Unwritten (11 page)

“Oh wow, I forgot all about this one,” she said, holding up the book, which started from the back instead of the front, oddly enough. “I have to buy it.”

“Whatever you want.”

She eyed him. “I got it, thanks. Crap, I lost track of this anime. I have to see if there are any more episodes.”

Kian shook his head. He had no idea what she was talking about. He knew she liked what he called cartoons, but after the first time of mentioning them by that title and her scolding him, he kept his thoughts on the subject to himself.

“Okay. Well, enjoy.” He walked over to a bench, positioned in a spot where he could watch her, and sat down. Evie wore a dress that showed off her lovely figure and shapely legs. Sandals on her feet allowed him to see her toes, and he sighed at his wife’s beauty. A scan of his surroundings showed no suspicious persons, but he stayed on slight alert, something he did whenever they left the house.

A group of giggling teenagers strolled over and stopped in front of him. One of the girls leaned down with a smile he assumed was to charm him. “I’m Shelley. Who are you?”

Kian blinked. He’d had women come on to him plenty of times, and he sent them on their way, but never teenage girls. “I’m old enough to be your father.”

The girl pouted. He realized she tried to show off her cleavage, and her girlfriends’ laughter sounded around him. “Don’t be like that. We should go get a drink.” Kian sighed. “I’m sure you’re not old enough.” He pulled his badge from his jacket pocket, and fear transformed the girl’s face. “Go,” he commanded, and the girls skittered away.

To Kian’s annoyance, when he looked to where Evie had been standing, he found her gone. He jumped to his feet and charged down the aisle, then turned to another and another. She was nowhere in sight. His heart raced, and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He ran through various scenarios and what steps he needed to take should he find Paine had taken her again. Could he control his rage?

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he started to dial Evie. He’d bought her a new phone to replace the one Paine destroyed and prayed she remembered to take it with her to the store. She’d told him the day before that she had no one to call, and with the two of them together all the time and Leo in the safe house, she might as well not bother with it. Kian kicked himself for not ensuring she carried it today.

He was just bringing her name up on his screen when he spotted her with her hand raised and her back to him. Kian paused an instant to take in the scene and noted the man standing in front of Evie, his gaze locked on her upturned face. He stood at least six-four and seemed to have Kian by fifty pounds, yet Kian knew he was no small man himself. He didn’t hesitate for a second, but charged down the aisle and stepped in front of Evie to face the man.

“State your business with her now,” he pushed between gritted teeth. “Did Paine send you?”

The man’s face fell from a smile to a sneer. “I don’t think it’s any of your business, buddy.”

Evie squeaked behind him and grabbed his arm. “Stop, Kian. It’s not like that.”

He scarcely registered her words. “It’s my business when you’re talking to my wife.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t let your wife wander off,” was the reply.

Kian took a step closer, his nostrils flaring. “Did you just threaten her?”

“What if I did?”

Kian drew back his jacket, but Evie jumped in front of him with a hand to his chest. “Stop! Kian, look at me.” She jerked on his shirtfront, and at last he broke eye contact with the bastard to glance down at her.

“He was just coming on to me. I was telling him I’m flattered, but not interested.” She turned to look at the asshole and pointed to Kian. “He’s FBI. Dude, you so don’t want to hit him. You’ll have more trouble than it’s worth. I want to enjoy my manga. Now can we end the testosterone slingathon or what?”

The man grumbled and muttered, “Hiding behind the badge.”

“What was that?” Kian growled, starting for him as he walked away.

Once again, Evie leaped into his path and stuffed books against his chest. “I’d like these, please, and I want to go to the yogurt place.”

Amusement brought out his smile, and the anger drained away. “I thought you said you can pay for it yourself.”

“I have to get your behind to calm down.”

He gathered the books from her. “Okay, but you can’t take it back.”

“Dang it. I should have thought of some other way to keep you from wiping the floor with that dude.”

Kian started for the cashier. “He was pretty big. He might have gotten the best of me.”

She rolled her eyes when he looked over at her. “I’ve seen you in action. That wasn’t a possibility.”

Kian resisted crowing like an idiot.

Chapter Eight

Evie almost felt like she and Kian were getting back on track. Neither of them had confessed their love, and she darn sure wasn’t going to do it first. Sometimes she thought she saw the emotion in his eyes, the way he looked at her, the care he gave. The man in the store had said two words to her about how she should let him take her out, and Kian had been ready to tear him a new one. She pretended to be exasperated with him, but in reality, his protective nature thrilled her. Anthony had left her with so much fear. At first, when she came home from the hospital, she didn’t even want the curtains open, and any little noise made her think he was about to attack. Slowly, with Kian’s help, the panic passed, and each day she grew braver. She refused to let her psycho cousin steal her life, and she prayed he would soon slip up and let the FBI catch him. Still, her time alone spent with Kian brought them closer, and she could ask for nothing more.

“I think I did something wrong here,” Kian said, interrupting her thoughts of the past few weeks.

She moved to his side of the couch and curled up next to him. His arm came around her automatically, and she began to wonder if he pretended to screw up their game of Scrabble on purpose just to get her close.

“Really, Kian, you’ve used technology before.”

He widened his eyes as if he were innocent. No one would believe that look. “I don’t see why we’re playing this game on two different tablets when we’re both in the same room. What happened to board games?”

She studied his screen and found he’d tapped a button to play a new game with someone else on his friends list. “You’re thirty-five. Stop acting like you’re ninety-five and get with the program. This is the only way to play.”

“I saw a board—”

She tapped the screen. “It’s this or I read to you.”

He grinned. “Is it a dirty book?”

“You have a one track mind, sir. It’s a mystery. I read you one erotic romance, and that’s all you want.”

He squeezed her side and fondled her breast with the tips of his fingers. “That’s not all I want. In fact, the real thing would be tons better.”

“I bet.” She smacked his hand and moved away. “You’re not sabotaging this game just because you’re losing for the millionth time.”

“No fair. English isn’t my thing.”

“It’s not Shakespeare. Don’t you have to be smart to be an agent? Or did you bribe somebody?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, and she jumped to her feet, tossing the tablet on the couch as she ran. She made it behind the couch before he caught her around the waist and hauled her off her feet. Evie screamed and beat playfully at his hand. Kian nipped at her shoulder, and she squeaked louder.

“Ouch, that hurt, you bum.”

“That was payment for calling me stupid.”

“I can’t help it if you have a low self-esteem,” she shot back.

He burst out laughing and carried her to the couch. When he dropped down on it, she sat on his lap, unable to get away.

“We can’t play like this.”

The grin on his face said he already had ideas. “I disagree. There are lots of games we could play this way.”

His cock hardened against her ass. “That’s one game.”

“Which we can play over and over.”

She shook her head. “You never get enough.”

“I have a big sexual appetite. Will you take care of it for me?”

“What are you going to do for me, sir?”

He leaned close to her ear, and the words he whispered had her pussy wet in seconds. She laid a hand against his cheek and kissed his lips. Kian wouldn’t let her move away, but pressed a hand into her lower back and devoured her lips. She moaned, arching her back, her nipples pebbling. All he had to do was touch her or make a suggestion, and she was ready. Whatever he wanted, she ached to give to him.

“How about we take this to the bedroom?” he suggested when he raised his head.

She started to answer, but his ringing cell phone interrupted them both. Evie sighed while Kian checked the display. He frowned.

“It’s the office. I have to take it.”

She climbed off his lap and sat on the couch. Kian wandered into the kitchen as he spoke. Evie considered going to the bedroom to get a head start on Kian, but then her cell phone rang too. She had left hers in the bedroom. No one should have her number except Kian, so curiosity made her hurry to catch whoever rang. The display read Meghan Blyth, and she blinked.

“What do you want?” Evie said, dispensing with the niceties.

“Evie, I’d like to talk to you, alone.”

“Not happening.”

She thought she could hear the woman gritting her teeth. “Please. It’s important.”

Evie walked to the hall and listened. Kian was still on his call. “How did you get my number? Did Kian give it to you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then… Of course. Before I report you to your boss, why do you want to talk to me?”

“I’ll tell you when I see you.”

“You won’t. Kian and I are never apart.” Damn, saying that gave her a sense of satisfaction. This time, she knew she heard the frustrated growl.

“I hate you. You hate me,” Meghan snapped. “We understand each other on that point. I’m hoping you’ll let me come by the house and talk to you. Before you say Kian won’t go for it, I know for a fact he’ll need to leave tomorrow.”

“If you’re setting him up, I will kill you!”

“Another thing you already know is I want him. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.”

Evie wanted to deny the claim, but she couldn’t. Meghan had been after her man forever, and Evie doubted that had changed. “Your issues aside, Kian won’t leave me alone. He’ll have another agent stay with me, and it sure as hell won’t be you.”

“Let me take care of that.”

Evie ran through all the reasons Meghan might want to talk to her. Could she want to challenge Evie for the right to be with Kian? She must be crazy. Or maybe she wanted to try to convince Evie to give him up because being with her wasn’t what Kian needed. Evie thought about all they had been through, both together and apart, and how the situation with her cousin wasn’t resolved. Her life and Kian’s seemed to be on hold, even while they laughed and joked together. She knew he deserved more than to feel someone had hit the pause button on his life, but Kian could walk away at any time. He chose to stay with her. Call her selfish, but she didn’t care. Right now, she wasn’t willing to let him go.

The rest of the night, Evie enjoyed time in Kian’s arms. Their intimacy satisfied her and him, but she sensed something on Kian’s mind, distracting him. She didn’t press because she didn’t want to remind him that she’d received a call too, just in case he’d heard the phone ring. She bet Meghan banked on her wondering what the conversation between them would entail, and she was right. Evie didn’t want Kian to stop it from happening.

The next morning, Evie woke alone, but when she rose from bed, she found Kian in the kitchen fully dressed and biting a piece of bacon in between sips of coffee.

“Hey, sexy,” she said from the doorway. “What are you doing up so early?” She played it off, but Meghan had said he would leave for work. The fact that the woman knew her man’s movements ticked her off.

Kian glanced at her, guilt in his expression. He stood from the table and put his plate in the sink then approached her to kiss her lips. “I’m sorry, baby. I have to go to the office. Something came up.”

Once again, she didn’t ask him why. “When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure. I have Joey coming to stay with you. You remember him, right?”

She nodded and began fixing his tie. As she smoothed her hands over his shirt, her fingertips bumped the holster under his arm. Dread tightened the muscles in her stomach. What would she do if anything happened to him?

“You’ll be careful, right?”

He raised her chin and kissed her lips. “I’m coming home, okay? You don’t have to worry. I have men who watch my back, and I watch theirs.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. She knew just like she did, Kian thought of Brad and how he had been killed. No one had been watching his back.

“Don’t be a hero,” she whispered, and he drew her into a hug. Evie lay her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

“What I’m more worried about is your safety,” he said. “Don’t leave here. Not even with Joey. I already told him if he let’s you leave, he’ll have me to deal with, and it won’t be pretty.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Scrabble when I get home?”

She grinned. “Sure, I can kick your butt one more time.”

He smacked her ass. “That’s my girl.”

Kian waited until Joey showed up, and he gave him some instructions while Evie leaned on the arm of the couch. She dug a finger as far as it would go into her cast and tried to scratch. Nothing worked. As Kian said good-bye, she watched him go.

“It’s really good to see you again, Evie,” Joey said.

She ignored him and watched Kian until he left the driveway and his car disappeared down the road. Evie spun away from the window and walked toward the stairs. She needed to shower and put something other than sweats on if she was to meet with Meghan. At the base of the stairs, she paused and looked back at the agent. “Let’s not pretend, Joey. You don’t like me, but I think you’re a good enough person and agent not to let anything happen to me on your watch. Just stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours.”

His brows almost disappeared in his bright red hair. “I don’t dislike you.”