Swinging around in the chair, Raymond stabbed a finger at Ryan. “Sort her out!”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Steps sounded on the stairs, Gail’s voice carrying down as she called out, “Hey, Raymond! Loving the new signature line on your emails!”
Raymond’s eyes widened. “She didn’t!”
Knowing Marietta, she probably did.
“Haven’t checked my emails yet.” Ben glanced questioningly at Ryan.
Ryan walked past him into the back office, going to his computer and powering it up.
“That woman!” Raymond was cursing from the reception before Ryan’s email could even load properly.
Ben started guffawing from the desk he was manning, having just checked his email.
Gail’s head popped around the corner. “He is going to kill her one day.”
Watching the raunchy hula dancer gyrating across the bottom of every team email Raymond had sent out, Ryan couldn’t blame him. A luscious dancer with big boobs and rounded hips with his head on top was not something Raymond would appreciate.
Predictably, emails had already arrived for Raymond - cc’d to everyone, of course - from team members in different states of Australia and all over the world wherever Wells Security was working.
“Aw, look, Raymond,” Ben called out cheerfully, “Victor in London wants to know if you fancy a date, but only if you promise to wear your grass skirt and coconut bra.”
“Ryan!” Raymond bellowed.
“I’ll talk to her.” Hiding his amusement, Ryan started doing a quick skim of his emails before going in to Aaron for a briefing of the day’s upcoming events. “Ben, help Raymond clear his desk before someone comes in.”
“You should get Marietta to do it.”
“Marietta isn’t here.” When she came back from her days off, he’d be waiting for her. As usual.
Grinning, Ben went out to get a box from the store room.
Finding nothing that required urgent attention, Ryan went to see Aaron.
Glancing up briefly from whatever he was reading on the computer screen, Aaron nodded.
Returning the nod, Ryan sat down in the chair at the front of the desk, resting his palms lightly on his thighs.
Leaning back in his chair, Aaron rested one ankle on his opposite knee, his elbow on the armrest as he pondered Ryan while resting the side of his finger against his mouth. Typical Aaron posture.
But there was something different. It couldn’t be seen, but Ryan could feel it. It was the way Aaron looked at him. Nothing on his face, unruffled as always, but Ryan knew. Just as he knew with certainty what it was.
Normally he would wait for Aaron to ask, but considering the implications he spoke first. “Ella and I are seeing each other.”
Aaron studied him.
“Out of hours.”
Aaron nodded slightly.
As he returned the steady regard, Ryan continued, “She’s agreed to give us a second chance.”
Damn. He hadn’t meant to say that much. For a man who was intensely private it was more than Ryan had ever thought of revealing, but this was Aaron, and Ryan respected him too much to gloss over the facts. “It won’t interfere with my work hour duties, my rostered time of watching her. But if you prefer to replace my roster with someone else, I understand.”
Aaron thoughtfully tapped his thumb against his bottom lip. “The thought you’d not conduct yourself appropriately during work hours never crossed my mind. You have proven yourself many times to be loyal and conscientious. I’d not have made you my second-in-command if I believed otherwise.”
Inwardly, Ryan relaxed.
“I’m pleased that you and Ella are working things out.”
“We’re trying.”
“You’ll maintain your rostered time of bodyguard duty as usual, no change to the plan.”
Ryan nodded.
Obviously done with that detail, Aaron switched topic. “Edward dropped around earlier. Rose has given Fran and Carlson more info. This time it’s linking to a lot more people. The techs have been unravelling the line in the Dark Web and they’re digging in pretty deep.”
The consequences weren’t lost on Ryan. “They’re getting close.”
“Yes.”
“And Rose’s safety?”
“She’s being watched twenty four hours a day but Edward is getting edgy. There are experts digging in the Dark Web, but just as the feds have techs, so do criminals. Edward’s caught between reeling in what Rose discovers, and her safety that she may get caught.”
“Pull her out.”
“Rose refuses. She insists she’s being careful.”
“So who are you sending in?”
“Byron’s sending in Felicity from the Melbourne-based Wells Security. Felicity is an experienced bodyguard with the added advantage of looking very young for her age. She’s going to stay with Rose at the mansion under the alias of a friend Rose made when on a recent holiday.”
Ryan nodded. “Live-in bodyguard.”
“Now Rose has one on-site as well as hidden surveillance. One hint of things going wrong and Felicity will get her out. I’ve sent the details of Felicity to your computer to familiarise yourself with her record, the same with Edward.” Aaron’s mouth quirked ever so slightly at the corners. “Only as much as Edward needs to know about her.”
Of course. That also meant Felicity had a background that wouldn’t be approved in the local law enforcement circles, but would be welcomed for the greyer areas. Invaluable in various roles, in other words, and just the kind of agent Aaron hired. Ryan would find out more about her from the record.
“Now, Marietta.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“Her artistic bent is admirable.” Aaron’s face was dead straight but deep underneath Ryan knew his boss enjoyed her antics, the sparks that flew between Raymond and Marietta, saw it as light entertainment in the dangerous lives of his employees, just as he knew when to pull them all in line. Some fun to lighten the mood then back to business.
“I think she could use some of that energy in washing the work cars when she comes back from days off.”
“I’m onto it.”
“Wash, polish, vacuum.”
The only thing their irrepressible agent hated more than missing out on action was cleaning cars. Ryan nodded. It also meant Wells Security guards had a couple of more days of fun before it was stopped.
“Now, other business.” Aaron turned back to the computer.
The next fifteen minutes was spent discussing the day’s work, which team was where, catching up on the reports from other countries, and doing the everyday discussions because Wells Security had more than one area and one person covered at any given time.
By the time Ryan returned to his desk he had a list of things to do. From the front he heard someone talking to Raymond about security cameras for their shop, and the little light next to the door leading to reception came on, an indication that Raymond needed one of them to attend a prospective client. Ryan sent Ben out.
Before he settled down to deal with the list of things to be done and reading Felicity’s file, Ryan went into the back hall and up the staircase to Control Centre. Aaron would have been up here when he arrived earlier, but Ryan always did a run-through with the guards.
Gail was sitting at one computer while Kent manned the surveillance cameras.
“All quiet so far,” Kent said as Ryan came up behind him to survey the monitors.
Ryan’s gaze flicked from monitor to monitor. The spy base, the council building, the mayor’s home, shopping centres and individual shops, businesses, private homes of rich and not-so-rich, celebrities, VIPs, hospitals, several nursing homes. And Ella’s home. Back and front, everything was quiet. Boof appeared on the veranda, wandered down into the garden, chose a particularly nice, shady spot, dug a hole in the earth and squatted.
“Holy cow,” Kent said. “That is one ugly-arsed cat.”
“He’s okay,” Ryan r
eplied.
Startled, Kent stared up at him.
“Hard life,” Ryan said.
Gail glanced shrewdly at him.
Ah, the Wells Security bodyguards rostered to cover Ella would have seen her go to his house and stay the night, seen him go to her house and come out a few hours later. The monitored cameras would catch him coming and going to her house. All would have seen him kiss her.
Ryan looked steadily at Gail and she immediately started giving him a report.
It was good to be second-in-command. And a damned scary man. Because while he was more than happy to share with Ella, no way was he doing it with his co-workers. Or anyone else for that matter. Work was work, and he never let it cross the line into his personal life. Being with Ella might raise eyebrows but he wouldn’t tolerate questions about anything personal. Just as while on the job he was a professional, the job his life until he was off the clock.
He listened to Gail’s report, acknowledged it with a calm nod and left Control Centre to attend the waiting work.
~*~
Standing in the front garden watering the hibiscus bushes, Ella wondered idly who was watching her this time. Marietta? Richie? Maybe Ryan?
The thought that he was out there watching made her insides tingle a little. It also made her self-conscious. She frowned. Being watched covertly, even if it was by Ryan, was not on her wish list.
In fact, she hated it.
Boof came through a hole in the chain-link fence and sat down not far from her, sticking one leg up in the air to commence washing his manly bits.
“My point exactly,” she said to him. “You do realise that someone, somewhere, is watching you lick your non-existent gonads?”
Boof kept industriously washing.
“I mean, I can’t even scratch my boob because someone has their eye on me. Can you image the report Aaron would get? ‘1630 hrs - client scratched tit. Vigorously.’ I’m just glad I’m not wearing a scratchy bra.” Stepping to the side, she aimed the stream of water at the base of another hibiscus bush. “If I get a wedgy, everyone monitoring the cameras will see me digging between my arse cheeks to get it out. I tell you, Boof, this is an invasion of privacy. I don’t care what Ryan says, I can’t relax outside my own house.”
Broodingly, she watched the water soak into the base of the bush.
Boof dropped his leg back to the ground and looked towards the road. His movement made her glance up but when it proved to simply be the neighbour two doors down driving past, she resumed staring at the bush.
To be honest, it wasn’t just the monitoring that was annoying her, it was a few things. One of them was the waiting around for news, to hear that the club had fallen, been taken, but so far there was zilch. She watched the news, read the papers, listened to the radio on the way to and from work. She’d thought that Ryan would keep her informed but he’d proven tight-lipped on the subject the previous evening.
Deliberately leaving early for her nightshift at the service station, she’d dropped in on him to do some questioning. His refusal to impart information had thrown her. He’d simply replied “Nothing yet.” When she probed, he’d quietly stated, “It’s an on-going investigation. The feds are handling it.”
“But Wells Security is involved,” she pointed out.
“In a guard capacity.”
“Monitoring Rose and her home, too.”
“Yes.”
“And I know Aaron talks to Edward and you.”
Taking measured sips, Ryan had watched her over the rim of his coffee mug.
“Seriously?” She slammed her hands onto her hips. “You’re not going to tell me?”
He lowered the coffee mug.
“Seriously?”
The bloody man was as calm as the eye of a storm. In fact, that description was pretty apt. Calm in the middle, that hint of danger swirling around the edges unseen but nevertheless very real.
That might have made most people decide to shut up. Ella didn’t give a hoot. “If it wasn’t for me and Rose, none of you would even have a case.”
Leisurely, he swirled the coffee in his mug.
“I thought we were sharing things?”
That had his eyes sharpening, but he still didn’t bite. Damn it.
“I can’t believe you’re pushing me out.”
“Not pushing you out,” he replied mildly. “Protecting you.”
“By keeping me in the dark?”
Leaning back against the kitchen bench, Ryan continued to regard her steadily. Not long knocked-off work, he was still in his plain security uniform with lace-up boots, the bulge of his biceps almost straining the short sleeves of the polo shirt as he took some of his weight on his arm where his hand was braced on the bench, the even rise and fall of his impressive pecs under the shirt, that slightly brooding air, he looked a little dangerous. Formidable, actually, especially when his gaze was locked on her.
She still didn’t care. He might be a scary bloke to others, to her he was Ryan - lover, friend, and right now a pain in her arse.
Ella decided to change tack. “Rose has given more information to Fran and Carlson, hasn’t she?”
Raising the mug, Ryan took another mouthful.
Man, he made her angry when he did this. Folding her arms, she snapped, “Maybe I should just catch a plane to Melbourne and find out for myself.”
If she thought the edge of danger lurked before, she sure as hell felt it now. It almost filled the air, a dark menace that oozed from him. He stood there watching her, completely unnerving her now - not that she’d admit it to anyone.
Slowly, deliberately, he placed the mug down on the bench, pushed away to lightly stalk across the tiled floor.
Stalked was the only way to put it. It was akin to being approached by a predator.
Correction, she was being approached by a predator. A predator that was very much in control.
Ryan stopped right in front of her, so close that her folded arms brushed his hard abdomen with every breath she took.
Ella actually swallowed, her throat a little dry, but she refused to give ground, glaring up at him.
His brown eyes were hard, a tightness to his lips. Tall, tanned, heavy muscular build, menace seeming to shift subtly around him.
A little thrilling, a little scary, very intimidating.
Chapter 9
He didn’t touch her, his jaw squared, his voice reverberating with quiet resolution. “You will not get on a plane anywhere. You will accept that we cannot discuss what is told to us by the feds. Edward works with Aaron, with us. Wells Security co-operates with agencies, and confidentiality is strict. Not even Aaron’s wife knows what goes on, and it stays that way. You will step down and let us and the feds do our jobs. You will not contact Rose to find out what is happening. You will not pressure her to give details. Rose is under strict orders to reveal nothing of what she knows to anyone, even you.”
“What, you think I’m going to find out and tell someone?” Incensed, Ella threw one arm out to the side, waving her hand around angrily. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I trust you. That doesn’t mean I am going to tell you.”
“What kind of half-arsed answer is that?”
Not one hint of annoyance or any other emotion disturbed his expressionless features. His voice didn’t rise in anger. Calm and controlled, he towered over her, his hands by his sides.
The man didn’t lean forward or do anything else in an attempt to intimidate her, didn’t have to, not when she could feel the invisible presence of something tightly leashed so deep inside him.
Observing the way he stated his orders with composed authority in complete expectation of her obeying them, she scowled. Scowled because he irritated her. Everyone irritated her. Everything about this whole damned thing irritated her. Damn it, she even irritated herself.
Made her blood boil in fact, because…not liking where that’s going, Ella.
Sucking in a sharp breath, she bit out from between clenched teet
h, “Right now I’m going to work. If I stay here much longer and listen to you order me around like an ignorant kid, I’m going to slap you.”
Ryan didn’t stop her as she stormed across the kitchen to grab her bag. Angry, annoyed, disappointed, she stomped through into the wide hallway, feeling worse by the minute the nearer she got to the door. Worse because she knew why she was acting so irrationally - though she deserved some kind of explanation, right?
But with the heavy handle of the front door in her grip, guilt had nagged and swearing, she’d swung around to find Ryan right behind her. Still calm, still controlled, he’d been reaching for the door above her head, no doubt to hold it open for her so she could storm off into the late evening night. Watch her to her bloody car to ensure she got there safely even though it was right in his driveway. Making sure she was safe even though she had threatened him.
“Be careful on the road, Ella mine,” he said quietly.
Damn it, he just had to be so bloody caring even when she’d been so nasty to him. “I’ll be fine,” she growled, right before blurting, “And I wouldn’t really slap you. But I could bloody kick your stubborn arse sometimes.”
Eyes crinkling a little at the corners, he’d leaned down to brush a kiss over her brow before straightening and pulling the door open.
That gentle kiss was oddly soothing, but the feelings churning inside her, the resentment, had her churlishly muttering, “I should know. I have a right to know.” Quickly she’d walked away.
Ryan hadn’t stopped her, simply watched her get into the car and drive off.
Now she stared at the hibiscus bush. They’d been going together for several weeks already, had fallen back into an easy camaraderie. The sex was fantastic, no question about it, didn’t matter if he was wringing her heart with tenderness or blowing her mind with a vigorous rutting, it was magic. But equally she loved the times they spent talking, watching TV, eating dinner, going for a walk, doing mundane things like going into the city to pay their bills and attend everyday things, getting to know each other all over again. They sometimes sat in silence, both reading, or he played the piano while she did her own thing, or he listened as she played, sometimes just her reading while he relaxed with his eyes closed doing some kind of Zen thing, breathing evenly, reflecting or whatever he did during that state. Didn’t bother her, didn’t bother him. Several times she’d glanced up to find him watching her with a softness in his eyes that made her smile and blow him a kiss before she returned to whatever she’d been doing. And when her leg ached with a sudden bitter chill in the air, he massaged it for her, insisted on a hot pack, coddled her against her protests. He didn’t even seem to mind Boof sitting on his lap shedding hair on his pristine pants.
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