* * *
OUTSIDE THE SNOW had stopped and the sun shone brightly, reflecting off the white-covered ground. Rose turned at the end of the path and disappeared from his view moments later.
“That went well...not,” Max muttered under his breath.
The moment she’d walked into the kitchen he’d known something was wrong. She might think she had a poker face, but Rose was easier to read than a children’s picture book. Despite her troubled family life, she wore her heart on her sleeve. He liked that about her.
Last night had meant something to her and—as much as he didn’t want to admit it—it had meant something to him, too. He’d opened up to her about something he’d kept locked away for over a year, and she hadn’t judged him. She hadn’t forced him to give more than he was able. And she’d finally showed her trust in him by revealing her guilt over the end of her parents’ marriage.
Stomach churning, he remained in the doorway watching the cars pass and the neighborhood quietly bustle with life.
Thinking about all of this was driving him insane, so he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his email. A report from Rose’s security app.
Scrolling through the activation details, something leaped out at him. Yesterday Rose had been at work and he’d been in the office, yet the alarm had been deactivated at four o’clock and reactivated fifteen minutes later.
Why hadn’t he noticed the alert? Running a hand along his jaw, he stared at the time stamp on the report. He’d still been at work, getting ready to leave and pick up Rose...on the phone to her father. He double-checked his call record and the alert had indeed come through while he’d been on the phone—probably why he’d missed it.
Not a thing had been disturbed in the apartment when they’d returned that he could tell. No furniture upended, no drawers emptied. Fifteen minutes—what could they possibly have done in that time? He drummed his fingers on the door frame and stared ahead at the courtyard. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what had happened.
It didn’t take him long to find the bug, mere seconds. Hidden on the inside of a black lampshade, totally out of view...to the untrained eye.
He cursed. If he removed the bug then the people after the diamond would know and they might increase their pressure on Rose. He couldn’t have that.
He’d have to make the bug work for him and figure out who had planted it.
But something fluttered at the edge of his subconscious—a worry. An instinct. If someone was listening to their conversations, they’d know she’d left the house without him.
Rose was in danger.
He grabbed his jacket from the coat hook and slammed the door shut behind him, hoping she’d taken her keys with her. The winter cold sliced through his T-shirt like a machete and he zipped the jacket closed, bowing his head to the wind.
But he didn’t stop. He searched for her along the road. He should be able to see her. She hadn’t been gone long and the road was straight as an arrow. He dialed her number as he sped up, his eyes darting around to capture and log every detail as he’d been trained to do. Rose’s voice mail came through the line. She wasn’t going to take his call, not when she’d specifically said she needed space.
Dammit!
Strange stares followed him and a kid yelled out to him, “Run, Forrest, run.”
Max slowed as he reached the corner. There was no sight of Rose, and she could have turned in either direction at the intersection.
What if they’ve got her already? What if...?
He looked left and right, his eyes searching until he caught a glimpse of something red fluttering in the breeze—Rose’s scarf. It flapped as she walked, her dark hair swirled around her and the black folio bumped against her hip with each step. He exhaled, relief flooding through him and releasing the death grip in his chest.
He’d tail Rose at a distance and hope to hell she didn’t catch him. At least then he could guarantee her safety and she could have her space while he debated what to tell her about the bug. Win-win...right?
He dodged a lady walking a huge Great Dane as he tried to close the distance between him and Rose. He shoved his hands into the pockets on his leather jacket and hunched his shoulders against the wind.
Up ahead, Rose turned right. Max quickened his pace and got to the corner of the residential street seconds after her. Town houses lined the quiet street, flanked by rows of cars capped with a thin crust of snow.
Two men walked ahead of Max, only a few paces behind Rose. She crossed the road and turned onto a street lined with several small take-out restaurants. The men followed, closing the gap between them and Rose.
Adrenaline pumped through Max as he broke into a sprint. Salt crunched beneath his boots, amplifying the sound of his punishing stride on the pavement. As he reached the corner, the street was empty, no sign of Rose or the two men at all.
The wind whistled in his ears, his nose and cheeks growing numb.
“Rose!” he called out, but the sound was lost to the city.
He jogged along the street, scanning between any houses that weren’t attached. An alley came into his view and he raced toward it, his whole body fueled with the need to get to Rose as quickly as he could. If anything happened to her...
“Rose!” Halfway down the alley he spotted her pinned up against a wall near a group of Dumpsters.
One thug had her arms pinned above her head and the other appeared to be shouting at her. Rose shook her head violently, her eyes wide as dinner plates. One of the men toyed with a knife, the metal glinting as the blade flipped in his hand.
Max fought the urge to run straight to her as he assessed the situation. Neither of the men appeared to have a firearm. They looked built but no bigger than he was.
Taking a deep breath he slipped his sidearm out of its holster and aimed. “Hands up where I can see them.”
All eyes flew to Max. Relief seeped into Rose’s face. The two men glanced at one another and slowly raised their arms, taking a step away from the wall. Rose hugged her arms across her chest but didn’t move. Instead she shrank back against the wall, her eyes locked on Max.
“Lower your weapons.” He held the gun perfectly steady, his muscles easing into the position he’d held too many times to count. “Throw them away from you.”
His training had taught him how to be calm, the rage and fear he felt neutralized by old habits and years of discipline. The knife clattered to the ground. Max moved forward to kick it out of reach of the thugs.
“Who the hell are you?” He stepped toward the men but neither of them answered.
He swept his eyes across them, trying to memorize every detail. They both had dark hair and dark eyes. The guy who’d pinned Rose stood about five-ten, and his partner was closer to six feet. Leather jackets, black jeans, gloves. One man had a scar running through his eyebrow. The other had a black tattoo peeking out from the collar of his jacket.
A spade.
“I said, who are you?” Max stepped closer, his body coiled with tension. Muscles tight and prepared to act.
Just as Max was about to ask again, the taller guy threw something at Max. Another knife whizzed past him, narrowly missing his arm. Rose’s scream cut through the air and Max took his eyes from the thugs for a single moment, then they were off.
They raced to the other end of the alley and out to the street. He raised his gun, but he didn’t have the mandate to shoot unless there was a threat to life, and two dead thugs would not solve Rose’s problem.
“Are you okay?” He holstered the gun and held out his hand.
She stayed against the wall, her body trembling as if she’d been dunked in ice water. Her eyes stared through him, unblinking. But she appeared unharmed, the only bruise on her was the faint patch of yellow from the break-in three days before.
Twice
they’d got to her now. These guys weren’t going to let up until he figured out what the hell was going on.
“Rose, come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her to try to quell the tremors wracking her body. “It’s okay. They’re gone.”
“You followed me.” She looked up, her heart-shaped face blank with shock.
“Yeah, I did.” He pushed the hair out of her eyes and rested his forehead against hers. “I had a bad feeling.”
He resolved to tell her about the bug...later. Now she needed his comfort.
She swallowed, her breathing ragged. “I would be annoyed at you if you weren’t right.”
“No point being mad. We’re in this together.”
“No, we’re not.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m on my own.”
Either way he responded he’d be digging himself a hole. If he tried to convince her they were a team, he’d only crush her when he left. If he went the safe route and kept her feelings out of his work... Well, he’d already proven he couldn’t do that.
You’re screwed, Ridgeway. You’re in way over your head with her—either you want something with her or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways. What’s it going to be?
10
IF ROSE SHUT her eyes long enough, the ground might open up and swallow her whole. Would anyone even notice if she disappeared? Possibly not.
The image of the spade tattoo swam in front of her eyes. A memory flickered at the edge of her mind, but it was running a million miles a minute and she couldn’t focus.
He was the man who’d attacked her before; that must be it.
“Let’s go home.” Max’s voice washed over like warm bathwater, soothing the biting cold and turning her muscles to mush.
She glanced at the folio over her arm, but the desire to meet with her client now ranked somewhere between giving up coffee and killing cockroaches.
“Don’t even think about it. There are only two places you can go from here—home or the hospital.” He cupped her jaw and lifted her face up. “What’ll it be?”
“I don’t need a doctor.” She stepped out of his grip, but he pulled her back under his arm.
They left the alley, their feet crunching on the salt-covered road. The sky was now gray with clouds, dense and miserable like the heaviness in her heart.
“Did they hurt you at all?”
Rose shook her head. “I said I’m fine.”
“What did they want?”
“They asked about the diamond again. But I swear I don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t have any diamonds.” Her head pounded as if someone was hitting the inside of her skull with a hammer. “I have no idea why they think I’ve got it.”
Max’s arm stiffened around her shoulder. “We’re missing something.”
She drew a long, shaky breath. “They’re going to keep coming after me, aren’t they?”
Silence. Max’s reluctance to answer the question told her everything. But how on earth was she supposed to have collected some important diamond in the short time she’d been in New York? It didn’t make sense.
“They said if I didn’t hand the diamond over they would...” The words died on her lips.
“We’ll figure this mystery out before anything happens.” Max squeezed her shoulder. “You have my word.”
“But we don’t have any leads...do we?”
“We will find out who’s behind this.” His voice had taken on a hard edge, like a blade, sharp and unforgiving. His determination should have comforted her, but she knew they had nothing to go on.
Not a single clue.
Her phone vibrated from the depths of her handbag. Rose reached in and grabbed it. Her father’s number flashed on the screen and she thought about canceling the call for a moment. But she’d promised herself she’d give him a chance.
She stepped out from under Max’s arm and answered the call. “Hi, Dad.”
“Rose.” He sounded surprised to hear her voice. “I’m glad I caught you.”
“Sorry I haven’t called you back. It’s been a busy week.” She forced a smile, hoping it would come across in her voice.
“How is everything? Are you selling much of your jewelry at the store?”
“I am, actually. I’ve had a few commissions already and I’ve sold a few items straight from my stock.”
“That’s great. I’m proud of you, Rosie.”
A genuine smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Listen, I uh... I wanted to drop a Christmas present around. It’s nothing much, just a small token of my affection. A peace offering, if you will.” His voice wavered, the anxious energy pouring out of the phone. “If that’s okay.”
“Sure. I’ll be home in a little while. Come past whenever you’re free.”
A kernel of hope took root in her heart. He wanted to give her a Christmas present, something he hadn’t done for years...even before she’d moved away. Her mother’s face flashed before her eyes, but she pushed the guilt aside. As much as she loved her mother, she was gone now and her father was the only family she had left.
Rose and Max walked the rest of the way home in silence, though he slipped a hand into hers and kept her close by his side. She couldn’t exactly say she felt safe, but she knew he would protect her whether he cared for her on a personal level or not.
“I take it your father is dropping in?” Max asked as they headed into the apartment.
He slipped the leather jacket off his broad shoulders and hung it in the closet by the door.
“Yeah. He wants to drop off a Christmas present.” Her hands were still trembling, making it hard to undo the fiddly buttons of her trench coat. She cursed under her breath.
“Here, let me help.” His hands came to her shoulders and he helped her out of the coat, the gentle brush of his fingertips sweeping across her neck as he unwound her scarf.
She kicked off her boots more forcibly than was required before dropping down on the couch and tucking her feet under her. Maybe she didn’t need a hole in the ground; blankets were known to be a fairly effective method of hiding away from the world. She reached for her throw and pulled it over her head.
Yeah, she was going to stay under here until this whole thing blew over.
She’d been here before, at six or seven years old, hiding under a blanket not dissimilar to this one while playing a boy-band song at full volume. The cheesy dance beat had hurt her ears it was so loud, but she hadn’t cared. Anything to block out the screaming match between her parents.
It was the first time she’d heard the F-word but it had gotten used a lot after that day. Along with all the other bad words...
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes.
The edge of the blanket lifted and Max peered at her. “Is this a private blanket fort?”
A smile tugged at the corner of Rose’s lips, but she didn’t have the energy to help it spread the rest of the way. “Yep. You need the password.”
“Consider me the blanket-fort security guard.” He crawled under, though his height pulled the material up and light shone in from outside. “So you’re not mad at me for following you?”
“You were just doing your job.” She toyed with a loose thread, tugging at it to distract herself.
“Yes, I was. But it’s not because I think you’re weak.” He pulled her hand away from the thread as a hole formed. “You’re an incredibly resilient person, Rose. I respect that about you.”
She blinked. Praise had been in short supply most of her life. Her mother had wanted her to have the stable life she hadn’t been able to provide, and her father’s permanent bad mood meant kind words from him were like hen’s teeth.
“Is this going to be a precursor to you telling m
e again that you don’t want a relationship?” She pulled a face, trying to lighten the weight of her words but he didn’t reciprocate.
“Normally I wouldn’t care so much what the other person’s expectations were. I make it clear from the start that I’m short-term only, so if she expects more, that’s her own mistake.” He pulled Rose’s legs over his lap. “That makes me sound like a bastard, doesn’t it?”
“A bit. But I’ve been guilty of that, too.” She shrugged, trying to ignore the tingle of excitement that was building low in her belly as he rubbed his palm up and down her calf.
“With you it’s different, though.”
“It is?” She raised a brow, fortifying herself against unwanted hope.
“Yeah. I care what you think, which is why I wanted to be clear about what this is.”
“Just fun and games?”
“Fun without the games, preferably.”
“But I like games,” she said. “Especially ones with silk ties and ice cubes.”
His eyes were dark in the dim lighting under the blanket. “Is that so?”
She stifled a wicked smile. “I’m pretty handy with silky things.”
“You’re trouble.”
“I’m trouble?” She laughed. “Why, because I enjoy sex?”
“Because you make me want things I can’t have.” He pulled the blanket from them and dragged her beneath him.
“So pretend you can have them. We can play make-believe, can’t we?”
Tension radiated from his body and she thought he might pull away. His eyes burned into her, simultaneously pushing her away and pulling her closer. He was the most confusing and intoxicating man she’d ever known.
But then he settled between her legs, the beginnings of an erection pressing into that sweet, achy spot where she longed for him. Mercy, at last.
Max’s hand ran up the outside of her thigh, skimming over her hip and rib cage until he reached her face. His thumb traced the bruised area under her eye, the touch as gentle as could be. Certainly not the touch of a man who was just in it for sex.
Stop overthinking things! If he were any clearer with his intentions he’d be a goddamn windowpane.
A Dangerously Sexy Christmas Page 12