She went still and he wished he had time to appreciate the image of her in his bed, hair mussed, drowsy eyed, tangled in his sheets. But there wasn’t time, not when the pounding continued and dread tightened her features.
“Stay here.”
He didn’t bother to throw on clothes; if it were someone looking for trouble, he didn’t want to waste precious time dressing.
He flicked on the security feed and looked at the feed image. “Aww, shit,” he grumbled.
“Who is it?” Emma asked from the bedroom door, wrapped carefully in the sheet. He smiled when he saw she was tentatively holding his boot knife in her free hand.
“Just Kai. I’d suggest you close the bedroom door unless you want to endure his smart-ass comments.”
Peirce undid the locks and opened the door cautiously. Just because it was Kai didn’t mean there were others there with him, out of range of the security camera.
“Damn, boss-man, lose your pants?” Kai griped as he stepped inside the apartment.
Peirce ignored him and locked back up before turning away and heading to the bedroom. “Food in the fridge,” he called behind him.
Emma was nearly dressed when he joined her in the bedroom.
“Why’s Kai here?”
“Brought your money from the jewellery.”
“Oh.” She turned and let Peirce help do up the last few buttons on her dress. He kissed the nape of her neck, smiling when she shivered.
He pulled on his pants, forgoing the shirt to avoid getting another one dirty. Kai wouldn’t give a shit either way. He cast one final glance at her. “Put your hair up.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to be the only man who knows what it looks like down.”
Her eyes widened, but a small smile graced her lips as she followed his order.
“Thank you,” he said softly.
She nodded.
His hand was on the door when he turned and warned, “He probably suspects something already.”
“Did you say anything about us?”
“No. But I did show up to the door naked.”
The reddening of her cheeks was adorable. “Oh. Well then...”
They headed to the living room.
To his credit, Kai didn’t make a single comment that was out of line. Instead, he focused on handing over the credits, eating two boxes of take out and asking Peirce for advice about a small-time job that would require his services for a week. Peirce cleared him for the week and gave Kai the contacts for a few reliable techies who could run the necessary checks at a reasonable price. Half an hour later, Kai was gone and Peirce and Emmaline were left in the relative quiet of the apartment.
“What now?” she asked, fingers lingering on the stack of credits Kai had counted out on the coffee table. She’d gone from aristocrat to penniless runaway and back to comfortably wealthy in a few short hours. It was more than a little intimidating to have those life changes occurring in such rapid succession.
“You should get out of Monterrey for a little while.”
“Where will we go?”
“There won’t be a we.”
She instantly panicked. “I’m not leaving without you!”