“She didn’t actually take a swing at me.” But she’d wanted to. She made that clear. The heat. The way energy pulsed off her.
Damn, he wanted her. Like strip-her-naked-and-touch-each-other-all-over wanted her. He had to believe she’d be great in bed. She’d tell him what she needed and how to please her. Not be shy.
Fucking hell.
The driver shifted in his seat. “How did she know you were out here?”
“She’s careful. Smart.” So sexy. “Keep that in mind as you follow her. She’ll be on alert.”
“Yes, sir.” Both men up front answered at the same time.
“Do you have the plates?”
The driver handed the license plate over the seat. “Here.”
“While you’re watching, figure out how she got out of the building without using the front door. If she snuck out once, she’ll do it again.” She was exactly the type to make simple surveillance difficult.
The men glanced at each other before looking at him again. “You want us to keep following her?”
“Until Garrett tells you to stop.” Wren let a few minutes of quiet drag on between his words. “She is your top priority, and I want to know where she is at all times.”
“Yes, sir.” The driver cleared his throat. “Will you be out here again tomorrow?”
He sure as hell hoped not. He had to possess more control than that. “You should assume I’m watching.”
“Right.”
Thinking he made his point, he opened the door. Then he hesitated. There was one more thing. “You can leave this episode out of the report.”
The driver had the nerve to smile. “The part with the bat?”
“I see that in a report and you’re both fired.”
CHAPTER 4
Emery’s hand cramped from the hold she had on the strap of her shoulder bag. She’d slept all of an hour last night thanks to that idiot hanging around on her street.
By the time she got back to her apartment and looked out the window after their altercation, not hiding her interest that time, his car was long gone. She’d half expected him to circle around the block and come back, but she didn’t see any sign of that. God knew she looked. Looked and kept looking. Peeked out the window every twenty minutes or so for hours. Listened for strange sounds and jumped at every creak and rumble of noise. Just sat there on the chair in her small family room area, staring and waiting.
The guy owed her one night’s sleep.
She should have used the bat when she had the chance.
But today was a new day and she needed to erase his face from her mind. Put him out of her head. Forget him.
For some reason that seemed easy to say, but every few minutes she’d replay their conversations and hear his voice. In between the threats and cryptic comments lurked something else. An easy banter. A back and forth that challenged her. The fact she found that sexy made her think she needed to go back to the therapist.
There was probably a book or two or a thousand out there about women who felt a connection with the wrong men. Like, totally wrong. After she hunted down Senator Dayton, she’d get online and buy those books. But right now, she needed to talk with the senator.
The receptionist in her office upstairs talked about her being in a committee meeting. Before that, the excuse had something to do with her visiting with a constituent’s business. All likely valid excuses, but to Emery they were still just excuses. She needed some information about this mysterious Wren and now. If the senator happened to know something about this Brian character then that was fine, too.
Emery walked down the hall of the Russell Senate Office Building. Her heels clicked against the marble as she dodged Hill staffers rushing by and tourists huddled around maps. When she finally reached the elevator two men hovered behind her talking about what it would take to get a certain senator to sign on as a cosponsor to a bill.
On any other day she’d find the talk interesting. Today she needed to concentrate. She’d prepared her arguments and had some documents with her. If the senator needed to be convinced to help then Emery would launch into speech. She would have done all of that over the phone, but it was harder to ignore someone in person, or at least she hoped that was true.
The elevator bell chimed and the doors opened. Excitement built inside her. She was ready to negotiate and convince. But the churning in her stomach suggested something bigger was happening. She just wished she knew what it was.
Wren congratulated himself for not getting coffee the next morning. True, he debated “just stopping in” and abandoned the idea. The refusal to give Garrett the satisfaction was enough to kill the idea.
Not that he’d moved on from the Emery Finn problem. Just the opposite. Even now he stood in the middle of Senator Sheila Dayton’s plush blue office, waiting for her to return from a committee meeting so they could discuss Emery. Most senate office visitors had to wait in the welcome area outside her door. Not him. Not ever.
Being alone in the room allowed him to wander. He glanced at the diplomas from Princeton and Howard. The family photographs that showed off two smiling boys who towered above her even in their early teens. Not an easy feat since Wren was six feet two and the senator was only a few inches shorter than he was.
He dragged a finger along the spines of the books lined up on the bookcase. As he reached the end of the wall unit he looked at the window behind the senator’s desk and the flags standing on each side, one for the US and the other for Maryland, the state she’d represented for almost three years.
He wasn’t much of a pomp and circumstance kind of guy. Some people hid behind big concepts like patriotism but didn’t actually do anything. That’s one of the reasons he’d supported Senator Dayton from the beginning. She didn’t just deliver lip service. She was strong, smart and practical, a winning combination in his mind.
When a nasty faction tried to derail her career because she had the nerve to be female and black and seek power, he’d stepped in. She’d rewarded him both with a sizable check in payment for his services and by being the leader she’d promised the voters she would be. Now, for some reason, she’d been dragged into the middle of the Emery Finn controversy, and he needed to know why.
Just as he rounded the front of her desk and picked up her nameplate, the door opened. The senator stood there with stacks of folders in her arms and a flurry of activity behind her as staffers tried to get her attention. She traded the paperwork for two coffee mugs then closed the door behind her, leaving the chaos outside.
“Stop fondling my office supplies.” Amusement played in her voice as she walked through her office never breaking stride.
He set the nameplate down. “Yes, ma’am.”
She dropped one of the mugs on the desk in front of him and carried the other with her as she walked around to slide into her oversized chair. “This is always the point in the greeting when I try to figure out what name I’m supposed to use. Brian, Wren . . . or did you come up with a new one this week? I always saw you as a Matthew.”
The senator knew his identity. His history . . . or the pieces he reluctantly shared. She was one of the few people who made it into his inner circle. Their relationship started out as business, but it turned into a tenuous friendship. She helped to open doors for him by recommending his company when powerful people needed discreet assistance.
She also played another role in his life. He stumbled with human interaction. She and Garrett were the people he asked when he had to litmus test a problem. He was able to be more informal with them. Admittedly, his informal equaled most people’s starchy, but he was different with the two of them.
As his business exploded over the last few years, she was the one who suggested the conceit about him pretending to be Wren’s right-hand man rather than Wren. The ruse allowed him some space to maneuver when he did need to meet directly with clients. It also afforded him the privacy he craved, all while preserving the idea of the mysterious Mr. Wren.
She u
nderstood him. She talked tough and didn’t think twice about trying to push him around if she wanted him to do something. He admired that about her. The only thing he didn’t like was her unknown link to the Emery situation.
“It’s probably safest to go with Brian,” he said.
Her lip twitched. “Do you think the office is bugged?”
“Do you honestly think it isn’t?” That amounted to a lost opportunity, as far as he was concerned.
“Never change.” She settled back in her chair. “So, I hear you’ve been busy.”
She was a force of nature. Not one to waste time, which he’d always appreciated. “I could say the same about you, Senator.”
“Since when do you call me anything but Sheila?” She gestured for him to take the seat on the opposite side of the desk.
“When I sense I’m about to get a lecture.” Which almost made him want to stay on his feet. He sat anyway. Picked up the mug but didn’t take a drink. Not yet. Not until he knew which one of them would take the lead in the conversation.
She leaned forward with her elbows balanced on her desk. “How long have we known each other?”
Her, then. “I have to tell you, Sheila. No good conversation ever started with those words.”
“Very true.”
Interesting. “Just how bad is this lecture going to be?”
She folded her hands together. Looked every inch of the tough mother of promising lacrosse players. “You freaked out Emery Finn on your first meeting.”
So that was it. “I said hello.”
“Apparently you had a threatening tone.”
He’d heard that his entire adult life. If talking tough scared people, so be it. “I really only have one tone.”
“Then you repeated the mistake by going to her house and scaring her again.”
Oh, come on. “That woman is not afraid of me.”
Sheila frowned. “That was reckless and it’s not like you to be reckless.”
“I haven’t been reckless in years.” And that was the truth. When he was younger his entire personality consisted of impulse and bad judgment. Not any longer.
“Yet you told her to back off.”
“Maybe she misunderstood my intent.”
“We both know you can be . . .” Sheila closed one eye and looked as if she were weighing her words. “A bit dark.”
He’d been called far worse. “That’s not exactly a secret.”
“Intense.”
He picked up the mug and cradled it in one hand. “Again, I’m not denying the description.”
He’d wanted Emery to get the point. Sounded as if maybe she had. Now she could move on . . . though he had to admit the idea of her giving up and running away hit him wrong.
He’d enjoyed sparring with her, which likely made him an even bigger dick than people assumed. Still, she hadn’t backed down or panicked like the few people who met him face-to-face tended to do. On more than one occasion he’d sent grown men—fierce and powerful businesspeople—scurrying. She’d fought back and he’d found that more than a little hot.
Sheila tapped her fingertips on the side of her mug. “She said your name was Brian. I’m surprised you gave her that much.”
“I can explain that.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She knows that first name only.” He gave in and took a long sip of the strong black coffee. “But how exactly did you know it was me she met with and who went to her street? I clearly didn’t tell her who I really am.”
“She described you, but really the whole ‘listen to me and obey’ speech you gave her is classic you.”
“I thought I was . . .” He debated saying “friendly” and immediately abandoned the idea. “Clear.”
“Of course you did.” Sheila sighed as she leaned against the back of her chair. “You led her to believe awful things would happen if she didn’t stop looking for you.”
He had to admit that might have happened. “Too much?”
“Definitely.” Sheila smiled. “I got the sense you acted just this side of unhinged.”
Again, probably fair. “That seems like a strong way of saying it.”
Her eyebrow lifted. “But accurate?”
“Garrett didn’t seem impressed with my choice to confront her either.” Wren brushed a stray string off his pants. “Everyone’s a critic these days.”
“Garrett was with you when you met Emery?”
Wren knew where this was going and refused to balk. He wasn’t the type. He held the eye contact, silently daring Sheila to go too far. “No.”
“Ah, there’s your other mistake.” The senator nodded. “Always take him with you.”
“That sounds tedious.” Not wrong, just exhausting. On the rare occasion he strayed from his usual pattern he should be able to do it without four armed guards and his second-in-command in tow. Should but probably couldn’t.
“Since when do you venture out of the office during the day to tell people to leave you alone, or stalk a woman to her home?”
There was that word again. “Stalk, really? That’s the word we’re using?”
She nodded. “Yes, it is.”
Wren took another sip, this time almost draining the small mug. “Granted, in hindsight my choices as to Emery seem like a miscalculation.”
“You are the king of understatement today.”
He actually thought of himself as straightforward, but why argue? “Which is one of the reasons you like me.”
Some of the amusement left her face. “That and the fact you made it possible for me to be elected.”
“I don’t like blackmailers.” The memories shuffled in his head. The men who tracked down those old photos didn’t care that she’d been a freshman in college when they were taken or that the photographer had been a vengeful asshole of a former boyfriend. They just wanted her out of the race and were willing to ruin and embarrass her to do it. Wren hated men who shit all over women. “Your opponent was also an idiot. I don’t live in Maryland, but I have a low tolerance for people who wave the Constitution around without actually reading it.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not an odd occurrence on Capitol Hill.” She set down her mug. “So, to business. I know why I wanted to see you, but why did you insist on seeing me?”
With the mindless chatter out of the way, Wren dove in. “Why is Emery Finn looking for me?”
“Maybe it’s your sparkling personality?”
Part of him actually wished an attraction to him was the answer. “Here I thought she was just nosy. Dangerously so.”
“You’re using that threatening tone right now. In my office.” Sheila pointed at him. “Knock it off.”
“Some people are afraid of me.”
“Those people don’t know you. They’re actually afraid of some shadowy figure who hides behind a curtain.” When he just sat there she smiled at him. “Do you not get the movie reference?”
“What movie reference?”
“I see.” She rocked a bit in her big chair. “We—meaning you—need to deal with the Emery issue.”
“I’m trying, but I need more information about her angle.”
Sheila’s smile widened. “It’s convenient you came in, then.”
She seemed far too amused all of a sudden. “Excuse me?”
“I think we should ask her.”
That sounded simple enough, but no. “I tried.”
“I meant in a normal way, preferably without scaring the hell out of her. Maybe with a smart, eloquent third party present.” Then Sheila sat there, not moving and looking far too pleased with herself.
Wren saw the trap. A friendly one, but still, he’d been maneuvered. Sheila seemed determined to deal with this Emery situation and drag him out into the light. His preference was to ignore all of this until Emery went away . . . or it had been until he met her and an unexpected bit of interest sparked.
“What did you do?” He set his mug down nice and slow, careful not to crack it from the forc
e of his grip on the handle.
“You’re not the only one who insisted on seeing me today.” The senator’s words jumbled together as she spoke faster than usual. “She keeps contacting me.”
There was more to the story. He read people for a living, and she was not immune to his skills. “Sheila.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” She held up her hand. “You can say no, but keep in mind I do have constituent work to do. I can’t referee forever this strange relationship you two have brewing.”
He stood up. “Right.”
“Huh.” Sheila played with the handle of her mug. “I didn’t think you’d pick running.”
Blow landed. Sheila didn’t dance around. She went right to the ego shot. He would have done the same thing. He was just not used to being on the receiving end of the offensive maneuver.
“She’s here now?” he asked, knowing the answer.
“Right outside. Should I send her away?” Sheila’s finger hovered over the intercom button on her phone.
He could leave out the side door and through the room where the staffers sat. She was giving him the out and any other time he would have taken it, but Emery’s dogged pursuit had him intrigued. He admired the determination. The idea she hadn’t given up or heeded his warning should have pissed him off. He seemed to have the exact opposite reaction.
“No.” This one time he would break his rules and give in to his curiosity. He really didn’t have an explanation for the change other than he sensed Emery wouldn’t stop even if it meant walking through the halls of the Capitol shouting his name. His gut also told him it was time for this showdown, and he rarely ignored his gut.
The senator reached for the intercom, giving him every chance to call this off. When he didn’t say anything, she hit the button. “Show Emery in.”
“Good.” He didn’t realize he said the word until it echoed through the room.
The Fixer Page 3