by Nancy Warren
Her face was lined by doubt. She turned to her old friend. “What do you think, Max?”
“Adam’s right. You shouldn’t be alone. He’s a good cop. He’ll watch your back. But if you prefer one of my guys, just say the word.”
“No. If I have to have someone living with me, at least I know Adam.” She attempted a smile. “And I won’t feel so obliged. I look at it as a trade—personal coaching for bodyguard services.”
“That’s my girl,” Max said. He glanced at his watch. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
“I can’t be with her all the time,” Adam said, voicing his thoughts. “Could you spring for somebody to keep an eye on Serena at work?”
“What?” she gasped. “You mean like a babysitter?”
“I mean like a security guard.”
Before she could rant at him, Max interrupted. “We’re not talking rent-a-cops here, Serena. We’ll send in somebody who you can say is an accountant doing your books or an intern or something. Nobody outside this room will know the truth. That he’s a trained security professional.” He nodded at both of them. “I’ll have someone there by this afternoon.”
“Thanks,” Adam said, knowing that it would be a huge relief to have someone watching Serena during the hours he had to do his own job. And part of that job was tracking down whoever was messing with his sexy performance coach.
Max turned to Serena. “I mean it. You need anything, call me.”
“I will.”
With a wave, he was gone.
Serena stared once more at the smiley face grinning up at her in a gruesome parody of itself. Then she turned away with a shudder.
He scooped up the evidence bag and placed it in his beaten-up old leather briefcase.
“I want to take this down to the precinct and get it checked out right away. How about I take you home and then I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours and drive you to work.”
“I’m perfectly capable—”
“Stop being a pain in the ass.”
She huffed out an irritated breath. “Fine.”
11
SERENA HAD NEVER felt unsafe in her apartment. She lived on the eighteenth floor of an exclusive building. Her neighbors, mostly executives or retirees, were lovely people.
Now someone had invaded her space.
She didn’t like the feeling of vulnerability that gave her.
As they drove toward her home, she and Adam didn’t talk much. She was aware of Adam brooding beside her. They parked in the visitor area and he walked around to open the door for her, scanning the vicinity with a practiced eye before allowing her to exit the car.
This must be what it’s like to be royalty or a celebrity, she thought as he put an arm across her back and hustled her to the front door. Her key fob was already in her hand, so they scooted right into the wood-and-marble lobby. She saw him glance around and knew he wasn’t admiring the decor. He was checking for cameras. As she’d suspected, there was one only outside the front door.
The elevator seemed small with Adam inside it. He took up a lot of space and that somehow made her feel breathless. She caught him looking at her and when she returned the gaze, he glanced away.
He stepped out of the elevator first, scanned right and left before nodding to her to follow him. She unlocked her heavy front door, imagining how she’d have felt if she’d been the one to find that awful face taped there. Adam watched every move. She suspected he was gauging the security.
Once inside, he said, “May I take a look around?”
She didn’t argue, merely nodded. She hoped he would look in all the closets and under the beds so she didn’t have to.
It didn’t take more than five minutes for Adam to check every room.
“Nice place,” he said. “And it checks out.”
Then they stood together in the foyer. “I’m so sorry to put you to so much trouble,” she said.
Her cell phone sounded, indicating she had a text message. She willed her hand not to shake as she pulled out the smartphone and checked the message. Adam watched her, grim and alert.
“Oh, thank heaven. It’s just Lisa checking in. She doesn’t know about the creepy text yet. She wouldn’t know this would freak me out.” She put a hand to her head. “I’ve got to get a grip.”
He grasped her shoulders with two hands. “You’re doing great.”
Their gazes connected and she saw such strong feeling there that she said, “Adam.” Just that one word, uttered in a breathless tone, and suddenly he was crushing her against him, his mouth coming down hard on hers.
She wrapped herself around him, clinging, grasping his jacket, pulling him closer. His mouth was both fierce and tender at once as he plundered and took. Her response was so strong she shocked herself. She was wild with lust, crazy for him.
Part of her suspected that stress and fear were being channeled into sexual need so strong she was literally aching to be taken. She didn’t really care. It was so much better to feel this raging excitement than the gnawing fear.
She moaned against his mouth when he pulled slowly away. He stared down at her, breathing heavily, obviously as shocked by their over-the-top passion as she was.
“I would apologize for that except that I don’t think I can.”
She put a hand up to his face, all craggy and warm. “Funny. I was thinking of thanking you.”
He chuckled at that. “You are one hell of a woman, you know that?”
Then he did the strangest thing. He lifted her hand from his cheek and kissed the open palm. “I’ll see you later.”
Max called her soon after Adam left. “I’ve got someone for you,” he said. “Name’s Mark Hardy. Former marine. Also has a degree in accounting, which comes in handy.”
“I already have an accountant,” she said, feeling more and more like other people were taking over her life.
“Maybe you can give him a bogus project to work on. Doesn’t matter. He’ll arrive before you in the morning and check the place out. He’ll leave with you at the end of the day and see you off the premises. He’ll make sure you get home okay.”
“What if I don’t want to go home?” She knew she was being unreasonable but she felt as though she were under house arrest.
Max was eminently reasonable and acted as though her pissiness were perfectly normal. “Wherever you go in the day you should take him with you. Maybe calling him an intern is a better idea. Or you’ve hired a junior performance coach. You’re trying him out on probation. Or maybe he’s writing a book about you and wants to follow you everywhere. He’ll follow your lead. Have a private meeting with him this afternoon and figure it out.”
“This is going to cause trouble with my assistant, you know. She wants to train as a performance coach.”
“You were always good at HR problems in business school. You’ll figure it out.”
“I want my real life back.”
“You’ll get it. Be patient.”
She’d never been very good with patience.
After a long shower, she did her hair and makeup and changed into a pair of houndstooth slacks and a crisp white shirt. Put on some discreet gold jewelry and Chanel flats. Somehow, feeling put together physically helped her feel put together mentally. If she was also wearing some of the nicest underwear she owned, the stuff she’d paid an absurd amount for in Paris, that was her business.
She double-checked that her guest bedroom was dust-free and made the bed with fresh sheets. She put out fresh towels in the second bathroom. That steamy kiss had been amazing, but she wasn’t sure this was the time to start an affair with a cop who had assigned himself the role of her personal bodyguard.
But then, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to resist if he tried to seduce her.
The cleaners had been only a couple of days earlier, so the place was spotless.
Oh, no, she thought. The cleaners. They had a key to her home. She’d have to tell Adam. Maria and Esperanza were two lovely women from Colombia who’d been her housekeepers for a couple of years now. No doubt Adam would brand them as members of a drug cartel or something and end up scaring them away.
She made herself a sandwich and, while she ate her lunch, tried to figure out how to present Mark to her assistant without divulging his real identity and purpose in her office.
She finished the sandwich, ate an apple, brewed tea and was still no closer to a solution. Finally, she decided there wasn’t one. She was going to tell Lisa the truth.
It flicked across her mind that Lisa had dropped important files off at her apartment a couple of times. She could easily talk her way into the building.
In order to leave a scrawled happy face on her boss’s door? No. Serena made a decision right there that she was going to continue to trust the people she was closest to until there was a reason not to.
She felt better once she’d made that decision. A little more in control. She wasn’t prepared to let a nameless coward damage relationships that were important to her.
Adam arrived soon after one. The second she saw him her stomach went jumpy. He gave her a slow, sexy grin. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
He held up an overnight bag. “I packed a few things.”
“Okay.” He took the bag straight to the guest room. She was relieved he didn’t assume he’d be sharing her bed tonight based on that deep hot kiss. Sex with Adam—as hot as it would no doubt be—would only complicate her already messed-up life.
As he drove her to her office, he said, “I talked to your building superintendent. Said there’d been an incident without giving any specifics. You’ve got security cameras outside the front door and the parking garage and there’s one in the foyer I didn’t spot. No cameras on the individual floors, unfortunately. Anyway, we can review the tapes. See if you recognize anyone.”
She nodded. Dreaded the idea of recognizing someone, perhaps someone she knew and liked, sneaking in to leave her such an eerie message. She much preferred the theory that her threatening texter was a stranger to her, someone who’d seen her at a public event and got a kinky thrill sending her uncomfortable messages.
She also hoped they found the person very soon. Before she lost any more of her autonomy.
When they got to her office, Adam insisted on coming in with her. Lisa glanced up in surprise when he entered. “Hi, Lisa,” she said. “You remember Adam?”
“Yes. Of course. Hello.” Lisa must have been wondering what was going on. Serena had been with Adam at the end of her workday yesterday, called this morning to say she’d be a few hours late in and then turned up with him in tow. Lisa was too much of a professional to reveal even the tiniest hint of her thoughts, which Serena appreciated.
“Hi.”
She led Adam into her office to keep up the pretense that he was here on business. “I could give you some reading material to help you focus on peak performance,” she said.
When she turned, he’d shut the door. “I don’t think I need reading material,” he said as he pulled her into his arms and proceeded to demonstrate peak kissing performance.
When he pulled slowly away, leaving her stunned and half reeling, she said, “This is very inconvenient timing.”
“I know. It sucks.” He kissed her again, swiftly. “See you tonight.”
* * *
SHE FIXED HER LIPSTICK, checked the mirror she kept in her desk to make sure her hair wasn’t mussed, then walked to the door. “Lisa, can I talk to you in my office for a second?”
“Sure.”
Lisa came in, a notebook and pen in hand.
“Sit down.”
“You’re not firing me, are you?” Lisa asked, her face growing suddenly pale, her eyes widening.
“Firing you? God, no.”
“Oh, good. I really wish I hadn’t brought up the idea of training to be a coach yesterday. It was bad timing. I am really sorry if I offended you in any way.”
“No. No. It’s my fault. What’s going on with me has nothing to do with you. And I’m flattered that you want to move up in the business. Truly.”
Lisa nodded, looking far from relieved.
Serena made a decision right then and there. “And I’ve decided to take you up on your suggestion. You’re right. I’m swamped and turning business away. You can work with me, train with me, and soon you’ll build your own client list.”
Lisa’s expression changed from carefully neutral to overjoyed. “Really?” Her smile was so wide it looked painful. “Wow. Thanks. I’m so excited. I’ve got a ton of ideas and I’ll work really hard to prove myself to you.”
“You already have or I wouldn’t be offering you this opportunity.”
“Right. Awesome. Thanks.”
She knew that if she trusted Lisa enough to bring her into the business, she needed to trust her enough to tell her the truth. “But there’s something going on that might make you change your mind about working with me.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“You know those emails? The creepy ones I’ve been getting?”
Lisa frowned. “Yeah. Of course.”
“Well, yesterday I got a text message. Obviously from the same person.” It was hard for her even to talk about this. She swallowed. “The text mentioned what I was wearing yesterday. It kind of freaked me out.”
“Oh, my God.” Lisa’s hand went to her heart and a look of horror replaced the happy smile of a moment ago.
“You know how the emails always end with a happy face?”
Lisa nodded.
“Well, so did the text. And then this morning there was a hand-drawn happy face taped to my apartment door.”
Lisa’s face drained of color. “Serena, you need to go to the police.”
“Adam is the police.”
“Oh, right.”
“And my good friend Max Varo owns a top security firm. He’s arranged for an ex-marine security expert named Mark to come hang out in the office and keep an eye on us. He’ll be arriving this afternoon.”
“He’s what, like a bodyguard?”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
“As I said, if all of this makes you too uncomfortable, I perfectly understand if you want to take some time off. Now that the crazy emailer has proven he has access to me, I have to wonder if you could be in any danger.”
Lisa rose. “I am not a person who runs away when people I care about are in trouble. Tell me what I can do.”
It was such a simple statement but Serena felt ridiculously cheered by the support.
“Thanks. The best thing you can do is act like nothing out of the ordinary has happened. And keep your eyes and ears open.”
“Oh, don’t worry.” She fiddled with her notebook and then said, “Do you have any idea who could be doing this?”
“I wish I did.” Oh, it was nice to have someone to talk to who wasn’t going to boss her around. And who was a woman. “What about you? You’re observant and you’ve studied psychology. Has anyone seemed off at all to you?”
“I can’t think of anyone, no.”
“I hate to even ask, but Marcus has the skills to send untraceable emails and so on. And those video games he invents are awful, violent things.”
Lisa’s eyes opened in obvious shock. “Marcus Lemming?” She was already shaking her head. “Marcus is the sweetest, gentlest person I’ve ever known. And he thinks the world of you. He’d never do anything to hurt you.”
She was pleased, of course, that Lisa didn’t think Marcus could be behind the harassment, but another unpleasant idea raised its he
ad. The suspicion that her soon-to-be partner had a crush on one of their biggest clients.
* * *
MARK TURNED OUT to be a sweet-faced man in his mid-thirties. She’d been worried that he’d have a marines haircut and military bearing that would give him away immediately, but of course Max owned the best security company in town. They didn’t go in for obvious. Mark wore a suit that couldn’t hide his muscular build, but nothing else about him suggested he was anything other than the office clerk he was pretending to be. His hair was average. His looks were average. His voice was, well, average. She had no clue from his speech what part of the country he was from. He acted polite and low-key. She thought she’d have trouble spotting him in a crowd.
He was, in a word, perfect.
He took his assigned desk and moved it slightly so he had better sight lines. Then he settled behind the second desk she kept in the front area, where her accountant or the odd contract admin she hired to help with big projects worked when they were in the office.
She gave Mark a spreadsheet on her book sales to update. He seemed perfectly happy with the menial task of inputting data, though she noticed he took frequent breaks to walk around, check what was happening in the hallway, glance out the window. At first he unnerved her. Then after a while she got used to it.
For a woman who prided herself on independence, she now had a daytime bodyguard and a nighttime bodyguard.
At least one of them was a relaxing, nonthreatening presence.
12
NOTHING HAPPENED ALL that day. As the hours progressed, Serena began to feel more and more as if she and Adam and Max had overreacted.
Serena worked quietly in the office. The only thing on her calendar for the day was a networking event in the afternoon.
At four she came out of her office and Mark immediately rose and stepped out from behind his desk. “I’ve got a networking event to go to,” she told both Mark and Lisa.
Her assistant frowned. “Are you sure you should go?”
“Yes. I refuse to cancel a single engagement. If I do, my stalker will think he’s winning whatever bizarre game he’s playing.”
