Bare Facts (16 page)

“I’ll take sex if you don’t want comfort.”

She flushed a little and licked her lips. He groaned at the sight of her sweet pink tongue moving over her lips. “Not now. The cops will be here any minute to take our statements. And if Anna interrupts us again, I’ll die of embarrassment.”

“I won’t.” He caught her around the waist and drew her back into the curve of his body. She rested against him for a minute, her arms wrapping around him and squeezing him tight.

“Of course you won’t—you’re a man.” She stepped away from him and ran her finger down the center of his body, stopping at his belt. His erection pulsed and he canted his hips forward.

She caressed him briefly and then stepped back. He almost groaned out loud at the loss of her touch.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?” he asked, forcing his thoughts away from his groin.

“Just a statement of fact,” she said, turning and walking to the door. “Did you find the plans for your San Juan home?”

“No. Sekijima is never going to wait for me to go out there to attack. He’s probably already working his way into the high-rise here.”

“Why didn’t you say this before? I was going to send you away. Or lock you in my command center. It’s impenetrable.”

“Hide me away?” he asked. Never. He didn’t hide. He fought and challenged his enemies. He could never hide while a woman went out and risked her life for him.

“I want to protect you, Charity.”

“Why? You know I can handle myself.”

“You’re the only thing I’ve had that I want to keep and I’m not going to let Sekijima get you.”

He had no right to that thought or desire but it was what he felt. His entire focus had changed sometime during the day. Getting to Sekijima and finishing their blood feud was no longer the most important objective in this game. Protecting Charity was, and he knew he was damned good at achieving objectives when he set his mind to them.

“I’m not going to let him get me
or
you. Together we are going to stop him.”

Together. Even with Sekijima, he’d essentially been alone. That was how the Yakuza ran. Though they did work toward a common goal, most of them operated through their own networks. In Japan there was more of a sense of openness about being in the Yakuza, but here in the U.S. it was different.

“I’m not much of a team player.”

“Good thing you’re a quick learner,” she said.

“What makes you think I am?” he asked, following her out of the study and down the hall to the living room where her friends waited.

“Just following a hunch.”

“A hunch? That’s not what I’m paying for.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of woman’s intuition?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I think I’d take a Glock at my side over intuition.”

“In this case you get both. Except I carry a Sig Sauer.”

“And handle it with amazing skill.”

“That’s high praise coming from you,” she said as they entered the room where her friends waited.

The cops were waiting as well, which is the only reason why he didn’t pull her back into his arms and kiss her sassy mouth.

D
aniel had been set on a certain path since he’d broken with the Dragon Lords. Yet a part of him had stayed mired there. It was hard to go from living one way—by the Yakuza rules, where he’d been revered and feared—to the corporate world where he was respected, but only to some extent.

Over the years he’d learned a different way to function but a part of him—the raw, rough street punk—still longed for the days when he could pull out his gun or knife and settle differences without playing games.

He was on edge and didn’t really enjoy the function nearly as much as he should have. The charity dinner was one he’d been committed to attending more than three months earlier. Having Charity on his arm, dressed in a one-of-a-kind designer gown, was, well, not a hardship.

“Remind me again why you are here,” Charity said. She hadn’t wanted to come to this function. She thought there were too many variables. The Liberty Investigations team had tried and failed to vet the attendee list for anyone who worked for Sekijima.

Daniel knew they wouldn’t find a reference, yet at the same time he knew that Sekijima would send someone here. And Daniel planned to use that person to lead him back to his old enemy. And end things.

“Because I gave my word that I’d attend. You’re just angry I made you leave the knife in the car.”

“That and the fact that you wouldn’t wear the Kevlar vest under your tux.” She rested her hand in the curve of his arm.

To the world, he wondered, did they look like just another couple at a corporate event? “This is too public a place. Trust me. Sekijima will come after me when it’s just the two of us.”

“Is that why we left the apartment empty? I don’t like that idea.”

“I’m well aware of all of your arguments.” She’d been firm in her views and hadn’t backed down from her arguments. He liked that about her. She stated her point of view with facts, not using emotion or manipulation to get what she wanted like women he’d known in the past would have.

Even Yuki, who he’d thought he’d loved—no, that was a lie. He’d liked the thought of Yuki but had never loved her.

“Then stop bringing the topic up again.”

“Daniel…”

“Charity…”

She rolled her eyes.

“Do you want a drink?” he asked, leading her over to one of the bars set up outside the banquet room.

“Seltzer water would be great.”

“Seltzer water?”

“I’m working.”

“Justine and Anna are providing cover. I think you can have one drink,” Daniel said. He wanted this evening with Charity. Wanted to pretend that he’d have her on his arm even if she wasn’t here as his bodyguard.

“Please.”

She put her hand to his forehead. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Ha, ha. Are you a mixed-drink woman or a wine drinker?”

“Wine. Anything white.”

“Stay here,” he said, working his way through the people milling around the bar. Charity stood to one side, out of the main flow. She was vigilant and watched the crowd like the professional she was.

He saw the worry in her eyes and knew that she wasn’t going to relax. Why had he dragged her here?

He knew it was to prove something to her. To prove he was a man who could give her the kind of life she deserved. And that kind of thinking was beyond stupid.

Which was the other reason why he was here with her. He needed to prove to himself that she wasn’t as important as he had let her become. Wanted to do it publicly so that maybe Sekijima wouldn’t go after her.

Sekijima was on his tail. The police had warned him that they’d offer what protection they could, but a threat from the Yakuza wasn’t something they were exactly trained to handle. As the chief had said, most men who receive threats made by the Oyabun aren’t known to the cops until they have the dead body in the morgue.

He wasn’t going to end up in the morgue and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let anything happen to Charity.

Someone bumped into him at the bar while he was giving the bartender his drink order. He glanced over his shoulder but the man behind him was talking to his wife, clearly not paying the least bit of attention to what was going on around him.

He bit back his own irritation, knowing it was his situation and not the man he was pissed at. He took the drinks and walked back to Charity.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks. I don’t like the way the light is coming in over there,” she said, pointing to the plate glass windows.

“Relax or I’m going to do something outrageous.”

“You’re not the type,” she said.

“What type am I?” he asked.

“A good man.” She said it carefully, as if she knew he wasn’t going to believe her.

And he didn’t, but he appreciated what she said and how her eyes had softened for a moment while she gazed at him. She gave her wine to a passing waiter and took his arm. “Let’s move back into the main room. We’re too exposed here.”

“I want to hold you in my arms.”

“As long as I can see the room, I’m fine with that.”

“Charity, let the job go. This night is for you.”

“I can’t. The job is who I am, Daniel. It always has been.”

“Can you guard me on the dance floor?”

“No.”

“Damn.”

“Let’s go home and I’ll dance with you there.”

But they couldn’t go back home. Not yet. He needed to give Sekijima time to make his move. And since Charity and the Liberty Investigation team had shot down every possible scenario he’d come up with to make himself bait, he’d been reduced to this.

It was the best he could do on short notice and the only way he could think of to keep all three women alive. He was armed to the teeth and just praying for a glimpse of someone from the Dragon Lords.

“You’re pretty tense for someone who’s so busy flirting with me.”

“I’m hard for you, baby—that’s why I’m tense,” he said, drawing her close to his side.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into the curve of his body. The wall of windows was a problem, just as she’d mentioned. It left them too exposed. He hoped like hell this didn’t turn out to be a big mistake. He drew her back, further away from the windows, and entered the ballroom as soon as the doors opened.

Something wasn’t right about the way Daniel was acting. He was too flirty, too casual, and he kept them carefully in the center of the room so that everyone could see them. Normally the attention wouldn’t have bothered her, but tonight, when she had the knife’s edge of tension sitting heavily on her shoulders, she hated it.

He kept one hand on her waist at all times, and whenever she tried to maneuver him into a more protected position, he danced them back around so that his body was shielding hers.

“Daniel, you have to stop this.”

“Stop what?”

“Trying to shield me. I want you protected by the wall and me. Stay where I put you.” She had a microphone earpiece that connected her to Anna and Justine, but the girls were quiet as they performed their surveillance duties. She wished she were out there with them instead of in this crowded room with too many people to watch.

“Not a chance, Charity, unless you drew me into your arms and held me there.”

She felt a little thrill at his words but pushed it aside for now. Daniel didn’t talk like this normally and she knew he was up to something tonight.

“Forget it. What is with you tonight?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, staring down into the cleavage revealed by her low-cut dress.

She grabbed his chin and lifted his head up so their gazes met. He hadn’t ever stared at her breasts. Not even when he thought she was just…well, fluff.

“Ha! I think you do. You’ve been acting strange since we left the police station.”

He refused to answer her and just kept up his vigilant watch of the room. But something was off. He didn’t work the room the way Perry would have, and he didn’t know very many people at the event. Why had he dragged them here?

She slipped out of his grasp and walked deliberately toward the side of the room. She heard him curse and then start to follow her. She found the door in the back of the ballroom that lead to the service corridor where the food-and-beverage staff was all lined up and prepping to start bringing out the food.

Daniel snagged her wrist, but she kept moving down the hall until she found an isolated section. She twisted her hold on his hand, grabbed his wrist and brought it down behind his back; using her grip on him, she forced him forward against the wall and held him there.

“What are you doing? Why are we here?”

“Charity, if you like it rough—”

His words were cut off by her hand pressing against his throat. “Stop flirting with me. That’s not how you normally are, and I’m not stupid or some ditzy bimbo. Why are you treating me like one?”

It was starting to hurt her feelings. She knew it shouldn’t, but they’d had a connection in his condo that she’d thought went way beyond sex, yet suddenly he was treating her like some floozy he’d picked up for the night.

He jerked his hand under hers and turned so that she was pinned to the wall by his hips and hands. “I’m trying to save your life.”

“What? Why? You are the one Sekijima is after.”

Daniel said nothing, just kept that razor gaze of his locked on her.

“Listen, we have a plan—just let us execute it,” she said. “This is what Liberty Investigations does best. Well, we really rock at everything,” she continued, hoping to lighten up the mood with a little teasing, but he just continued to hold her tight in his grip.

“I can’t just sit back and be the bait.”

“Tell me why not. You had been planning to do just that before we even got involved.”

“I’d been planning to arm myself to the teeth and lie in wait. This is different.”

“How?” she said, knowing she was missing something very important that he was trying to tell her.

“I don’t mind the risk to me.”

She understood where he was coming from. She felt the same way about him putting his life on the line. “We’re going to get Sekijima and take out the risk to you.”

He shook his head. “Sekijima isn’t going to allow that.”

“How do you know?” she asked. He knew their enemy better than she did. And what he’d told her of him had frightened her. Not because of the danger—she could handle the situation—but the relentless way that Sekijima had pursued Daniel, the way he was systematically taking out those close to him.

“Do you think he’s going to come after me?” she asked, making the only connection that made sense.

“I wish I could say no.”

“What makes you think he will?

Anna, Justine, and she had been operating under the assumption that Daniel was the main target and he had let them. But they’d all have to be extra vigilant. The pattern of Sekijima’s attack was finally becoming clear to her.

“He’s not going to rest until he’s taken down everyone near you, is he?”

“No. He’s trying to destroy my house.”

She knew he meant
house
, as in
life.
And she reached for him, wanting to comfort him, but he stepped away, watching her in the harsh illumination of the fluorescent lights, his green eyes hard and cold, making her shiver.

She knew there was no way that Sekijima was going to allow Daniel to live. This walk-in-the-park bodyguard assignment was turning into a very real menace. One that she might not be able to stop, the way she had with all of her other assignments.

Damn, she hated self-doubt. Of course she could keep Daniel safe. That’s what she did. She was very good at her job. “Well, we’re not going to let him succeed.”

He shrugged.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just a feeling I have.”

“What is?”

“That we’re being watched.”

“When did it start?”

“At the police station.”

“Dammit, I knew we should have just given our statements at the condo. Why didn’t you listen to me?”

Daniel tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “The cops weren’t exactly down with your plan.”

“Have you noticed anyone here tonight who looks out of place?”

“To be honest, no, but…”

“Your gut is telling you something’s wrong. Fine, then let’s figure it out. That doesn’t tell me why you are treating me like some kind of high-class escort.”

“I…this is not part of my plan,” he said, kissing her fiercely and stepping back. “I want Sekijima’s people to think you are alone. I can’t take a chance that he might suspect how much you mean to me.”

Daniel had said more than he’d meant to, but having the words out there made it easier. “Now, stay where I put you and keep acting like you don’t have a brain.”

“Why?”

“Because I could never be really attracted to someone who was stupid.”

“Me, either,” she said.

Daniel fought the knowledge that she was the perfect woman for him. He knew he wasn’t meant for forever; he’d only known Charity for a day but there was something about her that drew him.

He knew himself well enough to know that he wasn’t walking away from this relationship with her unscathed. And for the first time he had something he didn’t want to lose. He knew that keeping Charity was out of the question.

No matter how she looked at him now, once the job was over she’d realize that she deserved better. He was still more street thug than civilized, and if he’d learned anything throughout the course of his life, he knew that he would never be able to outrun the boy who’d grown up on the streets.

“Why are you watching me like that?” she asked. He heard the note of concern in her voice.

No one had ever worried over him the way she did. One part of him, the very cynical part that had been betrayed by the only person he’d ever allowed himself to depend on, cautioned that he was paying her to care. She had to protect him because that was her job.

But he’d always been a good judge of people and he could see the depth of the caring in her eyes. She wasn’t watching him because it was her job anymore. Now she was watching him because she wanted to keep him safe.

He wanted to hug her close, wrap his arms around her and pick her up and carry her out of this place. Take her and hide away with her where Sekimjima would never find her.