I forced an awkward smile. “You’re a protector type, huh?”

“At times.” He stared at my hand, the one he’d been holding. “I don’t like it when someone hurts another. Now don’t lie, was it Michael?”

“No.” The lie came out so simple.

“Will you ever tell me who?”

“Maybe.”

“Let’s hope this guy is far away from me when you do.”

Chapter 4

Alvarez

That can’t happen again. Whatever that was when I grabbed her hand, it can’t happen.

Pain throbbed at the front of my head. I popped two aspirin in my mouth, took the glass from my assistant’s hand, and swallowed it all down as I climbed the stairs to my office. A long list of things to do ran in my head.

“Okay. Catch me up on what you’ve done today.” Reece took the glass back. Her blonde curls bounced with the speed of our pace. She opened her mouth and panted a little, desperately trying to hold onto the glass, notepad in her arms, and phone in her other hand. I stopped. “Am I walking too fast?”

“Just a little.” She gasped.

I took the glass away from her and set it on the floor. Our cleaning staff was on point with their tasks. I knew the glass would be there no more than a minute or so. The head chief of cleaning ordered her servants to do four to five patrols of the estate each hour.

“Remember. When I push you too far, you have to tell me.” I wiped the little beads of sweat off her forehead with my hand and regretted it immediately.

She blushed. “I’m sorry, sir.”

I hated when she apologized. She never did anything wrong, and the few times she made a mistake it was never really significant enough to warrant a “sorry.” But that wasn’t really the biggest problem between us.

Last week, she left a voice mail message and declared in a stutter of drunken slurring that she loved me. For all these years of us working together, I would’ve never thought that would’ve happened. She wasn’t ugly in any way. In fact, any man would’ve found her captivating. I just didn’t feel that way about her, and if I had to be truly honest with myself, she was just too damn good of a personal assistant to mess up with a sexual relationship. Because that’s all it would’ve been, sex a few nights and then a conclusion after a few weeks. I never had time for serious dating. My family kept me busy and emotionally drained. I didn’t possess much to give to anybody else, not time or love, not compassion nor the motivation for anything more. I’d explained that to Reece the next morning in the most uncomfortable meeting in our business relationship. Things had been unsteady ever since.

I shouldn’t have touched her. Why in the hell did I do that? Because she’s like a little sister at times and I would’ve wiped her head like that if she was my sister.

“No, Reece. I’m sorry. That was entirely inappropriate of me just now.”

“I don’t mind that.” Again, the blush appeared.

Dang it.

I cleared my throat and started walking. “Okay. Let’s continue. You were going to tell me about the earlier meeting.”

“When you didn’t show up an hour ago, I carried on the meeting with Detective White for you. Was that okay?”

“Yes. Feel free to work with him on your own any time when I’m caught up in other things. What did you discuss?”

“I gave him the address for the morgue the body was taken to and all of the model’s information. He’s walking around on the second level asking the few artists left if they’ve seen anything.”

“He won’t tell them what happened, right?”

“No.” Reece pushed her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose. “I made sure to tell him that discretion was necessary.”

“That’s good, but there’s going to be a point when you and I will have to reveal a lot of my family’s private information to the police. That’s fine. I just want our lawyers receiving the reports of what we say before the police get it.” I made it to the second flight with that steady drumming in my head and the scent of Elle on my hand. What type of fragrance did she wear? I sniffed my fingers, and oranges and flowers came to my mind.

Orange blossoms, maybe. Were there any such things as orange blossoms? It had to be that.

“I also booked flights for all of the remaining artists and writers on the property. I notified Hex like you asked. He approved most and they will be leaving in two days. There is a small group that will remain until the end of the summer to help Hex finish his collection.”

“How small?”

“Twenty people.”

I would need even more guards to guarantee their safety. “That’s too many. I’ll have to talk to Hex about getting rid of them. Put it on my to-do list for this week.”

Tags: Kenya Wright Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net