And if I screwed her over, the word that I was unreliable would travel fast. She’d referred me to dozens of her friends, many of them celebrities. I couldn’t flake. Not today.
“Barney could hang out with me on set. He’d probably love that, right? He wouldn’t be in anyone’s way.” As Nico’s mouth thinned, I hurried to add, “And he could stay with me the whole time. You know how tight security is at the studios—”
“Not tight enough. The answer’s ‘no,’ Kat.”
Frustrated, I pulled out of Nico’s arms and walked away to look out the wall of windows. “This is ridiculous, Nico. Your brother hasn’t threatened me. I know you think he’s up to something, but I can’t live my life around what-ifs.” Grasping at straws, I added, “Maybe he just took a vacation, and that’s why you can’t get in touch with him.”
“Nice try,” said Nico sourly. “But drug dealers don’t take vacations.”
Stunned, I spun to look at him. “A drug dealer? Oh my God, Nico, he’s still doing that? And you still talk to him?”
“Yes, he’s still doing that. And no. I don’t talk to him. Before Avery’s funeral, we hadn’t talked for five years.” He paused, looking at me as if he was choking down a sudden violent anger. Anger and something that might have been anguish.
My intuition buzzed exactly the same way it had the minute I’d first laid eyes on Michael. “Why? What happened five years ago?”
Nico’s lips parted. Before a word left his lips, someone shouted from downstairs.
“You’re going to be late for the meeting, man! We gotta get a move on!”
Barney.
Nico closed his eyes, and squeezed his forehead. “Fuck. The fuckin’ meeting. I completely forgot.”
“What meeting?”
With a heavy sigh, Nico dropped his hand and gazed at me. “With my label. All the bigwigs. They love to get their face time, especially before a tour. I’ll be gone for at least a few hours.”
I seized the opportunity in front of me. “Great! Barney can drop you off at the meeting, then come with me to the studio! I’ll only be working for a few hours, so we can pick you up when we’re done!”
Nico scowled. “Baby. Forget it.”
Sensing a chink in his armor, I drew closer. “I happen to know that your record company’s offices are in Hollywood, sweetie, which, coincidentally, is also where my job today is. As a matter of fact, I think Paramount is just down the block, isn’t it?”
Nico watched me move toward him, his gaze alternating between my face and the twitch I’d put in my hips. I always dressed a little more businesslike when I went to the studios, and this morning I had on a cute black pencil skirt and a pair of nude heels that I knew made my legs look longer.
“Kat,” he said. But his warning tone wasn’t as convincing as his eyes, which were eating me up.
“So we’ll be right next door to each other.” I flattened my palms on his chest and blinked up at him, smiling coyly. “And then we’ll be back together, lickety-split.”
Nico pulled me against him, winding his arms around my waist. My breasts were crushed against his chest. In a voice like a growl, he said, “Hearin’ you say anything with the word ‘lick’ in it just makes me wanna fuck you, woman, so take care. And quit tryin’ to manipulate me with those big goddamn eyes. It’s not gonna work.”
But I could tell it was working. He’d gone from ‘absolutely not’ to ‘maybe you could convince me,’ even if he didn’t realize it himself.
I whispered, “Okay. No manipulating you with my eyes. How about this?”
I tilted my head and softly licked the spot where his jaw met his neck, just beneath his earlobe. I knew I’d hit the jackpot when I heard the low grumble he made in his chest. His arms tightened around me. He dipped his nose into my hair and inhaled.
“Not takin’ any chances with your safety.”
I sucked his earlobe into my mouth, then ran my tongue lightly around the shell of his ear. “No. Definitely not. I’ll be very, very safe with Barney.” I wound my arms up around his neck, pressed myself tighter against him, and trailed kisses over his jaw until I reached the corner of his mouth.
Warily, he watched me with hooded eyes. “I know what you’re doin’. Forget it.”
With the tip of my tongue, I licked the corner of his bottom lip. “Please?”
He groaned.
I flexed my hips into his. Suppressing a smile at how hard he already was, I said, “Pretty please? With a cherry on top?”
He cupped my bottom and ground me against him, digging his fingers into my ass. “The word ‘cherry’ leavin’ your mouth does the same thing the word ‘lick’ does, darlin’. You askin’ for trouble?”
“No trouble,” I said, sugar sweet. “Just negotiating.”
He snorted. “In my experience, negotiations usually end with both parties gettin’ screwed outta what they want.”
“No, honey. This is a win-win negotiation. I get what I want, which is to go to work, and you get what you want, which is for me to be safe. Because I will be, because I’ll have Barney the ex–special ops ex-cop with a Taser trigger finger. See? Total win-win.”
He stared at me silently. I smiled what I hoped was a brilliant, irresistible smile. After a long moment he shook his head and sighed, resigned. My smile grew wider.
“Don’t get too excited yet,” he warned. “You’re gonna need to give me some additional terms before we close this deal.”
The cool tone of his voice made me worry. “Oh? Such as?”
His gaze dropped to my lips. His voice was a husky rasp. “Mouth. Now.”
My worry disappeared in a poof; he’d been playing with me. The desire in his expression made me feel melty all over. I stood on my tiptoes, bringing my lips close to his. “That’s another win-win honey,” I said, then gave him what he’d asked for.
He drank deep, threading a hand into my hair to hold my head in place as he explored my mouth with his tongue. I loved the way he kissed, the way he held me still and took what he wanted, giving me what I needed in return. I loved his warm, sleepy male scent, the stubble on his chin that tickled me, the way his heart raced when I made a small noise of surrender in my throat.
Most of all, I loved the way he looked at me when he broke the kiss. The wonder. The desire. The way it seemed nothing else in the world existed to him except my face.
He was right when he told me he’d ruin me for any other man. Nothing could compare to the way his eyes showed me what he felt. At that moment, I pitied every other woman on earth.
“You taste so fuckin’ good,” he whispered.
I had to smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Sweet as sin, baby. Sweet as sin.”
“You should remember that, superstar, because the next time you’re dismissive of my livelihood, I won’t resort to feminine wiles to get what I want. I’ll just kick your ass six ways from Sunday and go on my merry way, and you won’t be getting any sweetness from me for who knows how long.”
His brows rose. “Don’t mistake me worryin’ about your safety for not respectin’ your work, baby. Know it means a lot to you, just as much as mine means to me. I’m proud you’re such a hard worker and so responsible.”
“Thank you, honey,” I said, pleased.
He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Which has absolutely nothin’ to do with me needin’ to make sure you stay safe. Which I’ll continue to do, no matter how much flak I get for it.”
I sighed. We’d come to an obvious impasse. “Well, I suppose you’ll just have to be prepared to have your ass kicked, then.”
His smile in answer was wry. “Suppose I will. Though if you wanted to throw in a few feminine wiles while you were doin’ it, I’d be grateful.”
I had to press the smile from my lips. I knew I’d won this particular battle, but was far from winning the war.
Barney’s voice drifted up from the bottom of the stairs. “Nico? We ready?”
Nico’s expression hardened. “Y
ou’re not to be out of his sight, understood? Not even for a minute.”
“What if I have to pee?” I teased.
Apparently he didn’t think that was funny, because it earned me a swat on the ass.
“Not that again!” I wormed my way out of his embrace, but he didn’t let me get far. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into the circle of his arms.
“Kat. I’m serious. Don’t fight me on this. Be safe.”
I searched his face. His eyes had closed off, and he wore an expression I interpreted as worry mixed with a dose of anger. Along with his repeated warnings, it was very uncomforting.
“You’re scaring me with all this. What don’t I know about Michael that makes you so concerned for my safety?”
There was a long, tense pause, until Nico sighed and smoothed a hand over my hair. He kissed me on the forehead. “Other than that he’s a drug dealer, and they’re not exactly known for their compassion and reliability?”
I sensed he was sidestepping the question, but I didn’t want to jeopardize our tenuous agreement, so I let it slide. I’d ask him about it later. Probably in bed.
I had no scruples whatsoever about using every tool available to me to get the information I wanted. And I had every confidence I’d get it.
“Good point. Okay, I promise. Now please don’t spend all morning worrying about me. You know Barney will take good care of me.”
“He better,” Nico muttered, taking my hand and leading me out of the bedroom. “Or I’ll have his fuckin’ head.”
It was a good thing I followed behind Nico, because if he’d seen the way I rolled my eyes, my ass would have, no doubt, been as red as a tomato.
Nico was tense the entire drive to the studio. He stared out the window of the Escalade, holding my hand tightly, his jaw muscle jumping. Beside him in the backseat, I squeezed his hand, trying to be reassuring, but he only glanced at me, smiling briefly, before turning back to the view, preoccupied by his thoughts.
I met Barney’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He gave me a slight upward tilt of his chin, which I took as recognition of Nico’s mood, and his attempt to relay that everything would be all right. He’d never been much of a talker.
Barney turned into the underground parking lot beneath the record company’s office building. We passed through a security gate, then stopped in front of a glassed elevator lobby.
“Here we go, boss.”
“Barney.” Nico’s voice was quiet.
Barney turned in the seat and looked at Nico over his shoulder. “Yeah, boss?”
“Don’t let her out of your sight.”
Something passed between them, and an unspoken understanding flickered in the depths of Barney’s eyes. Seeing it caused a flutter in my stomach. What was going on here? What was I missing?
Barney pressed a hand to his coat pocket. “I’ve got her covered, Nico. We’re good.”
There was a bulge beneath the coat of his black suit that I hadn’t noticed before. Holy crap, was he carrying a gun?
“Um, Barney? They do a pretty good search of bags and things when we go through security at the studio. I’m not sure you want to bring anything . . . extra . . . in with you. I don’t want you getting in trouble.”
Nico and Barney both smiled. They shared another loaded look.
“You let Barney worry about that, baby. He knows how to take care of himself.” He leaned over and kissed me softly. “And he’ll take care of you, too. Just be good, and don’t get a wild hair up your ass to go anywhere other than straight back here when you’re done, okay?”
“Okay.”
Nico studied my face. “That seemed too easy.”
I sighed. “Go, will you? I’ll be done by noon, and we’ll come back and pick you up, and then we’ll go home and I’ll make my world-famous chicken enchiladas.”
Nico raised an eyebrow. “You cook?”
“Just because we’ve been living on takeout recently doesn’t mean I can’t cook,” I scoffed. “I’ll have you know I’ve mastered at least four dishes.”
Nico’s brows climbed higher.
“The number could actually be as high as six. Let me see.” I started a count on my fingers. “There’s the aforementioned world-famous enchiladas, there’s the less famous, but no less fabulous, turkey burgers, there’s a chili casserole that is so spicy it will curl your hair, and there’s a grilled fish taco dish with mole sauce. All of which go very well with margaritas, in fact.”
When Nico grinned, I added, “Not that that has anything to do with anything.”
“Of course not.” He lifted my hand to his mouth for a kiss. “But that’s only four. What happened to the other two?”
Grateful his mood seemed to have been lifted by the shocking revelation that I could cook—limited though my skills were—I said, “I’m not giving away all my secrets at once, mister! You’ll just have to wait and find out.”
He said something under his breath that sounded like “living dangerously,” and I swatted his shoulder. Whereupon he pulled me close for a quick, hard kiss.
“Noon.” The way he said it was both warning and promise. He looked at Barney, who nodded.
“Okay, now that we’re all settled on the time, go! I’m going to be late!” I shooed Nico away. He gave me one last kiss before climbing from the car and reluctantly closing the door.
He stood at the elevator lobby, watching us drive away, until we rounded the garage corner and he fell from our sight.
As it turned out, Barney had no trouble at all getting through security at the studios. He had a quiet conversation with the head of security when we arrived, showed him some paperwork, dropped a few names, shook hands, and that was that.
Apparently being a former cop, former military badass, and current bodyguard of a famous person—and having a license to carry a concealed weapon—gave you some serious cred.
He stayed in the background while I worked, out of the way but within eyesight. My client was so worried about her face she barely even noticed he was there. The time flew by, and when I was finished with the job, we still had over an hour left before we needed to pick up Nico. Which gave me an idea.
“I want to make a quick stop by my house, Barney.”
I sat in the front seat with him as we exited the studio lot, because being by myself in the backseat as he drove just seemed strange. He sent me a pained look.
“No can do. You heard what Nico said. We have to go straight back to—”
“I know, I know, but we’ve still got an hour before we’re supposed to meet him, and I need to get some clothes. I’ve been wearing the same three outfits for over a week. C’mon, it’ll only take a few minutes. I’ll just run in and run out.”
His hands gripped tighter around the steering wheel. “Don’t make me choose between him and you, Kat.”
I knew where he was going with that. Obviously I wouldn’t come out on the winning side of that coin toss. I had to try another angle. “Look. Nico wants you to make sure I’m safe, right?”
A curt nod. Barney could tell I was up to something.
“And the only way to really make sure I’m safe when I’m not with him is if I’m with you, right?”
Barney adjusted his tie, and stroked his thumb and forefinger over his tidy goatee.
“And I think we both know that it would be much better for you to accompany me to my house to get some clothes, than for me to drive there myself. Say, in the middle of the night. When you’re not around, and Nico is sleeping.”
Barney’s eyes widened. “Why the hell would you do something like that?”
“Because I need to get my stuff! And nobody seems to know how to find Michael, so I have a bad feeling I’m going to be stuck without most of my clothes for the foreseeable future, because Nico basically has me under house arrest.”
“Just ask him to take you to your place later, then.”
I didn’t mention I’d already tried that tactic. Nico had responded by saying he’d hire a per
sonal shopper to come to the Shack to get all my measurements so I could get a new wardrobe.
I didn’t want a new wardrobe. I wanted the one I already had.
“But we can take care of it right now, and won’t have to inconvenience him at all. And I’ll make sure he knows you didn’t want to,” I hurried to add as I saw his expression sour, “but I forced you to do it when I said I’d sneak out of the house anyway. So you’re actually doing both of us a big favor.”
Barney tapped his thumb against the steering wheel. He looked at me sideways. He shook his head, and I thought I’d lost, but then he turned the car in the direction of the freeway.
I squeezed his arm. “Thanks, Barney. You’re the best.”
“Yeah. Don’t forget to tell that to Nico when he’s got my head on the chopping block.”
“Don’t worry, it’s all going to be fine. Ten minutes and I’m out. Easy peasy.”
Barney grumbled, shaking his head again, clearly not happy with the position he was in. I felt a twinge of guilt, but I still thought Nico was being over the top about this whole safety thing.
Until, that is, I swung open the front door of my house, and looked inside.
Disaster.
Overturned furniture littered the floor. The coffee table lay on its side in the living room, glass top smashed, legs kicked in. The sofa spewed pale stuffing from ragged, gaping slashes. My bookcase lay on its side, its contents spilled in rainbow colors over the rug. In the kitchen, my wood dining table had been destroyed, smashed to a splintered mess. The refrigerator door stood open, shelves empty, everything once inside now scattered over the tile floor, comingled with all the plates and glasses from the cabinets, which were shattered into jagged pieces.
I cried out in shock, stumbling forward with my hand clapped over my mouth.
Directly behind me, Barney cursed. He pushed past me, set a hand on my shoulder, and said, “Stay here.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small silver handgun, then quickly searched each room in the house. When he found no one, he made a brief phone call, his voice low and indistinct from the other room.
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