Chapter Seven
“For the time being, provided you agree to my terms,” Ruyn said.
“I agree.” What choice did she have? Besides, if he worked with her instead of against her, it would make her job easier.
She eyed the spycams, wondering how he’d found them.
She’d thought she’d hidden them well, planting them in inconspicuous places before he learned she’d been hired. “How did you find them?”
“Despite having gotten myself attacked—I am security conscious. I do regular sweeps of my apartment. Imagine my surprise when it was bug free a few days ago, but this morning, it was infested. And, by coincidence, my very own bodyguard moved in next door.” His expression hardened. “Did you spy on me all last night?”
“No! After verifying no one had been lying in wait, I switched off the monitor.” I’d better tell him the rest. If I don’t, and he finds out on his own, he’ll call GAL Friday.
“In the interest of full disclosure and a gesture of good faith, you should know I rigged your door. I get an alert when anyone enters or leaves the unit.”
“I discovered that, too, but left it intact. As I said, I am security conscious. I assume the system keeps a record of entries and exits.”
“Yes.”
“It’s not a bad idea to monitor it, ensure no one is entering when I’m away.”
Her gaze shifted to the spy cams. “If someone broke in, and we got them on camera, we’d know their identities—or at least have a better chance of figuring it out,” she suggested.
“Right,” he said in a tone laden with sarcasm. “Including the identities of my female guests—in various stages of undress. You bugged my bedroom.”
The heat rushing to her cheeks signaled she’d turned blotchy.
She hadn’t considered…guests. She recalled how his bare muscular chest had gleamed with perspiration, the power behind every punch, the almost-sexual intensity on his chiseled face, and the erection she’d felt against the small of her back when he’d held her in the headlock.
Of course he’d have an active sex life. “I didn’t think about that. ”
“I’m injured, not impotent.” There was no mistaking the bitterness.
“I’m sure you are functional in every aspect,” she said primly like an old maiden aunt, more embarrassed than she’d ever been in her life. “My intent was to ensure no one killed you in your sleep. I handled this wrong, but it’s not entirely my fault.”
“Whose fault is it?”
“The job requirements changed. When Korsan hired me, he said you would never go for a bodyguard, so I had to try to protect you without you knowing I was protecting you.” She was betraying a client’s confidence, but she’d been presented with an unfair, unworkable assignment. “Now that you know, I can be open.”
“You’d better be.”
“I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot. Can we start fresh? I promise to keep you informed about everything I do.”
“I want to know everything you do before you do it.”
“Agreed. But I won’t be window dressing. If you intend to veto and stymie everything I suggest, there’s no sense in me being here. I’ll quit right now. Believe it or not, I do know what I’m doing. You need to listen to me.”
He had his conditions; she had hers. But, would he accept them? With everything out in the open, and having taken a stand, she had nowhere to go from here, except, literally, home.
He rocked in his chair, saying nothing. Deliberating, she realized. He was still unsold on the prospect of her staying. In hindsight, she’d overstepped a little by bugging his apartment.
Please don’t send me packing. Working on Luturna wasn’t a punch-in, punch-out workaday gig.
This case challenged her. Having caught the whiff of conspiracy, she itched to get to the bottom of this.
Ruyn was a brusque, tough badass who needed a bodyguard like a vegan needed a rib eye steak.
But he could use an investigator to figure out who had attacked him and why.
“I will listen to your counsel and give it due consideration, but I will make the final decisions,” he announced.
That was as good as she was going to get. “All right.”
“I guess we have a deal.” He surprised her by extending his hand across the desk.
“I didn’t think your people shook hands,” she said.
“But humans do, don’t they?”
Her stomach fluttered with awareness of his touch, and the image of him bare-chested and sweating reeled through her head again. Thankfully, he released her hand after a few seconds.
“To repeat my earlier question, what’s on the agenda today?” she said brightly.
“You can do whatever it is you do. I need to do some research. Korsan Enterprises has set its sights on some potential investments, and I need to study the companies’ market capitalization, profit and loss, and other financial data to determine if investing makes sense.”
“I’m going to try to obtain vid footage for the area around the alley,” she volunteered in the interest of keeping him informed. “The drone didn’t capture the moments preceding the attack, but I’m hoping other cameras did. Is there anything you need me to do? Administratively, I mean?”
He shook his head. “No, but we should stick to the original cover story that you’re my assistant. I would prefer people not know you’re a bodyguard.” That bitter tone again.
“No problem. I’ll be serving more as a security strategist, but I’ll leave the dark suit, earpiece, and sunglasses at home.”
“I don’t care what you wear,” he said, not understanding the allusion. His gaze traveled over her, assessing her attire, and, to her shock, her nipples beaded. He’s a client. I am not attracted to him, and he’s barely tolerating me.
“If I get any holograms, you can answer them,” he said. “But I don’t get many. I don’t attend many meetings. I pore over financial documents and then make recommendations to my brother. So, there aren’t many administrative tasks for you to pretend to be doing.”
No wonder he’d been so suspicious when an admin assistant showed up.
“Good. That gives me plenty of time to investigate. But since you don’t need an admin, won’t people think it’s suspicious that you have one?”
“Since people assume my job is a sinecure, they’ll figure you’re another perk I’ve been given out of nepotism. But they’ll mind their own business.”
“You mean, they won’t say anything to my face.”
“Yeah, that,” he admitted.
Wonderful. But she hadn’t come to make friends with her “coworkers,” and the sooner she figured out who had tried to kill him, the sooner she could leave and start her own agency.
“I’ll let you get to work,” she said and returned to the outer office to start digging.