Breaking Her Rules (10 page)

Iris still didn’t like it. Her posture and expression were tense, her back bowstring tight.

“Maybe you should stay out here and I’ll bring in another of the team with me and Jay.” He

couldn’t stand the thought of her coming in there with him. Considering how paranoid Forest was and from the security he’d seen tonight, Wyatt knew it was unlikely that anything would happen, but he

still didn’t want to bring Iris into possible harm’s way. At his house he’d broached the subject of her not coming and they’d fought. Even though it wasn’t in him to ever back down, he had.

For her.

It was his own damn fault for insisting on hiring her. He wanted to kick his own ass for his

shortsightedness. Yeah, she was with him 24/7, but she was also putting herself in harm’s way.

As if she read his mind, Iris’s dark eyes spit fire at him, her jaw clenching tight before she pasted on a bright smile that didn’t fool him. Her fingers dug into his arm for a fraction of a moment before she looked at Jay. “Let’s go.”

Vincent, Kell and the others in the Red Stone group stayed behind as he, Iris and Jay entered. In

each corner of the room stood men wearing dark suits; silent and armed like the rest of the security. A long conference table sat in the middle with Forest at one end, sitting there like he was a king. There was a buffet of food and drinks behind him, which told Wyatt he expected negotiations to go on for a while.

Forest stood and greeted Wyatt with a real smile. With salt and pepper hair, wire-rimmed glasses

and a lean frame, the seventy-four year old was in good shape for his age.

“Who is this lovely woman?” he asked, his voice permanently raspy from the attack he’d suffered a

year ago. Forest strode toward them, his movements steady.

Wyatt nodded between them. “Henry Forest, this is Iris Tarango.” He didn’t offer up anything else

because it wasn’t the man’s business. As they stood and made small talk, Wyatt felt Iris tense as she subtly shifted and eyed Thorton’s group enter the room. He watched them out of the corner of his eye, careful of their movements. They might have been frisked before entering, but he was pretty sure Iris had managed to smuggle a knife in so it was highly possible any of that group was carrying a weapon.

Even though he was focused on the upcoming negotiations, it was difficult to ignore the feel of

Iris’s lush body pressed up against his. Her light scent that always reminded him of springtime

wrapped around him, driving him crazy. It wasn’t perfume either, it was something that was pure Iris.

Right now clothing separated them, but soon enough, he’d have her under him, begging for a

release he’d gladly give. As he felt himself start to harden, he shoved those thoughts away and

scanned the group of Forest’s men, then Thorton’s group again.

He needed to stay focused because once this job was over, it would be a hell of a lot easier to

pinpoint any threats. Though he hated to think Keibler would stoop so low as to hire an assassin, he had to assume the other man was behind the attempt on his life. Wyatt didn’t have any other big deals in the works at the moment. This was the only one that would draw the kind of attention of a hit.

Internally sighing, he nodded and politely smiled at something Forest said to him and Iris. Yeah,

long and boring night ahead.

* * * * *

For two hours Wyatt, Forest, Thorton and Keibler talked, shouted, and went back and forth over

numbers and some other stuff Iris didn’t completely understand. The one thing she did realize,

however, was that Thorton reeked of desperation. Both he and Keibler did. They needed the company

and the hack proof software in a way Wyatt didn’t seem to. Or maybe Wyatt was just cooler under

pressure. Despite their relationship, he was hard to read sometimes—okay, all the time.

That didn’t concern her right now. The woman Keibler had brought to the meeting did. She’d been

introduced as Fae and had been perfectly polite and polished. She was sitting next to Keibler, her

expression blank, as if she was bored, but something about her was off. First, why would they have

brought this woman into the meeting unless she was security? Maybe she was, but she hadn’t

interacted with any of the other security Thorton had arrived with and it would have been easy to tell.

Even when Iris and her team weren’t vocally communicating, they all worked as one cohesive group.

It was subtle, but they were all teammates and acted as such.

The woman with the dark hair sitting across the table from Iris didn’t know any of the security team who worked for Thorton and Keibler. Or she hadn’t before tonight. Iris was almost sure of it. Iris

didn’t watch her directly, but she was always aware of the woman. Something else about her set Iris on edge and she hated that she couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

As the men were talking Fae stood, causing the conversation to taper off. She grimaced self-

consciously and pointed to her champagne glass. “I’m just getting a refill, I hope that’s all right. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Her voice was soft, understated in the room that had just been booming with frustrated male voices.

Forest smiled and stood. “Of course, I think we should all take a break. And don’t trouble

yourself,” he said to the woman before looking at one of his guards.

Without a word, the guard cleared the table while another started pouring drinks for everyone. He

had a good memory, because with the exception of Fae and Iris, everyone at the table had something

different. Iris hadn’t touched her champagne, but she’d originally asked for something to be polite.

Iris stood and stretched her legs as Fae did the same. Wyatt turned to Forest and as the two began

talking in low tones, Thorton and Keibler stood and talked in even quieter voices as they moved

toward the other end of the table. If Keibler looked angry, Thorton’s expression was positively

nuclear.

“What are you thinking?” Jay asked. He’d been extremely quiet tonight, standing a few feet behind

her and Wyatt the whole time. Normally Iris didn’t like anyone at her back, but she trusted Jay. He viewed Wyatt as not only a boss, but a friend. Loyalty was rare, but she’d heard enough stories from Wyatt to know the man was.

“Just observing.” Iris scanned the room, watching for any sudden moves. As she casually

scrutinized everyone, her breath caught as she watched the dark-haired woman take her champagne

glass from the man in the suit. She’d done more than just take her glass.

The movement was so damn smooth Iris would have missed it if the woman hadn’t already been on

her radar. Somehow Iris forced herself to remain lax, to keep her gaze off the woman who was

carelessly sipping champagne. Instead Iris pretended like she was curious about the quietly heated

conversation between Thorton and Keibler.

But as the second guard set Wyatt’s coffee mug in front of him—the man and his damn coffee—she

snagged it and handed it to Jay. Keeping her gaze laser-focused on Fae, or whatever her name really was, she murmured, “I don’t care how you do it, secure his drink. There’s poison in it.” And they

would need it as evidence.

Fae’s gaze narrowed on her as she pushed her chair back a few inches. The movement was slight,

but she was ready to bolt. Iris could see it in every taut line of the woman’s body.

Jay took it and she heard him moving around behind her, but she didn’t avert her gaze. At Iris’s

words, the rest of the room went deathly silent. Next to her Wyatt stood and actually tried to stand in front of her, but she refused to let him. “Call the police, Wyatt.”

He paused for a moment, but didn’t question her as he slid his cell phone out and dialed.

“What the hell is going on?” Keibler boomed as he and Thorton returned to the table.

Next to her Wyatt was talking quietly on the phone, but Iris could make out the gist of the

conversation. Fae hadn’t made any further moves and Iris hadn’t taken her eyes off her. The woman

was almost preternaturally still. That was when Iris realized what had been bugging her about the

female. She hadn’t fidgeted the entire meeting. Hadn’t acted bored or uninterested. She’d just been waiting for the moment to strike. Like a pro.

“Your date or employee just poisoned my client.” Iris put her left foot slightly in front of the other as she turned her body, ready for a fight she could feel coming.

At her words, the woman jumped up, her expression dark. “I don’t have to put up with that kind of

accusation.” She turned, glaring at Keibler, as if expecting him to defend her.

“But you do have to wait for the police to arrive,” Iris said quietly.

She swiveled back around. “You can’t keep me prisoner.”

“I can and I will.” Without drawing attention to herself, Iris slowly slipped off her heels. If she had to move fast, she was going to take every advantage. Luckily she knew her team had heard everything through their earpieces.

“What the fuck is going on, Christiansen? I’m not going to let one of your whores talk to my date

like that.” Keibler’s angry voice sliced through the sudden silence.

Before she could blink, Wyatt stopped talking to the police mid-conversation and launched himself

at Keibler.

It all happened so fast Iris had barely computed he’d moved when Fae jumped over the table.

Lightning fast, she used the table as a springboard and launched herself toward the door.

She might be fast, but Iris was faster. “Don’t let the woman leave the premises!” she shouted into

her earpiece, knowing that even if she couldn’t stop her, her team outside would.

Using the tension that had been building inside her from the moment they’d arrived, Iris threw

herself at the woman. In her peripheral she could see Wyatt and Keibler fighting and Jay restraining Thorton, but she kept herself focused on the immediate threat.

The woman had dared to try to hurt Wyatt. Iris wasn’t sure what Fae had slipped into his drink, but she doubted it was a date-rape drug.

A punch of adrenaline surged through Iris as she tackled the woman to the ground. The force of the

landing almost knocked the breath out of her, but she was so pumped up now, not much could slow

her down.

Faster than she’d anticipated, Fae turned underneath her, swiveling with her elbow as she tried to

strike Iris in the temple. Jerking back out of pure instinct, Iris barely missed the blow. Iris used the opening to head-butt the woman in the nose. The crunching sound of bone breaking rent the air.

The move was dirty and almost always unexpected. Especially from a female. As the woman cried

out in pain, blood gushed from her nose and down her face. Iris had no clue how well trained the

woman was and wasn’t going to give her another opening. She slammed her fist across the woman’s

jaw before twisting her onto her stomach. She leveled her knee into her back, digging in hard as she held her wrists tight together. Before she even had to ask, Jay was crouched next to her with flex-cuffs in his hands. He bound the woman’s feet as Iris secured her hands behind her back.

Iris looked up to find Forest’s guards all with their weapons drawn, but cautiously giving them a

wide berth and thankfully, none of them were pointing their weapons at anyone.

Wyatt was rumpled with a bruise forming on his cheek while Keibler looked ten times worse. They

stood on opposite sides of the table, but Wyatt looked ready to murder Keibler at any second.

“What the hell is going on?” Forest finally sputtered.

She ignored him and focused on Wyatt. “The cops on their way?”

“Yeah. You okay?” He looked as if he wanted to say more and he even made a move toward her,

but then he looked at Keibler and remained still, watching the other man as if he’d kill him if Keibler made one wrong move.

Before she could say anything, the door opened and her guys along with the rest of Forest’s men

spilled into the room. Of course Forest’s security had their weapons drawn. This was one giant

clusterfuck and while she hated involving the cops, it was definitely necessary. Everyone started

talking at once, but she tuned everyone out and turned to Jay, who hadn’t moved either. “Did you

secure that drink?”

“Yep.” His expression grim, he shot the woman on the ground an angry glare.

Fae wasn’t knocked out, but she also wasn’t struggling. Probably because she was in a shitload of

pain and realized she’d never escape now.

Still, Iris didn’t move from her position on top of the murderous bitch. The police could sort

everything out but until then, Iris was staying put.

Chapter 9

Wyatt wrapped his arm around Iris and pulled her close. She didn’t think of resisting that strong

embrace. They were sitting on a bench seat in a quiet office at the police station. Outside noise

filtered through the door, but they didn’t have to deal with the full brunt of ringing phones and

criminals shouting at the police as they were hauled in to be booked. After spending the last few

hours answering questions and filling out reports, her adrenaline surge had long since faded and she was coming down in a bad way. She’d already told Vincent he was temporarily in charge of the team

and as of right now, she was simply Wyatt’s wife.

Wife.

God, the word scared the hell out of her. What the hell did she know about being a wife?

Especially to a man like Wyatt. He had so much money she could barely comprehend it. The mansion

in Miami was enough to make her break out in a cold sweat, but he also had one in Vegas—even if he

lived at one of his hotels. That was another thing she could barely get a handle on. The man owned

hotels. As in plural. One was crazy enough, but he was so diversified in his businesses, she was sure he owned more property and companies than she could imagine. If they did this marriage thing for