Dangerous Surrender

by Katie Reus

  “It’s stupid not to consider the possibility. At least let me eliminate your guys by looking at their pictures.” Because there was a high likelihood that Neal used easy resources and that included Powers Group security. It made more sense to look at the most obvious possibilities and while the man at Vadim’s house had been wearing sunglasses and a hat, Roman wanted to try to identify him or at least narrow down the suspects. If he could give a list of names to Escobar or Taylor, they should be able to look at finances or anything else linking the shooter to Lynch. And if they couldn’t, Roman knew Vadim could.

  Escobar’s jaw tightened, but he semi-relaxed as Taylor returned from her car, seemingly mollified by what she’d found. “All my stuff is there.”

  “Good,” Escobar said, then nodded at Roman. “By the time you get settled in tonight, it’ll be in your inbox.”

  He nodded back once. “Thanks.”

  “What will be?” Taylor asked.

  “Just some files. I’ll tell you on the way to your place,” he murmured, glancing over his shoulder. They were still enough out of ear shot from the other men but he didn’t want to talk about any of it until they were alone.

  She looked as if she wanted to argue, but simply nodded. “Okay. I…need to grab some stuff from my office. Would you mind helping move our bags from the SUV to my car before we head up? It hurts a little to lift stuff.”

  Roman’s eyebrows pulled together. “Your car’s staying here. We’re getting a ride to your place, then the condo. Tomorrow we’ll figure out something else for transportation.”

  “We have a company vehicle you can use,” Escobar interjected.

  “I can’t even drive my car?” She seemed surprised, or more likely she was just exhausted and not thinking about the situation with the same type of attitude Roman and the other man were.

  He shook his head and reached out for her, needing to touch her. Even though he wasn’t used to showing public displays of affection, he didn’t care as he gently cupped her cheek. She instantly leaned into his touch. “It’s safer if it stays here. With Lynch and the shooter out there, we don’t need to give them any way to track you.” Pulling Taylor close, he shot Escobar a look. “We’ll take one of the vehicles tonight but tomorrow we’re getting something else.” Because Roman was taking more control of the situation and that meant making sure that wherever he went with Taylor, she wasn’t being tracked by anyone.

  “Fine. And whatever you need from your office, one of the guys can grab,” Escobar said.

  Taylor stiffened slightly against Roman. He looked down to find her biting her bottom lip, her expression unreadable. “I don’t actually need anything from my office. I just… I thought maybe…” She trailed off and swallowed hard.

  “You thought you might want to see where it happened?” he asked, purely guessing.

  When her eyes filled with tears and she nodded, he let out a curse and pulled her into his arms. She buried her face against his chest, her petite body trembling against him. God, he was surprised she’d held up so well. It was too soon for her to see where Powers had been killed and he knew from experience that seeing the scene where her friend had died wouldn’t do her a bit of good. But it wasn’t his place to tell her. He might be domineering and used to taking charge of most situations, but he wouldn’t right now. Not with this.

  “No one’s allowed up there now,” Escobar said quietly. “It’s marked off with police tape.”

  Taylor shuddered as she sniffled and stepped back. Roman kept his arm protectively around her as she turned back to face Escobar, wiping at her eyes. “That’s probably for the best.”

  Roman kissed the top of her head. “It is. Now let’s get out of here so I can take care of you.” Words he’d never said to any woman.

  Nodding, she tucked into his hold as he led her back to the SUV.

  One of the other men called out to Escobar, telling him they’d be the lead vehicle and had her address plugged into their GPS. Once Escobar, Taylor and Roman were back in the SUV, some of Roman’s stress lessened. He didn’t like Taylor being so exposed even in the relative safety of the vehicle.

  Hell, he didn’t like any of this. And he didn’t know what to do with the strange protectiveness that welled up inside him whenever she was near. Since that had been practically the last thirty-six hours and it hadn’t abated, he wasn’t sure what the hell to do with his emotions. It was like she’d triggered something inside him and now that it had woken up, it sure as hell wasn’t going away. He’d never felt like this, not even with his only serious ex. That relationship had been all about sex, something he could now see clearly. Because hindsight was a fucking bitch.

  As Escobar steered toward the exit, he murmured something, clearly talking into an earpiece as they pulled out of the parking garage. When he turned onto the nearly deserted street, Roman automatically scanned their surroundings. Though there were signs for street parking, both sides were nearly empty except for two vehicles to the left of them. A truck and an SUV. No one was on either sidewalk, this part of town basically shut down after business hours.

  “It should only take us about ten minutes to get to my place from here,” Taylor said quietly, turning her body into Roman’s so she was tucked up against his side.

  Before he could respond a sudden barrage of pinging rained down around them, like rain on a tin roof. The staccato was an unfortunately familiar sound.

  Shit. A punch of adrenaline shot through his system. They were under attack.

  Taylor jerked and looked up in alarm, started to say something, but he grabbed her by the waist and shoved her to the floorboards in between the front and back seats, throwing his body on top of hers.

  Escobar cursed and hit the gas, making the SUV fishtail as they sped away.

  Chapter 10

  “The SUV’s bullet resistant!” Escobar shouted from the driver’s seat as the vehicle jerked forward, tires screeching as he made a sharp turn.

  Adrenaline jagged through Taylor as she lay on the floorboards under Roman. He was turned away from her, looking toward the front seat, his profile grim.

  Ping, ping, ping.

  She cringed as more bullets slammed into the SUV. At first she’d been so confused when Roman had manhandled her to the ground. It had all happened so fast. Then she’d realized someone was shooting at them, and she was seriously close to having a full-blown panic attack.

  When she watched movies that depicted women running around and screaming for no reason she always wanted to throw something at the screen. Or shake the women. She’d always wondered why on earth people screamed when the shouting couldn’t do any good. Now she completely understood. And the only reason she wasn’t screaming was because her throat felt as if it had swelled shut in pure fear. So she wasn’t any better than those characters on television she’d always thought were ditzy. If her throat loosened just a bit, she was going to start having a massive, very loud breakdown of epic proportions. There was only so much she could take and she wasn’t prepared for being shot at—again.

  Escobar was saying something up front. Not to Roman though. Into his earpiece, she belatedly realized. He was ordering one of his guys to call the cops and telling them he was getting Roman and Taylor the hell out of there.

  That was fine with her because she definitely didn’t relish the idea of sticking around and facing a madman—or multiple crazies—with guns.

  “Taylor!” Roman shouted.

  She blinked and focused on his concerned face above her. By his expression she figured he’d said her name more than once. The shooting had stopped! Even though her ears were still buzzing, they weren’t under fire. For now at least.

  She slightly shook her head, trying to regain focus even though her insides were quaking like she was made of Jell-O. “Who was shooting at us? Are they still after us?” And her voice shook too, the questions coming out all high-pitched and screechy even as she tried to remain calm. Yeah, that wasn’t working for her so well.

&nb
sp; “Shooter unknown and no one is tailing us,” Escobar said from the front, his voice clipped, as Roman pushed off her and went to help her up.

  “I’m good here,” she muttered, feeling too shaky to move. She didn’t care if she looked crazy, she was safer down here. She wanted to drag Roman back down with her.

  Roman’s expression softened as he looked at her. He reached a hand down to her. “No one’s following us, I swear.”

  The completely shaken part of her wanted to stay exactly where she was, but she took his strong hand and let him pull her up beside him. He almost, but not quite, pulled her into his lap. Murmuring words that didn’t really sound like words, more or less just noises, he rubbed her back up and down as she turned into him. She’d always thought she’d be a lot stronger in a situation like this. Of course she’d never anticipated a situation where she’d be shot at multiple times in less than two days. Or ever, really.

  “Benjamin, can you have one of your guys get Taylor’s stuff from her place? She can give him a list of what she needs. I don’t want to make another stop. If the cops need to talk to us, they can meet us at the condo. We’re not waiting around anywhere.” Roman phrased the first part as a question but it was pretty clear he wasn’t asking.

  Taylor pulled back at his words. She didn’t want some random men going through her stuff. But one look at Roman’s face and having the reality of the situation crash over her, she nodded and looked up at Escobar who flicked her a glance in the rearview mirror. “Yeah, I can tell them what to get,” she muttered, realizing she probably sounded ungrateful. But she didn’t have any energy left for niceties. She just wanted to get somewhere safe and crash into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

  * * *

  Taylor slipped on the plush, royal blue robe the company provided for all executives as she got out of the shower. Sighing, she loosely belted it around herself, careful of her wound, which barely bothered her now. She might just keep the robe when they left. Compensation for all her mental stress.

  After combing her hair and doing a half-ass job of drying it, she smoothed some of the provided lotion on her newly shaved legs and let out a sigh of relief. Her aunt Esther had always told her that there wasn’t much that a hot shower and a hot cup of tea couldn’t cure. Or at least soothe. The sweet woman who’d been the only mother-figure Taylor ever knew, had been right.

  The simple shower had done wonders for Taylor’s outlook. At least she wasn’t ready to spiral into a breakdown anymore. As long as no one shot at them for the rest of the evening—well day, considering it was after midnight—she’d be fine.

  She rolled her shoulders as she stepped out into the large bedroom. Roman had given her the big bedroom but she was pretty sure they’d be sharing a bed later. Even if they didn’t have sex, she was big enough to admit she didn’t want to sleep alone. The color scheme of the huge room was dark blue, light gray and pearly white. The rest of the place was the same. Neutral, soothing to the eye—bland, like a hotel. The setup of the place was simple. Two huge rooms, both with ocean views, were separated by a living room with an entertainment center most men would probably drool over. The living room also had an ocean view, but they’d pulled all the drapes shut. The glass doors were all secured and bullet resistant because Powers Group didn’t mess around with their visiting clients’ security. While she didn’t think someone from a boat or helicopter would be spying on them with binoculars, she still didn’t like the idea of feeling so exposed.

  For all she knew Neal could be on the beach watching. Unlikely considering Escobar had called in another security team and two of those guys were patrolling the strip of beach in front of the building. The extra security made her feel a lot better, but Roman’s presence was the only thing helping her keep it together. She still couldn’t believe someone had opened fire on them gang-style. It had been an actual drive-by, something that felt surreal to even think about.

  When she stepped out of the bedroom into the tiled living room, she jerked to a halt.

  Her stuff had been delivered while she’d been in the shower and Roman was going through her suitcase, which he’d opened up onto the thick, wood coffee table. “Uh, hello?”

  He glanced up at her and half-smiled, but didn’t stop what he was doing. “Hey, how was the shower?”

  “Good… If you wanted to see my panties all you had to do was ask.” She snatched a pair of boy-short Wonder Woman panties she was mortified one of the security team had grabbed. Balling it into her hand, she shoved it into one of the robe’s pockets.

  Roman snorted and spared her a quick glance. “I’m definitely seeing you in those later… And I’m just searching for any tracking devices. I know it’s paranoid, but…” He trailed off, shrugging as he continued his methodical examination.

  Paranoid, maybe, but she didn’t mind in the least. They’d be leaving this place after they’d slept a few hours and she’d rather him take every precaution available. Because the truth was, she hadn’t even thought about tracking devices. It seemed insane, but then Neal Lynch was clearly not right in the head. She still didn’t understand why he’d opened fire on them. Or she assumed it was him who’d done it. It could have been the man he’d hired. Either way he’d clearly been willing to kill her and innocent men. She’d already made her statement to the police though and if she never had to make another report again that was fine with her. Maybe Neal thought with her dead he’d have a better defense—even though that sounded stupid.

  “I’m going to make some hot tea. Do you want any?” she asked. When they’d arrived she’d scoured the cabinets and was grateful there were plenty of tea choices.

  He shook his head as he ran his hand along the lining of her suitcase. “I’m good, but thanks.”

  Since he was intent on his task, she headed for the kitchen and made a pot of peppermint tea. The microwave would have been easier, but it felt wrong on so many levels to make tea that way. As she waited, she slipped her Wonder Woman panties on. Wearing nothing under the robe felt weird and she kind of hoped he’d been serious about seeing her in them later. Once the teapot whistled on the stove, she inhaled the familiar scent, letting it ground her before pouring herself a mug.

  She found Roman still meticulously looking over her things. Considering what a private person she was, it was one of the first signs that this man had already gotten under her skin when she hadn’t been paying attention. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  Bent over the table, searching her suitcase, his arm muscles flexed, his expression intense and insanely sexy. She could watch him all night but forced herself to do something productive. She pulled her laptop from the bag they’d retrieved from her car and turned it on. “Did you search my backpack?” she asked.

  “Yeah, scanned your laptop first. It’s clean.”

  Good. If Neal thought he was going to get away with any of this, especially the attack that could have hurt Roman, he was about to get a taste of her wrath. Sitting on the couch, she propped her feet on the coffee table and got to work.

  “What’re you doing?” Roman asked almost absently as he slipped one of his big hands into a zippered compartment, feeling around inside.

  “Now that I’ve got a lot of Neal’s information and complete access to his files, I’m going to start searching for him using it. It’s very hard to go completely off the grid unless you use a new identity. Which he might very well have. But I’m not going to let him just get away without trying to track him down.” She opened up a folder in one of his email accounts, scanning old messages. Investigations could be tedious work, but she was used to it and right now she was more determined than she’d ever been to dig up information on someone. And after she plugged in some key search words, she should be able to narrow down the right files quicker.

  “You should leave that to the police.” She could hear the frown in Roman’s voice without looking at him.

  “The police missed a key piece of evidence in this investigation. Not to mention
…” She trailed off, wondering how much she should tell him about her past. Oversharing too soon was one of those relationship no-no’s. Of course they weren’t in a relationship.

  “What?” he pressed.

  Because she didn’t want to see his expression when she told him, she kept typing in commands as she continued. “My stepfather was a cop. He killed my mom in a drunken rage.” The words sounded almost robotic even though saying them felt as if she was being torn to ribbons on the inside. It was just too hard to let emotion seep through when she discussed it. She was already at a breaking point after everything that had happened the last couple days and didn’t want to unleash too many long-buried feelings now.

  She watched Roman still his movements out of the corner of her eye. He moved slowly and rounded the coffee table and sat next to her on the couch, still giving her some space. When he reached out and placed a gentle but possessive hand on the back of her neck, she tore her gaze from the laptop and looked at him. He watched her carefully but didn’t say anything, obviously letting her talk when and if she wanted.

  She’d never told any of the men she’d dated about her mom, had seen no reason to. But she wanted Roman to know this about her. Even if things between them never amounted to anything, she wanted him to know. “My mom was…everyone said she was a sweet woman. The truth was, she was weak. I’ve felt guilty for a long time because of the way I viewed her and I know it’s hard for anyone being abused to leave their abuser, but she had me. Her daughter to worry about. And she tried a couple times to leave him, even went so far as to attempt pressing charges, but each time she was talked out of it because she could potentially ruin her husband’s career.” Taylor rolled her eyes at that, biting back the anger that surged through her any time she thought of that man.

  “He eventually killed her in a drunken rage, jealous because he’d thought she’d been flirting with one of my teachers during a parent-teacher conference. He was always getting jealous about something and it was always stupid reasons. This time wasn’t any different from the others, not at first anyway. But he started ranting and raving about how she didn’t love him enough to give him a child of his own and just full-on freaking out. I’d always been pretty invisible to him, someone he had to deal with because I was my mom’s daughter. That night…he looked at me differently. Like he wanted to kill me. I saw it in his eyes and my mom must have too. I didn’t realize it until later, but she started provoking him, turning all his rage back onto her by admitting that she’d been flirting—when she hadn’t. Then she screamed at me to leave and… I did. I ran to a neighbor’s for help. By the time the police showed up it was too late. She was dead and he committed suicide by cop. Even at the end he was too weak to just kill himself.” Her voice broke and she was surprised she’d been able to get it all out.