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Chapter 7

Mari couldn’t get rid of the chill that had settled in her bones, even sitting in the quiet office of Detective Camila Flores—one of her longtime friends.

Instead of calling 911, she’d called Camila directly. Her friend had shown up at the same time the officers she’d dispatched had. Thankfully she’d taken over while they’d secured the scene.

“Hey, they had mostly junk,” Colin said as he stepped into the room. He was holding what looked like coffee and a small bag of something hopefully full of carb goodness.

“Junk sounds good.”

He snorted softly. “You’re still eating like a twelve-year-old?”

She shrugged but peered into the bag curiously. Two candy bars, four types of chips and Funyuns. She opened them first. Who knew that getting shot at would give her the munchies? She needed comfort in a big way, and since she couldn’t have her comfort burrito, this would do for now.

Colin stood at attention between her and the door. “I got the coffee from a cart out front so it’s not disgusting. Drink it, it’ll warm you up.”

“Thanks. I feel so cold and it’s driving me crazy.”

“You just had a shock.”

He seemed perfectly normal, like getting shot at with a semiautomatic weapon wasn’t a big deal. “You handled things well.” And for that she was grateful. He’d jumped into action so insanely fast while she’d still been processing the word weapon . Without him, she’d probably be dead. “Thank you for saving my life.”

He sort of grunted, but didn’t otherwise respond.

“Want a candy bar?”

He glanced at her, breaking his staring contest with the door. If anyone who wasn’t Camila or a good guy opened that door, clearly he was going to take them out. “I’m okay, thanks.”

“Your loss.” She shrugged. “Did you call my family?”

“No. I figured you’d want to do that.”

Mari breathed out a relieved sigh. “I’m not planning on telling them anything yet, so let’s just keep this between us.” They would lose their shit and she couldn’t handle any more stress right now. Her family loved her and she knew she was lucky in that. Her mom might be overbearing, but it came from a loving place and a lived experience that Mari could only try to understand.

“I did text Magnolia.”

Mari froze. “What?”

Colin looked completely unapologetic as he finally sat, taking the seat across from her. God, when would Camila come back? She was ready to get out of here and get a little distance from Colin. He smelled amazing and was being so incredibly wonderful. Even the whole “saving her life thing” aside, he was being human and normal, and it was messing with her head. She’d put him in a box where he was this giant asshole for so long and now she was having to reconcile that with who he was right now. When she’d needed him, he’d come. Simple as that.

“Nothing to say?” she continued .

“Like what? I’m not going to apologize. She’s your best friend and I figured you would want some support. And let’s be real, your detective friend likely called her anyway.”

She snickered and dug back into her Funyuns. “I hate the thought of her worrying right now, but you’re probably not wrong about that. Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me,” he growled, and oh god, why did she like that rumbly sound so much?

No. Noooo. A sort of realization hit her square in the chest. One she immediately discarded. She could not deal with any sort of warm, fuzzy feeling when it came to Colin. “Why?”

“Because I don’t like it.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

“Well it’s all you’re getting.” Now he was back on his feet and facing the door—away from her.

With him turned away, she got to drink in the lines of his broad shoulders and—noooo. Stop it , she ordered herself. She was not attracted to Colin Lockhart. Not even after he had saved her, literally protecting her with his body.

Okay, that was a lie, but she refused to acknowledge it.

Today had just been terrifying, that was all.

“We need to think about where you’re going to go after this.”

Yeah, she’d thought about that. “I’m going to talk to some of my friends. I think I have a solution.” She wasn’t going to tell him that her friends with Redemption Harbor Security had safe houses tucked away around the city in quiet little neighborhoods.

“What kind of solution?”

Before she could answer, the door opened and Bradford stepped in, all tall and handsome and very worried. “Hey, short stuff. ”

“Don’t call me that,” she grumbled. “Or I’ll wipe my Funyun-covered fingers all over your shirt.”

He ignored her and pulled her into a tight hug. “Magnolia is worried about you.”

“Just Magnolia?” She hugged him back, grateful for the human touch. Though if she was being honest with herself (and no thanks, not right now, reality was overrated), she wanted to be hugging Colin instead. But that wasn’t on the menu.

“Hell no. We’re all worried.” He turned to Colin, who was sort of staring him down, and held out a hand. “And thank you for saving our girl. Camila told me what happened. That was a quick reaction time.” Bradford sounded as impressed as she felt.

Colin seemed taken off-guard, but shook Bradford’s hand. “I’d do anything for Mari.”

His words caught her by surprise, sending a weird spiral of heat through her. She stared at him for a long moment, unsure how to take him. Was there more meaning behind what he’d said? He turned to look at her and she felt her world tilt on its axis, knew that it was never going to be properly aligned again.

So she picked up the coffee he’d bought and took a big swig—and promptly burned her mouth. Yep, that did it. She gasped and set the cup down, glad to have broken whatever weird spell she was clearly under.

“Have you talked to Camila?” she asked Bradford, needing to keep her focus on him and not stare at Colin like a hungry hyena.

“Yeah, I ran into her. She’s on her way up.”

Colin glanced down at his phone, frowned. “I’ll be just outside,” he said to Mari.

She nodded, already missing his presence. But only because he’d saved her life. Not for anything else. Maybe if she lied to herself enough, she’d start to believe it.

“Jesus, Mari. What’s going on? I drove by your place and this looks targeted. None of your neighbors’ houses were hit. Whoever did this shot at your place, turned around at the end of the cul-de-sac, then came back and shot it up some more on their way out.”

“How does my place look?” She didn’t even want to think about the damage. Was enraged and terrified that her sanctuary had been violated.

“That’s not important. What’s going on?”

“I’m not totally sure.”

“But you have an idea?”

“Yeah, maybe,” she said on a sigh, then froze when Jeremy Ackerman’s name popped up on her caller ID. “Hold that thought.” She debated not answering, but on the third ring, picked up. “Mr. Ackerman.” Unlike most of her clients, he hadn’t told her to call him Jeremy and instead seemed to prefer a more formal address.

He cleared his throat. “Ms. Kim.” She’d told him to call her Mari, but he was sticking to the whole formal thing.

“How can I help you?” They weren’t supposed to fly until next week.

“I need a last-minute pilot for a trip to north Florida. Right past Destin, so not too far.”

“When?”

“Today. In the next couple hours.”

“Unfortunately I’ve already got a job lined up,” she lied. She wasn’t going to give him any personal details, especially since she wasn’t sure that he wasn’t involved with the shooting.

“Well that is unfortunate.” His voice didn’t change one iota in inflection. “Since we’re still in the temporary stage I think I should tell you that I don’t think our business relationship is going to work out. Gary talks so highly of you, but I need someone who is readily available.”

She gritted her teeth, biting back a retort about his shady dealings nearly getting her killed today. She wasn’t sure it had anything to do with him. Not a hundred percent. And there was no sense in tipping him off that she suspected him. “It sounds like we have different expectations, and we all need to be happy with who we work with. My assistant will send you a final bill.”

“Thank you.”

After a few more short pleasantries, she ended the call.

“Whoa.”

She looked up at Bradford’s voice. “What?”

“I’ve never heard that Mari before.”

“I was perfectly pleasant!”

“Yeah, for a robot. I mean, you sounded super professional, but I like the real Mari better.”

She snickered slightly, then straightened when Colin stepped back into the room. “Ackerman just called me.” She was hugely relieved that their dealings were finished and she wouldn’t have to see him again.

His eyes widened as she relayed the conversation. Then she recapped everything that had happened the day before with Ackerman to Bradford so he was up to speed.

“So this guy, is he somehow involved with whatever happened?” Bradford asked.

“I don’t know. Nothing about today makes sense. It seems like such an escalation from me hearing a heated conversation to shooting up my place. We’re lucky we weren’t killed,” she said.

“Maybe.”

“What do you mean, maybe?” She frowned at Bradford.

“I only drove by your place, but all the bullet holes were in the top part of your house. Along the eaves and gutters. I think maybe one window was damaged, but it almost seemed like they were trying to miss. Don’t get me wrong, your place—or you—were clearly targeted, but they might have just been trying to scare you.”

Colin nodded in agreement.

Groaning, she laid her head down on the table and wished for this nonsense to be over. “What the hell is going on?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Bradford said. “Until then, you’re staying with one of us. Magnolia’s already said—”

“She’ll be staying with me.” There was no room for argument in Colin’s deep voice.

She sat up, blinked at him. “What?”

“We don’t have a connection—other than through your brother. And everyone knows how you feel about me. It makes more sense for you to stay with me.”

She refused to feel guilty for disliking him. He deserved it. But she had to admit that what he’d done today made her dislike him a whole lot less. “You were seen with me today.”

He gritted his teeth, and even though she could see he wanted to argue with her, he bit back whatever he was about to say.

“I think the two of you should lie low somewhere together,” Bradford interjected.

“Agreed,” Colin said immediately.

She narrowed her gaze at him. “You’re surprisingly okay with this.”

“I’m not okay with any of this, but I’m not letting you out of my sight.” There was a whole lot of determination in his words. And maybe some heat.

Or maybe she was just projecting. But before she could analyze his tone, Camila finally walked in the door.