Armed With Steele (13 page)

I hitched a thumb in dog’s direction. “So he’s already got something like this on him?”

Nate nodded. “So don’t go taking off with my dog, because I’ll find you like
that
.” He snapped his fingers.

Brutus’s eyes opened for a second, then rolled shut.

“But this model has an added feature, one that’s not found on the dog collar models.” He patted the seat next to him on the couch. Curiosity carried me across the room. “See that little button on the side?”

“Um…” I squinted and saw one spot on the inner rim of the pendant that appeared thicker than the rest. “Yeah, now I do. It’s so tiny. What is it?”

“It needs to be small so it’s not easily bumped,” he said, the humor now gone from his voice. “That’s a panic button.”

I looked up and met his gaze. “Will I need something like that?”

“I would hope not. But after what happened to Grace, I’m not taking any chances. Here, why don’t you try it on?”

I leaned away from him and shook my head. “I shouldn’t.”

“This isn’t a jewelry party, Jessica,” he said with an eye roll. “I’m loaning it to you. Charlie’s all excited to test it out—you’re going to be our guinea pig.”

Reluctantly, I turned in my seat and swept my hair up off my neck, leaving me feeling very…vulnerable. He swung the pendant out under my chin, and his fingers brushed the back of my neck as he fastened the clasp. Shivers darted up and down my spine.

“So.” I cleared my throat and hoped he couldn’t see the patch of goose bumps I was sure had sprung up. “Do you guys have a website?”

“Not yet. But I did recently cross paths with an up-and-coming local web designer. I was kinda hoping she might be willing to do some bartering for it.”

“Oh?” I smiled.

“Sure. I help her get the answers she wants, and in return she helps put together our website. It’s a win-win scenario.” He gently turned me back toward him, then reached out to readjust the pendant so it sat at the base of my neck.

Patch nothing—that action caused an entire forest of goose bumps to erupt.

“Does your partner know you’re making deals on the side like that?”

Nate stretched to retrieve another small box from the table. “Are you kidding? Charlie’s been after me for months to get moving on a web site. And when he sees who’s designing it—” He stopped.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said, eyes averted. “He’ll be thrilled. Now…” He opened the box and produced a small, silver hair clip. “What do you think this is?”

“Why do I have the feeling you’re going to tell me ‘a barrette’ is the wrong answer?”

“Nope, that’s exactly what it is. Here.”

I lifted the beautiful clip from the palm of his outstretched hand. “And you’re giving this to me…why?”

“Because it’s no ordinary barrette.” By the way he spoke, the way he leaned in, eager to explain its features, Nate was clearly passionate about his business. I had a feeling he sold a hell of a lot of surveillance equipment. Especially when he flashed those brilliant blues and suave smile at their unsuspecting female customers.

Oh, those poor, poor women.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What else does it do?”

His fingertips grazed my palm, and my heart rate rose a few notches. I worked to keep my eyes on the barrette, which he now flipped open and turned over. “See that little spot in the middle?”

“All I see is a little glob of glue holding the clip and its decorative pieces together.”

“Ah, but it’s not glue. It’s a toggle switch. For the audio recording device.”

“Nu-uh,” I said, and carefully swiped it back from him.

“Yep. Go ahead, turn it on.”

I looked from the barrette to Nate, who nodded his approval, and back down at the accessory in my hand. I gave the fake glue a tentatively poke. Sure enough, I felt it give just a little. “Is it recording?” I whispered.

“Let’s see,” he said, and clicked a few more buttons on his laptop. A second software program appeared on the screen. “Say something. Uh, recite the
Pledge of Allegiance
.”

“Okay…I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America.” My voice began broadcasting in stereo from his laptop speakers. I clicked the toggle switch back off. “No freaking
way
!”

Nate laughed. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Are you kidding me? This thing is
awesome
!”

“Yeah, once these babies catch on, I have a feeling they’ll sell pretty well. And it offers us some flexibility, since you may not be sitting at your desk all the time.”

My desk. Ugh. I cringed at the thought of sitting in some tiny box of a room out at Maxwell. “I’m guessing you need to be fairly close to pick up the signal on your laptop?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that’s the only down-side. I’ll need to be within half a mile to pick up your frequency. Much more, and things tend to get pretty static-y.”

“Can other people listen in?”

“If they knew the exact frequency? Maybe. I’m not too worried about it.” He handed the barrette back to me. “Here, you hang on to this. Hopefully you’ll be needing it soon.”

I sat back and sighed.

“It’s going to work, Jessica. Trust me.”

I scowled at the boxes on my coffee table. “But how are you going to be able to watch my back while you’re at work?”

“I won’t, but Charlie will. We’ll both have access to the programs. When I’m working, Charlie will be on GPS monitoring duty. And when I’m not working, I will be. We won’t start listening in until things start heating up.”

“Heating up?” I swallowed loudly. “And how long will that take?”

Nate lifted one shoulder. “Depends how sloppy your future coworkers are when it comes to keeping secrets.”

“And Charlie? Is he trustworthy?”

“He’s kept me safe for years.”

I snorted. “Well, yeah, he knows
you
. Hell, you two were close enough to go into
business
together. But who am I to him?”

“Oh, he checked out your website. And trust me, he’ll do his best to keep you safe, too.”

“Why’s that?”

“Three reasons: one, because I asked him to, two, because you’re gonna design our website for us, and three…because I asked him to.”

My eyes narrowed. “You gave the same reason twice.”

“Did I?” His gaze shifted to the laptop as he powered it down.

“Come on, you were going to say something else. Out with it.”

Nate grinned as he snapped his laptop shut. “Well, I was going to say because you’re blonde, but I didn’t think that would sound quite as professional.” He slid the laptop into his bag and shrugged. “So maybe he has a thing for blondes. It’s no big deal. He’s all talk, anyway. Usually. Sometimes.”

I put my hands over my face and groaned.

“I can just tell him that your boyfriend—”

“Just…tell him I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

An evil grin appeared on Nate’s lips. “No, that would just add fuel to the fire…he’s never looking for a relationship, either.”

I grimaced. “Well, tell him something, okay? I shouldn’t have to worry about protecting myself from the good guys.”

“Fair enough.”

Those brilliant blues found mine, and I forced myself to look away. We were sitting entirely too close on the couch. Nate’s sleeping beast came into view. “So, answer something for me.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“How, pray tell, am I supposed to get your dog into Maxwell Office Solutions?”

His brow furrowed. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Well, you said you brought him for my security.”

Nate laughed. “Oh, no, he’s not going to Maxwell.” He reached into his canvas bag and pulled out two heavy plastic bowls and one small bag of Pedigree. “He’s gonna stay here, with you.”

My back went ramrod straight. “You can’t be serious!”

“Of course I am. I can’t give you a better security system than Brutus. Just look at him.” We both looked down at the dog, snoring softly at Nate’s feet, a puddle of drool under his chin. “Why, no deviant mind within one hundred miles would dare step foot in this house if they caught sight of him.”

I looked at Nate and sized him up for a moment. “Oh, I get it. This is a joke, right? Ha ha. Good one. Now, put the bowls away and latch pooch back up so you two can both trot on home.”

Nate stood and began walking toward the kitchen, bowls and dog food in hand. “Good idea, where should I put these?”

“No!” I jumped up from the couch. “I said put the bowls away. As in, back in your
bag
.”

“Now Jessica, after your recent near-burglary, you don’t really think I’m going to leave you here alone, do you? I’ve got to take good care of my new partner.”

I caught myself wishing he’d offered to leave me a different bodyguard, perhaps the other male in the room—the one that walked on two legs instead of four. Then I pushed the ludicrous thought from my mind and hurried on into the kitchen. “But—”

“No buts, missy.” He set the bowls down near the back door, then walked over to me with the bag of kibble. “Here. He gets half a cup in the morning and half a cup around dinnertime. Keep his water bowl full, and make sure he goes both number one and number two after breakfast.”

I stood there for a moment staring at the bowls by the backdoor, and felt my life suddenly spiraling out of control. A creak from the loose floorboard in our living room snapped me out of it. I scurried into the other room and caught up with Nate just in time to see him reaching for the front door.

“W-where are you going? We have work to do!”

He opened the front door. “I figured I’d let you and Brutus get settled in for the night. As for me, I have a date.”

“A…w-what?”

“A dinner date. Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing plenty of me in the upcoming week.” He threw me a charming smile. “Now you go and make nice with your new guard dog, and I’ll swing back by tomorrow afternoon. That should give you enough time to get started on your resume. Knock it out as best you can—we’ve got a busy week ahead of us.”

He let himself out and trotted down the steps from our porch.

“Resume?” I echoed as the front door closed behind him. But the only answer I received came in the form of a soft snort from across the room. My gaze slowly shifted to Nate’s napping beast, whose growing puddle of drool had glazed the carpet under his muzzle.

“What the hell did I just get myself
into
?”

Chapter 10

I had the weirdest dream that night. Something about a penguin repeatedly putting his cold, wet beak into my hand. I kept trying to move, to get out of his reach, but never seemed to get away for very long.

Then the penguin licked me.

I bolted upright in bed. “Brutus!”

He stood before me, front paws outstretched up onto the side of my bed and mouth curved up into what looked like an amused smile.

“What was
that
for?”

He whimpered, hopped down, and paced the floor.

“Oh,” I said, my still-waking brain slow to realize he probably needed to go out.

He started to sniff around the end of my bed. Then he stopped, looked up at me, and lifted a hind leg.

“Oh! Wait! Not here! Dammit, not
here
! I’ll take you out!”

I jumped out of bed, snagged him by his collar and drug him from the room. Brutus was heavier than I’d imagined, but I didn’t let his weight deter my mission of getting him the hell off our carpet. “Leash,” I muttered, looking wildly about for it. “Where’s the damn
leash
?”

Seeing it nowhere, I continued on into the kitchen. The sound of his nails tearing at our carpet ceased when he hit the linoleum. All four of his legs flailed out on the slippery floor as he struggled to stay upright.

Leash or not, I was bent on getting him outside before his bladder gave out. With a quick glance back to Brutus, I reached for the back door. My hand brushed against something flimsy, and I whipped around to see what it was. There, dangling from its knob, hung a blue nylon dog leash.