by Lisa Childs
He should have ignored Cooper’s order to come to the office. He should have kept the promise he’d made her mother that he would personally keep her safe until the stalker was caught. But he’d thought he could trust the others to protect her.
“Are you all right?” he asked again, anxiously.
She nodded. “Is Cole okay? The—the man came out of nowhere and hit him so hard.”
“I didn’t see Cole,” he said. He hoped like hell his friend was all right. “I just saw you—running.” But the stalker must have gotten the jump on Cole just like he had on Dane and on him, too. That was why Teddie never should have left the security of the condo.
“Why aren’t you back at the safe house?” he asked. “Why the hell are you here?”
“Because of you,” she murmured, pulling away from him.
He flinched again as if she’d squeezed his sore ribs. But she had actually stepped back and dropped her arms from around him.
“Cooper called your cell phone when you didn’t show up at the office,” she said. “You’d left it on the bedroom floor.” Her face flushed, all of her skin turning as red as her scraped cheek.
That never should have happened. He shouldn’t have crossed the line with a client once again, because once again he had risked both their lives. If he hadn’t been so distracted because of making love with her again, he would have noticed the stalker following him.
And if they hadn’t made love, he wouldn’t have dropped his cell phone. He would have had it to call for backup. Fortunately, the elderly man whose vehicle the stalker had jacked had a cell phone on him.
“What happened to you?” she asked as her gaze ran over his face. “Are you okay?”
Manny jerked his head up and down in a quick nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. He tried running me off the road.”
But Manny was the one who had caused the real wreck and had lost the stalker because of it. At least the elderly man had called the police right away, even before Manny had gotten out of the SUV. So they had arrived quickly, probably because they’d already had reports of the erratic driving, and they’d agreed to bring Manny back to the Payne Protection Agency, lights flashing.
He would have been too late if Teddie hadn’t jumped from the van. From the passenger’s seat of the police car, he’d seen her leap out. And his heart had leaped from his chest along with her. He’d seen her tumble and roll across the asphalt. He’d watched the stalker stop the van and run after her.
But when the stalker had heard the sirens, he’d stopped chasing after Teddie. Unfortunately, he’d disappeared inside a parking garage. The police officer had gone after him while Manny had run after Teddie.
Manny wasn’t going to hold his breath hoping that the stalker would be caught in that parking garage. He was too good at escaping.
Too damn good...
They needed to catch him—needed to stop him—before he got Teddie or killed one of them. If he hadn’t already.
He needed to check on Cole and make sure his friend was all right. And if he was, Manny would give him hell for not protecting Teddie.
* * *
Cooper looked around the conference room table, studying the faces of his team. That damn feeling he’d had...had been right. Something bad had happened.
But not just to Manny.
Cole should have gone to the hospital like Cooper had wanted when he’d found him lying in the parking lot a short while ago. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and he looked like hell.
Dane didn’t seem much better. He had still not recovered from his run-in with the stalker.
And Manny...
He didn’t look like he’d just totaled one of the Payne Protection Agency SUVs. He had just a small bump near his temple.
No. What was most upsetting about Manny was that he looked like he was about to kill.
Cooper understood his friend’s frustration. He was frustrated himself that this stalker kept eluding and hurting his team. Because of that, the assignment had gotten personal for him. He suspected it had gotten even more personal for Manny.
The dark-haired bodyguard sat close to the client, as if he needed to protect her even in the conference room of Payne Protection. Of course, she had just been abducted from the parking lot, so Manny was smart to be vigilant.
Teddie Plummer looked worse than Cole and Dane. A twinge of regret struck Cooper’s heart that they had not done a better job of protecting her. Maybe that was why Manny appeared so angry and frustrated.
Or maybe what was bothering him most was the list of suspects Nikki had compiled on the board at the front of the room. If he had feelings for Teddie, like his friends suspected, then maybe it was bothering him to see pictures of her past boyfriends and old flames.
Not that she had many.
But Cooper could remember when his wife—although she’d just been a friend then—had been receiving threatening notes. He remembered the frustration and the helplessness he had felt. It had been personal to him then, like it was personal to Manny now.
Was his friend falling for their client?
Cooper hoped he wasn’t, because he knew how loyal Manny was, how self-sacrificing.
If Manny had fallen for Teddie Plummer, he would do anything to protect her—kill or be killed.
Chapter 19
Teddie almost regretted now that she’d insisted on sitting in on this Payne Protection Agency meeting. Her life was laid out on one wall of the conference room. All those threatening letters had been pinned to a board along with pictures of several men.
Her face heated with embarrassment while her cheek throbbed from scraping the asphalt. “What is this?” she asked, gesturing at the pictures. “Why are they up there?”
“Because they’re possible suspects,” Nikki Payne said. She stood near the board. “I identified the men in your past who might have become obsessed with you.”
A nervous chuckle slipped through her lips, and she shook her head. “That’s not possible.”
None of her previous relationships had ever been serious enough for anyone to harbor resentment against her for breaking up. There had never really been anything to break up beyond a few casual dates.
She hadn’t even had much time for dating between work and classes and her mom. Or maybe those had just been excuses, so she hadn’t had to risk her heart on a man she might not be able to trust.
Unable to sit down any longer with everyone dissecting her life, she stood up and joined Nikki at the board. Pointing at a photo, she said, “I never dated him.” She shuddered at the thought. “He’s my former manager.”
“Former,” Nikki said. “You fired him. He has every reason to be angry with you.”
“No,” Teddie said. “It wasn’t like that. He wasn’t mad at me. He agreed that it would be better to have someone else manage my career.” It had become too much for him to handle along with his other clients.
“He willingly agreed to give up his percentage of all your future modeling jobs?” Cole asked, clearly skeptical.
“Yes,” she said. “Ed Bowers is a nice guy. There is no way he would have sent me any of those.” Her finger shook as she pointed at the desecrated photographs.
“What about him?” Manny asked. He’d joined her and Nikki at the board. He pointed to a photograph of a man who was so handsome he could have been a model; instead, he’d photographed them.
Heat rushed to Teddie’s face again. “I don’t know why Anthony Esch is up here.”
“You dated him,” Nikki said.
“How do you know that?” Teddie asked. The relationship—if a few casual and awkward dates could be called that—had been brief and kept private. Unlike all her fictitious relationships, it had never made the tabloids. Yet none of those rumored boyfriends had photos up there. “How do you know which relationships were real or just gossip?”
Nikki smiled. “I’m that good.”
“So ol’ Tony was a real boyfriend,” Manny said. “What happened? Why did you dump him?”
“I didn’t,” Teddie said. “It was a mutual decision.”
Manny arched a dark brow. He was as skeptical of this breakup as Cole had been of the agent one.
Teddie hated this—hated having to talk about herself. She’d bought that cabin so she didn’t have to deal with reporters invading her privacy and firing questions at her. She hadn’t realized she would have to deal with the same invasion of privacy when she hired the Payne Protection Agency. But because she wanted her stalker caught and her privacy back, she knew she had to answer their questions.
“We only went out a few times,” she said. “It wasn’t serious. We were both too busy.” And despite working in the same industry, they’d had nothing in common and absolutely no chemistry. Despite how good-looking Anthony was, Teddie had never been attracted to him like she was Manny.
Manny studied the photograph. “It could be him. He’s about the right size.”
“So’s Bowers,” Dane said.
Teddie shook her head. “I told you, it can’t be someone I know.”
“Why not?” Manny asked. “You’ve already admitted that other people close to you have betrayed you.”
She pointed at some of the other pictures. “He was an assistant who sold photos and info to the tabloids,” she said. “But he has no reason to be angry with me.” It was the other way around. “I only went out with this guy once, to a charity ball. Same with this guy.” Frustration welled up inside her. “Nobody I know has any reason to stalk me. The stalker is not someone I know.”
“It has to be someone you know,” Manny persisted, “because he seems to know you. Very well.”
She shook her head. “I—I would have recognized him.” Touching her throat, she said, “I was staring up into his face when he was choking me.”
“And he was wearing a mask,” Manny reminded her. “He always wears a mask. He must think you will recognize him if he doesn’t.”
“Or he’s worried that someone else will be able to identify him if he doesn’t wear a disguise,” Teddie said.
“That’s true,” Nikki agreed and asked her, “Who do you think could do this?”
Teddie sighed. “I wish I knew. I got other weird letters before, but none like these.” She didn’t even want to look at them.
“You have other letters?” Nikki asked. “Where are they?”
“I used to throw them out,” she admitted. She hadn’t taken them seriously then, not until these more disturbing ones started arriving. “But I might have a couple at my apartment in New York.”
“We need those,” Nikki said. “We need to see if these—” she gestured at the board “—are an escalation from those prior ones.”
“Those were just weird fan letters,” Teddie said. “Not threats.” Some had been compliments. “They were bizarre but not scary.”
“We need them,” Cooper agreed. “Manny, you need to fly to New York and get them right away.”
Manny shook his head. “I’m sticking with Teddie, and Teddie needs to go back to the condo and stay there.”
After he’d found her in the alley, he’d wanted to bring her back there. But she’d insisted on sitting in on this meeting. She regretted that now—regretted how much she’d had to reveal about her life. Not that she’d really revealed it. Nikki had already seemed to know.
“Lars and Nikki will bring Teddie back to the condo,” Cooper said. “And you’ll fly out alone.”
“Cole can fly out,” Manny said. “I’ll bring her back to the condo.”
“Cole might have a concussion,” Cooper said. “We’re not going to risk it. You’ll go.” And his tone brooked no argument, reminding Teddie that this was his agency.
He was the boss.
Manny must have remembered that, as well, because he stopped arguing and turned toward the door.
But she couldn’t let him just walk away. “You can’t go!” she protested.
“Miss Plummer, Lars and Nikki will protect you,” Cooper assured her.
“I know,” she said. “But who will protect Manny if the stalker tries for him again?” He had nearly been run off the road, shot and burned up. The stalker seemed as obsessed with Manny as he was with her.
Was that just because Manny had been guarding her? Or was it because he somehow knew that she had developed feelings for her bodyguard and he was jealous?
No matter his reason, it was clear Manny was in just as much danger as she was—if not more.
* * *
Manny was pissed—for so many reasons. And his friend must have picked up on his anger, because Cole said, “I’m sorry.”
“You’re not the one who forced me to come here,” Manny said and bitterly added, “Our boss’s orders sent me here.” To Teddie’s apartment in New York City. He closed the door behind them and sucked in a breath at the view of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Cole sucked in a breath, as well. “Damn, this is some place.”
The living room was probably five times bigger than the entire cabin her stalker had burned down. The ceiling was higher even than the peak of the A-frame. The floors were polished marble, and the furniture was high-end.
Manny’s stomach lurched, and it had nothing to do with his frustration over not catching the stalker yet. He felt sick because he knew now—without a doubt—that Teddie would never want more than protection from him. Their lives were far too different. She might have grown up poor like he had, but she was used to luxury now. She wouldn’t want to give up everything for which she had worked so hard to live the simple life she’d claimed she wanted.
And if she didn’t want a simple life, she didn’t want him. Sure, she had wanted him before, but she’d probably only been using sex with him as a distraction from the danger she’d been in for so long.
He couldn’t blame her. He also couldn’t help feeling a little used and hurt. But he should have known better, should have known she was just a fantasy. And he should be grateful that during those wildly passionate moments, he’d had the chance to live out his fantasy.
But there was no chance of that fantasy becoming a lasting reality.
“Let’s find these letters and get back to River City,” Manny said. He hadn’t wanted to leave her again, not after he’d sworn to himself that he wouldn’t.
He trusted Lars and Nikki to protect her. Of course, he’d trusted Cole, too.
“I am sorry I took her out of the condo,” Cole said. He must have mistaken Manny being quiet earlier for being angry with him.
He wasn’t entirely wrong. “Why did you?” Manny asked.
“Can you say no to her?” Cole asked.
Manny cursed at himself more than Cole.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” his friend said.
“I wish I would have said no to Cooper,” Manny said. “This is a wild-goose chase.” He hadn’t wanted to go himself and he certainly hadn’t needed anyone along for his protection. But Teddie had been so worried about his going alone that Cooper had ordered Cole to accompany him.
The guy probably should have gone to the ER instead. But he’d seemed fine when Manny had flown them to New York. Actually, since he had seemed fine, he probably really needed to get his head checked out. Cole usually hated riding with anyone else. They always rock-paper-scissored over piloting the plane.
Cole held up a folder he’d taken from a drawer of the desk in front of the windows. Just like the one at the cabin, this desk was piled high with textbooks. Teddie was determined to get the education she wanted. From the looks of the penthouse, she already had everything else.
“It’s not a wild-goose chase,” Cole said. “The file was right where she said it would be.”
Of course
it was. He took it from Cole’s hand and flipped through the letters in the folder. Several were of a couple, her image cut out and pasted to stand beside an insipid-looking young man. The images weren’t damaged, though. And there were no threats with them, just declarations of admiration. Manny shook his head. “This is a wild-goose chase because I don’t think her stalker ever sent her a fan letter.”
Cole took the folder back and flipped through the pages himself. “Is there one from you in here? Is that why you didn’t want to get these?”
Manny snorted. Even though he’d had her poster, he would have never considered writing her a letter. To him she’d never been real. And even now...
Even after making love with her...
He glanced around the penthouse and out the windows, where the lights of the city glittered like brightly colored stars. She wasn’t real. This wasn’t a life he could ever imagine.
“I’m not a letter writer,” he said. “Just ask my mom.” He’d never had much time to write letters. He hadn’t had time for this trip, either. “The reason I didn’t want to make this flight is because I’m already pretty damn certain who her stalker is.”
“Who?” Cole asked.
“That photographer.”
“And she said it wasn’t,” Cole reminded him. “She dated the guy, so I’m pretty sure she would have recognized him.”
“That’s why he wears the masks,” Manny said. “Hell, he could even be wearing colored contacts, so she doesn’t recognize his eyes.”
Cole narrowed his blue eyes and studied Manny. “That’s true.” But he sounded as if he still had his doubts.
“What?” Manny asked.
“It’s almost like you want it to be him,” Cole said. “Jealous?”
Manny snorted again. He had no right to jealousy. “Yeah, right.”
“He is a good-looking guy,” Cole said.
“I don’t care what he looks like,” Manny said. “I just care that someone has been terrorizing Teddie. And it needs to stop. We need to stop him.”
“You care about her,” Cole said.
“She’s a client,” Manny said as he headed for the door. “That’s all she is.”