by L A Dobbs
Dino’s hackles rose. “What the hell are you implying? I’m objective.”
“All I’m saying is that you and Jan have history, and maybe I should’ve considered that more seriously when I made the assignment.”
“You think I can’t do my job?”
Jan tensed and leaned away from him to meet his gaze. “What’s wrong?”
Dark circles shadowed the delicate skin beneath her eyes, and her whole body was shaking, and he felt like an enormous ass. Here she was, petrified out of her mind by this crazy asshole who was stalking her, and all he could think about was his own goddamned pride. His own selfish needs.
Jesus. Maybe he was no better than Lou.
Dino hung his head and took a deep breath, making his apologies to both Blake and Jan. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”
“Yeah, you were.” Blake snorted. “But you’re forgiven, under the circumstances. Call me if anything changes, all right?”
“Will do.” He ended the call then shoved his phone back into his pocket and gathered Jan close once more.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Blake.”
“Did you tell him about… those?” She pointed behind her to the flowers while keeping her face buried against his chest. “Calla lilies are my favorite.”
“I know.” He winced. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
A knock on the door sounded, and the receptionist peeked her head in. “The police are here.”
“Okay.” He moved Jan off his lap and to the seat beside him, cupping her cheeks in his hands and smoothing his thumbs over her cheeks to whisk away her tears. “Will you be all right to talk to them?”
She nodded and took a deep breath and straightened, giving Dino a rueful smile. “Yeah, I can do it. I don’t fall apart over a few blood-soaked flowers.”
“Good.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead then smiled down at her. “That’s my brave girl.”
Two officers entered along with several technicians who began dusting the place down for prints and searching for other evidence. At the cops’ request, he led Jan back out into the sunlit lobby then sat by her side as she answered questions for over an hour.
By the time the police left and her dressing room had been cordoned off with crime scene tape, she looked ready to drop on the spot. He gathered her bag for her then led her out to his SUV and helped her into the passenger seat. As he leaned in to buckle her seat belt for her, she placed her hand atop his and gave him a weak smile, the polar opposite of the diva one she’d sported earlier. “Thanks.”
“For what?” he asked, using his body to block any nosy paparazzi that might be lurking around. He knew they patrolled the police radio waves like a band of vultures. He wanted to get her home and safe before they swooped in on this situation.
“For taking such good care of me.”
“Always.” He shut her door then jogged around the SUV to climb in behind the wheel and start the engine. As he backed out of his parking spot and headed toward Summerlin, he glanced over at her again and found her watching him. He reached over and took her trembling hand, needing the contact. “Always.”
18
An hour later, they were back at her house, where Jan couldn’t seem to sit still, while Dino instructed someone back at Rockford Security to scrutinize the surveillance tapes and then spoke with the police on the phone. She paced the living room, glancing sideways at him and hoping to catch snippets of his conversation, but so far she hadn’t heard anything useful.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Dino looked up and caught her staring then flashed her a small smile. “Good. Okay, great. Thanks. I’ll tell her.”
He ended the call then stood and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders to stop her in front of the fireplace. “Okay. That was the detective we spoke with at the studio. They sent the flowers for testing at their lab, and it wasn’t human blood, thank God. Animal. Cow or pig—they’re still running the DNA to be sure. There are several meat-packing plants around, so that would make sense.”
Jan nodded and kept her gaze lowered, not wanting him to see how much the fact that any blood at all was used—human or otherwise—bothered her. She bit her bottom lip and muttered a quiet, “Okay.”
Dino exhaled long and slowly then slipped his fingers beneath her chin and lifted it, forcing her to meet his eyes. “Are you all right? Really?”
“I’m fine.” She winced and pulled free from him to take a seat on a nearby armchair. “Just tired.”
“Well,” he said, crouching in front of her chair and taking her chilled hands in his, “why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice long, hot bath. I’ll check things out down here while you’re gone, then maybe we can order a pizza and just sit around and watch movies the rest of the day. How does that sound?”
Jan blinked several times to clear away her tears, but once they started again, there was no stemming the tide. “I can’t…I-I’m sorry, but I just can’t…”
Before she knew what was happening, Dino had pulled her into his arms again, cradling her against his strong chest, the steady thump of his heart the most reassuring sound in the world to her at that moment.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, between sobs. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Shhhh.” He stroked her hair, his voice rumbling under her cheek. “You’re scared. We both are.”
Jan wrinkled her nose and looked up at him. “You’re scared too?”
“Petrified.” He snorted. “But it’s my job to hide it.”
“You don’t have to hide it. Not with me.” She sniffled and rested her forehead against his warmth. “I just keep seeing those flowers over and over again, all that blood dripping everywhere. I’d never forgive myself if someone got hurt because of all this.” She couldn’t suppress the shudder that ran through her at the thought of Dino getting injured, or worse, because of her. “I couldn’t survive it.”
He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “And I’d never survive if anything happened to you, sweetheart. Never.”
His lips drifted across her hair to her temple, and Jan lifted her face toward him, their eyes locking, their mouths mere inches apart. In his deep-blue eyes she saw a yearning to rival her own, but still, she had to ask.
Without thinking, she rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his, softly at first, then more insistent as his arms came around her and his hand slipped into her hair to hold her in place, cradling the back of her head. He started to pull away, but she fisted her hands in the front of his shirt, refusing to let him go. Not this time. “Please,” she whispered, her words heavy with want. “Please, Dino. Stay here with me. Please help me to forget about … that.”
His breath hitched at her plea, and she felt rather than heard his acceptance as his body relaxed against hers. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her chest ached with the intensity of how much she wanted those words to be true. But they weren’t committed to each other romantically, no matter how they kept falling into old habits.
Getting her emotions, or her heart, involved at this point would be unwise.
As he lowered his mouth to hers for another tender kiss, Jan slumped against him and sighed. Too bad her heart, and her emotions, had belonged to him a long time ago.
Not that she would tell him that.
Not until she was sure he wanted her in his life.
Not until he said those three magic words he’d never said before, the ones that would prove to her he wanted her more than any other, the ones that would prove once and for all that he belonged to her and she belonged to him and no one else existed.
Until then, she’d keep her feelings tucked away and to herself, no matter how it might break her heart to keep them hidden.
19
Dino awakened in stages. First, he became aware of the warm body snuggled in beside him in bed. Next came the scent of floral perfume and sweet, wa
rm woman. Finally, the soft silk of Jan’s hair draped over his arm and down his chest brought him back to reality.
He blinked into the darkness and smiled. He was here, with Jan. Where he belonged.
Careful not to disturb her, he raised his free hand to his face and rubbed his eyes then glanced over at the nightstand table. Night had fallen, but it was still relatively early, only eleven thirty. Plenty of time for sleep.
He snuggled in closer and rolled to his side, gathering Jan close again and spooning her from behind. She fit him so perfectly, all her soft curves melding into his hard edges like she’d been made just for him. He still couldn’t quite believe that after all this time, all these years, they were finally back together again.
Dino had just started to drift off again when his phone buzzed from his jeans pocket somewhere on the floor.
Shit.
He tried to ignore it, but it just kept vibrating over and over and over.
Reaching one arm over the side of the bed, he tried to fumble for them without actually having to leave the comfort of the nice, warm bed, but no luck. With a sigh, he extricated himself from Jan’s sleeping form then tossed his legs over the side of her bed and stood. He didn’t want to turn on the lights and wake her too, so he felt around with his bare feet on the floor, picking up and discarding clothes as he came across them until he finally located his pants in a wadded-up ball near the far wall.
After mumbling a curse, he pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans and tapped the screen on. Five missed calls, all from the same number. A very familiar number.
Shit, shit, shit.
He’d hoped it might be Rockford Security or his friend from the police department calling to say they’d found some new information about Jan’s stalker, but no. Dino shook his head and hit Redial, thumping his bare foot on the carpet while he waited.
Someone picked up on the third ring.
“What the hell is going on? It’s the middle of the night.” He didn’t wait for her greeting, didn’t need to. Stacy never called him to socialize anyway.
“Dino?” Her shrill, tight voice carried over the line, and his blood froze. She sounded close to hysterical. Something was definitely wrong, something more than a cash shortage. “Dino, I really need your help.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Jan was still asleep then lowering his voice to a whisper. “Where are you?”
“The alley behind Binion’s Casino.” Her choked sobs made his already-rising tension skyrocket. “Please, Dino. Please, I really, really need your help. Please, can you come?”
He sighed and stared at the ceiling. Part of him said to stay away. Every call with Stacy sounded like an emergency until he got there and all she needed was his wallet, not his help. The other part of him, the one that had grown up with an alcoholic, abusive father who used everyone and everything as his personal punching bag refused to turn away from this damsel in distress. “Fine. I’ll be there in half an hour. Don’t leave.”
He ended the call then stalked back to the bed to find the rest of his discarded clothes. After locating his underwear, he sat on the edge of the mattress to pull them on. Behind him, Jan murmured in her sleep and turned over to face him.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, her voice groggy as she propped up on one elbow. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.” He turned and gave her a quick kiss then stood to pull on his jeans and zip them closed. “Nowhere you’d want to know about, anyway.”
Jan sat up higher and ran a hand through her mussed hair. “Of course I want to know.”
He flipped on the bedside light and grabbed his T-shirt from the floor, tugging it on before hanging his head and placing his hands on his hips. “It’s Stacy.”
“Stacy?” Jan scrunched her nose. “My cousin Stacy?”
“Yeah.”
“But how—”
“We’ve sort of kept in touch since high school. Nothing more than casual friendship,” he added when she gave him an incredulous look. “She knows I work in security, and she calls me sometimes when she needs help.”
“What kind of help?”
Cursing, he went searching for his socks and shoes then plopped down in a chair across from the bed to put them on. “Just help. She doesn’t always make enough at her waitress job, so sometimes she needs help. You know, making ends meet.”
“So you give her money?”
“Sometimes.”
Jan shook her head, scowling. “Why didn’t she ask me? She’s never even mentioned keeping in touch with you, let alone seeing you on a regular basis. I’m her family. Why wouldn’t she ask me?”
“Probably because you are family. People get weird when it comes to money.” Once he’d pulled both of his boots back on, he stood and walked back to the bed, bending to kiss her then smoothing his thumb over the frown lines between her brows. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.” Jan threw back the covers and stood, entirely too cute for his own good. He couldn’t help staring at her pert little backside while he pulled on his jacket. “I’m coming with you.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“I don’t care.” She bent to grab her jeans from the floor, and all he wanted to do at that moment was snuggle back into bed. Except with his conscience and her current mood, that wasn’t an option. “She’s my cousin and the only family I have left. I’m coming with you whether you want me to or not.”
Dino sighed. This wasn’t the way for her to find out about Stacy’s issues. “I really don’t think this is something you want to see.”
“Too bad.” She finished dressing then pulled her tousled hair back into a messy ponytail. “C’mon.”
He followed her downstairs to his SUV then waited while she locked up and set the alarm system. Twenty silent minutes later, he pulled into his normal spot near Fremont Street and jammed the transmission into park. This late at night, you’d think the place would be empty, but not here in Sin City. This place went full tilt, twenty-four, seven. He climbed out of the Tahoe and waited near the front for Jan to join him. She hadn’t looked at him once the entire way over, let alone spoken to him. He wasn’t exactly sure what he’d done, but somewhere between snuggling under the covers and standing here beneath the neon lights, he’d stepped in it good.
“Where is she?” Jan asked, glancing around at all the tourists, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “I don’t see her.”
“She said she’d be in the alley behind Binion’s.”
“Alley?” Jan let him lead her across the busy roadway then shook off his touch once they were under the glittering LED canopy of Fremont Street. “Why would Stacy be in an alley?”
“How much do you know about Stacy’s life?” Dino asked as they weaved through the crowds. “What she does when she’s not working?”
“Not much, I guess.” Jan frowned. What was he talking about? Stacy and she were close. Or so she’d thought, but now, thinking back, she realized that Stacy had been acting odd, secretive. And why hadn’t she answered her recent phone calls? “Why? Is she in some kind of trouble?”
“You could say that.”
They rounded the hulking blue façade of Binion’s and stopped at the end of the dimly lit alleyway behind the building. Beneath the orange glow of a single streetlight, Dino spotted three people—Stacy, and two men. One guy he recognized from the Rockford Security files, a notoriously vicious loan shark named Vinnie Matusa. The other appeared to be his hired muscle, if his crooked nose and broad bulk were any indication.
Adrenaline pumped hot through Dino’s bloodstream as his instincts kicked in. He pushed Jan toward the shadows and held her by the upper arms. “Stay here. Don’t come out until I say.”
“But—”
“No. No arguments.” He pointed to the men down the alley. “Those guys would just as soo
n kill you as look at you. They don’t care who you are. All they care about is their money. Now stay here where it’s safe. Understand?”
She exhaled sharply. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” He dropped a quick kiss on her lips then squared his shoulders. He wished he’d grabbed his gun out of the glove compartment of the Tahoe, but since he hadn’t, his fists would have to do if it came down to it. As he approached the trio ahead slowly, he sized up the hired thug. Even as in shape as Dino was, that guy had a good fifty to seventy-five pounds of extra muscle on him. Dino’s best bet would be to go for the SING—Solar Plexus, Instep, Nose, Groin—then get the hell out of there fast.
After a deep breath, he stopped several feet away from them and kept his tone as calm as possible. “Hi, Stacy. What’s going on here?”
This close, he could see her smeared makeup, her eyes red and swollen from crying, the growing bruise on her cheek. In his book, people who beat up on anyone smaller or weaker than themselves were cowards. He clenched his fist at his sides and forced his rage to calm. Losing his shit in this situation wouldn’t help anyone, even if beating the crap out of these guys would make him feel better. He might have done it too, but with Jan back there in the shadows ... he couldn’t take the risk.
“Dino,” Stacy said, her tone pleading as she wobbled unsteadily on her high heels. “Please.”
The loan shark, Vinnie, eyed him up and down, his thin lips curved into a sneer. “Yeah, Dino. We’ve been waiting on you.”
“Really?” He met the shorter man’s gaze directly. “Why?”
“Your lady friend here can’t pay up. She says you can give her some cash.”
Dino sighed and met Stacy’s sorrowful gaze. “I already gave her some cash.”
“Not enough, apparently.” Vinnie smiled and tugged Stacy in closer to him. She cringed, and he laughed. “I think she forgot to ask for the interest too.”
“Interest?” He gave the loan shark a disgusted look. “All this is for two hundred bucks?”