Because of how I let that man get underneath my skin.
If I was this compromised, I wasn’t sure if I could keep working this case. I had the ability to transfer this into John’s hands and make him take the lead and drop down to nothing but a bodyguard. But the more I thought about it, the more I started thinking like this asshole.
If this person really was watching Derek, and this person knew who I really was to him, then that might be his plan to turn us against one another, work our emotions, shake our bonds, and get me just unfocused enough to take a step back from this thing altogether.
And if that was the case, then I was playing right into the enemy’s hands.
Which made me even angrier as I raced through the gate of Derek’s home.
Chapter 23
Derek
I WAS SITTING IN MY office, knowing a confrontation was coming. I was staring out my window when it happened. When the realization dawned on my mind, I knew I couldn’t run from it, and I knew it would consume me if I didn’t do anything about it. So long as I knew what was going on, I had to keep people around me informed.
But this was going to be addressed before I went to bed tonight.
I twirled my pen around in my hand as I watched men run around the perimeter of my home. Their guns were drawn, and their shadows were imprinted on the outline of the trees behind them. It was coming. The culmination of everything I had worked to bury. Secrets and lies and thresholds I had breached. Lines I had toed playfully thinking this was all a simple, innocent game. Faces I tried to save and facades I tried to keep while convincing myself this wasn’t serious and convincing myself I wasn’t in her crosshairs.
But I was. Every second of every day, she was there lying in wait with her eyes heavy on me. She was clocking my every move, making sure I stayed underneath her thumb as she tried to get me to bend to her every whim. I was nervous. My leg was bouncing, and my breath was coming in short spurts. I twirled my pen faster, trying to relieve some of the nervous energy cruising around in my system.
Then, I heard the slamming of my front door as I turned around in my chair.
Footsteps were hard on my staircase as I sat there waiting to meet my end. Waiting to spill all of my contents onto the floor at the feet of the person who kept me within her grasp. I stood from my leather chair, a calm overtaking my entire body. I slid my pen into my pocket and leaned against my desk, my hands sliding into my pockets as I watched my doorknob turn.
This was it. My moment of final reckoning.
I looked up and saw Sam, her gun drawn as she cleared the room, but when her gaze landed on my body, I watched her falter.
Like I always did whenever I was in her presence.
“Close the door,” I said.
“John’s outside. I have to case the rest of the—”
“Get inside and close the door,” I said calmly.
She looked back out into the hallway, probably at John. I could see his shadow looming around the corner, but I couldn’t see him. Sam eyed me curiously as she slid through the door, closing it behind her as she pressed her back to it. She holstered her gun, her eyes darting around before they flew out the window.
She was watching men run around my backyard, trying to figure out what the hell had me so spooked.
But it was her. It had been her from the moment I saw her leaning back at my desk in my office.
“Derek, what’s going on? What happened?” Sam asked. “My team can’t find any threats. Everything is clear. Did someone find you? Shoot at you? Breach your property?”
“There wasn’t an emergency,” I said. “I lied.”
Sam’s eyes finally met mine, and I knew I had her attention.
“Derek, what the hell are you talking about?”
“I want to be more than just your client,” I said.
I watched her back straighten as she leaned heavily against the door.
“Are you fucking serious?” she asked. “You faked an emergency so you could tell me you wanted to sleep with me more?”
“Not sleep with you. Engage with you. Interact with you. Take you to dinner. Wine you and dine you. Experience you here, late at night in my arms.”
“Your life is in danger, and you’re concerned about who you’re going to date? I think you’re crazy. I think you’ve gone full mental on me.”