ROMANCE: BAD BOY MAFIA ROMANCE: On the Run (Pregnancy Hitman Suspense Mystery Romance) (Women’s Fiction Suspense Action & Adventure) (2 page)

“No, seriously Laura, everything is fine.  
I’m
fine.  I think everything is being blown out of proportion.”

“Out of
proportion
?  A man is
dead
, Kara.  He’s dead and you’re the only one who could be considered a witness.  I don’t see in what universe that could be considered anything
but
serious.”

Kara sighed, willing herself to stay patient.  She was normally a very easygoing, genial person, but her sister had an uncanny ability of bringing out her more prickly side.  Maybe that was just how it went with sisters.  The two of them were only sixteen months apart and they had always been as close as two people could be, which meant one or both of them sometimes got her feathers ruffled.  Still, if Kara was being entirely honest with herself, she knew that Laura was right.  When the situation she was in was laid out in such plain language as Laura had just used, it was clear that Kara was in a situation that had the potential to be beyond dangerous.  Maybe she just didn’t want to admit it to herself.  Admitting it would mean admitting that she really did need to be watched around the clock by Brent Williams, and that was something she just wasn’t ready to concede.

“So tell me about him.”

“About who?”

“Come on, Kara, don’t play dumb, that doesn’t work on me.  Tell me about the cop that’s been put in charge of watching you twenty-four seven.  He’s been looking after you like that for a couple of weeks now.  You must have some kind of an opinion about him.”

She must have some kind of an opinion about him?  Oh man, did she ever.  How did one describe a man like Brent Williams?  Or at least, how did one describe a man like Brent Williams without being singularly cruel?  Let’s just say, she had met people who were easier to deal with, there was no two ways around
that
.  He was gruff and cranky, a man with such a constant bad mood that it seemed like it was really the only disposition he was capable.  He smoke, drank, and swore too much and he seemed to be at odds with all of the people around him, including his own sergeant.  He must have been very good at his job, or else Kara couldn’t imagine why the force would keep him on.  He was that typical bad boy her mother had warned her about ever since she was young and, lucky her, he was the one in charge of ensuring her safety.  In short, she had no idea how she was supposed to describe him because she had no idea how she felt about him.

“Um, Kara?  You still there, or did you fall asleep or something?”

“Sorry, I’m still here.  Just thinking.  His name is Brent Williams and I honestly don’t know how to describe him, aside from telling you that he is usually in a pretty foul mood.”

“Is he cute?”

“Laura!  How the hell is
that
relevant?”

“It’s a simple question,” she said in the sing songy voice she knew Kara detested, “he either is or he isn’t.  So which one is it, in your humble opinion?”

“I mean, sure, yes.  He’s good looking, I guess.  If you like the brooding angry type.  He is definitely not for me.”

“Mmhm.  I guess we’ll see, won’t we?  Anyway, I have to go.  I can’t hear the kids playing anymore which means they are doing something they aren’t supposed to.  I just wanted to check in, make sure you were doing ok.  Love you.”

She hung up the phone without waiting for a response, and Kara was left just staring at her smartphone in mild disbelief.  It was amazing how she managed to do that!  She would say something infuriating and then “click!”  She would be gone and Kara wouldn’t get the chance for a rebuttal.  It was infuriating.

“Come on, we gotta go.  Sergeant called, he wants to talk.”

Speaking of infuriating.  There was Brent Williams standing in her doorway without so much as a knock or anything.  For all he knew she could have just stepped out of the shower!  She could be entirely indecent and he would never have known before it was too late because he insisted on just barging into her room, no matter how many times she asked him to let her know before opening the door.  Infuriating.  Who cared if he looked like a model?  Who cared if the smell of his cologne made her feel ever so slightly light headed, with a heart beating just a little too fast?  He was like a wild animal masquerading as a man.  But it was good that they were going to see the sergeant.  Maybe he had some kind of news for her that would allow her life to finally get back to normal.  One could hope, right?  So she nodded at him, choosing not to remind him about how rude it was to enter a woman’s bedroom without first announcing himself, and quickly grabbed her purse, ready to have this whole thing
done
with already.

“Hello Ms. Welsh, Williams.  Glad you could make it so quickly.  How are you holding up?”

Kara opened her mouth to respond but before she got the chance Brent stepped in, to what appeared to be the monumental annoyance of the sergeant.  Kara covered her mouth, covering the smile she couldn’t help herself from having.  Dark and brooding or not, there was a certain kind of wit to Brent Williams and when he wasn’t driving her up the wall she actually found him quite funny.

“I guess I’m alright, Sarge.  Haven’t been sleeping as well as I would like and I could sure as hell use a drink, but aside from that I guess I can’t complain.  Or, I’m sorry, were you asking her?  My bad.  I guess I just got all warm and fuzzy thinking that you cared enough to ask.”

“Very funny, Williams.  Kara, how are
you
holding up?  I know this whole thing must be overwhelming for you.”

“I’m ok, really, I am.  Just ready for things to get back to normal, I guess.  Do you have any ideas who might have done this?  Or maybe any ideas on when you’ll know that I’m safe enough for things to go back to normal?”

“Ha!  Williams starting to get on your nerves, is he?  I’m not shocked, I can tell you that.”

“No!  No, that’s not what I meant at all.”

Both men looked at her with surprise when she spoke, and she herself was a little shocked.  She wasn’t sure why she had had such an intense reaction to what was clearly at least half a joke, and she could feel that her entire face had flushed a deep, hot red.  She couldn’t explain it, especially because she had spent many a spare minute wishing that she wasn’t being hounded by a disgruntled cop all of the time, but she didn’t want Brent thinking that she didn’t want him around.  She wanted him to like her, which could only mean one thing.  
She
must like
him
.  She didn’t want it to be true, but it must be.  It was the only way to explain such an intense reaction.

“Alright, that’s fine.  Why don’t we address your first question; do we have any idea who has done this.”

“Yes,” she said quickly, happy for the change of subject, “I can’t stop thinking about that.”

“I’m sure, and we’re doing our very best.  I just wanted to ask you, are you absolutely sure that you can’t tell us any more about what the man you saw leaving looked like?  Anything at all?”

“No, I’m sorry.  I didn’t see anything else.”

“That’s fine.  Just had to check.  The two of you are free to go, for now, just be careful.  I’m serious, Williams.  Watch out for her.  I have a feeling whoever did this didn’t get everything they came for, and I very much doubt they enjoyed being seen.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Then Brent was ushering Kara out of the office, the meeting over almost as quickly as it had begun.  It had done nothing much to calm her nerves.  She felt shaken and unsure in pretty much every way a person could be.  Brent must have seen it, too, because he was being much gentler with her than was typical of their interactions.  When they were finally out on the street again he turned her towards him, lifting her chin so that she was making eye contact with him whether she liked it or not.

“You know what you need?”

“No,” she said in a wavering voice, “I’m pretty sure I don’t.”

“You need a drink, and I know the perfect place.  Come on, my treat.”

*****

“I can’t!  I swear, Brent, I don’t usually drink this much.”

“Come on, sweetheart, I have a feeling you’re underestimating yourself.”

“Ok, I can do
one
more, but make it a girly shot.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you, Kara, I don’t have a clue what that means.”

“It means something fruity,” she said with a pretty little giggle, “something that doesn’t taste like straight liquor.”

“What the hell is the point of that?”

“The point, sir, is for me not to spit the whole thing out again.  That a good enough point for you?”

“Yes ma’am.  Far be it for me to argue with such sound logic.”

“Excellent.  I love it when I get my way.”

Brent laughed and flagged Dave over to where he and Kara had been posted up for what felt like hours.  But they were good hours, better than Brent could remember spending much of anywhere in a long time.  It had caught him off guard and he still wasn’t all that sure of how exactly it had happened, or why it was that he was enjoying himself so damn much.  His first impression of Kara Welsh was that she was way too high strung for him to ever be around her by choice.  She was wound so tightly, always thinking about work or getting ahead, and she clearly did not enjoy his kind of company.  That was fine with him.  He didn’t enjoy
most
people’s kind of company so as far as he was concerned the feeling was mutual.  But over the past few weeks, something strange had happened.  It had gotten so that he didn’t mind her company so much, after all, and after seeing the way she blushed in the sergeant's office he got the feeling she was getting used to him as well.  After leaving the precinct that day and heading to Malone’s, things had hit some kind of a turning point.  She had started to relax a little bit and they had started to look at each other more as humans and less as annoyances that had to be dealt with.  It hadn’t been confined to just that night, either.  Going to Malone’s had turned into sort of a thing for them.  This was, what, the third time they had gone?  The fourth?  Brent was counting but he was enjoying it.  He would never have spent this much time with one woman if he had been given the choice but because he had been forced to look after Kara he had gotten the chance to realize that she wasn’t half bad.  He liked her well enough to bring her to his spot, which was somewhere he pretty much
never
brought a woman.  You know, on the off chance that she turned out to be some kind of crazy stage five clinger type.  A man had to take the necessary precautions.

“Hey there, Brent, I see you brought your lady friend back.  Things getting serious?”

“It isn’t like that, Dave.  She’s part of work.”

“I think that’s the most flattering thing anyone has ever said about me.”

Dave started laughing raucously and Brent whirled around to see Kara smirking at him.  Shit, now she was making jokes with his bartender. Nope, not what he expected from her at all.

“How about you just give me a ‘girly’ shot for the lady, ok?  Whatever the hell that means.”

“Sure thing.  Oh, and Brent?”

“What is it?”

“Your phone is ringing.  Looks like work.  You may wanna answer that.”

Brent, who wasn’t usually a fan of being bothered by the sarge when he wasn’t on duty, took the call gratefully.  At this point he would take pretty much anything that got him out of the weird line of fire that was talking to Dave and Kara.  He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like he was walking on a tightrope when he was talking to those two, like he was missing out on the most important part of the conversation.  He nodded briefly in Kara’s direction to make sure she knew which direction he was headed in and took his call outside where, despite being unbelievably noisy, he felt more likely to be able to concentrate.

“Hey Sarge, what’s up?”

“I’m not sure yet.  May be something, may be nothing, but we had to take precautions.”

“Ok.  Wanna elaborate so that we both know what the hell is going on?”

“Someone broke into Ms. Welsh’s apartment this evening.  They didn’t take anything, not that we can determine at this point, but they destroyed everything in her office and rifled through her computer.  It seems like they were looking for something, although we haven’t determined what.  My guess is that whatever it was, it’s the thing Kara kept them from getting when they offed Mr. Whitney.”

“Shit.  So they think she was involved with him?  That he trusted her with his sensitive information?”

“That’s what we’re thinking.  The more we look into Mr. Whitney the more we find about how shady his business operations were.  We know Kara wasn’t involved, but the people who came after Mr. Whitney don’t.  We’ve got to move her, Brent.  I booked a room in the Jane Hotel.  You’re to stay with her, watch over her.  Keep her safe, Williams.  There is no way this girl is getting caught in the crossfire of this whole thing.  You’ve got to keep her safe, ok?  And keep her calm.  The last thing we need is for her to lose her shit and panic.  Think you can manage it?”

“Sure boss,” Brent said quietly and without any of his typical bravado, “I can do that.  And I’m to stay with her?”

“You bet your ass.  You’re to stay with her all of the time.  And I mean
all
of the time.”

“Ok.  I can do that.  Just stay in touch, ok?”

Brent slipped his phone back into his pocket with a shaking hand.  He could see Kara from where he stood, laughing with Dave and trying to land peanuts into his open mouth.  It was amazing how, once she lightened up some herself, she was able to get the people around her to lighten up as well.  In all of the years he had known Dave, Brent had never seen him act even half as silly as he was at this moment.  It made her painfully endearing, which only made him feel worse.  How the fuck was he supposed to go over there and ruin her night, go tell her that instead of getting better things were getting worse?  It felt like an impossible thing to do and yet here he was, charged with doing exactly that.  He shook his head and cursed up a storm under his breath before making his way back over to her.

“What’s up, big important man?”

“What does
that
mean?”

He was trying to make his voice sound lighthearted and had a feeling he was failing miserably.  Dave gave him a sharp look, a knowing look that made Bent squirm.  He shook his head slightly, hoping the outspoken bartender would keep his mouth shut, and sat beside Kara again.

“I got you a manly shot.  That way I don’t have to take my shot alone and you don’t have to drink something pink.”

“How thoughtful of you.  Cheers.”

Brent kept one eye on Kara as she drank her frothy shot, then threw back his own.  In the end, he supposed it didn’t really matter how badly he wanted to keep quiet about what he had just learned.  After all, they weren’t on a date.  This was supposed to be his job and if he had allowed the lines to blur, well then that was on him.  They weren’t going to exist in this bar forever, were they?  Eventually it was going to be time to go home and he was going to have to tell her they couldn’t; they were sequestered to a hotel instead.

“What is it, Brent?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh come on.  I can tell you heard something you didn’t like.  Is there anything I can do?”

“Shit.  I guess there is.  I guess you can listen to what I have to say and try very hard to stay calm.”

Kara got deadly silent and stared at him with wide eyes.  There was nothing else for Brent to do.  He began to talk.

*****

“Kara?  Kara, just tell me what I can do and I’ll do it.  I mean it, whatever you say.  And believe me that is not an offer I often extend.  You might want to take advantage of it while you can.”

“Ha!  Well thank you very much.  I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Kara was still feeling quite shaky from the news of her eviction to a hotel and was trying very hard not to let it show.  So whoever it was who had committed that awful crime had discovered where she lived and had been brazen enough to go there.  That was enough to be nervous about all on its own, but that wasn’t the only thing buzzing around inside of her head.  There was also the fact that she would now be staying in a hotel with Brent.  Sure, he had already been in her apartment, but that was different somehow.  There was more space, more boundaries.  A hotel room, though.  Something about that seemed far more intimate.  Everything was buzzing very loud and very fast and she felt like she was pretty much along for the ride at this point.  Even thinking about shutting the door to some anonymous room and being entirely alone with Brent made her entire body feel hot and tingly.  Oh boy, she was going to make a fool out of herself for
sure
.

“Kara?”

The feeling of his hand landing on top of hers made her jump so high she almost fell off of her stool and had to make extraordinary efforts to right herself.  So much for maintaining a shred of dignity.  

“Crap.  Sorry, yes.”

“You ok?”

“I’m fine.  I’m good, honestly.”

“Ok, if you’re sure.  So, are you ok with this?  Do you want to head to the hotel, settle in?  There’s no need to worry about your things.  Someone has packed some suitcases for you and checked them in.”

“Well that was very thorough of them.”

“They are without a doubt a thorough bunch of men.”

“Then sure, let’s head over.  We might as well, right?”

He smiled and nodded and she felt her heart jump in her chest.  There was no way for her to deny it.  She was attracted to him, like, insanely so.  She wanted him, which made her feel ridiculous.  What was the point of wanting a man who was never in a million years going to be attracted to her?  She would have to try not to think about it, which is exactly what she worked on as he led her out of the bar and to the nearest cab.

“What do you think?  Is this going to work for you?”

“Is it going to work for
you
?”

“Please, are you kidding?  This is about one thousand times nicer than my apartment.  I could live here indefinitely, believe me.”

Kara laughed nervously and moved towards the bed, bouncing the mattress lightly with the palms of her hands.

“Springy” she said, wincing at how stupid she sounded even as she said the word.

“Springy good or springy bad?”

Kara gasped, startled by how close behind her Brent had moved.  She turned and saw him plugging in his phone with an apologetic look on his face.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you.  I just didn’t see another plug.”

“No, I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t be so jumpy.”

“I don’t think anyone could blame you for it.  You’ve had a shit time lately.  There’s no denying that.”

Kara looked down at the floor, feeling too shy to even move, and took a deep breath.  Normally that helped when she got like this, but all it did this time was make her feel even more on edge.  Brent was standing close enough to her that the action provided her with a whiff of his cologne that, although subtle, made her weak in the knees.  Not only that, but she could feel him grinning at her, a grin she could see without having to look at him at all.  She had seen that devilish grin many times by now.  Sometimes, she even saw it in her dreams.

“Kara, if you aren’t comfortable with me being this close I’ll understand.  The sarge said we’re supposed to stay as close as possible but I can easily book the adjoining room.  What’s he going to do, fire me?”

“No!  No, you don’t have to do that.”

Once again, Kara had spoken too quickly, allowed herself to sound far too eager.  Was she just
trying
to make herself look like a complete idiot?  She wanted to just vanish entirely, but seeing as that was not an option she decided on just looking at the floor until Brent found something more interesting to focus on.  The only hitch in the plan was that he wasn’t looking away.  She could still feel his eyes on her and with every second that passed her heart sped up a beat until she was almost certain it would sprout wings and leave her chest.

“Kara?”

“Yup.”

“Kara.”

“I hear you.”

“Look at me.”

“How come?

“Because it makes it a hell of a lot harder to kiss you when I can’t get to your lips.”

Kara’s face lifted immediately, her eyes flying up to meet Brent’s with a hesitant hopefulness that she knew was painfully obvious.  She didn’t even have time to process what he had said before he took her in his arms and kissed her with a need that made her dizzy.  This wasn’t happening.  This
couldn’t
be happening.  He wasn’t attracted to her, right?  Except if he wasn’t, he was doing an awfully good job of faking it because the way his hands glided over her back and slid suggestively just beneath the hem of her shirt made it seem like he wanted her quite badly.   That was when she stopped thinking about what it meant or why he was touching her in the first place.  That was when she let her sensation take over completely for, in the end, what reason was there not to?  She had been told for all of her life that she thought too much and for the first time, she was inclined to believe it.