Dangerous Games (Aegis Group, #3) (12 page)

Zain had passed up Piper for her. Even Miranda seemed to think Zain was serious in his attentions toward
her
. Could that be the case? Was there really a world where a hot guy like him picked her over the blonde bombshell?

It was completely unfair to Piper and Zain to reduce them each to their physical attributes. The very act alone stripped them of what made each unique, their personalities, what else they had to offer. For once, though, her—Andrea’s—redeeming virtue wasn’t, “she’s got a great personality
”
.

Andrea flushed the toilet, zipped up and did the wiggle walk out to the mirror, adjusting the tight-fitting jeans until they were firmly in place. Yeah, that was so not sexy, but it was just her in the bathroom anyway.

Zain liked her.

Her
.

All of her.

The outside and maybe the inside. Well, the brain inside of her and not just the girly-bit insides of her.

It was a new and very strange string of events that were culminating in her meeting this crazy great guy. And to think, they likely wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for all the doxxing crap that meant Crystal wasn’t there for her to hide behind. After all, if Crystal had been in the elevator, Andrea could have faded into the wall, happy to be part of the scenery.

She glanced up and gasped, a black robed ninja cosplayer surprising her.

“Oh my God, I didn’t even hear you come in.” She chuckled and turned.

The only exposed skin was the ninja’s eyes and...hands.

Not that she was one to judge...but those were very large, very masculine hands...

A bad feeling tickled her consciousness and her nerves went into high alert.

“That’s a great outfit you’ve got there.” She grabbed a paper towel and edged toward the door, her instincts screaming at her to run.

The ninja moved in a blur. He grabbed her arm and yanked. She pitched forward against the marble vanity. He grabbed a handful of her hair, jerking it back.

Andrea yelped, but all the air was driven out of her lungs as she hit the edge of the counter with her ribs hard enough that she thought she heard a crack. Her body slumped and her knees hit the tile, when all she wanted to do was flail, throw an elbow—something.

She sucked in a breath, as much as she could, and forced it out in a scream. The sound reverberated off the tile, amplified by the marble and glass.

Her attacker jolted, maybe surprised as much as she was by the loudness of the sound, and wrenched her head back. She kicked out, barely grazing his shin.

The bathroom door banged open and Zain charged in.

The ninja released her, turning to face Zain. The real threat. Andrea rolled under the vanity, her only intelligent thought being,
Get away
.

When she looked up again, Zain had a handful of the ninja’s robes and kicked repeatedly, kneeing the ninja attacker in the stomach, landing a foot against the guy’s thigh. It was like watching UFC, except it wasn’t an even match at all. The ninja tried to swipe at Zain and he just...floated...out of the guy’s reach.

The ninja grappled with Zain, wrenching at his arms. Zain lost his hold and the ninja backpedaled toward the door, whirled, and sprinted away.

Zain took two steps, stopped and turned toward her.

“I’m fine!” she blurted.

“Stay there.” He jammed his prosthetic back into place and sprinted out the door, into a sea of people.

Andrea sat there for a second, staring at the closed door, huddled under the vanity, feeling every knock, bump and strand of hair.

Holy shit—she’d just been attacked by a God damned ninja!

Kevin ducked behind booths, shedding the ridiculous get-up as he went.

Speckles’ stupid plan was a bust. Captain Hook had been there, waiting, the whole damn time.

A sharp pain stabbed Kevin in the side. He put a hand to his ribs and focused on pulling in short, shallow breaths. Was something broken? At this point, it would be his luck.

He managed to get the pants off and stowed in some boxes between booths. Along the way, he snagged a baseball cap and tucked his hair up under the brim.

The knee jerk urge was to run, put as much distance between him and this Zain person as he could. But you never ran from a predator. It only drew their attention. Instead, he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, standing like so many other screen zombies along the path between vendors.

He waited for a count of five before casually turning and putting his phone in his back pocket. There was no doubt in his mind he needed to get out of here. And fast, before the dragnet of security caught up. He strolled along with the crowds, merging and sticking with the thick of it, using them to disguise his escape.

Speckles was going to be pissed, but there was no helping that. The plan to scare Andrea into doing something was in motion. He just didn’t think these were the results Speckles was after.

Zain kept his hand on Andrea all the way up to his room. It was that or punch someone, and violence wasn’t the answer.

“I’m okay, Miranda,” she said again. Andrea glanced at him and rolled her eyes, gesturing at the phone.

He swiped his key card and held the door for her, listening to the same statements made again and again.

I’m okay.

Security is searching.

Zain is fine.

Never saw his face.

Zain plucked Andrea’s phone from her fingers and spoke into the receiver.

“She’ll have to call you back.” He ended the call and tossed the phone on the bed.

“Now she’s going to come down here, you know?” She rolled her eyes.

He didn’t give a flying fuck if Miranda or her whole posse showed up at his door. All that mattered was that Andrea was safe. He’d spent the better part of an hour practically frothing at the mouth while the hotel and con security had their heads up their asses. They meant well. They were doing their jobs. But his was protecting her. Watching her be questioned, checked out, second guessed, and the whole time he’d wanted to do
this
.

Zain wrapped his arm around her and stepped in close, tempering his urge to clutch her tight. She’d been knocked around
on his watch
. He’d been
right there
. She could say she was fine, but the bruises told a different story. It never should have happened. If she’d had someone like Luke with her... They might not have been able to protect her any better than he had.

“Zain?” She looped her arms around his shoulders, her face turned toward his neck. “Are you okay?”

“Give me a second.”

When he’d heard her yelp...then her scream... Those were the longest seconds of his life. It was one thing to fear for a brother-in-arms. They knew what they were doing and what the risks were. Andrea hadn’t asked for any of this. She wasn’t prepared to defend herself. That was his job. And he hadn’t done it.

She rested her head against his shoulder and squeezed him back.

He’d forgotten what being on this side of protective detail work was like. But he’d never cared for his clients. He’d also never slept with a client before. If only he’d been able to catch the attacker...

Zain pulled back, just enough to see her face, to take her in. Overall, she’d handled the attack well. Better than he was, if he were being honest with himself. She looked up at him with the same earnest, open expression that had drawn him to her through his computer screen.

Only now, there wasn’t anything between them.

He bent his head and brushed his lips across hers, the sensual contact grounding him more than anything else had.

“We should go over the meeting.” He turned and nudged her farther into the room. This was now a job. He needed to do his part. It wasn’t just behind the computer; he was more than the geek detail. He was the one keeping her safe.

Andrea sat on the foot of the bed and he remained standing, too full of anxious energy to do anything else.

“What was the meeting about? Can you say?” he asked.

“This was more of a rally, get everyone excited thing. Our offices are so far apart it’s hard to get everyone together, so they like to do a breakfast like this. Say something encouraging. Team building. Blah. Blah. Blah.”

“Who was there?”

She began to list off the people and what they did, how they fit into the bigger picture. While there were a few she didn’t know as well, overall she was able to recall every person in the meeting, which, to him, was remarkable.

“Was Cliff there?” He didn’t want to point blame at the owner.

“Yeah, he runs the whole thing.”

“I’m just throwing this out there but...do you think Cliff could be involved?” It made sense to him. Cliff had the biggest financial stake in the company. It was personal for him.

“What?” She blinked at him as though he’d spoken words she didn’t understand.

“It makes sense, in a way. People hating something his company made lower sales. It could be personal for him. He’d have access to your networks.”

“No way.” Andrea shook her head.

“I want you to think about it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why?”

“Because...Because he was the one who green lit the project and talked us through the release plan. He and Miranda did the whole marketing spiel together. He might totally weird me out on a one on one level, but when it comes to work, he’s all about being involved. Miranda has nothing but good things to say about him, how the buyout worked and the support we get. I just...that doesn’t make any sense. If he hated the game, why not squash it in development? He could have told us no.”

“He’s the only person I can see with motive to get rid of you.”

“I don’t see it. If I go, Crystal will go and that would leave a huge, gaping hole in our team. Work would stop... I just don’t see that. Doug wasn’t on board with the game, but he wasn’t brought into the meetings until later. That pissed him off more than the game, I think.”

Zain disagreed, but it wasn’t up to him to change her mind. His job was protecting her.

“Have you considered leaving the con early? I know you said you wanted to stick it out, show whoever is behind this up, but is it worth risking your safety?” If it were his choice, she’d be headed home on a plane now.

“Yes, I’m thinking about it.” Her pained expression tugged at his heart. “I just...I’m supposed to be in the booth later with Weird Girl Club stuff. And I told Miranda I’d be there.”

“They can deal with you being gone, if you want to go.”

“Not yet. I want to stay for the booth. Is that the right thing to do?”

“Andrea, I can’t tell you that because I’m completely biased. If I had my way? Yeah. You’d be gone.”

“What if I stayed for the run at the booth and then left? Would that work?”

He’d seen the booth. It was an end cap, with three open sides, lots of visibility and a constant flow of traffic. She’d be easily accessible to anyone who wanted to get to her. If someone wanted to create a scene, it would be big. On the other hand, no one could start anything without making themselves a target in return.

“I’ll coordinate with Miranda. Make sure there’s better security.”

“I need a shower.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m pretty sure I can smell myself.”

“How’s your head feeling?” He stopped in front of her and touched her chin, tilting her head to the side.

“It stopped throbbing. I’m taking that as a good sign.”

“What about the rest of you? Anything hurting?”

“My side. Right here. I fell against the vanity.”

“Show me.”

She stood and allowed him to peel the shirt up. Besides a bit of a skinned mark and some possible bruising, it didn’t look bad. He tugged the shirt up and off, leaving her in jeans and her bra.

He still couldn’t believe she’d been hurt. While he was right fucking there. He was no good for her. She deserved someone who did this job all the time. Not the resident geek.

Zain kissed the angry red mark. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight until he got her on a plane home. Whether or not going with her was yet to be decided, but until then, he’d ensure she didn’t come into harm again.

“Take your shower. Now.” He pushed the bag of clothes they’d carried up with them into her hands. Much more of this and he’d lose all sense of time and getting her to the floor.

Andrea took a step back, her eyes wide.

Fuck.

He just wasn’t any good at this.

Zain pressed his lips to the crown of her head, where she’d knocked her head and closed his eyes.

“I think my lips hurt,” she said against his shoulder.

“What?” He frowned at her.

“If you’re kissing my booboos, go here next, okay?”

A
ndrea’s smile was slippery, hard to hold in place. It was only skin deep. Could Zain tell? She’d held herself together pretty damn well since the ninja attack.

A freaking ninja had attacked her.

Her life was no longer real.

This did not happen—except it did. To her. And somehow, she hadn’t cried or broken down about it yet. But she was close. She was so tired of tears, of her only recourse against people being a good cry or the grin-and-bear-it act. It wasn’t fair. But she felt better when he kissed her. As if her problems weren’t quite so insurmountable. Because Zain could handle anything.

The moment dragged on. He continued to stare at her as though he were looking into her soul, the little frown slowly smoothing out.

He lifted a hand, pushing his fingers through the hair at her temple. She closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. He closed the small distance between them, the only sound in the room that of denim sliding against denim. He pressed her back against the wall next to the bathroom door, his big body against hers.

She tipped her chin up, not daring to breathe. His breath caressed her cheek. Her insides were all knotted up. This was different. Being with him was different. Not that she had all that much experience to draw from—she made a habit of ruining relationships, but he wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known. Somehow, he made her feel things, and never once was helpless one of those. Maybe because he trusted her. Crystal or Miranda, they’d tell her what to do. But he didn’t. And it made all the difference.