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Adler Fredriksen

Protecting people often resembled a tactical video game. Or Tetris. Sliding all the pieces into place to eliminate threats or create barriers around clients. Coordinating schedules to make sure protectees were always secure.

With most clients, anyway. I rarely had to Tetris pieces for Linzey since I was with her all the time.

But at the moment, while she was in the penthouse’s library, I stared at my computer screens to work out the protection detail for a pop star who’d be touring the US this summer and fall.

I’d been working through details for over an hour and the flickering of the screens, though imperceptible to the eye, was beginning to give me a headache.

Just another day of living with a TBI. In reality, the symptoms I had were minor compared to some guys, but they still caused me discomfort and issues day to day.

Standing, I turned away from the monitors and pushed my thumb and forefinger into the inner corners of my eyes until the pain subsided. It would be momentary, but it was enough relief to clear the screaming in my head.

Leaving my office, I strode through the great room.

and toward the wide corridor near the dining room.

The penthouse took up the whole floor, with the private elevator access and service entrance in the center.

The hallway ran next to and behind it, giving access to the kitchen then all the bedrooms, the media room and the library.

The dining room, great room and my “borrowed” work space took up the whole length of the wall that faced the lift.

My office, which doubled as a security room, was directly across from the elevator and just around the corner from the library.

But I went in the opposite direction because I needed to move.

And stretching my legs gave me a good excuse to get eyes on my girl without being too obvious.

Yeah…my girl. My woman. I’d given up on thinking of her as anything else. She was mine—even if I might never be able to claim her as more than the one I protected. I had too many enemies in my past and she had too many demons in hers. It wouldn’t be fair to have her take on my issues.

But when we were here, enclosed in the bubble of this twelfth floor mini-mansion, high above the streets of NYC, I could pretend none of the problems mattered. I could pretend she belonged to me.

Which was one reason I needed eyes on her now.

To refresh my well. To keep me going. To calm the dominant monster inside me that wanted to drill her into the nearest surface.

I had to control that urge. This morning, she’d almost discovered how I craved her.

The second she’d started to turn, I’d had to practically dive out of bed to keep her from seeing or feeling my hard on.

It’d been a close call.

My phone rang before I got a dozen feet from my office space and I pulled the cell from my pocket.

“Ghost,” I greeted my friend as I headed back to the privacy of my desk. If he was calling me midday, someone had died or he had intel for me, a security clearance loosely granted me because of my association with Booker, Linzey’s brother-in-law and an honest to God prince.

“Cyber,” he returned, using my SEAL call name. “I have information.”

“Go.”

“Eyes have been on Coval and his group. It’s just him and four others. He hasn’t recruited more since his brother was taken out, but they’ve been on the move. Powers-that-be have deemed them nonmalignant but to be watched.”

I knew all this. And I didn’t believe for one minute Andrej Coval wasn’t planning something.

He’d vowed revenge when his brother, Edik, had been taken out during the last op I’d been on, rescuing Booker’s older brother, Xavier, the crowned prince, as well as his cousin, who was lesser royalty.

Andrej hadn’t been there, but I refused to believe he wasn’t associated with the terror attack employed when they’d grabbed the crowned prince.

“He and his merry band of friends landed at a private airstrip in Jersey last night. We don’t know their whereabouts after that.”

“No one followed?” They could have at least had a drone in the air.

“It was a setup. They deviated from flight plan—but they knew exactly where they were going. Five identical SUVs left the airfield, all going in different directions, and none heading your way.”

I’d bet my entire fortune one actually was coming here.

But did they know where I was? There was a good reason I didn’t keep an official address. Not that it would stop someone determined to find me.

“Thanks, Ghost,” I muttered.

“Anytime. I’ll be in contact as soon as we know more.”

We hung up, and I sighed, leaning back in my chair and scrubbing my hand over my face.

“Fuck. Fuck! ”

This could put Linzey in danger. Fucking hell. I didn’t want to leave her with one of my guys, but if it was confirmed Coval was here, I might need to relinquish my position as her protector, ironically to keep her safe.

It would decimate me.

I guarded her, but she kept me grounded, something too many men suffering with TBIs needed.

By habit, I reached out to flip one of my computer screens to the security cameras positioned throughout the floor. They were completely unnecessary most of the time, but they let me track Linzey while I worked. Having eyes on her settled me.

And she was on the move. She’d left the library while I was on the phone. And now chatted with the two maids while they prepared to leave. I didn’t fail to notice the purse she had tucked under her arm

“Nice try, little girl,” I muttered. She was always trying to slip through my fingers.

She claimed it was for a taste of freedom.

I knew it was her spitting in the face of danger after the trauma she’d been through, a compulsion she didn’t quite control.

Like some people cut themselves or did other self harm, Linzey tried to throw herself into peril.

Different method; same result. This behavior always turned up after her worst nightmares.

Knowing the cause just made me a sick bastard, since watching her try to be sneaky made me rock-hard. I fought back my response as I stood to intercept her.

Ignoring the maids, I stepped in front of my girl. They veered into the penthouse’s private elevator while I took Linzey’s upper arm and propelled her to the middle of the great room.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She huffed and tossed her clutch onto the sofa. Angrily, she crossed her arms, her brat energy just edging up the dark need pulsing through me.

“You forgot to say ‘young lady’ like you’re my dad. Which you’re not. You’re just the bodyguard my brother-in-law hired to watch over me. But you could leave me to one of your many minions. Why don’t you go work in your actual office and leave me alone.”

My hand curled just itching to spank that brat right out of her. I pushed down the crazy urge I never would have had before my brain injury. “I can work here,” I said evenly, as if she hadn’t just sassed me. “If you want to go someplace, I can escort you. As usual.”

“I don’t want you to escort me. What am I? Your prisoner?”

“For the hundredth time, no. But I promised you, you’d always be safe. And you will be safe. Even if I have to force it on you.”

Fire slashed through her eyes, her pupils growing wide before she directed her gaze away from me.

“Don't you have other work to do?” she muttered.

My eyes burned into her. “No, actually. There’s no one but you.”