“Want a drink?”
“I’m on duty.”
I lowered my head, acknowledging his sense of responsibility. “Do you mind if I do?”
“Be my guest.”
I poured a glass and kicked off my shoes, swallowing a big gulp and topping it off before padding out barefoot onto the balcony. It was a big balcony, one that would have been delightful on a condo or a studio apartment in a place like New York. In the mood I was in, though, it was just an accessory that served to remind me of everything I’d lost to get to where I was now.
“Was it worth it?”
“What?” Akker asked from where he was leaning back against the solid wall of the building, all casual and erotic, almost like a model trying to pull off a dark, pouty sort of look.
“Stealing the girl?”
He thought about that for a minute. “It wasn’t worth all the lost time from my brother. But there were some things that came out of it that I wouldn’t take back.”
I sipped my champagne as I propped my feet up on a low table, watching the river flow down below us. “Did you go to law school, too?”
“Nope. Dropped out of high school and ended up getting my GED. I went into the military.”
“What branch?”
“Marines. Six years.”
“Is that how you got into security?”
“I suppose. When I left the service, I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Ever married?”
“Briefly.”
“To that girl?”
“Yes.”
“How brief is briefly?”
“Eight months.”
I glanced at him. “That must have been fun.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been through worse.”
I shook my head as I studied him, admiring the way he stood there, the way his body just seemed to be begging for attention. His shoulders were rolled forward, asking for a head to rest against them, his chest pulled back, needing fingers to dance over the dark buttons of his tuxedo shirt. His hips were thrust forward, his thighs heavy and slightly crossed as his ankles rested against one another. It was all like the prelude to a romantic scene in a romcom, one of those scenes where the heroine is angry with the hero, but can’t resist the way he’s looking at her, the way his hips just demand that her hands come to explore, to hold that perfect ass in their palms.
I cleared my throat, forcing my eyes away.
“What did your parents think of all that drama?”
Akker stood a little straighter. “I’m not sure they even noticed. Our parents… they were the stereotypical type who had children just because it seemed like the thing to do. I think it broke our nanny’s heart, though.”
“Nanny?”
“Constance. She was with us from the time we were infants until I left home.”
“Constance. I think Brock mentioned someone by that name.”
“She was more of a mother to us than even our biological mother.”
“Do you speak to them? Your parents?”
“No. They’re in Europe somewhere, retired and living happily in some villa. I’m not even sure in what country.”
“I guess that explains why I never met them. Brock told me they were out of the country and never elaborated.”
“They were always out of the country.”
“What a life!” I finished my champagne and set the flute down, wrapping my arms around my thighs as I leaned forward. “I’d give anything to have my mother back, and the two of you have a mother you’d rather not have anything to do with.”
“Some women are just not meant to be mothers.”
“Mine was. She was the kind who baked cookies and tucked me into bed every night, read me stories and held me through the aftermath of nightmares and then, later, breakups.” I bit back a sob; being here in this town, being so close to the place where she’d passed from my life, was making her memory almost palpable. “I loved my mother. I’d give anything to have her here with me now.”
“I’m sorry.”
I turned my head, looked over at him. “I’m sorry for you, that you never had that.”
He nodded, clearly agreeing with me.
The night was turning very dark. Too dark. I stood up and grabbed my flute, padding back to the mini fridge to pour another glass. “I should let you go,” I called over my shoulder to him. “I’m safe here in the hotel. No one can get through that door without a key.”
“I’d feel better if your security detail was outside, as pitiful as they are.”
He’d followed me into the room, standing closer than I’d expected. I turned, and he was just a few feet behind me, studying something on the table I hadn’t noticed before. It looked for all the world like a present, something wrapped carefully for some special occasion. It hadn’t been there earlier in the evening.
“Do you know what this is?”
“No.”
He squatted down in front of the table, studying the package from a straight line of sight. It made me nervous all the energy he was putting into staring at it.
“Femi must have left it here. No one else could have come into the room.”
“What about your security guys?”
“Even they don’t have keys.”
He stood again, lifting the package and carrying it out to the balcony. I moved to follow, but he barked at me, “Stay back!”
Not even a full second later, there was a pop and then an explosion. Dust and smoke billowed in from the balcony. I was frozen in place, not sure what to do.
“Akker?”
There was no response.
Chapter 4
Akker
My ears were ringing. I stumbled back, slammed up against the hard brick exterior of the building. So much smoke! My eyes were watering, burning from the acrid smoke.
The package had a certain smell to it. If I hadn’t brought it outside and caught a little whiff—and then threw it over the edge of the balcony—I might not have fingers right about now. But I could feel them, wiggling on the ends of my hands, still fully intact.
If only my hearing would come back.
I waved the smoke from my face, sliding with my shoulder against the building until I felt cool glass, then sort of fell into the main room of the suite. Eva cried out—and I heard her!—rushing toward me as the smoke seemed to clear. Or maybe it was just that I was beyond where the smoke was traveling. Either way, she rushed into my arms, clearly frightened by the explosion.
“What’s going on? What was that?”
Her hands were moving over my chest, up along my throat to my face, her fingers shaking ever so slightly. I took hold of her wrists and pulled her hands from my face.
“It’s okay. It exploded over the side of the rail.”
“What exploded? What’s going on?”
That was a good question. I pulled her away from the balcony doors, suddenly suspicious of everything else in this suite. What if the box was just the beginning? What if someone had planted something else in here?
The door burst open, two men flying inside with several security guards behind them. Eva cried out, rushing to hide behind me. I held my hand to her hip, trying to reassure her as much as protect her.
“Max,” I said to the one man who’d come that I knew, “we need to get her to a safe house.”
“I’ve already had them pull the car around to the front.”
I turned to Eva and took her face between my hands, recognizing the panic in her eyes. I needed her to be calm right now more than anything else.
“Listen; Max is with us. He was stationed just down the hall and probably heard the whole thing. Right, Max?”
“Right, boss!”
“This is why you hired us. We’re going to get you out of here and somewhere safe until we can determine what happened and whether you’ve been compromised here. Understand?”
She bit her bottom lip even as she stared up into my eyes, but already I could see the panic beginning to settl
e in her eyes. “Understood.”
“Good. Now, go upstairs and get out of this dress. As nice as it is, we need you to be a little less conspicuous as we slip you out of here. And pack a small bag.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Good girl.” I turned her around and gave her a light push, watching as she ran for the stairs. She glanced briefly at the balcony doors, but didn’t let it cause any pause in her step.
“What the hell?” Max demanded when I turned my attention back to him. The men with him were the night manager of the hotel and a couple of security guards. I ignored Max to thank the manager with a handshake that had a fifty-dollar bill hidden in it.
“If you could leave us to our business.”
“Of course,” the man said quite politely before ushering the two security guards out the door.
“What happened?” Max asked again.
I shook my head, glancing at the balcony myself. “There was a package left on the table. I smelled the explosives as I was taking it outside to open. I think moving it probably triggered something.”
“Lucky you didn’t lose your hands.”
“You’re telling me.” I glanced down at them for a second, thinking of Brock as I did. The irony was not lost on me. “Have you had any luck finding her hapless security guards?”
“Not yet. It’s like they just disappeared.”
“What about her friend… Femi? Do you know where she is?”
“Downstairs—room 223.”
“Have someone go drag her out of bed. I have questions.”
“Sure, boss.”
“We’ll take her to the house on Ashland. Send someone over there to make sure the coast is clear.”
“Anything else?”
I shook my head. “I’ll need you to stay with her once we get there. I want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.”
“No problem.”
Max headed out, pulling the door closed behind him. I took the stairs two at a time, pounding upstairs to check on Eva. I thought that she could hear me coming what with the sound my shoes made on the steps, but she apparently didn’t. She was standing in the center of the large bedroom, the door standing partially open, the dress a pool of silk on the floor. Her back was to me, the valley where her spine lived, the curve of her perfect ass, the length of those lovely legs all on display for my viewing pleasure. I couldn’t help but hesitate a moment, staring at skin that was like fine porcelain, a body that must have been made by the hands of God himself. Such beauty! Such perfection!
Every muscle in my body seemed to cramp up for a moment, refusing to move forward. Even my throat seized on itself, refusing to make a single sound. I just stood there, watching her stare down at something she’d left on the end of the bed.
The spell broke when she reached for a thin sweater, the side of one beautiful breast revealing itself in the movement. I bit my lip the way she’d done downstairs, trying to keep myself from becoming completely juvenile and drooling like a babe in a candy store.
I finally gained some control of myself and stepped back a few treads as quietly as I could before I stomped my feet hard on the treads, calling to her as I repeated the trip to the top of the stairs.
“Are you just about ready?”
“Just a moment!” she answered, kicking the door closed with the ball of her foot.
I stood outside the door, leaning against the wall with my shoulders, my hands deep in my pockets. When she opened the door a moment later, she was fully dressed in a pair of jeans and that thin sweater, her thick hair hidden under a ball cap.
“Will this do?”
“It couldn’t have been better if I’d picked out your clothes.”
She smiled, her fine skin taking on another of those little blushes she seemed unable to control. I wanted to pull her into my arms, steal a kiss, the desire so overwhelming that I actually pulled a hand free of my pocket and lifted it in the space between us. But I caught myself, gesturing toward the room.
“You have a bag?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She turned and ducked into the room, snatching a small bag from a chair near the closet. She quickly began tossing things into it from the dresser. I stepped into the room, fascinated with the rustic feel of the place, the sort of torn and worn look on the walls. It seemed to fit her well, even though I knew this wasn’t her home, not her chosen décor. But, still, it seemed right.
“Where are we going?”
“To a house the company owns across town.”
“Somewhere safer?”
“That’s what we’re hoping.”
She paused to zip up the bag, tossing the strap over her shoulder like someone who’d done it hundreds of times before. “What about Femi? We should go get her and take her along.”
“Max is already on it.”
She paused in front of me, her ocean-deep eyes troubled. “How do you think that box got in here? Does this stalker have access to my room somehow?”
“I don’t know. That’s part of the reason we’re getting you out of here, so I can find out.”
She nodded. “I need to call my dad. I don’t want him to hear about this on the news and be worried.”
“It won’t be on the news. We’ve got it contained.”
“Surely someone else saw what happened! How can you—”
“We have our ways.” I touched the tip of her nose with my index finger simply because I couldn’t help myself. “It’s going to be okay.”
She nodded almost as if she believed me. I just wished I believed myself.
We left the suite and slipped into the stairwell tucked into the back of the hall. I took her down two flights, then over to where the service elevators were hidden, taking her out via a pre-chosen route that would reduce the chances of running into some fan who might reveal the fact that she was leaving the building. We didn’t need her whereabouts broadcast over social media or on some cheap tabloid website.
The car was waiting in an alley, the engine humming as I climbed behind the wheel.
“Where’s Femi?”
“Max is taking her to the office. We need to talk to her first, find out if she saw anything suspicious. I’ll bring her to the house when we’re all done.”
“I don’t think Femi would have anything to do with something like this.”
“But she was still in the room when we left earlier. If someone dropped off the box, she might have taken it inside without realizing what it was.”
“If Femi had anything to do with this, it was innocent. I guarantee it! Femi has worked with me for four years. She’s the sweetest girl… If you knew her…”
“We’re not accusing her of anything.” I glanced over at Eva. She was staring out the window, her shoulders stiff. “We’re only trying to protect you.”
“I know, I just… It seems like whenever stuff like this comes up, everyone in my life becomes a suspect. It’s a little wearisome, you know?”
“I can imagine.”
“Can you believe I chose this for myself? If I’d known where it would all lead me, maybe I would have skipped that little photo shoot all those years ago.”
“But then you wouldn’t be who you are now.”
“I don’t even know who I am now.”
We drove in silence the rest of the distance to the safe house. I pulled directly into the garage and came around to help her out, taking her hand as I did. Her fingers were ice-cold despite the summer heat still lingering in the air. I drew her to the door that opened onto the kitchen, but she stopped, forcing me to stop too.
“I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. I know you put yourself on the line back there with that package. It didn’t go unnoticed.”
“It’s the job.”
She nodded, a touch of sadness in her eyes. “I still appreciate it.”
I brushed a hand over the curve of her jaw. It’d been a tumultuous day for the two of us, I supposed. Between our impromptu meeting and then the party and ever
ything else, it felt like we’d gotten to know each other intensely very quickly. I drew her close to me, my thumb caressing the curve of her chin.
“I’m going to find out who put that box in your suite and I’m going to make sure he can’t come anywhere near you. I will not let anyone hurt you.”
“You keep saying that, but you don’t know.”
“I do know. Ox told me about the text messages, the threats. I know you’re afraid. But you don’t have to be, as long as I’m here.”
The stiffness went out of her bones, out of her muscles. She sank into me, resting her forehead against the front of my shoulder for a long moment, her shoulders shaking slightly like a sob was rushing through the length of her body. I slid my arms around her, drawing her closer to me. For a long moment, she let me hold her. The way her body melted against mine, the way she felt in my arms, was perfect. Too perfect.
It’d been a while since I’d held a woman like that. I told myself that was why it felt so good. This was a client, an old girlfriend of Brock’s. As beautiful as she was, as incredibly erotic, I was a professional on a job. I couldn’t let her get to me.
But, hell, she already was.
“Let’s get you inside,” I said, gently pushing her away from me. “I need you to be inside. Safe.”
She nodded, the fear that had been written on her face gone now. We went inside, her curious eyes moving around the large kitchen as we pushed through to the living room. A sectional was spread out luxuriously in the center of the room, facing a large-screen television. I grabbed the remote and turned it on, dialing through the channels to find some stupid reality show I thought she might be interested in.
“Max will be here in a few minutes to stay with you.”
“Max who?”
“He’s one of ours, the guy who came into your room earlier. He’s very capable of keeping you safe.”
“Where are you going?”
There was clear alarm in her voice. I put the remote down and tried not to look at her as I fussed with a stack of magazines on the table, afraid that if I saw that fear on her face again, I wouldn’t be able to leave.
Caballo Security Box Set Page 20