
“Stay the fuck back,” Eric snarled.
The man blinked and shoved back his hood, revealing bright, blond hair. “Uh, Piper? Everything okay?” His head cocked as he tried to see her body behind Eric. “This guy giving you trouble?” And his voice went rougher.
Eric’s gaze raked him. The man had tousled hair, a pretty-boy face, and he wore a thick hoodie and jeans. But near his wrists, when the fabric of the hoodie sweatshirt slid back, Eric could just make out the dark etchings of tattoos. There were tattoos sliding up his neck, too. Black, twisting lines.
The man had been close by…close enough to see lights in the gallery.
Figured the fellow must be—
“Mark,” Piper’s voice drifted in the growing darkness. “Someone broke into my gallery. Destroyed my work. We’re calling the police.”
Mark Rogue’s face hardened. “Seriously? Shit!” And he hurried forward, reaching out his hands—
Eric made sure he stayed between the guy and Piper. “I think that I told you already…stay the fuck back. There isn’t going to be another warning.”
Mark blinked. “Uh, Piper? This the new boyfriend?”
“No,” she said.
“Yes,” Eric fired in the same instant. “And I don’t like it when random bastards come out of the shadows and head for Piper.” Especially when he’d just left the twisted mess in the gallery.
Mark’s brow furrowed at their mixed responses. “Piper?”
“Eric is…a friend. And my, um, bodyguard?” The last seemed like a question.
Since she was unsure, Eric decided to help her out. “Friend, bodyguard, boyfriend. Whatever she needs me to be. Mostly, I’m the guy telling you that no one else is getting close to her.”
Mark’s hands clenched and unclenched. “Did someone really break into her place?”
“Yes,” Eric snapped. “And then we walked outside, and guess who came running up?”
Mark took a step back. Finally. “I would never do anything to hurt Piper!”
Eric wasn’t exactly ready to take the other man’s word for it.
“Piper, dammit!” Mark exploded. “Tell him I wouldn’t do this! You know me! Tell him—” And the guy surged forward. His hands were in angry fists and those fists seemed to be coming straight for Eric.
So much for finally getting the message to back up.
Mark lunged, Piper screamed, and Eric reacted.
He drove one hand into Mark’s stomach, then plowed a powerful punch into the guy’s jaw. Mark hit the ground with a thud. Eric stood over him, hands fisted, ready for another attack. “I told you…stay the fuck away from her.”
Mark groaned.
“What did you do?” Piper’s voice was hushed. Horrified.
In the distance, a siren screamed. Eric knew his team had alerted the cops. They’d all be reaching the scene soon.
“You just assaulted me…asshole,” Mark gasped as he shoved to his feet. His breath heaved in and out. “You won’t get another lucky shot again. You won’t get—”
“Don’t, Mark!” Piper yelled. “Stop this, now!” And she shoved between the two men. “Don’t do this.”
Her voice was shaking. She was shaking.
The siren grew louder.
Mark’s shoulders sagged. “I would never do anything to hurt Piper.” His gaze was on Eric. “I owe her too much.”
“Mark…” Piper shook her head. “You don’t have to—”
“I’m sober because of her. She saved my damn life. Literally took the bottle out of my hand and stopped me before I killed my dumb ass.”
The siren was louder. Closer.
“You think I’d ever do anything to harm so much as a hair on her head?” Mark’s voice was heavy with tension. “No, I wouldn’t. You’re dead wrong, bastard. Dead wrong.”
***
She’d seen Eric fight before. He’d fought plenty of times when they were kids. Always seemed to get into scrapes. And he worked out at the local boxing ring. Heck, she’d even met her ex, Carmen, when she’d gone to meet Ben and Eric at the gym one time.
Eric’s parents had started him and Ben in marital arts when they’d just been teens. Eric had loved everything he’d learned. He’d studied all the time, and he’d branched off into different styles, learning Taekwondo, karate, judo…But she knew his favorite form of defense was Krav Maga. Before she’d left for college, he’d even dragged her to classes. He’d said she had to be ready to defend herself.
So, yes, she knew Eric was strong. She knew he was fast. But he’d pounded Mark before she could so much as blink.
“The new boyfriend seems…way protective.” Mark’s voice was stilted as he approached her.
She stood next to Eric’s car, her hips propped against the side of the vehicle. At his words, she tilted her head.
“Protective…” Mark said again. “Fucking dangerous. Take your pick.”
Piper swallowed. Eric was talking to two members of his team and one of the uniformed cops who’d arrived. “He’s not my boyfriend, and he’s not dangerous.”
“Uh, yeah, tell that to someone who isn’t sporting a bruised jaw because of him.”
Right. “Some…things have been happening lately. He’s like—Eric is like my bodyguard, and when you lunged forward, he reacted, thinking you were attacking me.”
He closed the space between them. Stared down at her. “I would never do that to you. Would never want you hurt. I wasn’t bullshitting back there. You saved my ass.”