Page 5 of Protect Me

I start for the kitchen, knowing I’ll have to call my boss and get some people in on the weekend to help out.Ian Taggart, head of McKay-Taggart Security Services, is a solid guy…who won’t appreciate being called away from his wife and kids on a weekend off.That said, as soon as he hears the story and Talia’s connection to a man who is the closest thing I have to a brother, he’ll drop everything and offer up MT services to help.

After he busts my balls—because one look at Talia and me, and the bastard will figure out there was something between us.Years ago or not, Ian will give me shit.Taggart is that good at reading people.I wonder if I have time to stop and pick up a lemon-filled dessert from Ian’s brother Sean at his restaurant, Top.Anything lemon would take the edge off Ian’s bite.

I glance over my shoulder at Talia.No, no time to stop.Getting her safely to MT, where we can assess and work out a plan of action, is my main priority at the moment.

“Before we go to your office, I have to stop at my apartment,” she says from behind me.

I opt to get us inside and lock the door behind us before I turn and scowl at her request.“Isn’t that the first place someone would go?If they’re looking for you?”

She nods.“But you know that long story I mentioned?It involves the research results and the way to reconstruct the treatment.And it’s in pieces.Whoever stole my lab equipment only got the last part that my assistant and I just finished.The second part is hidden in a safe at my house.”

I am afraid to ask where the first part is.I scrub a hand down my face.“Then I’ll take you to McKay-Taggart, where you’ll be safe, and I’ll go pick up the work product.”

“You can’t do that!”

I shake my head, not planning on giving in on this.Her safety comes first.“Now isn’t the time to get stubborn.I protect you.That’s my job.”

“It’s not being stubborn!My safe opens with my fingerprint.”She meets my gaze defiantly, hands on her sweet hips.“You need me with you.Or at least you need my finger and I’m pretty attached to it.In more ways than one.”

I grin, caught off guard that she can joke when she is also so afraid.I have to respect that about her.I don’t like it, but she has a point.

“Fine.We go to your house first but you do everything—and I mean everything—I say.Agreed?”

“Agreed.Now can you do me a favor?”she asks.

I nod.“Want that cold drink?”

She shakes her head.“I want you to put some clothes on.”Her cheeks burn as she speaks the words.But her point is clear.

She is as affected by me as I am by her.And we haven’t even had a chance to get reacquainted yet.

***

Talia

Shane Landon hasa great ass.With my smarts and all the sudden insanity in my life,thatis the main topic going through my mind.But as he walks away from me, towel low on his hips, his sexy ass is the best thing I can think about.

It is better than recalling how I collapsed against his naked body.Not that I didn’t appreciate the feeling, and he smelled incredibly good, but it is another humiliating experience to add to the other mortifying incident with Shane.And while he is upstairs getting dressed, I have nothing but time to recall the first moment in excruciating detail.

I spent spring of my junior, his senior year in high school, tutoring the hot jock in chemistry so he could graduate on time.The guy I had an insane crush on, and also my brother’s best friend, was always surrounded by the prettiest, most popular girls in school.There was no way he’d be interested in a science geek like me.Even if he did tease me during our sessions, when his blue eyes would light up with laughter at my usually too complicated explanations before Idumbed things down for him, his words, not mine.I never thought he was dumb.

He would call me his little brainiac, or smarty-pants, and though if anyone else had said it, I’d think they were making fun of me, he always did it with a warm twinkle in his gaze and a little lift of his lips that I liked to think was just for me.Hey, a girl could dream, and I knew that’s all I’d ever do about Shane Landon.Especially since I was always uncomfortable and inevitably did something awkward around him.

Yes, there was something about Shane that brought out the awkward girl inside me, and clearly that hasn’t changed.

“I’m ready,” he says, striding back into the kitchen, where he left me, this time fully dressed.He wears a dark pair of jeans and a light black jacket, which no doubt covers his weapon.

“Great.”I swallow hard, as things have just gottenreal.Nothing says reality like a man with a gun.He shuts off the music outside and the lights indoors.

I follow him to the garage, where he sets the alarm to the house and holds open the car door for me to climb inside his navy and khaki-colored Jeep Wrangler.

“What’s your address?”he asks, and I rattle off the condo information.

He takes off in his hot car.My nerves have returned.If I wasn’t so afraid, I’d enjoy the ride, but I can’t stop wondering just what I am up against and why.

When I finally pay attention to my surroundings, I realize he is driving us in circles and taking off-the-beaten-path roads.

“Why—”