Embraced by Fire (20 page)

This wasn’t right. He couldn’t do this, not to Kait and not to himself. She was afraid right now and desperately seeking comfort, but he wasn’t the man to offer it to her. He’d promised himself he’d never again have sex with a woman directly involved in a case he was working. When he had sex it was going to be for pleasure, not work, and he wasn’t going to hear Neil’s voice in his head. There would be no one in the room but him and his partner.

A partner who was unlikely to be Kait. He wasn’t good enough for her. Who’d want a man who’d done the things he’d done. Besides, she’d never accept the truth of his nature. In a real relationship his dragon was a secret he’s have to share. He was working a case, when it was over he would leave. Reluctantly, he pulled away.

Clearing his throat, he said, “That should never have happened. I don’t trifle with women involved in my work.”

Her eyes opened and she looked at him in bewilderment. Her red lips and dilated eyes evidence he wasn’t the only one who’d been lost in the moment. He caught himself leaning toward her again, desperate for another taste.

Standing up quickly, he turned his back on her as he tried to get his body under control. Focusing on the pain twinging through his knees from kneeling distracted him from his body’s other demands. He’d never lost control like that.

He took a deep breath. He knew he needed to say something, anything, to break the palpable tension in the room. “I’m sorry. I can’t stand to see a woman cry.” Except that wasn’t the real reason and he knew it, knew it the same way she must know it was a lie, after all she hadn’t been crying. “I was totally out of line, it won’t happen again I promise.”

He didn’t dare look at her.

There as a taunt pause then she took a shuddering breath. “It was nothing, it’s been an emotional morning.”

He closed his eyes. Nothing? Did she mean it? Did she really think it was nothing, or was she trying to maintain her dignity? It didn’t matter. He opened his eyes. He wasn’t here for romance. He was here to do a job and he was wasting time.

His body under control again, he forced himself to focus on the issue at hand. Pushing the last few moments into the dark recesses of his mind, he turned over the issues at hand. Trying to work out how to leverage recent events to their advantage without letting Kait get hurt, because keeping her from harm was definitely a priority.

He turned back to her, his mind once more focused on the job at hand. “Can you print me copies of all your email exchanges with Johnny?”

She still looked a little pale but she nodded. “Yes, I’ll do that now.” Leaning over her machine she set it to print then hurried out the office to collect the copies.

He suspected part of her alacrity was due to a desire to have a moment alone. He bit his lip, using the pain to anchor himself. Their kiss had been wonderful, but it could never happen again. In fact, he intended to act as if it had never happened at all.

By the time she returned with the printouts, he had a rudimentary plan of attack.

“I’m going read these, then I’ll call my boss and talk strategy.” This was important enough he would have to phone Neil, but he intended to conference Adrian in on the call. “Whatever you do, do not leave this building without letting me know. Clear?”

She nodded. “Crystal.”

“Okay, you have my number if you need to get hold of me.”

He was turning away when he felt her fingers around his upper arm. He stopped and looked at her, eyebrow raised. Was she going to berate him for the kiss?

“I…I wanted to thank you,” she said hesitantly.

“For what?” Not the kiss surely?

“For not yelling at me, helping me even though I’m an idiot.” She shrugged.

“I told you, you’re not an idiot, you’re a loyal friend. Loyalty like that is a precious gift, one Johnny is squandering.”
Bloody Johnny
. He brushed the tips of his fingers over hers where they rested on his arm.

She smiled tremulously and released his arm, her fingers brushing the skin beneath the edge of his sleeve. He stepped back before she noticed his skin’s reaction. Giving her a small smile, he left her office to find somewhere for a private conversation.

****

Ryu sat in his car and read through the printouts Kait had given him. Tracing the dialogue was an odd kind of torture. At the last email he threw the pages onto the seat next to him. The callous little weasel hadn’t even been able to write her name. Adrian was right, there were some situations where sorry wasn’t good enough.

Thinking of Adrian, he picked up his phone and dialled in the code that would not only secure the line, it would conference Adrian into this call with Neil. When he heard the call connect, he picked up the printouts and quickly read through the first email exchange, pausing to summarize the visit in the park, before reading today’s emails. Then he waited for the explosion.

“What the
fuck
!” As Neil attempted to deafen him and Adrian, Ryu held the phone away from his ear.

“That’s a very accurate summary, sir,” Ryu was unable to resist saying.

“If you’d been sleeping with her none of this would’ve happened. She would’ve poured her heart out to you and we could’ve caught our target free and clear.”

Their heated kiss flashed into Ryu’s mind. Any doubts he had over stopping that kiss were extinguished with Neil’s words.

Ryu rested the printouts on his knee to stop his hands from shaking. “She wanted to help him.”

“I don’t care if she wanted to blow him. We should have been there to catch him,” Neil said.

“It’s unfortunate we missed an opportunity to apprehend the suspect, but we need to consider our next steps.” Adrian broke in, the voice of reason as usual.

“Unfortunate, I’ll give you unfortunate…” The rest of Neil’s words were lost as he muttered to himself.

“We need to increase surveillance on Kait, she said she felt someone watching her—”

“It was probably our men doing their job,” Neil cut over Ryu.

“Or maybe it wasn’t—”

“Which reminds me, where were our men on Saturday? I thought you were increasing surveillance, Adrian,” Neil cut over Ryu again.

“If you recall, sir, when I discussed this with you on Friday night, you didn’t think anything would happen early Saturday and set the roster to start at lunch time. According to Kait, she met Johnny at nine.” Ryu admired the polite reproof in Adrian’s voice.

“You’ll have to do better next time, Adrian.” Neil appeared oblivious to his role in events.

“About additional surveillance, sir—” Ryu tried again.

“I hardly think it’s necessary. Johnny’s not going to risk contacting her again,” Neil interrupted, making Ryu grit his teeth in annoyance.

“We don’t know what Johnny will do, he thinks she has the original flash drive. Even if Johnny doesn’t contact her, his associates may regard her as a risk. I think we should take precautions,” Ryu continued.

“Waste of time,” said Neil.

“With all due respect, sir, I disagree. I think Kait is potentially more at risk than you believe.” His phone dug into the palm of his hand and Ryu forced his grip to relax. No way was he going to lose his temper again.

“I said, it’s a waste of time, I meant, it’s a waste of time,” Neil’s voice was razor sharp.

Adrian backed up Ryu, his voice calm. “In those emails Johnny suggests a threat to Kait, or he may contact her again. He is quite forceful in his desire to have the original disk. Additional surveillance wouldn’t be difficult to implement.”

“I believe I still have control over this mission, Adrian. Until such time as I am removed my decision stands.”

“What about me?” Ryu said.

“What about you?” Distain hung heavy in Neil voice.

“Can I stay with her as protection? I’m still assigned to Fantasia Alive.” Ryu kept his voice as polite as possible.

“Fine, do what you want.” Neil hung up.

“Is my staying with Kait going to be a problem, Adrian?” Ryu asked his team leader, who was still on the line.

“No, I don’t think so. I agree with you, we need to keep an eye on her or at least on what’s going on around her. That girl appears to be a catalyst.”

After he hung up, Ryu stared blankly at the shadows swimming across the hood of his car. He couldn’t believe Neil’s stubborn, short-sightedness. The man was worse than a fool. Ryu had no idea how he’d worked his way so far up the hierarchy. It was no wonder this case hadn’t been solved before now and Adrian’s team ended up being called in to assist. Not that they were accomplishing much, hamstrung as they were by the incompetent in change.

Flicking through the printouts again, he pushed thoughts of Neil aside for the moment. It wasn’t his job to worry about Neil, it was his job to worry about Kait. Letting the papers fall onto his lap, he thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel while he debated his options.

The only way he could truly be her protector was to be with her twenty-four/seven, and he couldn’t see her agreeing to that idea. He would have to find a way of making sure she understood she had little choice.

Wait, what about at night? He couldn’t take her back to his room at HQ, Neil was bound to object to her being so close to the centre of operations. He’d have to convince her to take him home with her. His stomach clenched at the thought of being in her home. This was getting more and more difficult by the minute. What exactly had he expected when he made the suggestion? That they were going to be at work the whole time. He hadn’t thought it through, that was the problem. He’d made the suggestion impulsively because he believed she needed protection.

The downside of such constant vigilance was she would undoubtedly assume she was in serious risk. She was worried enough already without adding fuel to her concerns. He’d simply have to reassure her it was only precautionary. His fingers tapped faster. Her concerns aside, he had his own issues.

Their chemistry for one. He was already more attracted to her than was comfortable, and after their kiss his attraction had ratcheted up another notch. Being together twenty-four/seven was only going to exacerbate the problem. Not only that, a great deal of their time together would be the two of them alone.

Alone, in her house, at night, in the dark. His imagination happily supplied him with images he forced himself to shutdown. With a groan, he leaned back against the seat and banged his head against the headrest. It wasn’t just that she was a redhead, or incredibly sexy, it was that she appealed to him on a deeper level. He felt a connection between them. Her loyalty, kindness, and vitality were hard to resist.

Knowing he couldn’t put it off, he sat up and folded the printouts, putting them and his phone on the seat next to him. He needed to go to HQ and grab his gear. If he was going to be a temporary houseguest he needed clean underwear—amongst other things. As he started the car, he caught a whiff of her scent clinging to his shirt. Damn, this wasn’t going to be easy.

Chapter 20

Rachael lounged elegantly on a chair in Kait’s office. “It’s been almost a week since your secret confab at the Fire and Ice do. Have you put your moves on Mac yet?”

Kait pushed away the marketing plan she was reading and stared across her desk at Rachael, wishing the other woman would quietly evaporate. “First of all, it wasn’t a secret confab. As I told you at the time, we simply stepped outside to talk about his performance. Secondly, I didn’t see him all weekend, and he wasn’t here yesterday. When exactly was I supposed to put my moves on him?”

“He’s here today, I saw him leave your office earlier.” Rachael leaned forward. “Whatever you said didn’t make him happy. He looked all cheerful and yummy when he arrived, but he left a sexy thundercloud. Still yummy, but the dangerous kind of yummy.”

“I don’t have time for this conversation, Rach, and anyway, it’s none of your business if I
put moves on him
—which I wouldn’t because he works for me.” She almost forgot to add the last piece, she was getting used to the idea she no longer had that particular restriction.

She frowned. Instead, she was faced with knowing he didn’t want her, not really. A
pity
kiss.

Her heart had filled with light when his lips touched hers, banishing her fear. Then he’d told her he hated to see women cry. Her throat tightened at the memory. The magic she’d felt, was for him nothing more than a pity kiss.

“Phooey to that. Make your moves and see what happens.” Rachael brushed off her concerns.

Except Kait had made her move. She’d kissed him back for all she was worth, and she’d been rejected. She wasn’t trying that again. She pushed aside her pain and focused on trying to get rid of Rachael.

“I thought you said he was gay. Anyway, why do you care if I make moves? Are you looking forward to seeing me fail?” She hadn’t meant to add that last question, but she’d been feeling particularly insecure around Rachael lately. If he’d kissed Rachael, she doubted he’d have walked away.

“Fail, oh no, Kait, I don’t want to see you fail. I want to see you happy. If I bug you endlessly it’s because I want to energize you into taking action. As for the gay idea, I’m not sure about that anymore.”

The funny thing was Kait actually believed her. Rachael probably did want her to be happy. “Thanks, Rach, but maybe you could let me do things my own way.”

“No way, I’ve tried that and you are so desperately single it’s scary. I’ve decided Mac is perfect for you. Originally, I was going to try nabbing him myself because he’s delicious, but I’ve changed my mind. You’ve been crushing on him so long, you’ve got to get it out your system.”

“High school was a long time ago. I’ve changed, he’s changed…it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“If I thought it was only school I’d say, you’re right, put it behind you, move on. Let me have a go at him.” Rachael wiggled her brows. “But I’ve seen the way you look at him. You’re still interested.”

“I’m not, he’s a different man.” Kait kept her voice firm.