Tamed (Corcoran Team: Bulletproof Bachelors Book 3) (3 page)

“They probably blocked the signal. Try again.” He glared, as if willing her to listen. “We need Connor.”

Connor Bowen, the owner and head of the Corcoran Team. The man with power and connections. She knew one thing: if Shane needed Connor for reinforcements, they were all in trouble.

Chapter Three

Shane tried not to stare at her. Being in the same room with Makena always resulted in the same reaction. His heart rate kicked up as fast as his common sense took a nosedive. The black hair, usually pulled back with those sexy curls hanging down by her ears. The dark eyes and hints of the heritage passed down from her Japanese mother.

The long legs and trim body...everything about her set his blood boiling. So beautiful that she tested every vow he’d ever made postdivorce about keeping relationships light and sex only. He wanted her every minute and fought off the attraction with every cell and every muscle.

He tore his attention away from her and watched his team as he stood in the middle of her family room with activity buzzing around him. Cam and Connor had arrived. Connor had walked through the door and immediately started doing what he did best—he ran the whole show. Came in with a cover and ordered people, all while silently wrestling control away from whatever poor schmuck thought he ran the crime scene.

Cam, along with Holt, formed the three-man traveling team for Corcoran. Cam showed up to help because that was what Cam did. No questions asked, he rushed in and provided support. Many times that included flying a helicopter. This time he stood on the other side of Makena, across from Shane, and made sure no one got near her.

Connor broke away from the detective and headed over to the Corcoran semicircle. “We have one dead attacker.”

“Thanks to Shane,” Cam said.

“You would have done the same thing.” Every member of the team would have put his body in front of Makena. Forget about her being innocent, though that counted as a good answer. She was Holt’s sister, and no one touched the people the team members cared about.

“Probably.” Cam shrugged. “I’m betting I would have used more finesse. Maybe been quicker about it.”

Shane knew Cam was joking...or engaging in what Cam thought qualified as joking. Making sly comments meant to break the tension. If Shane hadn’t walked in on some guy manhandling Makena, watched as the guy tried to choke the life out of her, he might be more in the mood to be soothed. But not right now.

“The guy intended to kill me.” The rough edge to Makena’s words was hard to miss.

Cam’s smile suggested he didn’t. “Then I definitely would have killed him, too.”

Shane was about to remind her about Cam’s odd sense of humor when Connor broke in. “Now that we have that settled.”

An officer behind Makena knocked into her. She jumped. Looked two seconds away from screaming but somehow managed to bite it back.

Shane could not help being impressed. She didn’t deal in danger as they did, yet she’d stayed calm. She’d listened to the informal training they gave her and kept fighting no matter what. She never let down her guard. Those smarts and that strength had kept her alive.

She cleared her throat as she visibly brought her nerves back under control. Most signs vanished. All but the way she rubbed her hands together in front of her until her skin turned red. “What about my neighbors?”

No surprise her mind went there. Shane had checked on that first thing. “They weren’t home.”

Her shoulders fell as she blew out a long breath. “I heard a shot...or I thought I did.”

She wouldn’t like the answer, but Shane offered it anyway. “Killed the dog.”

Cam swore under his breath. “That sucks.”

An awful situation, but the death toll could have been so much worse and Shane remained grateful it wasn’t. “At least it wasn’t a person.”

“I like dogs.” Cam moved out of the way as the ambulance crew brought in the stretcher.

“Is this what you guys always talk about on a job?” Makena watched every move as the crew lifted the still body and locked the stretcher in place. Her voice shook and a certain sadness moved in her dark eyes.

Shane wanted to make it better. Fought the urge to go to her, put an arm around her...test his control to its very limit. But he would do it for her. Or he would have done it if the audience didn’t consist of Cam and Connor and what looked like six police officers filing in and out of the house as the detectives talked in the corner.

Unable to think of the right thing to say, Shane went with the one thing that might help. “He’s trying to calm you.”

Her eyes narrowed as her head turned and she stared at Cam. “Really?”

“He’s terrible at it. Makes you pity Julia, doesn’t it?” Julia White, the love of Cam’s life. The reason Shane now hesitated when he called in a favor or needed backup as he played a hunch.

“The office is working on background on the attacker.” Connor talked over all of them. “Preliminary reports are he had a record. Petty stuff.”

“Are we sure that’s it?” Shane glanced around, from the discarded fire poker to the magazines strewn all over the floor. Despite the battle, most of the furniture and other stuff in the room remained intact. But the man was still dead. “If so, it looks as if he escalated this time.”

Connor nodded as he retrieved his cell from his back pocket. “We need to call Holt.”

“No.” Makena put her hand over the phone. Looked as though she tried to tug it out of Connor’s hands.

Connor pulled it out of reach. “Excuse me?”

Before she said a word, Shane knew where this was going to go. Holt had met Lindsey during a job. She had grown up in a cult but possessed an inner strength. Holt hadn’t stood a chance against her. He fell in love in the equivalent of a week. He’d spent two months going back and forth from his house in Maryland to hers in Oregon, but he was on his way back home and bringing Lindsey with him for good this time.

“He needs to stay with Lindsey.” Makena spoke slowly, as if she were explaining a big idea to a small child. “The only way he’ll do that now is if he doesn’t know this happened.”

Connor waited until she finished. “That’s not an option.”

The stretcher rolled by and Shane moved the group to the side to stay out of the way. He also lowered his voice as the rumble of conversation in the room died down. “It actually is.”

“This explanation should be interesting,” Cam said under his breath.

“Makena can stay with me.” Shane ignored Connor’s lifted eyebrow and the stunned expression on Makena’s face, though he thought she could play her shock down a bit. “For protection.”

Cam cleared his throat. “Uh-huh.”

“Protection?” Connor asked at the same time.

Shane decided to ignore both of them. “We need to move her to a safe location while we confirm this guy’s identity and figure out why he had her contact information, because that suggests more than a burglary gone wrong.”

“And you’re volunteering to be her bodyguard.” Connor hesitated over each word, not bothering to ask it as a question. “You think that’s a good idea?”

“I’m standing right here.” Makena rolled her eyes. “And I’m a grown-up who should be part of this conversation, in case you gentlemen missed that fact.”

Shane could fight his team or Makena, not both. “Someone sent men after you and we need to know why.”

“Because of Corcoran, I assume.” Connor glanced at the detectives. “I’ve ordered a lockdown just to be safe.”

“That sounds bad.” Makena bit her bottom lip.

“My wife is not a fan of the protocol,” Connor said. “No one on the team is, since it involves being trapped inside and having the women in our lives skip their regular schedules. Not exactly an easy task since they fight every minute of it.”

Makena snorted. “Good for them.”

“Easy for you to say.” Cam whistled. “Julia is going to be ticked off.”

Shane jumped back in before the conversation devolved into an us-versus-them battle. “You guys handle the lockdown and I’ll handle Makena.”

Her eyebrow lifted. “Oh, really?”

Okay, that was a miscalculation. He knew that tone. Dreaded that tone. “Your safety.”

“Right.” Cam nodded. “That’s what you meant.”

Connor shifted just enough to bring everyone’s attention snapping back to him. “I’ll give you a twenty-four-hour reprieve on calling in Holt.”

That was not going to go over well. Shane started a mental countdown.
Ten, nine, eight...

“Don’t I get to decide?” Makena asked.

“No.” Connor’s smile faded as fast as it came. “In the meantime, I need to go finish my ‘Homeland Security is taking over’ speech.”

“That explains the uniforms.” Makena’s gaze roamed over Connor’s vest.

Shane liked the Homeland ones. There was a certain subtlety to the white lettering on the dark material. Better than the FBI. The team had them all. Whatever the job called for, they were ready.

“I wear this, I flash paperwork and give out a phone number that rings in the office of a very important man, and we control the crime scene. No questions asked, which is what we need right now.” From anyone else the comment would have come off more egotistical than realistic. Somehow Connor sold it.

Not that Makena was easy to impress. “That’s a lot of power.”

“I can be trusted.” Connor winked and then walked away, forging a path as policemen shifted out of his way.

Cam waited a second, then followed. “I’m going to watch.”

A crowd formed around Connor as he rapid-fired questions. Shane appreciated the distraction. Because it left him alone with Makena at least for a few minutes. Enough time had passed. He wanted answers.

“What’s in that safe?” He’d kept the police interest off the bedroom and whatever Makena had locked in there, but he wanted to know.

She shushed him. Actually shushed him. “Not now.”

He wanted to insist, but as his mind ran through the events of the past few hours, he couldn’t bring himself to put her through one more thing. Not that they could wait long. Not with gunmen on the loose and a dead body being taken to the morgue. “Your time is running out.”

Her eyebrow lifted. “Meaning?”

His temper. He’d had enough game playing during his marriage to last him forever.

With a hand on her forearm, he steered her out the front door to the porch. Neighbors milled around the yard, shadowed in the police cars’ headlights. Darkness had fallen and a cool breeze carried the smell of the nearby river up to the cottage.

He ignored all of it and concentrated on her, making sure to drop her arm as soon as he could. Touching her just tempted him, and right now they had serious business to figure out. “You are way smarter than I am. You know what I’m saying.”

She leaned in and dropped her voice to a low whisper. “Can you get it out of here without raising questions or causing a problem?”

He didn’t even know what
it
was. He’d been to the house many times and didn’t remember a safe. That probably meant a small one, which made his task easier. No way could he load a heavy safe on his back and get it out of there without questions.

“I’ll be able to take the contents out.” He made the distinction but didn’t know if she picked up on it or not. “And when I do I plan on looking through whatever is in there, so don’t even bother arguing about that.”

She linked her hand under his elbow. “I should be able to do something to convince you not to invade my privacy.”

The words skidded across his senses. She didn’t mean...couldn’t mean... “Don’t do that.”

Her dark eyes filled with confusion. “What?”

Doubt kicked him in the gut, but he ignored it. “If that’s the kind of offer I think it is—”

She shot him a frown that suggested she was just about to kick him. “Oh, please. It was an honest comment.”

“Before someone tried to kill you tonight, you would have just had to ask and I would have left your personal life alone.” That wasn’t quite true. His job provided him with the ability to check out certain details. If he thought she was in trouble, he would not have hesitated to rush in and help out. “But now that I know you’re in danger and hiding something, the chance of you winning this battle is zero.”

“You don’t play fair.” She waved a hand between them. “Whipping out that whole bodyguard, good-guy thing.”

He had no idea what that meant, so he skipped over it. “Can we carry the contents?”

“Yes.” The answer came quickly and didn’t sound all that convincing.

But that didn’t change the plan. He only had one real play here, and it depended on keeping Connor away from the usual full-house search. “We grab whatever this is, head to a dark and quiet place I know to get something to eat, and you tell me what the big secret is.”

Her mouth dropped open. “You can eat after all that’s happened?”

The woman latched on to the damnedest comments. “I can always eat.”

“How is that possible?”

Shane couldn’t remember the last time a situation had robbed him of his appetite. If it didn’t mean more hours in the gym, he’d eat even more during the day. “I’m not exactly small.”

She leaned against the porch railing. “Oh, I know.”

She did it again. The husky tone. The potentially provocative phrasing. Much more of this and he’d hustle her out of there and do something really stupid. “Makena.”

Silence screamed between them. After a few seconds she lifted her hands as if in mock surrender. “Fine. Sneak stuff out, eat and talk. Got it.”

He could stick to that plan. He
had
to if he wanted to remain sane. “There, was that so hard?”

“Actually, yes.”

A weight lifted off his shoulders. “Well, you better get used to it.”

“The bossiness, the need you have to get your way—which?”

“All of it. Because for the next day, I’m all you’ve got.” And for some reason, that made him feel infinitely better.

Chapter Four

Shane hadn’t issued an empty threat. Makena could actually feel the time running out as she sat in a tucked-away corner booth of a diner she’d never heard of. Never mind that they were on her turf. Even with the out-of-control way he drove, he lived more than a half hour away. She spent all of her time in and around Chestertown. Yet he’d driven maybe fifteen miles and found some dive she never even knew existed. Drove right to it, so he definitely knew it was there.

“The owners don’t spend a lot on lights.” She squinted in the dark, trying to make out the faces of the diners sitting nearby but giving up. The smell of French fries and cheese lured her in. If the food tasted half as good as it smelled, she’d be back.

“It was just paperwork.” He leaned an elbow on either side of his plate and ignored his hamburger. “That’s what had you all twitchy.”

Sounded as if Shane wanted to jump right into work and the safe and her secrets. No. Thank. You.

She held up her sandwich. “It’s actually grilled cheese.”

He flattened a hand against the fake-wood table. “I know you’re thinking you can drag this out, throw off my concentration.”

She let the cheese stretch in a string before breaking it off and popping it in her mouth. “I’m hoping.”

“No.”

Energy pounded off him. Every line of his body suggested he’d nip and pick at this until he got his answers. The intense stare. The stiff shoulders. That determined punch to his voice.

She gave up and dumped the sandwich on her plate. “You do understand this has been a rough night, right?”

He frowned. “I guess. Sort of.”

She thought about kicking him under the table but leaned in, dragging her body halfway across the table toward him, instead. “Did you miss the part where a guy died on my floor?”

“That sort of thing is not that out of the ordinary for me.”

Scary thing was she knew he wasn’t lying. Any sane woman would run. Take off in the opposite direction and not look back. She’d tried that. She honestly had. She’d dated other guys and pretended her heart didn’t do triple time whenever she saw him. None of it worked.

The big tough-guy thing, the pretty face and linebacker body all combined to knock her off balance. She’d been attracted to him from the start, and the feelings refused to die. But right now she needed him to be more than the man she wove wild dreams about each night. She needed him to back off on her secrets but stay close in case someone really was after her.

She dropped back against the ripped booth and stared him down. “Your work scares me.”

“It’s fine.” He waved her concerns off without ever breaking eye contact. “Back to our deal. I believe you have something to say to me.”

She glanced up, about to tiptoe through the facts, when the words clogged in her throat. She could make out one face in the diner. Wasn’t tough, since he walked directly toward her, in a line right behind Shane. Slow and steady steps with a face filled with fury.

A ball of anxiety started spinning in her stomach. She had to sit on her hands to keep from fidgeting. “Were we followed here?”

Shane picked most of the toppings off his burger. “You’ve been watching too much television.”

She couldn’t move. All of a sudden her body froze and her mind went blank. The guy could have a gun or...she needed Shane on high alert. “You don’t understand.”

Shane’s expression changed as he shifted in his seat and glanced behind him. “What are you—”

The unwanted guest stopped right at the end of the table and stared at her. “Heard you had some trouble at your place tonight.”

He looked far too happy about the idea. He’d also just painted a target on his chest as the lead suspect in her attack. “How would you know that?”

Shane stood up, shoving his way out until he seemed to take up most of the space around the booth. “Who are you?”

“You on a date with her?” Jeff barked out a harsh laugh. “Dude, you should run. This one is—”

“That’s enough.” Shane didn’t even raise his voice. Didn’t have to. The vibration of menace would have been tough to miss.

Jeff took a step back. “You going to fight me?”

“You do not want that.” Shane shook his head as he eyed Jeff up and down. “Trust me.”

The mood in the diner changed. People openly gawked and the waitress backed away from their table. Blame it on testosterone or whatever, but a battle was brewing and clearly everyone felt the danger. Except Jeff. He didn’t back down. He outweighed Shane by at least thirty pounds, but Shane was all lean muscle and lethal fighter.

This would be a bloodbath, and while Jeff deserved to be pounded into the floor, she didn’t want to witness it. “Shane, stop.”

“Listen to the woman, Shane.”

“One more time. Who are you?” Shane’s voice dripped with disdain.

“Just one of the men she screwed over.” Jeff threw out an arm in her direction, nearly hitting her.

She pulled back just in time. “You can’t blame me. You’re the liar.”

With each word, her anger rose. She seethed with it. This guy had tracked her down, showed up at her house more than once. He’d been in the wrong and now pretended to be the victim. She despised him and everything he stood for.

Jeff’s face flushed red and he took a threatening step toward her. He reached his arm out but never touched her. Shane moved with lightning speed to stand between them and pushed the guy back. Kept pushing over Jeff’s protests and swearing until his back hit the wall. Shane held Jeff there with a hand around his throat. That was it. One hand had him pinned.

Shane didn’t even move as Jeff punched at his arm and moved his whole body, trying to break loose. When two men got up at another table, Shane held up a hand. Didn’t say a word, but the gesture was enough to get them sitting back down again.

Makena’s heart lodged in her throat and wouldn’t slip back down again. She wanted to stop the madness, but it had spiraled so fast and so furiously and she could only stand there, openmouthed and stunned.

“We seem to be having a miscommunication issue here. Let me be clear.” Shane’s voice sounded deadly cold and even. “You don’t go near her. Not to talk with her or touch her. Ever.”

Jeff tried to pry Shane’s hand off but failed. “She’s been asking for it.”

“That is the line said by every abusive male on the planet.” Shane’s grip tightened. “She dumped you. Move on.”

The idea of dating Jeff made her stomach roll. “That’s not what this is about.”

Jeff scoffed. “As if I would date that piece of—” His words choked off as his eyes bulged.

“Last warning.” Shane leaned in closer to Jeff. “If you think I won’t rip you apart in front of an audience, you’re dead wrong.”

“Tough talk from a guy who doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

It was as if Jeff wanted Shane to kill him. She couldn’t believe Jeff missed the rage simmering there. That he couldn’t see the darkness in Shane’s eyes.

After a beat of silence Shane let Jeff go, but not before shoving his head back and knocking it against the wall. “Explain it to me.”

Jeff doubled over in a coughing fit. It took him a few minutes to regain his composure. When he did, anger thrummed off him. “Ask your girlfriend. She’s the one causing trouble.” He scowled at her. “You going to turn on this guy, too?”

She hated being put in the role of bad guy. Jeff took no responsibility for his bad choices. That shouldn’t surprise her, but it did. “Shane’s not a liar.”

“Makena, don’t help,” Shane said without moving his gaze away from Jeff.

“That won’t work. She’s ruthless.”

Shane pointed at Jeff. “And you’re done talking to her or about her.”

He batted the hand away. “You’ll find out. Just wait.”

Makena watched as Jeff stomped off. Pivoted around the tables, ignoring all the stares and the waitress rooted to the spot with the coffeepot dangling from her hand. The noise of the diner muffled. Makena could hear the creaking of chairs and the clanging of silverware, but it all sounded so distant.

Shane dropped back into his seat and stared at her. “So...”

“I never dated that guy. I would never date someone like him.” She wanted that clear from the start.

The waitress darted over and refilled glasses. Shane waited until she left again to start talking. “What’s his name? And do not hesitate. Tell me.”

She didn’t even have to wage an internal debate. It would all spill out now. “Jeff Horvath.”

Shane exhaled. “And who is Jeff Horvath to you?”

“That’s not exactly an easy question.”

He shoved his plate of uneaten food aside and leaned in on his elbows. “Lucky for you, I have all night. All day tomorrow, too. Talk.”

“He’s a fake SEAL.” The words tumbled out of her then. “You were in the military. Others weren’t. There are men who pretend to be war heroes, special ops guys, and...they lie. They live their entire lives lying and not caring that real people fought and died doing what the liars claim to have done.”

She expected to feel empty and frustrated at having the information pulled out of her, but no. A surge of relief hit her. She’d dealt with this huge weight and all the anger that came along with it for almost a year.

Shane’s eyes narrowed and stayed there. “This Jeff is one of those guys?”

“Yes.”

“Huh, I should have decked him.” Shane dropped his hands to the table. Just inches from hers. “What does any of this have to do with you?”

This was the part he’d hate. She steeled her body for the inevitable yelling. “There’s this website called
Wall of Dishonor
. It outs men who are pretending to be war heroes.” When he continued to frown, she tried again. “I work for the website. Do research, file Freedom of Information Act requests.”

“You work at a college. At a desk.” His expression went blank. “Didn’t you reiterate that earlier?”

The look on his face didn’t fool her. He was winding up. She could feel the tension twisting the air around them. “Yes, but—”

“What, Makena?”

That tone. Not helpful, but she decided not to point that out, since he looked half-ready to strangle her. “I do this on the side.”

“You tick off men who lie about military service. Men invested in their lies who have everything to lose when you uncover their deceit.” With each word he jammed his fingertip against the table with a thud. “Do you hear the tone of my voice? Can you tell how bad this is?”

“They deserve to be exposed.” She believed that to her core. She’d grown up with a military man. Her father had dedicated his life to his career more than he ever had his family. Early in his service, he’d been stationed in Hawaii and found the perfect military wife who put everything aside for his career. By the time Makena and Holt came along, their parents were entrenched.

Dad was tough and commanding and demanded excellence, something she’d failed at for almost all of her life. Holt had suffered their father’s wrath while she’d been spared. She’d been the disappointment. She flailed and tried to find her way, but got something of a pass from her parents, who never expected much of her anyway. Holt went into the army.

She’d gotten a lot of things wrong in her life, but she understood the military mind-set and the sacrifices. She hated the idea of someone claiming to have served who never did. It was an insult, and she’d spent most of her free time for nearly a year hunting these guys down.

“I’m not denying that guys like Jeff should be exposed.” Shane shook his head. “He deserves to be shamed.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“You...are you...” He wiped a hand over his face. “Does Holt know?”

“No.” Her big brother could not know. He would try to control her choices in the name of protecting her.

She understood the tendency, even appreciated the concern, but he had a hard time letting go of his protector mode and realizing she wasn’t a kid anymore. The fact that she’d transferred colleges twice until she found the right fit and moved around in jobs until she landed at the college only supported his point that she was not responsible. But she was. She had a career now, paid rent. She had a purpose.

“You didn’t tell him because you knew he’d lose his mind. That he’d forbid it.”

Forbid
. The word sliced through her brain, bringing a wave of anger right behind it. “I’m a grown woman. My big brother doesn’t control what I do.”

This time Shane slammed the side of his hand against the table. “He wants you safe.”

There was a difference between safe and coddled. She wasn’t convinced Holt, or Shane for that matter, always saw the line. “I get that, but he doesn’t get to make choices for me.”

Shane’s back teeth slammed together. “I want you safe.”

Well...
Her heart sped up and it had nothing to do with the argument. “I thought we were talking about Holt.”

“We’re talking about danger.” Shane closed his eyes as he visibly wrestled to control the anger bouncing around inside him. “That guy talked as if he knew where you live. He was here, a place you said you’ve never been.”

“Which is why I asked if we were followed.” She’d checked, looked and thought they were safe...until Jeff walked in the door. The idea of him being so close and staying unseen terrified her.

Shane’s mouth dropped open. “You’re blaming me?”

That was not what she meant. Not at all. She put a hand over his, letting the warmth of his skin seep into her and wipe away the chill. “I’m admitting that I do this job. On the side.”

“In secret.”

“It’s the only way to do it. The liars cover their tracks.”

He opened his hand and let her fingers slide through his. “Let someone else take over.”

She had to smile at that. “Says the guy who walks into danger every single day without asking someone to fill in for him.”

“I’m trained for it. You’re not.” He turned her hand over and rubbed a thumb over her palm.

The move, so gentle and sweet, had something fluttering inside her. She forced her mind to focus. “For the most part I sit and look things up. It’s completely safe.”

“Then why does Jeff Horvath know who you are and how to get to you?”

The diner started spinning. She’d fought so hard to control her life, and one moment months ago had ruined all that.