Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“This is insane,” Tyler snapped to Grayson. The words were for his friend, but Tyler’s gaze? It was fully locked on the woman who had gone back to sitting on the interrogation room table. Her feet were swinging again. Though this time, she wore her insanely sexy heels as she swayed her feet. And he was pretty sure that she was humming or singing some sort of song.
They’d turned off the volume, so he didn’t hear her. The other Feds had filed out before Tyler entered the observation room. Hell, Gray had gone with them for a while. Some big Fed and CIA meeting that had excluded him. Why? Because Tyler didn’t have the fucking clearance for whatever bullshit was going on.
But Gray had just returned. Only the two of them were in that room. And… “Insane,” Tyler snapped again. No way were the Feds going to agree to her terms. No. Way.
“Uh, Tyler…”
Esme turned her head toward the mirror. Her hand lifted. She waved at him .
Damn if Tyler didn’t almost want to wave back. Instead, his hand fisted at his side.
“You know that you were recruited to work on the joint task force because you do have a history with Jorlan.”
Yeah, he did. The story he’d told Esme about the boarding school? It had been true. Once upon a time—in another life—he’d gone to boarding school with the prick. But he’d broken out of that world. Joined the Marines. Fought in hell. Survived. And he’d become a U.S. Marshal. He did the job because it meant something to him. He wanted to make the world a better place. A safer place.
A place where kids didn’t lose their whole damn families and wake up alone. Scared. Lost.
The way I fucking was.
“There is a lot at play here that you don’t know about,” Gray continued grimly. “A lot that I didn’t know about.” He pointed toward the glass. “That woman in there is keeping a whole truckload of secrets.”
That he could believe.
“And she’s got power. Enough power that my boss wants to consent to every demand she has. If she’ll cooperate, he’ll give her everything. ”
Tyler got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “No.” The denial was for Gray, but, again, his eyes were on Esme.
“We need you, Tyler. My boss has already talked to your boss—hell, you know how that interagency shit goes. You scratch my back, and I’ll be in your debt forever. Your boss was way too eager to get the Feds owing him, so he agreed to continue the partnership. You have a new assignment.”
“No.” He kept staring at Esme.
“It won’t be that bad.” Gray’s voice had turned almost wheedling. “I mean, look at her. Protecting her? How is that a bad job? The woman is gorgeous.”
Her head was dipping back and forth as she hummed. Or sang. Definitely sang.
“She’s a criminal,” Tyler gritted out.
She stopped singing. Her head swung toward him.
She can’t see me. She can’t hear me.
“She’s a super sexy criminal,” Gray corrected.
A growl rumbled in his throat.
“What, exactly, is that about?” Gray edged closer. “Each time I mention that she’s hot, you get all weird. Growly.”
“You mention it too fucking much.” She is hot. “You need to be professional. Eyes on the prize, man. Eyes on the prize.” Tyler’s eyes were still on her.
Her legs weren’t swinging any longer.
“Criminal,” he said again. He needed to remember that important point about her, and not think about how damn angry he’d gotten when he’d seen tears spill from her beautiful eyes. Tears that she had magically stopped in a blink. The woman is an actress. A true con artist. She can’t be trusted.
“Yeah, well, she is a criminal, and your job is to hunt down runaway criminals. You do that shit all the time. You track the baddest of the bad. You transport them. You secure them. Hell, you also secure key witnesses. You help give them new lives. In this case, you’re basically combining your two main mission objectives as a marshal.” Gray clapped his hands together. “Two worlds collide, but in a great way. You protect the woman who is both a criminal and a witness—and you help her get a new life.”
I want you . Her husky words rolled through Tyler’s head again. When she’d spoken those three little words, his whole body had jolted. His dick had gotten instantly hard. Oh, who was he kidding? It had gotten harder for her. Because he’d already been semi-aroused. How could he not be? Especially after she mentioned their kisses. Kisses that had ignited a dangerously intense lust within him. Which brought him to an important point. “Not a good idea for me to protect her.” He did not need to be in twenty-four, seven contact with a woman who tempted him so badly. Nope. Not a stellar plan.
“You excel at protecting. It’s your thing. No bad guys are gonna get past your guard.”
“Find someone else.”
Her eyelashes flickered.
He leaned forward. She looked sad. Esme had damn well better not cry again. Fake tears or not, he didn’t like it when she cried.
“There isn’t anyone else. You heard her. You’re the woman’s non-negotiable part. She wants you.”
And I want to do all sorts of bad things with her.
Nope. He was the marshal. The good guy. He would not cross that line.
“She has power, Tyler.” Low. Careful. “Pull that I didn’t expect, and I’m not just talking about her ambassador father. My boss is about to lose his mind because he thinks she is some major player that can do serious damage to some very bad people.”
She didn’t look like a major player. She looked fragile. Her shoulders had hunched a little. Esme was so much smaller than he was. Small things were breakable in his world.
“She wants you. That’s her sticking point. And, I’m sorry, but your boss has agreed to the terms. Unless you want to have one major battle with him, I think you’re going to be pulling protection duty with Esme Laurent for the foreseeable future.”
Oh, he could handle a battle with his boss. Any day of the week. And in the end, Tyler would get what he wanted because he had plenty of power, too. But…
“We need her to stay alive,” Gray continued grimly. “ Alive . A five-million-dollar hit doesn’t just vanish. Some skilled assassins will be closing in. You really think just anyone can handle them? Hell, no. We need someone with experience. With a deadly skill set. We need someone who can stay calm under the most extreme of circumstances—stay calm and still kick ass. In other words, I need you for the job. Come on, buddy. Look at it this way. You do this, and the FBI will owe you. The CIA will owe you. I will owe you. Hell, I’ll name my first-born son after you, if you want.”
He grunted. He didn’t care about the Feds and the Spooks owing him. What he did care about…
“She could very well die without you.”
Fuck.
“Tell me this…” Gray never stopped talking. “ Did she really step between you and a gun?”
“Yes.” A moment burned in his mind. What in the hell had she been thinking?
“So, don’t you owe the woman? One good life save deserves another and all that?”
Esme lifted her delicate hand to her mouth. Her fingers pressed to her lips. She blew Tyler a kiss.
His eyes narrowed.
“We, ah, even have a cover story.” Gray cleared his throat. “Since the two of you will be staying together in such a close manner, it seemed best that you have a paired new identity.”
He wasn’t going to like this. Not at all .
Esme hopped off the table. She strolled toward the mirror. Her steps were slow. Graceful. Her heels clicked on the floor. She walked across the grungy floor of the Fed’s interrogation room like she was taking a glide across a runway at a fashion show.
“You’ll be her husband.”
Esme stopped in front of the glass. One small hand lifted. Pressed to the mirror.
“She’ll, uh, she’ll pretend to be your wife.”
Esme’s brilliant smile curled her lips.
“Tyler?”
He stared at Esme. His hands remained fisted at his sides. He damn well wasn’t gonna do some dumb shit like put his hand on top of hers as it rested on the glass. Why the hell would he do that?
Why the hell do I want to do that?
“I get that you’re not the chattiest bastard on even the best of days.” Gray inched closer. “But it would be really great if I could get some sort of affirmation from you so I can go talk to my boss and get the wheels moving on this thing. So, how about a grunt? One grunt for yes? Or a nod? A nod would be super helpful.”
Esme’s fingertips tapped on the glass. Tyler’s nostrils flared. If the glass didn’t separate them, he’d be close enough to inhale her scent. She’d smelled absolutely delicious at Jorlan’s party. “What did she say in there?”
“Ah, is that a yes?”
Not yet, it wasn’t. Even though he already knew—hell, he and Gray both knew what he’d do. Not like Tyler was the type to throw a woman to the wolves. “When she spoke French in the interrogation room, what did she say?”
Silence .
Slowly, his head turned away from Esme, and he glanced at his friend. He caught Gray mid-wince.
“What. Did. She. Say?”
“I want to fuck you.”
Tyler’s eyes widened.
“That’s what she said, okay? She said she wanted to fuck you. I’m sure that she was messing with you. You’d said that crack about her not sounding French, so she just threw out something that she thought was shocking.” Gray yanked a hand through his hair. “Word is that’s her style. Shocking. Unconventional.”
Like he hadn’t already figured that out about her? “She had a bag of stolen diamonds strapped to her thigh. Hard to get more unconventional than that.”
“She needs you, man. She might seem cocky and bold, but she’s in trouble. And you’re the kind of man who never turns away from someone in trouble. That’s your kryptonite.”
His head turned back toward the mirror. Esme’s hand had dropped, but she still stood right in front of the glass.
Impatience flashed on her face.
Then her right hand rose up. Her index finger moved to the side of her nose, and she gave the finger a fast twist out.
What the hell?
She did it again.
A bark of laughter escaped from Gray.
Tyler instantly rounded on him. “What in the hell is so funny?”
“I think she figured out that we turned off the volume to her room. Ahem.” He wiped his smile away. “She’s using sign language now.” He repeated the quick gesture that Esme had made.
“What does it mean? ” He knew Gray’s aunt had been deaf, and his mother had taught her children sign language so they could always communicate easily with her.
“It means that she’s bored.” Gray glanced back through the glass. His head tilted as he studied her. “Definitely more than meets the eye with her.” He sounded impressed. “You know what, I’ll just go and?—”
Tyler’s hand flew out and locked around his shoulder. “I’m taking her protection detail.”
“Of course, you are.” Gray bit down on a smile.
Had the bastard just played him? Screw it. “But I have conditions of my own.”
Gray nodded. “Sure. Witness protection is more your area than mine, so, of course, I’ll bow to your superior judgment.”
Damn right, he would. “I pick the place. I control the location. Little Miss Sticky Fingers in there does what I say, when I say it. If she’s not cooperating fully with me and following my orders at all times, I’m out.”
“Uh, this really sounds like a you and a her problem. How about I go share the good news with my boss and you let Little Miss Sticky Fingers know the good news?” He tugged away from Tyler and hurried for the door. But before he exited, Gray glanced back. “This will be more dangerous than it seems. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the people coming after her are the kind that would give most people nightmares.”
“ I’m the kind that gives nightmares.”
Gray nodded. “Yeah, you are.” He opened the door. “So, to circle back to that first-born son thing?—”
“Go tell your boss that I’m in charge of her protection.”
“On it.”
Tyler looked back to toward the glass. Esme had put her hand up again. Her small palm rested on the glass. And …
His hand rose and pressed over hers. So much bigger. So much stronger.
Esme seemed to stare at him.
What in the hell am I going to do with her?
But, really, wasn’t that answer obvious?
Protect her. Keep her safe at all costs. Eliminate any and every threat that comes her way.
After all, wasn’t that what a good husband would do?
The interrogation room door swung open. Esme gave a little jump even as her hand remained pressed to the glass.
Tyler strolled in. All big and strong and…
“Well, damn.” She snatched her hand away from the glass. So much for the idea that he’d been in there, watching her. She’d felt like she was having a moment, but clearly, she’d been deluding herself.
Esme turned fully toward him and hoped that she looked suitably confident and assured. Her stomach was in so many knots that she ached, and her throat had gone bone dry as she waited for Tyler to make his decision.
He kicked the door shut behind him.
She searched his expression. Not reassuring. Just still intense. Kinda scary. “I can’t tell…” Her head cocked. “Is this going to be a yes or a no?”
“Thought I was your non-negotiable.”
She started to inch toward him.
Not necessary.
He immediately closed the distance between them. He stopped right in front of her, trapping her between his body and the mirror behind her. Then he lifted one hand?—
Is he going to touch me ?
And he shoved it against the mirror so that he was leaning toward her. Leaning over her. Doing the lean that she’d always found so very sexy when a man utilized it just right. And he was doing it right. The position stretched his black t-shirt over the powerful muscles in his upper arm.
She should probably not be looking at his arm. She should be looking at his face. With an effort, Esme did just that. “You are my non-negotiable,” she agreed.
“If I refuse the protection detail, you’re just going to walk that sweet ass out of here and straight into the line of fire for any hitman who wants to take you out?”
She gasped.
He grimaced. “I?—”
“You think I have a sweet ass? Thank you so much for noticing. I work out a lot.”
His brow furrowed. “Esme…”
Okay, that was a very real shiver that had just skated down her spine. But the way he’d said her name had been extra rumbly and deep and it had been far, far too easy to imagine him speaking the same way when they were, say, tangled together in sweaty bliss in a big bed.
But, they weren’t in bed. They were in an interrogation room. And her life was rather on the line. So she had to focus. Now, what had he said? Ah, yes. “You’re not going to walk out and leave me to be the target of dangerous hitmen.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Well, because you’re standing in front of me right now. That means you said yes.” She put her hands on his chest. Wow. Esme swallowed. Ignore that hard strength. “You didn’t storm in here to deny my request. I suspect you just came in here all angry because you’re mad that you were roped into the situation. I get it. I’d be mad, too. ”
The furrows in his brow deepened.
“But I wanted the best for my protection.” Who would want the worst? The worst would just get a woman killed.
“How do you know I’m the best?”
Because I did research on you long before our paths crossed at Jorlan’s party. Not like she could tell him that bit of news. Not yet. “You took out five men and you didn’t break a sweat. If you’re not the best, then who is?”
His brow smoothed.
The silence stretched a wee bit too long for her. But she didn’t break it. She’d said her part. It was his turn. She waited. Frankly, Esme was curious to see just what intriguing terms he’d have in order to take the job and?—
“You’re marrying me.”