Wicked Attraction (The Protector) Read online

  She let him, putting a knee on the bed between his legs. She didn’t let him pull her down on top of him, though. She took the time to stare at him, drinking in the sight. “I love you, you know.”

  “I know.” Ewan propped himself up on one elbow, his other hand still linked with hers. “I love you, too.”

  Nina sat on the edge of the bed, holding his hand. The other went to his thigh, feeling the warmth and the muscles bunching as he also sat up. She drew in a breath. She opened her mouth to tell him how happy she was.

  Brief but all-encompassing blackness spread over her vision for a split second before fading, leaving a haze of red in the edges of her view. Nina blinked, trying to force it away. She would not panic, she thought, even as she heard herself making a series of low, gasping sighs. As though from far away, she heard Ewan saying her name, but her mouth had gone so dry she couldn’t answer.

  She hadn’t gone blind and yet focusing on him had become so difficult that she closed her eyes. She drew in breath after breath, feeling his calming hands on her. Ewan murmured her name. His hand stroked over her hair as he pulled her against him so they could face each other on the bed, their limbs entangled. Nina pressed her face to his so that she could feel his breath against her skin.

  The minutes passed, and at last she dared to open her eyes. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, although Ewan’s shocked expression told her before she even sat up to go look in the mirror over the dresser that something was amiss. Her left eye was completely threaded with crimson. Shaking, Nina put both hands flat on the dresser. From behind her, Ewan put his arms around her.

  “Let me call the doc,” he said. “Please.”

  She nodded after a moment, knowing in her gut that it wasn’t going to make a difference. She looked at the floor of her bedroom. The boxes, overflowing with clothes, shoes, hats, gloves, jewelry.

  “What is this?” she asked, confused for a second or so before a pinprick of a memory returned to her. She couldn’t recall receiving the boxes or opening them, although surely she must have. She did, however, remember that Katrinka had sent them. “I mean . . . let’s get rid of this.”

  “Later,” Ewan urged. “Let’s take it easy right now.”

  She didn’t want to take it easy. She wanted to kick the boxes, punch them, she wanted to burn all the clothes. But none of that would help her or make a difference in what was going on inside her head. Nothing much could do that.

  But at least she had Ewan, Nina thought as he turned her around for a soft kiss. At least there was that.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A few short weeks ago, Ewan would have said he might never be truly contented again in his life. Now, waking every morning with Nina in his bed, he couldn’t imagine ever being happier. Everything that had happened between them hadn’t gone away of course—it wasn’t that simple. There were still times when he caught her looking at him when she thought he didn’t notice, mostly after they’d made love and they were drifting to sleep. The expression on her face was inevitably thoughtful, a little difficult to interpret. Always beautiful.

  She hadn’t had any glitches in the past week or so, and the doc he’d called to come check her out had found nothing out of the ordinary, but that worried Ewan more than if they’d come back with a bunch of diagnoses. He’d been working hard with Katrinka toward planning the events that would support the change in the legislation, along with working even harder on writing the new language that needed to get to all the right government officials. The sooner they could get this turned around, the faster he could help Nina. Of course, he was also working on the upgrades themselves so that when the time came, there’d be no waiting to implement them.

  If it took much longer, he was going to insist she allow him to give her the upgrades before it was legalized. If she demanded they be given to all of her peers, he’d see that happen, too, but he wasn’t going to watch her deteriorate in front of him when he could stop it. The problem was, of course, that he’d done such a good job in restricting the ability to do anything with the original tech that he was having a hard time working on it himself. All of his original work had been burned in the fire, or he’d destroyed it.

  Bothering him, also, was the way she seemed convinced that her stormy emotional array was tied to the degrading tech. It wasn’t something he’d programmed, but he hadn’t been the one to actually implement the tech into the fifteen soldiers. It was, however, something he intended to fix in her.

  Nina hadn’t brought it up again. If she’d been suffering any highs or lows, she hadn’t mentioned it. Ewan suspected she was quietly keeping her fears to herself so that he didn’t get too anxious. She’d been doing her share of work, too. Lots of outreach. Viddy interviews. Meetings. She’d taken to the tasks with full enthusiasm and skill, even if she protested that she wasn’t very good at it.

  “We make a good team,” she told him now as she closed the lid of her laptop and stretched. “I got requests for three more presentations. They want you, too. The power couple.”

  Ewan smiled. “Maybe we’ll get another set of photos in the gossip stream.”

  “Oh, sure, and that reminds me, I have to finish up my interview about my thoughts on kitten heels versus flats,” Nina replied dryly. “I’m having a tough time deciding which I like better. Oh, wait. I’m having a tough time giving a good onedamn about it.”

  Ewan laughed. “Make something up. It’s silly, but it puts eyes on you. Us.”

  “Yes. I know.” She stretched again, gesturing toward him. “Come here and kiss me. I’ve missed you this morning.”

  He did, gladly, and savored her sweet, fresh flavor. “Mmm. This is much more fun than an interview about shoes. Here. I got you something.”

  “This is too much, Ewan,” Nina protested when he handed her the carefully wrapped box that had been delivered a short time ago. “You have to stop showering me with gifts.”

  Ewan rolled his eyes. “Pfft. Open it.”

  “I mean it,” Nina told him but set the box on the low coffee table in front of the couch so that she could toy with the ribbon. She let her fingers stroke over it and looked up at him with a slow smile. “You’re going to spoil me.”

  “If I can’t spoil you, what’s the point?” He sat on the chair across from her, hands steepled under his chin to watch her open the gift.

  She didn’t open it. She touched the ribbon again, then looked at him with that same expression, only this time she was clearly not hiding the fact that she was studying him. “None of this is about the gifts or spending money, Ewan. You know that.”

  He started to make a joke, but stopped himself. “It makes me feel good to treat you to things, Nina. I know it can’t make up for what I did, but—”

  “This is what I mean.” Nina cut him off. She tapped the box again. She patted the couch beside her until he moved to sit there. She turned to face him. “I don’t want to you keep trying so hard.”

  He’d been leaning to kiss her, but now he sat back. “I don’t understand.”

  “I love you, Ewan,” Nina said. “I want to be with you. I want this to work.”

  “I want this to work, too,” he said, unsure of what she was getting at.

  Nina smiled. “I don’t need you to keep trying to prove it, I guess. It makes me . . . uncomfortable.”

  Now he really didn’t understand. “You don’t like presents?”

  “I like presents. Sure. On my birthday. For anniversaries, or holidays. And yes, sure, occasionally a surprise gift now and then can be great. But I feel like all this is too much. I feel like you’re trying hard to prove to me that you love me . . .”

  “I am trying to prove it,” Ewan said.

  Nina sighed and shook her head. She took his hands. “In the past couple weeks, you’ve spent thousands of dollars on trinkets and baubles for me.”

  “I bought you things I thought you’d like,” he answered, stung at her assessment.

  “I do like them. But I don’t need them.
I need you.” Nina leaned to brush her lips against his.

  As always, whenever she touched him, no matter how briefly, an electric arc of pleasure rippled through him. He put a hand on the base of her neck to hold her close to him. Their kiss lingered softly.

  “You have me,” Ewan said. “All of me. I’m all yours, baby, every single part of me.”

  They kissed for a few minutes after that, until his breath caught and he pulled away to look into her face. Shining eyes, slick wet mouth. Her hair had fallen in artful tangles over her shoulders.

  “So . . . you don’t want the presents?” Ewan asked. “I can send them all back.”

  Nina laughed. “You don’t have to do that. I just . . . baby, I don’t want you to think that I’m going to keep holding the past over your head. We both have our flaws, made mistakes. Let’s concentrate on moving forward, together.”

  “Of course.”

  She hesitated, then said, “It feels a little bit like you’re giving me all these things because you’re afraid you’re going to run out of chances.”

  She’d nailed his feelings with such accuracy that it set him back with his gut twisting slightly. It wasn’t something he’d been willing to admit, but there it was in the open between them, and she was right. Ewan started to speak, but she hushed him.

  “I don’t want us to go on with you always worrying that you’re going to lose me, Ewan.”

  “But I do worry that I’m going to lose you.” Ewan thought for sure Nina would deny it, but she took a few small breaths instead, then nodded.

  “I don’t want you to worry about it,” she said. “I want us to enjoy every bit of time we have together, no matter what else is going on.”

  “That’s exactly what I want to do.” He lifted the box from the coffee table and pressed it into her hands, his insides twisted with anticipation. “Open this. Please.”

  * * *

  The box fit exactly in the palm of her hand and had very little weight. Wrapped with a simple white ribbon, it had been packaged as elegantly as everything else Ewan had given her. Nina couldn’t begin to imagine what he could possibly be giving her this time. After the new personal comm, the hyper posh, customized shockgun, and the dozens of other presents, there didn’t seem to be much left.

  She lifted the box, teasing him by tipping it side to side but not tugging away the ribbon. When she shook it, there was the faintest hint of a rattle, but that gave no clues. “What is it? I know. It’s the key to my very own, brand-new buzzcycle.”

  “Open it and see.”

  Ewan’s personal comm pinged. Then again a moment later, this time with an urgent signal. With a frown, he switched it to silent, but the unit continued to buzz with persistent messages.

  “You’d better get that,” Nina said.

  Ewan shook his head. “In a minute. It can wait. Open the box.”

  “It sounds important,” she told him, concerned, but when he waved at her, she slipped the ribbon out of its bow and set it aside. She lifted the lid of the box without expectations.

  What she saw inside blew her away.

  Nestled on a bed of soft fabric, attached with a couple of metal prongs to keep it in place, was a ring. A simple band of silver metal, engraved with flowers and inset with several glittering emeralds. Gemstones on engagement rings had gone out of fashion several decades ago, but there was no mistaking that this ring was meant to be a marriage proposal.

  Nina couldn’t find the words as she lifted the ring from its protective packaging. The ring slipped perfectly onto her finger as though it had been made especially for her, and she knew him well enough to believe that it probably had. She stared at it, feeling the weight of Ewan’s gaze on her. She cleared her throat. Opened her mouth.

  “Don’t say anything,” Ewan told her.

  Nina’s eyebrows rose, but her mouth closed.

  “Take your time with the answer,” he said. “If you’re uncertain, I’d rather have a maybe than a no.”

  Nina smiled. “Yes.”

  “I don’t want you to feel pressured,” Ewan continued, almost as though he hadn’t heard her.

  “Yes,” Nina repeated.

  “I know it’s a big decision—”

  “Yes!” she cried, hugging him. Kissing him. “Yes, yes, yes . . .”

  “Yes?” His reply was muffled against her mouth. “Yes!”

  His comm buzzed again, rapidly this time. Over and over, until she nudged him gently with a laugh. “Answer that so I can get back to the business of ravishing you without all the interruptions.”

  With an irritated groan, Ewan grabbed up his comm and slid a thumb across the screen. His expression, which had been suffused with joy, went stark and still. He shook his head. “What? No. Yeah, I heard you.”

  He swiped the screen again, but said nothing.

  Nina put a hand, the one with the ring, on his shoulder to get him to focus on her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone set the lab in Marlton on fire.”

  * * *

  The lab could be rebuilt. Most things could, if you had the money and desire to do it. Staring at the smoking remains of the building, Ewan didn’t think he’d bother. He had other labs. Other properties. The Marlton location had sentimental value, but beyond that, he didn’t need to reconstruct it.

  Still, the comfort of Nina’s hand slipping into his was enough to make him turn to her with a small smile. “Hey, baby. Looks terrible, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  He loved that she didn’t try to make him feel better under false pretense. Ewan watched the fire crew finish up and get back into their emergency vehicles. Nina’s fingers squeezed his.

  “Did they say if they can tell what happened?” she asked him.

  Ewan shrugged. “They’re suggesting it was electrical.”

  Nina made a soft, dissenting noise. “Not arson?”

  “Do you think it could be arson?” He faced her.

  “You had that vandalism not long ago. Suggestions that someone was trying to break in, although that wasn’t confirmed. Is it possible that someone broke in again to steal something and started a fire to cover it up?”

  “Yes. Of course it’s possible,” he said. “But who do you think did it?”

  Nina shook her head. “I’m not sure it matters, if you can’t figure out if anything was taken. You have insurance, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Is there anything in the lab that you can’t replace? Any of the kids’ work that might be sensitive, something that you don’t want getting out?”

  Ewan scuffed a toe through some of the ash in the parking lot. “Everything is stored on off-site servers. If a hacker wanted to get into any of that, they’d do that remotely. Not here. Anyone who broke in to steal equipment and decided to set a fire wouldn’t have been able to access anything sensitive.”

  “So you’re not worried about this, other than the damage to your property?”

  Ewan studied her. “Not really. Are you?”

  “Anything that I think might bring harm to you worries me,” Nina told him. “None of this sounds right. I don’t know what about it, exactly, is wrong, but I think there’s more to this than vandalism or theft.”

  Ewan sighed and let go of her hand to put both his hands on his hips. “Do you think this was somehow aimed at me? I wasn’t even here. I’m hardly ever here. Anyone who wanted to get to me wouldn’t try to do it here.”

  “Again,” she said, “unless it was a way of getting you to a place where you’d be vulnerable to an attack of some kind.”

  She’d said the words calmly, but the idea still sent a sliver of unease through him. He looked around the parking lot, but saw no signs of anyone or anything. Nina had cocked her head, though, her eyes narrowed.

  “Something’s coming,” she said.

  Moments later, Ewan heard the buzz of a motor, far enough away that he couldn’t determine what sort of vehicle it belonged to. He didn’t have to wait long to find out. From a
round the corner of the building’s remains came a buzzcycle, its rider clad in bright red synthleather and wearing a mirrored helmet. The cycle spun out in the gravel, the rider expertly keeping the vehicle upright as it aimed right for them.

  “Don’t move,” Nina said. “If they seem like they’re going to run us down, and that looks like what they might be trying to do, I will make sure you’re all right.”

  Once, as a child, he’d read a story about horse trainers in the circus who’d claimed that in the event of a stampede, the best option for a person was to drop to the ground, hands over your head, because horses would go out of their way not to run over a human. To escape an attacking black bear, he recalled, you were also supposed to drop and cover your head and the back of your neck. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever read any advice about how to avoid getting run over by a buzzcyle, but standing still without even trying to duck out of the way didn’t seem the best option. Ewan trusted her, but that didn’t make it any easier to stand his ground when the cycle headed right for them at top speed.

  “Steady!” Nina shouted, her grip tight in his even though Ewan didn’t think he was trying to move. He couldn’t have, had he wanted to—pain erupted in his fingers and palm at the strength of her grip.

  It was going to hit them, and it was going to hurt.

  Milliseconds before the cycle ran into them, Nina pushed Ewan two steps to the side as casually as though he happened to be in the way of her getting at something off a shelf. The buzzcycle caught the edge of her hip, sending her spinning and knocking them both to the ground. Ewan hit the pavement hard, scraping his hands, elbows, and knees hard enough to rip holes in his clothes, but the cycle hadn’t touched him. He rolled at once, trying to make sure he was out of the way.

  Nina was already back on her feet, facing away from him. The buzzcycle spun again, the engine revving. It zoomed toward her.

  Again, Nina stepped out of the way, jumping over Ewan on the ground. The tingle of electric shock from the cycle’s undercarriage stung him as it passed so close to his face he was convinced it had taken off the tip of his nose. He rolled again and again in the opposite direction, then pushed up onto his hands and knees again. He needed to get on his feet so he could get out of the way, but he was a little off balance and stumbled.