by Barb Han
Layla’s boss had been distressed in the meeting. Nervous? Then there was the fact that the guy was unhappy at work.
Sheldon was an interesting character. He had the ability to steal from the company. He had the motivation. It would be the perfect ‘up yours’ to an organization that hadn’t been all that kind to him. He’d gotten out. If the signature fit or they could locate the money, Sheldon was going down. Dash didn’t like Sheldon. He didn’t trust the kid. Did he steal two million dollars?
There was nothing about Calum Langston that Dash liked. Number one offense...the married man with a pregnant wife had had an affair with Layla by deceiving her about his personal situation. Layla was smart, but she wasn’t experienced in love. She was still young and her heart was still tender despite the steel facade. She put up a good front but underneath it all, she still had a lot to learn. What was it about smart women and bad choices in men?
Calum would be considered good looking by most standards—there was that. Dash was certain the guy could be charming. His lines? Those were tired. Of course he was “in the process of divorcing his wife.” An experienced person would see that for the load of bull it was. Someone who was young and naive when it came to the heart would take the bait.
Dash didn’t like Calum, but he highly doubted the man had set Layla up. He did, however, seem under the thumb of an ice-queen wife. Bitty had sent all kinds of warning flares up. She had motive: revenge. She could be punishing both her husband for his affair and his mistress for having the audacity to try to take her husband from her. Bitty was high on the suspect list. Could Calum have been an accomplice to prove his love to his wife? Could he have been the one to set Layla up? Both were possibilities. Dash wouldn’t rule Calum out on that basis.
The motorcycle proved a professional was involved. Who would have those kinds of connections? Not a typical VP in a financial firm. The more he thought about it, he couldn’t ignore Talia as a possibility.
Alec? He was connected to organized crime, based on the pictures in his office. He was dissatisfied at work and seemed to have a lot of heat about his job performance coming down on him. But why target Layla? By all accounts, she got along with her boss. There didn’t seem to be any friction there. Had he accidentally come across her password? Installed something on her computer to record her keystrokes?
Anyone inside the office would have access to her computer.
Talia. Would she target his baby sister to get back at him? The short answer was a resounding yes. Did he think she was responsible for this crime? No. Not really, though he couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason. He was relying on good old-fashioned instinct there. His gut said she wasn’t responsible for motorcycle man. Again, she wanted Dash to suffer, and he couldn’t do that if he was dead.
Motorcycle man could be the response to Dash spending the day stirring up the pot. A warning to back off.
An attack on a federal officer wasn’t a person’s best move. The perp must be awfully confident the crime couldn’t be tied back to him or her.
Then there was the fire. A warning? Talia might actually be responsible there. She would want to send a warning to Raina to leave Dash alone. Talia’s last words to Dash involved a threat to anyone he dated. Eventually, she would let it all go and move on. Except that she’d only been out for six months after serving a year and a half of a two year sentence. Dash was fresh on her mind.
Since Talia had been circling his place, she had to have seen him with Raina. Talia had to be behind the fire. Linking her to arson was a whole different story. Could he confront her? Make her see there was no hope of getting back together? Could he convince her to move on? Now that she was out of prison, didn’t she want to keep her freedom?
Or had she moved on and now wanted revenge? Eighteen months was a long time to sit behind bars.
Being beautiful wasn’t Talia’s problem. Being smart wasn’t Talia’s problem. Talia’s problem was nonnegotiable in a relationship: honesty.
Dash couldn’t be with someone who wasn’t honest. It just wouldn’t work. In fact, lately, he could only see himself with someone like Raina.
* * *
RAINA CLEARED HER THROAT before entering the living room. She didn’t want to surprise a man who kept a gun at the ready.
“Hey.” He opened his eyes slowly in the dimly lit room.
Somehow, she didn’t think she’d caught him off guard. Then again, a person in his line of work would be cued up for any sound. His reflexes were ridiculous. Don’t even get her started on the bod that proved gym memberships were definitely worth the time and energy. The word sculpted came to mind. There were a few others, but all would be entering dangerous turf if she let herself dwell on them.
She could see herself with Dash. Really see herself with him. But could she get past his dangerous job? A job that meant he might not come home for supper at night. Or ever. The possibility of being left alone like her mother was a lot to think about.
It was probably a good thing Dash would never let it get that far between them. He was the king of maintaining control.
“Mind if I join you? I didn’t want to disturb you.” She stood there in the oversized T-shirt and leggings, thinking about how thin the material was.
“Yes.” He pushed up to sitting in a straighter position and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.
She walked over to the sofa and sat down on one end, biting back a yawn.
Dash reached for her hand and then tugged her closer. “It’s okay. I promise I won’t bite.”
“I wasn’t worried about being bitten.” She was, however, concerned about the heat in the kisses they’d shared. She’d never known passion that could ignite so quickly or burn so intensely. So, yeah, she was a little freaked out by it and a lot intrigued. If he was anyone else, she’d be all in to explore just how that changed a relationship. Again, his job made him off-limits as much as his family connection did.
He smiled that devastating smile of his.
“What have you worked out so far?” She knew he was sitting here thinking about the case.
He briefed her on his thoughts. They were a similar view to hers. She told him about her parents and was suddenly interested in learning more about his. “Tell me about your family. Aside from your sister.”
“We had great parents. Our dad spent his career at Portland PD after relocating from Texas,” he started.
“I didn’t know that.” She didn’t bother to hide the shock in her voice.
“Layla didn’t tell you?” He seemed just as surprised.
“No. She said it was a sad story and she didn’t want to. I never forced her, figuring she would whenever she was ready. The day never came,” she admitted.
“Dad was much older by the time she was born. He worked a lot of the time, and I think he lost himself in his job after Mom died,” he said. “Our father raised us to prize honesty and integrity and fight injustice.” He rubbed the scruff on his chin. “He was the anticorruption leader in the PD. I had both parents growing up. Layla had Dad after Mom died. Layla was young too. I should have stopped by more often. I never thought about how lonely she might be. That pretty much makes me a jerk.”
“I think it makes you human. You had your own life. She had your father,” she said. “She did mention something about a babysitter. Said it was a dark time in her life and refused to talk about it beyond that. She hated the color purple because of it.”
“Hmm. That’s news to me. She never said anything about having a rough time with a sitter. But she did say her friend used to force a blindfold on her that was a purple bandana while the friend had a guy over when they were younger.” His eyebrows drew together. It was easy to see how much he cared about his baby sister and how hard he was taking the revelation. His eyes took on that storm-like quality. His expression became serious when he talked about the past. “I didn’t realize how tough she too
k our mom’s death. I think our dad was mourning so hard he probably wasn’t paying as much attention to Layla as he could have been. I can’t fault the man for loving his wife. Did Layla ever tell you she was the one driving the car when it crashed?”
“Oh no.” Raina’s heart clenched.
“I’m guessing she didn’t share that piece of news,” he said on a sigh. “Not her fault but she doesn’t see it that way.”
“I’m so sorry. Do you mind if I ask how your mother died?” Her mind immediately snapped to his mother working in law enforcement or some type of high-risk job.
“Antibiotic allergy. We were eating out for some special reason... I can’t even remember, or maybe I blocked it out. And she ate a bite of duck. Apparently, duck is injected with all kinds of antibiotics. Or, at least, that one was. Anyway, we didn’t know about the allergy. The antibiotic isn’t widely used. She went into anaphylactic shock and was pronounced dead at the hospital.” There was such a sad quality to his voice.
“I know it happened a long time ago, Dash, but I’m so sorry. That’s tragic and so unexpected.” Raina thought about that for a minute. How random—eating out one minute and having an extreme allergic reaction to something they didn’t even know was in the food. How awful.
“Thank you. It means a lot coming from you.”
Raina had to force her gaze away from those gorgeous, tormented eyes of his. She took in a slow breath but only ended up ushering in more of his spicy male scent. She had to fist her hands to stop herself from reaching out to him. “It’s terrible. And she was so young.”
When she really thought about it, life held no guarantees. She never could have predicted a fire at her home. She never could have predicted surviving the motorcycle man. There was no way she could have predicted her best friend ending up in prison for a crime she didn’t commit or the fact that Raina was here with Dash at exactly this moment in time.
Holding back and not experiencing life for fear of losing someone seemed a little misguided to her now. Dash was incredibly sexy when he was vulnerable—a rare moment with a person like him. And, yes, he had a dangerous job but he was also very good at it.
So, this time, she climbed in Dash’s lap and initiated a kiss.
“I’m sorry.” Her mouth moved against his as she spoke.
He didn’t respond with words. Instead, he placed his hands on the small of her back as she looped hers around his neck. The move brought her breasts flush with his muscled chest, and he was like touching a brick wall. Silk over steel, she remembered.
Maybe it was from needing a release valve for the tension of the day, but their breaths quickened as she drove her tongue inside his mouth. Her fingers traced the rigid lines of his shoulders and arms as he splayed his hands on her back, urging her toward him.
She nipped at his bottom lip and tugged it in between her teeth.
Her actions spurred him on, and he picked her up and then spun her around on her back so fast. She wrapped her legs around his midsection in an attempt to hold on. She could feel him at the V between her legs, and she craved more.
Giving in to the moment was fine. Anything more and she wouldn’t be able to walk away from him. One night would never be enough with Dash West, and she didn’t do short term anyway.
He seemed to be running on the same track when he pushed up off the couch. He locked gazes with her. “I want this more than I’ve wanted to be with anyone else in my life. When we make love, I want to take my sweet time. Right now, we both have other priorities that need our full attention, and I don’t want any distractions.”
The fact that he’d said when and not if sent her stomach free-falling again as a sense of anticipation settled in.
Chapter Eighteen
“I wish we were the ones setting up at Sheldon’s house to watch him.” Dash didn’t mind surveillance, except for the part about not being able to use a proper bathroom for hours on end. It was boring work to many, but he caught so many little things with personal observation that might otherwise go unnoticed he’d come to appreciate the value of it.
Without a warrant, he couldn’t legally bug Sheldon’s apartment—or Calum’s town house, for that matter. Would there be vans outside with listening devices homed in to each place? That was a hard yes.
There were ways around those. Anyone smart enough to steal two million dollars from an investment firm would realize they needed to stay on the down-low after receiving a visit from a federal agent.
“Leaving here doesn’t seem like a smart move after what we’ve been through.” Raina bit back another yawn.
He grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the couch and spread it out over her. She curled up on her side with her cell phone at the ready.
“We’ll head out in a couple of hours. Might be a good idea to rest your eyes for now.” That was basically code for go to sleep. Dash didn’t need it. He could go for days without much in the way of shut-eye. Under normal circumstances, Raina probably could too. But this was a far cry from a coding session.
Raina’s eyes sprang open almost the second they closed. She pushed up to a sitting position again. “My mom.”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“Island Rehab. It’s a small place not too far from where I live. What if the person who is after me goes after my mom instead?” Her chin jutted out like she was determined not to cry, but it also quivered just a little. This was the place she was most vulnerable, very much like his sister was to him.
“Let’s get them on the phone,” he said. “I can send someone from the BAU for insurance, but I imagine they have security of their own.”
Raina shot him a look. “It’s loose at best. They deal with a fair amount of traumatic brain injury patients. The biggest threat is their patients getting out more so than someone coming in.”
“Talia is cunning. She could walk right past the front desk. I need someone there who would know how to handle her,” Dash said.
Raina got up and started pacing. She held the phone to her ear after hitting the contact. “Hi, Michelle. It’s Raina.” She paused for a few beats. “Yeah, sorry to hear about your aunt. I hope she feels better soon. I just want to make sure my mom is in her room and everything is okay. I had one of those bad feelings, and I would feel so much better if someone went in to check on her.” Another pause for a few beats. “Yes, of course. I’ll hold.”
She spun around and locked gazes with Dash. The split second she allowed her vulnerability to show through nearly gutted him. She bit down on her bottom lip so hard he thought it might bleed.
Just as quickly, she returned to the call. He was already texting Liam. There. Done. Now all he needed was confirmation.
Seconds ticked by with no response.
Thanks for the address.—T
Dash knew full well that Talia was probably baiting him. She wanted him out in public and probably was hoping for access to Raina in the meantime. She’d also found a way to intercept a message, which should be impossible.
“We have to go,” he said to Raina.
“You’re sure my mom is okay?” she asked, and the sound of hope in her voice caused his chest to tighten.
He immediately sent out an email to his group with the address and a signal for all hands on deck. He informed them of the breach on his phone as he hit the ‘kill’ app on his cell.
The response from Miguel was immediate.
We got this. Stand down on this one.
It was Dash’s turn to pace as Raina ended the call after requesting no one be allowed to visit or see her mother.
“Call her back. Have her switch your mother to a new room ASAP,” Dash said.
Raina’s eyebrows knitted together. “Come again?”
“Ask... What was her name?”
“Michelle,” she supplied.
“Call Michelle back and ask her to move your m
other into a different room right now. Next door, if it’s empty, but move her from where she is currently. Talia got to my phone.”
At that moment, a knock pounded on the door.
Dash grabbed his weapon from the holster he’d hung on one of the high-back bar stools. He checked the peephole, and relief washed over him the minute he saw Liam.
He opened the door. In one fluid motion, he pulled Liam inside. Then, he peeked out and surveyed the hallways.
“That was quick,” Dash said.
“I was in the area,” Liam said.
“I know where the coffee is. Anyone else want a cup?” Raina asked.
“Yes, please,” Liam said. He set his backpack down.
“Any chance you have an extra cell phone stashed in there?” Dash asked Liam before telling Raina he could make his own cup of coffee.
She immediately waved him off.
“As a matter of fact, I always carry a spare.” Liam produced it.
“I figured as much.” Dash motioned for Liam to take a seat on one of the sofas. “I know you can handle yourself, but I’m relieved you’re safe. The unit might be in danger from my ex.”
“Talia? I’ll let everyone know it was her,” Liam said, immediately texting the update.”
“Good. Talia will always take the unexpected road,” Dash said. “It’s her signature.”
“There is no unexpected road for me anymore. I’ll always watch my back.” Liam was good at his job.
Dash thought back to the end of his relationship with Talia and some of the promises, a.k.a. threats, she’d made. Everyone around him would regret it. Angry words, he’d thought. He also believed her anger would blow over at some point or that she’d move on to a different target. Dash wasn’t normally wrong.
Liam handed over a new phone, one that Dash imported contacts onto from an encrypted cloud.
“Have you been making progress on the code?” Dash asked.
“Not as much as I’d like,” Liam said. He issued a sharp sigh. “I’m sorry, man. Your sister doesn’t deserve this.”