Chapter 13
Ethan: I need to see you.
Ethan: Where are you? Why aren’t you replying?
Ethan: Are you okay? Answer your Goddamn phone!
Jamie
The suspect board dominates the wall of our security office, its cork surface covered with so many photos that they barely fit. The faces stare at me. Wealthy developers, angry tenants, and the group of beautiful women Ethan has dated over the past two years, including a picture of Victoria.
Kayla is working at her computer. Dani is in our training room, next to our main office. She’s using the punching bag, practicing the combinations I taught her.
The rhythm of her fists thudding on the leather bag is a sound that usually soothes me. Today, it just reminds me of my sessions with Ethan.
And of last night’s kiss.
I flex my hands. I’ve already finished my workout and showered. I spent two hours beating that bag into submission before it was Kayla’s turn to train. But thinking about what happened last night makes me want to punch it some more.
My phone is on my desk, some unanswered messages from Ethan on the screen. I’ve been ignoring his messages and calls because I don’t know what to say to him. All I know is that I don’t want to talk about last night. Not until I’ve worked out why the hell I’d forget myself like that.
“How is Ethan’s boxing training going?” Kayla asks from her desk, as if reading my mind.
An image flashes into my mind. His teeth on my lip. My legs around his waist. His erection grinding against me.
“Okay,” I say, controlling my expression. But heat rises to my cheeks.
I don’t blush often. I hate that I’m doing it now.
Kayla’s eyebrows twitch. A knowing smile plays at the corners of her mouth.
She’s basically a genius, and nothing gets past her.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she could see right into my brain, to where all my confusing, erotic thoughts about Ethan are swirling around.
She can read me like nobody else can, and normally I don’t mind.
But I don’t want to talk about Ethan. I don’t want to think about him, or dream about him, or have secret, sexy fantasies about him.
The one thing I know for certain is that I’m not going to kiss him again. It was madness. A mistake. One I won’t repeat.
“He seems like a nice guy,” Kayla offers.
I snort. “Liar. He’s the opposite of nice. He destroys people’s homes for a living, remember?”
“Okay, yeah.” She cocks her head. “He makes a lot of enemies. But Balthazar likes him, right? So he can’t be all bad.”
“He could definitely be all bad,” I argue. “It’s not impossible. It’s not even unlikely. And you saw his building, how horrible it was, and all the people he’s kicking out onto the street. Does that seem like something a good person would do?”
“He agreed to be in your boxing match,” she points out. “That was nice of him.”
“He’s only doing it because—” The bell over our door chimes, cutting off my protest.
Ethan fills the doorway. He looks more gorgeous than ever, in a dark suit with the top buttons of his shirt undone. My heart shudders, vibrating in my chest, the mere sight of him sending shockwaves through me.
It’s obvious that he’s not happy. He strides into our office like a dark, furious tornado bearing down on me.
“Jamie.” His frown is intense, his expression hard. “You’re here.”
I feel the flush crawl further up my neck. Damn it.
“What makes you think you need to keep checking up on me?” I demand.
He scowls. “You didn’t answer your phone.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“It was urgent.”
“Well, what’s so important?”
Kayla clears her throat, her gaze bouncing between Ethan and me like she's watching a tennis match. She’s usually shy with new people and often hides behind both her long hair and her large computer monitors, but her curiosity seems to be winning.
“Um,” she says. “Hello Mr. Kane. I’m Kayla, Jamie’s associate.”
“Hi.” Ethan barely glances at her. He thrusts an envelope at me, deep lines pinched between his eyes. “This arrived in the mail.”
The closer he gets to me, the harder my heart pounds. Why does he always have to smell so good?
I take the envelope from him. “What is it?”
“Another threat.” His voice is granite hard. “Much worse than before, because this one targets you. And what am I supposed to think when you don’t reply to my messages?”
The envelope feels expensive, heavy paper beneath my fingers.
Inside is a glossy photo that makes my stomach clench.
It's Ethan and me, leaving the charity ball. We’re getting into his limo, and Ethan is holding the door open for me to slide into the back seat.
I recognize my silky jumpsuit, but my face is covered by scribbles drawn over it in red ink.
“This is serious.” Ethan’s jaw is tight as he grinds out the words. “I’ve told my team to report the threat to the police.”
“You didn’t report the last ones?” Kayla gets up and moves closer so she can peer at the photo over my shoulder, tucking her long hair behind her ear.
“No.” He scans the photos on our board. “Are you any closer to narrowing down a suspect?”
“Not really,” I say. “We’ve added some more of your business associates.” I gesture toward the stern-faced guys I’ve been calling the ‘money men’.
“But we’ve also managed to rule out several people,” Kayla says, her tone cheerful. “And we’re working on eliminating more.”
“You can remove Miles.” Ethan stalks over to the board, pulls off Miles’s photo, screws it up, and shoots it into the nearest trash basket.
“But it could be him,” I object. “He seemed so angry with you at the ball, I figured we should at least?—”
“It’s not him,” Ethan growls. He sits on the edge of my desk, arms folded. “He wouldn’t send photos. If he can find a way to cheat when we fight, or to kick me while I’m down, I wouldn’t put that past him. But he’s not going to waste time sending threats.”
“Okay,” Kayla says. “Then who do you think is our most likely suspect?”
He shakes his head. “No idea.”
“How about the motive?” I ask. “Why would anyone send the pictures?”
“I assumed someone was trying to irritate me.” He turns his frown on me. “I wasn’t taking it seriously, but they’ve gone too far with the photo of you.”
“It’s likely to be someone romantically interested in you.” Kayla says, although we’ve already looked into the women he’s dated.
“It won’t be any of them,” Ethan says, studying the women’s photos. “Why is Victoria there? The first photo I got had red lines over her face. She wouldn’t threaten herself.”
“It might have been a bluff.” Kayla walks back to her desk. “She could have sent you the photo to bring you rushing to her side to protect her.”
He shakes his head, then looks at me. “You’ve met her. Do you think that’s likely?”
“Probably not,” I admit. Then I lift my chin and shoot him a challenging look. “Any other jilted lovers we should know about? Women you’ve randomly kissed?”
His gaze narrows on mine, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
After a moment, he turns to Kayla. “Would you excuse Jamie and I so we can we talk in private?”
I frown, opening my mouth to protest.
But Kayla's already grabbing the half-empty mug from her desk. "Sure," she says, shooting me a look that promises interrogation later. "I could use a fresh coffee." She heads toward our tiny office kitchen.
As soon as the door closes behind her, Ethan turns back to me. “What was that?”
I shrug, my heart kicking up a gear now that we’re alone together. I grab a pen off my desk to fiddle with, needing something to do with my hands. “Just trying to cover all our bases.”
“I don’t randomly kiss women.” He makes a frustrated sound. “And you need to answer my calls, or I’m going to think something bad has happened.”
I roll my eyes and click the end of the pen rapidly, annoyed at having to keep telling him the same thing. “Nothing’s going to happen to me. I can look after myself.”
He looks just as irritated as I am. “Of course you’re capable. But what am I supposed to think when I get a threat against you, and you don’t pick up?”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess that’s fair,” I admit, my flash of annoyance fading. “I didn’t know you’d gotten another photo. I just needed time to think after… what happened.” I grimace, not wanting to talk about that. “And honestly, I wish you’d stop worrying about me.”
“Easier said than done.” He frowns. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Always.”
He nods solemnly, accepting the word with such a serious look, it’s as though I’ve made a blood oath. “Then I’ll see you at training tomorrow.”
“Um. Yeah. Training.”
He heads for the door, and I’m speechless, my mind in a whirl. As fast as I’m clicking the pen, my pulse is racing even faster at the thought of being alone in the gym with him again tomorrow morning.
How can I trust myself? Even knowing that he’s not a good person, I’m still so attracted to him that I can’t help admiring the perfect shape of his butt as he leaves.
Kayla sticks her head back into the room. “Has he gone? Are you okay?”
“Totally fine,” I say. “It was nothing.”
The pen snaps in my hand.