Protecting His Witness (Red Stone Security Series) (5 page)

“How long?” His fingers clenched again.

Anger flared in her at the question. “Vincent, that’s—”

“How. Long.” There he went again with that demanding voice that sent a shiver of need down her spine.

She used to love it when he ordered her around in the bedroom. He was so forceful and dominating and everything about him had made her melt. Almost against her will she answered. “Since you.”

At her words, anger flared in his eyes, the darkness lighting up his pale gaze as he turned away from her. “No. Fuck
no
. Don’t tell me that,” he growled, anger burning in each word.

Suddenly chilled, she wrapped her arms around herself. Being naked like this with him still clothed and angry, she felt emotionally vulnerable. “Well, it’s true.”

He scrubbed a hand over his head but didn’t turn around. “I’m taking you to dinner tonight. I’ll pick you up at six.” Then he left in a few long strides, the front door slamming behind him before she had a chance to even figure out what the hell had gone wrong.

Chapter 3

That bitch was going to pay. Jordan Alvarado thought she could get away with what she’d done, but she was about to learn the hard way what real suffering meant. Putting a tracker on her phone had been tricky, but after stealing it then cloning it before slipping it back into her purse, tailing Jordan to Key West had been relatively easy.

The man who’d shown up at her condo today was interesting. He was the same one she’d gone to see in Miami. So he obviously meant something to Jordan. And that was something that could be used against her.

Jordan was responsible for Curtis’s death, whether indirectly or not, so making her pay was necessary. Curtis had been the best brother in the world. He’d been everything.

The fact that hurting Jordan’s friend would be fun didn’t matter. She would suffer over losing him, then die. Figuring out exactly who her visitor was first though, was important.

After he left her condo, the tall man made his way through the city until he finally stopped around upper Duval Street. There was a private turnoff that was easy to miss because of the security gate. His car slowed then idled as a gate rolled back to reveal a courtyard and small cottage. The place might be small but with private, off street parking in this part of town—that place would be a pretty penny. And it didn’t look like a rental.

So either the unknown male was wealthy or he had friends who were. Which meant he likely did well for himself, too, because rich people didn’t hang out with poor people. His place in Miami had been very nice and the security sticker sign on one of his windows had indicated his system was state of the art. Not the standard companies most people went with.

He hadn’t been very interesting until now, but if getting to Jordan through him was possible, that’s the way it would be. Unfortunately the man had looked armed and definitely dangerous. A slight bulge under the back of his T-shirt had been visible when he’d been leaving the condo where Jordan was staying.

Likely a gun.

He could be a cop or law enforcement, especially with the easy way he’d broken into her place without a key. Seeing the guy in action and the way he handled himself would reveal more about who he was. And what his weakness was. Everyone had one.

At that thought, a plan started to form.

* * * * *

Vincent ordered himself to keep his shit together as he knocked on Jordan’s door. Six was early for dinner, but he wanted to see her. Hell, he hadn’t wanted to leave at all. When he’d arrived at her place earlier, he’d realized how bad her security was—translation, non-existent. The woman should be looking after herself better. Especially after she’d been in WITSEC. He didn’t care that she’d left the program and was supposedly out of jeopardy. She’d put a dangerous criminal behind bars.

He’d wanted to prove a point to her about how easy it would be for someone to break in, but then he’d seen her in that barely-there bikini and his brain had completely short-circuited.

Tan and fit with just the right amount of curves, she had the ability to make any sane man forget his own name. Not touching her, not tasting her, hadn’t been an option. Then when she’d admitted she hadn’t been with anyone since him…it had cracked his heart wide open.

He might have thought he’d come to Key West to get closure on what they’d had, but this new knowledge changed everything and he couldn’t deny it. While he hated that she had taken away his choice to go with her, she wasn’t some cold hearted woman who’d just left him with no regard for what they’d shared. Because for years he’d tried to tell himself she was, even when deep down he’d
known
something had happened to make her run. He just hadn’t imagined she’d entered WITSEC.

She’d made a sacrifice that most people wouldn’t have. And it made him respect her more. It also brought up all those feelings he’d been trying so hard to keep buried the last seven years. For a while he’d tried to lose himself in other women. It hadn’t worked. If anything, it had made him feel even more hollow. After having the real thing with Jordan, every other experience had left him wanting and made him hate himself just a little. Sure, everyone at work thought he was a player. He had been.

Not the past year though. He’d gotten tired of pasting on a big smile and looking for what he’d had with Jordan only to find it paled in comparison and regretting the whole thing the next morning. So many of his friends had started settling down with the real deal. Porter, Travis, and Kell—they’d all gotten hitched and were obnoxiously happy.

He wanted that too. When he’d been in the Teams, he’d always secretly envied the married guys. Well, the ones who were actually faithful to their wives. They always had someone to come home to. And wives who could tough out long separations like that—what sane man wouldn’t want a woman like that. But he wasn’t looking to just settle. Jordan had ruined him for any other woman and he hadn’t realized it until it was too late.

The door opened and all those thoughts—and everything else around him—disappeared as he found Jordan standing there. She wore a blue and white halter style dress that fell to her ankles. It hugged her breasts and hips perfectly, reminding him of what he’d been touching only hours ago. Her skin practically glowed with the soft tan.

Somehow he forced his gaze to remain on hers instead of devouring her body with his eyes. “You look beautiful.”

She seemed almost surprised by the compliment, but her cheeks tinged pink. “Thanks,” she murmured. “You look pretty good yourself.”

God, he used to love getting her to blush. Seeing her do it now sent a jolt of need straight to his cock.
Just great.
He ordered his body under control. Tonight he wanted to talk to her, to get to know her again before he jumped on her as he’d done a few hours ago.

Not that getting naked with her wasn’t a priority, because it definitely was. He just didn’t want to screw things up. The attraction between them was still potent, but he wanted more than sex between them. He wanted what they’d had before.

Something real.

They stood there for a long moment, just staring at each other and in her gaze he saw what he imagined was mirrored in his. Hunger and need. God, he felt as if he’d been starving for years and now he simply couldn’t stop looking at her. He wanted to memorize every inch of her face, her body, the way she bit her full bottom lip when she was nervous or turned on.

Like she was doing now.

Stop staring. Stop fantasizing.
Yeah, his internal commands weren’t working so well. “You hungry?” he managed to rasp out, proud of himself for those two words.

At his question, her hazel eyes flared with need. But then she slightly shook her head, as if she realized he was talking about food. Which he was, sort of. “Yeah.” Her voice was as strained as his.

She stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind her. After locking it, she turned to face him again.

He couldn’t help himself. Screw control. He had none. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips over hers and felt some primal part of him calm. She shuddered, softly kissing him back as her fingers barely grazed his chest. He could feel her holding back, too, as if she was afraid to clutch him too tightly.

Because if she did, they both knew what would happen. They wouldn’t make it to dinner or possibly off this front stoop.

Somehow he forced himself to step back. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were flushed with arousal. Yeah, he understood that all too well. Swallowing hard, he took her hand and linked his fingers through hers.

Again, she seemed surprised by him, but he couldn’t help it. Staying away from her, finding closure…fuck it. He couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to rip his heart out again, but he was going to find out. Maybe he was a masochist.

“So where are we going?” she asked as they walked down the stone steps of the condo complex.

He shrugged. “I figured we could walk down Duval and stop wherever we wanted. Unless you had somewhere specific you wanted to go?”

“As long as we get seafood I’m happy. After living in the desert for so long, I want fresh seafood.” He could hear the smile in her voice without even looking at her.

As they reached the bottom step he glanced around the parking lot, looking for any threat. Doing that was just ingrained in him, but as he’d headed up to Jordan’s place he’d had the sensation of being watched. Having been in the crosshairs of a sniper scope more than once, he knew when someone was watching him. It could have been anything though. Still…

“What’s wrong?” Jordan’s strained voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

Seeing concern on her face jolted him, made a protective need surge through him full force. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight. Thankfully she didn’t resist, just slid her arm around his waist and snuggled up next to him.

“Nothing’s wrong. Just being vigilant.” No need to get her worried after she’d lived in fear for seven fucking years. Especially since he wasn’t sure anything was wrong. Still, that feeling persisted at the back of his head.

She instantly relaxed against him, her body melding to his as they headed across the parking lot to the sidewalk. Her fresh vanilla scent teased him, reminding him of how many times he’d woken up with his face buried against her neck. Even in his sleep he’d wanted her surrounding him. “I’m glad you’re like that. I feel like I’ve been looking over my shoulder for seven years—is it okay that I talk about this stuff?” she abruptly asked.

“I want to know everything about where you’ve been.” And he did.

“Same here. I want to know about your job, your family, everything.” She seemed a little nervous as she said the last word, but he couldn’t figure out why.

As they headed down the small side street that would take them to the main road where all the restaurants, bars and clubs were, he kept his body on the street side.

“And I’ll tell you, but you’re up first,” he said.

“Well, after the first year of bouncing around to different temporary safe houses, I was placed in New Mexico. It was really hard at first. I…didn’t adjust well. But eventually I got a job teaching.”

“They let you teach?” He didn’t know everything about the WITSEC program, but he knew a little. And after Jordan had come to see him a couple days ago he’d tried to research as much as he could. From what he understood, they didn’t always let their entrants stay in the same field they’d been in because it made them easier to track. Especially if their field of expertise was narrow.

“Yeah. I didn’t at first, but I was finally allowed to. There are so many schools, public and private, it would be almost impossible to track me down that way. Plus I was vigilant about no photos of me ever being posted on the school website. I didn’t even take one with the volleyball team I coached. The first year they didn’t seem to understand, but my girls were amazing. I coached them from the time they were freshmen and by their senior year it was sort of a joke that the coach wouldn’t ever pose for social media photos.” The joy on her face when she talked about her team was vivid. And he was so fucking glad she’d eventually settled in somewhere. He still hated that she’d left without telling him, but the thought of her being miserable carved him up inside.

“So you taught the junior and varsity team?” She’d loved playing in college. She was too short to ever make a serious team, but she’d played at the beach anytime she could. And she’d looked damn sexy playing in her two-piece suits. Those images were seared into his brain forever.

“Yeah, the first two years it was the freshmen and sophomores. The varsity coach was retiring so it was like kismet. I just moved up with them and after they all graduated, I stayed with the varsity team. I’d already started coaching the incoming juniors anyway and I just love that age. Everything in life is so fresh and dramatic for them. It was fun watching so many wonderful young women heading off into the world, ready to take anything on.”

He tightened his grip on her shoulders as they sidestepped a street entertainer playing a guitar on the sidewalk. “You miss them.”

“Yeah. I’ve stayed in touch with those that I was close with. It’s been pretty freeing to be able to be honest with them now that they know my real name. But enough about me, how is it working for Red Stone? I remember how excited you were to get an offer from them. Is it what you hoped?”