Latched (Coronado Series Book 1)
Page 23
She followed his lead and walked along with him. I wonder if it’s desire or fear that’s making me feel this way. He opened the door to the conference room and held it for her. She brushed against his chest as she went in and felt the heat coming off his body. She felt an urge to lean in but pulled back at the last moment. There was something about this man that had her hormones doing a happy dance. She knew that is was not something that she could pay attention to right now, as much as she might have liked.
She noticed how much food was on the table. “Are you feeding an army that’s a lot of food?”
“Not an army, but a bunch of retired SEALs. We like to eat a lot and I’ve found it’s a good idea to keep the team happy.” He pulled out a chair and tucked her in, “What would you like to drink?”
“Water would be great, thank you.”
He brought her a bottle of water and sat down next to her. “We are getting a handle on the situation and have a preliminary TAC plan in place.”
“What is a TAC plan?”
“That is short for tactical plan. The way we are going to approach solving this issue for you.” He opened the bottle of ice tea and took a big slug and looked at her. He found she was staring at him and waited to see if she was going to say anything.
“Is everyone who works here a former Navy SEAL?”
“Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. We are either active or retired. Most of the guys are from the teams but the support staff is mostly civilians. The key operators are all retired SEALs. We’ve all worked with one another at some point in our career.” He sat back and his big body filled the chair, she found herself staring at him again. “Is there something you want to ask me? You seem to have something else on your mind?”
She felt her face grow hot as she met his gaze with a small smile. There was no way she was going to admit how attracted she was to him. “Nothing, I’m just trying to take it all in and understand the process.” She heard the door open, five large men entered and started to introduce themselves to her. She shook each man’s hand and tried to remember names. “I hope you’re not here for me. I hope you came for the food.” They all laughed, sat down and started to fill their plates.
Max laughed, “We always operated as a team when we were in the service. We continue to operate the same way. Each man here has a specialty and we try and get as much input as we can before we put a plan together.”
She heard the door open again and watched Frank walk in. He came over and sat next to her. “We have some good leads from your computer. I’m going to have Derick fill everyone in after we eat lunch.” He noticed she picked at her food, “You’re in good hands, Max, will never let anything happen to you. When he and I were on a squad together, everyone said he was the best team leader, because no matter what, he would yield to no one. No matter what went down, he would stand by his word.” He started to fill his plate, “The same can be said for all of the men in this room. We yield to no one.”
She realized she knew very little about the type of men who became SEALs, she might need a crash course. I am going to talk to Birdie and have her fill me in. Everyone ate and talked about their ongoing cases. She quietly observed the men and was fascinated by what they were talking about. Maybe this was the type of business she should think about working for. Not here of course, but something like it.
As everyone finished, Max curved his shoulders inward as he turned to her. She realized he was creating a little wall of privacy for them. He held her hand and the other was against her back and he started rubbing lightly with his huge hand. “Can I get you something else? You didn’t eat anything.”
She turned her head and he was so close - close enough to see the gold flecks in his green eyes. “I’m not hungry, thank you though.” He dipped his head, looked her in the eye and all she could see was his face and what a nice face it was.
“We got this Rory.” They both looked down at their entwined hands. Max knew in his gut that this was the beginning of something. He could feel the beat of her heart against his. Somehow their hands defined what he wanted in his life. He couldn’t quite put it into words yet, but seeing their hands together gave him an idea where he wanted to start. He wanted to protect this woman from the person who was stalking her. He wanted to be the person that stood between her and the world.
Everyone finished their lunch and started to clean up. She felt herself surface, everyone in the room had slipped away while she’d been speaking with Max. He was a powerful man, she could feel his coiled strength and intense focus when she was close to him. She heard Frank say something, and turned around and faced the men at the table. Frank stood, “Let me give you what we have so far and then we can get everyone’s input.”
He filled everyone in and then Derick gave the info he pulled off of her computer. “Someone has installed a worm on Rory’s computer and they have full access to it and can see everything that’s on there. It also appears the person has access to the camera as well. So the son of bitch is smart and creepy.” He turned to Rory, “The asshole has also accessed your cell phone by cloning your password.”
Rory felt a sudden hot flash and her face paled. Max took her hand and didn’t let go. “I have installed the appropriate counter measures and I’m close to getting an ip address. I should have some info by the end of the day. My initial guess is that it’s someone from the hotel. My feeling is the person has developed an obsession. Hijacking the camera suggests it’s personal and not financially motivated. But I need to do more research before I rule that out.”
Frank looked up from his phone, “It looks like you had a tracker on your car. It wasn’t a very sophisticated device, which is good news. We probably have someone with advanced computer skills and little else. The guys took out the tracker and added our own GPS device. We sent a team out to your house and they’ve started on your system.”
Some of the men gave input and they finalized the initial plan for protecting Rory. She tried to listen, but couldn’t focus. The idea that someone looked at her through the camera on her computer completely pissed her off. She at least would like someone to buy her a drink before they saw her in her panties.
Max got up and thanked everyone. He led her into his office and closed the door. “Someone saw me naked, I always leave my computer open when I’m traveling. I’m really mad now. I definitely need some kind of arsenal, give me something.” She was dead serious. “I don’t like this feeling at all, I want to be in charge of my life.”
“I am a little concerned about providing you with the arsenal you want. I see the blood thirsty look in your eyes. Let’s come up with something else.” He put his arm around her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “How about if I am your arsenal? After all, I know what I’m doing. Would that make you feel better?”
“No, I want to be able to defend myself. You are not going to be with me every day. I want to be able to take care of myself.” She squared her shoulders and then looked at his big shoulders. Reaching out she touched his bicep and sighed, “Maybe. But I still want a small gun, just in case.”
He pulled her in, “Let the team and I take care of this. We are going to protect you. I will protect you.”
He knew he was about to make a big mistake but there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop himself. He lowered his head, looked her in the eye and let his mouth fall against hers. It was just a gentle kiss, nothing more than his lips pressed against hers. It was almost innocent. He lifted his head and looked at her, “I have been wanting to do that since I met you at the party yesterday. It was better than I imagined.”
She could object of course, but it would be a lie. She completely enjoyed the kiss. It was like coming into fleeting contact with something powerful. Something that could burn if the contact was too close. “Is this your way of distracting me from my problems or showing me how you are going to take care of me?”
He leaned in again, “Yes, this is my strategy.” He wrapped his big arms around her and dropped his mouth against hers.<
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She could almost hear the hum of power coming from him. The side door opened and Frank walked in and started laughing. They pulled apart and her face turned a very bright shade of red.
“I thought you guys would at least wait until tomorrow before you started smacking on each other. This is a place of business.” He laughed as he walked back into his office and closed the door.
He looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. “I bet he won’t come back in here, we can keep kissing.”
She straightened her dress and shook her head. “Are you nuts? We can’t keep kissing. I am so embarrassed.”
“Why should you be embarrassed? I’m the boss and I’m kissing a client.” He wrapped her up and gave her a hug. “It was unavoidable.”
He didn’t look smug. He looked serious, as if wild sexual attraction were the most dangerous thing on earth. It was a loaded grenade in fact and he was smart enough to realize it.
She looked up at him, “Do you kiss all of your distressed female clients?”
“No, you’re the first client that I’ve kissed. Let’s do it again.” He took her hand and tugged her down on the couch with him. He was about to kiss her again but her hand on his chest stopped him. He leaned forward and she leaned back, “I will leave you alone for now, but we’re not done.”
“Oh, I think we’re done for now.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and tried to look stern. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Why did she feel like it was only a temporary reprieve? She liked to be in control and had a feeling that he did too.
“Would you like me to take you to your office for a couple of hours?”
“I guess. I can’t imagine getting any work done. But it would probably be good to show my face. I can take a cab though, I’m sure you’re very busy.”
“My priorities just got shifted around and I am at your service.”
She gave him a searching look, “Thank you. It might be good if you saw my office and met Jackson. I don’t want everyone to know what’s going on though. How are we going to manage that?”
“Don’t worry, they will just think I’m your new boyfriend. Nothing to worry about.”
“Why would they think that?”
“They’re going to see us together and recognize the arc of attraction between us. Then they’ll notice how close I stand to you and when I kiss you there won’t be any confusion.”
“I don’t have boyfriends, no one is going to believe that.”
“Why don’t you have boyfriends?”
“Because, I don’t.”
“As clear of an answer as that is, I need some clarification.”
“I don’t think you need to know about my love life. That’s not why I have acquired a stalker.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well of course I’m not sure. How would I know what caused this?”
“If you had a man in your life it might have deterred someone from choosing you. It would be more hassle and they may have chosen another victim. I’m going to act as your de facto boyfriend and see what we come up with.”
“Don’t you think you should ask me first and see if I agree?”
“No, this is a sound strategy and we’re going to use it.”
“As long as you take my opinion into account.” She put her hands on her hips and stared him down.
He realized this wasn’t a woman who was going to be easy to manage. No one had probably ever been successful. “Let’s try it and if we don’t get any results we’ll try something else.”
“All right, I will go along with it…. for now.”
“If we’re lucky, it’ll shake the trees a little and will get back to whoever is stalking you. It may eventually make our job easier.” While it was all true, Max just wanted to stick close to her and this was a great excuse. He realized he didn’t want anyone else spending time with her. He was going to be the only one.
“You just made that up.”
“I did not.” He was completely willing to lie to her to get her to go along with his idea.
“You kissed me five seconds ago, I think there’s more going on. She studied him for a moment and tried to determine what he was up to. She realized he was going to confess to nothing. “I guess we can pretend to be together and see if anyone takes the bait.”
Max didn’t feel like he was going to be pretending, but kept that to himself. “Let’s go and see what we come up with.”
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dediction
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Excerpt from Snatched
Chapter One