by JANIE CROUGH
Conner led Adrienne out of the room and down to the lobby. He explained to the night manager that there had been a break-in and that an FBI team was coming to process the scene. Finding out that the room next to Adrienne’s was available, he asked for the keys to it. Adrienne could stay there while they processed her room.
Conner would not leave Adrienne alone in this hotel. In any hotel. Not now. He would take her home with him. She would stay there until they caught Simon Says.
It wasn’t long before Seth and the rest of the team arrived. Adrienne still had that exhausted, pinched look about her and gave no fight when Conner suggested she stay in the room next door. Conner posted one of the agents as a guard at the door, just to be safe.
Seth looked as ticked as Conner when he saw the room and the note. Conner’s anger increased even more as he saw how Adrienne’s clothes had been ripped into pieces and thrown all over the room.
Deliberate, ugly violence.
“Thank God you were with her, man,” Seth said through clenched teeth.
Conner could barely stand to think about the alternative. “What if I hadn’t been, Seth? What if I had just dropped her off, and she had discovered this alone?”
Something like this would be scary enough for any woman to walk in on. But who knows how it would’ve affected Adrienne. Simon having been in her room? Having touched everything around her? A note directed especially to her?
Conner remembered Adrienne’s reaction this morning to Simon’s latest package. It had knocked her out cold. Almost had them taking her to the hospital.
What would’ve happened to her if Conner wasn’t around to block it and there was no one there to help her get out of the room?
Conner didn’t even want to think about it. He was filled with the overwhelming urge to get Adrienne out of here—away from the violence that had bombarded her all day.
“Seth, Adrienne can’t deal with anything right now. I’m taking her to my place. Bag everything, and she’ll look at it when she’s ready.”
Seth nodded, and Conner was grateful not to get any flak from his partner. Conner went to the next room to get Adrienne and found her in the same seat where he’d left her, looking off into space.
He walked up to her slowly, careful not to startle her. He sat down in the chair beside her and gently touched her arm. She blinked and looked over at him.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“You ready to go?”
Adrienne nodded and stood up.
“I’m going to take you to my place. I have a town house in Daly City, not too far from here.”
Adrienne nodded again, then rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if to warm herself.
“Cold?”
“Yeah. But my jacket was...” She swallowed hard and shrugged.
Conner took off his blazer, slipped it around her shoulders and watched her snuggle into its warmth. Not having his jacket meant his holster and weapon showed, but Conner didn’t care. He got Adrienne downstairs and bundled into his car. Her huge eyes peering at him still looked overwhelmed.
The drive to Daly City—a suburb of San Francisco—didn’t take long at this time of the evening. Conner tried to talk to Adrienne about neutral things, like his family, who lived in Nevada, and how he had inherited this town house from his grandmother, the only way he could possibly afford a place like this anywhere near San Fran on his salary.
Adrienne didn’t say much, but she seemed to listen.
They parked at the town house, and Conner helped her out of his car and in his front door. Her eyes still held that somewhat vacant look. He wished she would cry or yell or anything but keep what she was feeling buried inside her.
“How about some hot tea?” he asked as he herded her into the kitchen and sat her down by the table.
“Chai tea?”
“If that’s what you want. Sure.”
“Only if it’s sugar-free vanilla and has no foam.” A ghost of a smile passed her lips.
Conner was relieved to see even that tiny smile. “Smart aleck.”
“So this is where you live?”
“Yep. For about six years now.”
“Always been just you?”
“Is that a more subtle way of asking if I’ve ever been married?” Conner chuckled when Adrienne blushed. “I lived here with my grandmother for a couple years before she died. But since then, it’s just been me.”
“Mind if I look around?”
Conner was glad some life was returning to Adrienne. “Sure, be my guest. But please excuse any mess. I wasn’t expecting company.”
Adrienne wandered around looking at his pictures and knickknacks. A lot of it was decorations from before his grandmother had passed away. Conner had just never changed it.
“How about you?” he asked as he finished making their tea. “Ever married?”
“No. After my work with the FBI before, I just needed to totally be away from people for a while. Then I never found the right guy, I guess.”
“Not a whole lot of guys in Lodi. How’d you end up there?”
“That’s where my foster mother’s family was from. She had passed away and left me some money, plus I saved a lot while I worked for the Bureau, since I never had any free time. It ended up being enough for the down payment on the horse ranch.”
“You love horses?”
“I love how they don’t put any voices or thoughts into my head, mostly. But I’ve grown to love them, yeah.”
Conner smiled and walked over, handing Adrienne the mug of tea.
“How did you end up working with the Bureau anyway?” Conner sat down in his normal recliner across from the couch. But Adrienne seemed more interested in walking around, looking at things: his pictures, his books, his DVDs.
“I was eighteen. After my foster mother—really the only person I called family—died, I had to go into San Francisco for some business with her will at the courthouse. As you can imagine, a courthouse is not the best place for me to be with my gift.”
Conner could imagine.
“Plus I was used to living in a small town,” Adrienne continued, still wandering around his living room looking at things. “I was a mess, hardly able to function. I literally ran into Chief Kelly, knocking all the papers out of his briefcase. I went to hand a photo back to him—it was a picture of one of the Bureau’s ‘most wanted’ criminals—and got a clear image of exactly where the guy was right at that moment. Which happened to be just a couple blocks away as he was about to rob a convenience store.”
Adrienne came and sat down on the couch across from Conner’s chair.
“And?”
She smiled. “Well, I told him what I saw. I have to give Chief Kelly credit—he didn’t laugh or scoff or arrest me. He called it in, and they caught him. Right where I said he’d be.
“After careful vetting and making sure I wasn’t that guy’s accomplice, Kelly offered me a job as a ‘consultant.’” She sighed. “I was eighteen and had nobody. I wanted to do something important. To make a difference.”
“You did make a difference, Adrienne. You still are making a difference.”
Adrienne shrugged. “I guess. Part of me always felt like I was a coward for quitting. Even though I honestly had no alternative at the time. It was too much.”
Conner came and sat next to Adrienne on the couch. “I’ve seen the price you pay for using your talents, Adrienne. Nobody should’ve expected you to keep paying that price. It couldn’t be done. And you were a teenager, for heaven’s sake.”
Adrienne leaned her head back against the top of the couch. “My perspective on that time has changed, thanks to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I now understand what my job with the FBI could’ve been like, if it had been done rig
ht. You’ve shown me how much more I can handle if I can just get some sort of rest and reprieve in between.”
Conner sighed. “I don’t know how true that is. You’re still exhausted and in pain a lot of the time.”
“Yeah, but I know there is a time coming every day when I won’t be in pain. When there won’t be noise. That’s thanks to you.”
“I wish I could’ve been around ten years ago.”
“That would’ve been ideal.” Adrienne turned her face toward him and grinned without lifting her head from the couch. “But I realize now, if I had just demanded time off in between cases to recuperate—that would’ve made a huge difference. And I needed to get a place out of town so I wasn’t always bombarded by noise in my time off.”
“You were eighteen. Most eighteen-year-olds are trying to figure out which English class to take at college or how to get beer without being carded.”
Adrienne shrugged. “Yeah? Is that what you were like at eighteen?”
“Pretty much. I always knew I wanted to be in law enforcement, so I stayed pretty clean. Went into the Bureau right out of college.”
“Never married?”
“No. Engaged once, back East. But she really wasn’t interested in the hours an agent has to put in. Glad we figured it out before we got married. No harm, no foul.”
Adrienne reached for his mug and took it along with hers back to the kitchen. Conner could hear the water running as she rinsed them out.
“It’s still pretty early,” he called out to her. “Want to watch some TV?”
Adrienne returned from the kitchen and stopped right in front of Conner on the couch. “No, actually what I was hoping is that you might kiss me some more, and we could eventually work our way to you showing me your bedroom.”
* * *
ADRIENNE WASN’T SURE she had ever wanted anyone as much as she wanted Conner Perigo right now. Glancing down at him, she could see myriad emotions cross his face: concern, hesitation, passion. He was worried about her vulnerable state. He didn’t want to take advantage. She truly appreciated that he was the type of man who would consider these things and want to do what was right.
But she wasn’t going to allow it to get in her way tonight.
Adrienne could admit she had been shaken earlier. What she saw in her hotel room had frightened her. Deeply. And she knew she was going to have to deal with it and process it—but not right now. Here in this house, enveloped by all the items Conner held dear—pictures, knickknacks, items of the past and the present—Adrienne felt safe. This was a house centered in love and security. Adrienne could feel herself drawing strength from it.
They had right now. Adrienne wasn’t going to waste it. Vicious psycho on their radar or not, nobody ever knew how many tomorrows they had.
Conner still hadn’t responded. He was eyeing her warily, as if he couldn’t quite decide the best way to talk her down from this particular ledge.
Obviously he was going to need a little help getting over his nobility.
Adrienne crossed the few remaining steps to him. She leaned down to where he sat on the couch and put her hands on his knees. She smiled at him.
“Adrienne...”
Adrienne leaned the rest of the way and kissed him. Lightly. She put her hands on his shoulders. He didn’t pull away, but he didn’t pull her to him, either.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Conner rested his forehead against hers.
“You may be right,” Adrienne said, smiling again. “But I don’t think we have enough data collected yet to be sure.”
Not giving him a chance to respond, Adrienne straddled her legs on either side of his on the couch and lowered herself the rest of the way onto his lap. She took his face between her hands and kissed him.
Adrienne kissed him with all the passion she’d felt for him since the moment she’d met him.
It didn’t take long for Conner to give up the fight. She heard him sigh as his arms hooked around her hips, pulling her closer to him. Everything about them seemed to explode. The hot, needful pressure of his mouth made her dizzy. Her hands locked in fistfuls of his hair as he released her lips and began kissing his way along her jaw to her throat. His mouth slid to the soft hollow beneath her ear, placing a not-too-gentle bite on that side of her neck.
Adrienne felt the heat inside her intensify. She whispered his name and dragged his mouth back to hers, drowning in the kiss. She reached between them and unbuttoned his shirt, loving the feel of his chest against her palms. She felt him reach for the hem of her T-shirt and broke their kiss long enough for him to peel it over her head.
Conner’s lips returned to her neck, nipping with just enough force to drive her absolutely crazy. His hands unhooked and removed her bra, then cupped her breasts.
“You’re beautiful.”
Adrienne could hear the reverence in Conner’s tone as he kissed her again. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and held him to her.
Abruptly Conner pried her off him and stood, wasting no time getting the rest of her clothes off her. He made quick work of his own, then reached under her hips with both arms and lifted her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He carried her up the stairs.
“You mentioned something about wanting to see my bedroom?” He raised one eyebrow.
Adrienne giggled. “So considerate of you to give me the tour.”
“We aim to please.”
His bedroom was decidedly masculine with heavy wooden furniture. A plain cream-colored duvet was thrown haphazardly across the bed—as if he had attempted to make it up this morning, but hadn’t been willing to give it more than thirty seconds’ worth of effort. Conner tossed the cover to the side and eased Adrienne onto the bed and followed down right on top of her.
His lips found hers again, and Adrienne gave herself over to the feeling of being utterly surrounded by Conner. Being held against him felt good. His incredible body heat felt good. Everything about this felt good. With every touch he aroused another wave of sensation.
For the first time ever, Adrienne gave herself over to passion without holding back, knowing without a doubt she was safe.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Conner looked over at Adrienne asleep in his bed. She was curled around a pillow, tucked up in a tiny ball. Her deep, even breathing suggested she was a long way from waking up. Good, she needed sleep. Last night had been wonderful, but it definitely had not helped her get any rest. Conner couldn’t bring himself to be sorry about that.
He had wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman. It was all he could do now to just leave her alone.
Conner eased himself from the bed, careful not to disturb her. He grabbed some sweatpants from out of a drawer and put them on as he headed downstairs to the coffeemaker.
Yeah, Conner was glad Adrienne was asleep. She was going to need it now that it seemed Simon Says had turned his sights on her.
The thought made Conner break out in a cold sweat. Simon knew who Adrienne was, had known where she was staying. And they still knew next to nothing about him.
Conner made coffee—a full pot; he was going to need it—and sat down at his kitchen table. His phone chirped from the counter. A text from Seth.
You up?
Conner texted him back, Yeah.
There in five. Bringing breakfast.
Conner was always up for a delivered meal but was especially glad Seth was coming over. It would give them a chance to talk through the thought that had come to Conner sometime in the night.
Simon Says was an FBI agent. Or a cop. Or some sort of law enforcement.
It was the only way he could’ve known who Adrienne was or that she was working with them.
It hadn’t occurred to Conner while they were processing Adrienne’s ro
om at the hotel, probably because he had been too caught up with getting Adrienne out of there as soon as possible. But now that he had thought about it, it was the only thing that made sense.
There was a tap on the door, and Conner got up to answer it. Seth walked through, thrusting a bag of breakfast sandwiches at Conner.
“Simon Says is a cop,” Seth said with no preamble.
Conner didn’t need one. “I agree. I was just thinking that myself. A cop or agent. Some sort of law enforcement.”
They sat down at the kitchen table and opened the sandwiches. “We’ve worked with a lot of people over the past six months. It could be any of them.” Seth looked at the sandwich he got and traded it with Conner. “But it at least gives us a place to start looking. A way to narrow things down.”
Conner took a bite of his breakfast. “It can’t be someone at the Bureau office. Adrienne would be totally incapacitated just by him being around.”
“Unless you’re there blocking everything,” Seth pointed out.
“Yeah, but how could he know that? We haven’t told anybody. That would be taking an awfully big risk.”
“Well, obviously this guy doesn’t have a problem taking risks.”
“I want her with one of us all the time, Seth. Or at least always in the Bureau office.” Conner set his sandwich down and sat back in his chair shaking his head. “If Simon got her alone— You’ve seen what she’s like after accessing evidence. Could you imagine how helpless she’d be if Simon actually got his hands on her?”
Conner was determined not to let that happen.
“We could get a protection detail on her.”
Conner shook his head. “No. Not until we know for sure who we can trust. It could be anyone.”
“Who could be anyone?” Adrienne’s voice came softly from behind them over at the stairs.
Conner turned to her and was immediately stunned at how beautiful she was despite being in one of his T-shirts and a pair of his shorts. Or maybe she was so gorgeous because she was in them, even though they were huge on her.