Chapter 6
Peyton
Midday, I sat at my desk outside Grace’s office remembering this morning—and last night.
It hadn’t helped that March was shirtless this morning when I’d come downstairs, like some Greek god with rippling muscles and shoulders to die for. Then there were his tattoos.
A large eagle, diving down on some unsuspecting prey sat centered on his chest. His right arm had a snake coiled around it and the American flag. His left arm had writing I couldn’t read without staring, which I avoided. The man was something else, and therefore poison to me.
If you’d asked me before seeing March, I would have associated an abundance of tattoos with fat bikers or nasty criminals, but he was neither of those. On him, they added a…dangerous edge was the way I’d describe it.
Concentrate, girl.
I did my best to scrub my mind clean and contemplate my real problem. With Grace in demo room one and the phones quiet, inaction allowed my troubles to eat at me.
I couldn’t avoid March. He was today’s Hawk Security person assigned to our office to make sure Grace was safe after her recent encounter with dangerous mobsters.
She thought the danger was over, but her new fiancé Terry wanted to err on the safe side, and I didn’t blame him. Those guys had been scary.
When I looked up, March was sauntering my way. Even his walk was sexy.
“How are you feeling?” he asked. He seemed to mean it.
“I still feel fine. Do I need to take your test again already?”
“After lunch will be fine. I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.”
Those words from such a fine specimen as March would thrill any normal woman. The fact that they scared me just showed how broken I was.
I looked down and started typing on my computer. “Is that so?” I avoided looking at his face.
“Yes.” He settled into the visitor chair next to my desk. “In all the excitement last night, we forgot to settle on whether you would join me for one dinner or two lunches.”
I shifted my attention to him and smiled my best shit-eating grin. “That was if you won at pool, and you didn’t, so there’s nothing to settle. Now shoo so I can get some work done.”
He ambled back to his desk.
I couldn’t get yesterday’s conversation and his many questions out of my head, and any meal with him would undoubtedly bring it up again.
He’d insisted he knew I was lying, that I was hiding something, and that he would find out. That scared the shit out of me.
I knew there had to be people in this world I could entrust with my secret. March was probably one of those people—a SEAL, a man who would rather die than betray his honor. But I couldn’t break my rule and take the chance.
Only a half-dozen people in the world knew I’d moved to Atlanta—three friends I’d thought I could trust and three people at the Boston PD. Still, the strangler had found me there. It could have been my communications, or a number of things, but I wasn’t taking any more chances.
The fact that I’d barely escaped taught me a lesson—don’t trust anyone, not even Rhonda, my closest friend, and the only contact I had left. A secret only I knew was the only safe secret. Not even Rhonda knew my new name. Secrecy was my only defense.
LA was as far as I could get from Boston without using my old passport and leaving a record. This city of twelve million people provided anonymity.
And I liked it here. I loved working for Grace, and I didn’t want to move again, but I would have to if I couldn’t get March to back off.
The answer, or at least an option, came to me a half hour later. If pushing him away and ignoring him wasn’t working, it was time to try a different approach.
I went into Grace’s office for privacy and dialed Serena.
“Hi,” she answered. “How are you feeling today? Yesterday was pretty scary.”
“Scary, yeah,” I admitted. “I’m feeling fine except for a headache. The CT last night looked good, and they have March watching me—”
“Lucky you,” she interjected. She had the same thought I’d had, that any woman who didn’t like Zane March’s attention on her was nuts.
“To see that I don’t develop any symptoms,” I finished. “That’s kind of why I’m calling. Is there any chance you could persuade Duke to come relieve March so I can go to lunch with him, to thank him for yesterday? You know, the whole rescuing-me-from-bad-guys thing.”
“Does this mean the ice queen is melting?”
Grace had called me that because of the way I’d treated March since he’d arrived as security for us.
“Maybe a little, but we can’t be alone because March can’t leave Grace unguarded.”
“I’ll see what I can do to get someone there, so you can put the moves on Zane.”
“That’s not—”
“Of course not,” she interrupted.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. I just want to talk to him privately.”
She laughed. “I’m not the one with the crush.”
“I don’t—”
“Tell me you don’t find him attractive,” she demanded.
“He’s no Duke, but he’s okay.” I hoped bringing her fiancé into the discussion would get me out of this.
“Is there someone else I don’t know about?”
“No.” I drew out the word. “I just don’t need or want a man in my life right now.”
“Maybe if you let your mind wander into the gutter more often, you’d allow yourself to live a little. It doesn’t have to be either nobody or partners for life. There’s a whole spectrum between the two.”
I pulled in a breath through my teeth to keep from arguing with her. I had rules to keep me alive, but it wasn’t something I could discuss.
“Duke swears Zane is one of the best men he knows, and I put a lot of faith in Duke’s opinion.”
We had gotten off topic. “Can you help me or not?”
“Sure, you can count on me to get you your private time with Zane. But before you hang up on me and never talk to me again, let me say one thing in Zane’s defense.
I sighed.
“These SEALs are real men, good men, real-life heroes, men you can count on. There are no pussies on the SEAL teams. These spec-ops guys are our modern-day no-shit knights in shining armor. Hooking up with Duke was the best decision I ever made. He has made my life so much better than it was. I can’t even describe it. ”
She’d laid it on pretty thick, but her point of view was to be expected since she was engaged to Duke and he’d saved her life.
All I had in response was, “Thanks, Serena.”
“Any time. And I mean that.”
After hanging up, I thought for a moment, getting my approach just right.
Zane
Peyton had gone into Grace’s office, probably to avoid me.
That gave me two doors to watch, demo room one where Grace was working with a new client, and the office Peyton had disappeared into.
My phone rang. It was Jordy. I put in my earpiece to take it. “Hey, man. What do we know?”
“I should get extra pay for dealing with a name like Smith.”
“I’ll put in a good word for you with your brother.” I had paper out and grabbed a pen. “Talk to me.”
“I already told you that she isn’t Peyton E. Smith. That identity is less than two years old.”
I asked the worst question. “Escaped criminal?”
“I ran a facial-rec check against ten years of escapees and bail jumpers. Unless she had major plastic surgery, she’s not on the run from the law.”
I breathed easier hearing that. “Okay. Who is she?” My pen was poised for the answer.
“Did you get me the fingerprints yet?”
I glanced in Peyton’s direction. “No.” I didn’t feel comfortable with that level of intrusion today.
“Until then, that’s all I can do. I don’t have any thread to pull on to unravel it.”
“Could she be in WITSEC?” I guessed.
“I doubt it. Those guys create longer backstories for an identity than this.”
That was pretty much what I expected. “Thanks, man.”
“Sure.”
I’d been thinking about this, so I sprung another request on him. “Hey, one other thing. Can you set up video surveillance of her building for me?”
“Maybe. What are you thinking?” His words came out slow.
“She’s in trouble, and I want to keep an eye on her until I learn what it is she’s running from.”
“Let me guess. You’re not going to ask her about this.”
I knew how that would go. “Look, she needs the help, but she won’t ask for it. She’s Grace’s employee and friend, so she’s one of us.”
“I get it,” Jordy said with a touch of reluctance in his voice. “The outside is a piece of cake, but I refuse to do anything inside without her knowledge. I won’t go there.”
“How about the hallway outside her unit?”
He sighed. “I can go along with that. I’ll need to know when she plans on being home so she doesn’t spot me while I’m doing the work.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
“Three bottles of Macallan twelve will do nicely.”
He wasn’t hesitant to ask for what he wanted.
I ended the call, and after putting my phone away, I spent a few moments studying Peyton’s desk. Who are you really?
The woman was exasperating. She’d given me the cold shoulder again this morning when I’d asked what she was hiding.
I’d mentally talked myself in circles on the problem of the beautiful Ms. Smith—such a common name for someone I was sure was uncommonly nice under the thorns.
My frontal-assault tactics so far hadn’t worked. It was time to be more subtle and give her time to trust me.
What was so hard about trusting me anyway? I was a nice guy. I’d served my country and only killed bad guys. I brushed my teeth and showered regularly.
Sometimes in combat, letting the opposition come to you was the best approach.
I had time to employ different tactics. That had to be it.
OGS, Operation Go Slow, would start today and eventually get me where I wanted to go—no, needed to go.
This woman exerted a pull on me that I couldn’t describe or resist.
Peyton emerged from Grace’s office and stood by the door. She didn’t go to her desk or even glance toward the demo rooms to see if her boss was done. She looked directly at me and smiled.
I liked that.
Then, she crooked her finger for me to come over. That was a change. But it was time for OGS. I shook my head, picked up my phone, and looked away.
I’ll be damned. Seconds later, her legs—yes, those long, delectable legs—appeared in front of me. “March, could I have a minute of your time…in private?”
“Not yet, and it’s Zane.” I scrolled through my phone. “I have to watch for Grace. She could be done any moment.”
“Please?”
Figuring this was working pretty well, after a moment I stood. “Lead the way.” I noticed Marci watching us.
Peyton led me to Grace’s open office and entered. Whatever it was, she was serious about her privacy statement.
With people in the office around us, I didn’t stare at her ass as I followed. After closing the door behind us, I stopped. “What’s up, Angel?”
She spun and crossed her arms over her chest. “You can’t… Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I’ve had a very trying twenty-four hours.”
The way her crossed arms lifted her chest slowed my reactions. I could only guess it was the Angel comment she hadn’t liked. “How can I help?”
She relaxed, and her arms dropped.
I only realized the bad phrasing after I’d said it. If Peyton said she wanted me to leave her alone, I’d kick my own ass for being so stupid.
She worried her hands. “You offered lunch, and I’d like to accept.”
I couldn’t believe how well this was working. “I did.”
“Today.” She added a smile that lit up the room.
“I can’t.” Regardless of how she tempted me, work came first. “I’m on duty.”
“Not at lunchtime. Relief is coming, so we can go out.”
I cocked my head, not sure I’d heard that right. “Come again?”
Just then, the door opened behind me.
“Oh—” A surprised Grace stopped.