“Why?”
Blinking, her gaze shifted back to his face and she stammered, “Why? Uh…because…uh…” She watched as a grin spread across his face and she forgot all her reasons for leaving.
“I’d like you to stay,” he said.
“I didn’t want to…um…overstay my welcome. I just figured…” Her voice trailed off as she felt the heat of blush creeping up her face.
“I’d like you to stay,” he repeated, letting go of one of her wrists to cup her jaw with his large hand, his thumb sweeping across the apple of her cheek. “That is, if you want to.”
Her lips curved gently, and she nodded. “I’d like that.”
Reaching behind her, he jerked the covers down. Crawling into bed, he tugged her gently to him and wrapped himself around her, pulling her in tight.
She wondered how she would be able to sleep with such a large, warm body pressed into her, but soon found her eyes closing as she gave into the comfort. Just as she was drifting off, she thought she heard him whisper, “This is exactly where I want you. This is where I’d like you to stay.”
13
Sunlight was shining through the bedroom window as Helena blinked open her eyes. The warmth that had surrounded her when she went to sleep was now gone. She remembered instantly where she was but did not know when Rank had left the bed. His mattress was comfortable and, under different circumstances, she could imagine herself rolling over and snoozing for a bit longer. But now, in the light of day…the day after a passionate night, she wondered about the protocol he expected. She remembered he had whispered that he wanted her to stay just before she went to sleep, but now it was morning and she assumed she needed to leave.
Jumping up, she quickly took care of business in the bathroom, still not knowing where he was. Slipping on her panties and bra, she wished she had other clothes beside her blouse and skirt, but had none, so they would have to do. Now dressed, she ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to tame the waves as she left the bedroom and walked down the hall.
The night before, the apartment had been dark and, since he had carried her through it, her focus had been on him, not the surroundings. She observed another bedroom, that appeared to be slightly smaller than the master, as she walked down the short hall toward the living area. The living room was large, spread out toward the left with a bank of windows on one wall. An L-shaped sectional sofa faced a large flat-screen TV mounted on another wall.
Turning to the right she saw the kitchen counter, two barstools snuggled up next to it. Beyond that, she could see a round table with four chairs. Stepping further into the room, she heard a noise and looked to the other side of the counter and spied Rank standing at his stove.
She had wondered if it would be embarrassing seeing him, the awkward morning after, but all she could do was stare in awe. His hair was messy, hanging to his shoulders. His scruffy beard was way past needing a trim. Gray sweatpants hung low on his waist, the material worn thin over his muscular ass and thighs. Her gaze landed on his torso and stayed, not surprising considering he was shirtless and every glorious muscle was on display, as well as a beautiful tattoo of a lighthouse.
He turned his head then and showered her with a wide grin. “You gonna stand there with your mouth hanging open or you going to come to give me a kiss?”
She blinked, snapping out of her visual devouring of his body, and said, “Are you always this bossy in the morning?”
He turned off the stove after removing the bacon from the pan and shifted his body around. Placing his hands wide on the counter, he leaned his weight in, facing her. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m bossy all the time.”
Her previous embarrassment over the uncertainty of the morning-after protocol surfaced once again and she blurted, “Sorry. I don’t usually do this and I don’t know what you expect from your women friends who sleep over.”
He chuckled, raising his eyebrows. “Women friends who sleep over?”
A blush moved from her chest and up until she could feel her face flaming. “I guess I’m not sure exactly what to call us…or me, or what to expect.”
“Come here,” he said gently and she made her way around the counter, stopping directly in front of him. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close, and took her mouth in a warm, wet kiss. Far too quickly in her opinion, he lifted his head and grinned down at her. “Now that’s how I’d like to greet you in the morning.”
Before she could say anything else, he added, “And for the record, I don’t bring women here. I haven’t been a monk, but I haven’t been involved with a woman in a long time. I don’t even do fuck buddies, because I tried that many years ago and always found that their feelings grew when mine didn’t, and that gets awkward.”
Staring up into his face, weighing his words, his blue eyes earnestly held her gaze. Uncertain what to say, she licked her lips and simply muttered, “Oh.” She appreciated his honesty, but he had essentially told her that he only did sex for one night. Sucking in a quick breath through her nose, she forced a smile to her lips. After all, she went into the previous evening without giving much thought to what came next. Or, she supposed, what did not come next. She had always been a sex-with-a-relationship kind of woman, even though Janice had begged her for years to let go and let loose, so her behavior was out of the ordinary. Her chest throbbed, reminding her exactly why she was not the one night stand type.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asked, his arms giving her a little squeeze, bringing her focus back to him.
Nodding, she said, “Of course. You don’t have to worry, I’m not the clingy sort.” Her gaze shifted to the platter of bacon resting on the counter behind him, and she said, “I wouldn’t mind a piece of bacon before I left, though.”
He squeezed her again, this time a little tighter, drawing her gaze back up to his. “I don’t think you got what I meant at all.” She started to open her mouth, but another squeeze had her snapping her lips shut. “I brought you here because I wanted you here. You’re not just for a night.”
“But we barely know each other. You said it yourself, you never do this, so how can you be sure you want to now,” she began.
“We’re learning. And unless you don’t want to see where this could go between us, we’re going to keep getting to know about each other.”
Letting his words sink in, she grinned widely and, this time, the smile brightened her entire face. “I’d like that…getting to know you better.”
He dipped his head down once again and kissed her, this time long and wet, stopping just before it turned wild. Bringing his head back up, he grinned, and said, “Let’s eat. Then,” he winced apologetically, “we’ve got stuff we have to talk about.”
Thinking that did not sound as good as eating or kissing, she nodded nonetheless. They separated and he motioned toward the coffee maker. She filled two mugs, leaving his black because she did not know how he took it, and doctored hers with cream and sugar. By the time she set them on the table, he had plated scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon.
While he was distracted, eating, her gaze drifted over his body again and landed on the tattoo of a lighthouse. She must have looked too long because he glanced down and realized what she was staring at. Smiling, he asked, “Like it?”
Nodding, she leaned closer and said, “It’s really beautiful.” Trailing her finger over his warm skin, she smiled as he snagged her finger, brought it to his lips and kissed the tip.
As soon as they were finished, they worked side-by-side putting the dishes away and rinsing out the pans. Pouring them each a fresh cup of coffee, he nodded back toward the table. “Get your files, babe. I want you to explain things to me again.”
As she walked over to her briefcase, pulling out the files for Frank Tercelli, she wondered why she was obeying without question. After all, the records should be confidential. Glancing over her shoulder she observed him, his casual stance belying the power in his body. Coffee cup in h
is hand, his hip leaning against the kitchen counter and one leg crossed over the other, he looked relaxed. But, as her gaze moved to his eyes, she saw the sharp intelligence hidden there.
She could not say why, but she instinctively knew that he had her best interest at heart and that put her mind at ease. Turning back to her briefcase, she pulled out the files in question before walking over and settling down at his kitchen table.
“As I told you last night, my business is pretty straight-forward. People or companies that want to donate to charities but don’t have a particular one in mind, contact me and I connect them with non-profits or charities that need funding. Because I research who needs what and when, we’re able to support organizations that have a great need but don’t necessarily have the manpower to advertise that need. It’s a win-win for both sides because organizations can also go through me and, after I have vetted them to make sure they are legitimate, I work to see if I can get donations for them.”
“And your expenses?”
She shrugged and admitted, “I don’t actually need a salary. My maternal grandparents were rather wealthy and when my grandmother died, she left everything to me, her only grandchild, with the hope that I would continue to carry on her charitable work. Since my dad is an investment and financial planner, the money has been well tended. My overhead is very low.”
He did not say anything, so she lifted her eyes over to his. “What are you thinking?”
He remained quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Finally, he said, “I’m just thinking how really special you are. A lot of people who had been given that kind of money would be leading a rather frivolous life. You’re not just talking the talk, you’re walking the walk.”
Her lips curved at the compliment. “I wish you could’ve met my grandmother. She really walked the walk.”
He nodded, his smile meeting hers. “Yeah, babe. I would have liked that.” They held gazes for a long moment before he looked back down at the file, and said, “Please, continue.”
Startling, she blinked, murmuring, “Oh, yeah. Anyway, with larger companies or groups of donors, it can become more complicated, but not exponentially so. I’m still essentially matching money to need, making sure that the accounting is all correct down to the penny. Some companies, such as Frank’s, allow employees to make contributions to his Charitable Fund and he even matches them. He also invites business associates to donate as well. But Frank handed me a huge file with a lot of legalese and convoluted requests. It was sort of buried, but I came across the name Anatoly Kozlov and, since you wanted me to contact you if anything concerning him came up, I did.”
“And I really appreciate that you did, babe. Was there anything in particular about his name, besides the fact that I had mentioned it to you, that made you suspicious?”
“Frank said that he was adding a few charities to my list but preferred that I handle the money transfer. It’s not unusual for people to have a few organizations in mind that they want to work with, but some were ones I’d never heard of before. That’s unusual, because I’m very thorough in my work and make it a point to keep on top of things, but I didn’t think anything about it. After all, I’m always on the lookout for a new charity or nonprofit. What surprised me was that Mr. Kozlov’s name was attached to the charity I did not recognize, as the sole donor. As usual, I did my own vetting of that charity and that’s when things got really bizarre.” Holding his gaze, she said, “Rank…I can’t find that that charity actually exists.”
“Money laundering,” he mumbled on a sigh.
“Are you serious?” Shaking her head, she gasped, “No. It can’t be. Rank, I’ve known the Tercelli’s for most of my life. Granted, I don’t know them really well, but I’ve seen them at various events and my dad golfs with Frank, for goodness sake. He’s the one who connected us. He wouldn’t have done that if Mr. Tercelli was a criminal.”
“And if he was unaware of that? You said it yourself, you never would have expected it of him. And maybe you’re right. But, as an investigator, babe, I have to be open-minded. I know that Kozlov is trouble. I know the Feds are investigating him. And now I know that he is working with Frank. How deeply they are connected is still up for debate, but the connection is there.”
Grasping at straws, she said, “But you don’t know that Frank’s involved, right? He could be just as in the dark as I was.”
Sighing heavily, he agreed. “No, right now I don’t know that he’s aware what’s going on, but I can’t dismiss that possibility based on the fact that your dad and he are golfing buddies.”
He kept his eyes on her, willing her to understand, but she looked down, staring at the table. She felt his gaze on her, but she was not sure what to think at the moment. Finally, he said, “Helena, babe. You need to talk to me.”
With a deep breath, she lifted her gaze to his and said, “I hate this. I really do. My work has always been about making people happy and trying to fulfill needs. I can’t stand the idea that someone I know, someone I trust, is tainting that.”
Reaching over, he slid his large hand from her shoulder to her neck and drew her closer, kissing her lightly. “That’s because you’re a really good person.”
Snorting indelicately, she asked, “Don’t you mean naïve?”
Shaking his head, he said, “No way. You’re trusting and there’s nothing wrong with that. But you’re also smart and when something didn’t add up, you came to me.”
“So what are we going to do about this?”
He jerked slightly. “We aren’t going to do anything about this. You’re going to keep doing your job and I’m going to keep working the mission.”
“Rank, that doesn’t make any sense. I’m the one Frank trusts. I’m the one who can get in and ask questions and see if I can find out what’s—”
“Oh, hell, no you’re not.”
Her eyes flashed and she argued, “You can’t tell me what to do and you sure as hell can’t tell me what not to do.”
His soft voice now rough, he said, “Helena, there’s no way I want you doing any digging into this. You just lie low and I’ll do the investigating.”
Standing quickly, she moved away from his hold. Stalking over to the sink, she rinsed out her coffee mug, keeping her back to him for a moment. Placing the mug in the sink a little rougher than she had meant to, she whirled around and said, “Don’t you see? If he’s doing something wrong and involving me, I need to fight back.”
Standing and walking over, he stopped directly in front of her and leaned forward with his fists resting on either side of her on the counter. “Babe, whatever I find, I have to be able to turn it over to the Feds clean.”
She tilted her head to the side, an unasked question hanging in the air.
“Clean. That means whatever procedures are followed, they must be done in such a way that if there are arrests to be made they can be made legally. I can’t have you stumbling and bumbling into something that you don’t understand, only to alert the people involved that they might be under investigation.”
Understanding dawned and she sighed heavily. Dropping her head forward, she rested her forehead on his chest and he brought his arms around her, tucking her tightly under his chin.
“I love that you want to help, but the best thing you can do to help right now is to just keep moving forward as though you don’t know any of this.”
“What about his money? What about the donations?”
“Can you put them off? Delay things for a bit without arousing his suspicions?”
She lifted her head and nodded. “I can probably hold them off for a couple of days. If he asks, I'll tell him that other things came up first. I don’t know how long I can hold him off, but I’ll do the best I can.”
Kissing the top of her head, he left his lips on her silken hair as he mumbled, “The best you can is all I ask.”
After a long, wet kiss goodbye, he walked her down to her car and waited until she drove away with promises to see her l
ater. She watched him in her rearview mirror until he was no longer in sight, and she drove home.
It took a little over an hour for her to drive home, the entire time her mind filled with Rank. Several times she started to call Janice, but each time something held her back. What they shared was special and new. What she wanted was a chance to see if it might possibly go anywhere. She just could not bring herself to share what she and Rank had just experienced. Not yet.
Instead, she called Anna and told her that since she had worked late the night before she would come in a little later this morning. Finally, pulling into her parking space, glad to be home, she trudged up to her door. Once inside, she went straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Stripping out of her now very wrinkled skirt and blouse, she looked at her body in the mirror and a slow smile curved her lips. Her hair was tousled from sleep and sex and her breasts had a slight pinkness to them from his beard. She bit her lip as she thought back to the abandonment with which she had given herself the night before and her core clinched.
Stripping completely, she stepped into the shower, almost hating the idea of washing away his scent from her body.
14
Parking at the compound and getting out, Rank was pissed. Using his phone, he had scanned all the papers in the file that Frank Tercelli had given Helena. He hated to see her go, but she had work to do and so did he, so he had kissed her soundly before she left, hoping that would tie him over for a while. Having gained the all clear the night before from Walker, he knew that her home was now on LSI’s security grid, so at least that was one less thing to worry about.
He threw Marge and Horace a nod as he walked through the kitchen, making his way down to the compound. Moving into the large room, he gave chin lifts to the other Keepers working at their stations as well and went directly to the conference table where Mace, Josh, Walker, and Cobb were waiting on him.
Rank: Lighthouse Security Investigations Series Page 12
