The Rebel King (All the King's Men Duet #2) - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,37

compass charm dangling between us like it will guide this conversation and tell me what to do, how to feel and respond.

“Like I said, my plan was to have this conversation when you returned from Costa Rica, and ask your permission to activate the chip after I’d explained to you why I think it’s necessary, but you were taken.” He closes his eyes and swallows deeply. “And I hated myself for not talking with you before you left and activating it. At first, Grim couldn’t pick up the signal. You guys were in the jungle or forest or somewhere so remote, he had trouble.”

“We were in caves part of the time.” My pulse picks up and sweat breaks out on my lip and forehead in the freezing cold remembering the helplessness with that bag over my head and the dank smell of the cave filling my nostrils. “Why do you think it’s necessary?”

“There have been eleven attempts to kidnap me.”

My eyes zip up to meet his, and fear crawls over me, making my hands clammy. “Eleven?”

“Yeah, but none were ever successful because I have great security.”

I look around meaningfully. “They seem to be lax on the job.”

“You won’t always see them, but they’re never too far away. The K and R insurance CamTech was going to use to get Wallace back—I have a K and R policy, but it’s worth a lot more.”

“I can imagine.”

“Can you? If I die or something happens to make me even slightly vulnerable, that could drastically affect our stocks, investments, and every person employed by every one of my companies all over the world. Their spouses, their kids. Their futures.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “I sound like my dad. He used to talk about satisfying investors, keeping shareholders happy, and taking care of employees and their families. I didn’t get that then, but I do now.”

“Can we go back to the part where you’ve almost been kidnapped eleven times?”

He takes my hand and walks us over to the bench. “All failed attempts, but it’s not unusual. CEOs are big money in the kidnapping game, so it can be really expensive to insure us for K and R. One of the conditions of my policy is that I use some type of GPS tracking. It increases the likelihood of recovery if an attempt ever proves successful.”

He taps the face of the watch Vivienne admired so much last night. “Mine is in here. I’m sure soon we’ll advance to implants, but we aren’t there yet.”

“So I get why you need one, but why do I?”

“Many significant others wear tracking devices because family members are sometimes easier to get to than the executives themselves, and the people they care about end up being taken.”

I glance down at the gift on my wrist, which meant so much to me.

“I know I probably wouldn’t be sitting here with you now were it not for this bracelet, Doc. I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but my independence is important to me. I don’t need looking after.”

He caresses the inside of my wrist where the bracelet brushes up against my skin.

“But I need to look after you. I need to know you’re safe, and that I can find you. I can get to you. When Grim couldn’t pick up the signal, and the clock was ticking, I felt absolutely helpless. That lunatic could have shot you in the head, or . . .” The muscle along his jaw tightens. “I couldn’t get to you. Your father couldn’t get to you. Can you imagine how he felt knowing you could die at any moment and there was nothing he could do about it?”

“Oh, that’s low.” I link my hands behind my neck. He knows how sensitive I am to my father’s anxiety.

“I don’t mind playing dirty when I care this much about something.” He leans over to take my top lip between his, and then my bottom. “About someone. What do you say?”

“It’s one or the other,” I tell him, balling my fist in my lap to keep my hands off him long enough to negotiate with a clear head. “Either this pet tracker or the security. Not both.”

I know which I prefer, so I barrel forward when he frowns, like I haven’t given him any choice at all. “The security is less important until everyone knows we’re together anyway. And it’s impractical. I’ll be on the road constantly once the campaign is fully underway. I’ll be with Owen most of the

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