by Cynthia Eden
He leaned in close. “Someone had to clap.”
“Ben brought me roses, but you—”
“I brought the fucking roses. Ben just gave them to you because I figured if I handed them to you, you’d throw them in the trash.”
Her eyes widened. “I wouldn’t have done that.”
Good. “Think about the times in your life, Piper. When things are good, I’m there. When things are bad, I am there even faster. Because I will always be there. You’ve been a fixture in my life for as long as I can remember, but unlike Ben, I don’t want to just be your friend.”
“What do you want?”
“Everything.” His lips lowered and pressed to her lips. A soft kiss. A tender one. He wanted her. Wanted to claim her. Wanted to make her laugh. Wanted to protect her. Wanted to grow old with her at his side.
Was that so much to ask?
He just wanted forever, and he was working hard to get it.
First step…get rid of her stalker.
Second stop…Eric was going to try and get Piper to fall for him.
He let the kiss linger a moment longer because kissing Piper was one of the true pleasures in life. Her hands rose to press to his chest. A delicious moan trembled in the back of her throat.
He would have enjoyed fucking her right then and there. Eric put that item on the to-do list. Piper in an elevator. Piper anywhere and everywhere. But first…
Get rid of the stalker.
He pulled back. Put some much-needed space between them because his dick was shoving hard against the front of his pants. His hand flew out and slammed into the control panel, starting the elevator again. “When you’re safe, I’m going to tell you exactly what I want. And hopefully, you’ll give it to me.”
She swallowed. “I feel like I don’t really know you.”
“Maybe you don’t.” She’d just seen the image he projected. The guy who’d spent years trying to keep his hands off her because he thought she was meant for someone else.
But Piper wasn’t sleeping with Ben. And she was staring at him with need in her golden eyes.
The elevator dinged. The doors opened.
Piper’s lips parted—
“What the hell happened?” Simon demanded.
Eric growled.
“Did the elevator get stuck? I was about to call in maintenance.”
Eric turned to face his VP. And he saw the faint laughter gleaming in the guy’s eyes. Using his body as a shield, Eric lifted his hand and let one of his fingers do the talking for him.
Simon choked out a laugh.
“Did you find him?” Piper’s voice. Strained. She hurried from the elevator, and Eric followed her out.
All signs of laughter left Simon’s face. “Yes, we think we found him. Turns out, the guy rented a house just down the street from your home. One of those online rental things. That’s how we tracked him—we saw the credit card purchase come up. I’ve got a team outside the location right now because his rental car is there—another ding on the credit card—and they’re making sure he doesn’t leave until we get to the scene.”
Anticipation had Eric rocking forward. “Let’s go.”
Simon nodded, looking satisfied. “Knew you’d want to be the first to question him.”
Eric headed forward, but Piper’s hand flew out and curled around his wrist. “Shouldn’t we call the cops?”
“We don’t have evidence tying the guy to anything yet,” Simon told her as his lips twisted. “But Eric and I tend to be pretty good at getting perps to trip up and confess.”
Her eyes searched Eric’s. “I want to be there.”
“Oh, no,” Simon said immediately. “Bad plan. You’re the target of this guy’s obsession. If he sees you, then he might flip out.”
Her chin notched. “If he’s obsessed, then me being there could be a good thing. Maybe I can throw him off his game. Get him to speed up that whole confession bit.”
Eric knew this plan was bad—and there was no way he was putting her at risk. “Or he sees you, and he attacks. Maybe he’s got accelerants in that place just like he used on your home. He sees you and torches the house he’s renting. Or he tries to torch you.” No way. “We don’t let civilians go out on cases like these, baby. It’s for your safety.”
“Civilians?” Her brows rose. “You’re a civilian.”
Technically, yeah, he was. Though he’d done plenty of side work for Uncle Sam over the years.
Simon gave a low whistle. “Don’t worry, Piper. I assure you that Eric knows how to play plenty rough and dirty.” Again, laughter slipped from him. “She has no idea who you really are, does she?”
His words were too close to the conversation in the elevator.
Eric saw that truth sink in for Piper. No, she didn’t really know him. Didn’t know what he’d been doing all these years. He hadn’t just been sitting behind a desk. Hadn’t just been inventing tech and counting his millions as they rolled in.
He’d gotten his hands dirty plenty of times. Like Simon, he’d even started to crave the rush of adrenaline that came from the hunt. But there was one thing he craved more than the adrenaline…
And she was glaring at him. “I don’t like this.”
Eric kissed her. “I’ll be back before you know it. If he’s guilty, I’ll make sure Grady is locked away.”
“Eric—”
He saw the approaching agents behind her back. Julia and Rick. “Talk to Julia. Make sure you’ve seen all the footage we took from your gallery.” Because they’d been able to retrieve surveillance footage before the asshole had cut the system. A damn good cut job because the perp had known how to sever the security without sending out an alarm. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
A hard shake of her head. “I don’t like this.”
He wasn’t going to risk her. Another kiss, and then he headed down the hallway with Simon. He didn’t look back, but he was pretty sure he could feel Piper’s glare burning right through his skin.
Simon didn’t talk to him again, not until they were in the parking garage, and Eric was behind the steering wheel of the Benz.
Then Simon gave a patently false cough. “Um, you kissed her.”
Eric shifted the car into reverse. “Yes.”
“That mean you two are a thing? This case get personal for you?”
A jerky nod. It hadn’t just become personal. It always had been.
Silence from Simon. And then… “Does she have any idea what you’d do for her?”
No, and, hopefully, she wouldn’t ever have to find out.
***
Julia’s caramel eyes were wide. Rick was frowning at her. Looking at her like Piper had two heads. She didn’t—just the one. Piper rolled back her shoulders. “Where is the video footage?”
“This way.” Julia pointed down the hallway. To the left.
Rick kept frowning. “You and the boss…together?” His voice was deep and rumbling, and the guy bore a very close resemblance to Vin Diesel. Next to him, Julia was petite and charming, a bundle of energy and…in that moment, shock.
But Julia wasn’t asking if Piper was involved with the boss. Though, judging by Julia’s expression, the woman didn’t need to ask.
Crap. The kiss had been far too public—both kisses. And Eric hadn’t seemed to care who saw them.
Luckily, Ben hadn’t been there. Ben hadn’t seen.
Does it really matter if he does?
The question slipped through her mind, and Piper wondered…just what was she protecting? Who was she protecting?
Julia elbowed her partner as she got her surprise under control. “You don’t get to ask questions like that. It’s not tactful. How many times have I told you that you have got to get more tact?”
Rick shrugged his massive shoulders. His tense expression said he didn’t give a shit about tact.
A long sigh escaped Julia. “Come on, Piper. I’ll show you the footage.”
Piper followed her into one of the rooms down the hallway.
She didn’t want to follow Julia, though. She wanted to run after Eric. To go with him to confront Grady.
But, yes, she got why Eric wanted her to stay behind. Only she wasn’t the staying behind type.
Just as they neared the small room, Ben appeared. He hurried toward her as he double-timed it down the hallway. “Eric texted me—told me you were down here and that he was going to confront Grady.” His jaw clenched. “Wish he’d waited for me.”
“Join the club,” Piper muttered.
Once inside the room, Julia keyed up the security feed and the monitors to the left began to show Piper’s gallery.
“This is footage from nine days ago—the last day the security system worked. Pay attention to the customers and let me know if anyone sticks out in your mind,” Julia instructed her.
Piper pulled out a nearby chair and focused on the monitors. She saw her assistant, Jessica, with her long braid of red hair.
“Has Jessica been brought in for an interview?” Ben asked before Piper could. “I mean, she was in the gallery. If someone screwed with the security there, maybe it was an inside job.”
Piper started to shake her head.
“We’ll be talking to her,” Julia cut in. Rick stood silently by her side. “We always start with those closest to the targets. She’s out of town now, supposedly down in Florida—”
“Her vacation,” Piper added. “She went down to visit her mom in Tampa.”
Julia and Rick shared a quick, fast glance.
Uh, oh. “What’s wrong?”
Julia winced. “According to the intel we’ve already gathered on your assistant, Jessica’s mother died last year. Wherever she is, she’s not with her mother.”
Chapter Eleven
“He would have been able to watch her house perfectly from here.” Eric braked his car and eyed the quiet, colonial-style, brick house. The sunlight shone down on the house and on the blue SUV in the drive.
Grady Fox’s rental. A rental that had been due back yesterday.
Eric’s hold tightened on the steering wheel. “He was right here, and we didn’t know it.”
Grady had been close enough to watch the blaze. Close enough to watch Piper.
Had he been watching the first night when Eric had taken her away from that very street?
Eric killed the engine and jumped from the vehicle. He’d been sure to park a bit down the road, just as his agents had done.
Simon hurried to his side. “What’s the plan here? Guess we’re not going to play things cool, huh?”
Screw cool. Eric stalked toward the house, moving quickly up the broken sidewalk even as his gaze swept the perimeter, looking for any signs of a threat. The windows were closed, and the curtains drawn.
He rolled back his shoulders. His hand skimmed over the hood of the rental. Ice cold. The vehicle hadn’t been used recently.
“Not even going to play the good cop, bad cop routine?” Simon’s voice was a whisper as he shadowed Eric’s movements. “Just going in with guns blazing?”
They were both armed, but no, he didn’t intend to fire his way inside.
Why bother, when the door was unlocked?
As soon as he stepped foot on the porch, Eric noticed that the front door was ajar. The lock didn’t appear broken in any manner. The door was simply open, a bare inch. As if someone had forgotten to shut it.
“No,” Simon muttered. “Not a fucking good sign.”
No, it wasn’t.
Eric lifted his hand and pounded on the door. “Grady Fox! Grady, my name is Eric Wilde, and I need to talk to you—” The door slid open a bit more beneath his pounding fist.
The smell hit him. It wafted out from the opening in the doorway, and Eric closed his mouth immediately. Dammit, he knew that smell.
Behind him, Simon was already cursing.
“We need the cops here,” Eric said flatly. “Call Detective Layla Lopez.” A cop he knew and trusted. A homicide detective.
After this call, he’d expect the Atlanta PD to be all in on the investigation.
After all, it was pretty hard to ignore a murder. Carefully, he entered the house, making sure not to touch anything. The smell assured him that a body was inside. Decomposition was hard to mistake. But just in case someone else was in the place, he had to take a look.
The body was in the den. Tied to a chair—arms roped down and ankles secured to the legs of the chair. Stab wounds littered the guy’s chest and his head sagged forward, dirty blond hair hanging over his forehead.
“That’s Grady Fox,” Simon muttered. “Poor bastard.”
Someone had tortured Grady. Taken slow and careful time with him. Eric knew a torture scene when he saw one, and Simon sure as hell could spot one, too.
Eric also knew a thing or two about lividity. Sure, he was no ME, but judging by the way the body had, um, turned, he suspected Grady had been dead for at least two or three days.
He didn’t set the fire at Piper’s place. He’d probably been dead long before that happened.
Eric looked at the blood that soaked the guy’s body. All of that dark, red blood.
He’d been worried that Piper’s stalker would accelerate. The guy already had accelerated. He’d committed murder, and there was going to be no going back for the bastard now.
They backed out of the house, and Eric reached for his phone. The stench of the body filled his nose and mouth. He could freaking taste that horror. He retreated and dialed the agent he knew he could trust.
Julia answered on the second ring. “Yeah, boss.” Her voice was brisk. “What did you find?”
“A dead body. Grady was murdered.”
“What?”
“You stick to Piper like glue, understand? You and Rick make sure you’re her shadows. Wherever she goes, you follow.”
Piper’s ex had been brutally murdered—right down the street from her house. A cold knot formed in Eric’s stomach.
“Who’s the vic?” Julia asked him, her voice completely without emotion.
“The guy who was our number one suspect. Grady Fox.”
***
“Who’s the vic?”
At Julia’s low words, Piper stiffened. She’d been staring at video footage of her gallery, watching the customers come in and out, but as soon as she heard that question from Julia—
Rick swore.
Ben stopped tapping his fingers on the desk.
Piper whirled her chair around so that she could see Julia.
The other woman nodded and kept her easy grip on her phone. “Understood. You can count on us, boss.” She ended the call. Her gaze immediately went to Rick. “Protection detail, level six,” she said briskly.
He gave an almost imperceptible nod.
“What is happening?” Piper demanded. “Who’s the victim?”
She could see Julia trying to decide what to tell her. She wasn’t in the mood to be handled, though. Piper just wanted the truth. “Did Eric find Grady?”
Julia swallowed. “Yes.”
Now Piper leapt to her feet. “Did Grady hurt someone?” Her heart squeezed in her chest. “Who? Who did Grady hurt? Who—”
“He didn’t hurt anyone.” Julia’s gaze assessed Piper. “I’m sorry, Piper, but Grady is dead. Eric and Simon are calling the cops to the scene now.”
Dead? What? Then a new fear hit her. “Eric! He’s okay? He’s—”
Ben jumped up, too.
But Julia raised a hand. “Eric is fine. He and Simon found the body. I’m sorry, but that’s all I know right now.”
Piper didn’t completely believe her. She thought that was all Julia was willing to share.
“We’re your guards,” Julia continued doggedly. “Eric wants to make sure we don’t let you out of our sight until—”
Piper marched for the door.
“What are you doing?” It was Rick who barked out the question—as he blocked her path. “You need to finish reviewing the footage.”
“I reviewed the footage three time
s already. I told you the names of all the customers there, and I told you the artist who came in to drop off his work is Richard Milo. I told you everything that I knew, and, now, I’m going to find Eric.”
Rick shook his head. “He doesn’t want you at the scene.”
Too bad. “Grady is dead. This whole nightmare is about me. I can’t just sit here!”
Ben shuffled closer to her. “Suicide? Is that what happened? The guy was obsessed with Piper and he took his own life?”
Her heart squeezed in her chest.
“It wasn’t suicide.” Julia’s flat answer.
She does know more than she’s saying.
Ben gave a rough sigh. “Well, I’m doubting the fellow died of natural causes.”
Silence.
A shiver slid over Piper. “I’ve got level six protection.” Whatever the hell that meant—it just sounded intense. “I’ve got it because Grady was murdered, wasn’t he?”
Rick didn’t say a word. She’d noticed the guy had a tendency to take the silent routine way too far.
Piper glanced over her shoulder at Julia.
Julia gave a slow nod.
Oh, God. Piper whipped her head back toward Rick. “Get out of my way.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I have orders—”
“Come with me then, but I am getting to that scene. Grady is dead? He was murdered?” And—the part that pierced straight to her soul—was the fear that he’d been killed…because of me. “Give me the level six protection, fine, but I am getting to that house. I have to know what’s happening, and I’m not just going to sit on the sidelines. This is my life.” A life someone was screwing with.
Murder. How could this be happening? And why? What had she possibly done that had driven someone to kill?
***
Piper wasn’t allowed close to the crime scene, but that was hardly a surprise. There was evidence to collect. Procedures to follow. A body to move.
A body…
God!
Grady was dead? Truly? When they arrived at the scene—Piper, Ben, Rick and Julia, a ragtag and tense group—the cops had already been there.
Neighbors were out and gaping at the activity. When she looked down the street, Piper saw her home. The side of her house was still blackened from the fire. Yellow tape blocked off the area.