by Nana Malone
She considered telling him about the feeling she had that she was being followed. But she hadn't noticed anything concrete since that day at the office. She'd put it in her stalking diary in case it became anything else. If she over-reacted, he'd call in the troops, and that would suck the big one. Especially since he was bound to find out about Shane. And she wasn't willing to give him up just yet. "I get it, but there's nothing to worry about. I'm good."
"And that's all I want for you. Your safety and happiness."
"I have it, and it doesn't require a fleet of men following me to make sure nothing bad happens to me. I've got this."
Chapter 3
"How was the weekend?"
Shane rubbed at the back of his neck as he paced Caleb's office. Roland's men had watch tonight. Tris had already checked in with him, and he knew she was staying in with the girls for a study session. They had a test in human sexuality tomorrow. And of course, she'd driven him crazy when she'd asked him if he wanted to help her study with a practical tutorial.
He cleared his throat and dragged his focus to the task at hand. "It went fine. No problems other than the SUV."
Caleb studied the photos that War had gotten under the guise of selfies. "I've had Tom go and see if he can track down the cameras used at the car rental place. Hopefully, we have that guy on camera."
"Any luck on the letter sender?"
The muscle in Caleb's jaw ticked. "Nothing. I don't like it."
There was a knock at his door, and he called out, "Come in."
Roland came in with two of his guys, James and Saul. "So what do we have?" he asked.
His tone and posture made it seem like they worked for him and that wasn't the case. It made Shane want to smack him. Must have given War the same feeling because, in the corner he occupied, he curled a hand into a fist then slowly unfurled his fingers. Caleb, on the other hand, seemed unfazed.
Shane always marveled at how laid back the guy seemed. Like nothing bothered him. But he could go deadly in a split second. Maybe Caleb could be so relaxed because of Micha. Anytime she was around, he melted. Was that what happened when you fell in love? It didn't look so bad. With Tris, it was certainly more than just sex. He wanted to take care of her, keep her safe, make her laugh.
"Earth to Shane. Did you hear Roland?"
Thankfully, his subconscious had been paying attention. "Nothing out of the ordinary, Roland." They'd told Roland's team that she was spending a quiet weekend in town, so he and War could cover her. The idea was, if it was in inside job, they’d catch wind of whoever it was.
Roland pinched the bridge of his nose. "Any progress on the letter she received?"
"None yet." Caleb scrubbed a hand over his head. "We won't have a lot to go on unless he makes contact again.”
Shane leaned back against the wall. "I've been looking over the file on her you sent again. Her stalker then had a love obsession. Usually, they have no personal relationship with their victims. Or if they do, only know them in passing, but they create a whole fantasy around them. Since her kidnapper is dead, I think we need to reevaluate a couple of things. It seems like this new guy is the exact same type of stalker. It's highly unlikely the same thing would happen again."
Roland raised his chin. "What are you getting at?"
Both his men squared their feet, ready for action.
Defensive posture. What the fuck? "I'm asking the same question you should be. You say you care about her. She's like your daughter. Then you have to ask all the questions. Like is it possible that you had the wrong guy? Or worse, that he had a partner or accomplice?"
Roland sputtered. "Are you calling into question my investigation?"
Caleb raised a hand. "Roland, of course not. But we have to look at all angles. Clearly someone intends to harm this girl. It's our job, both of our jobs to protect her. So we have to look at the past and see if we missed anything. That's all we're doing."
"Our investigation was sound. You find out who's doing this. This is something new. I'll update her father."
The three men left, and Caleb narrowed his gaze at the door. "From now on, I want us only trusting our guys on this. War, you're on when Shane is on, watching his back."
War nodded once. "Roger that."
"Shane, I want you to dig deeper into that file. Pull out any other details you can get from Tristia. Talk to her friends, see if they can shed any light. She’s been through something like this before. I know Matt stalked her for months before he took her. Cops must have had her do a stalking diary. Since she brought her concerns to you, she may have started another one. See if you can get your hands on it. Can you do that?"
Shit. "Not easily, but I'll swing it. It'll be easier to ask her about the details of what happened than it will be to get my hands on the diary. I could take the three of them out, and War, you can lift and copy it maybe."
"I got you, bro."
Caleb nodded. "It's a good plan. I want you to stick to her like glue by any means necessary. Nothing happens to that girl on our watch. I'm freeing up some of the other guys so we'll double our security. While you dig up what you can with the girl, I'm going to find out what I can about Roland. There’s something about that guy I don't trust."
"I'll keep Tris close," Shane said.
War, the idiot, winked at him. "And while you're watching her, I'll be watching you."
Shane considered what it would take to kill his friend. War was deadly, but Shane had a trick or two up his sleeve, so it might be a fair fight. Well, maybe he'd wait to kill him after the Tris thing was over. He wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and that meant he would need someone watching his back. "What do we tell Roland and his minions?"
Caleb shook his head. "For now, we tell them nothing until we can figure out if he can be trusted."
Something cold and slivery wound its way around Shane's heart. He'd die before he let anything happen to Tris.
Chapter 4
“Where are you off to, Missy?”
Tris shoved her foot into her boot before tugging up the zipper. “Out. A girl can’t go out without you getting all suspicious, Syd?” She glanced at herself in the mirror, trying to figure out if the boots went with her sweater dress.
Sydney rolled her eyes. “Out. As if that’s an answer. You think I don’t recognize a secret rendezvous when I see one? You’re off to go get some from the hottie RA.”
Tris bit back a giggle. “So what if I am? I thought you said I should totally do him, before you did.”
“Yeah, I said that, but I was sort of kidding.” Syd put down her Chemistry textbook and sat up. “Okay look, I totally wanted you to do the dating thing and the hottie thing, but I also happen to love you, so I don’t want you to get hurt. You’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately.”
“Syd.”
Her friend held up her hands. “Okay. I know I sound like your overprotective mom or something. But I’m worried. I was all for this when it was a fun, sexy fling thing, but I know you. You like him, a lot. Judging by the fact that you’ve changed your shoes three times. Just put us all out of our misery and wear the shoes Ricca gave you.”
“I can’t wear those because I wear them all the time with him. He’ll start to think they are the only pair I own. Besides, this is totally casual.”
Syd raised a delicately arched brow. “I just want you to be careful and take it slow.”
“I promise you, we’re taking it hella slow. We’re not even having sex.”
Syd’s brows snapped down. “I thought you said in L.A. he’d sampled the goods.”
A laugh bubbled out before she could recall it. “We made out.” Skin flushed, she glanced around as if he might be able to hear her. “And other stuff, but no sex yet.”
“Okay, that’s weird.”
“Sydney! It is not weird. But it’s not for lack of trying. He just wants me to take my time, be sure.”
Her friend sighed. “Damn it, even when I’m trying to warn you to not ge
t too close, he’s busy being super sweet. I guess we’ll have to keep him. But if we’re adopting him into the fam, then we need a hang sesh.”
“I think that would be awesome.”
“Cool. And while you’re out tonight, can you ask him if he has a brother?” Syd gave her a slobbering kiss on the cheek then muttered, “Wear the black ones, they’re much sexier.”
#
Shane tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Tris. This was their first time meeting at the coffee shop, but it still made him nervous. He knew Caleb had Tom on her and she was safe, but it made him twitchy to have someone else keeping her safe. Lucky for him, Caleb's guys were good. There wasn't a single one of them he didn't trust with his life.
His phone buzzed with a message from Tom.
She's coming up from the south on the sidewalk, e.t.a. thirty seconds.
Lifting his head, he saw her, just across the street. The tension ebbed out of him, and he texted back.
I have her. Hand off complete.
He managed to tuck his phone away just before she bounced up to the table.
She met him with a wide smile. "Hey."
Standing, he kissed her briefly. It was a risk, but he hadn't kissed her since Sunday, and he was like an addict feening for a hit. "Hey, yourself. You want a coffee?"
She scrunched her face. "I'm desperate for one, but not desperate enough to drink this stuff."
Shane laughed. "Then by all means, let me give my girl something more worthy of her. You want to hit up Flux? The one downtown?" It was miles away from campus and would be safe enough.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. I could have just taken an Uber and met you there."
"Maybe I just like the privilege of driving you around."
"If you say so."
He opened the door to his BMW for her, and she slid in easily. Joining her, he took her hand and tugged her in for a deeper kiss. When he drew back, his body was tight and strung out and desperate. But he plastered a smile onto his face. He wasn't going to pounce on her. She needed normal. Deserved it. She might think she wanted him to lose control, but he sure as shit didn't want that. Hell, he'd never let her out of the bed. One taste of her, and he was already like a junkie.
"After Flux, where to, milady?"
"Surprise me?"
He kissed her hand and pulled out of the parking lot. "I think I can manage that."
"You know, I realized the other day as I was lying in my bed all hot and bothered that I don’t really know that much about you. Other than you are really good at making me hot and bothered."
Shane shook his head. "That's not true. You know where I grew up. You know I'm an engineering major." He cleared his throat. "I've told you about my dad."
She squeezed his hand. "I know. But I'm talking about the little things, like, how do you prefer your coffee, and do you like roller coasters, and what kind of movies do you watch when you're sad? You know. Normal everyday kind of stuff."
He could see from her expression that that wasn't exactly what she meant. "Okay, what do you want to know?"
"Anything. Everything? Maybe a good one to start with is how many women have you slept with?"
Shit, way to dive right in there. "A handful."
She narrowed her eyes. "Does that mean five, or is it more like eight? You have big hands."
Shane barked out a laugh. "Sassy thing. Okay, seven." If he stuck to the letter of the truth, he'd be okay...he hoped.
"When did you lose your virginity?"
Now they were in dicey territory. "Sophomore year in college." Technically it was true. He had to remember to keep the lies simple.
"Oh."
He could see her wheels turning as she tried to figure out if the girl went to the school or not. "She didn't go here."
"Right, okay. Why did you wait so long?"
"Uh, I guess I was focused on school and didn't want to get distracted." In reality, seventeen was about average but she didn't need to know how old he was when he went to college.
She rolled her shoulders in. "Seems like a lot."
And this was why trying to be truthful could backfire. "I guess, I was trying out my new toy. But I'm not a player. I just like my life drama free."
"And here I come with the drama."
He kissed her hand. "You are not drama. I hope you realize I can't think about anyone else but you. You have me tied in knots." He figured turnabout was fair play. "And what about you? I was kind of wondering about why you chose me to try with."
She shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Before you, I was sort of uninterested. It was like when I went on the date with Travis. I mean, it was a nice date, and he was a perfectly nice guy, but nothing. Any feelings I have completely ice over. For example, Kasey, who was, well, admittedly a serious douche. It's like it spreads from somewhere deep inside my chest, and I completely freeze over. I can't move. But with you. It's the exact opposite effect. I'm hot. Itchy. I can’t even concentrate the majority of the time."
"And that is what you do to me."
While they got coffee, they talked more about music and relationships and their family. He kept things as close to the truth as possible so he wouldn't have to lie again later.
"How are your classes going? I realized today I didn't even know your schedule. Other than vaguely having an idea of when I'll see you again.”
Lucky for him, he had one memorized. He’d even met with the engineering professors so they could alibi him if necessary.
It was easier to lie to her about this. He told her the truth, just pulled from further back in his past.
"I have to say, I'm surprised you're an RA, you don’t seem the type. I thought it was a joke when you had that meeting the first day."
"Oh, really? Why?"
"I don't know. I always pictured RAs as staunch rules followers. Nerdy types. And I guess you don't fit the bill."
"The guy who was supposed to be your RA got a job offer." Courtesy of Alec Westhorpe. "And decided to take the semester off. I needed the job. It called for a little training in how to deal with emergencies. Besides, I was a babysitter when I was a kid."
Tris laughed. "Somehow, I can't picture that at all."
He pulled into the parking lot for the movie theater, and she looked surprised. "We're going to see a movie?"
"Well, I know you missed out on a lot of normal stuff. Like dating. A popular date is a movie."
"But we can't talk in a movie."
"That's why I brought you to a second chance theater. These movies are a little older, and sometimes, we'll get lucky and no one will be in here.” He leaned over and kissed her, letting his tongue slide over hers. Then he pulled back and smiled. "Besides, I think it's a rite of passage to make out in a movie theater."
Chapter 5
Shane certainly had a good way of shutting her up. He was right—there was no one in the theater as they entered the auditorium for a movie that had come out over the summer. Shane led her all the way to the back corner and let her slide in first. "Thank you for this."
He shrugged. "It's just a movie, Tris."
"Yeah, I know, but you don't even realize what a giant pain in the ass trying to see a movie used to be. Dad would insist I had to sit in the front and that my detail needed to flank me in case of a threat. I couldn't even see movies with my friends. Imagine trying to snark on a teen vampire movie and you can't snark with your bestie. Instead, you're giving up your best jokes to a two-hundred-fifty-pound behemoth who refuses to pick which team he's on. Finally, I gave up and cultivated a DVD collection. It's like I've had my life on hold for four years. I don’t want to live like that anymore. I want to go to a movie."
"Your wish is my command."
"Careful, I could get used to this."
The moment the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could recall them. They hadn't had any type of conversation about where this was going. They were supposed to be taking it slow after all.
"Look at me, T
ris."
She forced herself to meet his gaze.
His bright blue eyes bore into her soul. "As far as I'm concerned, you're my girlfriend. It's just a little complicated right now. Next semester, I won’t be an RA, and I won’t be your TA anymore either, so we can go as public as you’d like." He squeezed her hand.
She liked the sound of next semester. "Okay. That works."
The movie started, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Now watch the screen. I'd like to show my girlfriend the point of hanging out in the back of the theater."
For the first thirty minutes of the movie, Shane nuzzled her neck and placed hot kisses on her flesh, and she squirmed. "Shane..."
"Yes, Tris?" he whispered.
"I thought we were watching a movie."
"We are. I'm just also trying to make out with you. But don’t mind me, just keep watching."
It didn't take her long to figure out why he wanted her to keep watching. The hero and the heroine were on the run, and while they were in danger, the sexual tension crackled around them. At the start of the love scene, she held her breath. With the images on screen and Shane kissing her, her blood heated.
Shane ran a hand up over her thigh, and she parted her legs slightly, giving him easier access to where she needed his touch the most. His harsh whisper against her ear made her shiver.
"Wider, baby."
She did as she was told, all the while keeping her eyes on the movie. Shane's knuckles brushed her sex, and she couldn't help the moan that escaped her lips. She wanted him so much, but he kept her on the edge.
With his fingers, he slid aside the elastic of her panties. "So fucking wet. Do you have any idea how hot that makes me?"
"Mmmm." She rotated her hips into his hand, and he hissed.
"Thanks to you, I don’t sleep a lot. I keep thinking about that drive back from Los Angeles. Your hot tongue licking me clean, making me want to come again."
Oh, shit. The hotter memory of what she’d done to him in the car replaced the image on the screen. Of how he'd given her instructions on how to lick him. How to stroke him. What he liked.
