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He gestured toward the door. “See this? They did it in broad daylight. These people don’t give a fuck. You think they’d hesitate to harm anyone who stood in theirway?”
“Fine.” I threw my hands in the air. “Only…now what? I don’t have money to hire you, or pay for a hotel, or even to stash everything in a storage unit. Hell, I can’t even afford the dollar menu at McDonald’s right now. So, you can just mosey on out of here. Thanks for the ride.” I turned on my heels without even waiting for him to leave, and trudged into the kitchen to grab a glass of wine. Maybe if I could relax some, I could think more clearly and figure out what to do next. At the moment, I was at my breaking point. No matter how hard we worked, ever since my mother’s illness, we couldn’t get ahead. Fuck, at the moment, we were barely staying afloat. Feeling defeated, I pulled a glass from the cupboard, then opened the fridge and held it under the spigot for the whitezinfandel.
There was a groan behind me. “Let’s forget for a moment you were about to drink wine from a box. Why aren’t you packing?” Blaise gently moved me away from the fridge and reached for myglass.
Of course, I wasn’t ready to give it up so easily. “Wait!” I pleaded as I gulped down the meager ounce in the bottom of theglass.
He sighed. “I’ll give you wine later. From a bottle, even. Now…pack.”
“Pack what? And why? And…and…and where do think we’re going to go?” My shoulders slumped, and tears prickled myeyes.
“Hey…” Blaise raised my chin and forced me to look at him. “Are you sadnow?”
I squinted up at him, the very act causing the tears to leak out of the corners of my eyes and drip down my cheeks. I sniffled and shook my head slightly. “No. I skipped over sad and made a beeline forbroken.”
Frowning, he shook his head. “No, you’re merely tired. You’re worn out. A good dinner, a nice bubble bath, and some sleep will fix all of that.” I opened my mouth to speak, but naturally, he interrupted. “You’re coming home withme.”
I stiffened. “I most certainly amnot.”
“Yes, you are. Both of you. You’ll be safe. I need to see this through. It isn’t just about you and your father anymore; this is one of those times where I’m going to have to save the world.” Blaise shrugged like it was no bigdeal.
“Save the world often, do you?” I rolled myeyes.
“More often than you would imagine.” He chuckled. “So, pack up and we’ll get out ofhere.”
I stood there silently, considering his words. The idea was tempting. I barely remembered what it was like to fall asleep carefree. My shoulders ached from being so tense every damn second of each incredibly long day. Before I could decide whether or not to acquiesce, two men dressed in black t-shirts, black cargo pants, and black lace-up boots strode into the kitchen. I knew they weren’t police. When I glanced at Blaise, he nodded at them. “Upstairs, in the office. Files in the locked cabinet, tower in the desk, and any flash drives you happen to find. You’ll need to get a little creative with the tower. I’ll be up in aminute.”
“You got it, boss,” the first man responded as he turned to walk away. The second man nodded at Blaise and followed thefirst.
When we were alone again, I stood there, struggling to make a decision. Safe sounded nice. I wrapped my arms around my body and stared at the floor. Suddenly, his hands were on my shoulders, kneading and rubbing my weary muscles. I didn’t mean to, but soon I found myself murmuring, “Youwin.”
His response surprised me. “We’re all winning,” he whispered in myear.
Shivers ran down my spine and ignited a fire deep within me, places I’d long forgotten existed. I licked my lips as my lids fluttered shut. His hands started to slow until he was barely touching me, and I reached up to catch them as he began to pull away. “More?” My voice sounded pathetic to my own ears and I was filled withshame.
Instead, Blaise wrapped his arms around my upper body and rested his head upon mine. “Tonight. I promise. If you want, I’ll massage your shoulders until you fall asleep.” He turned me to face him and I knew my cheeks werescarlet.
“You’ll be at it a while. I’ve had this insomnia thing going on for the last few years.” I smirked. “You sure you’re up forit?”
Blaise stared into my eyes with such intensity that I couldn’t help but notice how vibrantly blue his own were, almost like two perfect sapphires. “I love achallenge.”
5
Blaise
“Willthey follow us the whole way?” Malcolm asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the van of myemployees.
“Yes, they have all your office equipment.” I nodded seriously at him in the rearviewmirror.
“Well, it won’t do me much good without a keyboard and monitor.” Hefrowned.
I chuckled. “I have a spare computer. You can replace my tower with yours. Problemsolved.”
His head tilted as he studied me. “You rather like solving problems, don’t you, Mr.Draco?”
“I do. I’m protective by nature, so the security business definitely agrees with me.” I inhaled deeply, hoping to relax some, but the brooding lady riding shotgun was making it a challenge. Historically speaking, I tuned out women, even as they were drawn to me. This time, the opposite seemed to be happening; she ignored me while I, for some unknown reason, pined for her. After several more minutes, I decided to make a concerted effort to initiate a conversation with her. “How do you feel about surf and turf for dinner, Maggie?” I glanced over at her. She’d remained silent since we’d left their house. “You must be starving.” My shoulders sank when she didn’t even look myway.
“I like surf and turf,” Malcolm murmured from theback.
