Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action) (2 page)

She was more afraid because she lived down here. That and the fact that Shatrel’s store was just ten shops and a bistro down from hers. Whether she had the money in her budget for security or not, Alyssa knew she needed somebody on hand at least through close of business. After that she was on her own.

“I can only pay you eighteen an hour. You’re worth more than that.” She tried to hand him back his resume, but he wouldn’t take it. She didn’t want to be that employer who underpaid their workers. She had gone through that herself and she knew how much she hated knowing her skills were worth more, doing the job of five people and being paid less than the job of one. She needed security, but she also wanted to be fair. She couldn’t afford to pay him what he was worth.

“I’ll work for it, and when things pick up you can give me a raise.”

Good Lord the man was underselling himself. She wasn’t sure if she should let him. He would just hate her for it in the end. He would end up being one of those types of employees that grumbled about their underappreciated work because their pay wasn’t on par with their skills. He would quickly move on. She had been there. She had been that employee, and eventually she had moved on. Although she couldn’t really complain. Having a crap job with crap pay was what made her realize she needed to go out there and make her own way. Fortunately, she hadn’t spent years in “going nowhere” jobs before she made the switch.

She liked this guy on paper, and he seemed to know what he was doing, but she couldn’t hire him. She needed somebody with less skill. She shook her head; no, she needed him. She just couldn’t really afford him.

While she was processing the situation a tall lanky man with wire glasses came in with his resume. His blond hair was cut low, almost to the point of being shaved. He was dressed in a suit; that was the first thing she noticed about him because it fit him as if it had been tailored to fit his body and his body only. Given his height she gathered he probably had to buy custom clothes. He looked taller than Thomas, but it could have just seemed that way because he was lanky and lean while Thomas was all muscle. This guy looked like a friggin’ tree and suddenly, even in four-inch stiletto heels, she felt small.

“I’m here about the security position,” he said as he slid his resume onto the counter. She looked at the man already in front of her. She wanted this man—on so many levels, which was actually problematic because if he came to work for her she would have to get over her growing lust for the five foot nine inch muscles to die for, guy standing in front of her. Dark hair, green-blue eyes, oh yeah, she liked. Most women liked taller men, but for Alyssa, his height was perfect. She was only five feet and with four-inch heels on she would still be shorter than he was, but not so much so that she would end up with a pain in her neck from tilting her head back to look up at him all the time. Why was she still thinking in terms of having a relationship with this man? He was hired, and she knew that, even if she hadn’t said as much yet. His new status as her employee meant no romantic entanglements with the guy.

“I’m sorry; the position has just been filled,” she said as she smiled at the man who was dropping off his resume. “I can keep your resume on file.”

He grumbled, snatched the resume off her counter and stomped out the door uttering several curses.

“Well, that was rude,” she said.

“So I have the job?”

“You have the job. When can you start?”

“Right now,” he said.

“Oh, I have to do the background check and verify that you are eligible to work in the U.S. Arizona has some harsh laws for businesses who hire illegal workers and I won’t have my store shut down because you’re not allowed to work here.” He looked at her as if she had two heads. “Don’t think just because you look white that I’m not going to cross all of the
t
’s and dot all of the
i
’s.” She tacked her hands to her hips.

“How about I start getting this place brought out of the Dark Ages of security into the twenty-first century and you put me on the books and pay me once you’ve finished all the verifications. They have e-verify you know?”

“I know that,” she said. She also knew it wasn’t cheap. “I guess it’s okay. I mean you did, per your CV, serve our country so you must be okay. I’ll let you start, but if there’s even one red flag I’m kicking you out.”

“I’d expect nothing less from a law abiding citizen.”

“Now,” she pushed her spiraled tresses back behind her shoulder. “About this bringing me into the twenty-first century thing,” she didn’t have the money for that at all. She was going to have to stay in the proverbial Dark Ages of security equipment until she had more money. “I can’t afford that. We’ll have to work with what we have.”

He shook his head no. Did he not realize that she was the boss? Well, maybe she just needed to remind him. “Me boss; you employee,” she said in a Tarzan kind of way. She loved old movies and it wasn’t out of her usual norm to slip into mixing up their quotes.

He laughed. “You boss of store,” he said in the same tone. “Me boss of security.” God he was so serious yet playful that it made her laugh.

“I really can’t afford it.”

“I’ve got it covered.”

“So you’re working for practically free and you’re upgrading my security for free. Wow! You must be desperate for work on the Row.” The Row wasn’t just one long street of shops; it was several blocks. It’s just that her shop was situated in the heart of the district of stores, galleries, and upscale food establishments. She knew, no matter where the vacant store became available, people jumped at the chance to own a spot in this high-class district. She had gotten lucky; or more like her hard work had paid off, because she managed to get her bid in on her spot the same day the store went up for sale. With her preapproval in hand and all required paperwork, she managed to blissfully beat the competition to the punch and at the end of the race for one of the most coveted spots in the shopping district, she was the one who took home the key.

“I couldn’t care less about the status of the Row. No place is safe, but you all walk around here as if the name, the location, and the prestige alone will keep you safe. I guess you all now see that it won’t.”

She nodded. “It was nice while the peacefulness lasted.” She had to admit that. There was so much craziness in the world, and in Arizona too. There was the serial rapist on the loose in Chandler. There had been several apartment shootings in Mesa. Areas of Phoenix were quickly becoming areas to avoid even in the daylight hours and now the Row had been hit. There just never seemed to be any place to go where a person could be safe without fear of the next major attack from some whack job lunatic. She hated that.

“Why are you doing this? Why are you working so cheap and upgrading my security for free?” People didn’t do anything for nothing at all—that’s not how the world worked. He had to want something.

He shrugged. “First, your security is archaic and something better will help me do my job better.”

Okay, he had a point there. “And second?”

“Second,” he looked her over, as if waiting for a reaction…or preparing himself for one. “A friend asked me to help out a friend.”

She felt her face heating with anger. “Thomas!” She growled. She told him to stay out of it.

“I don’t know your brother,” he said.

“Ah ha!” He knew who she was talking about when she said his name so she knew Thomas did have something to do with it, even if he hadn’t sent the guy himself. “Even if you don’t know him, you know of him because you knew he was my brother.”

He laughed. “Yeah, but I’ve never met him.”

“Let me guess, he asked one of the guys to send you here.”

“Nope,” he said. “And since you’ve already hired me, you can’t fire me.”

Yes she could—but she wouldn’t. No matter how his walking into her store came about, she needed him. “So how long will you be here? A day, a week? What is this?” Would he leave right after what the media had dubbed,” The Terror on the Row” ended?

“As long as you need me.”

She sighed and smiled. She was sure Thomas had something to do with this. She could be angry, but she would be a fool if she didn’t thank him for it. “Let me show you around.” Not that there was much to show, but he could at least take a look inside her little box of a security room.

“Aren’t you going to lock the door?” He asked when she walked past him and headed toward the room.

“I hadn’t planned on it,” she said. “This won’t take too long.” He grunted. She was just about to ask him why he had a problem with it when the front door swung open and Officer Craig Davis sauntered in.

“Is there a problem here?” Craig’s usually flirtatious smile was gone and right now he had a dead serious look on his face and his hand on his weapon.

“No,” she said quickly. “Craig this is my new security guy, Shane.” She had the feeling he might not want his last name tossed out there. Most of the military men she knew were generally fairly private and giving his full name to a cop who would probably go back and run a search on him wasn’t exactly in fashion with keeping things private. “Shane, Craig is an officer working out of the Sixth.” She had met Craig a year ago when he and another officer had gone down the Row talking with shop owners about safety and security. It was their routine community awareness walk, but he had been a new addition. Now she couldn’t seem to get rid of him. He hadn’t come in every day, but he had stopped in sporadically to say hello. Since the last robbery he was becoming a more frequent fixture. He had, in not so direct terms, asked her out. He had asked her if she had lunch. She had told him not yet and he had said he hadn’t either. “I’m on my way down to the Bistro,” he had said. She knew an almost invite when she heard one so she quickly said that she still had a lot of work to do, but she had lunch waiting for her upstairs when she had time for her break.

Craig was attractive. He had this caramelized brown skin, gorgeous hazel eyes and short cut black hair. He had a go-tee. She didn’t usually go for facial hair, but it looked really good on him. He was five-eight, athletically fit, but not overtly muscular, and honestly he filled out the uniform rather nicely. She just didn’t feel that connection, the attraction that he seemed to want her to feel. She wasn’t sure he would understand that. Honestly, she didn’t get it herself. He was a nice guy; he was cute and yet she felt nothing—nothing at all. At first she thought she was just still untrusting of men due to the last relationship fiasco. They say they’re not married, but a person never really could tell, and that line of thinking made her turn down every man who walked into her shop thinking they had a chance with her. But then she realized that she wasn’t still dealing with relationship issues. She really did want something stable and good. Being at Thomas’ wedding had reminded her just how much she wanted that connection with somebody too. She just hadn’t found the right somebody yet.

“I could have handled security for your store,” he said so seriously that it almost knocked her over.

“How? You work thirteen hour shifts; there’s no way you could take this on too.”

“I would have given it all up for you.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Then you’d be broke. Trust me; you’re better off where you are.” She needed to change the subject—fast. “So what are you doing down this way?”

“After the last incident down here our department got some pressure from the mayor to make our presence known. Guess the big guy finally got around to putting a couple officers on the watch as requested.” He nearly laughed as he shook his head. “Maybe he realized the mayor was going to call every single day until somebody did as he said.”