Choosing Rena (8 page)

“But no, he had to be a jackass and
try to push me out of the way. All for a damned story.” Of course
he’d lost his balance due to the broken glass and other spilled
fluids that he didn’t even want to think about which had pooled
under the car. In the end, he’d hit his head on the side mirror
while trying to stop his fall, given himself a hell of a shiner,
and still had fallen into the mess. “And what does Olivia do? She
laughs at my ass before treating me like I’m a five year old
again.”

“Aw, you been fighting with your aunt
again, Playboy? Oh wait, you quarreled with her car…” Ethan closed
the door as he walked into the office.

Lifting the ice pack off his face,
Jackson flipped him off. “Go ahead laugh it up, you Indian bastard.
Next time you’re on guard duty when Olivia needs a security
detail.”

Ethan grinned. “Ah, don’t be that way.
Besides me and Ms. Olivia have reached an agreement. She likes me,
unlike you, who she barely tolerates and only because you
introduced her to Jude. I have a special bond with her because I
saved Micah.”

Glowering at his too cheerful friend,
Jackson crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t you have anything
else to do other than harass my ass this morning? One would think
you’d be too busy following up leads on the gang symbols from the
car.”

Ethan shrugged. “I put in a couple of
calls to some friends down at the Mobile Strike Force who’re
working the Greektown area. Until they get back to me, I do have a
couple of consults to handle today but I don’t have to be there for
at least another …” He made a show of glancing down at his wrist
“…two hours. So, nope, I don’t have anything else to do at this
particular moment.”

Jackson tipped his head
back. What the hell had he been thinking when Jude and he decided
to lure Ethan away from his lucrative job as the Head of Security
at the prestigious Tulane Hospital in Atlanta?
Oh yeah, how he’d be an asset to us after the way he’d
handled the situation with Micah.

“You do realize I’m your boss, right?
And I can make your life much more miserable than you can make
mine?”

The idiot had the audacity to laugh.
“Of course, why else do you think I needle you? So you can keep me
on my toes and my skills sharp.” He tossed a report onto Jackson’s
desk. “But all kidding aside, Jude requested I drop this file off
to you. It’s a copy of the list the DMV sent over of possible
vehicles based on the partial I got off the getaway car. He asked
you to pass the information on to the investigator who Jude
replaced Levi with when you go meet her at his condo
today.”

Picking up the file, Jackson once more
was all business. “So he finally took my advice to keep Rogers on
guard duty only? I don’t know what Rena was thinking when she
recommended him as her replacement.”

“Probably that he was a competent
replacement for the majority of her duties. Didn’t you tell me her
primary duty was guard duty here at headquarters?”

Jackson nodded. “That’s where she
started out, but damn…she’s a fine investigator. I worked with her
in Ireland, and damned if she doesn’t have fast reflexes, even
coming out of a dead sleep.”

Ethan stared at him. “Do I even want
to know how you know that?”

Jackson grinned – the first time since
the incident last night. “Probably not. It might scar you for
life.”

Shaking his head, Ethan stood. “You
and Dickens with your fetishes for ropes and whips…”

“And paddles…” Jackson added
mischievously.

Ethan groaned. “I don’t want to know.
I just don’t.” He turned to leave.

“Hmmm, guess I shouldn’t tell you
about the handcuffs Maria asked me about?”

If he hadn’t thought it possible he’d
have been shocked at the red flush climbing up Ethan’s neck.
Standing as if frozen in place, Ethan gave a perfect dime-store
Indian impression. “What about them?”

“Well, who do you think gave them to
her? Evidently a certain injun likes to be handcuffed to your bed…”
Jackson’s eyes widened as Ethan spun, locked the door, and dived
over the desk at him in one smooth motion. He grunted, catching the
man as they toppled over his chair and onto the floor laughing
uproariously.

* * * *

Later that afternoon, Rena
pulled into the underground garage a few blocks away from Olivia’s
condo. Flicking off the ignition switch, she rested her head
against the headrest. It had been one hell of a day so far. After
taking the day off from the mall, she’d gone down to the local
precinct only to go around and around with the detective assigned
to Jude’s case. As usual, Chicago’s finest wasn’t thrilled with the
idea of her poking her nose into an ongoing investigation.
But that’s too damn bad. Jude wants me
here.

It had taken every trick in the book
and finally a call from Olivia to get them to allow her into an
active crime scene. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know how to handle
herself because she did. She had done counter-intelligence while
she’d been stationed overseas. She figured it was because she was a
woman. Despite everything, security was still very much a
male-dominated field. Pulling the keys, she pocketed them before
grabbing her tote of essentials. It was time to get to
work.

It took her less than five
minutes to walk the two blocks to the entrance of the condo.
Pushing her way inside the foyer, she grimaced as she caught sight
of a familiar face. Anthony Samson, the most unprofessional
security guard she’d ever met, was sitting behind the desk.
What the hell’s he doing here? I thought the
condo board fired his ass.

“Well if it isn’t Ms. Badass.” The man
smirked down at her as if he knew something she didn’t. “I’m afraid
Ms. Metjka isn’t home right now, and I have it from a higher
authority her condo is off limits to everyone – including…” He gave
her a disdainful look. “…people like you.”

Sighing, she set her tote down on the
desk, before leaning over it. “Do you have to work at it or were
you just born an idiotic asshole who can’t fight his way out of
paper bag?” Her deliberate taunt was meant to remind the fool of
the last time they’d tangled.

She had been on guard duty for Olivia
after the attack at her home. Sometimes she swore the woman was a
trouble magnet. That’s when the fool in front of her had tried to
deny her access to the building on the grounds she was what he
called an “overweight” nigger who wouldn’t be able to protect
anything. She knew her luscious curves were misleading but they
were a good disguise. Most weren’t expecting her to be anything
more than what her outward appearance indicated - until they
challenged her. The fool in front of her was no exception. She’d
wiped the floor with his ass just to prove why her superiors had
always put her on the front line. While she didn’t look like a
threat, in reality she was truly dangerous.

“I have the law on my side. Officer
Anderson gave me specific instructions about not allowing anyone in
or out of Ms. Metjka’s condo – and that includes you. So I’m going
to have to ask you to leave now.”

Giving the man a mocking smile, she
pulled out a paper from her tote. “You know that might actually
work with another person, but I have express permission from the
Chicago P.D. to go into Olivia’s home.” She shoved it under his
nose.

Picking up the official document, he
frowned then flushed as he read it. “Where the hell did you get
this?”

It was her turn to look smug. “From
Detective Anderson after I stopped by the precinct this morning.
He’s planning on meeting me here in the next hour or so. What do
you think he’ll do if he finds me still out here arguing with your
stupid ass?”

He tossed the paper back at her. “You
can go up but I don’t have a key to let you in.”

Pulling the key ring Jude had given
her out of her pocket, she smiled. “Not to worry, I have my own.”
Lifting the tote off the desk, she made her way to the elevator.
She gave the fuming guard a quick wave as the elevator doors
closed. “Asshole.” Her smile fell as the elevator climbed. She was
here to try and figure out why someone targeted Jude and
Olivia.

When the elevator opened, she walked
down the short hall to Olivia’s door. On this floor there were only
two condos. She wasn’t sure who owned the other one since she
hadn’t met anyone during the short time she’d guarded Olivia.
Making a mental note to check out who the neighbors were, she slid
the key into the lock.

The moment she crossed the threshold
the smell of ammonia coming from the vandal’s urine hit her nose.
Her nostrils flared as she shut the door behind her. “Damn it
stinks in here. Olivia’s going to have a bitch of time getting this
smell out when she comes home.”

Depositing her tote on the coffee
table in the living room, she pulled out a pair of gloves. “Now
according to the reports, the perp came in through the balcony
doors, so I guess I’ll start there, see if I can figure out how
they entered.” Grabbing her notebook, a pen and tape measure, she
headed into the kitchen. She picked her way across the kitchen,
taking note of the way the glass was scattered. “Not that it
matters. Lord knows how many people have trounced through here,
disturbing the fragments.”

Measuring the size of the glass doors,
she jotted them down. No one mentioned in the report of any of the
witnesses or neighbors hearing the glass break, but it was worth a
shot. Before she left, she’d have to stop and make their
acquaintance. Moving around to the doorframe, she looked at the
jamb, tracks and finally the motion sensor. There was something off
here, but she just couldn’t figure it out, and the plywood the
security company had put up wasn’t helping matters.

According to Jude’s statement to the
police, he’d moved the sensor higher, thinking birds had set it off
originally. But after studying it, she wasn’t sure if the breaking
of the glass was what had disturbed the sensor. The slider was
spider-webbed up from the middle of the pane in such a way it
didn’t seem consistent with that theory. “I’d be surprised if there
was enough force to make the sensor go off, like the police notes
suggest.” She scribbled another note down on her pad.

She was just about to measure the hole
in the center of the pane when she heard a familiar masculine voice
behind her. “Hello?”

Freezing, she wanted to find Jude’s
ass and kick it so far up between his shoulder blades he’d be
spitting out shoe leather for the next week. “Unbelievable. Just
un-fucking-believable.” Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she
prepared herself to come face to face with Jackson.

His scent reached her
first. The moment he appeared in the doorway, his cologne wafted
over to her, then his sheer presence engulfed her with the need to
submit. It was the same desire she’d been battling every time
they’d been in the same room since she’d met him. She was a big
girl, she could do this.
Act like the
professional you are, Rena. He can’t force your
submission.

“Rena?” He seemed just as shocked as
she did. As she took in his work clothes, rumpled hair and
blackened eye, she wondered what the hell had happened but forced
herself to concentrate on the issue at hand. If she gave him an
inch, he’d surely take a mile – and she knew it.

“Well get your skinny white ass over
here. I need to bounce something off you.” She moved back to the
sliding door. Resuming the measuring of the hole, she felt him join
her.

“So that’s how you’re going
to play it,
ma
peekôn?”

“Play
what? I’m here to do a job. To help Jude figure out who’s targeting
Olivia.”

“You’re
assuming Olivia’s the target. It could be Jude or Micah. All three
of them live together – love together.” The heat from his body
radiated towards her as he stepped closer. There was only an inch
separating their bodies. “Damn you smell good. Good enough to
eat.”

It took all her willpower
to not melt at his feet when he nudged aside one of her braids with
his nose to access the side of her neck. It was one of the things
she’d loved about being near him. Their height was close enough he
didn’t have to bend to kiss her. “Hmmmm.” The brush of his lips
against the back of her ear coaxed a betraying shiver out of
her.

“White
boy…” What she meant to come out as a rebuke ended up sounding more
like a plea as he wrapped his arms around her, trapping her against
his hard body.

“I’ve missed you, Rena.” He nipped at
her earlobe. “You left me while I was ill. Did you honestly think I
wouldn’t know you were the one at the hospital who harassed the
nursing staff or you were the one who brought the Christmas Cactus
in because you knew flowers stirred up my allergies? Or your scent
was the one I woke up with each morning and went to bed with each
night I was in that miserable place.”

“You had plenty of care, Jackson, and
more than enough friends around. You didn’t need me at your bedside
once I made sure you were getting the proper care.”

She pulled away, surprised when he
released her. He was quiet for so long she wondered if he’d left.
Finally she gave in to temptation and turned to check if he was
still in the room. Her eyes widened as she took in the stormy
expression on his face.