The Men With the Golden Cuffs (9 page)

“Escort her. Treat her like a lady.” Adam’s words were low, meant only for Jake’s ears.

Jake wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to escort her to the elevator. But he could make more of an effort. He’d sat up for what had felt like forever looking through her house. He’d found a stack of trade paperbacks she’d written. He’d picked up the first
Texas Sweethearts
book. He hadn’t put it back down.

Serena wrote ménage, and not some crazy sex book where the woman simply slept with a bunch of men. She wrote about love. She wrote about love between one woman and two men who couldn’t seem to live without each other. For the first time in his life, he’d read a book and seen a piece of himself.

He was dying to ask her if she’d been in the center of a ménage before. He just couldn’t figure out a way to ask the question without seeming like a freak. Or a pervert. He’d already scared the crap out of her. He’d been a little surprised when she’d put a cup of coffee in front of him with a smile on her face.

“Uhm, what floor do you want?” That was polite, right?

Adam snorted but Serena smiled, a wide grin on her face. “I think it’s the fifteenth floor. But you’re the one who works here, so you might know better than me.”

God, he was a dumbass. He was so much better when he was just killing something. He jabbed the button for his floor. “Sorry.”

She pushed her glasses up. They made her look like a supercute librarian. “It’s okay. I forget stuff all the time. And I’m sorry I made such a big deal about the car. I know it can be fixed. And that car has gotten me in trouble before. It’s kind of why Doyle decided to sue my ass.”

The elevator started to rise. He could smell her shampoo. Citrus. He loved that smell. He hadn’t realized how much he loved the smell of citrus. “How did it get you in trouble?”

Adam beamed his way as though Jake was a toddler who’d just learned to say please. Jake was going to kick his ass later.

Her nose wrinkled as she confessed. “Bridget and I might have driven the car off the lot and gone straight to Doyle’s place. We might have stopped in front of his mailbox where he was standing talking to some of his stuffy friends from the college. I might have shot him the finger and yelled that he made a huge mistake.”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. He totally understood the impulse. There were plenty of assholes he would love to shoot the bird at.

“He probably wouldn’t have figured out I was making so much money if I had just left well enough alone. I kind of told him he was a dumbass for walking away from a slot machine just before it paid out.”

“Yes, you probably should have left well enough alone,” Adam said with a frown on his face.

But some things were worth doing. Jake understood that. “I bet it felt good.”

The smile on her face heated his blood. She was getting under his skin. “Yes. It felt good. I would do it again. No matter what it cost.”

“The cost could be half your income,” Adam grumbled.

She seemed to shrink a bit. “It won’t. My lawyer says it’s just a ploy. He’s being irritating on the off chance that I’ll pay him to go away. My lawyer doesn’t think he has a leg to stand on in court.”

Jake thought about slapping Adam upside the head. She’d had a smile on her face, and now she’d shut down again. He glared his partner’s way. Adam’s eyes flared. Jake tilted his head.

What?
Those wide eyes told Jake that Adam was going to be obtuse.

Stop fucking this up.

“Wow, you two are having a whole conversation with a series of small tics. That is deeply interesting.” Serena watched them with wide eyes.

Adam shook his head, breaking up their little argument. “Now we’ve done it. We’re going to end up in one of her books. Tell me something, sweetheart, how does your heroine pick which man she ends up with in your books?”

Jake suddenly felt better. He knew something Adam didn’t know. Adam hadn’t read one of her books yet. Adam thought she wrote a whole lot of sex and then ended her stories in a conventional fashion. But Jake was starting to learn there wasn’t a lot that was conventional about Serena Brooks.

Serena turned to Adam. Her brows came together in consternation. “What do you mean?”

Adam shrugged as though the answer didn’t really mean anything. “I mean how does she choose between the men? I read some of the blurbs to your books this morning. I thought it was interesting. I’ve never seen a book like that. I just wondered how your heroines ultimately decide on who to marry. Do they tend to go with the meathead alpha male or the utterly reasonable, slightly metro hunk?”

Asshole
. Now Jake did what came naturally. He slapped his best friend upside the head. “I’m not a meathead. But you are a metro douche bag. And Serena writes romance, idiot.”

While Adam had holed up in her bedroom, Jake had used her computer. He’d read her website, checked out her reviews, Googled her. Amber Rose was known for happily ever afters. For everyone.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Adam asked. The tense set of his jaw told Jake that he knew he was in the doghouse.

Serena’s whole frame stiffened as though she was just waiting for someone to kick her. “I write erotic romance. It’s about love, not sex. Though there is a whole lot of sex. I write permanent ménages. I would never have my heroine choose. It would upset my readers.”

The elevator doors opened, and Serena strode out, not bothering to look back.

“Dude, how was I supposed to know?” Adam’s hands went up.

Jake felt a smug smile cross his face. Score one for the meathead alpha male. “Guess I’m just smarter than you.”

They walked out. Jake could see that Grace had already caught Serena and was speaking animatedly. Sean’s wife was practically vibrating. Jake was happy to see her. She would build Serena’s confidence back up. According to Grace, Amber Rose was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Adam stopped him before they opened the office door. “Are you seriously telling me that this woman writes about the type of life we want to live?”

It was almost too good to be true. A little of his good mood disappeared. Things that seemed to be too good to be true usually were. She could write it all she wanted to, but unless she’d lived the lifestyle, she didn’t know a real thing about it. “Yes. I’ve only read the one. It was really nice.”

He’d been surprised at how much he liked it. He’d expected to laugh and toss it aside, but he’d kind of gotten into it. The story of a woman returning to her small town after years of running had been compelling.

“Well, I’ll just have to read two then, won’t I?” Adam said before walking away.

Jake followed, his eyes never leaving Serena. Grace gave her a huge hug, and when her face turned up, Serena was smiling again.

Fuck
. He was already in too deep.

* * * *

Adam had to hand it to Jake. When his partner decided to do something, he usually did it with the tenacity of a dog after a particularly juicy bone. If they had been battling it out for Serena’s affections, round two would have gone to Jake.

Luckily, this was a tag team match, and the only opposition was a pretty brunette who had no idea how hot those damn glasses of hers were making him. She thought she could cover up with a shapeless blouse, but he’d seen her breasts. He’d watched the way they jiggled. He’d just known how nicely they would fit in the palm of his hand.
 
He wanted to get her in a tight sweater. A
V
neck would show off her breasts and give him good access when they were alone. “We should take her shopping.”

Jake sighed. “Sometimes I think you’ve played gay too long.”

They had played a gay couple before when undercover. It was a surprisingly good way to end up scoring a woman. “She should be wearing something that shows off her body.”

A fierce scowl crossed Jake’s face. “No. She’s fine just the way she is. Don’t try to change her.”

It took everything Adam had not to fist pump. “You don’t want her showing off. You don’t want other men looking at her.”

Jake was notoriously jealous when his heart got engaged. It was why Adam should have known it wouldn’t work with Grace. Well, besides the fact that Sean would have killed him if he’d tried harder. But Jake had never connected to Grace the way he had with Serena. Adam hadn’t missed the way he’d backed her up in the elevator. It had allowed Jake to play the good cop for once.

Jake’s jaw firmed stubbornly. “I don’t think we should walk into the woman’s life and start trying to change her, that’s all. She looks nice in her own clothes.”

She’d looked even nicer in that tank top and her undies. Serena Brooks had a nice round ass he’d love to get his hands on. She needed a good snug fitting pair of jeans. Adam didn’t mind if other men looked at her. As long as they didn’t touch, he wouldn’t kill them.

Ian strode into the reception area. “You two. My office. Now.”

“Crap. He’s stopped using verbs. We’re in deep shit.” Jake scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m too tired to deal with a Big Tag fit.”

Big Tag fits could range from a few words that were so cold they could freeze a dick off, all the way to the man actually putting a fist through a face. Adam had been the recipient of both. The bad news was Tag hit hard. The good news was he expected to be hit back.

Adam looked at Serena. She was standing there alone now that Grace had a phone call to deal with. She looked vulnerable, her eyes down.
Damn
. He actually didn’t want to leave her there.

“Seriously? After one night?” Eve shook her head as she walked up. She was dressed to the nines in a perfectly tailored black business suit that made a stunning contrast to her chicly cut blonde hair. She gave him a wink and lowered her voice. “I know that look. It’s the ‘protective male’ look.”

“Well, we are supposed to be keeping her alive,” Jake pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s all it is.” Eve sighed. “I read one of her books last night. Wow. If she’s for real, I don’t know how you’re going to keep your collective hands off her. Ménage is her fantasy.”

“I don’t intend to keep my hands off her.” Adam didn’t. He would take it slow, but he liked Serena. Jake was attracted to her. Serena obviously was an open-minded girl. He wasn’t going to let the opportunity go. How could they find the one they were searching for if they never took a chance?

“Yeah, well, ménage is our reality. A lot of women have the fantasy. They tend to run once real life sets in.” Jake stalked off toward Ian’s office.

“He’s not going down easy,” Eve said with a shake of her head. “How are his parents?”

Adam watched him go. “Still on the road, living like gypsies. The last time they came through town, he got the lecture on how killing people for a living brought shame to them all. His family is a wreck in the precise opposite way mine is. We run the whole spectrum.”

“If I could get that man on a shrink’s couch, I would.”

“It wouldn’t do any good. He’s not going to forgive himself. He jokes about Jennifer sometimes, but he still feels the shame of getting kicked out. And then his mom tries to shame him for joining up in the first place. But nothing quite compares with being discharged the way he was. I should know.” That single act had cost him his family.

“Adam, hundreds of soldiers have affairs every day. It’s ridiculous that they discharged you.”

“That’s what happens to the unconventional.” Maybe he should cut Jake a little slack. Maybe he should slow this whole thing down. Jake had his reasons to be wary.

“Adam?”

He turned and saw Serena standing next to him, gazing up with those green eyes that punched him in the gut every time he looked in them. Nope. He probably wasn’t going to slow down. It was his fatal flaw, but he had never learned to slow down. Every time he got kicked to the fucking curb, he just bounced back. Maybe he was the masochist. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“Where should I wait?” She had a pen and small notebook in her hand. The minute she wasn’t directly engaged with someone, she would sink back into her writing. Her secret world.

That wasn’t happening right now.

Eve smiled. “You’re with me, Ms. Brooks. I’m Dr. Eve St. James. It is so nice to meet you.”

“I have to see a doctor?”

Adam felt a deep sense of satisfaction that she looked to him. The question hadn’t been directed at Eve. She’d instinctively looked to him for protection. Perfect.

He used his calmest tone on her, taking her hand in his. “Eve isn’t a medical doctor. She’s our profiler. She wants to ask you some questions that will help us figure out who this man is. We won’t know a name, but we will have a type.”

Her eyes lit up, and now she turned to Eve. “Seriously, you’re a profiler. A real profiler?”

Adam stifled a laugh. He knew how to get Serena’s motor running. All he had to do was introduce her to anyone who could answer a few questions.

“Absolutely. I used to work for the FBI, but Big Tag pays way better.” Eve had a smile on her face, but there was a hitch to her words. Tag might pay better, but that wasn’t the reason Eve had left the FBI. It wasn’t the reason Alex had brought her on the team, hoping and praying that work could fix his ex-wife.