The fact she’d spotted him at all was damned impressive. Sure, he hadn’t been hiding. If he had, she never would have seen him. He’d been doing the hide-in-plain-sight thing for so long that he’d gotten damned good at it. Most people didn’t take in the details. They went home after work, closed their doors and shut out everything on the other side of the door. She hadn’t, and that made his evening more interesting. Potentially problematic, but very interesting.
He took out his cell and checked the tracer. The dot appeared a second later. The car he needed was only a few feet away. No one had come running to his rescue, which was exactly how he wanted it. He hired people who knew when to move in and when to hold back.
He turned the car off and shut the door. The lock chirped as he hit the button on his key chain. His gaze stayed on her window as he ventured back onto her street and stopped at the first car. Opening the back door, he slipped inside.
“You okay, sir?” the driver asked.
Wren understood his employee’s concern, but appreciated his discretion even more. He’d refused to ask Garrett for mission details. Him knowing about the coffee stop was bad enough, so Wren relied on the case file for the surveillance details. That’s where he got the tracer number and knew the stakeout information. He did own the damn business after all.
“She didn’t actually take a swing at me.” But she’d wanted to. She made that clear. The heat. The way energy pulsed off her.
Damn, he wanted her. Like strip-her-naked-and-touch-each-other-all-over wanted her. He had to believe she’d be great in bed. She’d tell him what she needed and how to please her. Not be shy.
Fucking hell.
The driver shifted in his seat. “How did she know you were out here?”
“She’s careful. Smart.” So sexy. “Keep that in mind as you follow her. She’ll be on alert.”
“Yes, sir.” Both men up front answered at the same time.
“Do you have the plates?”
The driver handed the license plate over the seat. “Here.”
“While you’re watching, figure out how she got out of the building without using the front door. If she snuck out once, she’ll do it again.” She was exactly the type to make simple surveillance difficult.
The men glanced at each other before looking at him again. “You want us to keep following her?”
“Until Garrett tells you to stop.” Wren let a few minutes of quiet drag on between his words. “She is your top priority, and I want to know where she is at all times.”
“Yes, sir.” The driver cleared his throat. “Will you be out here again tomorrow?”
He sure as hell hoped not. He had to possess more control than that. “You should assume I’m watching.”
“Right.”
Thinking he made his point, he opened the door. Then he hesitated. There was one more thing. “You can leave this episode out of the report.”
The driver had the nerve to smile. “The part with the bat?”
“I see that in a report and you’re both fired.”
CHAPTER 4
Emery’s hand cramped from the hold she had on the strap of her shoulder bag. She’d slept all of an hour last night thanks to that idiot hanging around on her street.
By the time she got back to her apartment and looked out the window after their altercation, not hiding her interest that time, his car was long gone. She’d half expected him to circle around the block and come back, but she didn’t see any sign of that. God knew she looked. Looked and kept looking. Peeked out the window every twenty minutes or so for hours. Listened for strange sounds and jumped at every creak and rumble of noise. Just sat there on the chair in her small family room area, staring and waiting.
The guy owed her one night’s sleep.
She should have used the bat when she had the chance.
But today was a new day and she needed to erase his face from her mind. Put him out of her head. Forget him.
For some reason that seemed easy to say, but every few minutes she’d replay their conversations and hear his voice. In between the threats and cryptic comments lurked something else. An easy banter. A back and forth that challenged her. The fact she found that sexy made her think she needed to go back to the therapist.
There was probably a book or two or a thousand out there about women who felt a connection with the wrong men. Like, totally wrong. After she hunted down Senator Dayton, she’d get online and buy those books. But right now, she needed to talk with the senator.
The receptionist in her office upstairs talked about her being in a committee meeting. Before that, the excuse had something to do with her visiting with a constituent’s business. All likely valid excuses, but to Emery they were still just excuses. She needed some information about this mysterious Wren and now. If the senator happened to know something about this Brian character then that was fine, too.