“Sure thing,” he said, “Good night, Miss Scientist.”
Despite her unease, when she got to the guest bedroom door she turned with a quick response.
“You, too, Mr. Bodyguard.”
She shut the door behind her like she was running from a nightmare. But hadn’t Jonathan been the one good thing in her dreams? Kate put her back to the door and tried to compose her skittering thoughts.
The man had opened up to her—had been undeniably vulnerable—and what had she done with the moment? Run. The way he’d looked at her, the way he’d wiped her tears away yet left his hand caressing her face had given her the perfect moment to grab hold of something.
But she couldn’t do it.
Jonathan wanted roots. He wanted friends, a family, a home. Aside from her father visiting and the occasional email or phone call from Greg and Jake, Kate’s life revolved around her work. Her one goal in life. She didn’t know how to cope or deal with anything else. Like her father said, she was narrow-minded. Seeing the big picture wasn’t just hard for her, it was sometimes downright impossible.
One thing she was sure of in the midst of all of the new uncertainty that had surfaced in her life was that the man in the next room deserved more than an emotionally stunted woman stumbling through what others did with ease.
He deserved a life without her as a complication.
* * *
KATE ROLLED OVER, getting wrapped up in the mismatched blanket and sheets, and looked up into the darkness. She’d been in bed for at least two hours and hadn’t gotten a lick of sleep, but not for lack of trying.
The first hour she wondered if it was her fear of slipping back into her dream world from earlier that day. Reliving the discovery of her mother and Bill’s bodies was frightening enough to make her mind try its best to stay awake. It was a niggling thought that finally got her to call her father. She’d ignored his few calls over the last two days, responding with a quick text that she was fine, just busy. She didn’t want to worry him more than he already was. Despite the late hour, which she let him assume was because she’d been working and lost track of time, he’d been happy to finally hear her voice. She promised to call him after the convention the next day. She made sure to tell him she loved him. The rest of that hour had then crawled by. Yet, as she rolled into the next hour, she started to realize what she was really afraid of.
The dark.
The world when she was awake.
The couple that had made very public and violent attempts on her life.
Thoughts of the man and his dark, narrow eyes made her hand flit to her hair. She massaged her scalp, remembering the pain of having her hair pulled without an ounce of remorse.
It was that man and his partner that kept her tossing and turning. The tiny window that faced the side of the building next door didn’t help with its lack of light that filtered into the small room.
After more time had passed, Kate finally gave up. As quietly as if it was Christmas and she was trying to get a glimpse of Santa, she tiptoed to the door and slowly opened it. She winced as it creaked something awful. The lights from the kitchen and living area were off, save for a floor lamp next to the TV. It was enough light for her to see Jonathan quickly turn at the noise.
She held her hands up in defense.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “I meant to be a bit sneakier than that.”
Jonathan visibly relaxed and put down what looked like a sports magazine he’d been reading.
“Is everything okay?”
Kate nodded.
“You having trouble sleeping?”
Jonathan grinned.
“I’m not trying to.”
“You have to sleep sometime,” she pointed out.
“Sometimes that’s not in the job description.”
Kate was going to argue, but who was she to tell anyone what to do within the bounds of their job. She certainly didn’t listen to others. Still, she bounced from foot to foot, trying carefully to say the right thing.
“So,” she started, cheeks already blazing hot. “You’re not going to try to sleep any time soon?”
Jonathan raised his eyebrow but nodded.
“I’ve worked on a lot less sleep,” he explained. “Why?”
Kate’s blush was an all-out inferno. She could feel its heat even moving to her ears.
“Well, I was wondering, if it’s okay with you, if maybe you could come stay in here with me?” Jonathan’s eyebrow rose so high that it almost seemed to get lost in his hairline. “It’s just, well, I can’t fall asleep,” she added quickly, rubbing the side of her arm, self-conscious. “I think I’d feel safer if you were closer.”
“Oh,” Jonathan said, two beats too late. Kate started to back into the bedroom again, waving her hands to dismiss her request.
“Never mind, it’s okay, really,” she said. “I can—”
Jonathan stood and started laughing. It stopped her words before they tripped off her tongue.
“Kate, it’s okay,” he said. “I don’t mind in the least. Plus, this couch is really uncomfortable.”
Kate felt her lips pull up at the corners. She’d bet that last part was for her benefit. The bodyguard moved toward her and she flipped the light back on so he could see the room. It was small and only housed a queen-size bed, a nightstand, a closet and a strip of carpet for limited foot traffic. Kate turned to see him sizing up the space and realized he might not have known what he was agreeing to do.
“There’s nothing in here but the bed,” she said, blunt. Jonathan let out another howl of laughter. Instead of backing out or teasing her, he kicked off his shoes and sat down on the side closest to the door. It sagged a bit beneath his weight as he lay down, so long his feet nearly went off the foot, and put his hands behind his head.
“If I turn the light off, won’t it make you sleepy?” Kate asked, moving her hand over the switch. Jonathan shook his head. So she clicked it off and moved to the other side of the bed. If she hadn’t been in her long T-shirt and pajama shorts, she wouldn’t have suggested his supervision in the room. But, truth be told, she did need to get some sleep.
The bed dipped considerably less as she quickly shimmied under the displaced sheets and blanket. The bed might have been queen-size, but as she found the warm spot that her body had created before, she realized just how close the man next to her was. Although he was wearing the same shirt and pants from earlier that day and there was a swath of fabric between them, she could feel warmth from him seeping into her. It was more than just comforting.
Kate waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and the smallest ounce of light from the window while she rolled on her side and finally looked up at the man. Able to make out a wisp of his profile, she found her earlier thoughts on whatever moment they could have shared weighing on her just as heavily as her desire to save him the trouble of having her in his life. She pulled her hand out of the covers with the intention of taking his while the internal struggle between her happiness and his waged within her. Her hand paused in midair.
Do it, Kate.
But she couldn’t. Her hand slid beneath her pillow.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered into the dark. The sound of him moving his head toward her made the heat in her cheeks flare back to life.
“What for?”
Kate was sorry she’d been mean to him, callous and tactless about his profession when they’d met. She was sorry she’d been difficult and her singular focus had put him in danger. She was sorry that, despite the fact that he’d saved her at least three times, she didn’t know how to really say thank-you. She was sorry for a lot of things, but couldn’t find the words to connect that feeling to one thought.
“I’m not good with people,” was all she said. In her mind it encompassed everything she felt guilty for
right down to the moment she’d let slip away.
Jonathan moved some more, but in the darkness she couldn’t pinpoint how.
“You’re just fine for me.”
Despite the lack of light, Jonathan’s lips found hers with undeniable precision. Like his body, their warmth coaxed out a desire in Kate that she’d been trying to keep at bay. One that she felt growing stronger and stronger.
Jonathan broke the kiss and moved back.
“Sorry,” he started, voice suddenly very low. “I—”
Kate pushed her body forward, hand out, taking his face and bringing his lips back to hers. She’d interrupted him, but manners be damned. Jonathan’s apology evaporated like the space between their two bodies. His lips were as hungry as hers, and soon their tongues joined each other in a tangled fray.
Kate moaned against him, against his taste. The sound seemed to charge the bodyguard even more. He rolled on top of her, elbows out to prop himself up, all without breaking their bond. Kate more than approved of the new position, putting her hands around his neck and pulling him down to her. For years, and maybe her entire life up until this point, she hadn’t craved anyone as badly as she now craved this man. Kate moved her hands down to the bottom of his shirt and tugged upward with enthusiasm. Instead of it peeling off easily like she’d seen in countless movies, it stuck. Frustrated, she accidentally made a huff sound against his lips. She felt the same lips curve up into a smile. Jonathan broke their kiss, much to her dismay.
Without a word he sat up, now fully straddling her. Kate’s chest heaved up and down, her face hot, but not as much as the rest of her when the bodyguard did something that really raised her temperature. With her eyes fully adjusted and able to make out what he was doing, Kate watched wide-eyed as the bodyguard pulled off his shirt and threw it on the floor. He lowered his lips back down to her, and instead of the hard crush of the last one, this kiss was a soft brush that left her wanting more. He moved his lips to her ear and whispered something that let Kate know exactly where she wanted this to go.
“Your turn.”
* * *
LIKE LIGHTNING HAD struck her, Kate’s eyelids flashed open. Something that had been hanging in the back of her mind was about to fall free. An idea, a theory on the tip of her tongue that bothered her on an almost emotional level. Something her mind was grasping for with such enthusiasm she’d woken up to help solve whatever problem it was attached to.
She started to get out of bed when an odd heaviness brought her attention to the man beside her, derailing her train of thought. Jonathan was on his side, fast asleep, his arm thrown over her—protective still. Kate smiled. She’d had a feeling the man had been just as tired as her.
Kate took a moment to watch the bodyguard sleep. In the soft light of early morning, she had an unobstructed view of his well-muscled chest with its light brushing of dark hair that slid down his stomach and disappeared beneath the sheets. She felt her cheeks heat with the knowledge of exactly what was beneath them. Despite her need to get some sleep, they’d spent quite a big portion of the rest of the night doing anything but.
She used all of her grace to move the man’s arm off her and slip out of the bed without jostling him too much. He stirred but didn’t wake up. Kate once again tiptoed across the room. Her body, she realized, was sore, but in a pleasant way. It reminded her of the way the bodyguard had felt with her. In every way. She smiled, still able to feel the impression of his lips against her skin.
Kate, as naked as the day she was born, collected her toiletries and clothes. She went into the badly tiled bathroom and showered quickly. Her mind had finally detached itself from the naked man in the room next door and focused on the feeling that was sticking out like a sore thumb in her mind. It felt like a hunch, but she didn’t yet know what it was and why it was suddenly bothering her so much. Since she was positive she wasn’t going to be able to fall back to sleep any time soon, she dressed in the clothes she’d packed for the convention without a second thought—a slightly sheer quarter-length sleeved burgundy blouse with a black camisole beneath that tucked right into wrinkle-free black slacks. Mind elsewhere still, she went through the motions of applying eyeliner, blush and dark red lipstick. She started to towel dry her hair when she remembered everything that had happened. Slowly she lowered the towel. Chances were attending the convention wouldn’t be easy. It didn’t seem like the couple was done yet, especially if they were working for anyone with half a brain. It wouldn’t matter if they somehow were able to reverse engineer the drug. There wasn’t enough time to do it before Kate presented her research.
She watched in the mirror as her expression hardened. She threw the towel over the shower rod and furiously brushed out her hair. When done, she gave herself one curt nod.
It was time to try to put an end to this.
Slipping into the flats she’d taken off in the living room, Kate padded to Jake’s bedroom. To her surprise he still wasn’t in the apartment, but then again, she knew that cases could often keep an agent away from home for days at a time. The larger room had a bed, desk and three waist-high filing cabinets. All with locks. Kate went to the one she’d jimmied open the night before—right before Jonathan had called her to dinner, noting she looked suspicious—and pulled it open. Jake had an office at the Bureau as well as one within Greg’s lab. In both he had files and places to keep them safe. However, just as Jake had learned to become neat, he’d learned the importance of hard copies and backups. The filing cabinet she’d opened had information on dates and events that seemed to be tied to his job as Greg’s handler. Most seemed to be written with code names, and as far as she could tell, there was no mention of the drug.
However, she had seen something the night before that was bothering her now. She shuffled through the files, trying to spark whatever trail she’d dismissed already. Minutes rolled by as she thumbed through and pulled out several different files.
What had she seen?
Frustrated, she turned and perched against the cabinet, trying to remember. Her eyes roamed the room around her as her mind went blank. She took in Jake’s sparse bedroom decor—some knickknacks he’d saved through the years, pictures of trips he’d taken and memorabilia he’d collected and been given—when suddenly she knew exactly what it was she was looking for.
The theory that she had unconsciously formed even before waking became less of a what if and more of a terrifying possibility. With her stomach having dropped somewhere past her feet, she walked to one picture sitting on Jake’s desk. Her hands trembled as she picked it up.
There it was.
It all made sense now.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She had been so focused on the picture that the motion startled her. She dropped the frame and winced as the glass cracked on impact.
Then she realized that was the least of her worries.
She fumbled for her phone and read Jake’s ID flashing across the screen. Her stomach twisted.
“Jake,” she started. But the man who responded definitely wasn’t the boy she’d grown up with.
“No, but you can save him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jonathan rolled onto his side, throwing his arm out so he wouldn’t hit Kate. With his eyes still closed, he lowered it to the bed, careful he didn’t hurt her.
But there was no Kate beneath it.
Jonathan opened one eye, took in the light from the window and looked at the empty spot next to him with a split feeling of warmth and coldness. Seeing where the scientist had been reminded him of what they had done, bringing a sense of unfamiliar happiness over him. At the same time, the empty spot highlighted the one fact that bodyguards needed to know at all times about their clients.
Where they were.
He swam his way out of the sheets and stopped when something fell to the floor. Confused, he bent over and
picked up the book.
“Kate?” he called out into the apartment, pulling on his pants as he realized what he was holding. He opened the bedroom door and saw an empty kitchen and living space. Turning, he scanned the bathroom and found it, too, was empty. Cursing beneath his breath, he went for Jake’s room.
Empty.
“Kate?” he called again, even though it was obvious she wasn’t in the apartment. He ran to the front door, expecting there to be signs of a break-in. But there wasn’t. Everything looked like it had after he’d locked them in the night before. The door’s dead bolt was still thrown. Jonathan checked the windows next, but they, too, were locked.
“What’s going on?” he asked the empty apartment.
Jonathan retrieved his phone and found no new calls or messages. He dialed Kate’s number. It went straight to voice mail. The lack of ringing created an instant feeling of fear laced with panic. He looked down at the black book in his hand. Kate had left her notebook for him, he was sure, but why? And where was Jake? Had they gone somewhere together or had the agent not come home at all? He opened the notebook to the first page, hoping she’d left him some kind of clue.
He was disappointed. Kate’s past five years of work were between his hands. Entrusted to him, but why?
Jonathan quickly dressed and decided to search the apartment for clues once more. All of Kate’s things were still in the bedroom, but he noticed her toiletries had made it to the bathroom. There was also a wet towel. She’d showered. He moved on to the kitchen and living area, but nothing seemed to have changed from the night before. Lastly, he hit Jake’s room, the least likely to hold any clue as to where the woman had gone, seemingly of her own accord.
Or was it?
One of the three filing cabinets beneath the window had a drawer pulled out. Even from the doorway he could see the lock had been broken. Jonathan walked over to inspect it when he noticed most of the papers were disheveled, like they’d been taken out one by one before being crammed back inside. This was what Kate had been up to before dinner.
Be on the Lookout Page 15