by Sandy James
Zach had the desire to say, “Thanks for ruining my night, Gina,” but he spared her his sarcasm. After tossing and turning, he’d finally gotten up and made some strong coffee. Two cups of java and he felt almost human. A trip to Starbucks later would keep him functioning, although those Venti Caramel Macchiatos were going to catch up to his waistline one of these days. Maybe he’d try one with skim milk for once.
As they walked together, he felt strangely relieved she was back at his side. She was aware of the danger—both to him and other people—and she’d come to help. The guy who flanked Zach on his left was an unknown variable. Dressed in Abercrombie & Fitch, he looked like a fraternity brother prototype. After the way those kinds of morons had treated him like shit in college, Zach had to resist the urge to show him how geeks ruled after they graduated.
“Another would-be mugger?” he asked Gina. “Doesn’t look too dangerous.”
“He’s not a mugger.” She grinned at the man. “And he’s definitely not dangerous.”
The guy scowled back. “I’ll remind you that you said so the next time we find some revenan—” He choked on the last word, then badly faked coughing into his hand.
A shame the slip hadn’t tumbled all the way out. Zach’s curiosity was definitely piqued.
Gina glared at Pretty Boy. “He’s just one of my cohorts.”
Zach furrowed his brow. “I thought you said all the bodyguards were women.”
“I am—I mean, we are. This is Richard. He’s just here to help me close the deal. He won’t be guarding you. I will. Alone.”
She threw a fierce frown at Richard, almost like she was daring him to contradict her.
He retaliated with a glower.
There was a story between these two. “If you work alone, why is Dick here following us?” Zach asked. “Thought he was just an informant.”
“Richard,” the man said between clenched teeth. “My name’s Richard, not Dick.”
Zach held back a sardonic retort, somewhat surprised at his own thinly veiled irritation that she might have some personal attachment to Richard. “Fine. Richard.”
“Richard also does some freelance for my company. He brought me coffee this morning and decided to tag along. He was just leaving.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Richard insisted.
Oh, yeah. There was definitely a story here.
She was still dressed in the same outfit—head-to-toe black. Maybe she’d been somewhere close last night, probably thinking she needed to keep an eye on him. But how did Richard play into all of this? Could Gina have been doing the “walk of shame” in last night’s clothes because she’d been with Richard?
Why did it bother him so much to think of Gina and Richard being lovers? It smacked of jealousy. He’d never had a jealous bone in his body. When his last girlfriend announced she’d screwed around with another guy because Zach never had enough time for her, his only emotion had been relief. Twenty-nine seemed like an odd time to have a first-time flair of possessiveness, especially for a woman he’d just met.
He eyed her, trying to figure out why she fascinated him so much. “Blue highlights? I thought your hair was pink.”
A blush colored her face. “Nope. Blue. It was blue. You must have remembered it wrong.”
“I’m never wrong. Photographic memory.” Zach pointed to his forehead before realizing how ridiculous he had to look. His smoothed the lock of hair that liked to fall over his forehead back into place so they wouldn’t think he was an idiot. “I remember pink.”
Richard butted in. “Gina’s in a marketing study. New hair product. The stuff makes her hair highlights change color with her moods.”
Zach snorted. “Yeah, right.”
* * *
She had no choice but to grasp Richard’s hasty—downright unbelievable—explanation for her ever-changing hair. Zach was smart, but damn. Since when did men notice something like a woman’s hair highlights?
Her sisters had noticed the trait first, and it had arrived at the same time her jumping abilities escalated. Amazons’ powers were in perpetual evolution, often morphing with no warning. Her rainbow hair suited the real rainbows her patron goddess loved to create, and she hadn’t worried about anyone noticing. It wasn’t as if she spent any time with civilians in the last three years. At least she hadn’t until she’d been called to tail Zach Hanson.
She nodded to emphasize Richard’s lie, hoping she could bluff her way through this glitch. “Richard’s right. It’s a new product. When I was catching up with you in the alley—”
“You mean when you caught me in the alley,” Zach interrupted. His grin had a way of reaching right inside her.
She waved the thought away. “Semantics. I was worried. That’s why it was pink.”
“Then what does blue mean?”
“Relaxed,” Richard replied. “It’s blue most of the time. Trust me, you don’t want to talk to her when it’s red.” He gave Gina a crooked smile.
She glared at him in return.
“Told you it was pink,” Zach grumbled.
Since he didn’t ask any more questions, she assumed he’d accepted the preposterous explanation. Lord, how many times was she going to have to lie to the man? She would have to be on her toes to keep her fibs straight in her mind so she didn’t end up tripping over one. As sharp as Zach Hanson was, he could easily trap her in a lie.
They walked the rest of the way to HanTel in stilted silence with Gina staring holes through Richard and him giving back as good as he got. He should have left her alone. She didn’t need him tagging along.
He thought he was protecting her when really he was keeping her from doing her job.
The longer Richard hung around, the more likely Gina would have to let Zach in on some parts of her world. She had to lie—no way around it. Most people didn’t take well to finding out about the Ancients and how the legion of gods and goddesses manipulated the human world.
Hell, when she’d found out almost every god and goddess worshipped in every culture were real, that they all held some of the world’s divine power, her head had felt as if it would spin a complete rotation à la The Exorcist.
Zach wasn’t ready for that knowledge, but Richard refused to take the hint she threw with each of her frowns.
The threesome walked into the lobby of the HanTel building. Gina had only ventured inside once before, pretending to be some tourist lost in San Francisco. With her neo-punk garb, it was an easy ruse to get away with. All she had to do was adopt a British accent, and most people thought she was another visitor from across the pond.
On first glance, HanTel had looked exactly like what it was—one of the country’s fastest up-and-coming telecommunications businesses. The only person in the open lobby who hadn’t been talking on or playing with a cell phone was a fat, uniformed janitor. As he’d worked a squeegee over one of the windows, the man hadn’t given her a second glance.
She’d been appalled.
The employees might be tech savvy, but the lobby itself sure didn’t show it. No check-in station. No security guards. No cameras. A doctor’s office was more secure. She’d been so honked off after that visit, she’d worked out her frustration through some hand-to-hand training with Richard. When he’d dropped his guard, she’d given him a split lip. He’d joked that she’d made him bleed for once.
Not a single thing had changed since that last visit to HanTel.
Gina and Richard followed Zach across the lobby and into the open elevator.
“No cameras.” Richard nodded at the corners of the elevator.
“Caught that first time I was here. None in the lobby, either. No check-in. No keycoded elevators. Not a locked door in the whole damn building.” She frowned at Zach. “Why don’t you just put out the friggin’ welcome mat for bad guys?”
Richard grunted and inclined his head at Zach. “You’d think a techy like him would have this place wired three ways from Sunday. Code panels on all doors. At the very least, a decent se
curity firm watching everyone. Typical nerd. All ideas and no action.”
Zach glared at Richard. “I really don’t think it’s wise to insult a man you want to hire your firm, Dick.”
Richard growled low in his throat as the air around him crackled.
Gina had heard those sounds the first time Johann had bested Richard during a sword fight in the sand pit.
His powers were sizzling, and Zach was about to get hit by one of Richard’s shocks.
All Sons of Gaia had powers. That wasn’t a surprise considering Rebecca was the goddess’s daughter and had some pretty phenomenal powers as well. Evidently, Gaia didn’t hate her female offspring. They became Earth Amazons. She only cursed her sons. But because of their divine blood, they had some divine talents.
Richard’s power—one all his brothers shared—was the ability to send a heavy shock racing through whomever he touched, like some living Taser.
At least Richard wasn’t a shifter. Some SOGs could not only shock but shapeshift, too. Some changed the same way Megan could—Fire just thought about who or what she wanted to be, then she became it. Some SOGs were more ruthless, killing a person by reaching inside his body, touching his heart and stealing his essence.
Thank the Ancients, only a few could “throw”—pitching an invisible shockwave that was so powerful, it could break bones and knock holes in walls.
Three SOG powers. Some—like Richard—got one, some two, some lucky bastards had all three.
Gina stepped in front of the inventor and crossed her arms over her chest, daring Richard to make a threatening move. She’d have him on his ass before he touched Zach. “Don’t do it.”
Richard clenched his hands into fists as his fingers popped with electrical charges. “Just a small buzz? Maybe enough to curl his pretty hair?”
“No fucking way, Richard.”
Zach tried to move around her by placing his hands on her waist. “I can take care of myself.”
She backed up, pressing him against the elevator wall.
Zach dropped his strong hands to her hips, pulling her harder against him. “Fine,” he said with a chuckle. “Protect me as long as you want.”
The air around Richard sparked and crackled, something only an Air Amazon could possibly pick up on. “Aw, c’mon, Gina. The nerd called me a dick, and he’s got his hands all over you. He’s begging for it.”
“He didn’t call you a dick. He called you Dick. A nickname.”
“Same thing.”
Thankfully, the elevator doors opened before their disagreement went any further. Zach gave her a gentle push, moved around her and stepped out of the elevator without a glance back.
Gina sighed and followed Zach. She was stuck with two of the most infuriating men on the planet.
Richard stood there for a moment, only moving when the doors began to shut. He pushed his arm out between the closing doors, and they stuttered twice before opening again.
Visitors to Zach’s floor were greeted by a woman who, judging from the gray hair and wrinkles, appeared to be in her early sixties. She nodded to Zach, handed him a stack of pink messages and then locked eyes with Gina.
“Interesting outfit. Love the hair.” At least she sounded sincere in her compliments. Turning back to her boss, she asked, “New program designer? Or are you expanding into video games now? I always told you there’s more money in that than those silly gizmos of yours.”
“Nope,” Zach replied. “Sorry, Jenny. She’s a potential bodyguard. Her name’s Gina Himmel.” He frowned at Richard. “I’d like a few minutes alone with her to talk business.”
The receptionist smiled at her then at Richard. “And that handsome young man? Does he guard bodies too?” Her gaze swept him head to toe.
Richard glanced wide-eyed at Gina, pleading for rescue.
Gina bit back a laugh. She had to admit he was downright gorgeous. Shoulder-length black hair pulled back with a string of leather. Eyes of deep, ocean blue. The body of a Calvin Klein underwear model. Although he was close to seventy, he would probably still get carded if he ordered a beer. She grinned at his blush. Richard might be the offspring of the most powerful being in the universe, but he wasn’t at all vain. He also didn’t appear to enjoy having someone’s grandmother checking him out, especially when she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off him.
“Not sure about him,” Zach said with a goofy smirk. “He’s Richard. Didn’t catch a last name.”
“Don’t have one.” Richard used that bored tone that actually meant he was pissed.
“How appropriate. You’re like Fabio. You only need one name.” The woman put her pen down and smoothed her hair. “Well, then, Richard can just stay here for now. I’ll keep him busy while you and Commando Barbie talk shop.” She patted the empty chair next to her desk.
“Thanks, Jenny. I can always count on you.” Zach looked like he wanted to bust out laughing. “We’re having a quick meeting. Please hold my calls.” He strode toward his office before suddenly stopping and glancing back at his secretary. “Unless Joel Woods calls. Put him right through.” Zach shuffled through the pink slips. “He hasn’t called, has he?”
Jenny shook her head. “I’ll let you know as soon as he does.”
Gina followed Zach through the double doors leading into his office, feeling smug for leaving Richard to fend for himself. Sparing Richard’s feelings wasn’t nearly as important as making sure Zach stayed safe. She had a better chance of convincing him to accept her protection if they were alone.
The office was as neat as his house. Even the papers on his desk were stacked in an almost perfect pile. She couldn’t help but smile at the Star Trek action figures—Lt. Uhura and Mr. Spock—and the model of the Millennium Falcon that rested to his right, where most people put family pictures.
“So...” Zach pulled out his desk chair and motioned to the empty client chair that faced his desk. “Tell me what you think you can do for me and why you think I need a bodyguard.”
Although she’d only known him a short while, she’d watched him much longer and had learned a lot about his personality. He prized honesty above almost all else. Unfortunately, it was the one thing she couldn’t give him.
He would need to see some of her cards if she was going to convince him to let her guard him. She chose her words carefully, hoping to keep her ace tucked neatly up her sleeve.
“Because of your Department of Defense contracts, you’ve made yourself vulnerable. People will want to exploit what you know—to have you make for them what you’re making for the United States military.”
Leaning forward, he put his elbows on his desk and interlaced his fingers. He looked like a professor ready to scold her, especially when he extended both his index fingers and tapped them against his lips. Then he just stared at her.
She stared back, not about to let anyone intimidate her, not after facing demons and demigods. Having figured he was going to lecture her again on how he could rat her out to the DOD, his grin took her by surprise.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” she asked. “What’s okay?”
“You can guard me.”
She eyed him. It couldn’t be that easy. Her missions were never that easy. “Okay? Just like that, you think it’s okay?”
He pushed away from his desk and stood up before crossing the room to a large file cabinet. “I hate to ponder stuff too long. You think I need protection. I think I do too. Why waste time shopping around when you fell right onto my lap?” He punched numbers into a keypad on the side of the black cabinet. “Despite what you think, I do have some security. I just don’t get paranoid about it.” After he dragged a drawer open, he grabbed a cell phone and returned to his desk. “This is the prototype of my latest project.”
Curiosity was killing her. She stood up and reached for the device.
Zach actually let her pluck it from his desk.
“What does it do?” she asked.
“Everything.”
“Everythi
ng?”
“It’s an advanced computer—does all the same stuff as a souped-up laptop, but it doesn’t need a keyboard and stays locked until the user passes a retinal scan. It encrypts every message you send based on a changing algorithm that only a properly programmed receiving device can decipher. Right now, there are only two of them.”
“Where’s the second?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead of sitting back down in his chair, he came around to stand next to her. “Grab the stylus and give it a test drive.”
“It’s not a touch screen?”
“It is, but the stylus is much more accurate when you need to be precise.”
Gina turned the gadget this way and that, unable to see any type of pointer attached to it.
Zach must have sensed her frustration because he moved behind her, reached both arms around and covered her hands with his. Helping her rotate the thing, he stopped. “See it?” A tiny silver stick sat nestled inside a nook in the device’s side.
She nodded and plucked the tool loose. As she tapped it against the screen, the machine came to life.
Fascinating as it was, she wasn’t focused on his invention. She was trying to ignore the masculine scent, the one that assailed her in the elevator and now seemed to surround her. Spicy and clean, she couldn’t believe how appealing it was or how his nearness affected her.
His chest pressed against her back, and his warm breath caressed her cheek. His big hands with the long, elegant fingers seemed to dwarf her own. Every sensation printed on her mind like the mark left by a red-hot branding iron.
The essence of Zach was now a part of her.
She wanted him.
“Purple,” he whispered against her ear.
“Purple?”
“That stuff in your hair that changes color with your moods. It’s purple now.”
Her hair had been several different colors. Red when she was truly pissed off. Green when she was happy. Blue when she was relaxed. But her hair had never been purple, and she had no idea what that meant. She answered his statement with a nod.
He sure didn’t seem in a hurry to back away from her. Instead he settled in to give her a lesson in how to use his creation, whispering instructions in her ear. Each touch, each breath, sent shivers down her spine. His fingers circled her wrists, infinitely gentle as he pulled back and let her touch the stylus to the screen to follow each of his hushed commands. Those fingers rubbed gently against her skin, giving her caresses that flooded her body with heat. Although the device did everything she told it to, pulling up anything from weather reports to stock market quotes to translating a webpage into Arabic, she couldn’t make herself pay attention, let alone care.
