“Can’t talk here.”
“What about all of this?” She started to look around the loft, then quickly put her head down again. “I can’t leave my research.”
“We’re bringing it with us. The guys are on their way down.” He looked at the broken kitchen window. “And we’ll get someone in to repair this place, too.” He grinned at her over his shoulder, then shivered when her face pressed against his shirt a little harder.
A short while later, Greer heard Kit’s voice in the hallway. A pissed Kit was a thing to behold. He was glad the cop was getting the first wave of his steam.
Speak of the devil. He entered the apartment, took one look around, then walked right up to Greer’s face. “What the fuck’s going on?”
Greer lifted his shoulders. “What? I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Is it too much to ask that you take a low-key approach?” He growled between clenched teeth.
Greer ground his jaw before answering. “They weren’t in a negotiating kind of mood, Kit. They came in guns blazing. They wanted to set fire to Remi’s things and kidnap her. Next time, if they’re more polite, I’ll offer them tea so we can chat about it first.”
Kit’s eyes narrowed. He tucked his lips against his teeth, then ordered one of the policemen to take off their cuffs. As soon as his hands were free, Greer steered Remi toward her room. He made a quick sweep of the room, then ordered her to get dressed and collect her things. “I’ll be waiting outside. No one’s coming in until you come out.”
She stood in the middle of the room, looking at him, adrift in the chaos of her life. He shut the door—with him on the inside—then walked back to her. He took hold of her cheeks, and his thumbs brushed the soft skin of her face. His heart clenched at the fear in her eyes. He almost wished it was still him she feared.
He bent down and touched his lips to hers. He meant only that small touch, nothing more, but her hands gripped his sides. She lifted up on her toes, reaching up to him, pushing her mouth against his. She was drawing from his strength as he’d told her to do. He felt it transfer from him to her. All of it. Leaving him no reserves, nothing to guard his heart.
He kissed her again. It wasn’t a simple thing, their embrace; it was a wave of motion. Her hips against his thighs, her waist to his hips. They were like two vines caught in the wind, leaning, rubbing, entwining. His hands were on her face, pressing against the pocket of her open jaw in his palms. Hungry for more, he wrapped his arms around her body, locking her to him, feeling his strength in her as his mouth moved over hers in soft kisses, then opened-mouthed tongue-to-tongue kisses.
She did the most dangerous thing then—she opened herself to him. And he was lonely enough to take all she offered. It was a chilling thought, ’cause this would end like all the others. It had to. He bent his forehead to hers, then slowly eased her back to her feet, unaware he’d been holding her above the ground.
“Remi, get changed. Get your stuff together, but don’t come out until I tell you. I don’t know if the WKB owns any of the guys here.”
She didn’t step away, and he didn’t let her go. She bowed her head to his chest. “Can you stay with me?”
“No. I need to go help them. We’re going to bring your stuff up to Blade’s. We’ll talk to Kit and Owen about how sensitive it is. Okay?” He expected more arguments, but maybe the dire nature of her situation finally hit home, because she nodded.
He pulled away. “One of us will guard your door.” He looked back at her when he reached the door, then shut her from his mind and stepped into the hall.
*
The guys were lugging the last of the boxes out of Remi’s apartment. Arrangements had been made to fix the shattered front door, broken window, and fire damage. Lobo had taken custody of the thugs.
Dawn was a hint of lavender in the eastern sky when Greer brought Remi down to one of their SUVs. Val was driving her Forester home, which for once, she was grateful for; she didn’t have the strength to drive back.
The constant danger had worn down her defenses. Maybe Greer and his team could find whatever it was in her files that the WKB was after. They had respected her work so far. They weren’t going to pry it wide open and let her protected sources out willy-nilly. They were going after something specific. She had no choice but to trust them.
Not if she wanted to live.
Were it not for Greer, she would have been dead long before now. Even before the woodcutter. She would have been killed during the home invasion at her townhouse or in the parking lot of the university. She looked across the middle row bench seats to her self-appointed bodyguard.
He was looking at her. She thought of the way he’d kissed her at the apartment. Her gaze lowered to his lips, soft and kissable in his fierce face. He stole her breath. She swallowed and looked away, burying her gaze in the empty prairie outside Cheyenne.
She felt a tug on her seatbelt. Greer had reached over to unfasten it. The sensor alarm sounded. Angel looked in the rearview mirror at them. Greer ignored him as he pulled her onto his lap, then draped a soft throw that he’d taken from her apartment over her shoulders. Reaching up to her neck, he pulled her head down to his shoulder. “Sleep,” he ordered quietly. “We’ll talk when we get to the house. You’ll know what we know. You’re gonna be safe, Remi. I promise you that.”