Page 47 of Liam

The growled word had every erogenous zone she knew of sitting up.

She walked with him to the door and stepped back as he and Jack left, bereft at the loss of him already and knowing it was silly, but she had never had a connection like it before and knew she never would again. Perhaps it was something she could ask Pax or Callie about, speaking to Evelyn about absence was crazy stupid after the prolonged time apart she and Alex had endured.

“I’m going to take a shower, Manny.” She called Lopez by his Christian name, not liking the way everyone called him by his surname.

“Sure thing, Princess T.”

Taamira shook her head at his nickname for her and grinned as she went to the bedroom suite and closed the door.

As she moved about the room, collecting things for her shower, and unpacking the bags that were delivered earlier, she opened her vanity case and stopped dead. An envelope with her brother’s familiar looped handwriting sat on top of her make-up. A curl of insecurity moved over her, and she found herself looking around for some sign of the person who had put it there. It was not her brother but if not him, then who and why?

Sitting heavily on the bed she reached for the envelope, ripping it open and unfolding the single sheet of thick, cream paper with the headed crest of her family in the centre in gold print.

TAAMIRA,

Meet me at the hotel restaurant at 3:30 pm. I need to talk with you and clear up this misunderstanding. Our estrangement has gone on for too long, and it is time to end this nonsense.

Abdul.

SHE GLANCED at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was already 3:25 pm. That did not give her much time to think through her response. In her heart, she knew this was probably a bad idea but the small part of her that remembered her brother reading her a favourite story as a child even though it had been girlie, wanted to go. To give him the chance to say he was wrong, that he regretted what he had done and allowed her to tell him how much he had hurt her.

Mind made up, she considered calling Liam, but he would stop her or at least try. If she told Lopez and the other two men to take her to the restaurant, they would do it.

She knew it would damage the fragile bond she had built with them by behaving in such a way, but she did not have time to worry about that. This would give her the chance to find out if her nieces were safe too.

Standing, she smoothed her skirt and bit back the regret of what she could lose with this move and walked from the room her head held high. It was time to become the high-handed Princess that most people thought she was.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

TAAMIRA KEPT HER HEAD HIGH AS SHE WALKED INTO THE SLEEK CONTINENTAL RESTAURANT ON THE first floor of the hotel. To say her directive to Lopez, Dane, and Kanan had not gone well would be an understatement. Initially, Lopez had flatly refused her request until she told him if he did not escort her, she would go on her own.

His look of disappointment had flooded her throat with unshed tears which she had battled to tamp down. She had to keep up this entitled role to get what she needed, perhaps that indeed meant she was entitled.

Dane had immediately called his boss, but fortunately for her, he hadn’t picked up, and neither had Jack or Liam when Lopez called them. Thinking of Liam had her step faltering and questioning her plan. He would be so angry she was going against what he had asked of her, but she didn’t think she had a choice, plus she had three highly trained men with her. It wasn’t like she was slipping away like an idiot to get herself killed.

These men had kept her safe in the past before they even knew her. Dane and Kanan had been the ones to initiate the rescue that had freed her and the rest of the hostages, including their friends, from the gunmen back in St Kitts. She was safer with these men than she had ever been in her life.

After a concise discussion that involved them shooting her several annoyed glances, they had agreed to take her to the restaurant. She had said nothing about the letter knowing that regardless of who she was and what she demanded, they would not agree if they had even the slightest inclination of a threat. The guilt about ambushing them had her tummy aching with anxiety.

With Kanan at her back, Lopez to her left, and Dane to her right, she entered the restaurant and was immediately offered a seat by the window, which she went to accept when Dane had interrupted her.

“We want the table closest to the fire exit facing the entrance.”

Taamira deferred to him and followed the concierge towards the table, discreetly looking around the room. She noted politicians, heads of state, and even a duke or two. This hotel was at capacity for high-value targets as she’d heard Liam refer to them, and as such, the amount of security was ridiculous.

Taamira sat and pretended to look at the menu as the men guarding her stood a discreet distance from her on full alert, the tension radiating from their bodies. She knew when they got hold of Liam he would arrive and drag her out of there having no care to who she was, because to him she was just treacle and that was how she liked it. It was how she wanted these men to see her too. She had been on the way to becoming accepted by them, but she’d self-sabotaged that today. She just hoped it was worth it.

Taamira knew the second her brother entered the room, Lopez swore and glanced at her as Dane and Kanan closed the gap instantly shielding her from sight. Kanan lifted his watch and pressed a button before dropping his hand to his side. She didn’t know what he’d done, but she figured she didn’t have a lot of time.

Taamira stood as she saw her brother and his personal guard stride towards her.

“Did you know about this?” Lopez demanded, turning to her with accusation in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” was her only response and she was sorry.

“God damn it, T.”

She did not have the chance to say more though because her brother was there in front of them.