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“We ran a fast check, but the FBI needed something more substantial. I guess they got it because they wondered if you would stay with Mallory, but I guess that was your idea as well. I’ll let you discuss that with the Feds.” The officer nodded and left the room.
Vindicated, Monroe sat in the chair and laid his hand over hers on the bed, giving it a squeeze. Mallory opened her mouth to speak when Monroe’s phone went off. He held up one finger and answered his phone. His hand returned to cover hers.
“Jac, what’s going on with this mess?”
Chapter 4
Mallory listened as Monroe’s facial expressions combined with his guttural sounds that resembled a threatened animal’s response when cornered, then watched his hands as they ran through his short-cut hair in frustration. Those were pretty strong tells that this man was less than happy with what Jac Reynaud, the CEO and one of Monroe’s partners in the security firm, was telling him.
Monroe was a strong-minded yet even-tempered man, by what she had gathered thus far, so what Jac had said must have been something serious to disturb him so much. She knew it must have been about her because his relaxed manner of earlier didn’t return. She glimpsed his grim expression before he cleared it away.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t think it would take so long to debrief with Jac. He called our contacts at the FBI and vouched for me, or rather, he said he had simply reminded them who I was.”
“Um, so you know the FBI agents?”
“A few. We do security, and the government needs plenty of that.”
“So you’re a bodyguard?”
“Sometimes.” He cocked his head to the side and gave her a speculative stare. “Does that bother you?”
“Does hot a bodyguard with grey at his temples bother me? They kidnapped me. I’m not dead.” The joke got a frown from Monroe, and she grimaced. “Sorry. Too soon?”
“Years too soon.”
She nodded. “But the hot body part isn’t.” Then she blushed hard, the heat of it rushing up the column of her neck and infusing her face. “Sorry. It’s just as rude for me to say things like that to you as you to me.”
Monroe grinned and shook his head. “Beautiful, you can crush on me all you want because I sure as hell have been crushing on you since the first time I laid eyes on you. And I have no intention of keeping my thoughts to myself on that score.”
“Pfft, there is nothing beautiful about me now.” Her teeth bit down on her bottom lip.
“I can see we will have to establish down some rules once you feel better, but a few bumps and bruises just testifies to your inner strength. You could have been super compliant when you were taken. You could have just accepted fate, but you didn’t. You fought back even though you were at a great disadvantage. That is beauty,”
Monroe spoke softly, but she knew he meant it. Mallory had done plenty of lifestyle searches since meeting Monroe. Was she ready to try living his way? She’d always wanted to find a Dom who was a real man, not an imitation, and those romances were deceiving, but she didn’t know if she could do it. She should answer him, anyway. He deserved at least that.
“Can we go slow right now? I honestly don’t know if I have triggers or not. I’m not even processing all of this well yet. Normally, I love myself and my life. I’m just a bit shaky right now.”
“I know, and it’s to be expected, but I want to tease all of that out with you. And before you respond, the only appropriate answer is Yes, Sir, because I do not intend on allowing you to be alone for quite a while. And that timing will have to be a point of negotiation.” He held her gaze, leaving her with no doubt he meant every word. “Do we have an understanding?”
Mallory dropped eye contact. A warm hand gently raised her chin so she could do nothing but look at him or close her eyes. She chose door number two. The wrong choice, evidently.
Monroe’s voice rasped over her like fine sandpaper laced with his golden whiskey mellowness and a touch of chastising. “Mallory, eyes open, baby.” She raised her head without thinking. “That’s my girl. Never leave me to wonder how you feel or think on a subject if it bothers you and even if it doesn’t. I can’t read your mind, but I try my best to read your cues. It’ll take me a while to get those down, so communicate with me honestly. Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He raised his eyebrow sharply. “Sir,” Mallory added the afterthought word with a swollen face version of an impish grin.
His laugh burst out unexpectantly as he shook his head. “Your name suits you, Ms. Sasse. Let’s try this again. I don’t trust anyone to keep you safe except my team and me, so that’s who’s going to do it. Jac spoke with those in the know and the rest of our team. This is what they have so far.”
Monroe watched as Mallory tried to suppress a shiver and pulled her, IV and all, closer to him. Holding her might be the best way to tell her the update. He resettled them so that he was sitting on the bed next to her, enveloping her shaking body in his bear hug, her head on his shoulder, his mouth against her temple.
“You did a great job of describing the house and the way you had come from. They found the house and its owner.”
“I wasn’t sure because we had come in after dark, and there weren’t any close houses. Who is he?”
Monroe could hear her voice quiver. Too bad the local PD found him before Monroe had. He would have saved the taxpayers a lot of money.
Mallory whispered. “What about the other woman? Did they find her? Is she alive?”
Monroe rubbed her chilled arm and kissed the top of her head before answering. “They found the lady that fit your description of the one you saw when the door opened. I won’t lie. She’s in rough shape. She’s in a coma, but there’s no other information at this time. Her family has been located.”
