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“With me at all times,” Cody said without hesitating.
“So you’ll be screening my calls?” She shook her head. “That’s not going to work.”
“Why?” he asked. “What do you have to hide?”
“Not hiding anything,” she shot back. She studied him for a long moment. “Do you want me all up in your grill?”
“Of course not,” he said.
“Well, I don’t want you in my business, either.”
They stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them blinking. Finally Cody sighed. “Let’s sit down in the kitchen and have some lunch. Talk.”
He made BLT sandwiches quickly and efficiently, then added avocado slices. He slid one plate in front of her, then sat down across the table. Took a bite of his sandwich and watched her as he chewed. Finally he said, “Tell me what’s really going on with you.”
She froze with her sandwich halfway to her mouth. Then took a bite and chewed slowly while she tried to figure out what to say. Swallowed and said, “A police officer stopped me on my way home from work. Tried to make me get out of my car, exactly as I told you.”
He waved his hand, as if dismissing her answer. “I’m not talking about that. You have a go bag. You know what to do when you have close protection -- when you have a bodyguard,” he corrected himself automatically, then realized it wasn’t necessary. Sierra Baker knew exactly what close protection was.
“You were so close behind me that I could smell your shampoo. You’re secretive. Careful. Far more than normal people.”
“You think I’m not normal?” she said, deeply disturbed by his questions and his analysis. He’d gotten that much on her after half of a day?
“I think you’ve had an interesting life, and I’d like the details. So I can be ready with whatever is necessary.”
Chapter 5
Without taking her eyes off Cody, Sierra set her sandwich carefully on her plate and leaned back in her chair. Studied him for a long moment before answering. Finally she said, “Do you really expect me to spill all my secrets to you, just in case the details of my life might be relevant to that cop who stopped me last night?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Cody said. “I need every bit of information you can give me.”
“I can give you exactly zero information about my past,” she answered immediately. “It’s not relevant. You said yourself it was probably the Bratva, likely because of that worm Jerry Trotter.” If that traffic stop was related toherpast, it wouldn’t be one guy pulling her over on a dark road. If they found her, they’d come after her with a dozen men. Enough to overcome a couple of bodyguards.
But she wasn’t going to tell Cody that, either.
“I’m going to Google you,” he said. “Find out everything about you. So you might as well tell me now. Save me the trouble. Save you the embarrassment of having me see your baby pictures.”
“Google away,” she said with a wave of her hand. He would find only what she wanted people to find. Which wasn’t much.
Cody nodded slowly, but he narrowed his eyes. Held her gaze. As if he knew she was hiding a lot of information and wanted to drag it out of her.
She stared right back at him. He could stare until tomorrow morning, and she wouldn’t break.
When he finally looked away, she pushed away from the table. “You cooked, so I’ll clean up. I’m going to work in my room.” She froze and turned to face him. “Can I get on the internet? Check my email? Send email to my office?”
“As long as you do it on your computer. We use a VPN here, so no one will be able to figure out where we are.”
“Good to know,” she said with a nod. She used a virtual private network at home, as did her brother Jack and her parents. Another layer of security and anonymity.
“You know about VPNs?” Cody asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Of course I do. I own a law practice. We deal with sensitive information every day. We use one routinely.”
He studied her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “There are a lot of layers to you, Sierra Baker,” he said. “I’m looking forward to unraveling them, one by one.”
“Take your best shot, Parker, but don’t hold your breath.” She gave him a smile that was all teeth and no sweetness. “I’m very good at keeping my business private.”
“I love a challenge,” Cody shot back.
