Hot Secrets (10 page)

It wasn’t a question, and though
taking orders normally wasn’t her cup of tea, it suited her just
fine if it meant she didn’t have to go inside alone. She nodded and
leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling exhausted. The adrenaline
high from her initial scare was wearing off to be replaced with
stark fear.

***

Royce waited to pull out his gun
until he stepped inside the door. He didn’t want to upset Lauren
any further, and right now, things that wouldn’t normally bother
her, might. She was just that rattled, and that sensitive.

He searched the apartment, all
the while aware of the leaden feeling in his gut. Gathering his
thoughts, he stood in the bedroom, giving himself a minute before
returning to Lauren’s side. He wasn’t sure what weighed on him more
heavily, Lauren’s safety or the fact that he knew she didn’t give
trust or control easily, but she was giving it to him. No,
no
,
the thing that
weighed the most heavily was knowing he was bound to hide the
secret pact with her father until this blew over. Part of him even
wondered if he could simply never tell her, but he discarded the
idea, knowing all too well that he’d end up captive to her father,
and even more so, to guilt. Running a hand through his hair, he let
out a loud breath. Then he heard Lauren’s voice. “Royce?”

He holstered his weapon before
responding. Walking into the living room, he found her looking
nervously around the room. “Woman,” he said, “I thought I told you
to wait.”

She bristled. “You took forever.
I was worried.”

He smiled, unable to help
himself. The idea of her worrying about him wasn’t such a bad one.
“You were, huh?”

Her brows knitted together. “Why
are you smiling?”

In several long strides, he
closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her
waist, and pulling her close. “Because I’m not used to anyone
worrying about me. I’m not leaving you tonight you do know
that
,
right?”

“Promise?”

“Promise. I need to make some
phone calls and talk to the doorman though. You do whatever you do
at night, and I’ll finish up as soon as possible.”

***

An hour later, Royce sat at
Lauren’s kitchen table, and ended a final call with Luke, having
confirmed the phone booth was in Time Square, and had been swept
for fingerprints. He pushed to his feet, more than eager to join
Lauren in the living room where she’d snuggled under a blanket in a
red silk robe to watch a True Crime show he’d tried to convince her
to change to something else, but she’d refused.

Royce rounded the couch to find
her fingers curled under her chin, her eyes shut, her breathing
heavy. He smiled. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been so good at putting
a woman to sleep. But the adrenaline rush from the fear, on top of
limited sleep the night before, had clearly worked a number on her.
And never before had he found himself just watching someone sleep,
so lost in taking in every delicate line and curve of someone’s
features. He shook himself and bent down to kiss her, stroking his
hand over her fiery hair.

He flipped off the television,
kicked off his boots, and slid onto the couch behind her. She
sighed and snuggled that perfect round backside of hers to his
front, and dug deeper into her pillow. Royce smiled into her hair
and made a silent vow. If he was going to be forced to keep a
secret from Lauren to keep her safe, then he damn sure was going to
make whoever was messing with her feel the pain he was going
to.

***

Dirt Diver sat with his booted feet kicked up on the wooden
surface of a cookie-cutter hotel desktop, a smile on his lips. The
monitor in front of him displayed an image of Royce Walker acting
like a watchdog to Lauren Reynolds, camped out by her couch as she
slept. He snorted. Royce Walker and the Walker brothers. Like they
could stop him from getting to her. Like
anyone
could stop him from getting to her. He liked
that the brothers were bad asses by most people’s standards, his
included. He liked it a lot. That meant Lauren would feel
protected, safe, secure. That meant that when he reached inside her
world and sliced it to bloody hell, she’d feel as gutted as she’d
made him feel. As she’d made so many people before him feel. That
meant she would know just how lethal he was, just how ready he was,
just how good he was. The bitch would know his name before this was
over. Oh yeah, she’d know his name and she’d know why he’d come for
her. No one, not even Royce Walker and his piece of shit brothers,
were going to protect her.

Chapter Eight

Lauren woke to the phone ringing. Blinking, she eased up on
her elbow, realizing she was still on the couch and the light
streaming through her blinds said it was already
Sunday morning. She glanced down to find
the blanket from her bed on top of her. Any pleasure at knowing
Royce had done something so thoughtful, so intimate, faded with the
incessant ringing demanding her attention.

Behind her, she heard the phone lift, her
home
phone
, and reality hit
her. It was her caller again, her… stalker. She hated that word
but that’s what this was starting to feel like. She sat up
straight, her breath lodged in her throat. The next few seconds
felt like eternity, as she waited to see what would happen, but
there was only silence, until Royce hung up the receiver. Almost
instantly, as if he’d already had someone on the line, he spoke
into his cell phone, or so she assumed, “Yeah I know,” he said in a
low voice. “Too short to trace. And yeah, whoever it is has to know
I’m here since they knew she was with me last night. And yeah, I
know what that means.” He ended the call without a goodbye. She
sensed rather than heard him heading in her direction.

Lauren’s fingers curled into the blanket as she
waited for him to join her. “I woke you up,” he said, rounding the
couch to sit down next to her. “Sorry about that.”

“
I heard the phone ring,” she said, turning to him, aware of
him as a man despite her distress, aware of how their legs melded
together, of his smell, spicy and male, both arousing and
comforting. “And I heard you say that whoever the caller was knows
that you’re here and ‘yeah you know what that means’. What does
that mean?”

“I should have stepped into the hall,” he said. “You
didn’t need to hear that.

“Yes, I did. I don’t want to be coddled, Royce. I
want to know what I’m dealing with.”

He considered her a moment, and then nodded. “Fair enough.
No coddling.” He reached up and brushed hair from her eyes. “The
call was a taunt that was, in my professional opinion, and Luke’s
as well, meant to tell us that whoever this is believes that he, or
she, is untouchable. But you know from your job, as well as I know,
that they all think that they’re different than the other guys.
That they really aren’t un
touchable
. You know that.”

“You really don’t think this is just someone trying
to scare me, do you?” she asked, knowing she’d pressed him about
this before, but unable to stop herself from doing so again.

“You can ask me that same question framed every
which way you can think of and it’s always going to be the same,”
he said. “I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. And you have
experience and good instincts or you wouldn’t be good at your job.
No matter what I say, you know what you feel. Don’t ignore a gut
feeling. I learned that the hard way a very long time ago. So I’ll
ask you now and probably again, what do you feel?”

“I don’t rattle easily, and I wouldn’t have slept if
you hadn’t stayed with me. That’s not me. I see a lot of nastiness
and I’ve learned to compartmentalize it outside my job.”

“You have to,” he said. “Believe me, I know. And I’m
here.” He slid his hand under her hair, around her neck, “And not
just because of these threats. I’m here because I want to be.” He
leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, and a shiver of pure need
slid down her spine.

“
I’m glad you are,” she whispered, unsure what was happening
to her, between them. She’d never felt so consumed by a man’s
presence, so completely drawn to him.

He ran his hand down her hair. “I might have woken
you up but I do have morning gifts.”

She laughed. “Morning gifts? Hmmm. Please tell me
its toothpaste because I shouldn’t have just kissed you.”

“Better,” he assured her. “I called the corner deli
and they delivered donuts.”

“
You had donuts delivered and I didn’t hear the door but I
heard the phone? Now I’m questioning my survival
instincts.”

“I was smart enough to step in the hallway to make
the call and then have the doorman text me when he was bringing
them up. I wanted to ask him a few questions anyway, so I made it
worth his while. Cash and donuts buys a lot of information. A
little trick an ex-cop taught me.”

She laughed, liking that he shared those insider
jokes with her, but somehow didn’t seem a part of the insiders at
all.

He pushed to his feet. “Stay put and I’ll bring them
to you.”

Lauren smiled as he headed to the kitchen, and wondered if
he even realized when he gave orders. Somehow, she didn’t think so,
and was odd considering what she knew of herself and her dislike
for bossy people, she found it endearing rather than irritating.
And this wasn’t an order she intended to follow. She threw off the
blanket and rushed towards the bedroom and her bathroom.

Not five minutes later, Lauren had brushed her teeth and
hair, and washed her face, before returning to find Royce sitting
on the couch with donuts and coffee for them both laid out on the
coffee table.

“A girl could get used to a big brawny man attending
to her caffeine needs every morning,” she said, joining him and
sitting down beside him again. She reached for the coffee mug and
inhaled. “The only thing better than caffeine in the morning is
sugar.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said. “And you just
happen to live down the road from one of the best donut makers in
the city.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said, opening the
bag and pulling out a chocolate glazed variety, to take a bite.
“Hmmm. Okay. Pretty darn good.”

He leaned in and kissed her, licking his lip
afterwards. “You had icing on your mouth.”

Lauren felt her cheeks heat, and pretty much, her
entire body, too.

“I’m staying the rest of the weekend.”

“
What?” She asked in surprise at the announcement and then
immediately set her donut on a napkin he’d placed on the table and
shook her head in rejection. “You don’t have to play bodyguard,
Royce. The building is secure.”

“And yet you wouldn’t have slept if I hadn’t been
here last night. I’m staying with you or you’re staying with me.
I’d rather stay here so I can evaluate what is going on with these
threats in your environment and whether they are likely to
continue. But,” he pulled her close, his lips lingering above hers,
“I’d welcome the opportunity to have you in my bed.”

“
Royce,” she said, trying to think past the warmth spreading
through her body. “You’re impossibly”

“Bossy. Yes. I know. But I’m going to fight you on
this one and I’m not going to apologize. I told you to listen to
your gut. And my gut tells me to keep you close.”

“I don’t want you to babysit me, Royce.”

“
Apparently I’ve not been clear. You interest me, Lauren
Reynolds, like no other woman has in a very long time. I
want
an excuse to stay with you.
Now, I just need to hear you say you want me to stay.”

She did want him to stay but he confused her, sent
her mixed messages. “Where did you sleep last night?”

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t sleep? Were you that worried about these
calls?”

“I dozed off leaning against the couch at some
point,” he said, dodging the question.

She studied him a long moment, reading between the
lines of his many mixed messages. He was worried and he wasn’t
someone to worry without cause. He thought she was in trouble and
no matter what his motivation, his duty, or his interest in her, it
mattered to her that he was here for her.

She brushed her hand over her cheek. ”You can’t stay
with me if you’re not going to sleep. You have to be
exhausted.”

“I’m not promising either of us are going to get any
sleep.”

Heat and nerves collided inside her at those words.
She wanted Royce, and yet, she was way over her head with him,
inexperienced and vulnerable, two things she didn’t like to feel.
She was too drawn to this man and it scared her.

“How about we go to my place so I can shower and
change and pick up some things?” he asked, continuing. “Then, we
can hunker down here and watch a movie, or I can beat you at tic
tac toe. I don’t care what. Anything that will get your mind off
this mess.”

“
I have work I need to do,” she said, “but… yes. Okay. I
think it might do me some good to escape a bit.”

“
Perfect. So let’s eat this bag of donuts and you can do
whatever women do in the morning to get ready, and we’ll take off.”
He released her and reached for the bag and they turned on the news
and chatted. But any relaxation Lauren felt ended quickly as a
media clip of her and Royce, rushing from the hotel flashed on the
screen. Then another of the crowd gasping as something was thrown
all over them.

Lauren was glad she’d just finished off her donut. She was
no longer hungry. “He wants attention,” she said, without looking
at Royce. “He got it.”

“He?”

She glanced at him. “Gut feeling.”