by Aliyah Burke
“I don’t need you to come back, Mr. Coleman. It will be handled, as you pay me to do so.”
“Don’t you hang up this phone.”
“Ms. Grider, I’m going to need you to put the phone down so we can run some more tests.”
“What the fuck is going on?”
His demand went unanswered as the phone clicked off. With a low growl, he redialed her number and swore another litany of curses when it was directed straight to her voicemail.
“What’s wrong?”
He snapped his gaze up to the glass and met Tara’s reflection in the smooth surface.
“Something with Wendy. She was with a doctor and she’s never sick.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
Her question startled him. He wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by that, nor was it what he’d been expecting her to say.
“What do you mean?”
She blinked and held his gaze with unerring calmness. Red flags popped up.
“Where else would I be then here? I’m looking for you to spend time with you after you finished work. I thought we had plans for the day.”
“Your assistant is in the hospital or with the doctor. Obviously you’re worried about her, so why aren’t you on your way back there?”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to leave? You’re actually trying to push me away, back across the country?”
The real question was why did that piss him off so much? After what they’d shared, why was she doing that? Didn’t she feel this connection between them growing? Didn’t she want this to work between them like he did?
“I’m saying a man who obviously is this worried about an employee should be on his way back to make sure that she is okay. If she was fine and you knew it, you wouldn’t be here cursing and looking like you wanted to rip out my window and yell.”
“Come with me.”
She drew back like he’d reached out and struck her across the face. “What?”
“Come back with me. Meet Wendy, stay at the house for a bit.”
Her gaze shuttered and he figured he’d just lost her by asking her to come back with him to meet Wendy.
“I can’t just up and leave my work behind, Drew. I have a job that I’m expected to do.”
“You’re also supposed to be lying low as there’s a hit out on you. What better place to do that than in a different country?”
Okay, yes, he was warming up to this idea the longer he thought about it. Get her back to Switzerland with him and go from there. If he had to use Wendy as an excuse, then fine. He had no qualms about doing that. As far as he was concerned, this was war. One he intended to win.
The stiff way she held herself informed him she wasn’t as warm to this train of thought as he was.
“So you want me to up and leave my sisters and family who are also in danger, to hide away in a country that hopefully no one will be trying to kill me in?”
“Yes.” Andrew held up a hand before she could say anything else. “Let me put it to you like this. If they are trying to find you, perhaps they will leave your family alone.”
She crossed her arms. “Or, they will hurt one of them to draw me out, in which case my leaving has only placed them in even more danger.”
“Can we at least run it by the detective? It would free up other officers and perhaps they would be able to keep a better eye on the family.”
“Let me make this as clear to you as I can. It’s not the family, it’s my family. My parents, my sisters. My family.”
Andrew shook his head as he stomped into her personal space, forcing her to tip her head back to maintain eye contact with him—as he’d known she would do.
“Let me make this clear to you, Tara Lynne Monroe Coleman. Your family is my family. We’re married and I’ll fucking be damned before I allow you to put yourself in unnecessary danger.”
“I’m not,” she seethed. “I’m doing my job. Which isn’t as important to you as yours, I get it. So run along home and make sure your assistant is fine.”
“Don’t start that shit with me again. I’ve told you that there isn’t anything between us. Never has been, never will be.”
“Didn’t ask because I don’t care.”
He stepped closer, noting the rapid increase in her breathing along with the pulse in her neck. Canting his head to the side, he gave her a sexy half grin, the kind he knew she loved and couldn’t resist.
“When are you going to stop lying about that? You know you care. You know I care about you, too. I’m just waiting for you to admit it out loud. That you love me and want me back in your life.”
“I didn’t say any such thing.”
He put them nose to nose. “You didn’t have to, Tara. We may not have been together these past few years, but I still know you. I learned so much about you that short time we were together. I can read your body language.”
“Lust isn’t even remotely close to love, so if you’re reading anything, then it’s wrong.”
He drifted his gaze to her lips and back up to those incredible black eyes. “Are you sure about that?”
The tip of her tongue peeked out and he groaned, willing his cock to behave.
“Yes.” Even with her adamant response, there wasn’t any way not to hear the breathiness of the single word that passed her lips.
He leaned closer still until his lips were a hair’s breadth away from hers.
“Care to make a wager on it?”
Chapter Ten
Tara inhaled a sharp breath as the plane banked to the left and she spied the amazing display of scenery that came with being in Switzerland. She’d missed it more than she’d believed.
The man across from her appeared to be dozing but she wasn’t going to place a wager on that either.
“You okay?” His deep voice rumbled along her skin like heated velvet.
“I’d forgotten how beautiful it is.”
“It is one of a kind, that’s for sure.”
She nodded, watching the snow-capped mountains as they began their descent. About to ask him if he could give her the name of something she’d been thinking about, she cut her gaze to him only to find his eyes locked on her. “You’re not even looking at it. How do you know it’s so beautiful and one of a kind?”
Those blue eyes burned her and she shifted on the seat.
“I wasn’t talking about the scenery. I was talking about you.”
Heat flared within her core. Her clit craved just a swipe from his fingers. Or tongue. Then again, so did every other inch of her.
She didn’t reply to his comment. Part of her continued to be in shock at the mere fact she’d been convinced to fly with him back to Switzerland. Not just her sisters and parents had been on board, but also her boss. That was the main thing that had her all confused. Why had he been so keen on her heading out? Was she so easily replaced?
“Stop thinking things down that road.”
Blinking multiple times in rapid succession, she pulled her focus away from the stunning view and pointed it toward her husband. Also, in her opinion, a stunning view and not at all a hardship to look at.
“What?”
“Why they were all so agreeable to you coming with me. No one wants you gone and no one thinks it’s that easy to replace you.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“I told you I know you, Tara. And while I would love to say it’s our amazing connection that let me into those thoughts and feelings of yours, you said it out loud.”
“That’s not exactly fair.”
“Never said I would be fair about this. That’s not the point, though. The one thing they want, what we all want, is for you to be safe.”
“My life isn’t any more important than that of my family. I would give mine for them.”
“We know this. All of us do. But let me ask you this, Tara. How would it make your parents feel to have to bury their middle child? Any of their children?”
“And
I’m supposed to be happy about burying them?”
“No. Of course not. But it is the natural progression. We are not supposed to be outlived by our parents. This will be okay. They’ll all be fine and ready to see you when you get home. Detective Savvas appears very capable of doing his job.”
Tara leaned back in her seat and mulled over his words. He had some valid points and while she could shoot them all down, why do it? Her boss wasn’t about to let her back to work right now—he had damn near insisted she take the time. Her caseload was covered and despite her not liking the prosecutor who was taking them, she couldn’t argue that they didn’t know their job. So what if she found him to be something that had just walked out of the ooze.
Instead of engaging him in further conversation, she leaned back in her chair as they headed for the runway. Tara drew into herself as they landed. She didn’t speak as they went from the plane to a waiting car.
As she slid into the back of the running SUV, she scooted all the way to the far door, keeping the middle section open between her and Andrew. The man behind the wheel wasn’t one she recognized, but then again, she’d been gone for five years. It made sense for him to have new staff.
Doesn’t it?
Christ, she was second and third guessing everything, which she hated with a passion. Clenching her hands into tight fists, she took three deep breaths then forced herself to relax. Although she felt his gaze on her, she refused to glance over in Drew’s direction.
Would it even matter? She heard him on the phone, speaking Romansh. He spoke all the languages that were recognized here as national languages but her favorite to hear from him was Romansh. So while she continued to stare out of the window, she sat attuned to his low timbre and the way the words rolled off his tongue.
As they pulled up to the hospital, unease churned with renewed vigor in her gut. And again, she hated it. This was his assistant who was in the hospital. And regardless of whether he was fucking her or not, she hadn’t been raised to wish ill on anyone.
Still doesn’t mean I want to go in and visit the woman he very well may be having relations with.
She could hear in her mind both Eva’s and Shai’s admonishing tones. This wasn’t proof, and as an ADA she should know so much better than to be thinking that was going to be an issue when he’d told her more than once that he wasn’t sleeping with her. Regardless of what the future would hold for them, Drew was her husband and until she had evidence to the contrary, she should be giving him the benefit of the doubt.
The driver held the door for them and as she inched over to his side, Drew reached in a hand to assist her out of the vehicle. She couldn’t ignore the warm fuzzies she got from something so simple as touching him.
It wasn’t her fault. That was her body’s base reaction to the man and there wasn’t any force on earth that would get her not to react this way to him. When she tugged on her hand, he didn’t release her, only tightened his grip and drew her nearer to his larger form.
They strode through the hospital without any discussion with anyone. Realizing he knew where he was going, she lengthened her diminutive stride so he didn’t have to slow down for her anymore.
As they paused before a room, anchored to him as she was him as she was, there wasn’t any way to miss the way a shiver ran through him. Concern bypassed her anger and uncertainty and she angled her body into him, offering what silent support she could.
When he met her gaze, she gasped at the amount of uncertainty in his blue eyes. This wasn’t the man she was used to seeing nor the one that she wanted to see. Her Drew was confident, unflappable and sure of everything.
“Go on,” she whispered.
God, I slept on the flight over and I don’t know if he got some bad news about what was going on with her.
His eyes beseeched her, all without him saying a word. Holy fuck, this was breaking her heart. Mustering her courage into a tiny smile, she never dropped his gaze.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
That seemed to appease him for he nodded and knocked on the door before entering. He tugged her along behind him, they stepped into the room and she left the door cracked. Every inch of her was asking to remain back, but she forced herself to keep up with him as he approached the bed.
“What the fuck?” His growl was low and vibrated with danger.
Tara peered around him and swore as well. The woman, who would have been a beauty when not covered by bruising and cuts, lay in the hospital bed. Her blonde hair was limp and uneven around her head.
“Go find the doctor, Drew.”
“What happened to her?”
Tara swung in front of him, hand against his chest. “Drew. She’s sleeping, don’t wake her. Go find the doctor and see what information he can provide.”
The moment he was out of the door, she picked up the chart. She wasn’t a doctor, but her sister was, and she’d picked up a few things over the years, listening to her and visiting her at work. Plus, through her work with the district attorney’s office, she had to look over charts on occasion.
So she read it.
Anger built as she realized that this woman had been brutalized. And yet, still all she’d wanted to do was finish his work. That was loyalty. She’d put the chart back down by the time Drew came in.
Tara was sitting quietly beside the bed, staring at the woman, wishing she could take away the pain. Peering up at Drew, she waited for him to say something. Anger clouded his gaze as he stared at Wendy.
In that moment, she realized it wasn’t anything other than a platonic affection in his expression for her. Her realization was solidified the second his gaze slid from Wendy to her and heated like the sun’s core.
“Well?”
“They can’t tell me everything about her condition, but she’s been beaten and hit by a vehicle.”
“How’d she call you?”
“My guess is she was still on an adrenaline high when that happened. Soon after the phone call ended, she passed out.” He scowled and shook his head. “This is my fault.”
“How so?”
“Because I left her here to handle this business deal alone. It’s a fucking hostile takeover and someone obviously wanted to get their point across. And when I find out who did it—”
“You’ll report it to the authorities and allow them to handle it via due process.” She didn’t alter her tone as the two men walked into the room. Tara recognized cop right away. The country didn’t matter—cops all had that presence about them.
He snapped his gaze to her before turning around and staring at the men. “What do you want?”
She sighed. This was going to be a long day. Tara was tired, but she also didn’t need Drew getting locked up for saying something wrong. Or antagonizing the law.
Andrew listened as the men introduced themselves. Honestly, he didn’t give a damn who they were—he wanted to know what they were going to do about what had happened with Wendy. At Tara’s suggestion, they stepped out into the hall so they wouldn’t disturb Wendy’s rest. She reminded him to behave himself with nothing more than a look.
Finally, they left, not giving him any more than he didn’t already know from the doctor because it was an active investigation. He scowled. For a moment, he rested his head against the dark door and just struggled to rein in his temper.
Back under control, he pushed into the room. Nothing had changed—Tara still sat by the bed, but she was on her phone, typing something, and Wendy still lay there looking like a broken doll.
Tara looked up and held his gaze. “Okay?”
“No,” he snarled in her direction. “How can I be? My assistant is lying there beaten and there’s nothing anyone can tell me that the doctor hasn’t already. And why isn’t she waking up?”
“Hard not to when you’re in here bellowing like an enraged bull without any sense.”
Wendy’s voice reached him and he was beside her in a second. She cracked open her eyes and looked at him, her green eyes c
loudy with the effects of her drug drip, but he saw her in them.
“If you wanted some time off, Wendy, you could have just put in a request.” Andrew tried to keep his tone light for her sake, but inside he wanted to cry and rage.
She gave a weak smile. “I did. It’s on your desk.”
Andrew cut his eyes to Tara, then back. “I want you to meet my wife.”
“Already have. While you were out there talking to the police.”
“You didn’t tell me she was awake when I walked back in?” He rounded on Tara, who continued to sit in her chair, staring at her phone, not paying him any mind.
“Apparently,” she commented without looking up.
He would deal with that later. “What happened, Wendy, and no more hedging. I want to know everything.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and she shook her head. “It’s not got anything to do with work.”
Andrew shook his head. “How do you know this for a fact? You said you were hit by a car.”
“I was, but I also know who was driving it.”
“And that would be?” Anger and the need for revenge began filling him, an inch at a time.
She shook her head. “I’m not telling you. Because if I do, you’ll go do something stupid and halfcocked.”
“And why not? You think I’m going to let some asshole treat you like this and stand by doing nothing?”
Andrew could feel Tara’s stare boring into him and he didn’t look away from Wendy’s face. Right now he couldn’t handle her disappointment or disbelief in him that there wasn’t something romantic between himself and his assistant.
“Let it go.”
“Drew.”
Okay, he couldn’t ignore her now, not when she called his name, even if she was still calling him Drew. Arching an eyebrow, he turned his focus to her.
Tara had risen from the chair and stepped back from the bed. With nothing more than her gaze, she directed him over to stand beside her.