Sweet Seduction Sacrifice (24 page)

"I bet you could," Nick shot over his shoulder as he led them into the kitchen and he disappeared out of sight.

"Never stopped him before," Adam added and received a whack over the back of the head from Ben as they too disappeared from sight.

Dominic and I stood silently for a few seconds, both our hands stilled, but in contact with skin and not letting go.

"As soon as they leave," Dominic finally promised, looking down at me, a muscle in his jaw flickering slightly. "Maybe not right here, but I've got plenty of walls, we'll manage." And with that he disentangled us, slipped his hand in mine, fingers entwined, and followed the ASI men in for dinner.

He didn't let go of my hand the entire time Katie served up, but he did position us between Jason and Katie, as a buffer of sorts. That made me realise how good this man actually was. Holding my hand, thoughts of what we had promised we were going to do to each other later on both of our minds, yet his sister's welfare was not forgotten. It gave me a warm feeling inside, that he could have that big a heart, to ensure I was content, wrapped up in a touch from his fingers in mine, and that his sister was too. All the while carrying on a conversation with the ASI men, his brother and to my astonishment, Jason as well. He talked to him as an equal, no hint of anger or derision obvious in his voice. If Jason had annoyed him in the way he treated Katie, Dominic didn't show it. I was in awe and in
so
much trouble. My heart was slipping from my grasp and falling straight into his.

Jason for his part kept throwing hard looks in my direction. They could have been aimed at Katie, she was to my side and Dominic separated me from Jason, but it was difficult to tell. If he was looking at Katie and not me that way, I was dumbfounded. What was his problem? Even if he did think Katie was a frivolous, shallow, shop-a-holic, she still did not deserve the Jason Cain stare down. I'd had twenty-eight years to come to grips with it, Katie had only had just over an hour.

Conversation was light while everyone ate, lots of smiles of appreciation for the food, comments about Katie and my cooking skills. Dominic either squeezing my hand each time someone complimented me or in one instance actually leaned over and kissed the top of my head affectionately. It dazzled me. It blew me away. Two and half days we'd known each other and it was as if I'd known him all my life. And he'd known me that long as well.

None of the ASI guys seemed surprised at his familiarity with me, the fact he was so intimate, so publicly, so soon after meeting me for the first time. I wasn't sure what Jason thought, he was well into Jason glaring territory, but that had everything to do with Katie and nothing to do me, I was sure. And Kelly was just Kelly. In her mind this was normal, appropriate, par for the course. As much as I was falling for him, as much as my body betrayed all logical thought, I still had a niggling worry this was happening too fast. And to top it off, my life was hardly
normal
right now, was it?

Which was why I brought up Sweet Seduction when everyone else was trying their best to have a casual, cool, happy dinner.

"What's happening with my shop?" I asked the table at large. The atmosphere changed instantly. The ASI men all on high alert and Dominic going still beside me. I let a breath of air out and placed my knife and fork carefully down on the side of my plate. "Come on, guys. It's my shop. They shot at me and Sweet Seduction. I have a right to know."

It was Nick who spoke. This had happened before, as though they all deferred to him, Dominic too - or maybe Dominic just wanted everyone to remain quiet and ignore my question and was leading by example.

"It was a message. If King wanted you dead, you'd be dead. Elliott must owe large for King to show his hand so publicly."

"A message?" I asked, stunned. It didn't feel like a message, it felt like near-death. If that was a message, what the hell did these people do when they wanted to leave a gift?

"Elliott has gone to ground again, Eric can't find a trace of him on the streets," Nick added.

"Who's Eric?" Kelly asked what I was thinking.

"Our IT guru and control room man. He's shut away at our base and listening in to chatter. After visiting your store this morning, there's been absolutely no mention of Elliott being seen on the streets since. We've lost him," Nick admitted through a clenched jaw.

"And how the hell did that happen when you had a man on Sweet Seduction?" Jason demanded, but all I could think was they had a man on Sweet Seduction? They'd been expecting Brett to turn up there. My life was a movie playing out in real time.

Nick shrugged a shoulder, not a good move. It was like a red flag to a bull for Jason.

"If you guys can't get a handle on this situation, I'll pull in some of mine," Jason announced and if the air in the room could have got any heavier, we'd have been flat on the floor.

"Your men don't know this city," Nick answered slowly, as though he was trying to get his point across to a child. Oh hell no, not a good move. And what's with Jason having
men
?

"My men don't need to, they blend in anywhere in the world, they can blend in here. And they're a hell of a lot more qualified than yours."

"That's debatable. They didn't do so well in Bamian." Nick lifted his glass of beer up to his lips and took a sip, completely at ease, despite the stillness surrounding him.

"How the
hell
did you know about
that
?" Jason spoke so slowly, each word so drawn out, it was painful to watch. I had no idea where Bamian was, but I was guessing it was a deployment Jason's unit had been on and perhaps a secret one from the mix of shock and anger on his face.

"We're more qualified than you seem to be aware, Cain. Perhaps even good enough for a man like you to consider changing employers."

Jason frowned at him and crossed his arms over his chest. Nobody said anything for a moment, my eyes darting between Jason's angry, but now contemplative stance, and the uncomfortable and I was thinking, annoyed, looks from Nick's ASI men. Dominic looked impassive, Katie looked intrigued and Kelly just had eyes the size of saucers.

Nick turned to face me, as though nothing important had just been discussed at all.

"Gen, your shop will have to be closed tomorrow while they organise replacement glass and fix up the mess." Oh hell, it would take weeks to get that glass made, it was special order - just my luck I choose a cool façade and have it all shot to hell in one twenty second gunfight. Plus, I'd forgotten that I'd have to get things sorted, contact the glazier, organise coverings to keep the shop enclosed and safe in the meantime and clean up the mess. I'd been slacking, I owned a business, and my business needed me.

"I better head back in there and get things under-way."

"Like hell you will," Dominic bit out.

"Excuse me?" I said shifting in my seat to confront him, my hands automatically going to my hips despite the fact I was still sitting.

"You're not going anywhere near the place while Elliott and King are on the loose," he declared, and if I wasn't so pissed off with his autocratic suggestion, I would have realised that made sense. But Sweet Seduction was my dream, I was not abandoning it.

"I think I can decide that for myself, thanks," I said super sweetly. "It's my business and it needs to be sorted."

"He's got a point, Genny," Jason interrupted, adding his two cents worth of control into the mix.

"You stay out of this," I shot down the table at him. "I'm putting up with you under duress."

"They're both right, Princess," Ben added, making me glower at him across the table. "Just sayin', it's dangerous to be you right now."

"You can all keep your opinions to yourself, I have a shop to open tomorrow and I will be opening it." There, that put them in their places.

"No you won't," Dominic said softly to my side, glass of beer already to lips after that shocker of an announcement.

"Yes I bloody well will! Some of us have to work hard to pay the bills, one day closed and my commercial rent won't get paid this month."

"Do you have a problem with my money?" Dominic said out of nowhere. I blinked up at him.

"Do
you
have a problem with me making a living?" I decided to shoot back.

"I have a problem with you acting impulsively and..."

"Opening my business on a Monday is not impulsive!"

"and
recklessly
when..."

"Paying my bills is hardly reckless!"

"PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SHOOT AT YOU!"
he bellowed and my chair scooted backwards as my heart leapt right out of my chest and I tried to go with it.

"Dominic," Nick warned in a very even voice. "This is not helping."

Dominic sat frozen in his chair, not looking at me or anyone in particular. Nick watched him for a few moments and then turned his attention to me. By now I was standing on the far side of the room, the chair between me and Dominic. Kelly had risen and come to my side, Jason was standing fists clenched, jaw tight. Katie had her hand up to her mouth and looked like she was shaking, the ASI men just had resigned looks on their faces, as though they'd seen it all before.

Nick spoke in a soft, but determined voice. "Genevieve, the shop is being taking care of. Eric has contacted contractors and a glazier, the glass is on order and the windows have been boarded up. You
could
open tomorrow, but I'm asking you to be intelligent about this. Elliott is still trying to get to you, but that's not the worst of it. King will up his message deliveries within twenty-four hours of the last if Elliott does not pay his debt. I'm picking he won't be able to pay it and that's why he's gone to ground, which means, King will go after you and it won't be pretend. He'll either harm you or take you, depending on his mood and how angry at Elliott he is. We can offer protection, but manning the shop, on King's turf, is risky. I'm not in the business of taking unnecessary risks. Are you?"

I was biting my lip again, all eyes, except Dominic's, were on me.

"I need the money," I finally and embarrassingly admitted. Running a business in the CBD in the hippest street in town, was expensive. One day shut could have a detrimental effect. Kelly squeezed my arm in support.

"I can loan you some money, sis," Jason said, almost on a cringe - no doubt aware what my normal reaction to that would be. "I'll even charge you interest if that makes it better."

"Minimum 10%," I shot back.

"Two," he replied immediately.

"Eight," came my counter offer.

"Five and I won't bargain further or I tell them all about when you climbed that tree..."

"OK, deal." He smiled broadly, I scowled.

"That tree was pretty funny," Kelly added, lifting her shoulder in a shrug when my scowl turned on her.

"So, it's settled," Nick announced. "Just give us a day, maybe two and then you'll be back in your shop, making the best coffee in Auckland I have ever had the pleasure of consuming." I smiled at him, it was genuine and I tried to put as much of my thanks and relief and unbelievable fondness for him in it. I think it worked because he just stared at me for a moment and then finally shook his head as if to clear it.

"All right, lets go, we've got a shit-head to find." Warm fuzzies disappeared on Nick's not-so-happy words. "Cain, I could really use a man like you on my team, if not permanently, then just for this. We'll cover more ground if we combine assets."

Jason nodded slowly, then shifted his gaze to me. "Will you be all right here?" I bit my lip, Dominic was still not looking directly at me. I got the impression he was pissed off, but I couldn't fathom why.

"I'll stay with her," Kelly announced.

"So will I," Katie added. "Girl power," she said giving me a wink. I beamed back at her and nodded to Jason.

"Good. Give me the keys to your place and I'll crash there if I get a chance, I want to stay close to the city."

It sounded good to me and he could also feed my cat, so I went and fished out my keys from my purse. When I got back to the dining room the ASI guys had vanished, Katie and Kelly were clearing the dishes and Dominic was on his cellphone in the corner, back to the room.

"We'll sort this, Genny," Jason said as he kissed my cheek. "Nick might be an arrogant ass, but his team is actually quite good." I stared at him, he'd said that last on a whisper and obviously didn't want to divulge his respect just yet.

"Your secret is safe with me," I whispered back and winked. He shook his head and walked out the door.

"It's almost as good as a soap opera," Kelly announced as she came back in the room for a second load of dishes. "I haven't had this much fun with this much eye candy for months."

"Yeah, right," I said to her retreating back.

I started clearing dishes too, but before I made it out of the room I heard Dominic's voice. He'd been talking quietly while everything had been going on, or I had been too involved in the conversation to hear, but either way, I knew immediately now who he was talking to. He had the same annoyed and curt tone he'd had when he took that call outside my apartment building the day we met.