Nowhere Safe

CHAPTER 33



Trish tensed at that voice behind her.

In the suite she hadn’t booked.

Hugh smiled at her and tipped his head in a parting salutation. “Nice meeting you.” He strolled away quickly though, like he didn’t want to be a part of whatever transpired next.

She pivoted and dropped the suitcase just inside the room, letting the heavy door slam closed as she barreled across the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ll answer that as soon as you tell me why you’re here?” Josh snapped right back in a voice so sharp it could slice through bone. He stood over by the plush, high-back sofa and two side chairs with his feet apart and arms crossed as if braced for a battle.

She was ready to give him one. “I have business in Atlanta. You don’t.”

“Not exactly correct. Where you go, I go.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know you’ve had some training. But knowing the moves and using them in real situations is not the same.”

Now he sounded like Arnie. And how did he know she’d had training? Had Zane told him? Or Heidi? “I know that, but my point is that I’m not defenseless.” She rubbed her aching head. “Look. Stay as long as you like. I have my own room, which I plan to stay in. Alone.” Hard to believe she’d been missing him the whole way here, but she’d been missing the Josh she thought she knew. Not this undercover operator.

“Wrong again. If you want to remain in Atlanta, you’re residing here. With me.”

She considered everything she knew about Josh to this point. “Did you confiscate my room?”

“Yes.”

“How’d you do all this in so short a time frame?” This would be impressive for Zane who could fly his own airplane, and her brother was just one step short of a superhero in her book.

“FBI?” Josh said as if reminding a child he had the master badge.

One more slick move by him and she would not be held responsible for her actions. Trish stalked around for a moment and finally gave up. “But how did you get here ahead of me?”

“It wasn’t easy.” With Josh standing that way she started to see the dangerous undercover operative she hadn’t looked for before. “Once I had you covered, I called in some personal markers and hired a Learjet.”

“What do you mean by had me covered?” A Learjet? No wonder he’d beaten her to Atlanta. But a Lear? Good grief, how much had that cost? She felt her heart squeeze at the trouble he’d gone through. She’d put him through. But she was still pissed at him.

“Do you think the airline just moved you to first class because they like you?” Josh’s calm tone was countermanded by his clipped words and taut jaw. She’d studied those blue eyes enough to read an inferno blazing behind them. He was furious.

“So Hugh works for you?” she asked.

“No. He’s a friend I’ve known a long time who has connections and exceptional defense skills in addition to being an ace pilot. I managed to get a few others into place quickly. Good thing for you or you would have been yanked from the flight.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. I’d have told them you were a threat if I had to.”

Her skin chilled at how close she’d come to being removed as a criminal.

Everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours hit her at once. She felt wounded that he would have humiliated her that way and failed to keep the pain out of her whisper. “Would you really have done that to me?”

They stared at each other for the longest time. An angry standoff until he finally said, “I would have done far worse to keep you safe.”

AA

Josh kept his arms folded so he wouldn’t yank Trish up against him where he could feel her heartbeat. He was sure nothing could have abated all his righteous anger until he’d heard the deep hurt in her voice.

What the hell had he done that was so wrong?

Lunch with Leanne? He didn’t believe for a minute that having lunch with a coworker had upset Trish that much. His intentions hadn’t been as a coworker, but anyone watching him and Leanne should have interpreted it that way.

Trish asked, “Does anyone at the task force office know you’re here?”

“Zane does. Don’t give me that look, Trish. I haven’t told him anything about the stalker. Zane found out from Heidi that you were on the way here when he called right after I did.”

“Wasn’t a secret. My brother just forgot.”

“When he found out, he went ballistic when he heard you’d left town alone. Then he called me demanding to know how I let that happen if you’re supposed to be in my custody.” Getting Zane off his back had cost Josh precious time. “Once your brother stopped yelling into the phone, he ordered me to, and I quote, ‘stick to Trish like tar on an asphalt roof.’ Are we clear now?”

He leveled her with a glare she should have no problem reading. Starting this minute, they were inseparable.

Trish didn’t deflate, exactly, but she looked away and he had the distinct impression she’d just given up. Walked out of the room mentally, even though her body was still here. She dumped her shoulder bag on the sofa and walked over to the window overlooking the twinkling city.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here tonight?” he asked. “You gave me the impression you weren’t coming here until Saturday morning.”

“I just wanted to leave early. Wanted to get out of town.”

She sounded...hurt? Why?

He alternated between wanting to shake some sense into her for scaring years off his life over the last couple of hours and dragging her to bed so he could burn off the adrenaline still pulsing through him.

Trish leaned against the window edge, all her fight having fizzled. He had no reason to feel guilty for making sure she was safe, but he did. Wouldn’t change anything.

If he knew Trish was here, the stalker probably did, too.

Josh was not letting Trish get away from him again.

“Trish, if you want to get unpacked and freshen up, we’ll grab some dinner. I assume you haven’t eaten since lunch.”

Damn. The minute the word “lunch” popped out of his mouth he wanted to suck it back in. Somehow, he would clear up the Leanne fiasco, which shouldn’t be a fiasco.

But tonight wasn’t shaping up to offer any opportunity.

Twisting around, she sent him a hostile gaze that couldn’t be spoken in polite company if that look had been translated into words. Then she returned to staring at the nighttime view, dismissing him.

Josh crossed the room and placed a hand on each of her shoulders, determined to repair some damage.

That lasted two seconds.

She spun away from him, lips taut and unyielding. “If we’re sharing this suite, there are ground rules. The first one being that you keep your hands to yourself. The second being that I’m here for business, so don’t interfere.”

“Fine, if that’s the way you want this. But we never did get lunch cleared up.”

“Yes, we did. You have your job and I have mine. The two don’t need to conflict or intertwine.”

No chance of intertwining with a woman having a...a fit of jealousy?

Well, hell. He didn’t do anything wrong. She was just jealous. Very jealous. Sorry bastard that he was, for some reason that lifted his spirits.

Josh pressed his lips together to keep from grinning at that possibility. She wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t care.

But he didn’t want anyone to care about him. Right?

So why did the idea of Trish caring feel like a gentle caress to his heart?

He was not examining that any time soon, but now he had renewed hope of soothing Trish. Letting her know the direction of his thoughts would be unwise, though.

Keeping with the tone she’d set, he warned, “I’ll stick to your rules as long as you stick to mine.”

She waited, silent as a smoldering ember.

“I want to know your schedule each morning,” he said. “You go nowhere without me. You take no chances.”

“I’ve already agreed not to take any chances and–” She stopped him with a finger she wielded like a weapon. “I was not in any danger at the airports or here in the hotel. There will be over a thousand people around me most of the day tomorrow.”

He would not snap at her. “You’re far more at risk in a crowd than alone. If I was the stalker, this would be the perfect situation for getting to you.”

Her face softened, erasing frown lines. She raked a hand through her hair. “Shit. You sound like Arnie and I know you’re right. I just don’t want a bodyguard. Especially...”

Especially me.

Right now he wanted to wrap her up close and hold her, but that wasn’t going to happen until he could figure out what the problem was. He asked again, “Want to eat?”

“No.” She yawned. “I want to take a shower and go to bed.” Trish walked toward one of the two bedrooms, stretching as if she were stiff.

Watching made him stiff.

He’d forgo dinner for bed, with her, in a flash. Lifting her small suitcase, he carried it to her semi-dark room and put it down. Light filtered in from the living room.

She stood with her back to him. Did she think he’d just walk out and leave her be? Maybe he should, but he was better known for doing what he shouldn’t. Like right now when he shouldn’t be thinking about giving her a full body massage.

Josh put his hands on her arms, careful not to spook her.

She turned around and put her hand on his chest. “Leave.”

He covered her hand and rubbed her cold fingers. “Talk to me, Trish.”

“Okay. Leave. Now. ”

Any massaging tonight would be a one-handed date.