The Billionaire's Challenging Beauty (Bold, Alaskan Men Book 2) (14 page)

Tyla woke up with a start and looked around.  She remembered Saeger lifting her into his arms and carrying her to his bedroom.  She remembered the afternoon and night, the way he’d held her, his concern when she’d knocked on his door, wet and cold. 

And she remembered how much she loved him. How he’d loved her.  The fire, his touch, the look in his eyes when he’d climaxed in her arms. 

Now it was time to save his life. 

Covering her mouth to smother the sob, she slid out of the bed and pulled on one of his soft sweaters that had been tossed onto the dresser. 

With bare feet, she tiptoed out of his bedroom but she still hadn’t seen his whole house.  It had been such a whirlwind forty-eight hours.  Had it only been this morning when she’d rushed out of his house? 

It seemed like weeks ago! 

She found the kitchen easily enough.  Well, it wasn’t exactly the kitchen.  It was a kitchen and family room combined.  There was a lot of marble that made a long countertop with enough chairs to seat five or six people.  But the room only shifted to the family room and the massive fireplace.  She smiled as she remembered that beautiful fireplace, the sizzling and snapping.  It was obviously a gas fireplace, but how he got it to sound and feel just like a real wood fire, she had no clue. 

She wandered down a hallway on the other side of the kitchen, assuming that he would want all of his major rooms on the same floor.  But no, there were only more bedrooms on that side of the house.  Four additional bedrooms?  Why did the man need so many bedrooms?  She peered inside each one and, since she didn’t find another bathroom, she assumed that each of the bedrooms had its own bathroom. Impressive.

But still pointless.  She needed to find this stupid file and the only place she could think it might be stored was in his office.  Where would the man have an office? 

She moved back to the kitchen and looked around.  Spotting a staircase off to the side, she walked towards it.  But something, a sound, caused her to freeze.  Was Saeger awake?  Or was it someone else?  Was someone in the house besides the two of them? 

She certainly hoped not!  She didn’t want to run into anyone!  Not even Saeger.  And by morning, she was fairly certain that she wouldn’t be able to look at herself in the mirror either. 

But at least all of the people she loved and cared about would be safe. 

She moved down the stairs, trying to be stealthy while also listening for any other noises.  Thankfully, it was quiet.  She must have just imagined the sound.  Or maybe it was her heart racing.  She wasn’t sure.  Nor did she care. 

Because the next door she opened was his office door. 

She’d found it.  A large desk with about six monitors was set up in the center.  He had a sitting area with four comfortable, leather chairs to one side and each looked out to the same view as upstairs through more floor to ceiling walls.  As she turned around, her throat constricted as she found her goal.  Against the last wall, several tall filing cabinets were set up side by side.  All his files. 

Tyla gulped painfully, wanting to turn around and run.  But the faces of the people she loved flashed through her mind and she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them again, determined to save them all.  It was one file, one invention.  Probably code.  Probably something that could be changed, tweaked and…

It didn’t matter.  She was about to steal and there was no way to make this feel any better.  It was wrong! 

Opening her fingers, she found the piece of paper.  It was crumpled now and some of the numbers were blurred.  Darn it, she hated tears! 

Her fingers pulled open one filing cabinet and realized it was the wrong one.  Drawer after drawer, she opened and searched for the stupid number the guy had given her, pausing several times to wipe away the stupid, pointless tears.  When she finally found it, she froze, staring at it for a long time.  This was it, she told herself.  But she couldn’t pull it out.  She couldn’t touch it. 

This was her freedom!  This was the way she could keep all of her friends, her brother and Saeger safe! 

But what if that man didn’t follow through on his end of the bargain?  What if…

She pulled the file out and stared at it.  She could actually feel the file burning her hands. 

The tears were still streaming down her face, a few of them falling to the outside of the file folder. 

She couldn’t do it!  She couldn’t hurt or betray Saeger! 

The tears were overwhelming her and she felt herself slide down to the floor.  The tiles were cold against her bare legs, but all she could feel was the pain ripping at her heart.  She’d never see Saeger again after this, but he would be safe! 

Darn it, she loved him so much!  How much time had he spent on this invention?  How much money?  Was he proud of it?  Would his business go under if she passed along this information?  Would families have to be laid off? 

The file fell to the floor and her fingers tangled in her hair.  She told herself to stop crying.  To just do it!  She should just pick it up and leave. She’d had her night with Saeger.  She’d made love to him and he’d done things to her body that she’d never forget.  The beauty of his touch, the way he made her feel, would have to be enough for her. 

Her head bowed lower and her shoulders shook as the sobs continued, out of control.  She had no idea what impact this file could have on thousands of people, but was it right to affect them simply because she didn’t know them? 

There had to be another way! 

Unfortunately, the image of those two men, the memory of the way the man in the bushes this afternoon had held her.  His hands had been hard, cruel.  She was actually surprised that she didn’t have bruises on her arms. 

When strong arms wrapped around her, she sobbed even harder.  Saeger lifted her into his arms and pulled her onto his lap.  His kindness, even in the face of her obvious crime, was too much and she clung to him, terrified now that he’d discovered what she was doing and afraid of his reaction. 

“I’m so sorry!” she gasped, crying harder and his arms tightened around her. 

“Stop it, Tyla.  Don’t cry.  Please don’t cry!”   He kissed her forehead, brushing his lips against her hair.  “Please don’t cry.  You’re killing me,” he whispered. 

“No.  I’m trying to save your life!”  She stood up and pushed out of his arms, but the tears continued to fall.  “You can’t be here!  You can’t know that I’m doing this!”

He stood up as well, grabbing the file from the floor where she’d left it.  “You’re not doing anything, Tyla,” he told her gently. 

Her hands covered her face as shame washed over her.  But then she pulled them away, wiped the tears off of her cheeks angrily and glared up at him.  “I have to!  He threatened Matt!  He threatened Violet and you and Creek and all my friends!  He said he’d hurt you!”

“Ah,” Saeger sighed, finally understanding.  Relief surged through him.  But also anger.  “So that’s how he got to you.  And you didn’t tell me anything.  You didn’t come to me for help.”

She shivered, backing away when he started to come closer.  “You can’t touch me, Saeger.  I’m going to steal this file and then those men will go away.”

He shook his head. “No honey, they won’t go away.”

“Yes!” she whispered harshly, ignoring her tears now even though she had to blink hard to focus on Saeger as he stalked her.  “They said they needed this one file.  They said they wanted this one, and they wouldn’t hurt you or Matt.  But if I don’t get this file to them by tomorrow morning,” she hiccupped as she thought about the consequences, “They threatened Matt.  Then when I tried to get you to have Cliff come to me, they knew!  The man standing at the corner, he knew exactly what I was trying to do!”

“And when you went to see Violet, what happened?”

Saeger was trying very hard to hold back, but every fiber in his body wanted to find these men and tear them apart, limb from limb.  They’d threatened Tyla!  They’d scared her and now they were threatening his family! 

He took several deep breaths and stepped closer.  Tyla tried to avoid his arms but he wasn’t going to allow that.  “Tyla, Matt is safe.” 

“You don’t know that!” she said, pushing against his chest to get away from him.  “You don’t know where he is!  No one does!”

“Cliff was able to contact Matt’s commander.  He’s safe.  He’s safe and the FBI is already involved.  So stop fighting me!”

Tyla was furious… with herself.  She hadn’t been able to fix this, and now Saeger was being so kind and wonderful!  She didn’t deserve him!  She’d almost betrayed him and he’d fixed everything.  Fixed it like she hadn’t been able to do.  “You can’t touch me!  You have to hate me!  I’m stealing from you and I don’t even know what I’m stealing!”

He held her firmly even as she tried to fight out of his hold.  Kissing her gently, he pulled her against him, just holding her carefully.  “I know, honey.  And I’m so sorry that you got caught up in all of this mess!  I’ll get us out of it, I promise.”

She could feel her heart beating frantically and knew that she was becoming hysterical.  She couldn’t stop herself though.  She was terrified for her brother and everyone else.  “Please!  Just go!  Just let me go!”

Saeger grabbed her and lifted her off of her feet.  “No!  I’m not letting you go, Tyla!  I don’t know what’s in that file, but you’re not giving it to them.  They won’t stop!  Once they’ve found a way to get to me, they’ll use you again and again.”

“No!  They only want this file!  They don’t want anything else!”

“Did they say that to you?”

She froze, her wide eyes looking up at his.  “No.  No, they didn’t say anything like that.  I just know that they won’t…”  She fell into his arms, her sobbing increasing as the truth hit her hard.  “No!  They won’t go away.  You’ll always be in danger!”

Ripping herself out of his arms, she backed up.  “I was going to leave!  I was going to pack my stuff and just get out of town!  I’m a waitress!  I can be a waitress anywhere!”

He rubbed his forehead, trying to figure out how to calm her down.  “Tyla!” he yelled. 

When she stopped and looked up at him, his gut twisted with the tears making her cheeks shiny.  And she wasn’t one of those women who looked more beautiful when she was crying.  In fact, her cheeks were all blotchy and her nose was pink.   Her eyes were glistening like jewels though.  And this was Tyla.  His woman. 

Taking her hands, he held her still.  “Tyla, calm down.  I have the FBI and Cliff on this.  Creek has taken Violet out of town and he’s working his sources to figure this out.  Knox and Tucker are working with their security teams, and we’re going to find these guys.”  His phone rang, and both of them looked down at his hip where his cell phone was clipped to the waistband of his jeans. 

He looked at her hard, both of them knowing that this phone call in the middle of the night would be about their situation.  He held her wrist, not letting her back away from him.  Lifting the phone to his ear, he pulled Tyla into his arms, keeping her close.  “Yeah.  What you got?”

Cliff was on the other end of the line.  “We know where they are.  And here’s what I think you should do.”

Tyla stared as Cliff dragged the two men off of the stolen boat.  She couldn’t believe it when they were dragged in handcuffs and stuffed into Cliff’s big Ford Explorer. 

“That’s it?  It’s over?” she asked, curling closer to Saeger.  “Do you know who was behind the attempted theft?”

Saeger nodded.  “Yes.  The men admitted one of my competitors had hired them.  They’re being investigated now.  But…”

Tyla shivered at the look in Saeger’s eyes.  “You’re going to destroy that company, aren’t you?” she whispered. 

“Oh yeah,” he told her with a look in his eyes that made her glad that she wasn’t his enemy. 

“But everything else, it’s all done?  No more threats?  No more violence?”

“Not quite.  Matt’s been in isolation while they investigate the threat against him.  You’ll have to testify.  But the stolen files were found on them as well as a bunch of ammunition.  So ATF agents are coming to investigate that threat.  At the moment, Cliff is charging them with corporate espionage and blackmail for starters.”

Tyla watched as Creek and Violet walked towards them. The four of them stood across the street while Cliff finished up, the hit men glaring straight ahead in the back of his truck. 

“But the threat is over?” she asked, still not believing it could be possible.  It felt like she’d been under the horrible men’s threats for so long.

Saeger pulled her closer.  “No, honey.  It isn’t over.”

Tyla looked up at him, and swallowed nervously.  “What else is there?”

Knox and Tucker chuckled, shaking their heads.  Creek only pulled Violet closer, most likely so that she couldn’t interfere.  Tyla instantly knew that she was in trouble, but in a completely different way. 

She quickly pulled out of his arms and started to back away.  “Saeger, I was only trying to protect you!”

Saeger’s eyes narrowed and she saw the hard, unrelenting glint in those navy depths.  “You didn’t come to me, Tyla,” he said in an almost quiet, calm voice.  But she could feel the anger in him. “You put yourself in danger.  You tried to handle this on your own.  You didn’t trust me to help you.”

She heard the words and knew that he was very, very angry.  “Okay, well, next time someone threatens your life, I’ll come directly to… Cliff’s office,” she told him with a grin and took off running. 

Saeger’s heart thrilled when he heard her laughter.  Ah, his little prankster thought she could get away from him?  No, not going to happen, my beauty.

A moment later, he was taking off after her.  It took him only moments before he’d caught her and her laughter sent his body into overdrive, right down to his groin.  When he had hold of her, he tossed her over his shoulder and started back from where they’d come.  But he didn’t stop where the three other men and Violet were standing.  The men were all nodding their heads in approval while Violet was biting her lip, not sure what to do, but trying hard not to laugh. 

Tyla laughed as she bounced on Saeger’s broad shoulder.  “Saeger!  Put me down!  I was trying to save you, you stupid jerk!”

His only response was to smack her bottom.  To which, she lifted her head and said, “Oh, you did not just do that!”

And so he did it again. 

“Saeger!  I’m going to…!”

He flipped her over and lowered her feet to the ground.  They were out of sight now, on the other side of his SUV. “What?  What are you going to do?” he demanded. 

Tyla looked up at his handsome features and her heart melted.  The laughter in her eyes died away as she looked up at the man she loved more than she’d thought possible.  “I’m going to do whatever I have to do to protect you, Saeger,” she said softly.  Her thumb rubbed against his rough cheek.  “I love you, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you if it is within my power to protect you.”

Her words hit him full force and he pressed her back against the truck.  “Damn it, Tyla.  Don’t you ever scare me like that again!  I love you too, and you’ve got to…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because her thumb rubbed against his lower lip.  Lust and love shot through him and he lowered his mouth to hers, “I love you too.”

She smiled as she lifted her chin to kiss him back. 

When he lifted his head, he groaned as a thought struck him.  “I have to call your brother.”

She laughed, delighted with this man.  “Matt will understand.”

Saeger looked down into her pretty blue eyes.  “He will if you’ve already promised to marry me, Tyla.”

Everything inside of her froze with those words.  “Marry you?” she finally said. 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a diamond ring.  “Yes.  I need you, Tyla. I need you next to me every day.  I love your smile and your laughter.  I need your bright eyes when I wake up in the morning.”

“Every morning?” she asked, holding her breath as she waited for his response. 

He nodded, his hands resting impatiently on her hips.  “Every morning.  Every night…  And I want to know what you’re doing on that computer all the time!”

She laughed and shook her head.  “Yes, I’ll marry you,” she told him, and her finger rubbed against the ring he’d slipped onto her finger.  “Yes, I’ll wake up with you every morning for the rest of my life.  And yes, I’ll laugh and love you and protect you from my brother’s phone calls.”  She smiled slightly.  “But no, you can’t know what I’m working on.”

He threw back his head and laughed.  “Fair enough,” he told her.  “Just know that I have many ways to get the truth out of you.  So I plan on finding out very soon!”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to your ways,” she told him and lifted up on her toes to kiss him.