Protected by Shadows (13 page)

“What happened to this being business only?” he asked softly.

“Go mutter elsewhere, Val. You’re neither wanted in here nor needed.” Lexy didn’t turn around or stop her cleaning.

How tempting it was for him to just grab her and take her back to bed.
Then start all over with what we fell asleep doing.

Valentino didn’t. He stepped back and gave her some space. Once in the living room, he stretched out on the couch and kept an ear out toward the kitchen. Whether she needed him or not wasn’t the issue. He wouldn’t leave her unprotected. That was the most important thing he had to do. Keep her safe.

Lexy leaned against the now dented doorframe between her kitchen and living room.
Another thing for me to fix.
Honestly, she had no one to blame but herself, given she was the one who’d chucked the pan at his head. Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t have done it, but that expression on his face had been priceless.
Especially once he realized I knew who he was.

Sometimes she truly was nothing more than a bitch. He lay on her couch, feet hanging over the armrest as he slept wearing nothing more than his slacks—unfastened slacks. The PPK was on his chest under his hand as it rose and fell with each deep breath he took.

Husband. Her husband.

Another dumb move on her part. She shouldn’t have insisted on actually going through with the sham. That was what it was—a sham. After blowing out a sharp breath, she moved through the room, turning off the light on her way, and made her way back to her bedroom.

Her bed, still made and not smelling of the man she’d just left in the living room, didn’t hold much appeal for her. Didn’t matter, she still crawled in and tried to get a bit more sleep.

It was the phone that woke her. She answered without checking the ID and said, “Hello?”

“It is time for you to learn what we want from you.” The distinct computerized voice banished the final remnants of sleep. She sat upright in bed, heart pounding.

“What do you want?” She slipped quietly from bed and padded up into the living room.

“What do you know of The Watchers?”

She touched Valentino’s foot. “I don’t know a damn thing about you and your crazy group. What do you want from me?”

The light at the end of the couch snapped on and she could see Val watching her intently, gun still in his hand. His tousled hair distracted her for a moment until the voice on the line began talking again.

“You truly are a spitfire. You should learn to curb your tongue.”

She ground her jaw in an attempt to keep her next comment to herself. Valentino pulled out his cell and sent a message to someone. He never left her side and kept watching her.

“You were telling me about your group,” she prompted.

“Right. Right. We aren’t a terrorist group, despite what others may say about us. We love our country and what we’re doing is protecting it.”

“By putting my brother into a coma? How does that help you protect this country?”

“You weren’t listening to us. We had to get your attention somehow.”

She narrowed her eyes and shot to her feet, pacing. “The first I ever heard from you was when I was on my way home
after
I got news of my brother’s accident. No fucking computer-voice got in touch with me before that. And if you’re so sure about what you’re doing, why the disguise? Tell me who you are.”

“We are against the government and how far it’s taken us. The ones in office are ruining us. Ruining what this country stands for. Our right to say what we want and live how we see fit. Without them controlling every aspect of it.”

“So threats and putting people in the hospital is more what you’re saying this country is about? Bullshit. This has nothing to do with your beliefs. You’re trying to make a statement. So make your damn statement and leave me and my family out of it.”

Valentino shook his head at her, but she ignored him. This person had pissed her off.

“I would suggest you calm down, Alexsa Camden. I would hate for your clinic to be a target.”

Her blood turned to ice. “You bastard. So you sit there on that end of the phone and try to convince me you’re all for rights, but you get mad when I voice my opinion. You’re a fucking contradiction. Either you are for it or you’re not. And if you are then it seems you only are for it when it comes to you. Let’s cut the crap. I don’t give a damn what your supposed group stands for. What is it you want from me?”

“You have some connections which would be good for us. I want you to make the introductions, so to speak.”

She frowned and sat beside Valentino. “Connections? Who the hell do I know that you want to know?”

“You have some family, and some of your clients.”

Her phone beeped and she saw it was her service. “Make this quick, work is calling.”

“I’ll call back.” He was gone.

Lexy took the next call and when she finished she stared at Valentino with a shocked expression. “I’m so damn confused by this. If this has to do with my family and some clients, why hurt Eugene? They could have gone to him for the same stuff. Or Hector. They all have access to the files.”

“What family do you have high up in government?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Ever since our parents died, it’s been the three of us. We kind of shut ourselves off from the rest of the family. Just focused on us. I mean, we knew they were there if we needed them but…” She shrugged. “You know how things are at times with keeping family at a distance.”

“We need to see your files and figure out family members.”

“Come to work with me tomorrow and you can see the files. Or Scarlett. As far as family, I’ll have to ask Hector. He would know better than I. He’s actually been in touch with a few of them more recently than I have.”

She glanced her watch and shook her head. No point in going back to bed now. “I need a shower then I’ll get some food ready.” The look Valentino gave her burned her flesh and she fought not to show any reaction. Without another word, she went to the bathroom and started the shower.

Within fifteen minutes she had finished and was dressed in the kitchen. Her newly cleaned kitchen. She stared at the man who was cooking.

“What are you doing?”

“Making breakfast.” He never turned around. “Set the table.”

Sticking her tongue out at his back, she went to do as he said. They shared a remarkably civil breakfast, not that they lingered, for she had to get to the clinic. While she cleaned up, he went to take his shower and get ready for the day.

“I have to go,” she said, checking the time.

“Let’s head out then,” he replied, showing up at her side.

She ran her gaze over him and shook her head. “You need to loosen up your dress code there,
hubby.
”

“Fine,” he said after a few moments. “We’ll go shopping and you can tell me what’s appropriate to wear.”

It took her a few moments to process that. He was willing to change his attire? Had hell frozen over? Perhaps the world was just coming to an end.

He set the alarm and walked beside her down the steps.

“Do I even want to know how you got the code to my house?” she asked.

“Probably not.”

“Will it be safe to talk in my car?”

“Talk? You want to talk to me?”

“Stop being an ass, Val. I’m trying to… Oh, forget it.”

She unlocked her car and jumped in without another word to him. Starting the engine, she grinned when the music pounded through the car’s interior. She backed out of the drive and headed for work, not paying him the least bit of attention.

After getting him situated at her desk with the files on her clients, she went to prepare for the emergency that was on its way in. A few moments prior to the dog arriving, Tracy, her tech, hustled through the door.

They went out together with the stretcher to meet the guy who drove up with his dog in the back. “Jason,” she said as they moved to the tailgate.

“I swear, Dr Camden, I didn’t even see him there. I thought he was still out after the coon.” He cleared his throat. “Skin, not a real one because I know it’s not hunting season for them yet. But we were training.”

She shook her head at the sight of his gorgeous Redbone Coonhound lying there in a pool of blood. “Hey, Jake. Let’s get you fixed up.”

Moving swiftly, they carried him in and got him on the operating table. And as she began to save this dog’s life, nothing else mattered. All the other issues and problems surrounding her faded away as she focused with tunnel vision on the task at hand.

She pulled off the bloody gloves and tossed them into the trash receptacle, rolling her shoulders, trying to alleviate the tension in them. Large hands settled there and began massaging.

“Mmm, that feels wonderful. But aren’t you afraid someone will see you expressing concern for me?”

“That viper tongue of yours, Lexy,” he muttered. “Can’t you just say thank you?”

“Thank you.” She stepped away and turned so they were face to face. “What did you find?” His expression grew even more serious and she sighed heavily. “Let’s talk in my office.”

Chapter Eight

Valentino shut the door to Lexy’s office behind him softly. He observed her as she walked around and sat behind the walnut desk. The walls were lined with numerous photos—some of patients, some from college and some of family. Her desk was spotless with a tri-fold frame near the computer. One of her brothers and her, one of the parents she’d lost and one of her and Jaydee.

She leaned forward, arms upon the smooth desktop, and stared at him. “Tell me.”

“You have quite a few clients who are in politics, Lexy.”

She blinked at him, waiting. He didn’t speak so she did. “And? What about it?”

“Did you not know?” It astonished him she didn’t know some of these names who were in her client list. Or didn’t seem to care who they were.

“I knew some, others it’s the spouse or housekeeper who brings them in.” A frown furrowed her brow. “The minute someone walks through those clinic doors, it’s about their animal, not who they are in government. I’m way too busy—all of us here are—to seek to pay our way by manipulating someone whose animal is suffering. I feel for you because that’s how you see the world, Valentino, but it’s not how I operate. Yes, I’m a bitch to many and a flirt, but I’m not in this business for any other reason than I care about animals. In most cases, a great deal more than I do people.”

Okay, so he did have a jaded view of the world, but to be fair he was usually exposed to the dark and rotten side of it.

“Dr Camden?”

He held his tongue as she answered Minnie on the intercom. Pushing to his feet, he perused her office a bit more. He’d already done a sweep for bugs and removed two. He had a sneaky suspicion she would be less than pleased about that fact.

“Anything else, Val? I’ve got clients waiting.”

“Yes,” he said, more than slightly annoyed she wasn’t taking this more seriously. “Your office was bugged.”

“What?”

He turned to see her shoot up from her chair, eyes ablaze with fury. “I found one near your desk and one in the phone.” He crossed his arms. “You know what this means, right? It’s someone who has access to this place.”

She released a stream of words he knew she wouldn’t want others to hear, so he didn’t open the door. “Let me see them,” she demanded.

He reached into his pocket and withdrew the now defunct bugs. She stared at them, cursed some more then whirled away, hands gesturing along with the steady litany of swearing. He turned away.
Bam!
He spun around at the sound and saw her leaning against her desktop.

“Update my security, do what you have to, just find this fucker who’s messing in my life and put my brother in a coma. I’ll do what you want, just get it done.”

Valentino stared at her and realized it had just hit her. And Lexy wasn’t caving because she was scared, at least not for her own person. She was doing this because she was pissed. An angry Lexy wasn’t a good thing. He recalled the warning Gio had said she’d given him in regards to Jaydee—and that wasn’t even with Lexy angry, just looking out for a friend.

“So no more fighting me.”

Her countenance could have been carved out of granite for all the warmth it contained. “I want them found. You have a better chance of getting answers if you find them before I do. Because if I do…” She shook her head and he got the idea—it wouldn’t be pretty.

He waited for her to look at him again. When she did, the anger seemed to be directed at him.
Great.

“You’re just standing there for what? Don’t you have security things to do?” Her snappy and shrewish tone was like a fist around his cock. Lord, he loved this side of her.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, withdrawing his phone.

“No need to be a smart ass.”

She stomped from around her desk for the door, but he slapped a hand over her head, keeping the door shut. Her entire body quivered and he knew she was close to losing it.