Chapter Two
Autumn
* * *
I start shivering the moment Mace stands, leaving me alone on the loveseat. It’s ridiculous. It felt so good in his arms. My world has been pitched upside down. I can’t imagine it will ever be okay again. Yet, I want to curl up in Mace’s lap. I want his arms around me, holding me, telling me everything will be okay.
This was a horrible idea. I shouldn’t have come here, but I didn’t have a choice. There’s no way I would defy my father’s dying wishes. Besides, he’s right; Mace is the best person I could have come to. He will take care of this disaster and keep me safe.
I still can’t believe he doesn’t have a woman in his life. How is that possible? He has always seemed like a god to me. Long before I ever met him, my father often spoke highly of Mace. I didn’t meet him for the first time until I was eighteen, and I nearly swooned.
I’m too distraught to swoon right now, but as I sit here rigid on this couch on the fifteenth floor of this fancy building in downtown Seattle, I find myself staring at a man I’ve had a ridiculous crush on for the last four years.
I can’t move. I’m frozen from fear and panic and exhaustion and about ten other emotions. And I’m watching Mace move smoothly around his office as if nothing could thwart him.
The only sign he’s distressed is the fact that his brow is furrowed. He stiffened as I told him about my father, and I know he got choked up. In some ways, my dad was like a father to Mace, too. I know Mace looked up to him. I’ve heard him say as much.
He grabs a phone off his desk and places a call. I can’t hear what he’s saying because he keeps his voice low, and I’m too distressed to listen anyway. I’m certain he’s making a call related to my father. He said he would send someone to the house immediately. I don’t even ask how they will get in. This is Mace. I’m sure he and his people—apparently, he even has people located in Indianapolis—can get into any building. Hell, Mace can probably walk through walls. I wouldn’t doubt it.
Do I have a fixation on the man as a superhero? Yes. That’s how I’ve always seen him. I knew he was capable of things us mere mortals are not able to accomplish long before I met him because that’s how my father spoke of him.
He returns to my side while he’s still talking, and I want to slump against him as soon as he’s close enough. He sets a hand on my shoulder and absently curls his fingers around the back of my neck, anchoring me to Earth.
As soon as he ends the call, he squats in front of me. “A team is headed to your house, sweetheart. If anyone happens to see them, they will look like staff from the coroner’s office, sent to retrieve the body.” He points toward the manila envelope I’m still gripping. “May I see what’s in there?”
“Yes.” I release it and hand it to him. “Mostly, it was instructions on what to do in an emergency. Did you know you’re the executor of my father’s will?”
Mace’s eyes widen. “No. I didn’t.”
My father had told me several times over the years that if anything ever happened to him, everything I needed would be in this envelope. I hadn’t expected him to actually be gasping out his final dying breaths, clutching my hand and instilling the fear of God in me to grab this and run.
“He was scared…” I mutter absently, reliving those moments. “For me…”
Mace sets the envelope on the floor and places his huge hands on my outer thighs. His palms rest against my bare skin because my skirt has risen up too high. “Your father loved you so much, Autumn.”
I swallow hard, emotions bubbling at the surface. There’s no way I can speak. I’ve cried a river since I arrived here. Until now, I’ve been mostly holding it all in, all the tears. What was I going to do? Cry on the airplane and cause everyone to look at me? No, thank you.
“Let’s go downstairs. My apartment is one floor below us. You can shower and change clothes, and we’ll get some food in you. I’ll go through this envelope there.”
“You live here, in this building?” I manage to whisper.
“Yes. Most of us do. Blade, the owner, lives one floor above. I live in an apartment one floor down. So do three other guys who work here.” He stands, gripping the envelope with one hand and helping me up with the other.
I grab my purse and follow him, wishing I hadn’t been wearing three-inch heels when I’d gone on the run fifteen hours ago. My feet are furious.
Mace holds my hand as we leave his office. He guides me to another office and knocks on the doorframe. The door itself is open.
A dark-haired man with a gray beard who looks to be about my father’s age glances up. “Hey.”
“I have an unexpected client,” Mace informs him. “Autumn, this is my boss—the owner—Blade. Blade, Autumn.”
Blade rises and comes toward us. “Everything okay?”
“No. I’m going to take her to my apartment, get her settled, and figure out what she’s dealing with.”
Blade glances down at our combined hands. “But you know each other.”
Mace nods. “Yes. She’s the daughter of my Army captain. Captain James Burke.”
