“I’ll handle it.” Yvonne wasn’t going to invite further discussion about her decision to set the Aegis team up in the office. She’d had her ass chewed out last night for that decision.
Fleeing the kitchen was a good idea right about now. She pushed to her feet and picked up the laptop.
“What on earth are you wearing?” Mom chose to frown now.
Yvonne glanced down. She’d thought she might get away with the knit slack-like pants and a button down blouse, but her luck was not with her today.
“Put on some appropriate clothing before your father returns home. You’d think I raised a bunch of animals.”
“You look nice to me,” Nolan said with a shrug.
Yvonne froze.
Mom stared at the back of Nolan’s head.
He also pushed to his feet, turning to give Yvonne’s mother a polite smile. “But what do I know?”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Mom’s upper lip curled, and she waved her hand, dismissing Nolan.
Great. Her mother and the possible father of her baby were getting off to a beautiful start. Just what they all needed.
TUESDAY. CHEVY CHASE Club, MD.
This was too easy.
Lee watched Robert Krieger take a practice swing. He wasn’t what one might expect the founder of a tech company to be. Robert was a tall man built for power, but who knew how to use his head. Lee expected the patriarch of the family to be a difficult target to take down, unlike his sons.
He was going to need back-up for this and his clients should get a warning he was going to come in hot.
Talk about a golden opportunity.
He pulled out his phone and hit dial on his client’s contact. The line rang twice.
“It’s me,” Lee said without waiting for the person’s greeting. “I’m going to have an opportunity to grab Robert Krieger for you. I suggest—”
“No.”
“No?”
“Robert Krieger didn’t work on the deal. He will know nothing.”
“Okay, but he’s leverage.” Lee wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste.
“One of the children will suit our needs better.”
“There are three. Which one? All you told me was that I’d need to kidnap a Krieger. Now you’re telling me they aren’t all equal. So which is it?”
Silence stretched on broken only by a rhythmic tapping. “The oldest brother or the daughter. The others are useless.”
Of course he wanted the two who seemed to have security glued to their ass.
Lee blew out a breath. “Look, if you want those two I’m going to have to up my price. I’ll need more manpower.”
“I’ll send you people.”
“That’s not—”
The line cut off.
Lee pulled the phone from his face and glared at the screen. This was what he was reduced to?
TUESDAY. GRIMALDI PLACE, Chevy Chase, MD.
Nolan stood his ground while Mrs. Krieger studied him. Over her shoulder he caught the last glimpse of Yvonne heading down the hall and back to work.
He’d grown up with an overbearing, perfectionist mother. Even now nothing he did was good enough for her. His father had broken under that pressure, fracturing their already damaged family even further. Nolan’s mother was dead set on being miserable these days. Mrs. Krieger wasn’t his mother, but she wasn’t all that dissimilar either.
“Is there anything I can help you with, ma’am?” he let his voice drawl.
“Do your job,” she snapped and turned on her heel. Her furious tap-tap-tapping shoes faded as she retreated to the other side of the house.
To hover over her sons?
That seemed her normal mode.
Nolan remained where he was, listening to the house settle in her wake.
He wasn’t technically on duty right now. He was pulling the night shift which meant he should be sleeping. But he wasn’t tired and there wasn’t much to do. It was barely past noon. He could sleep later.
When he’d come into the kitchen, he hadn’t expected Yvonne to put her work aside and talk to him. That had been a pleasant surprise.
It seemed as though they were engaged in some kind of dance. They weren’t intimate, but she was no longer hostile toward him. At times he even thought that Yvonne wanted him. But he couldn’t be certain it wasn’t wishful thinking.
Maybe he was playing with fire here.
At first he’d had a hard time seeing how the woman he’d slept with and the woman he watched over were the same person. Now he was beginning to see them as layers. She hadn’t needed to guard herself when they first met. He’d gotten to know that woman, the one this frosty exterior protected.
Nolan wanted her to let him in. He liked the woman he’d met in the sparkly dress. She’d been a breath of fresh air. He got why she had to be this way. It was similar to how he had to handle his family, but for vastly different reasons.
He had half a mind to go track Yvonne down and convince her to step away from work for a while. Perhaps he could tease that other side of her out for a bit. Except he didn’t get involved with clients. It was too messy. But things with Yvonne were already complicated. Could they really get worse?
Nolan turned to stare out at the lawn.
He might not like to admit it, but he’d inherited his mother’s need for everything to be in order. Hell, half the reason he’d gone into the Marines was to apply structure to his life because it had been spinning out of control.
Yvonne disrupted that order, but he didn’t want to put her back in her place. He’d tried looking at her as a client, but he couldn’t forget. And he didn’t want to either.
He glanced over his shoulder.
Screw it.
All they had was one life.
He left the kitchen for the main hall that ran the length of the home. Wood-paneled walls were illuminated by brass lamps with flickering flame lights and stained glass fixtures overhead. Every dozen or so paces another oil panting hung on the wall, like this was some kind of museum.
The library and study were across the hall from each other, both doors shut. If Vaughn were watching the cameras posted in the hall, he’d see where Nolan went. He trusted that his team mate would be discrete. After all, it was Vaughn who slipped into more beds than anyone Nolan knew.
He didn’t knock, just let himself into the library.
Yvonne’s head snapped up from her laptop, eyebrows arched, lips parted as though she were about to speak.
“I think your mom likes me.” He grinned, knowing that statement was furthest from the truth.
“She’s very protective.”
Protective?
That wasn’t a word he’d use to describe Mrs. Krieger, but what did he know?
Yvonne held up a finger. “I need five minutes to send this off. You don’t have to leave, but I need to concentrate.”
Nolan could wait if she meant to give him her time.
He had hours to kill.
While she tapped away at her laptop Nolan turned his attention to the shelves of books lining the walls. The whole room looked like something out of a movie with its dark, polished shelves reaching up a good twenty feet in the air. A rolling ladder provided access to books too high to reach. The windows at the end of the room had been covered by long drapes. A desk sat in front of the windows, its surface tidy.
He couldn’t imagine growing up in a place like this. It didn’t feel like a home. Even their bedrooms were more about the appearance of grandeur than comfort. Places like this might look good in a magazine or in a picture, but he didn’t want this for himself.
“Just...about...finished. Done.” Yvonne closed the laptop for a second time.
“Now what?” He turned toward her.
“I think my plan is to avoid my mother for the rest of today.” She slid down in the chair.
“Would you like some help with that?” He was ready to admit that whatever had pulled him into Yvonne’s orbit in Vegas was s
till at work. He didn’t know what it was about her, only that he couldn’t get her out of his head.
“It’s easy, really. Just stay in my room and out of sight.” Yvonne shrugged.
Nolan stopped, a bitter taste in his mouth.
Yvonne was a beautiful, smart woman and her family treated her as though she didn’t matter. He couldn’t begin to understand that. Wrapping his brain around it hurt to the point he didn’t want to try.
“What?” Yvonne straightened.
He opened his mouth to brush the question away then thought better of it. How many people did that to her?
“I was just thinking it’s a fucking shame so many people treat you like you’re invisible.”
Yvonne’s mouth opened and her eyes widened.
Why stop now?
“Our mothers are a lot alike. Nothing’s ever good enough for my mom. Even me.” He smiled because it was more polite than what he wanted to say.
“I’m not—she doesn’t...”
Nolan watched the play of emotions on her face. She was too intelligent to not realize her place in this family, how the hierarchy put her at the bottom, and that pissed him off. He’d watched her do all the work to make her older brother look good. She kept her younger brother in line while also giving him some slack. And did they ever seem to notice or appreciate it?
He stalked around the long table to where she sat. She didn’t move, even to get away from him. He grabbed the back of her chair and turned it so she faced him. Her wide, hazel eyes stared up at him.
Surprised because he saw her? Because he fucking noticed?
“Tell me I’m wrong,” he said.
“Can we not do this?” She sighed, weariness slumping her shoulders. “It’s not malicious. It’s just how she was raised. It doesn’t make it right, and she’s not going to change. So—can we not?”
Nolan frowned down at her. He’d chafed against his mother’s overbearing nature to the point he’d had to leave. Thank God for the Marines who gave him direction. But those were his choices. And he was a different person. He wanted to press the issue, to poke at it, but why? What was he trying to do here?
“Sorry.” He took a step back. “Usually I know my place better.”
“No, that’s...” She pushed to her feet and shoved a hand through her hair.
She was barefoot again. For some reason that heightened his desire to scoop her into his arms and hold her. She was so damn small, and yet her curvy little package contained one hell of a sensual punch.
Yvonne tipped her chin up and his brain stopped working. He wanted to stand there and stare into her color-shifting eyes.
“My family isn’t perfect, but...they’re my family. Does it bother me how I’m treated in comparison to my brothers? Sometimes, yeah. But, do I really have room to complain?” She glanced around the room, the wealth on display. “I chose to go into the family business, no one made me, just like no one is forcing that on Douglas.”
Nolan wasn’t sure he agreed. Just because she’d been born into a family with wealth and privilege didn’t mean she should be treated the worse for it. But it was also her life. And he was getting awfully invested in it for someone he barely knew.
“Thank you,” she said softly, her eyes locked on his chest.
“For being an asshole? Again?”
She chuckled and finally glanced up at him. “You aren’t an asshole. At least not intentionally.”
Nolan knew a few people who would disagree, but they weren’t here.
The smile dimmed and her eyes searched his face. “The job you went on, did everyone come home okay?”
The question punched him in the gut. That’s where her head was? Fuck. That hadn’t been an easy job. “Yeah. It was a close call, but everyone went home.”
“Good.”
“Yvonne, look, I’m really sorry—”
“Don’t—seriously—don’t worry about it. I think we have more important things to worry about now.”
She had an expert way of putting herself last. He wanted her to be mad at him, to demand better treatment, because that was what she deserved.
Nolan took a step toward her. Yvonne stood her ground, tilting her chin to look up at him. She was a wonderful set of contradictions. It was frustrating and admirable all at the same time. There was something about her that made him want to look out for her, kiss her, hold her. Because someone should realize how precious she really was. She deserved someone that saw her for who she was, who cared about her and put her first.
He reached up and cupped her cheek, fascinated by her softness. “It’s my job to be concerned about you.”
“For my safety,” she corrected. “You can’t blame this on the job.”
“And what is this?” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. Her cheeks were a lovely shade of pink.
“This?”
“Yeah. What is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not that guy who gets involved with clients.” He placed his left hand on her waist and she swayed toward him. “You should know I don’t do this.”
“This?”
“Yeah—this.”
He bent his head and kissed her. Her parted lips were soft and they fit together just like he remembered. He lifted her up on tiptoe and she gripped his shoulders—holding onto him, not pushing him away. Her little hands fisted his shirt, and she pressed against him. She tasted as good as he remembered. His cock throbbed between him, recalling just how good the rest of her was.
A voice echoed down the hall.
Yvonne jerked her head around, staring at the door.
Another voice joined the first. Theodore and Douglas. Whatever they were saying, it was impossible to make it out. The two voices faded until the loudest sound in the library was his breathing.
“Oh my God.” Yvonne dropped her head forward, butting his shoulder.
He squeezed her to him.
“You can’t tell me Douglas hasn’t been caught doing worse.” Nolan kissed her cheek.
She chuckled and turned her head, some of that sparkle back in her eyes that had first captivated him. “What hasn’t Doug done?”
“You want me to find out? I know a guy.”
“That was a rhetorical question. I don’t really want to know what my little brother has or hasn’t done.” Her eyes drifted shut.
Nolan didn’t hardly want to breathe for fear of breaking the moment. They’d gone from practically hating each other to this in a few days. He wasn’t sure what—if anything—could happen between them. They came from two different worlds. But it didn’t change the fact that he wanted to kiss her again.
8.
Tuesday. Grimaldi Place, Chevy Chase, MD.
Yvonne had no business standing here in Nolan’s arms. It was a mistake. Another unnecessary complication in what was bound to be a contentious situation once they got past the current set of problems. But it felt good to lean on Nolan and a part of her felt vindicated that he saw through all her family bullshit.
He even smelled good. It wasn’t just soap; it was something else. And not the cloud of cologne her brother always wore. Subtle. Woodsy.
This was a bad idea, and she didn’t care. Right now she wanted to be selfish and pay the consequences later.
Lips pressed against her brow then her temple. She lifted her chin, knowing full well what she was asking for and Nolan didn’t disappoint. His mouth found hers and all at once her pleasure points came alive. Her nipples hardened and her sex throbbed.
Was this her body remembering him? Or was it something he did to her?
He tugged on her hair, tilting her head back. He kissed down her neck and she shivered.
“N-Nolan—wait.”
What the hell was she saying?
She shouldn’t stop him. He should keep going.
“What is it?” His nose drew a line up her cheek. He kissed the corner of her mouth.
“Is this a good idea?” She wasn’t naïve. She knew what she wan
ted to happen if he kept kissing her.
He slid his hands down to her hips and squeezed her to him briefly. “I don’t know. Probably not.”
“Oh.” That wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear.
“What is it you want?” he whispered into her ear.
She shivered. Memories of his mouth on her and getting tangled in the sheets came roaring back.
Nolan’s mouth was so close to hers she felt the brush of his lips on hers as he spoke. “Vegas was the best sex of my life.”
Heat raced up Yvonne’s neck. He couldn’t be serious. Of course it had been good for her. She didn’t exactly have much to compare it with. But for him to say that? Was he serious? A man like him wouldn’t hurt for company. And she was the best? That was highly unlikely.
“You don’t have to say that.” She slid her hands down to his chest.
His grip on her waist tightened. “It’s the truth. Some people just fit better than others. You fit me.”
Nolan kissed her then and all she could do was hold on to him as he devoured her mouth. Her mind had decided that the rush of lust and desire she’d felt for him were made better by a fuzzy memory. She’d been wrong. It was better now than she remembered. The way he touched her, how every fiber of her being seemed to sit up, yearning for more of him.
Their relationship—however it was defined—was already complicated. Would it be so bad to give into him? To have what she wanted? Him?
He palmed her ass, lifting her onto her tip toes until she had no choice but to cling to him.
She groaned his name, the sound muffled by his lips. “Nolan.”
“What?” His answer was a rough sound that brought back memories of barked orders and pleasure.
Her whole body felt too warm. She had to be blushing. He made her want to ask for her desires as though she finally could.
Yvonne twined her arms around his neck and kissed him gently, keeping it brief. She peered up at him, emboldened by the want she saw looking back at her.
“This might not be a good idea, and I don’t really care right now. I want you.”
A grin spread across his face. “How do you want me? Wrapped up with a bow?”
Dangerously Involved (Aegis Group Lepta Team, #2) Page 10