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“I like
to think so,” he said as innocently as a man wearing a gun could.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Tom had turned red in the face, his eyes narrowed. “She doesn’t even like sex. You tricked her into bed.”
Embarrassment turned to flat-out humiliation.
“She likes it with me and she’s absolutely the best lover I’ve ever had in my life. She’s giving and passionate and I’m lucky she’s with me. Now get to the reason you came here because my breakfast is getting cold.”
Just like that the humiliation fled. She moved close to him, trying to let him see how much she appreciated him. “It’s okay. You go ahead and eat. I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“No. We had a very important night. I believe I performed heroically given your inexhaustible appetites.” He winked her way. “I want my intimate breakfast for two. I’ll wait.”
For a man who didn’t say much, he really knew how to get to her. She turned to Tom, whom she’d had just about enough of. “What did you need?”
Tom shook his head. “I can’t believe you would fall for his bullshit. He’s not what he seems. You think he’s a good guy, but he’s lying to you.”
And they called her the conspiracy nut. “About what?”
“About what he wants,” Tom sputtered. “And he’s some kind of pervert. Don’t expect me to clean up the mess when he breaks your heart.”
Tom stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Kiki frowned. “I would never have brought him with me if I’d known he would react like that. I’m so sorry.”
“Why was he with you in the first place?” Connor asked, cool as a cucumber.
“I’m helping him write up a brief on a case. I know more about the legal precedent than he does. He fell asleep on my couch last night. He was there this morning when Freddy showed up.” Kiki reached into her bag and handed her an envelope. “He wanted you to have this. He said it was information you need to know in case he doesn’t come back.”
She took the envelope, but it was in Connor’s hands before she could open it.
“No,” he corrected her, setting the coffee mug on the bar and letting Lincoln run free. “You have no idea what’s in this thing.”
“Very likely it’s a treatise on ancient aliens.” Freddy had a little bit of an obsession with them. Lara frowned. “What do you think could be in there? It’s an envelope, so I don’t think it’s carrying a bomb.”
“It could contain any number of lethal agents. Anthrax comes to mind first.” He inspected the envelope as if it could explode at any moment.
“Freddy is terrified of all viral agents,” she replied. “He likes me. He wouldn’t send me anthrax.”
“Or he’s the one stalking you and he’s just pretending to like you. Maybe he’s obsessed with you. Did he know about Niall?” Connor asked.
“She didn’t hide it from her friends,” Kiki replied.
Lara nodded. “I mentioned him.”
“And this was right around the time the threats started?”
It had been. She’d started talking to Niall a few weeks before. “Yes, but Freddy wouldn’t try to hurt me.”
“Discovering you had a thing with another man might have been an inciting incident. I’m taking this to the bathroom to inspect it. Do not follow me. Kiki, tackle her if she tries.” He stomped off.
Freddy wasn’t her stalker. Connor was being paranoid. Not once in their entire relationship had Freddy shown a single sign of wanting anything beyond friendship. Connor could do whatever bodyguard-like things he wanted with that letter. He wouldn’t find anything beyond a list of the most likely politicians currently under alien control. She turned back to Kiki because her friend could give her some important information. “Was he wearing his bug-out bag?”
“Is that what you call that massive backpack? Because yes. It looked like he was ready to survive an apocalypse. He said he was heading for the woods.”
He had a small property somewhere in the Appalachians. He hadn’t told her where it was since then he’d have to kill her, but he had offered to take her with him if things got too hot with their investigations. “I wonder what set him off.”
“He said it was men in black. He claims they were crawling all over the building late last night.” Kiki shook her head like she couldn’t quite believe a grown man would say such a thing. “I think I know what he saw, and they were definitely in black suits. I went across the street to the all-night drugstore to get some candy bars. I think better with sugar. I would have sworn I saw Roman Calder leaving the building with a group of men just after three this morning.”
“The president’s chief of staff? Are you sure? What would he be doing here at that time of night?” No wonder Freddy had flipped out. If Calder had been in the building, he’d likely been surrounded by guards or Secret Service, and almost all of them wore similar black suits. There was a reason the myth had started.
Kiki shrugged. “I’m pretty sure it was him. Superhot. I watch press conferences just to catch a glimpse of that man. As to why he’d be here, I have no idea. Maybe he has a mistress here. You know he doesn’t have a girlfriend. He probably keeps a little something on the side. I can’t imagine a man that alpha male hot would go without sex.”
“Or he was meeting someone and he didn’t want the press to find out. There are a couple of congressmen who keep apartments in the complex.”
“I like my version better,” Kiki complained. “Anyway, that’s probably what set Freddy off and he said he came to my door because Connor is one of them.”
Of course he was. “Well, there’s not a lot I can do. He’ll come back in a few weeks. This isn’t the first time he’s bugged out.” She winced. “I left my copy of the investigation in his apartment. Damn it. He won’t let me keep it on my system. He claims it’s too important to let the hackers find. I have a key to his place. I think I’m the only person in the world he trusts. God, I hope he doesn’t have the place booby-trapped.”
She was going to have to go in because she couldn’t leave that data behind. Things were starting to happen.
“Don’t go anywhere without Connor,” Kiki said.
The minute Kiki said the words, she figured out how to get what she needed. Guilt hit her hard, but she shoved it down because there was a greater good to be served. If she played her cards right, Connor wouldn’t even know she’d ever left the apartment at all. “I’ll leave it to him. He’s the expert after all.”
He was the expert who would very likely agree that the best time to break into a place was late at night when no one was around. He would never take her in with him, simply lock her in the condo until he was done.
Connor would be so mad if he figured out what she was going to do.
Kiki gave her a hug. “I think letting Connor handle everything is the best way to go. I’ve got to get to work. Call me if you need anything. And I’ll talk to Tom.”
“Thank you.” No matter what, they’d been friends since childhood.
She locked the door behind Kiki and tried to come up with a way to tell Connor she firmly believed the president had arranged for his wife’s murder.
* * *
Connor locked the bathroom door and opened the letter, suspicion playing in his brain. Freddy wasn’t without resources. He’d read the man’s dossier. Just because he believed in aliens didn’t mean the man couldn’t get it right from time to time.
He could hear the mumble of Lara’s conversation with Kiki out in the living room. Lara was likely explaining that her new lover was paranoid and that Freddy would never hurt her.
Of course he couldn’t agree with her or tell her the Russian mob was after her. That would require far too many explanations he wasn’t in a position to give, especially since he didn’t know precisely who was behind the hit.
Besides, being a paranoid freak allowed him to do things like “inspect” the letter meant for her. He was sure Freddy had told Kiki to deliver it as quietly as possible, but he’d misjudged the girl. Kiki
was the kind of woman who actively looked for authority in her life. For all her Bohemian charms, she wanted the world to have rules that made sense and a strong leader to guide her. It was very likely how she’d gotten involved with a married congressman. If he was strong and charismatic, she’d probably believed whatever the fucker told her. So she’d come straight to
