by Lexi Blake
Sean’s face went from hard to smooth in a heartbeat and he stepped up. “Her very good friend. I’m Sean. This is my boy, Li. I would call him my husband, but we’re not allowed to do that in the state of Texas. It’s a shame you know because our wedding would be fabulous.”
Liam stared at Sean. “Are ya kidding?”
Sean rolled his eyes negligently. “Don’t mind him. He doesn’t want to spend the money on a wedding. He’s a tightwad. So you’re Karina’s brother-in-law? I have to admit we’ve been curious about our girl’s family.”
Holy freaking shit. Sean had picked his cover and it looked like Liam hadn’t been in on the plan. If she hadn’t been in a sticky situation, she would have poured herself a tea and sat back and watched the fireworks. As it was, all she could manage was to nod her head. “Yes, this is Terry Mills. He’s Kevin’s younger brother.”
Terry sighed and laughed a little. “Sorry. For a minute there I thought Karina was dating again. That was a shocker.”
Sean grinned and gave her a little wink. He was actually really good at that. He should have gone into theater. “Oh, she is. You should see him. That is one hunk of a man. Isn’t he, Li?”
And Liam was a terrible actor. He just frowned. “He ain’t exactly my type.”
Sean waved him off. “Mr. Grumpy there likes blonds. Lucky for me.”
Terry frowned Karina’s way. “You have a boyfriend?”
Karina shook her head. Sean had been very specific. He really didn’t want to break their cover for anyone, and that meant she had to keep hers, too. Even to what was left of her family. Still, she found she couldn’t let him down entirely. “Not really. He’s just a guy I met at a club.”
Terry went a faint pink and he leaned in, his good hand on hers. “Tell me you aren’t still into that scene, Karina. It was dangerous when Kevin was with you. It’s insane now. Tell me you aren’t playing around with that BDSM crap.”
It was her turn to flush. Terry had always had a serious problem with their lifestyle. He could sleep with a girl a night, but he got deeply prudish the minute the handcuffs came out. “It’s really none of your business.”
“I’m your brother-in-law. I promised Kevin I would look after you if anything happened. It damn straight is my business.”
“Then where the bloody hell have you been for the last couple of years? Because I ain’t seen anyone looking after her,” Liam said, his eyes narrowing.
“I’ve been working, but I trusted that Karina would be smart enough to stay away from the perverted stuff. I was obviously wrong. Do you know what Kevin would think if he knew you were running around with…what the hell do they call themselves? Doms?” He shook his head and visibly took a breath. “I’m sorry. It’s your life, sweetie.”
Sean had moved to stand beside her. “It is her life, and I don’t know that I like the way you’re talking to her.”
Terry’s eyes narrowed, and Karina remembered how short the fuse on his temper could be. “I don’t think you have any say in how I talk to my sister-in-law. You should stay out of family matters.”
“Her boyfriend isn’t here to defend her so I think I’ll stay,” Sean said, not giving an inch.
“I can defend myself,” Karina said.
“Not in this, you can’t.” Li shook his head. “You’re far too close to this. You’ve been a widow for years. There’s nothing wrong with you dating again.”
“But she’s not dating, is she? She’s getting on her knees for some asshole who wants to make her a slave or some shit,” Terry said with a frustrated sigh.
She needed to fix this really fast or Sean and Li would take care of it, and she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like how they handled the situation. “Terry, didn’t you say you needed to be at the therapist? Maybe I can give you a ride.”
He seemed to get hold of his temper. He held his good hand up. “No. I need the exercise. I…I’m sorry, Karina. I didn’t mean to walk in and start telling you what to do. I’m just a little surprised to find out you’re dating. I guess I still see you with Kevin. You were always Kevin’s girl. He did so much for you that I thought you would…I don’t know what I thought. I’ll get out of your hair.”
Tears threatened. She didn’t want him to walk out angry with her. Kevin’s family had been so good to her. They’d taken her in when she was still shaking from withdrawal. His mom had watched over her while Kevin was working, holding her hand and promising her everything would be all right. She’d taken Karina to church and given her a whole new set of supporters. She’d died before Kevin had. Her last words to Karina were of gratitude for her being the daughter she’d always wanted. Terry was her last link on earth to them. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too,” he said as he opened the door. “I’ll be around for a few months. Maybe we can have lunch.”
She nodded. “I would like that.”
He was just about to step through when he turned back. “Hey, I ran into Grant the other day. He said something about finding a box of Kevin’s?”
Grant Fisher had been Kevin’s partner. She and Kevin had been in the process of moving when he was killed in the line of duty. Grant had graciously offered his attic for some of their stuff while the house on Long Island was being made ready. He’d died before they signed the papers and she’d never walked into that house again. Now Grant was moving and he’d found a couple of boxes she’d missed. “Yes, they’re on their way. Do you want to look through them with me?”
Terry nodded, his eyes downcast. “Yeah, that would be nice.”
“I’ll call you.”
And he was gone.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Li’s arms were going around her. “Don’t you listen to a word that bastard said. Ain’t nothing wrong with you.”
It was easy to sink into Liam’s warmth. They’d gone through a lot together. Li seemed to be the one she worked with the most, and he’d taken to treating her like a sister. If Avery had been there, she would have hugged Karina’s other side and told Karina to hold her baby because babies made everyone feel better.
She might have lost one family, but somehow she’d found another.
“You know that husband of yours wouldn’t want you to live alone the rest of your life,” Liam whispered. “That’s not the man you described to me. If he loved you, he would want you to be happy. I know I would want Avery to be happy. He wouldn’t want you to be so lonely.”
“I don’t like that little fucker. I’m going to run some checks on him,” Sean said.
“Don’t, Sean. He’s my brother-in-law. He just misses Kevin. Let it go.” She gave Liam one last squeeze.
“Am I interrupting something?” a voice that could freeze the sun said from the doorway.
Karina looked up and knew her crappy day wasn’t over. Derek was here and he was staring at her like she was a piece of trash.
At least some things never changed.
* * * *
Derek was surprised at the overwhelming need to take the Irishman and smash his head against Karina’s bar. He probably shouldn’t though since the whole apartment looked like it was held together with tape and dust. What was she doing here? And what the flying fuck was she doing in Liam O’Donnell’s arms?
“Hey, this is no time to unleash your inner Neanderthal. She’s had a rough day,” Sean said under his breath. He put a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Let her be, okay?”
“So when she’s had a rough day, I should let O’Donnell manhandle my sub?” It was actually driving him a little crazy. O’Donnell had played with Karina on more than one occasion. He’d watched them. O’Donnell would be all circumspect on the dungeon floor, giving her a flogging or administering a spanking. He never touched her intimately, but then they would disappear into the bar or hide away in a privacy room and Derek couldn’t help but see the handsome Irishman with his hands all over her gorgeous body.
Liam’s palms went up like a thief caught red-handed. “She’s just me friend, Lieutenant. Don’t think there’s an
ything more. Though you should know, I take friendship damn seriously.”
He apparently took it more seriously than he did marriage, but then very few people took that seriously these days. Derek forced himself to calm down. It was good that she was already showing her true colors. She was a career-oriented woman who preferred to keep her relationships very casual. Very modern.
Derek nodded Liam’s way. “Hey, whatever floats your boat, man. I’m just here for the case. Have we gotten the profile from Eve?”
He moved into Karina’s shitastic apartment, avoiding her entirely. She stood there looking at him with a wounded-doe look in those eyes of hers, but he knew it was all for show. Women like Karina didn’t get hurt. Not really. She was playing some sort of angle.
He couldn’t let himself get in too deep. His every instinct told him to take O’Donnell’s place. He should move right in and take her in his arms and explain to her that if she needed comfort, she should come to him. He was her Dom. He was the one who was supposed to be holding her.
Except he wasn’t and he never fucking would be, so he checked himself.
“We won’t have it until tomorrow,” O’Donnell replied. He hadn’t moved far from Karina. He was still watching over her like he was waiting for Derek to hurt her.
Karina took a deep breath and seemed to make the decision to change course. She gave him a bright smile. “So you don’t have to stay. We can just regroup tomorrow.”
Yeah, that wasn’t happening. He held up his overnight bag. “I’ll stick to my plan, thanks. Do you have a spare bedroom?”
Sean snorted. “She’s lucky to have a room big enough for a bed, Derek. There’s a reason she never invites anyone over here. I think you’re sleeping on the couch, Romeo.”
He sent Sean his middle finger and set down his bag since it looked like he would be sleeping in the postage stamp of a living room. “Screw you, Little Tag.”
A sexy grin lit Karina’s face, and he was so happy it wiped the sorrow from her eyes. “Apparently Sean is going to screw Li, here. They’re taking a page from Adam and Jake’s playbook. They’re going in as a couple. You know you guys are going to have to make people believe it.”
The Irishman went a flaming red as he turned to Sean. “You had to go that way, didya?”
Little Tag just shrugged. “Dude, think about it for two seconds. We have to go into a dungeon. We can’t walk in with wedding rings on. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to not get hit on. The last thing my wife needs is to worry about younger women. Do you want to go home and tell your wife who just had a baby that you’re going to be flirting with a bunch of subs who didn’t just have a baby?”
“Shit. I hadn’t thought about that. She doesn’t have anything to worry about. No one’s prettier than my Avery,” Liam said.
Then why the fuck was Liam playing with his sub?
“Dude, you can tell her that all day. She hasn’t lost her baby weight,” Karina shot back, completely at ease with the men.
“I don’t care if she loses it. She looks amazing,” Liam swore. “But I see your point. All right, but I’m the top. I ain’t going in as Sean’s bloody sub and that’s that. If any single one of you thinks that I’m going to let that bastard whip me ass, you don’t know me very well.”
Karina shrugged a little. “You did say you would do anything it took to make sure I was safe.”
“I’m really good at it, Li.” Little Tag seemed to have a death wish. “Ask Grace. She says I am an artist with a paddle.”
Karina poked at Sean, her utter ease with the men irritating Derek. “Although, I have to admit, Sean came off much more subby. Li was the broody top.”
Li held up his fist in jubilation. “That’s right. The sub’s the expert.”
Sean just rolled his eyes. “The good news is we’re going to be working and not sceneing.” He nodded Derek’s way. “But you two better get your stories straight because we go in Saturday night. Spend the time getting comfortable enough that people will believe you two like each other.”
“K, come here and show me something.” Liam was at her window, pulling up the blinds.
Sean took the opportunity to move into Karina’s tiny kitchen, gesturing for Derek to follow. He got the feeling he was going to get a talking to. It looked like Little Tag was serious about standing in for his brother.
“I told you I’m not going to let her die,” Derek said quickly, wanting to avoid a lecture from another one of Karina’s lovers.
Sean’s jaw firmed, his eyes going hard. “Derek, we’re friends.”
“I like to consider us friends.”
“I want to still be friends with you at the end of this. Are you going to fuck her?”
“If it comes up, I probably will.” And it would come up. God knew his cock sure as hell came up the minute he thought of her. “What’s this about? It’s kind of the height of hypocrisy if you’re going to warn me about screwing around on the job. Karina is my co-worker. She isn’t my target. She knows the score. All she has to do is say no and I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
Sean shook his head and generally gave Derek the impression that he was deeply irritated. “If I thought you really had the capability of caring about her, I would tell you to go for it in a heartbeat. She’s an amazing woman. But you’re never going to treat her the way she needs to be treated. You’re too fucked up yourself to take care of her.”
He felt his pulse rise and wondered if he was about to get into a real fight. “Are you trying to accuse me of something, Sean? I’ve never abused a sub and I never will.”
“You won’t hurt her physically, but she’s more fragile than she looks. You can rip her apart and you won’t even know you’ve done it because she won’t show you anything. Her ex brother-in-law was here right before you came in.”
He hadn’t known she was married. Well, that was something they had in common. They were both divorced. He wondered what had broken up Karina’s marriage and decided he probably didn’t want to know. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“His visit upset her. She hadn’t seen him in a while and I made the call to start our cover, including telling him that she had a boyfriend,” Sean explained.
Derek totally agreed with the call. “The faster we get the cover up, the better. He was upset she’s seeing someone?”
“He was a complete dick. He wasn’t just nasty about the fact that she’s dating. He gave her hell about the lifestyle. Called her perverted and stupid.”
Yeah, he definitely needed to check himself. Liam had been doing what any other Dom who cared about her would have done. He was comforting her, reassuring her that there was nothing wrong with her. No matter how he felt about her, he would have done the same. At least he hoped he would have. He’d always treated Karina differently because she was such a threat to his peace of mind. “Did you punch him?”
Sean huffed a little. “Someone already had. The fucker had a broken arm. Look, I’m just worried about her. Like I said, she’s more fragile than you think. I can’t tell you about her background. I’m not even supposed to know the whole of it, but she’s been through a lot.”
“Why is she living here? From everything I’ve heard, she charges out the ass. I kind of thought she was a high-priced PI who worked for whoever paid her the most.”
Sean pointed at him. “And that’s why I’m afraid. You go to the absolute worst possible answer for a woman like Karina. She charges the hell out of my brother, who likes to complain but who probably knows exactly what she’s doing. She then turns around and lets every sad sack with a sob story take advantage of her. She’s fighting the good fight, man. She does this for reasons you can’t know, but if you really saw her, you would respect the hell out of her. This is a woman you could know. Do you understand me?”
“I know Karina.” Though he was starting to wonder. He hadn’t expected her to live like this. He’d expected to find her in someplace nicer or at the very least bigger and with way bett
er security.
“No, you don’t. So take a few days and get to know her because she’s more like you than you can imagine. Just give it a couple of days. Li and I are going to go do a sweep of the area. She thinks she felt someone watching her and K’s got great instincts. You keep her safe tonight. One of us will be by in the morning and someone’s going to be watching the security at all times.” Sean held out a hand. “She’s family, Derek.”
“I’ll take care of her.” He shook Sean’s hand and wondered how she managed it. What kind of spell did Karina weave that she stayed friends with the men she slept with and even got in good with their wives? What kind of woman did that?
He looked over at her even as he answered his own question. What kind of woman was Karina?
The dangerous kind.
Chapter Five
Karina sat up in bed, completely unable to sleep because she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Derek was asleep on her couch.
The whole evening had been oddly comfortable. After Li and Sean had left, Derek had sat on her couch watching a baseball game while she cooked dinner. When he’d popped open a beer, he’d offered her one and he’d stared at her oddly when she refused, but then he’d gone back to casual talk.
They’d talked about the cops they both knew. They’d exchanged a couple of war stories. He’d sat at her bar and eaten three bowls of her homemade chicken and dumplings. She was glad she’d made extra, though originally she’d done it so she could eat the leftovers for a few days. Derek Brighton didn’t leave leftovers. The big guy really liked to eat.
But he hadn’t touched her. He hadn’t even come close. The nearest they’d come to physical contact was their fingers brushing against each other when she’d passed him a pillow.