Page 24 of Beyond the Rules
“Fine,” she said, startling me out of a hard on. “We’ll do it your way. But I expect you to keep your promise. Iwillbe there to take down thesejerks.”
“And you,” I said. “Youwillfollow mycommands.”
“Deal,” she said. “Let’s do this quick. I want togohome.”
My heart jerked. She couldn’t go home. Not yet. We had to make sure she was safe. Beyond that, I was supposed to give our private mission a chance tosucceed.
I frowned down on her mulish expression. “Excuseme?”
“You heard me,” she said. “I need to get backtowork.”
“Good Lord, woman.” What was wrong with her head? “I don’t think you understand.Weare gonna protectyou. You’re the asset that we need secured right now. You stay right here, with us. That’s anorder.”
“Wait, what?” She flicked her gaze at Aiden and Tanner before her stare returned to me. “You want me to stay here? With you? Forhowlong?”
“At least until we’re able to study the threat and neutralize thedanger.”
“I…I can’t stay.” She examined her bandaged hands, the veins in the granite floor, the view out the window. “I have people to take care of and a restitution paymenttomake.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “We’ll take care of your financialcommitments.”
Her eyes widened and for a whole thirty seconds, she looked like she couldn’t find any words. “You’ddothat?”
“And more if you let us,” Tanner put in. “After those thugs ransacked your apartment, you can’t go back there. It’s not safe. We’ve got plenty of space. You’ll becomfortablehere.”
“Mighty generous of you,” she mumbled, looking away. “But no thank you. I’ll find a way. I can take care ofmyself.”
If she said that one more time, I was gonna lose it. She’d been so close to dying at the hangar, at the plane wreck, and if those thugs found her again, she’d be gone. But Tanner had been right about this as well. She was completely self-reliant. She was never going to accept help or charity from anybody, not even to ensure her personal safety. It just wasn’t in hermakeup.
Jesus fucking Christ. “Will you please get real?” I said. “You’re gonna get killed if yougoback.”
She snapped. “And why wouldyoucare?”
Because I was dedicated to my global security mission, Ulysses was already involved, and she was a security threat to the project. Because the guys liked her, were eager to have her in the house, and maybe, just maybe, because I liked her too—her grit, herspunk.
“Is it the money?” Tanner asked. “Are you uncomfortable with us paying for yourexpenses?”
She shrugged. “Nothing’s freeinlife.”
She was not someone youcouldbuy.
“Okay, how about this,” Tanner said, troubleshooting on his feet. “You give us the evidence. You stay with us until we hash this out. In the meanwhile, you workforus.”
“Work for you?” She frowned. “In whatcapacity?”
“We’ve got lots of stuff for you to do around here,” Tanner said. “The accounts receivables at the shop areamess.”
“Theshop?”
“Fire Forged. We build fine furnishings. We could use someone to staff theoffice.”
She eyed Tanner suspiciously. “You’re makingthisup.”
“We were gonna have to hire someone anyway. Might as wellbeyou.”
The lines on her forehead deepened. “I don’t want yourcharity.”
This was not going well. If she wasn’t going to let us take care of her, then we had to find a different way to keep her safe. Persuasion wasn’t doing the job. “You agreed to follow myorders.”