Lauren waved him off. “That’s nice and all, but not necessary.”
Matthias recognized the gesture because Kayla did it, too. He didn’t like it coming from either woman. “Someone could try to get to Kayla through you, so it’s happening.”
“Fine.” Lauren glared at her friend. “And this is not an excuse for you to run, so don’t even think about it.”
Garrett whistled. “The women in this town are made of strong stuff.”
“She goes out on a boat every day. If she didn’t have healthy self-confidence she would have thrown one of her male clients overboard by now.” Kayla smiled as she reeled off Lauren’s skills.
Matthias didn’t need further convincing. He was impressed as hell with both of them. “I’ll have my people take you home and then they’ll shadow you.”
“How will they do that out on the water?” Lauren asked.
“We’ll investigate all of your clients and have a boat stationed nearby in case.” That was just common sense, but Matthias didn’t add that. He guessed Lauren would be as undeterred by his safety messages as Kayla seemed to be.
Garrett nodded. “You should do that regardless of the Kayla issue.”
Kayla eyed Garrett. “I’m an issue now?”
“I’m not the one in danger,” Lauren said.
“Being out there is dangerous.” Garrett wanted to say more but was smart enough to stop there.
“And vomit inducing.” Kayla held up her hands in what looked like mock surrender. “But hey, if they protect me, they protect you.”
“That’s emotional blackmail.”
Matthias didn’t know a whole lot about women, but he sensed the issue had been settled. “My people will meet you outside. I’ll text them instructions.”
“I feel like I’ve been dismissed,” Lauren said.
Garrett stood up next to her. “Matthias does that sort of thing a lot.”
“What are you going to be doing while I meet with your people?” Lauren pushed back her chair and stood next to Garrett.
Matthias had an easy answer for that one. “Convincing Kayla to fake date me.”
“I’ll walk you out because I’m not sure I want to see this.” With that, Garrett guided Lauren to the door.
Matthias waited until the door shut behind them, closing the two of them in the diner alone, before turning to Kayla. “Well?”
“That’s how you convince me?” Kayla leaned back in her chair.
He had no idea what the comment and the body language meant. The blank stare didn’t give him any hints either. “You know my proposal is the right answer.”
“The same proposal where I get to be a target.”
He didn’t like that word one bit. It sliced through him, burning as it went. “You could trust me.”
“You’re asking a lot.”
Garrett slipped back inside and locked the door behind him. Then he started talking, clearly oblivious that he’d interrupted a conversation. “What’s her story?”
But his question did grab Matthias’s attention. “You’re interested in Lauren?”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“A few years ago her husband went missing during an excursion. Both the deckhand and the husband were never seen again.” Kayla sounded like she intended to say more, but her words rolled to a stop. “What?”
Matthias glanced at Garrett. Knew exactly what the other man was thinking. But getting into this would take them way offtrack. “Nothing.”
Her gaze zipped back and forth between them. “You two are doing that thing where you look at each other and communicate without speaking.”
“Did he have debts?” Garrett asked. “Maybe also a girlfriend Lauren didn’t know about until later?”
“Why?” Kayla sounded more confused than ever.
Matthias took pity on her. “Lost at sea is a pretty common way for people to try to disappear. It generally doesn’t work for long, because it’s also the worst way to disappear. It’s too obvious. It’s the excuse novices use, which immediately makes it suspect. Add in the Coast Guard and its expertise, and getting away with it becomes difficult.”
Kayla’s mouth dropped open. “You do this for a living?”
He didn’t really understand the question. “Disappear?”
“Don’t be an ass. Answer me.”
Garrett took over. “Let’s just say we’re familiar with the type of guy, usually a guy, who wants a life do-over.”
“You think that’s what Lauren’s husband did?” Kayla sounded dazed. More so by her friend’s possible predicament than her lifetime of fear.
Women confused the hell out of Matthias.
“We have no idea.” He glared at Garrett when he snorted. “And I can only deal with one disaster at a time, and right now you’re it.”
“The way you said that almost guarantees you’re going to stay in the bodyguard zone tonight.”
That fucking sucked. “Damn.”
Garrett frowned. “What does that mean?”
No way was Matthias answering that or letting her explain. “It’s time to go home.”
“Okay, I’ll go along with this—”
“You don’t have a choice.” She seemed to be confused on that point and he had no idea how.
“—so long as you two buy new clothes.”
Matthias stopped in the middle of standing up. “What’s wrong with our clothes?”
She tugged on his pants. “You look like FBI. Worse, you look like sad FBI guys who got the wrong directions to a raid and were separated from the rest of your group.”
Nothing said you’re not going to get laid quite like when a woman pointed out a man’s wardrobe failures. Even Matthias could figure that out. “You might watch too much television.”
Garrett made a face. “What show would that even be?”
“No one is going to believe I’m dating a starchy dude in a suit. Find jeans or shorts or something,” Kayla said, talking right over both men in the room.
“I can just take everything off.” Matthias thought that sounded like a fair compromise.
She handed him her keys. “It’s clearly time to go.”
Chapter 16
They somehow made it back to her apartment. Good thing it wasn’t far away because Kayla could barely concentrate to walk. She’d been dreading the return and having to deal with the idea of someone pawing through her things and spewing hate in the one safe space she still had.
As they got closer, Matthias tangled his fingers with hers. The simple gesture of holding her hand was ridiculously romantic and so out of character. He likely did it because it would make it easier to toss her into the water if he saw danger lurking and needed to act as a human shield. But it grounded her and was still sweet, and that was not a word she usually associated with him.
She let him lead her up the stairs and pretended he wasn’t basically dragging her. The kiss had been so good back at the café that for a short time it wiped out the reality of what she had to face behind that door. The cleanup and coming face-to-face with all that fury being directed straight at her.
While on the small porch, Matthias reached around her. “I got this.”
Before she could comment on the keys and locks, and all the other things she’d ignored for two days while she was gone, he had the door open. With a gentle hand on her lower back, he pushed her inside.
In panic, her eyes slammed shut as she crossed the threshold. Silence surrounded her. To maintain her balance she leaned into his strong body. Soaked in some of his strength.
It took her another second to work up the nerve to open her eyes again. When she did she could only blink. Everything was in order. Even the broken furniture looked as if it had been repaired. New pillows sat on the loveseat. Not the same ones she had, but similar colors, as if someone had tried to replicate her old place postattack.
“The apartment is back in order.” She meant to think the words but heard them come out as a stunned whisper.
>
“Of course.” He locked the door behind them. He held a stack of keys in his palm that jingled when he moved.
Reality crashed into her. “You did this.”
“My people are very good at their jobs.” He separated the key chains and held one out to her. “On that note, here you go. All new, so you’ll need to decide if you want to give Lauren an extra set or not.”
The wave of relief crashing over Kayla wiped out any concern about that comment. All that strangling tension finally eased.
She’d spent so much of the last few years on her own, depending on no one and ready to bolt. She didn’t have people who took care of things for her, and generally didn’t want that, but for this moment the reassurance of knowing he was there filled her with a humbled gratitude she didn’t know how to express.
She inhaled, trying to kick-start her brain and wipe out the last bits of panic that had threatened to swamp her as she walked up those stairs. “What about the alarm code? There’s no way you could break that.”
He winked at her. “I love when you say stuff like that.”
That ego annoyed the crap out of her sometimes. Not today. “I forgot who you are and what you can do.”
He nodded as he walked around the apartment. He checked behind the few pieces of furniture and looked in the closet and bathroom. She knew it was a subtle security check. He was trying to make this easier on her, and she loved that.
He stopped at the bar that separated the kitchen area from the living area, which was not to be confused with her bed. That rested against the far wall to the left. “I like Lauren.”
The change in topic shouldn’t have surprised Kayla. This was what he did. As part of his job, he even tried to protect her from harsh conversations. “Me, too.”
“Having someone”—he made an odd grumbling noise—“helps.”
That bit of insight was new. She’d assumed from his body language and all that talk about “his team” that he viewed his work as his life. “Are you saying that because Garrett told you or because you believe it?”
“What does that mean?”
“Aren’t you the ultimate loner?” She didn’t mean it as an attack. Most people would list her in that column as well.
“Not really.” He tucked his set of her keys into his pocket and headed for the loveseat. “I have friends. There’s a small group of people I trust. Very small, but I do have them.”
When he sank into the cushions, she staked out the coffee table in front of him. Without a word from her, he opened his legs so hers would fit between his as she sat down. They seemed to move in unison, neither balking at the comfortable silences between sentences.
“You give off this impression. Like, you sit alone in an office all day, go home for a few hours then head back to your desk and don’t move. Rinse, repeat.” That image fit him so well at the beginning. Now, not as much, though she still picked up a bit of a savior complex. Not in the dickish way. This seemed to come from the honest belief that he had a duty to protect her despite no one hiring him to do that.
“I don’t deny the workaholic tendencies. I learned my work ethic by watching. There was this man . . .” That’s it. Matthias didn’t say more.
She’d never craved the end of a sentence so much in her life. “Who?”
“Never mind.”
She knew if she didn’t say anything else he would leave it there. They continue to run around in circles, never going deeper. For the first in a long time, she wanted more than a few minutes with a guy or the promise of being safe, if only for a little while.
She put her hands on his knees and leaned in closer. “If we’re going to have sex, I want to know more about you.”
He sat up a little straighter. “Wait, are we having sex tonight?”
No question. She’d made that decision during the lunch rush. So many secrets still spun around them. They had trust issues and she got the distinct impression he had much more to tell about why he was really in town. All of that suggested they ignore this thing between them. If for no other reason than self-protection she should back off and be extra careful.
Solid reasoning, which she planned to ignore. “I guess that depends on if you decide to confide in me.”
“There’s a sex test?” He held up both hands. “Don’t get me wrong. I plan to pass it. I just need to know the ground rules.”
His eagerness destroyed any last bits of doubt running through her head. “You might not like them.”
“I like what I’m hearing so far.”
The excitement in his eyes and the way his whole body snapped to high alert. This was one of those times she found him extra adorable. “You know everything about me.”
“Not true.”
He knew the worst and hadn’t taken off, so that was something. She couldn’t tell him all of it—not the worst part that no one knew—but she could try to explain who she was back then. “Before the murders I was a pretty normal college coed, completely self-centered and so sure I would get a business degree, move overseas and live this glamorous life. All while running in marathons and generally being awesome.”
He laughed. “Sounds like a typical twenty-something.”
The rich sound spurred her to continue. “I had a lot of confidence and a very supportive dad.”
“Your mom?”
“She left long ago. I actually have no idea where she is.” Before Matthias could offer the usual “I’m sorry” response that made her head spin, she pushed on. “The point is, everything was normal for me until the day it wasn’t.”
“I don’t really know what normal is, but no matter who you are, stumbling into that scene had to be horrifying.” The regret was right there in his eyes. “I’m sorry you had to live through that.”
She guessed he’d seen the photos or at least heard enough to know this wasn’t a case of kids dying in their sleep. It had been a bloodbath, with defensive wounds and a fight to the death. All things that made her the prime suspect for so long because no one believed that she didn’t hear the commotion just one floor down.
But she didn’t want to talk about her. “So, who are you, Matthias Clarke?”
“What you see is what you get with me.”
Disappointment pummeled her. She’d expected him to play fair. “You’re cheating.”
“You know exactly what to say to get me talking about things I never talk about. I hate being accused of not playing fair.”
“So then?”
He rubbed his hands up and down his thighs. “My mom gave me up and I never knew my father. Never had a huge need to track him down.”
“Were your adoptive parents nice?”
“Well, that’s the thing.” He rubbed those hands harder. “There was an issue about the consent forms and trying to find her, so instead of a clean adoption I ended up back in foster care. There was a hearing to terminate parental rights but it scared off the people who planned to adopt me. After all the time and legal maneuvering I never got out until I aged out.”
Her heart ached for him. She wanted to reach out and say things that she’d mean but she knew from experience he’d find them empty and not all that helpful. She’d sat on his side of this type of conversation before, on the receiving end of pity, and it lacked any sort of restorative power.
But knowing even that bit about him provided some insight. He was a man who had to fight for everything and never really knew where he fit in. So much of who he was fell into place.
She wanted to know more but not make the wounds deeper, so she went for what she thought might be an easier subject. “Who was the man you were talking about?”
Some of the tension left Matthias’s shoulders. “His name was Quint. He rounded up a bunch of us, young men with potential and a strong need to have their skills focused into legal work.”
She thought that was a good thing but couldn’t be sure. “I don’t know what that means.”
“He ran a security company. The one I now own because I bough
t it from him when he retired.”
“So, he was your mentor.”
A small smile crossed his lips. “He was everything. He stopped all five of us from doing stupid things that would have landed us in jail or in the ground.”
Every new piece of information cracked open his shell but led to more questions. “What exactly did he stop you from doing?”
“Taking revenge.” He reached out and took her hand. “And I’m thinking that’s enough show-and-tell for tonight.”
The need for more pounded her but she bit back the thousand questions spinning around in her head. “Agreed.”
They had other things to do tonight. Things that she thought about until she couldn’t concentrate or sleep.
He turned her hand over. Ran a fingertip along the inside of her palm. Caressed every inch of skin. “So, is sex still on the table?”
“I’d prefer if we used the bed rather than a table.” She lifted his hand and slipped his finger into her mouth. Twirled her tongue around it.
“You are so fucking hot.”
“Tell me all about it while you take my clothes off.”
“Deal.” He leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her mouth then stood.
He didn’t move back. His legs were right in front of her. So close that she reached out and trailed a hand up the back of his legs and over his firm calf. “But I’m still dressed.”
“For now.” He unbuttoned his shirt. He almost moved in slow motion.
She watched as he revealed inch by delicious inch of skin. He slipped the material off his shoulders and dropped it next to her, but she couldn’t look away from him. From the broad chest to those sleek muscles.
When he reached for his belt, she batted his hands away and took over the task. The belt buckle jangled as she slid the other end through. First came the button. Then the zipper. Her hand dipped inside his fly and wrapped around him. “Every part of your body is impressive.”
His fingers slipped into her hair. “Wait until you see what I can do with it.”
“So sure of yourself.” She pumped her hand up and down a few times. Power flowed through her as he grew in her palm.
The Enforcer Page 14
