“Because you’re handling me for her.” Kayla winced as soon as she said the words. She knew she sounded bitchy. Picking a fight was not her goal. But all these thoughts and worries rattled around inside her.
For so many years she’d tamped that sort of thing down—analyzing and running ideas by someone else. She put her needs aside. She didn’t have anyone to share her dreams and fears with, and she pretended it didn’t matter. But it totally did.
“Because you didn’t kill Nick.” Matthias leaned forward. “Hear me, Kayla. I believe you didn’t do it. I haven’t thought it was even possible for you to have done something like that since right after I met you.”
“Really?” If so, he was one of the few people who’d trusted her word from the start.
“You didn’t do it.”
She knew it, but now she knew he got it. The pressure building inside her released. Tears threatened to spill but she inhaled and blinked and forced them back. This was what true acceptance felt like. She didn’t have to plead her case or convince him that someone was after her. He listened to what she said and believed her.
She put a knee on the end of the bed. “You didn’t have to admit you’d spoken with her. You could have let me think you’d cut off contact. Said anything else, even claimed to have an unrelated work problem that stole you away.”
“I’m considered a straight shooter, Kayla.” He shook his head. “I know it doesn’t seem like that, but—”
“It does.” After days together, she got him. He was a rescuer at heart and hated games. It was all so clear. “I know you are.”
“The one part of this situation I hate is that I came into it without telling you everything.” He lifted his hand and touched his bandaged shoulder. The sling was off but he kept it wrapped up. “The other part I hate is you being in danger.”
She believed him. Not even one doubt lingered. There were things she couldn’t tell him or anyone. Things about Doug and the terrible decision she made years ago. About how she really didn’t deserve to find peace no matter how much she craved it.
But she could be honest with him, at least on this level. About them. About how she wanted to be with him and forgave him for holding back the information about Nick.
She slid off the bed again. “You put your body in front of mine.”
“And I would do it again.”
“I knew you’d say that.” She walked away. Traveled to the other side of the room.
“Where are you going?”
She could hear Garrett’s television and see him leaning over the desk to gather some documents. He was walking around and not paying attention to them. That wasn’t quite good enough.
She stuck her head in his room. “Goodnight.”
Her voice made him jump as he turned to her. He started to say something but she winked. Cut off the words when she closed the door, locking him on his side and her on the other with Matthias.
“Kayla?”
She smiled at the confusion in Matthias’s deep voice at the other side of the room but smothered it again before she turned back to face him. “I’m coming back.”
“But what are you doing? I thought we agreed . . .” His voice trailed off when she started across the room. His gaze moved all over her, traveling down her body to her legs.
The guy was a sworn leg man. “I thought we needed some privacy.”
“We need to talk about where we go from here, and I don’t just mean the case.”
The time for talk was over.
She slipped her T-shirt over her head. The bra came next. She reached behind her and unhooked it, let it drop to the floor. “You sure you want to have a conversation?”
“God, Kayla. You don’t owe me anything.”
“That’s what this is about? You think this is payback of some sort.” She watched him sit up straighter, press his back deeper into the headboard. It looked as if he was trying to scurry away. That was new.
“I just want us to be honest with each other,” he said in a voice that bordered on begging.
The words nearly broke her heart. She didn’t think she could care about someone this much. That her fears would fuel her need to protect and push her so willingly into the role of caretaker.
“Good.” She scrambled up onto the bed again but hovered at the edge. Gave him some time to get used to the idea of her taking control in bed, because the poor guy seemed confused. “Because I want you.”
“I don’t want a pity fuck.”
Wow, he was fighting this with every ounce of strength he possessed. She wasn’t offended. This wasn’t about her. This was about him being decent and not wanting to take advantage. She really did get how his mind worked now.
But other parts of him were much more interesting. “Such a dirty mouth.”
“I’m serious.” His hand dropped to his side, palm up.
She never thought of him as vulnerable but something about the wariness in his eyes and the way he stalled getting naked got to her. He was holding back for her. Once again rushing in to protect. This time she definitely didn’t want that. It was sweet but misguided.
Once they got a few things clear, she never wanted to think about the Nick issue again. “Promise you’ll never lie to me about Nick or Mary.”
He barely let her finish the sentence before answering. “Promise.”
She crawled up the bed, up his legs. “Have you told me everything?”
“About them?”
“Interesting that you’re trying to carve out an exception.” Not that she blamed him. She had hard limits, too. Things that couldn’t be said even in the safety of a dark room.
“I’m not a young guy. I have a pile of secrets.”
She straddled his calves and slid down until her thighs touched his jeans. The scratchy material rubbed against her sensitive skin. “And you’ve been shot at before.”
“Yes.”
“Hit before. That’s the scar under your ribs, right?” She remembered every inch of his body. She’d toured it with her hands and mouth. The signs of battle imprinted on his skin. Now he’d have cuts and a new bullet wound.
“Yes.” His voice sounded thicker that time.
“You have others.” She could catalog them.
“Yes.”
“I want to touch them all.”
His breath escaped on a heavy sound. “Kayla.”
She slipped her arms up and let her body fall along his long legs. Her hand cupped him through his jeans and he twitched against her palm. Rubbing, she slipped her thumb back and forth over him. Loved the way his erection grew under her fingers.
“Should I stop?”
“God, no.” Air moved into his voice. His chest rose and fell but he never broke eye contact with her.
She moved again, skimming her hands up his chest. She lay fully against him now as she placed gentle kisses around the edge of his shoulder bandage, careful not to press too hard. The injury worried her. He needed rest but the bulge in his pants said he also wanted release.
She’d help him relax.
With her hands balanced against the headboard, she hovered over him now. Brushed her breasts against him. Across his chest then up higher. She sighed when his hands slipped over her. To tease her nipples. To press his lips against the tips.
She touched her nose to his hair and inhaled the scent of his shampoo, fresh from the shower. She kissed his head while she cradled his neck in her palm. Then her mouth moved down to cover his. The stunning kiss sent a shudder through her as her body came to life.
They might not always have the right words, but their bodies understood this. On this level they connected.
She eased back until her thighs straddled his hips again. Her hand slipped between her legs to touch him. First she had to get rid of those jeans. The button opened and she slowly lowered the zipper. It was so quiet, the ticking sounds echoed through the room as she opened his jeans.
When her hand slid inside he exhaled a deep breath. “God, Kayla.
”
“Your job is to lie back and enjoy.” She was in charge tonight.
His fingers tangled in her hair. “You’re going to kill me.”
“You need to hold very still.” She winked at him. “Relax that shoulder.”
“Fuck the shoulder.”
“That is not quite what I have planned.” She pulled the opening of his jeans apart. Shifting down, her mouth replaced her fingers. Her tongue licked up the side and across the tip.
A moan escaped him as his head fell back. “Yes.”
She couldn’t get close enough or touch him enough. Her mouth closed over him and she sucked a trail along his skin. The move had his hips lifting off the bed. She recognized the encouragement and took him deeper, pushing him to the back of her throat, slipping him in and out of her mouth.
His hand pressed against the back of her head and he opened his legs wider, giving her space to slip down between them. There was no resisting now. They touched each other in the frantic need to peel the rest of their clothes off. It was awkward and perfect. A moment of total abandon.
When she lifted her head to look up at him, she saw the long length of his throat and the muscles straining as he clenched his teeth together. Still so tough yet happy to let her set the speed.
His head dropped to the side and inhaled a deep breath. “I’m yours.”
That’s exactly what she wanted to hear.
“You’re mine.” Then she lowered her head again.
Chapter 24
Matthias couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d dodged a bullet the size of a rocket. Kayla had every right to be pissed at him. He’d expected her to quietly move around the room last night, maybe watch some television. But she’d locked the door and climbed all over him.
It had been pretty fucking fantastic. When the blood ran to his dick and his shoulder started to throb, he’d ignored it and concentrated on her. Seeing her hair fall across his thighs as her hot mouth moved up and down on him nearly made him lose it. He held it together long enough to get inside her, but just barely.
And now he was stuck in a room with Garrett.
Garrett shuffled the papers in front of him as he dragged the laptop over and turned it on. The guy was in full multitasking mode. “Is she still in the shower?”
“You’ve asked that ten times already.” And since Matthias would rather be in there with her, he was sick of the question. He also dreaded to think where this conversation was about to go.
“She closed the door between our rooms last night.”
There it was. “Shut up.”
“I’m just saying.”
“So am I.” The video loaded and began to roll. Not grainy but not the best quality either. This one sat on a pole right across from Kayla’s apartment. The same apartment he hoped she never went back to because it was starting to feel like the place was cursed. “Is this the video from the dock?”
Garrett looked up. “There’s no sign of the shooter on this one. It’s more of a what’s-happening-there thing. I think it’s also from earlier that day.”
“That’s just fucking great.”
“We do have a load of new surveillance and I can run through that on my own.” Garrett flipped through the pages in the binder in front of him. “Your team did a pretty great job of tracking the comings and goings and identifying most of the people on it.”
“Of course they did.” That’s exactly what he’d trained them to do and paid them so well to accomplish.
They did it for other people. The only difference was that this time they did it for him. Since he was in the field, which never happened, he guessed his team was doing its best work.
“So, why are we redoing it?”
Because that’s what he did. He oversaw the work. He had a chain of command and didn’t step on his employees or get in their way, but he did watch over everything. Those control-freak tendencies were hard to kick. “I want to touch every piece of paper and every bit of evidence myself.”
“Okay then.”
Kayla stepped into the room as she fiddled with the back of her earring. “Having fun?”
He found the entire female morning production fascinating. She didn’t take a long time getting ready, but there were so many steps and she never missed one. The moisturizer, the hair brushing . . . the lotions and bottles of things he couldn’t identify and had no idea she needed. There appeared to be an order and she never strayed from it.
“Not even a little fun, actually,” Garrett said in a voice that came close to a whine.
Matthias had to agree. “This part is tedious.”
“How hard is it to look at video . . .” She leaned over Matthias’s shoulder. “Nothing’s happening on it anyway. Wait, is that my house?”
When she reached for the computer keys, he held her hand before she could touch anything. Between the touching and smelling her, his body was ready to go. He ignored it. “That’s exactly it. There are long stretches of nothing in this job.”
“Huh.” She tapped her fingers on the desk. “Then watch during the day when there are more people shuffling around. The boaters come in and out all the time.”
That was an interesting strategy. Matthias couldn’t help but comment on it. “Because stalkers only come out in daylight?”
“Smartass.” She followed the comment by slipping her fingers into his hair for just a second, then the touch was gone again.
Garrett laughed. “As Wren would say, it’s better than being a dumbass.”
“Your boss is very eloquent.” Matthias tried to turn his attention back to work and off of her. He pointed to the folder next to Garrett’s hand. “Speaking of which, are those the files he had delivered?”
Garrett patted the top one but didn’t open it. “The intel on the ‘others’ on the pier.”
“What does that even mean?” Kayla leaned against Matthias’s chair, acting as if she didn’t have any intention of leaving soon.
“Some of what we talked about before. Intel on Lauren’s clients, customers in the shops and the café. That sort of thing.” There was more, but he figured that basically covered it.
“I don’t even want to know how you got the names and information to search.”
He nodded. “No, you don’t.”
Her face lit up as she pointed to the screen. “There’s the barfer.”
“Who?” Matthias followed her hand and saw the image. A younger man with dark hair. He wore casual clothes and walked with his head down and a baseball cap on. As they watched the screen, he walked along the pier, glancing at the water but never getting close.
Matthias didn’t remember seeing him before. “That’s Lauren’s assistant? The one who got here a few weeks before I did?”
Kayla pointed again. “That’s Paul.”
That name Matthias recognized. He sat up straighter and rewound the video a few frames. “That kid has been avoiding me.”
“Well, he’s right there.” She leaned between Matthias and Garrett and touched the screen. Just as she did, Paul looked up. Stared into the air, clearly not knowing the camera was there, before looking away again.
The face hit on a memory. Matthias reached out and clicked the spacebar, stopping the video. “Wait a second.”
“What do you see?” she asked. “Say it because I’m missing it.”
That was exactly the point. They were all missing it. Looking in the wrong direction. Matthias snapped his fingers as he tried to remember where he’d seen the face. “Where’s his file?”
Garrett looked at the notes in front of him. “He’s been tougher to pin down. Wren plans to send the information he’s collected on Paul later today.”
The face. The age. It all clicked together in Matthias’s head. It took a few seconds, but he pinpointed where he’d seen the kid before. “They don’t need to. I mean, they do. But not for an ID.”
Kayla had a hand on his shoulder and concern in her eyes. “What is it?”
“That’s not Paul.”
She laughed. “It really is.”
She wasn’t getting this. The kid wasn’t some innocent, seasick boy. He had an agenda and it had nothing to do with getting a paycheck from Lauren. “His name is Ben.”
Garrett stopped searching through the Paul file and looked up. “You know him?”
Knew him. Could identify him. Had likely just found Kayla’s stalker. “Give me Doug’s file.”
She groaned. “Come on. Again with that?”
Matthias turned his chair to the side. He wanted to wrap an arm around her waist as he delivered this news. Try to soften the blow. But his shoulder wouldn’t let him lift the arm at all.
He settled for getting closer. If he could body block this information, he would. “He’s Ben Weston. Doug’s brother.”
“What?”
But he could see from the hunted look in her eyes that she got it. He let her process his comment without saying more.
“No, not possible.” She shook her head and kept shaking it. “I never met him but I saw photos. That kid is . . . a kid. Doug’s baby brother.”
Garrett winced. “He was a kid seven years ago.”
Matthias dragged Doug’s file over in front of him and paged through it. It only took a second to find the photo. It captured his awkward stage. Back then the kid was long legs and all teeth. But the eyes, the mouth, it was Ben.
The guy did manage to blend in. Running away anytime the team tried to talk to him also worked to his advantage. Until now. “No wonder we’ve had some trouble finding Paul.”
Kayla sat down on the armrest of Matthias’s chair. “Doug’s brother.”
He could hear the shock in her voice. He got it. Getting walloped by the past was never fun. Especially when that past liked to write threatening notes.
That settled it. “It’s time we say hello to Paul.”
Lauren looked up as they all walked into her office a half hour later. She was in the middle of grabbing a jacket and had a piece of paper in her hand. A smile spread across her face the second she saw them. “This is quite a group.”
Matthias wasn’t really in the mood for mindless chitchat. “Where’s Paul?”
“Right there.” Lauren pointed over their heads.
The Enforcer Page 20