Keep (Command #2) (11 page)

Jason’s unexpected burst of violence set both of the suited men on edge. They adjusted their stances, ready. There were furious words between the Dunn brothers, and for once she had no doubt their German was angry. Jason shoved Shawn away with a final phrase that sobered the older brother, and he turned to face Kara, a strange look in his eyes. Tendrils of cold sweat prickled on her.

Finished antagonizing his brother, Jason came to her.

“Is everything okay with Laurel?” she asked before he could say anything. What had that argument been about?

“Yeah, she’s safe. She wanted to come too, but I convinced her that it was too dangerous.”

Kara’s sister was almost as headstrong as she was. “That probably wasn’t easy.”

He gave her a tight smile. “No, it wasn’t. Are you all right?”

When she nodded, he pulled out his phone, thumbed to something and handed it to her. The picture on screen showed a man sitting at a table in a plain, white room with metal handcuffs on. His black hair was in need of a haircut, and contrasted too sharply with his light eyebrows. A bored look was streaked on his face, but his eyes… Disturbing.

“This is Juric. Was this the guy?”

She shook her head.

Jason’s disappointment was clear. He wanted it to be, and Kara did, too. She’d like nothing more than to bash Juric in the head with a frying pan and end all of this.

“I told you it wasn’t,” Shawn commented quietly.

Jason shot his brother a glare but otherwise ignored him. “I need to know everything about the guy, then,” he said to Kara. “Had you seen him before?”

“No. He was young and short. Dark brown hair.” She tried to remember what she could. It felt like a blur. “Uh, green shirt and black jeans.”

“Eye color? Build?” Jason’s gaze went from her, to Shawn, and back again.

“I don’t remember his eye color. He was small, kind of skinny. He spoke English like it was a second language.”

“What kind of accent?”

“Italian, maybe?”

Shawn retrieved his wine glass and sat on the bed. She felt like he was studying Jason’s questions. Maybe studying her more.

“Did you see any tattoos or scars?” Jason asked both of them.

She shook her head. “He looked pretty ordinary.”

“What about the knife, what kind was it?”

“It was long, with a black handle,” she said hesitantly, “And it was sharp.”

Jason didn’t react, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shawn turn away and take a long sip like he was uneasy. Now Jason’s attention went to his brother.

“What about you?” There was a distinct tone to it, like he’d just barely left the word “asshole” off the end of the question.

“That sounds right.” Shawn’s voice was less confident than normal.

The conversation went right back into German, and Kara couldn’t take it anymore. “English!”

“He wants to know,” Shawn said, “why I can’t remember details about what happened.”

She blinked. “It happened fast.”

“When I came out, blood was pouring down your neck, and I thought you were dying. So I don’t remember what he looked like or the knife. I remember that you put him face down on the floor, when I should have been the one to do that.” His expression made it hard to breathe. “All I remember is that he hurt you and that I failed.”

Shawn liked his control, which meant he wouldn’t like feeling helpless. Yes, she’d been the one to strike the attacker down, but she wouldn’t have been able to do that without his distraction. Why on earth did he think he’d failed?

“Shawn, no,” she said softly. “You didn’t fail.” She wanted to go to him, but the intense look on Jason’s face and his previous angry tone echoed in her ears, keeping her motionless. Her statement hung in the room as his eyes burned intensely.

“Tell us what to do.” Shawn’s commanding voice was directed at Jason. “Should we stay here or keep on the move?”

“No, stay put for now. Moving would draw attention. I’m working on a secure location and how to get her there.” Jason motioned to the hulking stranger standing closest to him. “Kara, this is Markus, your primary.” The man nodded an acknowledgment, his professional face unchanged. Jason then motioned to the other. “Alex will be your secondary. You won’t notice him much, but that’s because he’s good.”

Alex had a pleasant European face that could pass for German. Or French. Or a half-dozen other nationalities. It made sense that he could blend, at least physically.

Jason stood and produced a different cell phone from his pocket and passed it to her. “This is untraceable. My number and L’s are programmed already. Don’t use it unless you need to, though.” His gaze fixed on Shawn with a hard, dark look. More German that sounded angry and tense. He didn’t stay long after that, stating he wanted to get back to Laurel. The security guards exited with him. Alex would be in the lobby while Markus patrolled the hallway outside.

Tension compressed every inch of the room when she was alone with Shawn again.

“Let’s order dinner,” he said finally, not meeting her gaze. He flipped open the menu, but she stalked towards him, stilling his hands in hers.

“What did he say that freaked you out?”

He gently shook off her grip, examining the menu like it had Juric’s location written on it. “Nothing.”

A bold-faced lie and after what they’d done, it hurt. “Unbelievable.”

His attention returned to her. “He told me that the water damage in the corporate room had spread to the one next door.”

He was speaking English, but she didn’t understand. “Explain.”

“The Palace Hotel had a plumbing issue and water damaged the Osterhägen corporate room. It’s unsuitable for use until it’s repaired.”

“The room we’re standing in.”

“Yes.”

It took her a moment to get it. No one knew they were here because the hotel listed the room as uninhabitable, and now they were claiming a second one was affected. “Jason wants us in separate rooms.”

Shawn gave a slight smile. One that conveyed that was not what he wanted.

“Okay, what else did he say? He was obviously upset.”

His took in a huge breath, dropped his voice, and his rich brown eyes went serious. “He said I shouldn’t have fucked you.”

“Yeah.” Her voice was dry. “I figured that part out.” Why did he have to say it like that? She liked him least when he sounded the most American. “That couldn’t have been what it was.”

“He pointed out that you’re not someone I can do that with and never see again. That my niece or nephew will be yours, too.”

His revelation settled in and started a slow burn that built and built into an inferno of anger.
That
was what had made him panic? “You’re freaked out that you can’t, what? Make a clean getaway? Escape from a one-night stand with me?”

He frowned and looked like he was trying to put the words together, assemble something that wouldn’t make her ballistic, but it was wasted effort.

“Don’t you worry about it,” she said, trying to steel her voice. “I don’t have a problem being another notch on your belt. You’ll only be one on mine,” she lied.

His face skewed and gave the impression that whatever he was about to say was pushed aside. “I don’t believe that any more than you do.”

“Why not? It was just sex, and I got what I wanted out of it. Didn’t you?”

His expression changed into the same look from the plane, the dark and authoritative one. Like last time, it filled her with liquid fire and she approached the threshold of her anger.

“Stop being like this,” he commanded. “If it was just sex, you wouldn’t have been crying.”

She pulled in a deep breath and slammed her eyelids shut. She had a temper, one that had severed the connection between her and her sister for half a decade, and it was a terrible struggle now to keep it in check. When she calmed, she found him staring at her with a different expression. She didn’t understand it.

Her voice was edged with frustration. “That was —”

“You can lie to yourself, but I don’t want to hear it. It meant something.”

She had bruised his massive ego — that’s what the expression was. “Do you expect every woman you sleep with to fall head over heels in love with you? Because, believe me, I haven’t. I’m not even sure I like you.”

He gestured to the unmade bed. “You want me to remind you how much you do?”

“No. No, that won’t happen again.”

“More lies.” Shawn snatched up his glass of wine and took a long sip.

“I mean it, Shawn.”

“All right, fine, but don’t tell me it was just sex.”

She wanted to scream at him, to scream in general.

“Because,” he added, “maybe it was for you, but it wasn’t for me.”

Shawn watched her sexy mouth fall open in surprise and then immediately slam shut, the fire in her eyes burning brighter. She thought this was manipulation. Her brain probably wouldn’t let her consider the option that it was the truth. She stormed over to the window, as far away from him in the room as she could get, turning her back on him.

When she claimed he meant nothing, well… he hadn’t liked that. The loss of control over his emotions that followed was shocking. Kara disabled his ability to think. Around her, he didn’t know down from up. Good choices from bad ones. Lust from… whatever this was.

He raked a hand through his hair to settle himself.
Apologize.
Every second that passed made it worse. He knew how it was with women, how they could stew in simmering anger and, left long enough, it will boil down to rage.

“Jason called me a selfish bastard, among other things.” He didn’t keep the shame from his voice. “He made it clear that you were off limits, because…” He struggled to find a way to put it into words. “With women, I’ve been known to —”

She gave him a plain look. “You sleep around.”

He sighed. “That’s a nicer way of phrasing it than the way he did, but yes. You deserve someone that wouldn’t do that to you. He asked me not to get involved with you, but I didn’t care. I wanted you.” His voice was resigned. “I had to have you, and I always get what I want.”

Her eyes went as cold and clear as a glacier and her whole body stiffened. “I am not yours to
have
.”

Her reaction told him how dangerous the conversation had turned, and a wrong step could be catastrophic. “I know that.”

“This was a mistake.” She folded her arms tight across her chest and turned again to stare out the window. Like she could block him out. The word
mistake
stung. What the fuck did she mean it was a mistake?

Her voice was final. “Maybe you should move into the other room.”

He was unprepared for the concept of Kara throwing him out. The disorientation, the unprecedented event… he refused to believe it. “Neither one of us wants that.”

“Please. You don’t give a hell about what anyone wants except yourself.”

“Don’t be like this.” He was vaguely aware his control was slipping away again, but it came out before he could lock it down. “I’m not Paul, don’t put that on me.”

The noise of shock from her was a knife in his heart.

“One of us,” she said, her voice like steel, “is going. Right. Now.”

The anger at himself made everything more difficult. “Fine, I’ll go.” He didn’t want to, but for once he’d put someone else’s wants over his own. “I’ll be next door if you need anything.”

He zipped his suitcase closed with aggression, yanked it off the stand, and thundered for the door, hoping that she’d stop him.

But she didn’t.