27. Reath
27
REATH
I finished dressing, buttoning my blue shirt. Frankie was singing again in the bathroom. She was nowhere near in tune.
Smiling, I wandered to the doorway, and my gut clenched. She was wearing a black lace bra and panties, and doing her makeup.
I didn’t hate that she was there, in my space. Actually, I liked it.
Shit .
I cleared my throat. “I’ll make us some breakfast.”
She met my gaze in the mirror and grinned. “I like eggs.”
I couldn’t get any words out. My hands balled into fists, and I nodded, then strode to the stairs and headed to the kitchen.
At the island, I pressed my hands to the counter, the stone cool under my palms.
Frankie was Jack’s sister. Fuck . I was in too deep.
I should never have touched her. Never proposed a no-strings deal. Never should have fucked her.
I dragged in a deep breath. Focus on Auclair and stopping the fucker. The sooner I did that, the sooner Frankie was safe and would go back to her lab.
Then I’d feel normal again. Level and in control.
I got to work, and soon I had scrambled eggs cooking, and toast on. When Frankie appeared, she was wearing jeans and a red, long-sleeved T-shirt. It hugged her breasts.
Breasts I knew very well.
“Mmm. That smells good. You’re an excellent host, Reath. Hot sex, good sleep, and a morning orgasm, followed by scrambled eggs.”
I stilled. “It’s just sex, Frankie.”
Her smile disappeared, and her mouth flattened. “I know.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. If you start getting confused and feeling more—” I shook my head. “I’m not interested. I’m not interested in love, and I don’t have a heart to give anyone.”
I’d had no love, no softness in my life. Ever. And I didn’t need any of it now.
I’d read about kids in European orphanages. Ones that had experienced no love or affection as babies, and they’d grown up with a whole host of issues. I wasn’t surprised I didn’t have the capacity to love a woman.
Frankie stared at me for a beat, then she circled the island. As she got closer, I tried not to stiffen.
She reached up and fiddled with the buttons on my shirt. “I know, Reath. I agreed to the rules. It’s what I want, too.” She tipped her face up. “But you do have a heart.” She pressed a palm over it. “I see how you love your family. How you care about Jack. Don’t shortchange yourself.” Then she smiled. “About those eggs…?”
Once she’d stepped away, I could breathe again. I served up breakfast. “We’ll eat on the deck.” The fresh air would be good.
I opened the sliding doors and carried the plates to my outdoor table.
“Well, this is nice.” She took in the deck and the view toward the city. She slid a wooden chair back and sat.
“I don’t use it that much.” I sat across from her. “We usually eat at Dante’s, or at the shared house.”
She scooped up a forkful of eggs. “So, I guess going to the lab today is out of the question?”
I nodded. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Ugh. I hate Auclair and these guys. They’re interrupting my work.” She stabbed at her eggs like she was picturing Auclair’s face. As she ate, she looked lost in thought.
“You can come to my office. I can get you a secure laptop, if there’s any work you can do on that.”
She nodded. “I can do some analysis and planning.” She leaned an elbow on the table. “I’ll get to see your domain. The Reath Fury bat cave.”
I shot her a look. “It’s just an office.”
“The office of the top security firm in New Orleans. I bet it’s impressive.”
“You’ve been reading up on me?”
“I can do a web search. I saw that you and your brothers donate a lot of money to charities.”
“We’ve done well, and we like to give back. It was a lot of hard work, but also a dash of luck. We made it, but not all kids like us do. So, we like to give back to help others make it, too.”
She set her fork down. “That’s admirable, Reath.”
I felt uncomfortable. “It’s just the right thing to do. Finish up. It’s a short walk to the office.”
Once we’d tidied up and put the dishes in the dishwasher, we both brushed our teeth. I didn’t let myself think about how it felt with her there beside me.
We walked down the sidewalk to PSS.
As we reached the office, she studied the words Phoenix Security Services etched on the window, along with the rising phoenix logo. Inside, I nodded to Daniel sitting at the front desk. As we headed up the stairs, Frankie’s head moved, taking it all in.
“It does look like an office,” she said. “A fancy one.”
Her flat shoes made no sound on the polished concrete floor. She peered through the glass wall into the conference room.
I stopped at the door that led to the computer room and pressed my eye to the retinal scanner. The lock beeped and disengaged. I placed my palm on Frankie’s lower back and ushered her into the dimly lit computer room.
Her mouth dropped open. “You do have a bat cave.”
Two of my team sat at the curved banks of desks in front of our high-tech computers. Screens lined the wall.
She spotted Lincoln at a desk. He had a bandage on his head.
“Hey, Linc, are you all right?” Frankie asked.
My man nodded. “I am. Thanks to you.”
She grabbed his hand across the desk and squeezed. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I have a hard head.” He met my gaze and gave me a short nod. There was respect on his face.
“Frankie, this is Keiko.” I gestured at my other team member.
Frankie lifted a hand. “Hi.”
The dark-haired Keiko nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“We’ll be in my office if you need me.” I took Frankie’s hand and led her to my office.
She turned in a circle. “This suits you.”
The walls were dark gray, except for one that held a huge screen. It currently displayed a world map, with several glowing dots in various locations. They showed where I had men or teams deployed on jobs.
My desk was a large slab of wood topped with a curved computer screen. Circling the desk, I touched my intercom.
“Daniel, can you find a desk and a secure laptop for Frankie? Set them up in the corner of my office.” I didn’t want her out of my sight.
“On it, boss.”
In the middle of my desk, I saw I had several messages and a note that I had a conference call scheduled in an hour. I flicked through the pages.
A moment later, Daniel appeared with one of my other men. They carried in a small desk and set it against the wall. Then Daniel set up a laptop and opened it. He smiled at Frankie, then left.
She sat in the chair and opened the laptop. “My data is all here!”
“My team is the best.”
“Go.” She shooed me. “I know you have lots to deal with. Get to work. You won’t even know that I’m here.”
I knew that would be impossible.