Page 19 of Guarding Grace (Hawk Security #2)

Terry

As I secured the two prisoners in my car, I knew what I had to do.

Kissing her this morning after removing that Taser barb had been wrong, and the guilt I felt when she kissed me again upstairs confirmed it.

Pete would be home soon, and we couldn’t keep this up.

The only way to deal with it was the technique I’d perfected for years—I had to be the one she referred to as Tyrant.

With my prisoners properly zip-tied and strapped in so they couldn’t get loose, I met the eyes of the woman, Maria. “Anything you want to say to me before you meet the boss?”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks. Enjoy the ride.”

I didn’t like transporting both of the Russo idiots in the back of my Cayenne without help, but I wasn’t taking Zane off Grace’s protection for a single second.

Gritting my teeth, I punched the car’s start button and the engine rumbled to life. The tires squealed when I backed out too fast. Hitting the brakes, I stopped for a deep, calming breath. Damn, Grace could be infuriating.

Once on the street, I checked and rechecked for a tail, then dialed Jordy.

“Zane tells me you have two guests for us,” he answered.

“Affirmative. A woman and a man, separate guest quarters for each.” Guest quarters or guest accommodations was the terminology we used in public, but these two were essentially going to holding cells, and not very warm ones.

“Suites are already prepared,” Jordy assured me. “And Winston will meet you in the garage. Do they need medical attention?”

“Not yet.” I saw Lorenzo, if that was his name, flinch.

After hanging up, I let them stew for a minute before asking, “Who do you work for?”

The woman stared out the window, mouth shut tight.

Lorenzo didn’t follow suit. “Fuck you.”

“Oh, I can see we’re going to have some fun with you.”

“You can’t hold us,” he spat.

“And who’s gonna stop us?”

“Victor’s going to pound you into the dirt,” Lorenzo sneered.

“Shut up, you idiot,” Maria hissed.

He clenched his teeth, but did as she’d commanded.

So she was higher ranking than him, and they worked for the Russo organization.

In the silence that followed, I replayed the conversation between Grace and the bossman.

Grown men with brass balls didn’t stand up to Lucas Hawk the way she had.

The woman had backbone and conviction, I’d grant her that.

I added compassion to the list, recalling her insistence on supporting her employees.

I needed to reestablish distance, and she’d played right into my hand by getting hung up on our arguments about where to stay and her insistence on running the business like nothing at all had happened yesterday and today.

I was trying to warn her about the dangers, and she was hellbent on arguing with me.

At the Hawk Security garage, Joe, our mechanic, waved me into a space.

Jordy and Winston met me and took our guests.

Normally I would’ve stayed to interrogate one or both of them, but this time getting back to Grace was more important.

I drove the return trip only moderately fast. Zane would be keeping Grace safe, and I didn’t need the hassle of getting pulled over for speeding after all that had gone on today. I stopped for the red light.

I could still recall the feel of her curvy little body against mine.

My God, it had been glorious—soft tits, luscious lips, and the taste of her.

It had to be one and done. I couldn’t let Pete down.

The car behind me honked. How long had the light been green?

I drove the rest of the way verbally reading off license plate numbers to keep thoughts of Grace at bay.

Grace

Peyton stared at me, clearly expecting me to confirm that I was banging my bodyguard, my nemesis.

I scrunched up my brows in my most confused expression. “Absolutely not. You know our history.” I’d mentioned more than enough tyrant episodes over lunches.

“The way he looks at you?” She fanned herself with the file she held. “You two fight like you’re one second from ripping each other’s clothes off.”

I stomped around my desk. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. And Kitten? He even has a cute nickname for you.”

I turned away from my harasser. “What time is the Morgenthaus’ appointment?” I smiled, though.

“And…” Her voice went up an octave. “He wants to spank you.”

I turned back. “The Morgenthaus?” I repeated. “And don’t you have work to do?”

“You’ve got a half hour, and I’d let him spank me.” She laughed. “But that’s just me and my romance novels.”

“TMI.” I waved her away before she caught me smiling. “Shoo.”

She crossed her arms, not listening any better than Terry. “He’s got a point, and I don’t understand why you’re being so stubborn.”

I matched her stance, crossing my arms too. “You’re taking his side?”

“How often have you been together and not fought?”

I whisked a tendril of hair out of my face. “Pretty much never.” I wouldn’t admit to the day at Disneyland. “Except we didn’t fight last night at the awards party.”

“You were civil to him?”

“We didn’t have the chance to talk.”

“That doesn’t count.” She shook her head. “I get that he pushes your buttons, but you have got to stop perpetuating the cycle by pushing his as well. You’re better than that. ”

The accusation stung. “He always starts it, not me.” I searched my memory for good examples.

A smile grew on Peyton’s face during my silence. “Good. You think about that for a while. I’ll be outside.” She moved to the door.

Marci was at the door when Peyton opened it. “Paul and some others really want to call the cops. I got them to hold off and said you’d explain everything after your meeting.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

Peyton checked her watch. “I have to run an errand. The file is already on your desk.”

“Okay.”

When the door closed, I was alone again, standing behind my desk, wishing I could sit in my chair and wondering how I was going to survive having all of Terry’s attention on me.

It had been too easy to fall back into being snarky with him.

Did we only have a spark of attraction because we grated on each other?

Were we steel and flint that couldn’t coexist?

Spank me? My cheeks heated. If it weren’t for the damned cut on my ass, I’d let him do that. Peyton thought we wanted to rip each other’s clothes off. My panties almost burst into flames thinking about that.

I found the Morgenthau folder and opened it.

Work . I needed to concentrate on work, not the sexy-as-hell man who’d saved me from whatever ugliness Elliot had dragged me into.

The folder said the Morgenthau home had his and hers primary closets. Did they have separate bedrooms as well?

If I was married, I wouldn’t want to sleep away from Terry.

I slapped the folder closed. Where the hell had that thought come from?

So what if I’d kissed him? That was all, a kiss—an off-the-charts-of-hotness kiss, but still just a kiss. Besides, he’d said he’d never disliked me, but that was a long way from where my mind had just wandered.

I’d wanted to be, and had become, a successful businesswoman. That’s who I was, and no man—least of all a Neanderthal Rambo wanna-be—was going to boss me around and make me give up my dream.

Even if he was sexy as hell and had also saved me twice now. Okay, three times if I counted that Zane had only been here because of Terry. The fact that he’d called me Kitten also didn’t make up for him being an ass.

“Argh,” I screamed. The man wasn’t even here, and he was driving me crazy.

It was the adrenaline effect. That had to be it. I’d been through some pretty traumatic events. Had I attached totally inappropriate feelings to him because he’d been there for me ?

Peyton burst in. “What’s wrong?”

I breathed in deeply to calm myself. “Nothing. Sorry I yelled. I’m pissed that I can’t sit down.”

“What?”

I’d never allowed my personal life to interfere with the business, so I hadn’t explained anything to my assistant, or anyone else. “This morning, I got attacked again.”

“Again?”

“And Terry saved me, but not before I got Tasered in the ass.”

She laughed. When I didn’t laugh with her, she stopped. “You’re serious?”

I shook my head at the absurdity of it. “Unfortunately, yes. And the tip of the barb thingie broke off, and Terry had to cut it out, so I can’t sit comfortably for a day or two.”

She smiled and started to laugh again. “Let me get this straight. Rambo the tyrant became your knight in shining armor, saving you last night and again this morning? Then you had to drop trou so Sir Galahad could perform field surgery on your bare ass? Wow, that’s hot.

No wonder you were looking at each other like I should leave so you could get naked on the desk. ”

“We were not,” I complained, unsure now how much of a lie it was or wasn’t.

“Did you ask him to kiss it and make it better?” She snickered.

“Get out of here. I would never.” I added as much emphasis to the words as I could, while also wondering why I hadn’t thought of that. “Especially not a man who thinks he can boss me around.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” She turned to go, shaking her head, then stopped before closing the door. “So, it’s okay if I ask him out?”

“No.” The word got past my filter before I could stop it. “Because he’s my bodyguard.”

She giggled. “Uh-huh.”

“Shut up.” I didn’t appreciate the point she was making.

“I’ll be outside.”

When the door closed, my doubts surged forward.

My body had wanted Terry even before the kiss, but my brain had been more sensible about the absurdity of that. Now my damned urges had gotten the upper hand. Knowing what kissing him was like made it harder to tamp things down.