by Lexi Blake
“I love him.” Her hand went up to play with the other sign of Sean’s possession. Her fingers curled around the gold heart he’d crawled through the mud to retrieve for her.
“You barely know him.”
Grace wasn’t taking Matt’s crap tonight. She had been very careful around him. She’d avoided going into his office as per Sean’s instructions. The one time she’d had to, she’d called Jake Dean before going in. He’d been sitting at her desk when she’d come out. She was sure Jake had been listening at the door the entire time, waiting to pounce if she’d needed him. “I know him enough to love him. And Matt, you should know that I’m turning in my two week notice on Monday.”
If there was a company to go back to after tonight. No matter the outcome of this evening, she wouldn’t go back. It was time to start another chapter of her life. If Matt came out of this, he would need a new administrative assistant.
His whole face fell. “You’re quitting.”
“It can’t be a surprise to you, Matt, after everything that’s gone on the last several weeks.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I think it’s best if we both move on.”
His chin firmed, and an ugly glare gleamed in his eyes. “You’re right. I need someone younger, anyway.”
She could feel herself practically glowing. Sean hadn’t let her out of bed until this morning. He’d managed to save his enchiladas, but they’d eaten the decadent meal in bed, in between raucous sessions of sex. Her Master had reveled in their commitment, and she was happy for it. And a little sore. She might need to take up yoga.
“He’s ruined you.” Matt growled and invaded her space a little. “You used to be sweet. Now you act like a slut. My brother is right.”
“Brother?” He must be drunk. He hadn’t mentioned his brother in anything but the past tense for years. Before she could follow the line of thought, though, Adam was at her side.
“Hey, hon, I think the caterers need your help.” Adam’s hand was at her elbow pulling her a good foot away from Matt.
“Are you all right?” Sean was at her other side. Unlike Adam, he didn’t have to pretend. He was her fiancé. He had every right to look concerned. He glared at Matt.
“Of course.” Grace laughed off the whole situation. It was obvious she was safe here. She couldn’t move without one of the agents being on top of her. Even now, she could see Eve dressed in a slinky cocktail dress watching the scene play out. Jake Dean’s eyes were watching the room from his seat at the Blackjack table. She was sure Ian was just waiting for a chance to kick some ass. And somewhere in all of this, Mr. Black watched with his dark eyes, waiting for the chance to take out his old agent.
“I’m fine.” She laced her fingers through Sean’s and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “I was just about to ask Matt here where his buddy Evan is. They seem so close lately. I thought he would be here.”
Sean’s hand tightened around hers in an unmistakable warning to not push it.
Matt laughed, an ugly sound. “Oh, I assure you, he’s here somewhere. I think he’ll seek you out, Grace. I know he wanted to have a word with you. Yeah, don’t worry about Parnell. You’ll see him soon enough.”
Matt turned and started to walk away. Sean released Grace’s hand, and she didn’t like the look in his eyes as he began to follow Matt. Adam put a hand on Sean’s chest.
“Not the time, Sarge.”
“He just threatened her.”
“And he’ll get his,” Adam promised. “She’s got eyes on her. She’ll be fine. Ian is watching, trying to ID the foreign agent. Almost everyone else has eyes on your girl. We’re going to make sure she comes out of this. Now, go calm down, and don’t kill Wright until you have a damn good alibi.”
Adam seemed to get through to Sean. Her Viking leaned over and gave her a lingering kiss. She knew better than to pull away. She didn’t even want to. Sean released her, and she could see the worry in his eyes. He still turned to Adam. “Fine. I need to check in with our guest, anyway. He’s getting anxious.”
Sean had not been happy about bringing Black along, but the CIA agent had insisted. As he was paying the bills, Ian had been forced to allow it. Black was in a room on the floor below them, watching the ballroom through security cameras. Ian’s partner, Alexander McKay, who she’d just met a few hours ago, was with him. It was hard for Grace to believe that funny, sweet Eve had been married to that bull of a man. He was just as bleak and uncommunicative as Ian. Sean stalked off to make his contact. Adam watched him, shaking his head.
“You have that poor man in knots, love.”
Grace took a deep breath, coming down from the adrenaline high of having it out with Matt. “I’m surprised he left me with you.”
Adam shrugged. “We’ve come to an agreement. I keep my hands off you, and he lets me live.” Adam’s handsome face twisted in a bit of self-deprecation. “I’m sorry I pushed so hard. I really thought you were attracted to us.”
He said us, and Grace now understood he meant him and Jake. They were a package deal. Sean had told her about their background. She softened a bit. “I was attracted to you two even when I thought you were gay. How could I not be?”
“But you love the Sarge.” It wasn’t a question and required no reply. It was a statement of fact, and it seemed Adam had accepted it. “My only excuse is that I thought you were perfect for us. We’re not getting any younger, you know. We need to find our third so we can get started.”
“Started on what?” She was more than curious. Adam seemed to have a vision of how his life should work out. He didn’t seem to think that sharing a woman with Jake was just for fun.
“The normal stuff. A family, kids, a house, and a dog. I know we’re weird, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want all the normal things.”
Grace looked over at the very darkly handsome Jake Dean. Women were all around him, but he didn’t seem to notice. Jake didn’t seem to be looking for something permanent. And he’d never really looked at her at all. What if Adam and Jake had different tastes in women? That would make finding one woman for the two of them pretty damn hard.
Then Sonja Patton from payroll walked by. She was a brunette with soft curves and an even softer face. She was maybe ten pounds overweight, but there was something lovely about her. Jake’s eyes trailed after her.
“Yes, dear, he has a type.” Adam chuckled as though reading her thoughts. “He was very attracted to you. He’s just better at hiding it than me. Look at the women trying to get his attention. They’re all perfectly model thin and hard as nails. Women. I don’t understand you. You starve yourselves to gain a man’s attention when what most men want is a little softness. Have you looked at a Playboy? Those aren’t the same women you find on the cover of Cosmo. Don’t worry about me and Jake. We’ll find our heavenly bit of femininity. She’ll probably steamroll both of us, just like you did with Sean.”
Grace smiled up at her friend. The woman who got caught between Adam and Jake would be one happy girl. Unfortunately, Grace was far too in love with one Viking to ever consider it. Grace gave the room a once-over. Everything was running perfectly. It was a good party. Maybe she should go into party planning after this was over.
A thin woman dressed in gray slacks and a black sparkly top caught her eyes. The woman with dark hair pulled back in a bun looked strangely familiar. Grace tried to remember where she had seen her before.
“What is it?” Adam asked, following her line of sight.
She shook her head. “Nothing.” She must be a girlfriend of one of the employees. That would explain it. She turned back to Adam. “Now you said something about a problem with the caterer.”
Twenty minutes later, she had the dumpling issue sorted out and everything was running properly again. The band had taken to the stage, and the dance floor was hopping. Grace couldn’t help but remember how good it felt to be wrapped in Sean’s arms when they had danced together.
She caught sight of Matt out of the corner of her eye. The woman who ha
d seemed familiar to her earlier passed him by and nodded. His eyes followed her briefly. Grace sighed. She really hoped Matt wasn’t about to get in trouble. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with a drunk, horny boss hitting on some employee’s girlfriend and starting a fight in the middle of her successful party.
She was grateful when Matt turned away from the woman and walked off toward the big balcony terrace. He passed a large potted palm tree. Grace noticed something fall out of his pocket as he opened the door and walked out onto the softly lit terrace.
Grace sighed. He never, ever changed. He was forever losing stuff.
Or was he?
Grace stopped in the middle of the room. She hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Evan Parnell. Was that really a surprise? If he was as smart as everyone said he was, why would he show his own face at the drop when his brother could do it for him?
Grace looked around the room and thought about running to Adam or Jake. Would she lose the package? Was she the only one who had seen it? What was she supposed to do? Sean had gone downstairs to check in with Alex and Mr. Black. What if they missed their chance?
Heart pounding, Grace walked across the room. Play it cool. Pick the damn thing up and then run for Adam. She would run as fast as her four-and-a-half-inch heels would carry her. She would hand it off to Adam, and then she and Sean could go home and this nightmare would be over.
A sudden vision of a dark-haired woman in a van waiting outside the building floated across her brain. The woman in the gray slacks! She had been in the van that picked up Evan Parnell that day. Now Grace could see it clearly. It was the day she had chased down the little paper with the address of the mail place. Parnell had stood outside of the building, and the van had driven up. Grace could see the woman’s dark hair and her slightly pinched face as she pulled up and waited while Parnell hopped in. She hadn’t turned to look at him, like she would a friend or lover. There had been no warm greeting between the two.
She was his employee. Parnell had more than one person working for him tonight.
As quick as she could, she leaned over and grabbed the thumb drive. Grace straightened up and started toward Adam, pushing her way through the throng of people headed toward the buffet which had just opened for supper. She could see him up ahead and started to call out to him when she felt someone pull at her elbow.
“Don’t call out.” Something pressed into her side, and she saw Parnell’s partner standing next to her. The dark-haired woman had one hand on Grace’s elbow. Grace looked down to find a small pistol being shoved close to her ribs. It was pushed painfully against her side. Every nerve in Grace’s body went on high alert. “And don’t try to get the big bastard’s attention, either, unless you want me to start shooting these fine people. I’ll kill you first, and then I’ll start in on everyone else. I’ll do it if I have to.”
“What do you want?” Grace kept her voice low as the woman started to maneuver her toward the back of the room. There was so much going on she wondered if anyone noticed. They probably looked like two women having a talk in an overly loud room.
The other woman’s voice was a harsh snarl in Grace’s ear. “I want the planet to be a nice place. It’s corporate types like you who mess everything up for the rest of us.”
“I’m an admin.” She needed to stay calm, keep her talking. Sean was downstairs where they had all sorts of surveillance equipment. He would look for her. He would come after her.
“You work for the man. You take their money, you can share their fate. We’re bringing down the Bryson Building and the gas company in it. I’m not going to let you stop us.”
They seemed to be making their way to the door in the back of the ballroom that led to the stairs. She wanted to shout out, but she was afraid this woman would do exactly what she threatened. And the band was playing so loud. Grace doubted anyone would hear her over the roaring party music. She tried reason. “Your boss has been lying to you. Evan Parnell isn’t interested in the environment. He’s ex-CIA. He’s been using you and your group as a cover to make money selling corporate and government secrets to foreign governments.”
The woman snorted. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve followed Parnell for two years. I know my mentor. He taught us everything he knows about bringing down the polluters.”
Grace tried to drag her heels. “Look, I don’t know what he’s told you, but whatever interest he has in the Bryson Building isn’t about the gas company. He wanted in that building for something else.”
The gun pressed in so hard it made Grace’s ribs ache. “Move. Don’t try anything or I’ll shoot. Now open the door.”
Grace opened the door and almost immediately was assaulted by the quiet in the stairwell. The minute it closed behind them, it was like they were in another world. She could barely hear the music, and it seemed far too bright. There were stairs going down immediately in front of her, and to her left were a set that led to roof access.
“We’re going up.” There it was again, the press of steel against her side.
“Why, what’s up there?” Grace was stalling but she wasn’t sure what else to do. She wasn’t an action hero. She was terrified. It took everything she had just to stay upright. She had to stay alive until Sean got to her.
“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
She tried to pull Grace along, but her heels slid on the smooth surface of the industrial floors. Grace tried to stay on her feet, but tripped forward. Her captor cursed. She slipped toward the bank of stairs going up, and then the report of a gun filled her world with a single bang that seemed to echo on forever. Grace was suddenly covered in a fine spray of red stuff.
Blood. Oh, God, she’d been shot. She felt her side, trying to find the hole that was surely in her abdomen. It didn’t hurt the way she would have thought. She couldn’t feel anything at all. A strong hand pulled her up.
“Are you all right, Grace?”
Grace clung to Adam as he pulled her to her feet. She had a glimpse of the woman who had taken her, a single, neat bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. She stared down. “How?”
Adam’s voice sounded far away, but she could understand him. He had a gun in his palm, the gun he’d used to kill her captor. “I saw her start toward you. When I realized I couldn’t get to you before she did, I figured there were only two places for her to take you, out the front or down these stairs. Jake is watching the front, and I ran down to the floor below. It was too easy to hear me if I followed you from directly behind.”
“You were fast.” Her hands were shaking. She turned away from the dead body. Adam looked like a different person. Gone was the happy, funny friend she’d come to know, and in his place was a deadly warrior.
“Yes.” Adam replied with a clipped, harsh tone.
“But I’m faster.” The words came from above, and Adam reacted violently. He shoved her back, covering her with his body.
“Get out of here, Grace.” He started to move back toward the stairs going down, but her whole world was filled with terrible explosions and suddenly Adam went down. Grace watched in horror as Adam’s white dress shirt blossomed with blood. He hit his knees, a sad look on his face.
“Go,” he shouted with what had to be the last of his breath.
He fell forward, but not before she saw the bullet hole in his gut.
“You’re not going anywhere, Grace.” Evan Parnell had his gun trained on her. He was dressed in black from head to toe. Even his hands were covered in black gloves.
Grace tried to move to get to Adam. A red dot was suddenly on her chest right over her heart. Parnell came down the stairs, moving with the grace and care of a man well trained.
“I said stay there, Grace. I meant it.” Parnell sounded different now. The gruffness that was always in his voice was gone. This man was smooth and competent.
“Let me help him,” Grace pleaded. She wasn’t a nurse, but she was willing to try anything.
“He’s past help.” He gave his dea
d assistant a single glance, and then kicked Adam’s body over as he joined Grace on the landing. “Still alive, you faggot? Is the army letting your kind in these days?”
There was blood coming out of Adam’s mouth. He looked up at the man who had shot him, defiance still on his face. “Got kicked out of the army, asshole. Best day of my fucking life. But sorry to correct you, I’m not gay.”
Parnell shrugged. “The whole queer thing is a good cover. I totally underestimated you. If you hadn’t been so concerned with the girl over there, I doubt I would have gotten the drop on you. As it is, thanks for taking care of Melissa. I was going to kill her myself, but I hate to wreck my karma, if you know what I mean.”
“Fuck you,” Adam spat.
“Please let me help him.” Grace could feel tears running down her face. Adam was dying right in front of her. She needed to call someone. She needed to get him help. The reality of the situation was starting to flood her and panic threatened to take over. She pushed it down. It wouldn’t help Adam, and it wouldn’t help her. “What do you want from me, Patrick?”
She used his real name, hoping it would throw him off.
His eyes widened, and he hissed. “Son of a bitch found me. Damn it.” He looked down at Adam, whose hand covered the hole in his gut. “I should have known. You CIA?”
“Contractor. I hate spooks. Can’t trust ‘em.” Adam gritted his teeth with each breath.
“At least you got that right. And if you think you can trust Nelson, you’re wrong. He’s as dirty as I am.” Parnell turned his cold eyes to Grace. “As for what I want from you, well, you dumb bitch, I want you to pay up on the twenty million you just cost me.”
“What are you talking about?” Graced asked.
He pointed toward her pocket. “The thumb drive. You just had to pick it up. Luckily I had Melissa watching the drop to make sure nothing went wrong. At least I didn’t lose the package. If the Chinese won’t buy it, then I know some Venezuelans who will. Your man is an idiot, you know. I can’t believe he sent you in to do his job. Now, you’re going to come with me, or I’ll put a bullet through this one’s head.”
