Barely Breathing (6 page)

“I should probably hit the shower.” He shifted beneath her.
“Alone.”

His sigh made her chuckle against his chest. No man should
have so much energy. He’d come three times.

“Go ahead.” He cupped her ass to him and held her close as
she began to push her upper body off the bed. “I’ll get coffee and start some
breakfast.” He leaned up and nipped her jaw before kissing her softly on the
lips. “Thank you, Honor.”

She was befuddled for a moment. No one had ever thanked her
for a blowjob. What did she say?

“Maybe later, I can return the favor.” His brows wiggled and
he gave her a smack on the ass before lifting her off him and getting out of
the bed.

His cock hung soft between his thighs but he did nothing to
cover it. He just opened the bedroom door and went out whistling something. She
was so out of her element with him. She recalled her last thought before
falling asleep last night. It had been about how she could easily fall in love
with a man like him. But who was she kidding? There were no other men like
Griff. And she was already falling.

“I did a little research last night.” Honor didn’t miss the
exasperated sigh Jack Madigan gave at her words.

“Research that’s going to bring more trouble?”

“No.” Vince was already after her.

“Let’s start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know
and be honest. I have to know all of it if I’m going to help you out.” Jack
crossed his arm and sat back in his chair. She let her gaze dart around.

When she and Griff had walked in she’d expected to be led
straight to Jack Madigan’s office. Instead Griff had taken her to a conference
room, got her another cup of coffee and left her there to get comfortable while
he “rounded everyone up”. Everyone was apparently Mr. Madigan, Griff, Chetan
Donavan and Roman Davis. It was a little intimidating. Especially when they
were all looking at her so intently. Plus, she wasn’t sure how comfortable she
was talking about a man she’d been duped by and almost slept with in front of
the guy she was currently having sex with. As if her life wasn’t complicated
enough.

“When Stace left my dad, I was forced out as well.”

“Why?” Roman Davis was the one who asked the question.

She shrugged. “Daddy decided it was a good time for me to
have a normal life. Date, get married, have kids and all that shit.” She would
not look at Griff sitting beside her. It was bad enough she could feel the heat
of his body washing over her.

“Your dad wanted you safe.” Jack Madigan nodded his head as
if it made perfect sense to him. Which, considering he had a daughter of his
own, it might.

“You can’t raise a person to be one way and then expect them
to change because you’ve decided they should.”

“Very true.” Mr. Davis again.

“Thanks, Mr. Davis.”

He chuckled. “Roman. No one calls me Mr. Davis.”

“Roman.”

“Let’s deal with names first. I’m Jack, or Midnight if you
prefer. Chetan, Roman and you met Griff last night.” She fought not to blush as
Jack made quick work of the introductions. Oh, she’d met Griff last night all
right. And again this morning. Twice. She bit her tongue to hold back the sigh.
Fuck! She would not sigh about it.

“Thank you.” She managed to get the words out and ignore the
way Griff’s hand had found her thigh under the table. His fingers were making
lazy circles over her jeans and it took all she had not to purr and shift
closer. Double fuck. The man was absolutely lethal.

She cleared her throat and nonchalantly shifted her legs,
knocking Griff’s hand off and crossing her legs away from him.

“So Stace leaves and my dad decides I need to as well. I
helped close out a few open files, put some new ones together and he cut me
off.”

“I’ve seen how good you are.” Roman met her eyes.

“You made the virus that hard killed my desktop?”

“Yes.”

“It was amazing. I’d love to see how you put it together.”

“Honor.” Jack cleared his throat. “Back to what you were
telling us. Probably not best to remind me of your little breaking into secure
files when you’re asking for help.”

Roman winked at her and she bit her lip. Griff’s hand was
back on her thigh. She glanced toward him but it was as if he was unaware he
was even touching her.

“Right, sorry. I tried. I went into town. I tried to hang
out, to meet people, but I’m more of a computer person. I’ve never been real
great in crowds. I tend to get a little clutzy. And my mouth. It’s always
getting me into shit.”

“I can imagine.” The way Jack looked at her made her realize
she was cussing. But hell, what did they expect from a woman who was raised
around a dad like hers and his motley crew?

“I met Vince.”

Griff shifted beside her and she let her gaze casually skim
over him. He smiled at her and gave her thigh a rub.

“Is Vince the one chasing you?”

“Him, and I suspect a few others. I overheard him on the
phone.”

She didn’t have to admit she’d been close to having sex with
him. There was no way she’d admit that. She was going to sound foolish enough
as it was. “I met him in the pool hall. We had a few beers, talked a bit. I
gave him my number.”

“Did you sleep with him?” The first time Chetan opened his
mouth and those words were what he asked. She wanted to kick him. Her eyes met
his and she would swear he knew exactly what was going on between her and
Griff. It was disconcerting to say the least.

“No.” At least that was the truth. Kissed him. Heavy
petting. But he’d not seen her in her skin. Something had always held her back.
Now she understood what.

“Go on,” Jack urged.

“We were together. He went out back. I stepped out front and
was going to circle around the back to see if he was ready to go when I
overheard him talking to someone on his phone.”

Jack leaned forward. “What did you hear?”

“He said, ‘Nah. I’ve found his weakness. When I’m done
playing with her, she’s going to die nice and painfully. Let him see what it’s
like when you’re not around to protect the ones who mean the most.’ I wasn’t
sure who he was talking to at the time but I knew who the
she
was.”
Honor glanced up. “I have no intention of dying nice and painfully.”

“I’m assuming he was the research you were doing.” Roman shrugged
his shoulders, which she interpreted as an
I’d do the same thing
kind of
comment.

“Yes. I didn’t before and I’m kicking my own ass for it now.
But dad is constantly telling me I can’t put a file together on everyone I
meet. Funny, since I learned how to do them from him.”

“Not everyone can be defined by a file of information,” Jack
said softly. “There are depths you can’t breach compiling facts.”

“But at least it’s a start,” she countered. Had she just dug
a little into Vince, he would have never got close enough to access her
records.

“I let him into my house. Invited him in.” There was no way
she was even going to try to hide her disgust over that information. “I’m
pretty sure he hacked into my system.” It still burned he’d been able to.
“Opened a few older files. I didn’t understand why. Those files were closed
cases. But I used them to do a little digging last night and I hit the
jackpot.”

“Vince Towner is actually Vincenzo Antonio Giordano. Towner
was his mother’s maiden name. I found her in the files he’d accessed.
Twenty-five years ago she was shot and killed while her husband was gone,
working with my dad. Vince would have been just a boy then. They never found
out who did it. Seemed like a random act of violence. One of those wrong place,
wrong time kind of things. And my dad checked. Thoroughly. I read the file.
Apparently, Vince’s dad never recovered. He left my dad, took his son and
disappeared.”

“And it would seem he blamed your dad for her death.” Roman
shook his head, looking sad. “Bad stuff happens. It sucks. But even the most
prepared can’t always stop it.”

She nodded her agreement. “I heard the hate in his voice,
and trust me there was a lot of it. Reflected toward my dad and me by
association.”

“Is this why you don’t want your dad involved?” Trust Chetan
to cut to the heart of it.

“I can’t shake the feeling maybe I was meant to overhear the
conversation. It was just too perfect in its timing. I think he wanted me to
hear and put a call in to my dad for help. I think he expected it.”

“But he wouldn’t expect you to run.” Jack sighed.

“No, he wouldn’t. I’m predictable it seems. It galls me to
think of someone putting together a file on me.” She caught their grins and
heaved a sigh. “I know. Funny coming from me. He would have known I’ve lived in
that cabin for years. That I don’t veer far from it and how my dad keeps in
constant contact with me. I think he expected me to tell my dad about him right
away. When I didn’t, he pushed my hand. Or at least thought he did.”

“How long had you known him?” Chetan again. She seriously
wanted to kick him under the table as she felt the tension in Griff. She shook
it off. Griff knew she wasn’t innocent.

“A month.” She felt Griff relax and knew what he was
thinking. She had known Vince a month and hadn’t slept with him. She’d known
Griff less than a day and had sex twice and already swallowed after giving him
a blowjob. Like that wasn’t going to go to his head. Fuck.

“Did you bring the information with you?” Roman stood up and
pushed his chair in.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little flash
drive. “It’s all on here.”

Roman walked over and took it from her. His hand dropped to
her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’ll just take a look.”

She should be offended he was digging in to double check, but
then, she would do the same thing in his shoes. Hard to fault him for it. So
she just nodded and sat still while he left the room.

“I’d like you to lie low for a while.” Jack stood and looked
at her. “Chetan checked the hotel room this morning. No one’s been there. He
made sure the room was paid for the rest of the week. If Mr. Giordano comes
after you, hopefully, he’ll follow the trail there.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Whatever you did last night.” Jack shrugged his shoulders.
She could feel Griff’s grin without even looking his way. She would not fucking
blush. No way Jack knew what they’d done. No fucking way.

“Yea,” Chetan added. “Let Griff entertain you. I’m sure he
can come up with some stuff to keep you from being bored.”

Her gaze jerked to him. He couldn’t know that she and Griff
had sex. But the look on his face said he just might. That he might know
exactly what she and Griff had been doing. There was no holding back the blush
now. She could feel it rising up her neck to suffuse her cheeks with red. When
did she become such a fucking girl? Griff squeezed her thigh, letting his
fingers slip to rub the inside. Since him, and only with him.

She just nodded as Jack left the room. Chetan smiled, stood
and after a shared look with Griff she wasn’t even going to try to interpret,
he left. She turned to look at Griff. His smile was exactly as she imagined. He
leaned in and nipped her bottom lip right there in the conference room where
anyone could walk in and see them.

“I can think of a number of things we could do to keep you
busy and entertained.”

She sighed. And she’d enjoy every fucking one of them she
was sure. “I guess I’m not supposed to see Stace yet?” She hadn’t missed the
fact Shep and Stace hadn’t been involved in the meeting.

“They left last night to check on Chloe. She’s been having
some bad nightmares since she was rescued. She doesn’t leave the house much
anymore. Stace worries.”

Honor nodded. “I bet.” Didn’t sound like Chloe at all. She
had always been such a happy girl. Always smiling and chatting a mile a minute
whenever Honor had seen her or spoke to her. It hadn’t been often, but still,
it had left an impression. She hoped Chloe would find a way to deal with things
and move forward.

“So, you ready to head home?” Griff pushed his chair back
and stood, holding his hand down to her. She felt her heart catch at his
careless use of the word home. It was his home. But the way he’d said it had
made her think just for a minute about something else entirely. Something that
couldn’t be.

“I’m not having sex with you again right now.” She flushed
when she heard someone clear their throat by the door. She looked up and
cringed as she noted Jack standing there.

“We’ll talk again later. See what we can find out between
now and then. I was going to tell you to stay off the computer. I’m guessing
Griff will take care of that.” With those words Jack turned to leave, firmly
shutting the door behind him.

Honor cringed, closing her eyes with a groan. Griff just
laughed. His arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. She was damned if it
didn’t feel almost perfect.

* * * * *

Jack sat behind the desk in his office and punched in the
number on the paper in front of him.

“Midnight. I was expecting to hear from you earlier.”

“She’s still in my office building as we speak.”

“So what’s going on?”

“About twenty-five years ago a member of your team lost his
wife while he was gone. Giordano. Ring a bell?”

Silence for a few beats and then a weary sigh. “She was
gunned down. Wrong time, wrong place. He swore it was a hit because of his job.
I checked. Double checked. Triple checked. It wasn’t.”

“They had a son.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Seems like the son has a hard-on for you. Blames you
for his mom’s death. And thought Honor was the perfect way to get revenge.”

“That’s why she didn’t call me.”

“She’s trying to protect you.”

“My little girl loves me.” There was pride in the voice.

“Yeah, she does. Not sure why. You’ve always been a bastard
as far as I’m concerned.”

A chuckle flowed over the phone. “Takes one to know one.”

Jack smiled. “She asked me not to call.”

“Sometimes lies are inevitable.”

But it still made Jack feel badly. Honor made him think of
his daughter, Moira. And that was why he’d called Zach.

“I’ll keep her here, busy, while you take care of it.” He
wasn’t going to tell Zach about the little bit he’d overheard at the conference
room door. Or the fact the sparks between Honor and Griff had made the meeting
earlier damn uncomfortable.

“I’ll call when it’s safe.”

“She won’t go back to the cabin.”

“It’s compromised.” Zach echoed Jack’s thoughts. “I’ll find
her a new one.”

Jack didn’t say anything. If the sparks he’d seen ignited,
he wasn’t sure Honor would be leaving anytime soon. Threat or not.

“Call my cell.”

“Take care of her.”

The line went dead and Jack looked at the picture on his
desk. Moira had just had it taken. It was a portrait of her and his
granddaughter. They were stunning. She’d had it done for Gil, but she’d given
her dad a copy too. Looking at her, he knew he’d done the right thing by
contacting Zach immediately. It was what dads did.