The Fixer

by HelenKay Dimon

  “Is she here now?” she asked, hoping the answer was no because it meant she was hiding in a closet or something.

  “I texted and asked her to make dinner then take the next few days off.”

  That validated all of her fears. “Because I’m here. Are you afraid I’ll scare her?”

  He put a hand on either side of her on the counter’s edge, basically trapping her between his arms. “I’m hoping we’ll have sex tonight and maybe again tomorrow, and I figured you didn’t want an audience.”

  The indignation and frustration, with more than a little hurt mixed in, had been brewing. With that comment and the sparkle in his eyes, it all washed away. Sounded like she jumped to one conclusion too many.

  Her fingers went to the loosened knot of his tie. “Good call.”

  “Thank you.”

  The rising anger gave way to a very different feeling, still heated but not in the same way. Her heart raced and the need to see him naked again pounded her. She didn’t doubt that he was game, but she did wonder if he was a bed-only type. “On all of it.”

  The corner of his mouth kicked up in a sexy grin. “Meaning?”

  “Can dinner wait?” There was no way she could choke down one bite of food. Not now. Not as she stripped off his tie. Not when her fingers settled on the top of his belt.

  “I don’t see why not.” Still, he stood there, leaning into her but not touching. His hands still next to her but not on her.

  It looked like the man needed a bigger hint.

  “Then I have one question for you.” She started opening the buttons of his crisp white shirt. “Are you familiar with the concept of sex against a wall?”

  He nodded nice and slow. “I do believe I’ve read about that once or twice.”

  Her breathing turned shallow and her brain blinked out for a second. “Any chance you want to experiment?”

  “Does it go something like this?”

  He moved then. His fingers closed on her waist. She was about to wrap around him and steal one of those amazing kisses when he spun her around. He pressed her chest against the wall and her hands came up for balance. His palms touched against the backs of hers.

  His breath skimmed over her neck then to the back of her ear. “I’m going to fuck you right here.”

  God, yes. “Do it.”

  “But you have to be ready.”

  He bit down on her ear, a gentle nip that she felt to her toes. She wanted to say something, nod, but nothing came out.

  He used his knee to push her legs apart. His leg slid along her inner thighs and kept going. Up until his knee pressed against her. He rubbed against her through her jeans and his pants. Small circles. Slow then fast. A welcomed sexual torment that had her resting her forehead against the wall.

  Just as her hips started to sway in time to the rhythm of his knee, one of his hands slipped inside the waistband of her jeans. His hand spanned the width of her bare stomach, pulling her back into him, then dipped lower. His fingertips eased under the top of her underwear. Then inside her.

  She wanted him to rip everything off. Tried to tell him, but her brain kept misfiring. “That’s a good start.”

  “You can still talk, so I should try harder.” He plunged his finger in deeper.

  “Definitely.” Her hands curled into balls against the wall as the muscles in her knees started to give out. He had her limp and wet and ready.

  He trailed a line of kisses along the underside of her hair. “We’ll do it over and over until we get it right.”

  “Oh, damn.” That finger was almost magical. He hit the right spot then eased back inside her when she gasped. He kept repeating the action until her body begged for more.

  “I want you to be satisfied,” he whispered.

  She reached down and grabbed his hand. Through the layers of clothing, she held it tight against her. “Then stop talking and move.”

  “Not yet.”

  He touched that spot one more time and her body started to buck. Her arms shook, barely able to hold her up. She put her cheek against the cool plaster as the pleasure hit her. It rushed over her body in waves. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip to hold it back, but she couldn’t stop it. She came as she guided his fingers in deeper.

  In the background she could hear a zipper. Then her waistband loosened and he tugged her jeans down.

  Reality kicked her. “Condom.”

  “Handled.”

  “Really?”

  “I’ve learned to always carry one when I’m with you. Just in case.”

  He put the packet in her hand. She heard the jangle as he undid his belt. Only his body kept her pinned to the wall now, but she wasn’t going anywhere. “I knew I could count on you.”

  “For anything.” His hands slipped her underwear down. “You want sex against a wall, you got it.”

  She wanted to say something, do something. All she could do was close her eyes and enjoy as his fingers moved inside her again. “Then let’s get to experimenting.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Wren actually almost worked seven full hours the next day. Maybe a normal day for some. A really light day for him, especially since most of yesterday was spent with Emery’s boss and the senator. Basically, it had been an all-Emery day. That was starting to be a pattern in his life, which Garrett pointed out about nine hundred times today.

  Never mind that it was Friday and he had the weekend ahead of him to catch up. Not that the goal would be easy since he had no intention of leaving Emery’s side. She had hours of nonwork time, which meant she could get into a lot of trouble. He’d really like to avoid being a part of that, starting right now.

  He looked over at her from his position in the driver’s seat. They sat in the driveway of her father’s house with the engine running. Had for the last five minutes. He’d previously volunteered to go with her to see her father. Of course, that was before they slept together. Before he’d trailed his tongue all over her and spent hours kissing and touching her. Amazing how that changed things when it came to meeting her father.

  “I can wait in the car.” That struck Wren as a smart idea. He wasn’t really a meet-my-dad type anyway. He basically hated fathers thanks to his own.

  Emery stopped flicking the lock toggle back and forth. Immediately the annoying clicking vanished. “We both know this will keep ratcheting up until you meet him.”

  Wren wasn’t ready to admit anything remotely like that. Still . . . “This?”

  “His poking around.”

  So, not the sex. Seemed like they were on two different wavelengths tonight. Not the best time for a communications issue. But he couldn’t help but point out one tiny issue. “Notice how I’m not drawing comparisons between his behavior and yours.”

  She switched from shifting on the leather seat to glaring. “That’s wise.”

  Well, if someone was going to look at him like that it may as well be her father. He shut off the car and opened the door. “Let’s go in.”

  She caught his arm before he could slip out of the car. “Before we do, there’s one issue we need to discuss.”

  “Are you having an attack of nerves?” This was one of those times he’d missed the subtle clues. Worry he understood. From all accounts, and Detective Cryer didn’t have a very positive one, Emery’s dad was a dick. Knowing that as an outsider and being related to that were two different things.

  “Hardly.”

  “Really? Because that’s probably normal.” He had no idea what he was talking about, but he just kept firing out random thoughts he hoped sounded good or at least helped.

  She twisted the strap of her purse between her fingers. “I’m dancing around the dating thing.”

  “Meaning?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I don’t, so this should be interesting.” He shut the door and settled back into the seat. “Go on.”

  She sighed at him. The type that telegraphed her utter annoyance with the male sex in general. “We sh
ould skip that part. Telling him about it, I’m saying.”

  As in pretend the talking, the touching and all that sex hadn’t happened. On the bed, in the shower, against the kitchen wall.

  Not fucking likely. “Excuse me?”

  Her second sigh carried on for several beats. “Are you really not getting this?”

  “I’m going to make you say it.” Because then maybe she would understand how weird and insulting this conversation was. He was supposed to change his life around, come out from hiding—something he never did—and she would keep on pretending he was the hired help. That sounded just great.

  “I don’t announce my dating life to my father. Ever. He judges and it’s not his business.”

  Uh-huh. “And?”

  “He’s not a guy you want looking into your background.”

  Wren wrapped his fingers around the wheel and tried to tamp down on his anger. “I think I can handle covering my tracks. I mean, it is what I do.”

  “You’re ticked off.” She gnawed on her bottom lip.

  “You picked up on that, did you?”

  She put her hand on his knee. “I don’t want him knowing.”

  “That we’re having sex?” He guessed the idea between the soft voice and the touching was to calm him down. It didn’t work. All he could think about was her wish to tuck him away somewhere. Yes, that’s basically how he lived his life, but that was his choice. For some reason it ticked him off when she wanted to do it to him.

  “Anything.” She sank back into the seat. “If he thinks we have a personal relationship, he’ll fixate on it. I’ll get lectures about how I’m mixing business with pleasure, which is a mistake.”

  That took some of the heat out of Wren’s anger. He switched from being frustrated with her to not liking her father. And he’d already started out not being that impressed with the good professor. “He does know you’re an adult, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you?” Because the way he saw it she had to own responsibility for her part in letting this relationship drag on this way.

  “He has a phone and a computer and inundates me until I respond. He can be toxic.” She winced. “But he’s all I have.”

  The words flipped the whole situation around on him. She yearned to belong. He got that. On top of that she placated and tried to please. She’d suffered tremendous loss and handled it by trying to make him happy. When that failed, she did what mattered to her and tried to balance that with what her father demanded. The longer he sat there, the clearer the picture became to Wren.

  He felt for her because the situation sucked. “Admittedly, I’m not an expert on relationships with fathers—”

  “Stop right there.” She lifted her hand. “Look, I know it’s stupid, but I learned long ago that the best way to deal with him is to live my life, establish my boundaries, ignore most of what he says, but to not lose contact. It makes him spin when I try to put space between us. He actually gets worse when we don’t talk.”

  No way could he fight that argument. “Fine. I won’t announce that I’ve seen you naked. Now can we go in and get this over with?”

  She stared at him for a second longer. “Why do I think I’m going to regret this?”

  “You’re only just realizing that now?” He opened the door again.

  “I continue to underestimate you.”

  At least she finally admitted it. “Serious mistake.”

  Her father answered the door on the first knock. “Dad.”

  His gaze darted to Wren. “Who’s this?”

  Skip the hellos. No questions about why she didn’t use her key or just try to open the door. Her father being her father, he jumped right to the only thing he cared about. The stranger on his doorstep. At least the man was consistent.

  They still stood on the front porch overlooking the pristine green lawn. The same one she used to lie on as a kid and dream as she watched the clouds stream by. Now, cars passed and the light hadn’t faded, so she could see neighbors walking dogs on the street and smell the scent of freshly cut grass.

  She was about to do the formal introductions when Wren angled his body slightly in front of hers.

  “I’m the man investigating the Tiffany Younger matter.” Wren didn’t extend his hand in greeting.

  Neither did her father. “Your name?”

  “Brian Jacobs.”

  Her father didn’t move or invite them inside. “Is that also your agency’s name?”

  “It’s the name I use.”

  Yeah, this was going about as well as she expected. Lots of tension. Underlying strain. A touch of anger. At least Wren managed to give an answer that sounded strange but was really the truth. Impressive.

  Her father looked Wren up and down. “You don’t look like law enforcement.”

  “I’m not.” Wren didn’t back down one inch. The thread of menace in his voice matched her father’s.

  “Then I’m confused about your involvement in this matter.”

  “Dad, could we actually come inside before you start the interrogation?” Because much more of this testosterone battle and there might be blood on his beloved roses.

  After a few seconds of hesitation, her father moved to the side. “Fine.”

  “Thanks.” It seemed like a stupid thing to say to her father, but her nerves were zapping. As it was, she wondered if the pounding headache would ever go away.

  They got in and as far as the top of the step down into the family room before her father started talking again. “I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding, Mr. Jacobs.”

  “How so?”

  “Your services are not needed. I’m happy to pay for—”

  “You can’t fire him.” She wanted to make at least that much clear.

  They’d launched into all-out war without bothering to sit down. They stood in the hallway leading to the back of the house and the kitchen. No fanfare. Nothing. Just arguments. She was transported to her teenaged years again, feeling out of place and uncomfortable.

  Her father pointed a finger at her. “I’m trying to fix this.”

  “That’s my job.” Wren put the side of his hand against her father’s finger and moved it out of her face.

  She could fight her own battles, but it was pretty sexy to have a guy who wanted to stand up and help. “Maybe we should sit down.”

  As usual, her father ignored her. “What does that mean?”

  “That’s what I do. I look into problems and solve them.” The explanation didn’t exactly say much. Wren stood there with his arms folded in front of him, not looking like he intended to offer more.

  Her father scoffed. “That’s not a career.”

  Wren smiled at her. “I’ve heard that before.”

  She immediately felt lighter, more confident and secure. “I told you that you need a better explanation of what you do.”

  He nodded. “Apparently.”

  Her father stepped up, right in Wren’s face. “This is a serious situation.”

  Wren didn’t move. “I assure you, I know that.”

  Another exchange and her father might run right into Wren. Emery really didn’t want to see that, so she rushed to give some context. “He usually takes on much bigger matters.”

  “Actually.” Wren’s deep voice commanded the room. “I don’t think there’s anything bigger than a missing loved one. But the point is I have the resources needed to complete the work.”

  If she hadn’t been falling for him before that statement that would have done it. The intensity of his voice, the purity of his words. He wasn’t giving lip service or trying to win anyone over. He stepped up and helped with Tiffany because she mattered to him. A young woman he never met. A person he didn’t have any responsibility to, yet he took it on.

  Damn, she loved everything about that. Everything about him.

  “Do you have references?” her father asked in his usual businesslike way.

  The question might have sounded reasonable, but she was
done. She put Wren in this position, so it was time for her to do a little rescuing. “That’s not necessary. He works with me and I’m satisfied.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not good enough.” Her father looked over her head at Wren. “I’m sure you understand.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t.”

  “My daughter is too close to this situation.”

  “She also hates when men talk around her,” she pointed out. Not that her father ever noticed how she felt about anything.

  Wren looked as if he were trying to hide a smile. “She strikes me as intelligent and practical. I’m comfortable with taking direction from her. I trust her instincts.”

  Well, that was just about the sexiest thing. If this were the time to properly show her appreciation she’d touch him, but she banked it for later. “Thank you.”

  “Let me be honest.” More man-to-man talk. Her father threw in some concerned hand-wringing as he talked this time. “You are not the right man for the job. Frankly, I’m not convinced this job is even needed. It’s clear what happened—”

  “It is?” That was news to her.

  “—but if Emery is going to pursue this, I at least want it done right. That way we can end the inquiries and move on.”

  Enough. Emery stepped in front of Wren. Blocked her father’s view of him as much as she could with her smaller size. “It’s not your decision. Besides, you’ve never helped with anything relating to Tiffany. Why start now?”

  Her father’s face flushed red with anger. “This proves my point. You’re too emotional.”

  “I’m not,” Wren said. “And, so that we’re clear, I’d expect Emery to be passionate about finding answers about her cousin. She has me to provide the realism. What I need from her is her drive to solve this. Her dedication.”

  “That doesn’t sound very professional.”

  Her head wouldn’t stop spinning. She volleyed back and forth between loving everything Wren said and wanting to shake her father. It had always been that way with him. It was no surprise this time followed the same pattern. “It’s fine for me, so stop bothering Senator Dayton. Don’t call Caroline or any of my friends. Back out of this case. Now.”