Sworn to Protect (9 page)

“Give me a second to sweep the bedrooms,” he said, though he was certain they were secure. This floor was one the owner reserved for business associates not necessarily in town to gamble, or for extra security personnel like him. It was more or less a private floor.

When he returned to the living area he found Athena had already opened a box of crackers from the gift basket and was cutting a block of cheese. “Want a snack?” she asked, smiling at him.

He wanted a snack all right. With the city lights illuminating her from behind, he thought she certainly lived up to her namesake. She’d taken off her fitted black jacket and high heels—which he knew she hated wearing anyway—and stood there in a slim-fitting black and red dress that hugged all her curves. He wanted to slowly peel off her clothes and feast on every inch of her delicious body. He’d only seen her partially unclothed when they’d been dating but he’d fantasized about what she’d look like completely bare to him.

Before he could respond there was a knock at the door.

Without thought he pulled out his weapon, ignoring her little gasp of surprise, and strode for the door. A glance through the peephole eased his tension though, and he pulled the door open for Iris as he sheathed his pistol.

The tall, darker skinned woman with clear Native American heritage gave him a small smile as she held out a hand for him. “Quinn, good to see you.”

He nodded, shook her hand then stood back so she could enter. “You too. Everything okay? We were told you were off site today for something.”

“Yeah, got back a little while ago and wanted to meet Miss Manikas in person. I like what she’s done with the…” She trailed off as Athena strode into the tiled entryway, her heels clicking quickly as she approached.

Quinn wasn’t surprised she’d put her shoes back on and though he knew she didn’t like the heels, he’d had more than one fantasy involving her wearing them and nothing else. Something he did
not
need to be thinking about right now.

“Miss Manikas.” Iris, who had a hard edge, gave her a surprisingly warm smile. “You look so much like Belle.”

Athena blinked in surprise as she approached, took the hand Iris had offered, and returned the smile. “Call me Athena, please. I didn’t realize you knew my cousin.”

Iris nodded. “Yep. Did more than my share of jobs with Grant. And call me Iris. I just wanted to stop by and meet you in person before the madness of tomorrow—and this week.”

Quinn was silent as the two women chatted, struck by the physical differences of them. Where Iris was tall, lean and had a fierceness to her he’d only ever seen in military or law enforcement individuals, Athena was petite, so open with her expressions and had a softness to her he found irresistible. For some reason he knew she’d hate that term, but there it was.

Once Iris left, Quinn locked and secured the door behind her to find Athena taking off her heels again.

“I’m going to grab a shower and probably crash,” she said, heading back for the main area.

He barely bit back a groan. She was going to be naked soon with steam billowing around her hot little body, water rushing over her soft skin—fuck him, he needed to get his thoughts under control. He cleared his throat. “I was going to order room service. You sure you don’t want anything?” It had been a long day.

“Nah, I’ll just grab some fruit from the basket. But will you order breakfast tomorrow for us when you call for room service tonight? I know what I want.”

“Sure.” As he strode to the room’s phone, his cell buzzed in his pocket, indicating a text. When he saw the message on screen from Grant, his chest tightened for an instant, but he kept his expression neutral.

White slipped our guard. Knew he had a tail. Could mean nothing, but he hasn’t been back to his place all night. Also found something interesting. Can’t text. Call when you’re free.

“Everything okay?” Athena asked, barely glancing up from where she was picking through the fruit in the basket.

“Yeah.” But he knew it wasn’t. Grant wouldn’t have texted otherwise.

Quinn knew that Grant had broken into White’s apartment earlier today. Illegal as hell, but Athena was Grant’s family. The truth was, if Grant hadn’t done it, Quinn would have himself. There hadn’t been a chance this week. So the text meant Grant had found something inside the apartment. Something he couldn’t put in text form. No way in hell would Quinn ever tell Athena either. She didn’t need to know what her cousin-in-law had done for multiple reasons. One being plausible deniability.

Quinn shot off a quick reply to Grant telling him that he’d call in a few minutes. As soon as he had privacy. It seemed a slim possibility that White would come after him while he was in Vegas, but with Athena here, Quinn wasn’t taking any chances with her safety.

Whatever it took, he’d protect her.

Chapter 7

Glenn vibrated with an urgency he hadn’t felt in years as he handed the cab driver the cash. Once he got his change and tipped the guy the expected amount he slid out of the vehicle, duffel bag in hand. He kept the gratuity dead-on average. Not too cheap, but not too flashy either because he couldn’t afford to stand out, for anyone to remember him. Bright neon lights glittered everywhere, people talking, laughing, stumbling along the sidewalk as they made their way to their destinations. The energy of the city was invigorating.

No longer was he just surviving day to day, keeping his head down and making sure he maintained his ‘good behavior’. Now he finally had a chance to pay back the bastard who’d been the catalyst in his imprisonment. More than that, the one who’d taken Suzanne away from him.

The more Glenn thought about it, the more he realized that Quinn had to have helped Suzanne leave. It was the only thing that made sense. Since he’d helped her, he’d know where she was now. Under normal circumstance he didn’t think Quinn would tell him where his unfaithful wife was, but now that Glenn had formulated a plan he knew Quinn would.

Glenn had called in every favor owed to him—mainly old CI’s or criminals he’d let slip through the cracks—and through different sources he’d first discovered that the woman he’d seen Quinn with was named Athena Manikas. He thought he’d nailed down her address but it turned out to be old. Unless she had a sixty-year old black grandfather for a roommate, because that was the only person he’d seen coming in and out of her listed place of residence. That was okay though, he’d expected hurdles.

It didn’t matter anyway because he’d just hit the jackpot with news that Quinn and the Manikas woman were both in Vegas. One of his contacts had tracked use of both their credit cards to the same hotel; The Serafina.

Coming to Vegas had been a huge risk, but he’d already checked in with his parole officer and she was just another malleable woman. She didn’t care about him as long as he didn’t cause any trouble. He had another five days before he needed to check in with her again and all he had to do was make a phone call. Didn’t even need to visit her in person unless she requested it. And she never did. Wasn’t like she tracked his phone—not that he’d brought his regular cell phone with him anyway. Lazy bitch.

February was cold in the desert and he liked the cool air rushing over him. Made him feel alive. Hell, he felt alive for the first time in six years, two months. Tugging his ball cap low on his forehead, he didn’t feel out of place wearing sunglasses at night as he strode down the busy strip. Tons of other people had on sunglasses this late too.

No one was paying attention to him. No one cared that he was here. Soon Quinn was going to, though. That bastard was going to care a whole lot.

Once Glenn took Athena, threatened to hurt her—did hurt her—Quinn would tell him everything he wanted to know. It would probably only take a few slaps, punches, maybe he’d have to use a blade on her. Maybe not. It all depended on Quinn’s willingness to talk. Glenn would still kill them both once he got Suzanne’s location, but he wouldn’t make the smart-mouthed bitch suffer if Quinn was straight with him. He’d give him that much. Glenn couldn’t say the same for Quinn though.

He was going to hurt him before he died. They’d both worn a uniform, served together; Quinn shouldn’t have ratted him out. It went against their unspoken code. Once Quinn was dead too, Glenn would bury him and his woman in the desert. If things got too hot for him he’d flee to Mexico, but if he did this right no one would even know he’d been here.

When The Serafina came into view, a sleek high-rise shimmering against the night sky, Glenn smiled. All the rage and anger that had been simmering inside him for years pushed at the surface, ready to break free.

Ready to make Quinn pay for what he’d done.

* * *

“You didn’t eat enough today,” Quinn murmured next to her.

Athena didn’t open her eyes though. She had her head leaned back against the interior of the elevator and was close to passing out on her feet. The subtle vibration from the elevator was going to make her fall asleep faster if they didn’t make it to their room soon. “Were you keeping tabs on me?”

He just made a grunting sound.

When the soft ding sounded, she opened her eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief. “I’m wearing lower heeled shoes tomorrow,” she said as they stepped out into the hallway.

“And eating more.”

She just shook her head. She’d been too nervous to put away much. Plus, and she knew it was her own issues, being around Quinn so much made her very aware of her weight and size. Around him she felt small and petite, but then an Amazon-beauty would make their way to Quinn, all smiles and big breasts right in his face, and those stupid insecurities flared back to life. She’d been busy today, but not so busy that she didn’t notice all the women who’d gone out of their way to approach Quinn. It made her remember how chubby she’d once been and feel as if he was out of her league. She didn’t like being that person, but there it was.

“I have a surprise for you.” His voice dropped an octave as they reached their door.

Despite the shiver that rolled over her at his sensual tone, she shook her head. “Unless it involves a massage and a hot bath, not interested.” As soon as the words were out, she wanted to snatch them back. Realizing what that had sounded like, her eyes widened as she glanced at him.

Wicked grin in place, he just slid the key in the lock and opened the door for her. “Unless you’re inviting me to join you in the shower—and for the record I wouldn’t say no—I hired someone from the hotel to give you an hour massage.”

For once in her life she was stunned speechless. She was definitely going to go back to the part about him not saying no, but… “You hired someone to massage me?” Her heels clicked loudly against the tiled entryway.

“You looked like you could use the break after today.” For a moment he looked impossibly insecure. “I…shit, was that too presumptuous? I just wanted to do something—”

“No! It’s really nice. No one’s ever done anything like that for me before. Thank you.” She felt her cheeks heating up under his intense stare and tried to think of something halfway intelligent to say, but her brain had gone completely haywire. He’d hired someone to massage her? That was too sweet for words. Maybe it could have come off as too much, but she could tell Quinn had done it from a good place. And something told her he’d paid for it himself, not put it on the room.

“Athena?” A female voice made her turn. A tall, broad woman in scrub-like clothing and her hair pulled back in a tight bun smiled warmly at her. “I’m all set up if you’re ready.”

“Ah, yeah, just a second.” She glanced back at Quinn, who was giving her what she thought of as his ‘hungry look’. “Thanks,” she murmured again. He was really making it impossible to even want to keep her distance.

He just nodded. “I’ll order us room service.”

She certainly wasn’t going to argue about that. After the exhausting day she’d had, she was going to enjoy this gift and then dinner with him. And maybe…more. She did a mental head shake. She was way too twisted up over Quinn and right about now she was having a hard time remembering why she’d wanted to keep things professional between them. It wouldn’t hurt to indulge just a little, right?

* * *

Quinn stood by the oversized window looking out over the bright city, but he wasn’t really seeing anything. All he could seem to focus on was that Athena was in her room right now, getting rubbed down by someone.

He wanted to be that someone. He’s specifically asked for a female massage therapist because no way in hell was he actually hiring some guy to touch her. And yeah, he knew that made him a total caveman, but whatever. He just wished he was the one gliding his oiled hands over her smooth skin.

When someone knocked on the door, he automatically tensed and went to reach for his weapon, but stilled his hand. He’d ordered room service since he knew Athena was too tired to want to go anywhere. He’d seen the exhaustion clearly in her eyes and her body language as soon as they’d entered the elevator.

He couldn’t help being tense though, not when according to Grant, White still hadn’t returned to his apartment. Not to mention the freaking pictures Grant had found of Quinn and Suzanne in one of White’s drawers. Just a couple and it wasn’t illegal. But Grant said it appeared as if there’d been more pictures and newspaper clippings taped up in his closet. There were bits of tape and partially ripped photographs still remaining on the wall, but it didn’t prove anything. And Grant had been in the guy’s apartment illegally anyway so he couldn’t report it.