by Lexi Blake
“I can handle the press. Josh mentioned something about three stalkers. Do you know anything about that? I’ve read the case files, but sometimes they can be too clinical. Have you ever seen any of those incidents?”
“We keep the pictures up at The Reef in case one of them shows up. They haven’t so far, but I know at least two of them have been on the beach watching Josh’s house. It’s why we’ll all feel better knowing he’s not alone.”
She had to wonder why he didn’t move, but she kept that question to herself. Barry was pulling into a driveway. Old Malibu Road was a narrow two laner that sometimes felt more like one and a half lanes. The house she found herself standing in front of was pure white, making a sharp contrast to the vivid green of the grass. Turf, really. It could be difficult to keep grass green in California during a drought, so some had taken to putting in lush turf instead. Josh’s small driveway was a checkerboard of pure white and leafy green.
“Wow. It’s big for here.” And she couldn’t see the front part of the house. This kind of beach house was a little like magic. Because the majority was built out and down, the small portion seen from the road would be like walking into a building that was bigger on the inside than the outside. Like the Tardis from Doctor Who. Tucker would think it was all incredibly cool.
There were two full garages on either side of a thick metal gate that split the house into two parts. She counted three cameras and a hefty fence that would keep people out of the yard.
Barry had the Rover’s backdoor open, pulling her two bags out. “Most of these houses have been split up into two to four units and rented out. There are still people who live here, but a lot of our business is tourism.”
“Where is the public access point?” She wanted to know how hard someone would have to work to get to this part of the beach. They’d passed several large swaths of beach where there had been nothing but sand and sun.
“About a mile down the road,” Barry said. “And then there’s another as we were coming in roughly a mile and a half from here. That’s as far as they have to go to get to the beach. Obviously, all they have to do to get to the house is walk up and ring the bell. They park on the street all the time. If it’s too bad, we can get the police to come in and force them to move their cars.”
It would be simple to not answer the door. This part of the house was all garage and long, dark entryway from the looks of it. She would bet that wasn’t true once she was inside. There was no way Josh didn’t have a spectacular view of the ocean. And if he had that, all his “friends” needed was to get to the beach to have a spectacular view of Josh.
And perhaps a shot of him with a camera, or something more deadly.
The heavy iron gate opened and Shane Landon motioned her in. “Welcome. You’re early, and that’s a good thing. I can show you some of the security features. We’ve been upgrading. Thank you, Barry. Mr. Hunt appreciates you delivering her to him safe and sound.”
Barry bowed his head slightly, an almost ritualistic motion that proved there was still a sub deep down in the older man who needed to serve. “Thank him for allowing me to be of service, and tell him I look forward to spending more time with his submissive. Good evening.”
Barry got back into his car and drove off.
“Excellent,” Shane said with a sigh.
“That was another test, wasn’t it?” She should have known. Hunt seemed determined to not take chances.
“Barry is active with the club. If he likes you as a sub, you get to hang with the cool kids,” Shane explained. “From what I can tell, they all think he’s got great instincts when it comes to people.”
“I’m super likable.” When she wanted someone to like her, they usually did.
She was fun. She was perky and peppy, and sure she at times got angry at authors who left her hanging, but for the most part she was the very face of patience and peace. No one had to see what happened under her skin.
“You are,” Shane said, pulling her bags inside. “Which is why I have to ask why you gave Josh the broody act this afternoon. Have you decided to go through a goth phase? Jeez, what’s in this thing?”
“Guns and shoes. The important stuff. And I wasn’t trying to be broody. I was trying to figure out how to handle the man. He’s different in person. I wasn’t sure if my normal sunny self would do it.”
“If you ask me, the man needs some sunshine,” Shane said, hefting the bags up. “But you should know he’s not your type.”
Now she was totally interested. “I have a type?”
Shane’s mouth flattened, but not in a harsh way. More like those lips were saying come on, you know what I’m talking about. “You like overgrown golden retrievers, Kay. You like men who are nothing more than muscular boys looking for a momma. Do you think I didn’t see how you treated Jared Johns today? You have to watch that.”
She laughed because he completely misunderstood her. “I love the sunny ones, Shane. I love them, but I’m not in love with them. They’re like the brothers I never had and yes, I play the big sister. They remind me…”
Shane turned. “Remind you?”
Damn, she hadn’t wanted to think about that. She didn’t want to think about the big sister she’d lost. The mentor she’d lost. So much loss.
“Hey,” Shane said, “I wasn’t trying to pry. I was merely giving you some advice about this guy.”
Good because she didn’t want to go there today. But some of it was funny. She clung to that part. “Does everyone think I’m sleeping with Tucker?”
“I think that is none of my business,” Shane replied. “But I know he’s a good kid.”
And Shane was a good man, giving her space, but still trying to do his job. “Tucker and I are friends. Nothing more. Nothing less. I take friendship seriously, but he needs way more than I could ever give him.”
Shane sighed and turned toward her. “Are you really okay with this?”
A good, overprotective man. “Are you asking me if I’m okay sleeping with Joshua Hunt for this assignment? It’s just sex and quite frankly, I haven’t had any in a while, so I hope it’s good sex.”
A smile crossed his face. “Okay. I’ll back off, but if he hurts you…”
She held up her Louis strap. “Do you need a demo?”
“I do not,” he said with a wink. “Just know that Dec and I are here to back you up. I know you’re technically on the Agency payroll, but you’re our girl and we’ll fuck up any of their plans in order to keep you safe.”
That was the difference between being a spy and working for McKay-Taggart. Some of them came from the Agency, but they were way more military than spies. They were a team and they didn’t leave their teammates behind. “I know, and that’s why I’m here.”
She started looking around the place, trying to figure out how she would get in if she had to. “How many cameras are on the house?”
“Twelve after Dec was done with it,” Shane explained. “We’ve been revamping the security here for the last couple of weeks. Dec’s a paranoid bastard but he gets the job done. There’s not an ingress point that doesn’t have an eye on it. We’ve also got two pointed either way down the beach. The locks are all sturdy, but there’s a room under the house that’s completely open and two sets of stairs that lead down to the beach. I talked Hunt into pulling up the one on the far side of the house. Dec and I took it down. Unless someone can jump really high, we only have to worry about the one set of stairs.”
She’d been in many beach houses, had been raised in one. “Is the room underneath where they keep all the toys?”
“There’s a place for paddle boards and surfboards and a couple of canoes. There’s no door into the house though,” he said. “It’s super wet down there even though he says high tide doesn’t flood the space.”
“Consider it the beach version of a basement. And everything gets wet,” she explained, walking toward the main house. “He’s likely got a hose down there to wash his feet off after walking on the
beach. He can also spray out any of the local wildlife that thinks to make his beach basement into their space.”
Shane followed. “There’s lots of wildlife. I think it’s freaking Dec out a little. He’s not really into nature, it turns out. The birds are pretty aggressive.”
“I’m sure they’re used to humans feeding them. Do we know if there are any CCTV cameras at the public access points to the beach?” She walked from the dim light of the hallway into glorious sunlight. The atrium of Josh’s home was lit by a large skylight. There the floor went from stone to a pretty white marble. The walls were white. It was stark and minimal.
It made her wonder who had been Josh’s designer. Even the paintings were minimalist, done in whites and blacks and shades of gray.
“Uhm, found the CCTVs and already broke into the feeds, thank you very much,” a sarcastic voice said. Declan Burke stood in front of a doorway that led to the right side of the house. “I’ve already got it set up with some sweet facial recognition software that should warn us if one of our peeps shows up. And by peeps I mean crazy motherfuckers. And by should I mean if they look at the camera.”
“That’s a big if,” she replied.
He shrugged. “One sweet day we’ll have tech that flies around and takes pictures of everyone. Until then we’ll hope the crazies look up. Most people do. How ya doing, Kay?”
She liked Dec, but then she was the girl who liked to hang with the weirdoes of the world. Declan Burke was a big, gorgeous total freak. He wasn’t like Tucker. There wasn’t a bit of golden retriever in the man. He was like a Doberman who always had to figure out whether or not he was going to bite.
Still, she was a chick who took chances. She walked up to him, opening her arms, and he grimaced, as she’d known he would.
“Huggers,” he said with a sigh, but his arms went around her anyway.
“Huggers are awesome, Dec. You need more hugs.” He was so grim and refused to talk much of the time, yet he was loyal and fun to be around.
“I don’t think he needs more if he wants to continue to remain employed by me,” a chilly voice said.
She felt Dec’s hands come up.
“Nothing sexual about it, boss,” Dec said. “She’s a huggy chick.”
She held on for another second before letting him go and turning to face Hunt. Just on principle. It wasn’t like she was doing something wrong and he needed to understand that he couldn’t make her feel guilty.
Jeez, that man was hot as hell. He was standing there in all black. Black jeans, black T-shirt, black hair that looked like he’d recently come out of a shower. His eyes seemed to have gone black.
She frowned his way. “He’s my friend. Like he said, I’m a hugger. I’ve never slept with him, macked down on him, or played with him. I’m a physical person, Joshua.”
“I don’t like to share my toys.”
See, this was where she knew she should play the part. She should let her eyes go submissively down and agree that she shouldn’t upset the man who would be her Master, her Dom. That was the right play, the play Jiang Kun would have made.
“Excellent, because I don’t like being referred to as a toy.” Shit. She’d been Kayla Summers for too long. Maybe she didn’t know how to spy anymore.
He considered her for a moment. “I thought you’d never worked with them.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t know them,” she replied. “We’re a small community and we tend to keep up with one another. We also tend to back each other up. If that’s going to be a problem, maybe you need a private detective, someone who isn’t used to working with a team.”
“Challenging me so soon?” One side of his mouth lifted in a wistful smile.
“I have some boundaries, Mr. Hunt. I understand that I’m an employee, but you have to treat me like a human being, too.” It was true. She’d totally thought she could go into this job and that she would fall into her old persona.
She couldn’t. She’d been out in the real world for too long. She’d been surrounded by people who valued her for who she was, not what she could provide them with. It had changed her yet again.
“All right, then. Let’s start over.” He held out his hand. “I’m happy you’re here, Kayla.”
Her heart skipped a beat and she realized how dangerous he could be. She could handle his charm, but there was something underneath it, something that wanted. That was the part of Joshua Hunt that threatened her peace of mind. Still, she placed her hand in his hand and enjoyed the warmth that flowed from his body to hers. “I’m happy to be here, too. Will you show me the house?”
“It would be my pleasure,” he assured her. “If you’ll come this way, I’ll introduce you to my housekeeper. This particular house was built in the late nineties.”
She followed him and tried to remember that this was a job and she wasn’t here for fun.
* * * *
Josh sat back, a little surprised at how much such a tiny female could put away. She’d eaten her salad, Chilean sea bass with lemon and roasted vegetables, and two helpings of the rice pilaf Josh loved but couldn’t have more than a few bites of. He hated wasting it, but Mrs. Glendower insisted on cooking it after she’d found out it was one of his comfort foods.
He didn’t have to worry about wasting it tonight. Kay polished that sucker off.
He found he liked having her sitting across from him at the small outdoor dining table on his balcony. He’d chosen to eat al fresco because he’d thought to stun her with his view. The sun was starting to go down, and in the distance the cliffs were lit up with the brilliant pink and red and orange sunset. It was low tide and the beach was marked with people, but they were mostly locals this time of year. A couple passed, holding hands while they walked barefoot in the sand.
It felt good to be here with her.
She stopped, as though sensing he was watching her with amusement. “Sorry. I have a fast metabolism. Always have. It will probably catch up with me one of these days. Did I eat your portion, too?”
He had to laugh. It had been a long time since he’d had dinner with a woman who wasn’t counting every single calorie, who actually enjoyed her food. “No. I had my portion.”
She frowned, a line appearing on her brow. Yeah, it had been a long time since he’d been around a woman whose forehead moved, too. It was simply accepted in his business that Botox was a must. “That was a single spoonful. That was nothing.”
He could see he might have to talk to Mrs. Glendower about changing the menu up a bit. He didn’t want this woman to be hangry. It could go poorly for him. “That was a taste and that, my dear, is all the carbs my abs can take.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Sorry. That sucks. You look healthy. I wouldn’t think you have to diet.”
“I am healthy right now,” he explained. “When I’m not actively shooting a film that requires me to be shirtless, I put on about five to ten pounds. You’re catching me at the end of lazy time. I’ll shed it in the next few weeks before I have to shoot. That way I’ll look perfect on film, but a doctor would likely tell me I’m underweight at that point. Why do you think actresses have to stay so damn thin? The camera really does add pounds. It’s not a forgiving thing.”
“No dessert, then, huh?”
“I’m afraid Mrs. Glendower isn’t used to serving desserts,” he admitted. “I’ll talk to her about keeping some fun stuff in the house for you.”
“Not if it’s going to screw up your diet,” she replied. “I can survive. Well, I can hoard candy and eat where you can’t see it.”
“Not at all. I’m quite good at restraint.” Denial was something he was very acquainted with. “It won’t bother me at all if you have sweets around. As a matter of fact, if you like, you can go over menus with Mrs. Glendower and slip in some comfort food. Make sure I have a decent protein and some greens and then go crazy with the rest. How about one night a week we share some comfort food? It’s been a long time since I had lasagna.”
She sighed. �
��My dad makes the best lasagna. Well, he did until my other dad’s doctor explained that his cholesterol was that of a walking, talking piece of bacon. Now he makes it with vegan cheese and mushrooms. I totally miss real lasagna.”
“How many dads do you have?” He knew a lot about her professional experience, but her personal life had been summed up with a security check that stated she wasn’t a threat. He found himself curious about her.
“Just the two.”
“Ah, so this isn’t a stepdad thing?”
“Nope. Two dads. Happily married since they legally could be but together since they were twenty-two and met at a disco in 1979. Fred was a dancing bartender. Jim was the fly DJ. They swear it was cool at the time. I’ve seen the pictures. I disagree.”
“Where did you grow up?” He knew she’d been adopted and spent her formative years in So Cal, but he couldn’t remember quite where.
She stiffened for a moment and he worried he touched some sore spot. She sighed and relaxed again. “I was born in rural China. I was smuggled out of the country with my mother’s permission and I found my way into an orphanage. I was adopted shortly thereafter and made my way to Santa Barbara. My dad taught at the UC campus there and my other father was a stay-at-home dad.”
“Wow. That must have been interesting back then. Even in the early nineties there couldn’t have been too many families like yours.”
“I’m sure it would have been hard if we’d been somewhere else,” she replied. “I was an Asian girl with gay parents. One white. One black. We were the world, as I liked to say. I’m sure there were people who made fun of me. I never cared. I don’t know if that was a function of how well they raised me or simply my personality, but I don’t give in to bullying behavior. Oh, I should clarify. I totally give in to it. I tend to beat the shit out of the bully, but I don’t let them make me feel bad about me, if that makes sense.”