by Zoe Chant
Derek's stomach sank. He hadn't even considered that Gaby's family might be in danger. "Going after the family isn't the Ghost's usual M.O."
"I know that, but do you want to take chances with your mate's family?"
"No," Derek said, heartfelt.
"Didn't think so." Keegan slid a slip of paper across the table. "I've also reserved a hotel room where you can take her. Assuming you can get her to go there. Any sign of Ghost yet, by the way? Or ideas about where he might've gone to ground?"
Derek shook his head. "He was a merc, like me. He likes out-of-the-way places. I'm actually surprised to see him turn up in the city."
"Is there any chance he might be here because of you?"
"I doubt it." Derek grinned a fierce, feral grin with no humor in it. "I'm sure he wants a rematch as much as I do, but I don't see him following me all over the world just to get one. Our fight wasn't personal; it was part of the job."
Although it would be personal for him now. The Ghost had threatened his mate. His bear wouldn't let that kind of challenge pass unanswered.
"I still want to know why a guy like that is running around pulling ordinary robberies," Keegan said.
Derek's grin grew even fiercer, encouraged by his bear. "Let's find him and ask him, then."
"Yeah, well, we've got guys on that, so you get back up there and keep an eye on your mate." Keegan flashed one of his rare grins. "Congratulations on finding her, Derek. I know you've needed someone to settle you down for a while."
"So far, all she's done is get me riled up."
"Good. You need someone with a little fire in her." Keegan slapped him on the arm and got up to leave.
When Derek got back to the counter, Gaby asked, "What was all that about?"
"The lieutenant wanted to let me know they've reserved a hotel room—" For us, he almost said, realizing just in time that it could be taken the wrong way. "—for you to stay in until this is resolved."
"Why can't I just go home?" Then she clapped her hand over her mouth. "Mama! Sandy! Oh my God—"
She fumbled for her phone. Derek closed a hand over her wrist. "Your family is fine. There's a cop watching them."
Gaby jerked her wrist away. "I'm still calling them."
She stepped away with the phone to her ear. Derek watched her, feeling suddenly helpless—mainly because he couldn't protect both Gaby and her family at the same time, but also because of the reminder that she had a life apart from him.
Family. A son.
The kid's dad is out of the picture, Keegan said. What did that mean, anyway?
And what did it mean for Derek and Gaby?
For his bear, it was simple. They were mates. They had to be together.
But Gaby was human. She wouldn't look at it that way.
Is she married? Divorced?
She'd certainly been sending him active signals back. Clearly she was not with anyone else right now.
"Yes, Mama. I've got to get back to work. I'll tell you all about it this evening." She lowered the phone with a sigh. "They're all right."
"I told you they would be."
"I'm a mother. I can't not worry."
Derek glanced over at the door. No customers at the moment. "Tell me about your son."
He knew immediately he'd said the exact right thing. Gaby's face lit up with a brilliant smile. "Sandy. He's five. He's beautiful and smart and learns so fast. Here, I'll show you a picture."
She turned her phone toward him. The child who beamed at Derek from the photo was clearly related to Gaby; he had her dimples and pointy chin, though his curls were lighter, a medium brown to Gaby's black.
"He's my whole world," Gaby said softly. "His father was a cad and he's long gone, good riddance to bad rubbish, but I have no regrets because I got Sandy. I can't imagine anything happening to him. I couldn't take it."
"Nothing will happen." Derek wanted to smooth her raven hair away from her face. He settled for reaching out to place a comforting hand on her arm.
And he knew in that instant that his bear's protective instincts had expanded to include not just his mate but her family as well. Just as he'd rather die than see anything happen to Gaby, he also couldn't let anything happen to her son or her mother.
They were hers, which meant they were now his as well.
Chapter Five: Gaby
Derek's hand was warm and strong on her arm. As she looked up at him, it was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms.
Being a single mom meant having to be a pillar of strength. She had her mother to help her, but with Mama recovering from hip surgery, Gaby had to be there for her mother as well as her son.
She hadn't realized how much she'd needed someone to be there for her.
And for all the things she kept telling herself about why this was a bad idea—Derek was a professional bodyguard; he was protecting her because it was his job—she felt as if she'd been swept away into something too big to stop.
Sandy would have been the one big sticking point. She couldn't be with a man who couldn't accept her son. But now Derek knew about Sandy and he didn't seem to mind ... unlike every other guy she'd dated since Sandy had been born.
It just felt different with Derek. When she'd first laid eyes on him, it was like something that had been missing all her life had clicked into place. She'd never felt anything like it before.
And the way he was looking at her with that warmth in his eyes ...
It was like there was a magnetic attraction drawing the two of them together. Gaby started to lean forward—
And Polly came out of the back, dusting off her hands on her apron. Gaby jerked away, trying to recover her poise and look professional.
Polly glanced between the two of them. Her gaze softened and became almost maternal. "Gaby. Go home."
"What?" Gaby protested. She could feel herself flushing. "I thought you were okay with the whole thing—uh, Derek staying here to guard me, I mean—"
"I'm fine with it, but I don't see any reason for you to work a shift and a half today after the shock you had this morning." Polly patted her on the shoulder. "I really appreciate you staying through the breakfast rush, hon. But I've called Mei and she can come in and do the closing shift."
"It really is okay. I just got off the phone with Mama—"
"Gaby. Gabriella. Dear." Polly leaned in and murmured in her ear, "Let the nice tall bodyguard take you somewhere safe. We'll be fine here."
Gaby sighed and gave up on fighting it. She hugged Polly. "Thanks. I'll be here for the opening shift tomorrow, I promise."
"I'll expect you, but give me a call right away if you can't make it, okay?"
Gaby nodded. "Thanks for looking out for me."
At the door of the coffee shop, Derek stopped her. "I'm going to take a quick look to make sure the street's clear. Stay behind me, but touch my back lightly so I know exactly where you are, especially if I have to draw my gun. That's going to be our procedure when we enter a new location from now on. Okay?"
She nodded, moving a little closer so she could rest her hand tentatively against his back. She hadn't expected it to feel so intimate. She could feel his muscles flexing as he moved, one hand hovering near his gun. He seemed so sure and capable. She'd never felt safer.
"Clear," Derek said quietly.
Gaby took her hand away from his back, with an instant's regret as her fingers left the warmth of his shirt-clad skin, and followed him outside. As she left the coffee shop, she glanced back to see Polly looking after them with an expression that could only be described as knowing.
Then she was out on the street, which looked perfectly normal, bustling with pedestrians and vehicles as it always did at this time of day. The armored car was gone now, and the patch of sidewalk in front of the credit union looked no different from any other part of the sidewalk. Gaby doubted if the people going in and out of its swinging glass door knew that a robbery had taken place this morning right where they were walking.
&nb
sp; If she hadn't seen it happen herself, she would've been one of those oblivious pedestrians herself. Now she wondered how many other life-changing events she'd walked past, never knowing.
"How are you holding up?" Derek asked, placing a hand in the middle of her back. His fingers were warm and strong, and more bracing than her half-finished latte.
"I don't know," she admitted. "It feels like ... like the cover has been ripped off the world. Does that make any sense? Everything's different. But everyone's going on like it's just the same."
"That's perfectly normal when you've witnessed an act of violence," Derek told her. "The department can probably hook you up with a counselor if you need one."
Yeah, and how was she supposed to pay for that? Gaby shook her head. "I'm doing okay, I think. All I need is—"
You, she wanted to say. But that was ridiculous. She'd only just met him.
And yet there was that coming-home feeling, as if the only place she ever wanted to be was right here by his side.
As she started walking down the street toward her usual transit stop, Derek stopped her with a hand. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Where are you going?"
"My bus stop," Gaby said. Her feet had automatically turned in that direction; she hadn't even thought about it.
"Oh no, no." Derek shook his head. "You're not using public transportation, not 'til this is cleared up. I'll drive you."
With a possible shape-changing killer after her, she wasn't about to argue, especially if it meant not hassling with the bus. Her eyes widened slightly when Derek escorted her to his car, a classic black Mustang parked outside the coffee shop.
"So you're a car guy," she said, running a thumb across the leather seat before sitting down.
"I like an engine with some muscle."
"Get in a lot of car chases, do you?" Her heart fluttered as the car doors closed, shutting out the city. It felt suddenly, startlingly intimate, just the two of them in the Mustang's front seats.
"I believe in being prepared. Go ahead and lock your door."
She popped the lock down; he'd already locked his. "This feels so weird. Like I'm being completely paranoid."
"Better to take precautions than to be caught off guard if something does happen." He turned to her, his brown eyes very serious. "But I'm not letting anything happen you on my watch, Gaby."
"I believe you," she whispered. She could feel the conviction of his words.
And finally, after all the interruptions, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to lean forward and meet his lips with hers.
It felt like a circuit closing, as if the attraction between them could only be resisted for a little while, never stopped. Derek kissed back with fervor, his mouth opening under hers to claim the sweetness of her kiss. He brought his hands up to bury his fingers in her hair, and she succumbed to the temptation to touch the flat, hard planes of his stomach, her hand sliding to rest on his waist.
When their lips parted, she gazed at him in a daze. She'd never been kissed like that before. Her heart was fluttering madly now, her chest full of heat, and tension grew between her legs, aching for the only kind of release that could relieve it.
"Wow," Derek breathed.
Gaby had to swallow a couple of times to get her voice back. "I shouldn't have—"
"Yeah, you should have," Derek said softly, and with one strong hand he brought her in for another kiss. This one was gentler and longer, and the sensation went straight down through her body to her aching sex.
She wanted him; oh, she wanted him. Her body ached for him. These touches didn't salve her need; they only made it grow.
Derek let go with a few little nibbles at her lips. "Where do you want to go?" he asked, swiping a thumb over the corner of her mouth. "I could take you straight home. Or we could go inspect the hotel room that's apparently been secured to keep you safe."
A hotel room ... with no mother, no small child. A bed with clean sheets that she didn't have to wash. And, most importantly, privacy.
"Hotel," she declared.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Derek was grinning as he put the car in gear.
He took a circuitous route to the hotel. Gaby had lived in this city all her life, and she still wasn't sure where they were going until they pulled into an underground parking garage.
"Didn't want to take a chance on being followed," Derek explained.
"I'm totally fine with that." She got out her phone, guiltily trying to figure out how to text her mom and explain that she was taking off work early, that she was fine but she wasn't going home yet because she was with her incredibly hot bodyguard ...
There was absolutely no way she could explain this to her mom in a series of texts. Not without immediately getting a phone call and a torrent of the Spanglish that Luisa Diaz lapsed into when she was upset.
Mama and Sandy are perfectly safe, she told herself. A cop is with them. And I'm safe with Derek.
All her life, she'd been cautious and careful. She'd always done the safe, sensible, responsible thing. She had put other people before herself, every single time.
Maybe it was time to do something a little bit foolish and crazy. Something just for her.
"Remember the procedure from earlier," Derek told her as they got out of the car. "I'm going to clear the stairwell and lobby before you enter, okay?"
"Okay," she said quietly, subdued at the reminder that they weren't here for fun. (Not just for fun, anyway, said a tiny little voice inside her—the long-suppressed wild'n'crazy Gabriella who had been squashed down beneath serious, sensible Gaby.) There was a very serious reason why she'd gotten off early from work.
But she did feel safe with Derek. It wasn't just having a big, muscular guy at her side. It was a bone-deep conviction that he would do whatever it took to protect her. And she thought that getting away from the coffee shop, where everything had happened, was helping too.
Derek left her sitting in a cluster of chairs in the hotel lobby while he went to check in. It wasn't a fantastically high-class hotel, just a big chain hotel of the conference center type, but it was still miles beyond anything she'd ever been able to afford for herself on a barista's salary. On the rare occasions when she and her family went anywhere, it was strictly Motel 6 all the way.
I bet they have room service here, she thought, looking up at the high ceiling of the lobby, brushed by the leaves of potted ornamental trees. I wonder if they'll let me bring Mama and Sandy here too. They'd be safer here, wouldn't they? My mom would absolutely love it. I hope they have a big tub, maybe a Jacuzzi ...
Derek came back and handed her a key card. "Room 419. For the record, we're checked in as Quincy and Mary Jones."
"Er, Quincy?"
"Blame Keegan for that one," Derek said with a grimace. He shepherded her into the elevator, not in a pushy way, but she couldn't help noticing how he interposed himself between her and the lobby until the doors closed. And then it was just the two of them in the elevator.
And very soon, just the two of them in a hotel room.
Gaby cleared her throat, trying to distract herself from his presence—so large, so near. She wondered if he knew what his defensive body language was doing to her. Mess with this woman and die, his stance said. Of course, he was a bodyguard. It was his job. But there was something about having all of that attention focused on her that was doing things to her, especially when it was coming from someone as completely ripped and good looking as Derek ...
"So what's the long-term plan here?" she asked, to stop herself from climbing him right here in the elevator. "I've got a busy life, a full-time job and night classes, not to mention my family."
"Well, since you've made it very clear that you won't be putting any part of that life on hold just because of the small matter of your life possibly being in danger ..." He said it without rancor, instead wearing a small grin that looked almost admiring. "Then I guess I'll be coming with you for all of those things."
"
What, going to class with me?"
"I can wait in the hall."
"Derek—no! You can't stay with me 24-7. You must have a life of your own to get back to."
"This is my job," he pointed out. "You're my life now."
Before she could tease out the tangled meanings behind that, the doors opened on their floor. Derek touched her arm, positioning her subtly behind him as he stepped out into the hallway. The elevator door started to close. Gaby touched it to keep it open until Derek looked back and nodded.
"Is it always going to be like ... this, though?" she asked as they went down the hall in close proximity to each other, his arm almost but not quite brushing hers. "I mean, you'll need to sleep and eat and ... and you must have friends, family—you can't put everything on hold for me."
"Only until the cops catch the guy," Derek said. He swiped the key card in the door and poked his head into the room, taking a quick look around before letting her in.
Right. This was only temporary. She tried to convince herself that she wasn't disappointed—not at the idea of getting back to her regular life, but having Derek out of it. To distract herself from the clutch of unhappiness in her chest, she looked around.
After the nice lobby, the hotel room was less palatial than she'd hoped, although there was room for two beds, a desk and chair, and a minifridge. It was much bigger than her bedroom at home. Gaby whipped out her phone.
"Now what are you doing?" Derek asked, coming out of the bathroom. She hadn't heard him do anything in there; she was pretty sure he was just checking it in case of assassins lurking behind the shower curtain. He slung his jacket over the back of the room's only chair.
"I'm taking pictures to show Mama and Sandy. I guess this must be an everyday kind of thing for you, but I've never stayed in a hotel this nice." She started to hold up the phone toward him, then lowered it. "Is it violating your bodyguard rules or anything to take a picture of you? I mean, would that like, blow your cover?"
"Bodyguards aren't like undercover cops. The whole point is that we're supposed to be seen."
"Well, in that case, say cheese!"
He smiled dutifully, and when she put the phone away, she was surprised to see how soft his expression was—almost wistful. "Your family is lucky to have you, Gaby. Every time you talk about them, I can see how much they mean to you."