Protecting His Assets (16 page)

His focused, direct look reminded her that this was a man who made his own destiny, who was used to getting exactly what he wanted. The fact that he wanted
her
—at least for right now—was heady stuff, but it wasn’t the reason why she was going to say yes.

She pulled the strap back up over her shoulder and smoothed her hair before leaning over to kiss him once more. April was going to say yes because she wanted to. It didn’t get any plainer or simpler than that.

The car came to a stop. She started to pull back and climb off his lap, but his big hand on the back of her neck kept her close.

“If you stay, I promise to make you scream.” He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth playfully.

A sizzle spread through her. Of all her worries, that definitely wasn’t it. “A boxer needs to constantly work on his stamina. The way I see it, you asked for a trainer, and I have an obligation to do my very best to put you through your paces,” she teased.

Chapter Ten

S
he straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair to make sure no telling strands had escaped, and by the time the car door opened and he helped her out, there was no sign of the siren that had melted over his fingers and squirmed on his lap. The indomitable Ms. Porter had returned, even if the ugly suit had not.

He hid a smile as she nodded to the driver. He liked the stiff, professional Ms. Porter, especially now that he knew the Amazon was close at hand beneath the surface.

“Hey, Tony. Are we good?” she asked the bodyguard waiting for them in the parking garage. The guy was beefy, with a thick, furrowed brow and a definite bulge in his jacket. He was already holding open the empty elevator, presumably because they hadn’t wanted to risk randomly pushing the button with Steve standing there, only to have it open with a gunman waiting to shoot him down.

He shook his head. Was this really the way he’d started to think? Would he be looking for crazed psychos at every street corner now, too?

Tony nodded, giving Steve a once-over. “Nora has cleared your apartment. No word yet as to the identity of the assailant. John went with the officers who transported the guy to the station, but there’s an investigator questioning some of the guests at the museum.”

“What about Mrs. Nolan?” she said.

“She’s been escorted home, and two of our guys are going to stick around outside for the night to keep an eye on things. I understand her daughter is in residence as well, and she has been inquired after. All is well, but she’s been asking questions.”

“Great. We’ll make sure to talk to her first thing in the morning. Thanks so much for your assistance tonight,” she said with a friendly smile. The tight ball in Steve’s chest relaxed a little. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been about his family until April had made certain to inquire after them. “I guess you’re free to go on home. Tell Pete I’m sorry to have kept you out so late on date night.”

Tony chuckled and motioned for them to enter the elevator as he said, “I promised to make my Fettuccine Alfredo tomorrow as a compromise, so he’s not complaining.”

As the elevator door closed, Tony tipped his chin down and murmured something. Steve was fairly certain it was a heads-up to whoever would be waiting for them at the penthouse level.

“You seem to know Tony pretty well,” he said.

He wondered if she’d shrug off his question, like she’d done every other time he’d shown a hint of interest in her personal life.

“Not really. I haven’t been with the company long, but I knew Tony’s partner when I was in training for the FBI. Pete just graduated actually. He got a position in the Virginia office, and he and Tony are going to be moving there in a few weeks. We celebrated last weekend.”

She sounded completely genuine in her happiness for the couple, but if he’d been in her place, he probably would have felt at least a
little
melancholy. “You would be celebrating your new post by now, too, if you hadn’t left the program, wouldn’t you?”

She shrugged. “Then it’s definitely better that I left. Even assuming I’d have passed the final tests, there’s no guarantee I would have been assigned to an office in the area. And whether or not Dad wants me around right now, I need to be close by…just in case.”

Not since that first night sitting on the floor of his wrecked kitchen when she’d told him about her dad’s gym had she willingly shared any part of herself with him—and God knew, he’d tried to get her to open up. Not her past, or her present. Not her fears, or her dreams. And yet, he’d discovered things on his own just by watching her and by her own omissions. She’d probably
hate
to know that.

April was perhaps the most aloof person he’d ever met, but in spite of her stubborn walls, he kept finding reasons to admire her. She’d lost her mother as a child, but it hadn’t become a crutch. She loved her father and feared for his health. She’d willingly given up her dream of working with the FBI to care for him. She could be happy for her friends’ successes even when she felt like she’d been left behind. And she’d approached her assignment to a disrespectful smart-ass with dignity and grace. She was not only beautiful, talented, and whip-smart, but also a class act.

When
his
future had been ripped away by the death of his father, he’d reacted by going through an angry, two-year long rebellion of drinking, partying, and every other vice he could think of before realizing what April had known instinctively: that life wasn’t fair and the only way to take control of it was to accept that and just rely on yourself.

The elevator stopped, and the two of them walked out into the hallway. A woman stood at his doorway and stepped forward. “Mr. Nolan, I’m Nora Shapiro of S & S Security,” she said, shaking his hand and sending April a friendly smile. “I wanted to be here in person to bring you up to date on the situation as it currently stands.”

He nodded and motioned for the front door. “Why don’t you come inside, then?”

She shook her head. “This won’t take long, so I’ll be brief and leave you to the rest of your evening.” She clasped her hands. “The person who approached you at the museum this evening has been identified as Edward Fielding, the son of Justin Fielding.”

A chill ran down his spine. The frantic, desperate-looking guy who’d confronted him this evening couldn’t have been any older than Steve himself. He’d known Justin Fielding had a son, but none of his investigators had ever been able to locate the family. They’d disappeared along with him and hadn’t turned up again, even after news of the car crash.

“Where’s his father?” he demanded.

April stepped closer and took his hand, as if to soothe his ruffled feathers. He noticed Nora noticing the gesture, but neither of them said anything about it. Steve, because he was enjoying her touch and didn’t want her to realize what she was doing and let go; and Nora, probably because she didn’t want to make April feel uncomfortable.

“The police haven’t finished their interrogation, but we’re on top of the situation and will keep you advised as soon as we know more,” Nora said.

Justin Fielding had stolen from his family and destroyed his father. He’d escaped justice all this time while Steve’s family had been shamed and blackballed for years afterward. Now that Steve had finally started to put the pieces of their lives back together, the bastard’s son thought he could finish what his father started?
Fuck that.

“I want to be there.” His clenched teeth sent pain spiking through his jaw.

The two women shared a telling look. Obviously, they thought that was going to be a bad idea, and maybe they were right. He didn’t know if he’d be able to keep his cool if faced with anyone named Fielding, but he didn’t much care. “I want answers, and I’m not going to leave it up to the cops to get them. They’ve spent ten years doing absolutely nothing with this investigation. I have no confidence that even with this guy in their custody, they’ll be of any use.”

“Police procedure prohibits the public from interrogating a witness, but I’ll make some calls in the morning, and we’ll see what we can do,” April said, squeezing his hand. This time she did realize what she was doing and quickly pulled away. He wanted to reach out and snatch her hand back, but didn’t.

“I know a few guys at the station,” she said. “Maybe I can pull some strings and at least get us in the same room with him for a minute or two.”

Nora stepped aside and moved toward the elevator. “Everything’s under control for now. It’s getting late, but I should have an agent available to relieve you in about an hour,” she said to April.

April blushed and pointedly did
not
look at Steve.

“Send your people home. I think it’s safe to say that your company’s protection services are no longer required,” he said. “The guy’s in custody, and I know who he is, if not what he wants. But that’s only a matter of time. Ms. Porter’s assignment is officially over, don’t you agree?”

The woman looked back and forth between him and April. Finally, she nodded. “I understand we will need Mr. Harrison to sign off on the contract to make it official, but I suppose you’re right.”

April visibly relaxed, and he realized just how much she’d been bothered by the idea of spending the night while “on the job.” He was glad it wouldn’t be an issue because he wanted nothing between them tonight…nothing at all.

Ms. Shapiro smiled. “I’ve got some other situations to check on, and a husband to retrieve from the police station, so I’ll be going. Email me a report in the morning,” she said to April.

April’s cheeks were still delightfully pink by the time the elevator door closed on her boss’s carefully blank expression, but in every other respect, she’d gone into Ms. Porter mode again, standing very straight and stiff at his side.

Had she changed her mind? It was one thing to get carried away by the shadowed intimacy of the car when his mouth was making her whimper and his fingers delved into her wet warmth, and quite another to stick to that same decision in the cold light of an apartment building hallway after a face-to-face with her boss.

He opened the door and held it for her. She hesitated, and he was positive she would have some reason why she suddenly had to leave. The disappointment almost smothered him, but he bit his tongue. It had to be entirely her decision. Given their professional association—no matter how much of a technicality it was at this point—he refused to push and risk making her uncomfortable.

He was about to tell her that he’d just have the car take her home, but then she stepped forward and edged past him. He gripped her forearm before she continued, trapping both of them in the doorway so her breasts grazed his chest, and the scent of cinnamon filled his senses.

He started to ask if she was sure but shut his mouth fast. April Porter was more than capable of taking care of herself and making her own decisions. She was no wilting flower or insecure flirt. That was one of the hundred things he was coming to appreciate about her, and he wouldn’t insult her intelligence by suggesting she didn’t know her own mind.

She looked up at him, her hesitation gone. The only thing left glistening in her gaze was a combination of expectation and promise.

He kissed her. Hard. Hot. Blatantly telling her how pleased he was with her decision. They moved out of the entryway, and he tipped the door closed with his foot without releasing her.

She tore her mouth from his and looked over his shoulder. “Lock it,” she ordered.

“Always looking out for me?”

Fielding was in custody. The threat had been neutralized, and there was nothing to worry about anymore, but he reached back and did it anyway because otherwise he knew she wouldn’t be able to lose herself in the moment and enjoy all the things he was going to do to her.

“It’s my job,” she said, “and as long as I’m getting paid—”

Her gaze widened in horror, and she drew back sharply. He flinched and grabbed her hand, refusing to let her retreat. “Don’t,” he said firmly. “The job is finished. This is just between us.”

“That might be true if we hadn’t started this long before the job was done.”

“It doesn’t matter. Everything worked out,” he reassured her. “All that matters now…is now.”

“One night for pleasure,” she said, biting her lip. “Let’s have this one night to give in to it, to be reckless and wild with one another.”

One night?
They were free, and all she wanted was one night? That was usually more than enough for him, but with her…he didn’t want to think about being done with her. Not yet.
“April—”

“One night, Nolan,” she repeated firmly. “After tonight, I’ll be moving on to another assignment and helping my dad get through his treatment. You’ll be taking the business world by storm and going to more of those fancy business parties. We’re not even going to exist in the same stratosphere. We both know that beyond tonight, it would never work between us.”

“I haven’t gotten where I am today by refusing a challenge.”

“Are you saying that you want a relationship? The messy kind with lots of strings and expectations and compromise?” Her beautiful lips pursed. Was she asking him, or making it a proposal?

His grip on her hand tightened, but he hesitated.

Her chin tipped, but then she smiled and leaned in to kiss him. “One night,” she murmured in a low voice, between breaths. “But I have no doubt you’ll make it a night to remember.”

“For the rest of your life,” he murmured. He worked his hands into her hair until he heard pins dropping to the wood floor, dragged her full against him, and kissed her with all the urgency that was racing through his veins.

Her body was hot right through the slinky, thin fabric of her dress. She was a marvel of toned muscle and lush curves, and he wanted to immortalize every line, from the top to the bottom. She moaned into his mouth and gave him her tongue, and the taste of her defied all reason, made him weak in the knees. He backed her up against the wall, mostly to keep his legs from collapsing beneath him.

He took her face in his hands. Her eyes were already bright with rising desire. Her breaths were short and quick. “
Goddamn
,” he muttered with a sweeping wave of awe and euphoria. A man could get high just watching her. And
he’d
put that look on her face.

Clothes. Too many freaking clothes.

He felt for the zipper of her dress up by her shoulder blades and dragged it down the length of her spine, trying to go slowly and savor every moment of the reveal, but he felt clumsy and desperate.

The zipper stopped just at the top of her ass where it started to flare out, and he slipped both hands inside. Her skin was so soft, irresistible to the touch. So he touched. And touched. His hands smoothed up and down her back and cupped her sumptuous ass. She squirmed against him and it felt so good he wanted to lift her leg up around his hip and drive his cock in her right there.

He pulled the dress apart, intending to drag the straps from her shoulders, but froze at the sound of fabric ripping. “Shit.”

She chuckled. “There’s a hook at the neckline, in addition to the zipper,” she said. She turned around and pulled her long hair over her shoulder, glancing back at him with a molten, sultry expression that only increased his desperation.