His eyes popped open. “Damn, woman.”
“Is that a no?” She somehow doubted it.
He let out a long exhale. “Give me a few minutes.”
Since she couldn’t actually move that wouldn’t be a problem. “I’m not going anywhere.”
With a groan, he moved. Flipped her over onto her back and balanced his body over hers. “Until we’re ready we should practice kissing.”
Just when she thought he couldn’t get sexier he said something that lured her in even more. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I think we need lots of practice.”
He lowered his head until his mouth skimmed across hers. “But it turns out I may not need too many minutes to recover.”
“Let’s see if we can set a record.”
CHAPTER 22
Emery insisted on retrieving clothes. Wren had been tempted to feed her a line about buying her new ones. He could and he would, but he knew her well enough to sense that the offer would meet with an eye roll.
Unfortunately, getting enough supplies to stay at his house for a few days meant leaving the bed. He’d been prepared to call in sick for the first time in his grown-up life. She blew that apart over breakfast. He’d managed to usher her out of the house before Mrs. Hayes appeared to clean up. That introduction could wait until Emery felt more comfortable being with him. No need to hit her with more parts of his life until she adjusted to the secrets he’d already told.
Still, roaming around the city did not strike him as smart. Not until he had a better handle on who would take the risk to break into her place not once but twice. That was all he could think about as she unlocked the outside door to the apartment building. Well, almost. But the text from Keith saying the place was clear on their last check and no one had entered the complex in the last ten minutes kept dragging his focus back to the safety issues.
He tried one more time to make it clear he planned to be in her apartment for only a short amount of time. “Since this is a terrible idea, we’ll get in and out fast.”
She didn’t even look at him, but she did shake her head. “Or I can decide how long we stay once I decide what I’m packing.”
Clearly his approach did not impress her. “This is an unnecessary risk.”
“I can’t go to work naked.”
It was as if she was trying to torture him. To get him to whisk her back to bed. “You could take some time off.”
“Because that’s what you would do in my position? Hide and not go outside?” She ended the comment with an eye roll.
He had to admit she had a point. “Okay, you win that argument.”
That earned him a big smile. “I like that about you.”
The happiness flowing through her was a big improvement from the wariness that wrapped around her as they’d stepped out of the car a few seconds earlier. Still, he was smart enough to wade in carefully to any conversation. “What?”
“You know when to concede.”
“Only to you.” He never did it any other time or with anyone else. It might damage his reputation if it got out, but he doubted the people he dealt with on a daily basis would believe her if she tried to explain it to them. They tended to be more of the we-rule-the-women misogynist crowd. The assholes.
She winked at him. “Nice answer.”
He was so busy soaking in her smile that he almost tripped over the idiot waiting in the hallway by her door. “What the hell?”
Emery stepped in front of Wren, as if to protect him. “Tyler?”
Tyler glanced around her smaller frame and focused on Wren. “I was going to ask where you’ve been, but I guess I know.”
Wren wasn’t in the mood for an intrusion from a twenty-something annoyance. “Then you can save time and skip to telling us what you’re doing here.”
“Inside voices, gentlemen.” She unlocked her door then pointed to it. “Both of you, go.”
Wren waited until Tyler went inside to follow. He sent a quick message to Keith to let him know he should stand by. The unwanted guest would be leaving soon, but the bigger question for Wren was how he got in, in the first place.
Emery stepped into the family room then turned around to face the men. Her confusion was obvious as she looked at Tyler. “Did I forget that you were coming over?”
“I just—”
“What?” Wren asked, not willing to hear the kid ramble on about nothing. Forget that he was only a decade younger and actually a grown-up, the guy came off to Wren as a kid.
“What is your problem?” Tyler made a scoffing sound before turning away from Wren. “Really, Emery. This guy is not your type.”
“I’m not convinced you know what she wants.” Wren did. He’d spent all night learning what she liked and didn’t like. What made her moan.
“Enough.” She put her hand on his chest before glaring at him. “Play nice.”
“Could I talk to you alone for a second?” Tyler asked as he walked toward the kitchen. “Just for a second.”
“No.” The dislike for this guy hit Wren full force. He didn’t have a reason, really, but there was something smarmy about him. All swagger and little substance. Sure, he was supposed to be smart and a financial up-and-comer. Wren knew because he’d checked on the guy’s background as part of the case. Checked and still didn’t think all the pieces connected.
Bottom line: Wren had no idea what Emery saw in Tyler. Wren chalked the long-ago attraction up to teen angst.
Her fingers wrapped around Wren’s tie and she tugged for a few seconds before letting go again. “You understand that sort of response tempts me to say yes even though I intended to say no, right?”
“I do now,” he said as he smoothed the material out again.
She turned to Tyler with her arms crossed in front of her. “What’s going on?”
“I was worried about you.” The anger clicked off and the charm came roaring back. “The other night you talked about a break-in. We had a nice time together, so I thought you might like some company.”
Wren really wanted to punch the guy. The fact Tyler kept glancing over then looking to the door, like he was sending a subliminal signal for Wren to leave, sure didn’t help. “I think he wants me to go.”
“I wonder why.” Emery spared Wren a quick glance before focusing on her friend again. “Tyler, I’m fine. Really. The break-in was a weird thing, but you have to expect it when you live in the middle of a city.”
He smiled at her. “I live in a big city. You live in DC.”
Whatever the hell that meant. Wren couldn’t really ferret the meaning out, but he thought it was some sort of New York versus DC battle that only Tyler seemed to be playing.
“Look, I’ll call you later.” She reached out to touch the side of Tyler’s arm. “I have to get to work and there are a few things we need to do before that.”
Tyler’s gaze switched from her to Wren and back again. “Maybe we can have dinner this weekend?”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
Not to him. Wren thought that sounded pretty fucking terrible. “Does it?”
She ignored the comment as she ushered Tyler to the door and waved goodbye. “Talk to you soon.”
Then she turned on Wren.
“That glare could melt steel.” He might not be great with people, but he knew that was not the expression of a happy woman.
“Really?” That’s all she said.
He got the point. “What? I let him live.”
She let out a lingering sigh as she walked around him and grabbed a duffel bag out of the hall closet. “You could have been nicer.”
“Not really.” He thought he was rather controlled compared to what he wanted to do to Tyler. The guy had a grating personality. Fine on the outside. Supportive family. Right schools. Big job. But there was something. A chill that moved underneath that made Wren doubt the sincerity of anything the guy said.
She glared at him again, this time from over her shoulder. “Levi Wren.”
Fine. He would let it drop. After all, he was an old friend of hers and . . . nope. He couldn’t do it. “Tyler is entitled and annoying.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“I’m familiar with the type.” Wren noticed she didn’t exactly argue with that point. He should have let the topic drop, but there was one last thing he needed to know as he followed her to the bedroom closet. “You’re not actually going on a date with him, are you?”
She dumped the bag on the bed and started filling it. Put enough clothes in for about two days. “Who said anything about a date?”
Wren wanted to dump all of her clothes in there but refrained. “He did.”
She sat down on the bed and stared up at him. “He said dinner.”
“We’ve had dinner.”
She frowned. “Did we actually eat that Chinese takeout the other night?”
As if that were the point. “And we’ve had sex. Have you had sex with Tyler?”
“I think you’re regressing. You sound like you’re twelve.”
She wasn’t wrong, but he pushed ahead anyway. “Probably true but, for the record, getting naked means we’re seeing each other.”
Silence screeched through the room after that. Her mouth dropped open and Wren could almost hear her thinking, which was good because his mind had gone blank. He’d said words he never intended to say. He felt them to his soul, but that didn’t mean he meant to spill like that.
“Seeing each other?” She hesitated between each word.
Shit. Yeah, forget the plane. Now he’d really messed up. That comment had been an overreach. It also shook him that he even thought it, let alone said it out loud.
“I’m not sure what that means to you, but I’m wondering if I get a say in what we are and what we’re doing,” she said in a monotone voice.
He wasn’t sure how to respond, so he went with honest. “Unfortunately.”
One of her eyebrows lifted. “You’d rather order me?”
This was not going well. “Is that option open to me?”
She stood up. Something that looked suspiciously like a smile started to form on her lips. “You, Mr. Loner. The big brooding guy who values his privacy so much that no one even knows who you really are. You want us to date?”
Now it was his turn to be knocked speechless. “Did I use that word?”
“I picked it. Now, answer the question.”
She’d actually backed him into a wall physically . . . hell, in every way possible. He didn’t know when it happened, but there he stood, pushed against the doorway with his one arm tangled in the clothes on one side of her closet, with her right there.
“Admittedly, I don’t sound like much of a catch in your description.” Any smart woman would run. He kept waiting for her to do just that.
“I’m surprised you want to put a label on what we’re doing.”
He wasn’t sure he was the one who did that, but bringing that up struck him like a bad idea. “Anything I say now will sound dirty.”
“Be serious.”
“I was. Was being honest, too.” This part he was very clear on. “I don’t like the idea of you seeing anyone else.”
“And in exchange you’ll say we’re dating.”
Damn, she almost stood on top of him now. “The direction of this conversation has me nervous.”
“I refuse to believe you actually get nervous.”
When she said things like that he wondered if she knew him at all. Either that or he was a much better actor than he thought. “Again, I am human.”
“You seemed pretty human last night.”
This he could handle. Some of the tension eased from his shoulders. A ball of anxiety still kicked around in his gut, but the memories of the night helped with that. “I thought that went well.”
“That is the least romantic thing I’ve ever heard you say.” She took his hand. “But, so we’re clear, I don’t want you to see anyone else either.”
It took a second for the words to filter through his brain, along with the male panic from the word dating, but they got through. He squeezed her fingers. “Then it’s settled.”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure that’s true, but fine.” She let go and turned back to the bed. “Let me finish grabbing some clothes and other stuff.”
He should have declared that a victory and pulled back. Should have, but there was one more thing. “We have another issue.”
She laughed. “You think we only have two?”
There was nothing amusing about this topic. Not for Wren. “Tyler got into your building.”
She shrugged as she folded up a T-shirt and tucked it into the corner of her bag. “It happens in apartment buildings all the time. He buzzes another unit from outside and keeps doing it until someone lets him in.”
Since he needed her to hear what he was saying, he walked up next to her, facing her. “I meant that the guard stationed outside didn’t say Tyler was here.”
Her head shot up and she stared at him. “Say it when?”
A strange need to shut this conversation down stole over him. He wasn’t the type to ignore problems, but part of him sensed this might be a time where the messenger—namely, him—suffered the brunt of her anger.
He showed her the message on his cell. “No report of a Tyler sighting, which means he got in without coming through the front door.”
Instead of getting angry, she held on to his hand and the phone and read through the message on the screen. Looked like she read it a second time before glancing up again. “How is that possible? He shouldn’t know about the back exit.”
A shot of relief had him fighting to keep from gulping in air. “We’ll figure that out when we watch the surveillance tape.”
She made a face. “Now you’re making me nervous.”
“Good.”
Emery couldn’t stop mentally replaying the scene from the bedroom. A week ago, even five days ago, with all that happened there she would have gotten stuck on the questions about Tyler. The part about him just showing up, the timing . . . how he got into her building unseen. There was an explanation, of course, but she would have asked for it.
But her focus had shifted ever so slightly. All she could think about was Wren. They were dating. That was such a big word. When she mentioned it, tested the word, she’d been so sure he’d run and blow a Levi-sized hole through her front door on the way out. Didn’t happen.
He was a constant surprise. So was the fact she’d brought him to work. That hadn’t been planned, but then nothing with him had been. He followed her to the coffee shop and he’d been in her thoughts—actually with her—so much since then.
Heads turned as they walked down the aisle separating one side of cubicles from the other. One volunteer winked at her. Another openly stared. Emery got it. Wren’s face and confidence. The way he moved, tall and so sure of his place in the world. Everything about him commanded attention.
Not that his ego exploded from any of it. He nodded hello and that was about all. He didn’t do that guy thing where he scanned the room for the prettiest woman. He kept his hand on her back and moved them from one end of the room to the other.
They stopped at the entrance to Caroline’s office. She had a door, but it was always open. This time was no different. She was up and waiting by the time they got there. Emery figured the strange silence that fell over the room drew her out.
Caroline ushered them inside and circled back to her desk. She stood by her desk and didn’t offer them a chair. Right now, there was nowhere to sit. Case files lined almost every inch of the place.
“This is unexpected. I thought you’d stay home, Emery.” Caroline glanced at Wren. “And I’m only guessing at who you are. I have to say I didn’t think I’d ever meet you, but your reputation is impressive.”
To wipe out any awkwardness, mostly hers, Emery fell back on introductions. “This is Caroline Montgomery. My boss.”
Wren reached out and shook her hand. “Ms. Montgomery
.”
“Please call me Caroline.” She bit down on her lower lip as if she was trying to keep from smiling. “And I should call you . . . ?”
Wren shot Emery a side glance before looking at Caroline again. “Actually—”
Emery rushed to fill in the blank. “Brian Jacobs.”
“Huh.” Caroline treated them to a slow nod. “Okay.”
“She knows the name Wren.” Emery’s nerves twitched until she had to fight the urge to fumble around as she looked at him. “Just that. I told her the day after we met and I . . . well, she’s the only one I’ve told.”
Emery didn’t expect him to divulge his real name to everyone she knew. In fact, a part of her liked sharing the special secret of his first name and his real identity . . . for now. If their relationship, or whatever it was, continued then they’d have to talk about the name thing in some depth. Until then, she’d call him Brian in public and never say the name Levi to anyone.
“And I haven’t repeated it nor will I. Consider it forgotten, Brian.” Caroline turned to Emery. “But why are you here today?”
“I still have a job, right?”
Caroline frowned. “You were robbed last night. You can take a day off for that.”
“Especially since it was the second time,” he added.
“That’s not what happened.” When Wren started to talk again, Emery cut him off. “Don’t help.”
She half expected him to butt in and this time not accept the role of second chair in this conversation. But he just stood there, taking in the notices pinned to the board on one side of Caroline’s office. The new cases. Then his gaze switched to the whiteboard inside the glassed-in conference room to the left of Caroline’s office. It displayed the status of cases and a list of assignments.
Despite his strength and all his resources, all the work he did to “fix” things, at heart he was the boy who lost his mother by his father’s hand. Standing there, seeing the evidence of so much similar despair, had to have an impact. Emery regretted bringing him face-to-face with pain that might resonate so much with his past.
“You can work from home.” Caroline winced. “Oh, hell. I didn’t think. Forget that. You can come stay with me until you feel comfortable going back.”
The Fixer Page 20
