Love by Association

Jules said you know.

Had to be about Smyth.

Yes.

She typed with the thumb of the hand holding her phone. Her other hand rested just above her loaded holster, as it always did when she was on an assignment like this one. Just because danger had never happened on one of her babysitting watches didn’t mean it never would.

Sharing that information puts her in danger of lawsuit. At the very least.

She read the text and looked around before responding.

I know.

Is your mother’s name Pamela?

The question was so out of the blue she stared at it for a moment longer than she might have done.

And then she knew. Publishing in New York. The Johnsons. Pam was listed as publisher and CEO. He’d been checking up on her.

Because Julie had exposed herself, and Colin needed to know she was safe with Chantel? How far had he gone? Would he go?

No. My aunt.

She had to call her. To explain, in case he called. Had he already called?

She thought she heard a noise just off her left shoulder. Her heart had already been pounding. Adrenaline raced right along with it as she spun.

A body, dressed all in black, slid behind a pillar. Chantel quickly and quietly slid to the front of the same pillar, reached for her Taser gun and glanced to see if Daniel was watching.

He was not only aware, he’d moved into position across from the pillar. Signaled that he had his eye on the perp. A third officer appeared in Chantel’s peripheral vision and, within seconds, everyone moved at once.

Thank God they had.

Five minutes later, when the governor appeared, the white, nineteen-year-old male was in handcuffs on the way to the station. The grenade he’d been holding, ready to lob at the state official, was on its way to the lab.

Daniel, who liked the limelight, was happy to make a statement to the press who’d been present in the wings, leaving Chantel to head back to the station in the backseat of another cruiser, with just enough time to get changed.

Lucky for her she was so invisible to her partner he’d never think to mention her part in the night’s adventure.

Lucky for the governor that she’d been there when she had.

Which was why she did what she did.

Being known didn’t matter. Making a difference in a positive way did.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

HE WENT TO her because he had to. Colin didn’t kid himself into thinking that he was only standing in the elevator at the Landau just before midnight on Saturday out of politeness.

No matter how much his life had started to fly out of control since Chantel Johnson had dropped into it, he was at least going to be honest with himself. He was addicted to her.

In less than two weeks’ time.

His father had fallen for his mother the same way. Only the way he’d told the story, he’d announced to his father the night he’d met Colin’s mother that he’d met the woman he was going to marry.

It was an age-old thing—guys being knocked for a loop the second they set eyes on their soul mates. Fodder for TV movies and country music.

He didn’t believe in any of it.

But he knocked on the door of Room 12334 at five minutes to twelve with desire in his blood and an openness to possibility pushing at the rest of him.

When the door didn’t immediately open, he took a step back. Pursed his lips. Nodded his head and acknowledged the deep pounding of his heart.

There could be many reasons for her not to be there.

Some of them good ones.

Not so many that would also explain the lack of a phone call to save him the trip over here.

He knocked again. What was going on?

It was possible that she’d come to some harm and needed help.

Or wasn’t feeling well.

It was possible she was hiding something from him. She’d appeared out of nowhere, with only a hard-to-come-by invitation as an introduction to a pretty close-knit society.

One in which anything or anyone could be bought.

Her name hadn’t been registered on the guest registry.

Maybe the name she’d given him wasn’t really hers.

Julie had trusted her with information that she’d sworn, under oath and by legal signature, not to share.

And what did they really know about Chantel Johnson? Other than the fact that both he and his sister had taken to her immediately—each in their own, completely different ways.

She had an aunt named Pamela who was in the publishing industry in New York.

Julie trusted her.

Colin trusted her more than he trusted most people.

And...

The door flew open. She stood there, an apology on her lips, looking gorgeous in black pants and a black-and-white jacket—stating professionalism as opposed to an evening out. Her blond hair, still full of body, hung around her shoulders and down her back. All he could think about was the way it had tickled his chest—and then other parts of him as she’d moved over his body the night before.