Cocky Protector - Kat Mizera Page 0,23
and his family certainly didn’t need any material items, I picked up a few things for the kids.
“Where will you be at Christmas?” she asked after I’d bought a handful of gifts.
“Probably with the royal family in Limaj,” I said. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless I get a better offer.” I hadn’t planned to say that, and it would be extraordinarily inconvenient, but the words popped out before I could stop them.
“I don’t know what I could offer you better than Christmas with royalty,” she said quietly.
I stopped walking and pulled her against me. “Seriously? You think the fact that they’re royalty is better than being with the beautiful, sexy woman I’ve been fantasizing about for a decade?”
“Haven’t there been…women?” she asked, confusion on her pretty face.
“Women? Yes. But special women? Not even one. Not in a very long time.”
“But why? We only met for a few hours…”
“It was enough for you to write about me in your diary. To be angry when I missed your father’s funeral. It was no different for me.”
Our eyes locked and neither of us spoke, which spoke volumes in and of itself.
“It seems like we should feel silly,” she said after a moment. “We’re acting like hormonal teenagers.” She paused. “But I don’t feel silly.”
“I don’t either,” I admitted. “So how about we just keep walking and talking and getting to know each other. Maybe it’ll start to make sense, maybe it won’t, but either way, you have to admit it’s fun, despite the circumstances.”
“Definitely.” She slipped her hand into mine again and we moved down the aisle.
We got back to my hotel late, close to midnight, and we’d just kicked off our shoes when my phone rang.
Chains. Who knew how late it was. This couldn’t be good. I hit the button to accept the call, meeting Shannon’s gaze worriedly. “Hey, what’s up?”
“You have a problem.”
“What?”
“Your stalker just broke into Shannon’s apartment, and this time ransacked it. I don’t know how you want to handle it since obviously it’s meant for Shannon to find whenever she gets home tonight but…”
“Shit. Are they gone?”
“Yeah. I had one of my men watching the feed and she showed up about twenty minutes ago. He called me and we were watching but—”
“Wait, it’s a she?”
“Absolutely a woman. Still can’t see her face, but the body had breasts.”
“Damn. Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now, but I’m guessing tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”
Shannon was watching me with concern, but I held up a finger, indicating she should wait until I hung up.
“It’s not the worst thing in the world for this woman to realize Shannon is no longer an easy target.”
“No, but once she sees my face, she’ll probably disappear whenever I’m around.”
“Maybe you should go home with Shannon tonight, find the mess, and call the police. Then it’ll be handled by morning.”
“Let me talk to her. Thanks.” I hung up and told Shannon what had happened.
“Sonofabitch!” She was understandably upset. “Why is this escalating? And how the fuck is my stalker a woman?”
“Have you inadvertently dated a married man?” I asked. “I hate to ask, but that would be the number one reason for a woman to come after you.”
She shook her head. “I only dated that one guy since I’ve been here, and I never dated anyone but my husband back home.”
“So there’s some other reason she’s upset with you,” I reasoned. “Or she’s just a hired gun, and the person actually after you isn’t the one doing it.”
“Coward.” She was scowling now, arms folded across her chest. “What do we do?”
“Probably best if we go back to your apartment, like you’re getting home after a date, and we find the mess.”
“That means we have to call the police and this is no longer a private matter.”
“I know, but if we don’t report it, she’ll know she’s the reason I’m here and we don’t want that. My cover should be that I’m a guy you dated briefly in college, we reconnected online, and I’ve come to visit.”
She sighed and rested her head against my chest. “We had such a good time tonight, I forgot all about this stalker situation. Now our whole evening is ruined.”
“Nothing is ruined,” I whispered, stroking her hair. “I’m going to catch this bitch and then we’re going to pick up right where we left off.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” I kissed the top of her head. I didn’t know if I could keep a promise like that, but I was sure as shit going