“No. It was nothing like that. He’s not a bad guy; he just didn’t want to let go.”
“I could make him.”
Roxanne had seen Bella angry. She’d seen the woman take down three armed men by herself. And she’d heard stories about that building Bella destroyed in Mexico a few months ago. But Roxanne had never seen this kind of steely, quiet rage, so intense it vibrated through her entire body. She’d heard rumors that Bella had a dark past—one she never discussed with her employees—but seeing this kind of reaction made Roxanne wonder just what that past had been.
“I’ve got it covered,” said Roxanne. “I’ll go see him today and make sure he quits playing these games.”
Bella swallowed several times before her hands unclenched and the redness in her face abated. “I won’t have anyone hurting my people.”
“Kurt isn’t hurting me. He’s just jerking me around.”
“Are you protecting him?”
“No. He’s an asshole for screwing with me like this, and I plan to tell him that to his face.”
“I don’t like the way he’s treating you.”
“Neither do I.”
“He interfered with your work, and I can’t let that slide.”
“I know.” Roxanne let out a long, resigned breath. She loved her job, but she knew the score. A mistake like this was too big to simply ignore. “Are you going to fire me?”
Bella pulled back her lips in frustration. “I should. That would certainly appease Mr. Chord. But no, you’re not fired. However, I’m not handing out any more chances, either. You blow it again, you’re out. Our work is too dangerous for distractions. You need to get your personal shit straightened out before I can assign you any more jobs.”
“What about finding the guy who got away?”
“The cops are involved now. They’re looking into it.”
“So . . . what? We just leave Mr. Chord hanging?”
“No. I’m going to offer him our services for free to calm him down, but he already said he didn’t want you back. I’m sorry.”
The rejection stung, but not nearly as much as her failure did. Mr. Chord was right to be mad. She had let her personal life get in the way of her professional life, which was a big no-no. She knew better.
“I understand. I’ll go see Kurt on his lunch break and make sure he understands that his games are over. I should be back by one.”
“No. I don’t want you back until you’re sure you’ve fixed the problem for good.”
Roxanne took a deep breath to keep herself from shouting at her boss. “How long is long enough to convince you?”
“As long as it takes. No less than a week.”
A week? If Mr. Chord’s thief had left any trail, it would definitely be cold by then. “That’s more time than I’ll need.”
“This isn’t negotiable, Razor,” said Bella. “If his buddies stay away for a few days, chances are they won’t come back. And there’s something else, too.”
“What?”
“Assholes have a tendency to escalate things when confronted. I’m not letting anything happen to you, so I’m assigning the new guy to you. Wherever you go, he goes. Got it?”
“You’re giving me a babysitter?” Roxanne did shout this time, and jumped to her feet in anger.
Bella strode around her glass desk and got right in Roxanne’s face. “I’m giving you a badass former special operations babysitter—one I want on our team. Don’t fuck that up.”
Great. Now she wasn’t going to be able to look into possible leads on the thief. Her babysitter would no doubt rat her out. “I don’t need him, Bella.”
“I think you do. And he needs you, too. While he’s babysitting, you’re going to explain how things work at the Edge. He’s already passed all our tests and breezed through training, but he hasn’t taken on any real jobs yet. Think of this as his orientation.” Bella pressed a button on her phone. “Lila, please send Tanner in.”
“This isn’t a good idea. I’m a horrible teacher. You need to get Riley to do the training. He’s good at that kind of thing.”
“Riley’s good at everything, which is why he’s too busy for this. You, on the other hand, happen to have some free time on your hands. Deal with it, Razor. This is happening.”
Fine. Roxanne had screwed up. If this was her punishment, she’d take it like a woman, get through the next few days, and be back to her real job in no time. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” said Tanner as he came in on the heels of her statement.
Bella made the introductions. “Razor, this is Tanner O’Connell.”
Tanner was not what she’d expected. She’d been so upset about being saddled with a babysitter that she hadn’t even considered that he might be a hot one. And he was. Smokin’. Taller than Bella, Tanner stood with a posture that screamed complete confidence. His shoulders were wide, his back straight, and his blue eyes stayed fixed on her, unblinking. An amused grin lifted one side of his mouth and formed little crinkles at his eyes. His jeans clung to thick, long legs, and on his feet were the worn cowboy boots of a true Texan.
“Tanner, this is your new partner, Roxanne Haught. We call her Razor.”
Tanner’s dark eyebrows went up at that. “Razor? Is that because you have a sharp tongue?”
“The sharpest,” she replied. “You’d better beg Bella for a new trainer or I’ll skin you alive.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Might be worth it.”
Bella grabbed each of them by one arm and pushed them toward her office door. “I see you two have a lot to talk about. Outside my office. I have work to do.”
“This is a bad idea,” said Roxanne, praying for a lastminute reprieve.
Bella ignored her. “And don’t think you can come back here in a few hours claiming you tried to make it work. There will be no trying today. Just doing. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Tanner. “We won’t let you down.”
Bella gave Tanner a stern look. “She’s going to try to ditch you. Don’t let it happen. Some asshole is giving her trouble, and if she gets hurt, you’re fired.”
All hints of amusement fled Tanner’s rugged face, making his eyes turn cold. He seemed to grow a couple of inches taller and took a step closer to Roxanne. It reminded her of her best friend, Jake, who had a tendency to be a bit overprotective.
Tanner nodded. “I understand.”
“Good. I’m glad that’s settled. Now get out.” Bella shooed them through the door and shut it behind them.
It was time to let the new kid know how things worked around here. “If I’m going to be your trainer, we have a couple of things to get straight.”
“Such as?”
“I’m in charge. You do what I say, when I say.”
The slightest creases formed at his eyes, but he didn’t refute her order. “That it?”
“No. I don’t want or need a babysitter. I’m going to deal with my personal problems on my own, without your interference.”
“Anything else?”
Wow. He was taking that remarkably well.
“I think that covers the basics. But I reserve the right to change my mind.”
He moved, somehow maneuvering her so that her back was against the wall. He nudged closer, breaking the edge of her personal space. His voice dropped to a quiet rumble that Bella’s secretary, Lila, would have had trouble overhearing from her desk a few feet away. “Then it’s my turn to talk. I don’t work for you. I work for Bella, which means she’s the one who gets to hand out the orders, not you. So, while I’m happy to learn whatever it is you have to teach me, I’m sure as hell not going to stand around like a good little boy while you deal with your personal asshole problems when Bella specifically told me not to.”
Roxanne wasn’t sure what she’d expected from the seemingly good-natured man, but it wasn’t that. She pulled in a breath to put him in his place, but an instant later, his thick, hot finger pressed against he
r lips, quieting her.
She was so shocked by the touch, she forgot all about the fact that she should have been upset by it.
A touch of vertigo spun inside her head, and she realized she’d forgotten to breathe. The roughness of his work-hardened finger grazed across her mouth as her lips parted slightly so she could pull in enough oxygen.
“I’m not done,” he told her. “You and I are going to be working together, and I’m not going to let you do anything to screw up my chances of keeping this job. I need the work. So you and I are going to get along real nice-like and make Bella proud. Got it?”
As close as he was, she could see deep blue streaks radiating out from his pupils. The creases around his eyes were pale, as if he’d spent a lot of time in the sun, squinting. His scent reminded her of a summer drive in a convertible—warm and exhilarating, with just a hint of an incoming storm.
She felt her skin heat and attributed it to her sudden flash of irritation at his high-handed ways.
Roxanne pressed her hands against his chest to push him back, but as soon as she felt the hard contours of his muscles beneath her hands, her mind stuttered for a moment before she remembered herself and finished pushing.
Tanner stepped back, his finger shiny from her lip gloss.
Roxanne pressed her lips together to fix the damage he’d done to her makeup and swore she could taste him. Salt and earth and something else that made her wish for another taste just so she could figure it out.
Not that she would do that. Bella generally frowned on her coworkers tasting one another.
Roxanne cleared her throat to cover her discomfort. “I can see already that you and I are going to have problems.”
“Nope,” he said. “Not a single one. We’re both going to do what the boss says.”
No way was she letting a stranger into her personal life to help her make an ex-boyfriend back off. But he didn’t have to know that. “Fine. You win. We’ll meet back here after lunch and get started on your training.”
By that time, she’d have dealt with Kurt and no longer have anything to hide. She’d throw herself into training Tanner, and in a few days everything would be back to normal.
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Blood Hunt (Sentinel Wars Book 5) Page 36
