She nods and I leave her there. I wave at Shari, our twenty-something super-efficient, feisty redheaded receptionist when a thought hits me. I halt at her desk. “Ed’s assistant, Lynn. Is she in?”
“She’s on a two-week leave.”
“Vacation?”
“Yes. She won a cruise or something like that.”
“Lucky her.”
“Yes. I’m not that lucky. You gone for the day?”
“Most likely. Thanks, Shari.”
About three minutes later, I step on the elevator, bothered by the cruise Lynn is on. I’m back to something just not feeling right, but I remind myself Savage is now Ed’s keeper. The elevator doors open to the lobby and to my displeasure, Logan is standing there. He, of course, looks like a Ken doll in a perfect blue suit, his jawline clean, his blond locks neat.
“I called you twice this morning,” he snaps, accusation and demand in his tone, and I wonder how I once thought I loved this man. I’m certain I was mistaken.
He backs up to allow my path out of the car, which I accept. “It didn’t hear it ring,” I say, walking past him without stopping, toward the double glass doors and my final escape from this building.
Logan, of course, does just what Cindy did. He falls into step beside me. “I heard you’re meeting with Waters today.”
In other words, I think, Waters’ people are running their mouths, but that doesn’t surprise me. It supports the theory that Waters is setting up a suspect list before he has Ed killed. Still, I play along. “Who told you that?”
“I have sources,” Logan says. “Step back from this before it’s too late.”
That statement’s telling in that it shows no concern for his client he believes to be one of the trades Waters wants to make. We reach the glass doors, and thank God, someone holds the door for me and I’m outside before Logan. Unfortunately, he’s fast and immediately in front of me, blocking my path. “Come back to the firm,” he says. “I talked to your father again. He’s all in on you running your own division.”
“Clearly you have cards in this game. What is really in this for you, Logan?”
“Your safety.” He lowers his voice. “I miss you. I’m worried about you.” His hand comes down on my arm and I step back, out of his grip.
“No,” I say. “And whatever deal you made with the King Devil, which it’s obvious you did, you better hide now. He’ll come for you when you let him down. And having Rocketman visit me was not cool Logan.”
His expression registers surprise, but he’s a master actor, and I am not fooled when he asks, “Rocketman visited you?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know you know. He sounded just like you.”
“I told you, there’s buzz out there that you’re in danger. And I didn’t make a deal with Waters. A lot of bad people fear they’re going down if Waters goes down.”
“Your people, right?”
“That’s not the point. You’re in danger,” he repeats.
“You mean you’re in danger if you don’t make me listen.”
“We’re connected. I go down. You go down. Your parents go down.”
I don’t want to be affected by his words, but I’m concerned for my parents. I’m also all too aware of the way Adrian is setting himself up as a target, refocusing the danger on him. It’s brave. He’s brave. And there are things going on here I need to talk to him about now.
I refocus on Logan. “I need to go.” I step around him and start walking, my lips parting in surprise at what I find: Adrian, out in the open, leaning on the black SUV he’d promised awaited me. And my God, he’s gorgeous. Dark and ravishing in jeans and a T-shirt, his inked arms, his goatee. He’s dangerous, I know, but while he claims to be dirty, the only dirty I’ve known him to be, I liked.
“Who the fuck is that?” Logan demands as he figures out I’m walking right to Adrian.
Adrian pushes off the vehicle and steps into me, his hand possessively settling at my hip. “Ready?” he asks, his eyes warm, even gentle, when they meet mine, but his energy is sharp, almost threatening. He is not pleased about Logan.
“Who the fuck are you?” Logan demands.
Adrian’s lips quirk and his eyes meet Logan’s. “Your worst nightmare,” Adrian replies, “if you do anything to hurt her. Any questions?”Chapter Twenty-NineADRIAN
There are men and there are boys in men’s bodies. Logan’s a boy in a man’s body.
He stares me down, a fool who thinks he’s a big fish, but what he doesn’t understand is when a fish swims among the sharks long enough, eventually a shark catches him. I’ll be that shark if he’s not careful.
“I never hurt her,” he claims, but he cuts his stare for the briefest of moments, a liar’s tell. He not only hurt her—he knows he hurt her.