“Christ, when you weren’t upstairs in our room, I almost had a heart attack,” he told her.
“Sorry, I woke up hungry so I thought I’d come down for something to eat.”
He ran his hand over her hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she told him.
“Good. Come into the living room. I want you to meet some people.”
“Umm, yeah, I think I’ve already met a couple of them. Are you holding an annual bad-ass meeting or something?”
Derrick let out a surprised laugh. Tension drained from his body just as she’d hoped.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say the word ass before.” He placed an arm over her shoulder, bringing her closer to him as he led her to the living room.
As they entered, Hunter sat beside another large man who was working on a tablet. A third man sat hunched over a computer that was set up on a table in a corner of the room. He didn’t bother to look up.
“She doesn’t obey very well, does she?” Hunter said with disapproval, searing her with those icicle eyes.
“Depends on who’s doing the ordering,” she replied angrily. No way was she going to be bullied by him, no matter how scary looking he was.
Hunter raised a brow, his eyes flickering over her again as though reassessing her. “Well, you’re going to have to learn how to follow my orders, and quickly, sweetheart.”
She glanced up at Derrick in confusion. Who were these guys?
Derrick took her hand, leading her to the sofa across from where Hunter and the other man sat.
“Jacey, this is Hunter Black. He owns a security firm. I’ve hired his firm to help protect you and to investigate Stephan.”
“That was fast,” she said.
“I owed Roarke a favor,” Hunter said.
“You’re friends with Roarke?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t exactly call us friends,” Hunter replied.
“They’re as friendly as anyone gets with Hunter,” the man sitting next to Hunter said.
“This is Jaron,” Hunter said with a nod to the dark-haired man beside him. “The guy glued to the computer is Connor, our tech expert.”
Connor glanced up briefly and nodded.
“Nice to meet you both. Umm, what about the man in the kitchen?”
“That’s Tiny. He’ll be in shortly. I also have other men stationed outside the house.”
Tiny? She didn’t see what was so tiny about him.
Before she could ask any further questions, Tiny entered carrying a large platter full of sandwiches.
“Here.” He sat the plate down on the coffee table between the two couches. “Yours.” He pointed to the top sandwich, then looked at Jacey.
“Thank you,” she replied, picking up the sandwich, not daring to do anything else. She took a bite, her eyes closing at the bliss that crossed her taste buds. “Wow, this is really good.”
Tiny just grunted.
“Is your business located in Austin, Mr Black?”