Tomorrow's Too Late (Sniper 1 Security, 3)

by Nicole Edwards

  Just the way he wanted it.

  “I figured at sixteen, Shelby didn’t want to have much to do with her old man,” RT replied with a grin.

  “Yeah, well. When I don’t give her a choice, not much she can do about it,” Conner told him with a chuckle.

  “Regardless, I’m glad you’re gonna stay put,” RT muttered, grinning. “We could use some help around here.” RT’s head lifted, his eyes focusing on Hunter. “Now that you’ve got a permanent stateside address, I’m gonna have to give you some more responsibility.”

  “Do it and I’ll be back on a plane.” It was the same threat he made any time RT joked about giving Hunter something to do. It wouldn’t have been an issue if RT wasn’t referring to partnering up with him to run the family business. No thank you.

  “Seriously, we’re gonna need a few warm bodies.”

  Hunter knew that wasn’t true. They had more than they could possibly want these days. If it wasn’t for the fact that they’d recently acquired a relatively small, flailing security firm, Hunter might’ve believed it. As it was, they had a shit ton of new employees they were trying to place into new positions.

  RT’s gaze lifted, darting between the two of them. “Don’t think I’m joking. All these toddlers need some serious training.”

  The toddlers being the new agents they’d acquired.

  “I nominate Trace,” Hunter and Conner said in unison.

  “Where’s Kye?” RT asked Hunter, obviously choosing to table this topic for later.

  “I’m not his fuckin’ babysitter,” Hunter offered by way of answer. He had done his absolute best to avoid Kye as much as possible for the past year. Not that it was working since the man was still in his bed when he’d left a short while ago, a mistake Hunter continued to make about once every two or three weeks.

  Considering the awkward tension between them, Hunter was still trying to figure out how to deal with that situation. Although Hunter had spent the past year and a half doing his best to push Kye away, to send the man running in the other direction, it didn’t seem to be working. Kye just kept coming back for more. One of these days, Hunter was going to have to cut him loose, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to do it.

  Truth was, Hunter was an emotional wreck and Kye was just what he needed. Simple, sexy, and so fucking eager. Hunter was still trying to set his world to rights, but he wasn’t having much luck. It seemed the more he tried, the more he managed to fuck it all up.

  The phone on the conference room table buzzed, drawing all of their attention. With a flick of his wrist, RT hit the button.

  “What’s up, Glue?”

  “RT, your first appointment is here,” Jayden Brooks, a.k.a. Glue, announced from the phone’s speaker.

  Hunter didn’t move from his position against the wall, nor did his brother Conner, who was sitting in one of the high-back leather chairs.

  “Send him back,” RT instructed, obviously knowing who was dropping in on them.

  “Who’s here?” Conner asked, his dark brows making a V on his forehead.

  “Max Adorite,” RT replied easily.

  Christ. Just what they all needed today. A run-in with Hunter’s brother-in-law.

  “What’s goin’ on?” Hunter asked because clearly RT wanted to make them squirm.

  “I thought maybe you could tell me,” RT countered.

  “How the hell should I know?”

  “Your sister’s married to the guy,” RT reminded him unnecessarily.

  “She’s his sister, too,” Hunter argued, pointing at Conner. He couldn’t help but smile as he said it.

  “Maybe he wants to invite us over for Easter. Since, you know, Christmas was such a riot,” Conner noted, propping his booted feet up on the table and leaning back in his chair. Why the hell was he getting comfortable?

  The room went silent as they waited for the new arrival. The only sounds were the soft hum of the heater from the vents above, along with muted chatter going on outside the room.

  “Max, you’re being ridiculous. We really don’t need to be here.”

  At the sound of the familiar voice, Hunter’s ears perked up. He knew that voice. He knew it, and he loathed it. Never mind the fact that he still fucking dreamed about it, too.

  He cast a quick glance at the windows in time to see Max, Leyton, and…

  Fucking shit.

  What the hell was she doing here?

  “Well, this oughta be interesting,” Conner mumbled, glancing at Hunter over his shoulder.

  RT got to his feet when Max stepped into the room. Holding out his hand, he greeted the other man formally. “Good to see you, Max.”

  “Sorry to drop by on such short notice, but I really need to have a chat with you.” Max’s tone was firm, his eyes focused solely on RT.

  “Not a problem.” RT motioned toward the other chairs at the table. “Please, have a seat.”

  Hunter made no move to leave. He was too damn curious as to what the fuck was going on to even push off the wall. He could almost understand Max being there. After all, the guy was married to Hunter’s sister, Courtney. He even understood why Leyton Matheson would be since the guy was Max’s second-in-command.

  But her…

  Max took a seat, but Leyton opted to stand behind him while Dani took the chair beside Max. Hunter noticed she was doing her damnedest not to look at him.

  “We really don’t need to do this,” Dani whispered to Max.

  “We definitely do,” Max countered, his attention once again returning to RT.

  RT glanced between the two of them. “What can we help you with?”

  Max cleared his throat. “As you might recall, we had some issues a couple of years back.”

  Issues? The guy’s entire life was one big clusterfuck of issues. Ones he brought upon himself. That tended to happen when a man was in the fucking mafia.

  RT raised his eyebrows in question.

  “The incident with Ashlynn,” Max added, not going into detail.

  Incident?

  Hunter barely managed to hold in a snort of derision. That’s what the guy wanted to call his younger brother, Aiden, nearly getting beaten to death, his sister’s house coming under fire, and two of her bodyguards getting a lethal dose of lead? Talk about understatement.

  RT leaned back in his chair and studied Max. “I remember.”

  “Well, because of that, I’ve come to need your services.”

  RT nodded, obviously encouraging Max to continue.

  “I’d like to acquire the services of Sniper 1 Security in an official capacity,” Max clarified.

  “Max,” Dani scolded. “It’s really not necessary. Not for me, anyway.”

  Max held his hand up to silence her.

  “To do what, exactly?” Conner asked, still leaning back with his feet propped on the table. Hunter knew his brother was feeling anything but casual.

  “For personal protection.”

  Hunter couldn’t resist glancing over at Dani, wondering what role she played in all of this.

  RT didn’t miss a beat. “For whom?”

  Max nodded toward Dani.

  Silence settled over the room as though everyone was expecting some sort of bomb to go off.

  And then it did.

  “For my cousin, Danielle.”

  Hunter stood up straight, the pain in his hip shooting straight down his leg, but he ignored the fire that licked at his nerve endings. The news wasn’t something that shocked him as much as hearing Max state it aloud. It was the first time they’d copped to the relation publicly.

  Conner’s feet dropped to the floor as he launched to his feet, his hands landing on the table with a resounding thud. “You wanna repeat that?”

  Right. Conner wasn’t privy to the information Hunter had. In fact, no one in his family was. Well, no one other than Hunter’s father, Casper. But they’d agreed long ago that they wouldn’t share the details unless it was necessary. Apparently, it was necessary.

  N
ever looking away from Dani, Hunter felt the moment those caution-filled eyes lifted to meet his. As always, there was a hint of a challenge there, but he noticed something else … Regret, maybe?

  “You’re a fucking Adorite?” Conner blurted, his angry glare directed at Dani.

  Hunter had some sympathy for his brother. He’d already gone through this rage-induced meltdown when he’d originally dug up the information. At that point, it all made sense. Dani showing up in their lives, the quick romance and easy acceptance of him, the rush to get to the altar… She’d been playing Hunter all along. The same way Hunter’s father had used Courtney against the Adorites.

  As though he hadn’t just officially rocked the foundation of their entire fucking world, Max continued to speak to RT, ignoring Conner’s outburst completely. “In recent weeks, we’ve come to learn of a new threat to my family.”

  Only one? Hunter knew better, but he kept his mouth shut.

  “At this point, we’ve heightened security as best we can,” Max continued. “I’ve got people watching my brothers and sisters as well as my mother. Unfortunately, there are only so many people I can trust within my circles right now, and I’ve come up short. I need your help to protect Dani.”

  “From who?” Conner asked.

  RT was business as usual, ignoring Conner and focusing his attention on Max. “Are you referring to twenty-four-hour personal protection?”

  “Of course.”

  “For how long?” RT inquired, tapping the keys on his laptop.

  “That’s undetermined at this time.”

  “Is there an actual threat or merely concern for one?” RT’s ice-blue eyes lifted to meet Max’s.

  “It’s real. And it’s serious.”

  “Care to elaborate?” Conner inserted.

  Max spared Conner a quick look. “No, I don’t.”

  “I will,” Dani offered.

  “Oh, now you wanna have a conversation,” Hunter muttered under his breath, glaring at the woman who had devastated him all those years ago.

  Someone cleared their throat, but Hunter didn’t pay attention to who it was.

  He didn’t give a shit.

  WASN’T THIS LOVELY?

  Hunter, Conner, and RT all together in one room. Just the guys she was hoping to never see again.

  Damn it.

  From the second Dani had stepped into the room to find three of the men who likely hated her most in the world, she knew this wasn’t going to be pretty. She didn’t want to be here as it was, but having to have this conversation while Hunter was trying to kill her with a look… Well, to be honest, she’d rather be anywhere else.

  As a matter of fact, she’d rather face this so-called threat head on than have to deal with Hunter.

  “Enlighten us, honey?” Conner snapped, his glare hot enough to set the smoke detectors off.

  Dani decided to speak to RT because he seemed to be the only sensible one in the bunch.

  “Max is being irrational,” she explained, wishing she could’ve talked Max out of this long before they got to this point. Sure, she had tried, but Max was the most stubborn man she’d ever met. Well, aside from Hunter, of course.

  “Irrational?” Max questioned, his tone as calm and cool as ever.

  God, she hated that he could do that. Her nerves were fried, her palms were sweaty, and Max looked as though he’d just walked off the set of a magazine cover shoot. There was no doubt that Dani hadn’t acquired the gene that gave her the ability to remain cool in the face of opposition like others in her family.

  But she could do this. She had to do this.

  She had finally settled back into a regular routine, working on getting her life on some level of normal, and here she was, once again being forced to address the fact that someone was likely trying to kill her.

  “Yes, irrational,” she confirmed. This was the second time in as many weeks that they’d had this conversation, and quite frankly, Dani was getting tired of having it. Only this time Max had gone too far. She had fallen for the ruse, though, agreeing to meet with him this morning to figure out what their next steps would be. The instant she realized they had pulled up to the Sniper 1 Security offices, she’d thought about running the other direction. “I don’t need protection.”

  “The hell you don’t,” Max snapped. “Everyone in my family needs protection.”

  Okay, so she’d provoked a sliver of emotion that time. Enough that Dani turned her full attention on Max. She tried for reasonable. “It’s over, Max. Marco Moroso is dead. He’s no longer a threat to you or the family. I don’t see why we have to assume otherwise.”

  “Moroso?” RT inquired. “The mobster?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed, never looking away from Max.

  Max shook his head as though he couldn’t believe what she was saying. It was true. Marco Moroso—loser that he was—had been taken out at Max’s insistence after the man had put a hit out on Max’s sister, Ashlynn. Max had gone so far as to kidnap Sabrina Moroso and her young son as a bargaining chip. And yes, Max had lived up to his word, releasing Marco’s sister and her son once the guy was no longer a threat. But that was years ago and as far as she could tell…well, the threat had died with Marco.

  Not that anyone in this room needed to know the minute details, but Dani knew that even if Dennis Moroso was out of prison and looking to take over the family business, he wasn’t going to get very far. No one respected the man. No one.

  However, Max seemed motivated to believe otherwise. He was convinced Dennis was a threat.

  Hence the reason they were there, apparently.

  “One of you can try to talk some sense into her if you’d like,” Max muttered.

  “We would if we knew what was goin’ on,” RT acknowledged, leaning back in his chair and regarding them casually. “Why don’t you bring the rest of us into the loop?”

  Dani had heard that RT had pretty much taken over the company in recent years, stepping up when his father, Bryce, and Bryce’s partner, Casper, opted to retire. RT seemed to be doing rather well for himself. Plus, he knew how to command a room, because all eyes went to him.

  “You heard about the judge who was murdered last week?” Max prompted, his attention still fixed on RT.

  “Erik Roberts?”

  Okay, so clearly RT was up to speed on local politics.

  “One and the same. He was the Place Six judge for the Court of Criminal Appeals,” Max clarified, his gaze darting her way before swinging back to RT. “He was on our payroll.”

  Payroll schmay-roll. More like Ashlynn was blackmailing the old goat because of his cocaine addiction, but whatever.

  “And someone figured that out?” Conner grumbled, his disdain for the conversation apparent.

  “Yes.” Max glared at Conner. “And they took him out for it. Because of that, plus a large sum of money exchanging hands, Dennis Moroso, Marco’s younger brother, was set free, his conviction overturned.”

  Which Dani knew, in their world, meant Dennis was taking control of the Moroso family and likely looking to establish the same territory Marco had been after. Unfortunately for them, the territory was spoken for. By the Adorites.

  “And he’s out for revenge,” RT stated, clearly understanding.

  Dani glanced down at her hands, which were clasped tightly in her lap. She fought the urge to pick nonexistent lint from her charcoal slacks. Although she wasn’t looking at him, she knew Hunter’s eyes were pinned on her. She could feel the heat from his gaze.

  “Why the fuck should we protect her?” Conner asked, speaking directly to Max. “The woman lied about who she was. In fact, she led us to believe she had absolutely no family.”

  It was true, Dani had told them that. Back when Hunter’s family had been planning their wedding, she’d had to lie and say she had no family, no one who would be there to witness the special occasion.

  “Conner,” RT said softly. “Leave the past in the past.”

  Dani continued to stare down
at her lap.

  “Fine,” Conner conceded. “Then why is this Moroso brother a threat?”

  Max snorted, as though the question was ridiculous. In a way, it was. These people had to know what Max was up to. There was no way they didn’t. For the past year, Dani knew they’d been involved in some of the things going down with the Adorites. Even if they didn’t want to be part of it, they were.

  Not that they were happy about that, but everyone knew that family trumped all when it came to the Trexlers and the Kogans. And like it or not, the Adorites and the Kogans were now family. Ever since Courtney Kogan married Max Adorite.

  RT cleared his throat and Dani peeked up at him from beneath her lashes. He was looking between her and Max, but for the life of her, she didn’t know what was going through his head.

  He obviously realized Max wasn’t going to elaborate when he said, “I can assign someone to keep an eye on her. Although I’m a little light on agents at the moment.”

  Double damn it.

  “I’ll do it,” Conner offered, shifting forward and setting his elbows on the table.

  “The hell you will,” Hunter countered hotly, causing Conner to lean back in his chair, swiveling around to glare at his brother.

  Dani twisted in her chair to see the two men face off with one another. Hunter was a big guy, coming in at six one, but Conner was a little bigger. Not by much. Still, with Hunter standing, he seemed invincible.

  “I didn’t figure you wanted the job,” Conner said softly, though it was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

  “I don’t.” Hunter’s white-gray eyes slid to her briefly.

  Dani saw the hatred.

  “Like I said,” Conner noted, “I’ll do it.”

  “I don’t care who does it,” RT inserted, “however, I will need one of you to lead another job I’ve got coming up.”

  Both men glanced over at RT.

  “You two decide who takes which job.”

  Hunter shook his head, then stared at Conner. “I’ll take this one. You can pick up whatever else RT needs.”

  RT’s voice was concerned when he said, “You sure about that?”