Page 30 of Guarding Grace (Hawk Security #2)

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“This is important,” I emphasized. “You’re not going to overpower a man without some help, and this is easy to conceal in your pocket.”

“So now I have to wear a shirt with a pocket? You know I don’t even own a pocket protector?”

I tapped the pen. “Very funny. Carry it in your purse if you want, but carry it with you.”

Still shaking her head, she picked up the Pain Pen. “I wouldn’t know how to operate this.”

“Simple. Slide the switch to on, hold the button down, and press the business end with the two little pins into your attacker.”

“How long?”

“That depends on the asshole factor.”

She laughed, then put down her sandwich and arched a brow. “Were you really a sniper? I didn’t know that.”

I shrugged, surprised by the change of topic.

“I am. Once a sniper, always a sniper.” It had once been a source of pride for me, but since leaving the Marines, it wasn’t something I talked about.

Civilians didn’t understand the job and tended to equate the word sniper with cold-blooded killer.

“My job was to save lives.” I had provided overwatch to keep our people safe.

“Where did they send you?”

“I can’t talk about my missions. It’s all classified.” That wasn’t strictly true, but this was the kind of talk that could quickly go off the rails with someone as sensitive as Grace. Civilians didn’t always understand that combat could come down to a simple question of kill or be killed.

“You had to shoot people?”

“My job was to make sure our soldiers and Marines didn’t get shot.

I was overwatch, watching their backs. If I saw a threat to one of our guys and didn’t act in time, someone else paid the price.

So yes, I had to engage.” It had been one of those split-second decisions that kept Lucas alive in Syria and earned me a spot at Hawk.

Grace swallowed and blinked back a tear. “That must have been hard.”

I nodded. “You’re not human if it’s easy. But if one of the enemy was intent on hurting one of my team, it became necessary.”

“Did you mean it this morning when you threatened to kill Victor?”

“All that matters is that he believes it. Making the other guy scared enough to not start a fight is always the best way to win.”

She sniffled once, then got up and closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms around me. “Thank you. I’m so grateful that we have men like you to do the hard jobs so the rest of us can sleep at night.”

I held her tight and rubbed her back for a moment. “I’ll stop at nothing to keep you safe.”

She nodded into my chest. “I know. That call this morning made me so mad.”

Apparently, the Victor conversation had affected her more than I realized.

I squeezed her tight in response. “Lucas has reached out for a meeting with Victor’s father, who’s the real guy in charge, and we’ll get Victor straightened out.

There’s no way the old man wants to go to war with Lucas and the rest of us. ”

She nodded into my chest. “You’re all doing so much for me.”

I pulled her chin up. “You’re one of the family.”

She giggled.

There was a quick knock on the door, and then it opened.

“Your one o’clock is here,” Peyton said before she saw us. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Grace squirmed loose and straightened her blouse. “I’ll be right out.”

Peyton withdrew and closed the door.

I watched Grace’s ass as she walked to her desk, visualizing what was under her skirt, especially the thong.

She picked up a file. “Can I do this one without you hovering in the demo room?” She’d objected twice already this morning to me following her everywhere.

“You remember how that worked out last time?”

“Mrs. Kretchmer is something like eighty years old. I don’t think I’ll be in danger.”

“I’ll let you go in alone on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“You let me put a surveillance camera in the corner. Otherwise, I’m joining you. ”

She shook her head, but a second later gave in. “Okay. That’s better than having you lurking in the corner, scaring my clients.”

Her lack of argument was refreshing.

“I’ll get that installed as soon as possible, then.” I’d call Jordy later to get him on that task.

Until the cameras were in place, I continued to sit in the corner of the demo room, trying hard to act less lurking.

Grabbing the nearby clipboard, I rested it in my lap to hide my growing problem.

Grace was once again making me hard. This time, it wasn’t from watching her incredible ass in that skirt and imagining yanking it up and ripping her thong off.

No, this time, I had one of the VR headsets on and got to watch the process she went through with her customers. The smarts Grace had used to turn this idea of hers into a reality was my turn-on. The process amazed me as much as it did her customer, Mrs. Kretchmer.

“Can we move the shoe rack to the end?” the lady asked.

“Of course,” Grace said. Magically, the view of the room shifted. “How’s that?”

“I liked it better the other way. But let’s try mahogany.”

The view from the headset changed again.

Until now, I’d been so busy keeping my distance from Pete’s sister that I hadn’t paid any attention to her business. My digs at SpaceMasters had been a simple means to annoy her. Only now did I understand how hurtful my comments about her passion project had been.

Luckily, I’d gotten myself back under control by the time the session with Mrs. Kretchmer ended. Following Grace out of the room, I was surprised to find Zane walking our way.

Leaving her to finish with Mrs. Kretchmer, I pulled Zane aside. “What’s up?”

He handed me a folder. “The boss wanted you to have the file on the Marku brothers. Fucking slimeballs, if you ask me. Pretty sick stuff.”

“I didn’t know there was more than one of them?”

He pointed. “It’s in there. Aren’s older brother, Zavin, is new in town and has quite the Interpol file.”

After a quick glance inside, I decided this was not the kind of material I wanted Grace to see. “Gross.”

“I’ll hang out since the boss also thought it would be good to have two of us on her.”

“Right.” The last thing I wanted was Zane around my woman, but I wasn’t going to argue with Lucas about having more support. “Anything more on the driver from yesterday?”

He shrugged. “You’d have to talk to the boss about that.”

“Why don’t you park yourself over there on the other side of Peyton?” That was far enough from Grace’s door that he wouldn’t be listening to us in her office.