Some Like It Deadly (15 page)

“Hmm,” came her grunt of a response.

“Oh.” Surprise filtered through his enjoyment. “You aren’t a morning person?”

Another grunt. She petted him. “More sleep.”

Pleased by the wonderful new insight, he rolled her over and nuzzled the corner of her mouth. “You go ahead and sleep,” he murmured and began another lazy exploration of her neck and dipped lower. “You might lay still this time for me to play.”

But she didn’t.

And he really didn’t mind.

It took them another two hours before they managed to roll out of bed, then they broke more rules in the shower. Fortunately, he’d gotten a good look at her stitches and the shoulder actually looked better rather than worse, though the bruise managed to be uglier. Still, he’d been pretty aggressive with her the night before and she’d not been remotely shy about returning the attention. Some wounds hurt worse a couple of days later.

“I told you I was fine.” She watched him over the rim of her coffee cup.

“I know, but I also know you have a legendary pain tolerance and I wanted to make sure you weren’t sore from last night.” He on the other hand, ached beautifully and had the scratches on his back to prove it. The look on her face had been priceless when she’d spotted them. When he’d teased her about going out to pick up the mail sans his shirt, she’d actually looked so mortified he’d left it alone.

“Oh, I’m sore.” She shifted in the chair and reached for the Sunday paper. “But in all the right ways.”

Smug, he tugged out the business section and let her have the rest. “Good. Anything you want to do today?”

“I already did who I wanted to do today.”

Glancing up from the paper he met her wicked smile and waggled his brows. “Well I hope you don’t mind when he wants to do you again.”

“I’m impressed by your commitment to stamina.”

Laughing, he reached for his coffee cup. “When your woman is as physically fit as you are, a man has to do what a man has to do.”

Shifting forward, Kate put a hand on his arm. “I like what you can do.”

Catching her hand, he lifted it to kiss her fingertips. “Ditto, sweetheart. Ditto.” He watched her a moment longer as she curled back into her chair, one leg crossed over the other and the news section opened. She didn’t go for the lifestyle, but he did see the comics next in her stack and grinned to himself.

He could definitely get used to this.

They spent a leisurely morning on the deck, enjoying the sunshine and the paper. Occasionally she showed him an article she found interesting and they debated the editorials. He conned her into another round of
Call of Duty
after lunch and she fell asleep against him on the sofa an hour after dinner in the middle of
A
Few Good Men.

Content, he let her sleep and roused her only enough to get her up to bed. His bed. With regret, he tucked her in and slipped out quietly. This late, the house was dark and he knew where Armand’s security was. He avoided them on his way around the house and then down a series of steps till he reached the beach. The moonless night was the perfect cover.

Four hours later, he crept back into the house the way he had gone out.

Exhausted, he stripped and slid into bed. He didn’t want to wake her, but when he went to sleep, it was spooned up against her back.

* * *

Monday arrived with a fresh dose of reality. “So.” Kate poured coffee for both of them. She’d been quiet in the shower, quieter still why they dressed.

“Chickening out?” he asked quietly, aware of the distance she’d already put between them.

“No.” She wrinkled her nose and held out a mug to him. “Just working out how we’ll do this.”

“Which part? I thought what we did in the shower worked really well.” He couldn’t help but tease her. He didn’t like the cool, professional wall she’d begun erecting after she came apart in his arms all slick, wet and soapy.

She paused, coffee cup halfway to her lips. “I do believe you were more than adequate. However, I was referring to your morning schedule.”

“Adequate?” he repeated. “Adequate?”

The corner of her mouth twitched. “It’s after eight, Richard. Do focus. We’re on the clock which means it’s my job to keep you on time. I can stroke your ego later.”

Hardly mollified, he gave her a dirty look. “Adequate.” He’d show her adequate.

“Focus.” She walked over to the table and flipped on her digital tablet. “You have four conference calls scheduled this morning, one starting in about thirty minutes. Do you want to take it here? Or in the car? Or would you like me to reschedule it? Unless something changed last night when you went out.”

The last sentence echoed with a question, but he focused on the first part instead. “The call in thirty minutes is Kravitts’s, isn’t it?” Grimacing, he pushed away his irritation at her businesslike tone. They did have work to do and she was his assistant.

“Yes, it’s regarding the Masterson deal he’s trying to curry with the EU. What he wants is for you to represent the corporate interests and provide second chair support to his in house counsel when they present their deal to the commission in Belgium next month.” The succinct summary covered most aspects of what Kravitts had scheduled the call for.

“I can’t represent their interests. It would be a direct conflict with the
Spherecast
deal.”

“A conflict of interest he wants to put you in. It’s most likely a fishing expedition to see if you’ll tell him no so he can pursue why. It also allows him to play the ‘in negotiations with Andraste Enterprises’ card.” Since he’d said the same thing a couple of weeks ago, he had to grin.

“So why did I agree to the call?” He dared her to remember because he’d only told her to set it up. He hadn’t said why.

“To mollify him while you finished negotiating for Mr. Voldakov and His Highness.” She tapped her nail against the side of the tablet. “Which means you can cancel this call because it’s already served its purpose simply by being on the books.”

“That would be a calculated and cold move on my part.” He sipped his coffee.

“How much notice of the cancellation would you like me to give him?” Understanding lit her eyes.

Moments like this reminded him exactly how much he adored her mind. “Two minutes.”

“You are a mean man, Mr. Prentiss.” But she checked her phone for a time and marked out the call on the tablet. “You have a call thirty minutes after that with His Highness and Mr. Voldakov. They’ve both confirmed their availability. Mr. Grange, Mr. Voldakov’s attorney, will be placing the call. Do you want to take that one in the office?”

“I think I should take that one naked while you’re sitting in my lap.” He stared at her across the table. Rattling her in the office would be a hell of a lot of fun, but once they were there, he’d need to behave. It was one thing to tease her across a breakfast table, something else entirely where he met with his clients.

Of course, the idea of going down on her while she sprawled across his desk held a great deal of appeal.

“I hardly think nudity will be conducive to a successfully negotiated business arrangement.” Her face flushed and her tongue skated over her lip. Recognizing the signs of her arousal, he stroked his finger around the rim of his coffee cup.

“It’s a done deal, Kate. This is the notification call and I won’t have to do any talking at all. Imagine listening to all that formal protocol as Daniel and Armand dance around their family connection and Martin has to play negotiator while I slide in and out of you. They’re all tense and proper with their blood pressure on the rise and your legs are wrapped around my waist and we’re having a good time.”

She set the tablet down with a thump. The rapidly escalating rise and fall of her chest betrayed her. “You do not fight fair.”

“No, I don’t, but you keep thinking about that ‘adequate’ time I gave you while I take this call in my office.” He rose and drained his coffee cup. Leaving it on the counter, he pivoted to give her a wink. “Be sure to sit in. I wouldn’t want you to miss a
moment
of it.”

The dishtowel caught him in the back of his head as he walked away.

His good mood lasted all the way out to the car and even having to let Armand’s security give them a ride to the office, he still managed to enjoy himself.

She retaliated, however, by sucking on a pen the whole ride and pretending interest in whatever she read on the tablet.

No, being with Kate would never be boring.

Chapter Twelve

The ease with which they fell into a routine surprised Kate—the fact that she let him get away with lying to her surprised her more. Nights and weekends were spent at his house. They’d stopped at her apartment to pack up two full suitcases so she had plenty of clothes. But on two separate occasions, she’d found him gone and his security completely unaware that he’d left. She’d suspected it that first weekend, but when it happened twice in the same week and he gave her no explanation she couldn’t excuse it or brush it off.

The fact that he’d done it on her watch added to the sting.

First in the office that morning, and then again
after
they’d gone home. He’d mentioned reviewing some contracts and that he’d join her in the pool, but he was a no show. She’d searched the whole house and he wasn’t present.

His security was still on the gate. Giving in to temptation, she turned on the GPS tracker in his phone and found it—in his home office. He’d left it sitting right on the desk. Picking it up, Kate turned the device over in her hand.

Since meeting Richard, she’d never seen him without his phone. Panic burned like a flash fire in her system.

If he left it here...
The door creaked behind her and she turned. Richard stood in the entryway, keys in one hand and his expression unreadable. “Hey.”

“Hey?” Irritation scraped along the inside of her skin. Holding up his phone, she raised her brows. “Where did you go?”

He flicked a look from her to the phone, then back to her. “I thought we might grill by the pool for dinner.” That wasn’t an answer. He set the keys down on the bookshelf and shrugged out of the suit coat—a different one from what he’d worn to the office.

“Richard?”

“Or we can order in.” He gave her an easy smile. “Whatever you want. Though, I like the second option because it means we can eat in bed. What do you fancy? Chinese? Thai? Mediterranean?”

Kate grew tired of biting her tongue. It hurt. “I’ll pick up something on my way back to my apartment.” She tossed his phone and strode past while he fumbled to catch it.

“Hey.” Richard followed her down the hall and then up the stairs. But she didn’t stop, and continued to the guest room where she’d left her overnight bags. Her shoulder throbbed with the tension cramping her muscles, however, she continued moving. If she stopped she’d either cry or punch him.

She didn’t really feel like doing either.

Richard’s hand came down on her arm and stopped her at the door. “Kate, stop.”

After halting, she refused to turn. “Yes?”

“You’re angry.” And his almost conciliatory tone was the last straw.

“No, I want to shower, change and go to my apartment.” Firming her lips into a thin line, she pivoted to face him. Since he’d ducked answering her question without any pretense of lying, she waited a beat.

He sighed. “Look, Kate, you’re mad because I left, but I had somewhere I needed to be.”

Which wasn’t really an answer. Her pulse thrummed with the surge of adrenaline. He’d been out there, alone and exposed. Anything could have happened. “You’re an idiot.” She shoved him back a step, then retreated into the guest room and slammed the door in his face for good measure.

Fuming, she scanned the room for her bags. They’d been on the bed and now they weren’t. Crossing the bedroom to the closet, she pulled it open. All of the new clothes with their tags still in place seemed to mock her, she still had no idea why he had the clothes. Unfortunately, her bags weren’t in evidence. Aggravated, she headed back to the door.

One part of her mind seemed to take a step back, and recognized her wholly irrational reaction as that of a jealous, worried lover instead of the cool practicality that came from being a bodyguard.

But I am his damn lover.
She’d given up the bodyguard gig and traded it in for his bed. Fists clenched, she stopped just short of the door. His leaving without word or security baffled her on all levels—the soldier and the woman. Blowing up didn’t help her cause. Exhaling a long breath, she tried to gather up the ragged ends of her temper.

Opening the door to his cool, impersonal attorney’s face aggravated her all over again.

“As I was saying,” he began as though she’d never slammed the door. “I had somewhere I needed to be—”

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Without your security?”

“Look, if they can’t figure out how I’m getting out then neither can the people they’re supposed to be protecting me from. And I still think that was a random act of violence and the only reason I haven’t called Armand on his over protectiveness is that
you
were hurt.” Anger tensed his jaw and for a moment, she saw the same flash of danger in him she’d seen that day on the golf course when he’d taken on Bing in her defense.

The flutter in her stomach warned her she found it just as attractive now as she had then. That only served to piss her off more. “I can’t believe you would endanger yourself so recklessly.”

Impatience mixed with arrogance cooled his dark eyes. “You let me worry about the choices I make. Now, did you have a preference about dinner?”

Frost hung off his every word and she nearly shivered, suddenly aware that she wore only her bathing suit with a towel wrapped around her waist. “So you’re done discussing this?”

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry you’re upset,” he said, cool dismissal in each syllable. “But you were safe here and that’s what mattered. And like I said, it’s not my problem the so-called bodyguards can’t figure out how I’m leaving...” Whatever else he said faded as her temper spiked.

He was absolutely right. It wasn’t their fault they didn’t know how he did it. She hadn’t reported his absences. With that thought riding her, she spun away from him again and headed for the stairs.

“Kate?”

She ignored him for the second time in as many minutes and took the stairs two at a time. Her shoulder still ached, but it had nothing on the sick feeling in her stomach. If Richard got himself killed on her watch... She couldn’t complete that thought.

It mattered to her.

He
mattered.

In his office, she picked up the keys and looked at them. There were three—and one was for a vehicle. She ducked around him and checked the garage, neither of the cars responded to it. When he went to block her path, she eluded him again.

“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded and followed her as she went out the back door to the deck and the pool. No way he left via the front with the guards. They would know. So that left somewhere from the deck—which meant he’d slipped out either while she was swimming laps or while she’d changed.

The deck overlooked the beach, and the rock face was pretty sheer, but that didn’t mean it was
all
sheer.

“Kate,” Richard repeated, standing at her elbow now. “What are you doing?”

“Figuring out how you do it.” She told him bluntly. “If you want to endanger yourself, then I need to know not only when, but how.” If that meant following him next time she would.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Richard eyed her. “You don’t have to do that.”

Oh the hell I don’t.
But she kept that sentiment to herself as she studied the lay of the land.

The pool area was gated, and boasted a significant fence, not that it needed one—nothing about it was visible from the road or the beach and his nearest neighbor was more than a half mile away.

Prowling past him, she walked the perimeter and if she hadn’t been looking for it, she wouldn’t have seen the difference in the boards.

A gate blended into the fence line—it had no actual handle, just a different seam for the wood. Across the pool, nestled against the rocks was another more obvious gate, but those were for the pool cleaner and pump. Richard stopped a pace behind her and she glanced at him once, then pushed the slightly off-sized wooden panel and heard the distinct pop and lock as the gate opened.

The sun slid down the western sky, but there was still plenty of light to see the slightly worn track that led from the gate over the hill. She made it three steps before Richard said, “Wait—please.”

The trail was nestled right against the hill. She couldn’t see the road or the beach. The house blocked it from view. “Are you going to tell me now?”

“Kate, you have bare feet.”

That wasn’t an answer, so she plunged onward intent on following the trail.

“For the love of God, you’re stubborn.” He all but growled the words. Aww, had she pissed him off?

Good.

“I’m sorry pot, what did you call the kettle?” But her temper had cooled, because she could see the trail went for a ways and if it continued down the side of the hill, it likely let out in one of the other neighborhoods.

She glanced at the keys in her hand. It wouldn’t be hard to park a car there or rent a garage.

“Stop. Seriously, stop.” Richard caught up to her. When he took her arm and tugged her around, she let him. Worry furrowed his brow. “If you don’t know the way, you could get hurt.”

“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself, remember?” But it wasn’t his words that halted her but the bleak expression on his face.

“I remember you getting shot because you were with me,” he said quietly. “Come back inside.
Trust
me.” When she didn’t move immediately, he cupped her chin and brought his forehead to hers. “I promise the next time I go, I’ll tell you.”

“Take me with you,” she countered.

“Kate...”

“No, if I’m in, I’m in.” God, was she in. Losing him would be harder than losing a limb. She’d been stupid not to realize how far she’d fallen for him. “Let me in.”

He sighed. “Babe, don’t you understand how far you already are?”

She was a damn hypocrite, being angry with him for keeping secrets when she had yet to share her own, but he’d—”You scared me,” she admitted aloud even as the thought occurred to her. “When I realized you were out without anyone protecting you.”

The last trace of remoteness left his expression and when he drew her into his arms, she went. “And for that, I’m sorry,” he whispered it against her lips and then kissed her.

Yeah, she was gone, because she let him lead her back inside. They didn’t discuss where he went, and upstairs she found that he’d transferred her clothes into his closet.

She was so screwed.

A part of her knew she had to tell the security force about the back exit, but the rest of her wanted to protect his secret—his freedom. But she wouldn’t let him go alone next time. And there would be a next time, of that she had no doubt. She wanted—no she needed to know where he was going.

* * *

The next week passed with an almost uneasy truce, she found herself second guessing everything he told her and more than once, she caught him studying her with the same look of consternation.

They rode together to the office, more often than not in her car because he had calls. If he needed her on the call, he let security drive them. The grand duke’s security force took up a greater presence in their lives. Not only did they man the gate at Richard’s house, but she encouraged the assignment of a man to their floor at the office, and to reception. A visible deterrent to future attempts. It also discouraged Richard from leaving the office undetected, though she’d discovered his private elevator and access on the other side of his bathroom. It was an express elevator that went to the garage. How he’d managed that, she had no idea—but she knew damn good and well they weren’t on the plans his personal security force had.

Working with Richard continued to entertain her, even though their relationship seemed punctuated with strain and tension. It had been a long seven days since the night she caught him coming back—and to her knowledge, he hadn’t slipped away again—when he stopped at her desk, his expression sober and intense. “Kate, cancel all our plans for tonight.”

“All right—what’s up?”

“Just be ready to go at seven. I’m going to show you where I go.” After that announcement, he’d shut himself up for the rest of the day on writing a brief.

By evening she was wired. He drove, and she was aware of the security follow cars—more surprised that Richard didn’t even try to evade.

Guilt stabbed at her. “Are you sure you want me here?”

“Yes.” No hesitation marked his response. He parked in the driveway of a North Hollywood home on a cracked street called Bonner Avenue. It looked like any of the other houses on the block, a little larger, a little less kempt with a yard full of toys, but it was clean and in good repair. Twisting in his seat, he gave her a long look. “Do you remember what I told you about the Christine Center?”

The place his mother had taken him and his sister after his father’s arrests.
Oh shit.
He said one of the center’s benefactors thought enough of his mother to send her back to school to get a degree and hired her...
“Yes.”

“This is one of their outreaches. Currently it’s home to about a dozen displaced mothers and their children as well as four staff members and three part time counselors.” He turned off the car. “Behind the main house, they have some acreage and a smaller house that doubles as an office and counseling center. On those nights that I ‘disappear’—I come here.”

“Oh, hell.” No wonder he didn’t say anything about where he went. The clothes. Richard had benefitted from Christine’s Center and, in return, he’d grown up to be one of its benefactors. Five bedrooms in the house and he lived alone, but that guest bedroom had a number of clothes in the closet and they were all brand new, tags still on them. “You rescue them. You bring them back to your place.” The secret exits from his office and his house.

Richard gave her a faint smile. “Sometimes they need a fast exit, a safe one.”

Her heart squeezed and it took her a minute to get her emotions back under control. Once out of the car, Richard led her down the driveway. Behind them, the security car pulled out and headed down the road. Kate stopped and stared after it. “Richard?”

“I told them they couldn’t stay here.” He paused, cupping her elbow. “This is a quiet place for these women to get their lives back under their control. They accept me here because I am one of them and I’m also an attorney and I help them get their lives back. Those guys are big, hulking brutes with guns and they don’t need the intimidation.”