He was already on his way through the yard. He could see her garage door sitting open, see the exhaust coming from the pipe. He had his hand on the pistol grip beneath his shirt, ready to pull it if necessary.
“I see you,” she said. “How did you—?”
“We’ll talk about that later.” He reached the garage and darted in to the driver’s side of her car. Her eyes were wide and frightened as she rolled down the window. “I’m going in. Stay here. I need to put you on hold and call somebody, but don’t hang up, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Put the window up.” He didn’t tell her that if he wasn’t back in three minutes she needed to book it out of there. He’d make sure Colt and Ty took care of her.
She did as he told her and he drew the gun from the hidden holster at his waist. Then he put her on hold and dialed Colt.
“Yo,” his teammate said.
“Did you motherfuckers see anyone go into Maddy’s house?”
“What? No. Why?”
“Because she just called me. I’m here now.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Stay and watch for trouble. I’ll clear the place. If there’s nobody here, we need to discuss this.”
“Copy.”
Jace ended the call, tucked the phone into his shirt, and breached the door. It took him only a few minutes to clear the house. There was nobody inside, but the open window in her bedroom gave him pause. He checked the sill for scrapes, then shoved the pane closed and locked it. He took out his phone and unmuted Maddy as he stalked back through the house.
“It’s safe,” he told her. “Turn off the car. I’m coming.” When he got there, she was still inside, her forehead on the steering wheel. Her cat had two paws on the passenger door windowsill. Jace could hear the meowing even with the windows up. He pulled open the driver side door and Maddy looked up at him, took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I overreacted. I must have.” The cat darted for the open door but Maddy caught her. “No, Kitty-girl. Not happening.”
“You didn’t overreact. Never think that. It’s always better safe than sorry.” He called Colt, who answered on the first ring. “Nothing here. But a window was open. Back bedroom. Need to check the surveillance.”
“We should have gotten a motion alert. Hang on.” Jace waited while Colt checked the video feed of the camera they’d installed on a tree nearby. He could hear his teammate swearing in the background. “No feed. The damn thing is dead.”
Jace felt a chill sweep down his spine. “That’s not typical.”
“No, definitely not. The battery should have been good for a few more days at least.”
“We need to sweep her house for devices.”
“On it. Be there in a few.”
Jace ended the call, his insides boiling with anger and even a little bit of fear. For Maddy. Her window was open and they had a dead camera? She’d gone inside her house like everything was normal, but somebody could have been waiting for her. If they had been, she could have been killed and he wouldn’t have known it for hours. The thought chilled him to the bone.
He held the car door while Maddy emerged with her little black and white cat. She took the animal inside and set her down on the kitchen floor while Jace closed the garage and then closed the kitchen door behind him. When she rose, she faced him with an apologetic smile. “I should have called the police. I don’t know why I called you.”
“If you’d called the police, you’d still be waiting. Not because they don’t do a good job, but because they’re stretched thin and responding takes time. Better that you called me.”
She tilted her head. He knew what was coming next. “How did you get here so fast? And where’s your car?”
This wasn’t a conversation he’d wanted to have just yet. Still, there was no way around it. “You feel okay to leave your cat for a few minutes?”
“I think so. Why?”
“Lock the door and come with me.”
She grabbed her keys and they went outside. He took them from her and slid the key into the lock, making a mental note that she needed an alarm system. And cameras of her own.
He threaded his fingers in hers and led her across the street. “Where are we going?” she asked as they hit the sidewalk.
“Not far.”
He took her up the walkway to the front door. Then he pulled the screen door and knocked. Colt swung it open a moment later, his gaze landing on Maddy with a frown. “Dude,” he said. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Maddy?”
She stood on the stoop with eyes that darted between them. Her jaw hung slightly open as she recognized Colt. Color stained her cheeks. “I don’t… I can’t… You’re spying on me?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but it’s necessary. You could be in danger.”
Her skin mottled with anger. Jace began to think this wasn’t going well at all. When she smacked her hand against his chest, shoving him back, he knew it wasn’t.
“Fuck you, Jace Kaiser! Fuck all of you! How dare you do this to me?” She flung her arms wide. “Was it all a set up? Lunch? Kissing me? The things you said?”
Colt’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. Ty wasn’t visible but he also wasn’t far enough away not to hear. Jace knew he was appalled as well. Jace turned his back on his teammates and grabbed her wrists, forcing her arms to her sides before she could do damage. He didn’t doubt that she would if left to her own devices.
“It wasn’t a set up,” he growled, bending his face close to hers. “None of it. I’ve risked a hell of a lot for you—and I’m still fucking doing it. Do you think these guys are happy to know I just compromised them? Compromised the mission? We’re here for your safety, Maddy. Because you could be in danger and I’ll be goddamned if I’ll let anyone hurt you. I’d fucking kill anyone who tried.”
Her gaze fixed on his for a long moment. Her jaw went slack. She was still red, and she still trembled. But maybe he’d gotten through to her. Somewhat.
“You could have told me,” she whispered.
“No, I couldn’t. And I shouldn’t be telling you now, but I can’t keep lying to you, Maddy. If I have the ghost of a chance with you, I have to tell you the truth. I know that, and I’m doing it. So give me some credit for that at least.”
“It’s not a set up? You weren’t romancing me for the mission?”
“No. I like you. I’ve told you that more than once.”
“I know you have. But I don’t know if I believe you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Maddy wanted to believe him. So much that it physically hurt. But how could she? Nothing about Jace Kaiser was simple. He’d even admitted to her that his name wasn’t real, though he’d sworn it was the one he used now. But was it all a game? An elaborate set up? Why?
Her gaze darted behind him to the man she recognized from their trip out of Russia. Another man came into view then. He smiled at her, but she didn’t smile back.
“Better bring her inside,” the man from the plane said. “We have to call Ian.”
Jace’s nostrils flared but he stepped to the side and motioned for her to go up the steps. “Maddy.”
She threw a glance over her shoulder. Kitty was alone in the house. Not that it was a problem, but someone had broken in. Or she thought they had. What if they came back?
“Your cat is fine,” Jace said. “Whoever was there is long gone. But we can go get her if you like.”
“No. She was traumatized enough when I flung her in the car. But I don’t want to be gone long.”
“You won’t be.” He reached for her arm and she shrugged out of his grasp.
“I don’t need your help.”
His hand dropped to his side. “Okay.”
She stomped up the steps and into the tiny living room of the mid-century ranch house. The walls were paneled but someone had painted them white at some point. She’d never actually bee
n inside the house before, even though she’d lived across the street from it for many years. It had been empty for so long that she’d been surprised to see activity recently. Now she knew.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared at the three occupants of the house. They had a lot of computer equipment set up in the room.
“All this to spy on me. Wow.”
“After what happened in Russia, did you just think we’d let you go back to your life like nothing happened?” Jace asked.
Ugh, why did he have to be so handsome? So commanding and forceful? And why the hell was she attracted to commanding and forceful? She never had been before. All the guys she’d ever gone out with were nice guys. The one she’d had a relationship with, until Mimi got sick and Maddy broke it off with him, was a literature professor whose most bad boy trait was that he smoked French cigarettes whenever he drank Scotch and expounded at length on the manly virtues of Hemingway.
Maddy drew herself up and glared harder at him than the other two. “Well, yes. After all, that’s what you told me. Why ever would you lie?” She said that last with such mockery in her tone that one of the other guys coughed and turned away.
“For your safety, Maddy. If we’d told you that we were planning to watch your house for a couple of weeks, shadow you whenever you went out just in case one of the bad guys showed up to hurt you, would you have slept at night or would you have sat up shivering with terror and wondering when someone was going to break in?”
Heat stabbed behind her eyes. Anger. “Don’t even try to tell me you didn’t inform me for my safety. It was for you—” She swung a hand to encompass the room. “—For this. For you, not for me. You’re so afraid that somebody will know your names, or your faces, so you hide behind aliases and smokescreens. Well, I’m done with that. With this.”
She turned to make her escape, but a firm hand landed on her shoulder, stopped her. She shuddered at his touch. Even without seeing him, she knew it was Jace who’d touched her. She would always know when it was Jace.
That thought sent hot, angry tears springing to life in her eyes. Why him? Why not some normal guy?
“This isn’t over, Maddy. The danger isn’t over. We have to sweep your house for recording devices. It might be best if you don’t stay there for a few days.”
She spun back to him, uncaring of the tears that spilled over. “And just where in the hell am I supposed to go? I have responsibilities—my cat, my grandmother. I can’t rack up hotel charges just because you think I need to go somewhere else. And I can’t impose on my friends either, not if I’m really in danger like you seem to think.”
He gripped her shoulders gently. “We’ll figure it out. I promised you that anybody who wanted to hurt you would have to go through me. That hasn’t changed. Whatever else you might think about me, I keep my promises.”
She searched his gaze, the hardness there. The tenderness that surprised her but seemed to be there just for her. She thought about the past two days, about how he’d held her while she’d cried helplessly into his shirt. He hadn’t needed to do that. If all he’d been doing was spying, he could have done it without showing her that bit of humanity.
“Were you following me yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“So bumping into me wasn’t an accident.”
“No. But it was against the rules. I broke protocol to do it.”
“Why did you do that?”
“Because you seemed to need someone. I couldn’t let you suffer.”
Maddy pulled in a trembling breath. Either he was the best liar God ever created or he meant it. Judging by the looks on the other two guys faces, she decided he meant it. They weren’t happy with him for making contact with her. That much was clear.
“Okay, fine. So what happens now?” Because they weren’t letting her walk out of here like nothing had happened. And, to be honest, she didn’t want to go home alone anyway. Not when she didn’t know who had opened her window.
“We’re going to check the police reports for any burglaries in the area—could be that someone opening your window had nothing to do with Russia or us—and I’m taking you back home and sweeping for bugs. Once we get the results of that, we’ll have a better idea about what to do next.”
Maddy shot a look at the other two men. They were both tall and handsome, one dark-haired and one a dusty blond, and they watched her and Jace with grim expressions.
“I’m on the reports,” the dark-haired one said.
“I’m calling Ian,” the blond added.
Jace went over and rummaged around on one of the desks they’d set up. He pocketed a small device and came back to her. “You ready?”
“Yes.”
He led the way out the door and across the street. It had stopped drizzling, but the sky was gray and misty and the clouds felt as if they were perching heavily on the city today. It was the kind of day that Mimi always said was a good reading day. She’d fix tea and they’d sit in the big bay window seat at the rear of the house, feet up on the cushions, and read books. Sometimes they took turns reading aloud, and sometimes they curled up with their own book, only stopping for meals and restroom breaks.
On other misty gray days, they’d rent movies and have a marathon. God, Maddy missed her Mimi. She swiped her fingers beneath her eyes, angry with herself for being so emotional. Life moved on, and she had to move with it. Mimi was safe and warm and she seemed happy most of the time. If she was ever scared or upset, Maddy didn’t know about it. The doctor had told her that it was different for people. Some were terrified. Others weren’t. She hoped Mimi was one of the ones who was not. So far, she seemed content though she sometimes wanted to go home.
They reached her front door and Maddy unlocked it. She started to go inside, but Jace stopped her. “Let me go first.”
She followed him inside and waited while he took the device from his pocket and flicked a switch. Kitty came sauntering over, meowing, and Maddy picked her up and buried her face in the soft black and white fur. “Baby girl,” she murmured. Kitty purred and turned her head to blink at Jace.
He moved through the house, sweeping the device into corners and up to the ceiling. He also swept it over the whole ceiling. He was very thorough and by the time he was done, fifteen minutes had passed. He took out his phone and called the guys across the street. “Nothing here. You got anything? … Yeah?” He blew out a breath, raked a hand over his head. “Maybe that’s all it was, but I don’t like it. Too convenient. … Yeah, okay.”
He pocketed the phone again and turned to her. Kitty struggled to be let down and Maddy set her on the floor. Her cat promptly went over to Jace and started sniffing his leg.
“Hey, sweet girl,” he crooned, dropping to his haunches and holding out his hand for her to sniff. A second later she rubbed against his fingers and arched her back. He stroked her soft fur as she flopped onto her side. He looked up at Maddy and grinned. “I think she likes me.”
Maddy frowned. “No accounting for taste, I guess.”
He cocked his head. “Either you’re really pissed at me or you’re teasing me. Can’t decide which.”
“I am pissed at you. Don’t think I’m not.”
“But you still like me.”
She did, dammit. Though she wasn’t going to admit it. “You wish.”
He kept stroking Kitty. And she kept right on letting him. Traitor. “Yes, I do.”
“Do you plan to tell me the results of your scan and their research? And do I at least get some fake names so I don’t have to call them they and them and those guys all the time?”
“I’ll let them tell you their names. But there are no listening or recording devices in your house. And there’ve been reports of burglaries in the neighborhood this week. One last night just after ten, and it was one street over.”
She hadn’t realized that. “I don’t think anything’s missing.”
“It doesn’t appear they even got inside. Probably startled by a car or person
walking by. The people burgled last night reported prescription drugs missing. Somebody looking for opioids probably.”
While she wasn’t happy someone had tried to break into her home, she was happy it wasn’t anything sinister. “I might have left the window unlocked by accident.”
“These are old windows,” he said, looking around. “It’s not hard to slip them open if you know what you’re doing.”
“Well gee, thanks. That’s reassuring.”
He straightened. “Don’t get upset, Maddy. We’re installing an alarm system ASAP. And cameras. Nobody’s getting in here without you knowing about it.”
She rubbed her arms absently. “I was planning to install a system. I just haven’t had the time. And monitoring costs money,” she added, dropping her gaze to the floor.
“Yeah, well it’s a good thing you met me. I know people.”
She looked up to find him grinning. And suddenly she was feeling warm all over. Just from that megawatt grin he had. Too attractive. Too damned smooth. “I’m still mad at you.”
“I know, babe. I’d be mad at me too if I were you. But I’ll make it up to you.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” she said coolly.
“Nothing worth having ever is.”
She looked away shyly and the need to take her in his arms flared hot. Jace didn’t know what the hell this was anymore, but the idea of her being in danger made him crazy. He wanted to protect her, and he wanted to possess her. He’d been so close to getting her naked today, but he’d had to be all noble and give her time to be sure. Then this happened, and now she was mad at him.
He would make it up to her. He wasn’t sure how yet, but he would.
“I need to go back over there and talk to the guys for a few minutes.”
She looked at him again, arms folded loosely around her middle, long hair curly and wild. She bit her bottom lip and desire lanced through him.
“I’m not stopping you. You can stay there for all I care.”
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