Conflicting Interests (19 page)

“And what of Smith and Terrell? You’re taking a risk by
shuttling Katrina around.” Dillon knew Stephens had mastered the art of either
being rude enough to someone they gave up asking or simply refused to answer
questions that would incriminate him but it didn’t mean he wasn’t endangering
his own career by being involved.

Terrell might be his friend but Smith hardly was and if the
chief found out, there’d be questions. Stephens’ dickhead approach would only
make things worse with Greenwood.

“Katrina and I have already talked about this and you don’t
need to worry about it.” Dillon’s eyes flashed to Kat, who was now sheepishly
avoiding him. Dillon’s jealousy was ratcheting up with every passing word. What
the fuck was Stephens doing talking to Kat instead of him about what was going
on?

Dillon stood and walked to kitchen, grabbing a beer from the
fridge. He stood at the bar separating the kitchen from the dining room and he
watched them. Stephens sat at the end of the table and Katrina was beside him.
There was something odd about the casual and comfortable way they regarded each
other and it left Dillon’s heart racing.

“I’m going to have to get to Imogen’s at least a couple
times this week to feed and water Kitty. And my car is in a parking garage.
Maybe we should just get my car out. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about
driving me. I could keep it in Dillon’s garage.”

“No.” Dillon snarled from his place at the same time
Stephens responded to her. Kat’s gaze caught on his quickly before returning to
Stephens.

“No, Kat. You need to be seen as little as possible. He’s
seen Dillon and that means it’s possible he knows who Dillon is, perhaps even
where he lives. It’s also possible he knows about Imogen and where her home is
as well. You don’t want to take the risk that he’s watching this house and sees
you leaving in your car. It makes it far too easy for him to follow you. He
without doubt knows your car too and we don’t want him able to follow you to
Imogen’s. Even my driving you comes with risk. There’s no perfect answer. Adler
or I could meet you downtown and drive you back from a parking garage. That way
he couldn’t easily follow you back here. We don’t want to give him any easy
ways to follow you around. It’s just a game to make it as difficult as possible
for him to follow you or figure out where you’re at at any given moment.”

Dillon’s jaw was clenched tight as he listened. It wasn’t as
if Stephens wasn’t saying anything he didn’t already know but he was
struggling. He was angry at Kat for diminishing her importance to him.

He felt as though she were two seconds from walking out the
door because she thought she was a danger to the people around her. He
understood that but it also meant she was willing to walk out on him to protect
him and he couldn’t stomach that. Her easy regard for Stephens wasn’t helping
the situation and Dillon felt like a damn juvenile jealous prick. He was an
outsider at the moment and he didn’t like it—not with her.

When his cell phone rang, he saw it was Selena. He’d left
her a message earlier about the self-defense class and she was without doubt
getting back to him about it.

“Hey Adler, so you’ve got someone you want in my class
tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, she’s a victim in an ongoing stalking case and I’d
feel better if she was as prepared as she can be.” He had left the kitchen and
was sitting on the stairs in the foyer with his beer in one hand and his phone
in the other.

He could hear Kat and Stephens talking easily in the dining
room and he had to force himself to focus on his conversation.

“Sure, but let’s do this. She can join the class tomorrow
night. The class actually runs one night a week for an hour and a half for a month.
Tomorrow night is the second in our series but I could stay after and give her
a good condensed version of the whole series. I’ll see if Jeremy can stay as
well to help. Maybe an extra two, two-and-half hours and we could cover the
content one-on-one? Sound like a plan?”

“That’s great, Selena. I really appreciate it. Five o’clock
tomorrow night, right?”

“Yeah and I’ll try to be done by nine.”

“Great. She’ll be there. Her name is Katrina Page.”

He disconnected quickly as he walked back into the kitchen.
He caught them laughing about something and when they looked up and saw him,
the laughter drifted off. Kat looked nervous and Stephens looked confused and
annoyed.

“You’re set up for the self-defense class tomorrow night.”

“Kat, you should call Smith or Terrell and set up the time
you meet them at your house for after lunch sometime, then I can take you
straight to your class from there.”

“Sure.” Dillon just watched them, unable to get a grasp on
exactly why he was feeling so angry, hurt and just plain jealous.

Stephens stood slowly and Katrina followed him to the door
as Dillon stayed sulking in the kitchen.

When she returned she let out a deep sigh. “You’re upset
with me.”

“No.” He looked at her for a moment as she watched him with
a furrowed brow. “I’m going for a run. I’ll leave out the back.” He brushed
past her as he left the room and ran upstairs to change and he didn’t see her
again before he left the house.

He pushed through ten miles, not even trying to pace
himself. He let his muscles burn, focusing on the intense pain instead of
letting his mind wander back to her. When he finally made it home, he peeked in
on her upstairs. She was asleep in his bed. He went back downstairs and fell
asleep on the couch.

When they said the house was a total loss they weren’t
kidding. She literally walked away with nothing—not a single article of
clothing, not a single picture, nothing. She’d called her insurance company on
Monday and arranged a time for someone to meet her there around the same time
as Detectives Smith and Terrell expected her. The man didn’t stay long. It
didn’t take a genius to see there was nothing salvageable there.

The house would be leveled as soon as it could be arranged
because it was more a safety hazard than anything. The insurance man left
shortly after he arrived with a grimace on his face. “Sorry, Ms. Page.” She’d
heard that three times already. The fire inspector, Detective Terrell and now
the insurance dude. She might sock the next person who said it to her.

“Love what you’ve done to the place, kiddo.” Stephens
elbowed her in the side as he came to stand by her and watch the insurance
agent leave. “But hey you’ve still got a completely intact chimney. Whataya
know.”

She chuckled. At least he hadn’t apologized. She looked at
him for a moment. She needed Imogen here and the fact she was settling for
Stephens was almost comical. The fact she was so glad to have him there and
didn’t actually feel like she was settling at all was just plain surprising.

“Dillon is upset with me.”

He looked at her for a moment, saying nothing. She was sure
this made him uncomfortable. Chick talk could not be high on this man’s talent
list.

“I told him I thought I should get an apartment or stay in a
hotel for a while.”

His brow suddenly furrowed. “Why the hell did you say that?”

“I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me. How could I
not want to remove myself from the people who could be hurt? Imogen, Dillon,
Seth. I can’t have their safety, or lack of, on my hands. Dillon shouldn’t be
in the position of wanting to protect me at the expense of Seth’s safety.”

“So was that why you two seemed like you were Jedi mind-fighting
with each other last night?”

She nodded. “We were arguing just before you got there.”

“That explains it.” He took a deep breath. “Listen, Dillon
knows how to protect you and how he chooses to balance you and Seth during this
ordeal is his choice, not yours. He’s Seth’s father and he’s a good father. You
don’t need to question that.” Stephens’ voice was demanding as he spoke and it
brought Katrina up short. “This isn’t a conflict that would exist between the
two of you were it not for your case.”

“Just another reason it’s not a good idea for us to see each
other, right?”

“I was going to say be patient. The case is temporary. Your
relationship isn’t. At least I was under the assumption it wasn’t a casual
thing. Maybe you should talk to him about it.”

“I was asleep before he got back from his run last night and
he avoided me all morning.”

“It couldn’t have helped that you and I were talking so much
last night moments after you practically said there were things more important
than your relationship and you wanted to move out. Try to see it from his
perspective.”

“You’re pretty good at chick talk.”

“Fuck off. I better get you to the Y for your class.”

She groaned. “This should be good. He really has no idea how
uncoordinated I am. I’ll probably end up doing more damage to myself than
anyone else.” Stephens chuckled as he walked her back to his car.

* * * * *

She decided quickly she actually liked self-defense. That’s
not to say she was any damn good at it but there was something about sweating
her ass off while she tried to kill a man—a man safely concealed in bizarre-looking
protective gear but a man all the same. It wasn’t hard to imagine Mr. Lunatic
under the layers of shielding and she enjoyed herself immensely as she brought
her knee up to his groin, put her elbow into various places on his body and
stomped her heel down on his toes.

She was ready to kill anything that tried to hurt her and do
it with a vengeance by the end of the four hours she spent with Selena and the
unknown pretend bad guy. She showered quickly in the locker room, changed into
jeans and a shirt and when she re-entered the exercise room, she found Selena
talking to a handsome man with blonde hair. They were obviously a couple given
their body language and as she approached Selena looked up to her.

“How do you feel, Kat?”

“Uh, great actually. That was a lot of fun.”

Selena laughed. “Well you should join us next week if you
can. Jeremy will let you beat the shit out of him a bit more, won’t you,
Jeremy?”

He winked at Katrina. “Hell yeah, I will. You did great.”

“Ah, sorry about that. I pictured you as some creepy
disturbed man under there.”

Now he laughed at her. “Not so creepy. But then there are
plenty of creeps who don’t look creepy.” He cocked his head at her. “I’m not
one of them though. Can we walk you out?”

Katrina nodded and they stood, walking her from the building
to the nearly deserted parking lot. She spotted Dillon waiting in his Tahoe
instantly and he eyed her impassively. His regard for her reminded her very
much of their first meeting at parent-teacher conferences when she’d pissed him
off.

Selena gave her a quick hug. “So maybe we’ll see you next
week, Kat. Take care.”

Katrina thanked them before turning toward Dillon’s car. He
watched her and she couldn’t manage to hold his gaze. She didn’t really
understand what was going on between them but she hated it. It had been over
twenty-four hours since things had turned to shit and she wasn’t even sure
whose fault it was or exactly what had happened.

When she climbed in he said nothing. He pulled from the
parking space and headed home. “Are you hungry? We could stop for dinner
somewhere?” She hated the hopefulness in her voice. She didn’t know if she
should be angry, apologetic or downright defensive but her voice just sounded
needy and pathetic.

“I’ve already eaten but if you’d like to go through a
drive-through, I can.” He said it without the least bit of inflection to his
voice and his eyes remained on the road in front of him.

“That’s okay. I’m not that hungry.” She was hungry actually,
but she’d just decided defensive was definitely going to be her approach—angry
too, for that matter.

They drove in silence and once he’d pulled into the garage,
closing the garage door behind him, he climbed out and headed into the house
without even waiting for her. She followed as her anger built with each
footstep and when she finally caught up to him in the living room, she stopped
holding her tongue and set it loose.

“Care to tell me why you’re being such a dick to me?”

“Because you’re being so much nicer?”

“You’re the one who’s ignored me for the past day.”

“And you’re the one who wants to walk away from this due to
some misguided notion that you’re endangering my life.”

“I
am
endangering your life! And not just yours.
Seth’s…”

“And he is my responsibility!” He was glaring at her and she
was doing her damndest to glare right back. “Wanna tell me why you’re suddenly
so chummy with my partner?”

Her mouth dropped open, her brow furrowed in incredulity and
she suddenly felt guilty. He was watching her intently with his hands on his
hips. His nostrils were flaring and he was waiting oh so patiently for her to
give him a reason to explode. He was furious. She looked at the floor between
them, studying the rug as she tried desperately to figure out what to say.

When she finally looked back up to him she took a deep
breath. He was all strength and height and masculine power standing in front of
her and she wanted that security wrapped around her. She’d pushed him away.
She’d done it for a damn good reason but she’d done it nevertheless. And she
wondered why he was acting jealous that she was getting along with Stephens so
well. She’d threatened to take away his ability to protect her and then
confided in his partner rather than him.

When she approached him, his glare remained and he simply
followed her with his eyes, glowering down at her. She reached for his stomach,
feeling his muscles flinch under the fabric of his t-shirt. The look on his
face was almost terrifying but as she let her forehead drop to his chest, he
released a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t even sure he heard her and she
lifted her head to see him. “I’m sorry.”

“Have you done something to be sorry about?”

She nodded and watched as his jaw clenched and he looked
away from her. “I’m terrified I’m going to be the reason someone else gets hurt,
but I’m sure my insistence on leaving to protect you felt like I was taking
away your ability to protect me.”

His eyes returned to her and his forehead creased in
confusion. He hadn’t expected her to say that apparently. “On top of that I
talked to Marc about it when I should have talked to you. And because you
already felt like I was pushing you away it must have felt like quite a
betrayal.”

“Did something happen with you and Stephens?” Her eyes found
his as she gasped.

“No! Not like that. He’s doing this to protect us—to protect
you.” He stared at her with no less confusion on his face than had been there
since she’d started talking. When he finally glanced away he shook his head
slightly as he tried to wrap his head around what she was saying.

“I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”

“That I was attracted to him?” He looked back to her and
nodded slightly. He almost looked embarrassed. When she let her hands trail
down to his hips and she pulled her body up close to his, peering up to his
guarded and dark eyes, she did her best to put him at ease.

“I’m not attracted him. I’m attracted to you. I’m in love
with you.” Then she took a deep breath and braced herself for yet another
argument. “I also think I need to move back to Imogen’s by the time Seth gets
home.”

He took a deep breath and a step back from her as she kept
her breathing calm and relaxed. She knew it would upset him but she knew it was
the right thing to do. “Dammit, Kat.” He spoke through gritted teeth.

“Please listen to me.” She was begging and the moment he
looked at her and crossed his arms across his chest, she launched into her
speech in fast-forward mode.

“You know I would only be moving in here because of my
safety. You may love me, but the only reason you want me here this soon is
because you’re worried about me.”

She raised her brow, but he gave her no response but to sear
into her with his eyes. “I want a real relationship with you. The kind that
won’t rush Seth into getting used to me being around and used to the idea of us
being together. If our relationship is going to go beyond this case then we
have to think about what’s best for our future—not just what makes you feel
better right now.”

When he approached her he placed his hands gently on her
shoulders and watched her. She was certain she’d reached him. That was until he
responded. “How about the fact you have to survive the now to get to the
future?” His eyebrows shot up but his mouth was a serious line. He turned from
her and walked out of the room and she just stared after him.

She was coursing with electricity as she climbed the stairs
a few minutes later. She knew he’d gone upstairs but she wasn’t entirely sure
why she’d followed. He wasn’t giving an inch and she wasn’t sure she could
either. Every time she imagined something awful happening to Seth or Dillon it
was like a knife to her gut. She loved him. She wasn’t lying when she said it.

She also believed he loved her too and while it perfectly
explained why he was so intent on keeping her close, it just simply didn’t
matter. He believed he could protect her and she believed in him. But did she
believe him enough to risk his life or his son’s? Hell no she didn’t.

When she opened the bedroom door, she was surprised to see
he wasn’t there. It took her a minute to find him in what appeared to be a
spare bedroom. He was lying on the bed, when she came in, staring at the
ceiling.

“If I go back to Imogen’s this weekend, what does that mean
for us?”

“Are you giving me an ultimatum?”

“No. I’m asking if you’re giving me one.” She retorted as he
stared at her. “And what’s this? You’re no longer going to sleep with me if you
don’t get your way? Is that why you’re sulking in the spare room? Seems a bit
childish if you ask me.”

“Really? No more childish than refusing to do what’s best
for yourself and being a stubborn brat!”

“You’re one to talk. Have you met yourself? Stubborn should
have been your middle name, rather than—well what the hell is your middle name
anyway?”

“Bray.”

“Bray isn’t a name. Dillon Bray Adler? That’s weird.”

“And what is your middle name?”

“Anne.”

“Fine. That’s actually nice.” And they just stared at each
other like idiots.

When she walked to the side of the bed, climbed up and
straddled his hips, he just looked at her as though she’d lost her mind. “Are
you going to leave me if I move back to Imogen’s this weekend?”

He sighed, stared at her for a ridiculously long time and
then finally when she’d nearly given up on him he sat up, bringing his face
right up to hers. “No. I’m going to make love to you every chance I get, tell
you I love you every day and punish you by withholding orgasms and making you
beg for every last one you get.”

She exhaled a deep sigh of relief. “Well, so long as you’re
not going to be immature about it.”

“I’m dealing with a stubborn-ass girlfriend who’s going to
give me a coronary. I deserve an immature moment or two.” He sighed before he
kissed her gently and pulled back to look at her again. “I won’t make you beg
tonight if you do me a favor.”

“What?”

“Fly to San Francisco with me tomorrow. We can drive back
with Molly and the boys on Saturday.”