Evidence of Attraction

by Lisa Childs

  She shrugged. “It’s nothing compared to the damage that van would have done if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way. Thank you.”

  He knew that hadn’t been easy for her to say—not with how angry she’d been with him just moments ago for kissing her in the middle of the bull pen in the River City Police Department.

  Had the driver of the van been waiting all day for them to leave? He doubted it. It made more sense that someone within the department had seen him waiting for her outside the chief’s office. When they’d headed to the lab to get her stuff, he’d headed outside to get the van and run them down.

  “We need to get out of here,” he said.

  He—they—couldn’t trust anyone...but Payne Protection. He clicked the fob for the SUV and pulled open the passenger’s door. Careful of her injured arm, he helped her onto the seat and shut the door before rushing around the front to the driver’s side.

  As he slid behind the wheel, his cell phone began to vibrate inside his pocket. He’d felt it earlier, but he’d been focused on the van and keeping Wendy alive. Now he pulled it out and glanced at the screen. “Parker.”

  “Aren’t you going to answer it?” Wendy asked.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “But he’s your boss,” she said. “Don’t you have to?”

  “We’re just a few minutes away from the agency,” Hart said. He rolled down the driver’s window and swiped his card through the meter at the gate, which slowly rose. So slowly that he nearly drove through it in his haste to get out of the lot. He needed to get her away from the police department before that van circled around and tried for them again.

  She reached across the console and grasped his arm. “But we need to file a report—”

  “That’s why we’re going to the agency,” Hart said. “We need to talk to Parker.” His phone vibrated again, and he saw that his boss had left him a voice mail. He pressed harder on the accelerator, speeding down the street.

  “Parker doesn’t take reports,” she said. “He isn’t a police officer any longer.”

  “Exactly,” Hart said. “That’s why we can trust him.”

  Wendy sighed. “I know there was one bad officer.” The chief had brought her up to speed during their meeting.

  “And even Lynch doesn’t think that one rookie was the only officer helping Luther Mills,” Hart said. Parker had shared that information with him, so that he would stay alert to danger.

  He hadn’t stayed alert enough. He’d allowed her to distract him. In the lobby and on the sidewalk...

  If he hadn’t been so focused on her, on thinking about kissing her again, maybe he would have noticed the van sooner. Maybe he could have got a look at the driver, so he could identify him. Or a glimpse of the plate so he had at least a few of the numbers.

  That was another reason he hadn’t wanted to stay to file a report. He had nothing to report, but that he’d nearly let Wendy get killed again.

  She said nothing now, just stared out the window as he drove. Her face was so pale that her freckles stood out in stark contrast on the bridge of her cute nose and the curves of her cheekbones.

  He arrived at Payne Protection within a couple of minutes, which probably wouldn’t have even given him enough time to play Parker’s voice mail had he been so inclined. But with Wendy in the vehicle, he hadn’t been inclined. He’d needed to be focused on the road instead and on the rearview mirror, making certain nobody followed them.

  Nobody had.

  He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled into the parking lot of the agency. Here was backup; here was safety. But the minute he and Wendy stepped inside the office, she was attacked.

  She staggered back on her feet, nearly falling over, but Hart caught her shoulders. Holding her steady, he glanced down at the small body that had nearly knocked her over.

  Felicity had hurtled herself at Wendy.

  Or Winnie...as she’d called out. Her arms wrapped around Wendy’s waist, she buried her tearstained face in Wendy’s flat stomach.

  Hart felt that weird twinge in his chest now. Maybe it was just jealousy. Since his mother’s death, he had been the only one Felicity had wanted for comfort when she was upset.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked as he dropped to his knees next to his daughter. And why had she sought comfort from the woman who was nearly a stranger rather than him?

  But then, he hadn’t been very available to his daughter this past week—not with the hours he’d been keeping as Wendy’s bodyguard. Even when another Payne bodyguard had taken over so he could sleep, he’d been sleeping instead of spending quality time with his little girl.

  Wendy had spent no time at all with her. How had the little girl got so attached from their one meeting a week ago?

  Wendy gently patted Felicity’s head, smoothing her hand over the pale blond hair. “It’s okay, honey,” she said. “Don’t cry...”

  But Felicity’s little body shook with her sobs. And Hart’s heart broke with her pain.

  “Sweetheart,” he said, “what’s wrong?” He glanced up at his boss, who stood in the doorway behind the little girl, when he asked that question.

  “Her sitter brought her here,” Parker said, “after she couldn’t get hold of you. Then I tried—”

  “I had a good reason for missing your calls,” he said. “But yours were the only ones I missed.”

  Parker nodded in acceptance of his word. “I think you need a new sitter.”

  “I want Winnie,” Felicity murmured.

  “Wendy isn’t a babysitter,” Hart told her.

  She was an evidence tech—one in extreme danger, which put anyone around her in extreme danger, as well. She really shouldn’t be around his little girl. But he wasn’t sure he would have been able to pry Felicity off her at the moment. And he wasn’t really sure that he wanted to. Once he’d pushed aside his flash of jealousy, he was pleased that she’d finally connected with another female.

  “I want Winnie...” his little girl murmured.

  So did Hart—after all the times he’d kissed her. But more than he desired her, he wanted to keep her safe—and his daughter happy.

  Was there a way that he could manage both?

  * * *

  “This is a bad idea,” Wendy whispered. She’d leaned across the console so her lips were close to Hart’s ear.

  He shivered, as if a chill had passed over him. Instead of paling, his skin flushed. He glanced at her and agreed. “Probably...”

  “Then why...?”

  “Because I need to protect you.”

  Need. Now she shivered at the tone of his deep voice and the look in his brown eyes when he glanced at her. They seemed an even warmer brown than usual, like heated milk chocolate. But being her bodyguard was just his job, protecting her just his latest assignment.

  She needed to remind herself of that; that their being together was just an act. It wasn’t real.

  “Winnie, we going to your house?” a little voice, shaking with excitement, asked.

  Wendy looked into the back of the SUV, where Hart had buckled his daughter into a booster car seat. Felicity’s tears had dried, but her eyes were still puffy, her cheeks still flushed.

  “Yes,” she answered the little girl. She glanced at Hart again and murmured through clenched teeth, “I still think it’s a bad idea.”

  “Your parents’ house is very secure,” Hart said as if trying to convince himself.

  That wasn’t what she was worried about, though. She was worried about confusing the little girl and fooling her parents, and maybe herself, as well, into thinking this act was real.

  “Cooper’s team is already in place protecting the house and your mom and dad,” Hart continued, lowering his voice to a low whisper. Not that Felicity was listening; she was singing to herself about going to Winnie’s house. “
With the exception of his sister Nikki, Cooper’s team is comprised entirely of ex-Marines. They’re very good at protection.”

  And so was he.

  If he wasn’t, she would have already died in a crash. Either the one where the brakes on her mother’s car had been cut or when the van had tried to run them down.

  She knew neither incident was an accident. Luther Mills was coming after her. So it wasn’t safe for anyone to be around her—her parents or Hart’s little girl.

  Wendy didn’t want any of them getting hurt because of her. Not even Hart...despite how much he infuriated her. But that kiss hadn’t just infuriated and embarrassed her.

  It had also excited her. Even now her body hummed with it, her pulse racing and her heart pounding. She wanted him to kiss her again. She needed him to kiss her again, and not just for the act.

  For real...

  He didn’t even seem aware of her right now, though. He kept glancing into the rearview mirror. She figured he was checking on his daughter.

  It must have hurt him to see her as upset as she’d been at the agency office. It had hurt Wendy.

  The little girl’s tears and emotional distress shouldn’t have affected Wendy as much as they had. In the course of her job, she saw people all the time who were in pain and emotional distress.

  Like Rosie Mendez had been after witnessing her brother’s murder...

  No one had died in front of Felicity Fisher. She had just been upset because she’d been missing her daddy and Winnie. How had she got so attached to Wendy so quickly? Why had she sought her out for comfort instead of her father?

  But Wendy felt it, too, the pull between them; she and the little girl had made some connection that first night, as if they recognized each other as kindred souls, which was silly. They had nothing in common.

  Wendy had always been a tomboy while Felicity Fisher was a little princess, as beautiful as her mother probably was.

  She smiled at the child who sweetly smiled back at her. Then she glanced beyond her, through the rear window, and realized what Hart had really been looking at...

  The white van that was following the SUV. “Is that the same one...from the street?” she asked. The one that would have run them over had Hart not reacted as quickly as he had.

  “It’s not backup,” her bodyguard replied, a muscle twitching in his cheek, above his tightly clenched jaw.

  That night he’d taken her to the Payne Protection Agency with the chief, she’d noticed that every vehicle in the lot had been a black SUV, like the one they were driving.

  No. The white van did not belong to a Payne Protection bodyguard. The front bumper and passenger-side fender were crumpled, like the van had struck a tree. Or other cars.

  She sucked in a breath. “That is the van.” She had no doubt that the person who’d tried running her down was now following them.

  “Did they follow us to the agency?” she asked.

  Hart shook his head. “No. I checked. I swear, I checked to make sure nobody was following us.”

  It didn’t matter. Despite Hart’s efforts, the driver of the van had found them. He must have recognized Hart as a Payne Protection bodyguard and realized where he was going. And now he must have realized he’d been noticed because the van sped up, bearing down on the SUV just as it had borne down on them in the street.

  Hart had saved her then.

  Could he save her and his daughter now?

  Chapter 8

  How the hell had he missed it?

  The van must have followed him from the police department to the Payne Protection Agency. But Hart had carefully watched the rearview mirror during that drive. That was why he hadn’t played Parker’s message and why he had tried to ignore Wendy’s distracting presence.

  He’d been mostly successful with that—successful enough that he should have noticed the damaged van behind them before now.

  The driver must have carefully hung back just far enough that Hart would miss seeing the tail.

  He silently cursed himself and his carelessness. Unless...the driver had realized he was a Payne Protection bodyguard and that he would head back to the agency. Maybe Luther even had some crew members watching the agency office building. The drug kingpin was smart; that was why he’d eluded prosecution for so long.

  The van wasn’t hanging back anymore. It was speeding up, speeding toward the SUV just as it had sped toward Wendy on the street. He had to protect her now like he had then.

  But she wasn’t the only one about whom he was worried. He’d buckled Felicity’s booster-style carrier tightly into the seat, so that the straps safely crossed her little body without risking harm to her neck or back.

  But still...if they were hit hard enough from behind, she could be hurt. She was so small, so delicately boned.

  He pressed harder on the accelerator, trying to gain some distance from the van. But it kept coming—faster and faster.

  “Lose it,” Wendy hissed at him through lips curved into an obvious fake smile for Felicity’s sake.

  Tension and fear gripped Hart. “It’s going to get dangerous.”

  Wendy nodded with understanding. She focused her attention on his daughter. “We’re going to play a game with Daddy,” she told the little girl.

  “What game?” Felicity asked.

  “Roller coaster,” Wendy said gleefully.

  “Roller coaster?” the little girl repeated, sounding more frightened than gleeful.

  That was what scared Hart—scaring his daughter. But he had no choice. He had to lose that van for her protection. The driver was bearing down on them too fast.

  “Don’t you like roller coasters?” Wendy asked.

  Felicity shook her little blond head. “No, I’m too little to ride them.”

  “You’re just the right size for this ride,” Wendy said. “It’s going to be fun!”

  Just as the van was about to slam into the rear bumper of the SUV, Hart jerked the steering wheel, making a sharp right turn onto another street.

  Wendy squealed with feigned delight. “See?” she exclaimed to the little girl. “Isn’t it fun?”

  A glance in his rearview mirror confirmed two things. One, that his daughter wasn’t as excited about this ride as Wendy was pretending to be. And two, that he hadn’t lost the van. The driver, whom he couldn’t see through the van’s tinted windshield, made the sharp turn behind him and sped up.

  Hart yanked the wheel again, this time to the left, and he did it so sharply that the SUV careened around the corner on two wheels.

  Wendy squealed again and started laughing.

  Little giggles finally echoed her laughter and Felicity called out, “Do it again, Daddy! Do it again!”

  He had no choice. The van was not easy to shake. If the guy had followed him, it was no wonder that Hart hadn’t made the tail on the way to Payne Protection. But as good as the driver was, Hart was better.

  Or maybe, with his daughter and Wendy in the vehicle with him, he just had more motivation to be successful. He had to keep them safe. His daughter, because she was his life. And Wendy...

  She was beginning to mean so much more to him than an assignment. Despite the risk of whiplash if they were struck, she stayed turned in her seat, facing his daughter. Smiling at her, laughing with her...

  God, he wanted to kiss her again. Deeply. Passionately.

  He wanted her so badly, more than he could ever remember wanting any other woman. His ex-wife had been beautiful, but Monica’s beauty had only been on the surface. It wasn’t like Wendy’s beauty, which went so deep that it distracted the hell out of him.

  He focused again on the rearview mirror, catching a glimpse of his smiling daughter before he saw the van.

  He hadn’t lost it yet.

  But he would.

  He would do anything to protect his daughter and
Wendy.

  He careened around another corner as the two females squealed with delight. Wendy was brilliant to have invented this game for his daughter, so Felicity wouldn’t be scared.

  But it was clear that Wendy was scared as one of her hands gripped the console and the other gripped the back of her seat. She kept the smile on her beautiful face for Felicity’s sake, but that smile never quite reached her eyes.

  He had turned onto a long, straight stretch of road with no curves to turn to escape that van. All he could do was press hard on the accelerator and hope to outrun it.

  But it kept gaining on them.

  Just before its crumpled front bumper collided with their rear one, Wendy announced, “Now we’re playing bumper cars.”

  The van struck them, propelling the SUV forward.

  All Hart could do was tightly grip the wheel and hope that he didn’t lose control.

  * * *

  “Do you think this is really a good idea?” Wendy asked as fear rushed over her again. Her face hurt from the smile she’d forced herself to wear for Felicity, but all the while her heart had pounded so hard and so fast.

  “I lost the tail,” Hart assured her.

  She shook her head. She wasn’t talking about the tail, although she was surprised he had managed to shake it, especially after the van had collided with their rear bumper. The SUV must have been reinforced, though, and the van had done more damage to itself than to it.

  When Hart had accelerated again, he’d managed to outrun it. Or so she hoped. She hadn’t noticed it following them from the parking lot across from the police department to the agency, either. But maybe the driver had known where they were headed then.

  Did he know now? She glanced anxiously around her parents’ driveway and the street.

  Could the van be out there? Could the driver be waiting for them to step out of the SUV to try to run them down again?

  Hart had already got out and, with Felicity cradled in one arm, had come around and opened the passenger door for Wendy. No van gunned its engine and steered toward them. But then, the driver of the van wasn’t after Hart and his daughter.