Razor's Edge

by Shannon K. Butcher

  Mary was secured, moaning, and no longer fighting.

  Time to go after the other thief.

  Roxanne picked up the knife so Mary couldn’t use it to free herself and dropped it into her purse. She took out her cell and dialed Mr. Chord as she raced out of the office and down to the exit nearest to where Mary’s partner had been. “Mary is in your office. She might need an ambulance.”

  “What the hell did you do to her?”

  “Not as much as I would have liked. She had a partner. I’m going after him.”

  Roxanne didn’t wait to hear what he had to say. She raced across the lawn, but the second thief was nowhere to be seen. Behind a screen of manicured bushes, several bars had been recently cut away from one section of the iron fence surrounding Mr. Chord’s property, and on the other side of that, there were dark tire marks on the street.

  Roxanne had failed to catch him, which meant it was only a matter of time before a new Mary showed up to finish what the last one couldn’t.

  Mr. Chord was not going to be pleased.

  “Mr. Chord is pissed,” said Roxanne’s boss, Bella Bayne, the next morning.

  Bella was the owner of the Edge—the growing private security company in Dallas where Roxanne worked. They handled all kinds of needs from threat assessment to protective details to US troop support to ridding foreign countries of any number of pesky criminals—for the right price.

  Roxanne’s specialty was stealth security for corporate espionage cases. She made sure the bad guys didn’t know who she was until it was too late and she caught them with their hands in the cookie jar. At least that had been her specialty. Based on Bella’s scowl, she might have been demoted to cleaning the locker room toilets if she wasn’t simply fired.

  Roxanne really didn’t want to walk away from the job she’d come to love. She had to find a way to make things right.

  Bella stood to her full, impressive height. She was easily six feet tall in her combat boots, and every inch of her was sleek, sculpted muscle. Her stormy gray eyes narrowed in fury. “Where shall we start, Razor? With the fact that your client’s information was stolen? Or maybe with the part where the guy who stole it got away?”

  “The data was fake. I planted it. Whoever has it isn’t getting anything of value.”

  “And now they know that, too. Mr. Chord told me how hard it was to architect that setup. Your chance to catch the thieves is gone, and he still has no idea who Mary works for or with.”

  Roxanne looked down and toyed with her wide cuff bracelet. “Were the police able to get her to talk?”

  “Not a word. Not even to a lawyer. And now whoever is doing this knows we’re onto them.”

  What was worse was that the police were now involved—something Mr. Chord had wanted to avoid from the beginning, which was why he hired the Edge to deal with the problem. If word got out that his designs were being stolen, his company’s stock price could plummet. He might lose investors.

  Roxanne had no idea about the specifics of the devices that had been stolen from him. She didn’t need to know any secret information to do her job. But what she did know was that Chord Industries had contributed to several advances in the field of medicine. His machines helped people, saved lives.

  Because of her, he was losing his ability to do good in the world, and that pissed Roxanne off more than her own failure.

  “I’m sorry, Bella. I should have realized Mary could have a partner.”

  “Yes. You should have. So the question is, why didn’t you?”

  Roxanne considered giving her boss some lame excuse. She could come up with half a dozen that might help her cover her ass, but she couldn’t do that to Bella. They were friends. Bella trusted her, and she wasn’t going to screw that up by lying.

  Roxanne took a deep breath and admitted what she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to. “I’ve been distracted.”

  Bella crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a dark eyebrow. “Distracted? Care to elaborate on that?”

  “My ex, Kurt, he’s been sending guys after me, having them follow me. I thought he’d stopped a few weeks ago, but I guess I was wrong. He’s not done with his games. A new man showed up yesterday, and I spent so much time losing him before I went in to do the job, I was rushed. I wasn’t completely focused.”

  Bella’s face darkened with rage, and her voice became lethally calm. “What, exactly, are these guys doing to you?”

  “Nothing. They just watch me. Kurt was the jealous type, and even though we split three months ago, he apparently still hasn’t managed to accept the fact that we’re over.”

  “Give me Kurt’s address. I’ll go speak to him.”

  “No, Bella. You’d only make things worse if you confront him. I already did, and he denies everything. I know he’s lying, and I told him I’d have him brought in for stalking if it happened again. I thought I’d gotten through, but either way, this is my mess. I’ll be the one to clean it up.”

  Bella glanced at Roxanne’s arm where the bruise from last night’s combat darkened her skin. “Did he hurt you, Razor?” she asked, her hands clenching to fists at her sides.

  “No. It was nothing like that. He’s not a bad guy. He just didn’t want to let go.”

  “I could make him.”

  Roxanne had seen Bella mad. She’d seen the woman take down three armed men by herself. And she’d heard stories about that building Bella destroyed in Mexico a few months ago. But Roxanne had never seen this kind of steely, quiet rage so intense it vibrated through her entire body. She heard rumors that Bella had a dark past—one she never discussed with her employees—but seeing this kind of reaction made Roxanne wonder just what that past had been.

  “I’ve got it covered,” said Roxanne. “I’ll go see him today and make sure he quits playing these games.”

  Bella swallowed several times before her hands unclenched and the redness in her face abated. “I won’t have anyone hurting my people.”

  “Kurt isn’t hurting me. He’s just jerking me around.”

  “Are you protecting him?”

  “No. He’s an asshole for screwing with me like this, and I plan to tell him that to his face.”

  “I don’t like the way he’s treating you.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “He interfered with your work, and I can’t let that slide.”

  “I know.” Roxanne let out a long, resigned breath. She loved her job, but she knew the score. A mistake like this was too big a thing to simply ignore. “Are you going to fire me?”

  Bella’s mouth flattened in frustration. “I should. That would certainly appease Mr. Chord. But no, you’re not fired. However, I’m not handing out any more chances, either. You blow it again, you’re out. Our work is too dangerous for distractions. You need to get your personal shit straightened out before I can assign you any more jobs.”

  “What about finding the guy who got away?”

  “The cops are involved now. They’re looking into it.”

  “So . . . what? We just leave Mr. Chord hanging?”

  “No, I’m going to offer him our services for free to calm him down, but he already said he didn’t want you back. I’m sorry.”

  The rejection stung, but not nearly as much as her failure did. Mr. Chord was right to be mad. She let her personal life get in the way of her professional life, which was a big no-no. She knew better.

  “I understand. I’ll go see Kurt on his lunch break and make sure he understands that his games are over. I should be back by one.”

  “No. I don’t want you back until you’re sure you’ve fixed the problem for good.”

  Roxanne took a deep breath to keep herself from shouting at her boss. “How long is long enough to convince you?”

  “As long as it takes. No less than a week.”

  A week? If Mr. Chord’s thief had left any trail, it would definitely be cold by then. “That’s more time than I’ll need.”

  “This isn’t negotiable, Razor,” said
Bella. “If his buddies stay away for a few days, chances are they won’t come back. And there’s something else, too.”

  “What?”

  “Assholes have a tendency to escalate things when confronted. I’m not letting anything happen to you, so I’m assigning the new guy to you. Wherever you go, he goes. Got it?”

  “You’re giving me a babysitter?” Roxanne did shout this time, jumping to her feet in anger.

  Bella strode around her glass desk and got right in Roxanne’s face. “I’m giving you a badass former special operations babysitter—one I want on our team. Don’t fuck that up.”

  Great. Now she wasn’t going to be able to look into possible leads on the thief. Her babysitter would no doubt rat her out. “I don’t need him, Bella.”

  “I think you do. And he needs you, too. While he’s babysitting, you’re going to explain how things work at the Edge. He’s already passed all our tests and breezed through training, but he hasn’t taken on any real jobs yet. Think of this as his orientation.” Bella pressed a button on her phone. “Lila, please send Tanner in.”

  “This isn’t a good idea. I’m a horrible teacher. You need to get Riley to do the training. He’s good at that kind of thing.”

  “Riley’s good at everything, which is why he’s too busy for this. You, on the other hand, happen to have some free time on your hands. Deal with it, Razor. This is happening.”

  Fine. Roxanne had screwed up. If this was her punishment, she’d take it like a woman, get through the next few days, and be back to her real job in no time. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” said Tanner as he came in on the heels of her statement.

  Bella made the introductions. “Razor, this is Tanner O’Connell.”

  Tanner was not what she’d expected. She’d been so upset about being saddled with a babysitter, she hadn’t even considered that he might be a hot one. And he was—smokin’. Taller than Bella, even in her boots, Tanner stood with a posture that screamed complete confidence. His shoulders were wide, his back straight, and his blue eyes stayed fixed on her, unblinking. An amused grin lifted one side of his mouth and formed little crinkles at his eyes. His jeans clung to thick, long legs, and on his feet were the worn cowboy boots of a true Texan.

  “Tanner, this is your new partner, Roxanne Haught. We call her Razor.”

  Tanner’s dark brows went up at that. “Razor? Is that because you have a sharp tongue?”

  “The sharpest,” she replied. “You’d better beg Bella for a new trainer, or I’ll skin you alive.”

  His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Might be worth it.”

  Bella grabbed each of them by one arm and pushed them toward her office door. “I see you two have a lot to talk about. Outside of my office. I have work to do.”

  “This is a bad idea,” said Roxanne, praying for a last-minute reprieve.

  Bella ignored her. “And don’t think you can come back here in a few hours claiming you tried to make it work. There will be no trying today. Just doing. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Tanner. “We won’t let you down.”

  Bella gave Tanner a stern look. “She’s going to try to ditch you. Don’t let it happen. Some asshole is giving her trouble, and if she gets hurt, you’re fired.”

  All hints of amusement fled Tanner’s rugged face, making his eyes turn cold. He seemed to grow a couple of inches taller and took a step closer to Roxanne. It reminded her of her best friend, Jake, who had a tendency to be a bit overprotective.

  Tanner nodded. “I understand.”

  “Good. I’m glad that’s settled. Now get out.” Bella shooed them through the door and shut it behind them.

  It was time to let the new kid know how things worked around here. “If I’m going to be your trainer, we have a couple of things to get straight.”

  “Such as?”

  “I’m in charge. You do what I say, when I say.”

  The slightest creases formed at his eyes, but he didn’t refute her order. “Is that it?”

  “No. I don’t want or need a babysitter. I’m going to deal with my personal problems on my own, without your interference.”

  “Anything else?”

  Wow. He was taking that remarkably well.

  “I think that covers the basics. But I reserve the right to change my mind.”

  He moved, somehow maneuvering her so that her back was against the wall. He nudged closer, breaking the edge of her personal space. His voice dropped to a quiet rumble that Bella’s secretary, Lila, would have had trouble overhearing from her desk a few feet away. “Then it’s my turn to talk. I don’t work for you. I work for Bella, which means she’s the one who gets to hand out the orders, not you. So, while I’m happy to learn whatever it is you have to teach me, I’m sure as hell not going to stand around like a good little boy while you deal with your personal asshole problems when Bella specifically told me not to.”

  Roxanne wasn’t sure what she’d expected from the seemingly good-natured man, but it wasn’t that. She pulled in a breath to put him in his place, but an instant later, his thick, hot finger pressed against her lips, quieting her.

  She was so shocked by the touch, she entirely forgot that she should have been upset by it. Instead, she drew in a breath scented with soap and the faintest hint of his skin.

  A touch of vertigo spun inside her head, and she realized she’d forgotten to breathe. The roughness of his work-hardened finger grazed across her mouth as her lips parted slightly so she could pull in enough oxygen.

  “I’m not done,” he told her. “You and I are going to be working together, and I’m not going to let you do anything to screw up my chances of keeping this job. I need the work. So you and I are going to get along real nice-like and make Bella proud. Got it?”

  As close as he was, she could see deep blue streaks radiating out from his pupils. The creases around his eyes were paler, as if he’d spent a lot of time in the sun, squinting. His scent reminded her of a summer drive in a convertible—warm and exhilarating with just a hint of an incoming storm.

  She felt her skin heat and attributed it to her sudden flash of irritation at his high-handed ways.

  Roxanne pressed her hands against his chest to push him back, but as soon as she felt the hard contours of his muscles beneath her hands, her mind stuttered for a moment before she remembered herself and finished pushing.

  Tanner stepped back, his finger shiny from her lip gloss.

  Roxanne pressed her lips together to fix the damage he’d done to her makeup and swore she could taste him—salt and earth and something else that made her wish for another taste just so she could figure it out.

  Not that she would do that. Bella generally frowned on her coworkers tasting each other.

  Roxanne cleared her throat to cover her discomfort. “I can see already that you and I are going to have problems.”

  “Nope,” he said. “Not a single one. We’re both going to do what the boss says.”

  No way was she letting a stranger into her personal life to help her make an ex-boyfriend back off. But he didn’t have to know that. “Fine. You win. We’ll meet back here after lunch and get started on your training.”

  By that time, she’d have dealt with Kurt and no longer have anything to hide. She’d throw herself into training Tanner, and in a few days, everything would be back to normal.

  Chapter Two

  Roxanne “Razor” Haught obviously thought she was dealing with an idiot.

  She was wrong.

  Tanner shook his head in amusement as he followed her to the underground parking lot. She hurried out to her car, clicking over the pavement on some of the sexiest high heels he’d ever seen. The artificial overhead lighting gleamed off her perfectly styled hair, showing off several shades of golden blond that matched her wide cuff bracelet exactly. Her bare arms were subtly muscled, with a combination of strength and softness that made Tanner sweat from fighting the need to see what that felt l
ike. The brief touch of his finger against her soft mouth was more than enough to haunt his dreams for a week. Now that he knew what her lips felt like, he was going to spend way too much time thinking about them.

  Her shiny lip gloss clung to his finger, and he couldn’t quite bring himself to wipe it away. He liked it there—a small reminder of a few brief, pleasant seconds that would never be repeated.

  Beneath her classy slacks that hid more than they displayed, her legs were probably sexy as hell. Even though he was working with her, he couldn’t help but wonder just how those legs would look if all she was wearing were those strappy leather heels.

  Not that he was ever going to find out.

  He’d known from the instant he saw her in her fancy clothes and sparkling jewelry that she was going to be trouble. Women with money always were, and office rumors claimed that she was rolling in it. Not only was she an only child who’d gained a substantial inheritance when her parents died a few years back; she also owned more land than was healthy for a person. Between the real estate and old oil money, Razor was set for life and then some.

  She was a woman used to getting her own way, but that was about to change.

  Razor slid behind the wheel of a shiny silver Mercedes and pulled out of the parking lot at the Edge. Tanner followed her, keeping his distance in the heavy lunch-hour traffic. She turned into the lot of a high-rise building and parked in a visitor’s slot.

  Tanner gave up his secret chase and found the first open parking spot he could, rather than lose her in the maze of the building. By the time she hit the elevators, he was right on her sexy heels.

  “Why are you following me?” she asked without turning around.

  “Bella told me to.”

  The elevator doors opened, and a small crowd of people got out, heading to lunch. Razor got in. When the doors slid shut, she turned and glared at him. “This is ridiculous. What harm can possibly come to me in broad daylight in an office building?”

  “Bella seemed worried.”

  “Bella is overprotective.”

  “I noticed. Possessive, too. But so long as she’s signing the paychecks, she gets to be.”