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  After hanging up the phone, he sat back and smiled. Javan was just what he needed. Someone Ann could relate to. Someone she trusted. Someone he trusted. It helped that Javan had been through heartbreak a few years back. He was still open to the idea of falling in love.

  Maybe he had some insights into what he could do, how he could wear her down. Maybe even how he could tell her how he felt.

  As he waited for the sun to rise, he thought about how many different ways he could get back with her.

  Finally he had his opportunity. He watched as she crossed the street alone. He was sitting in the car next to his shooter. He knew the man could easily do this next job, but he didn’t want anything to get messed up, so he was sitting in the car with him.

  “We may have a problem,” his man said as he pointed to a van on the opposite side of the street.

  Then he could see it. The large man who’d been the cameramen in Rio was sitting in a black van watching Ann cross the street.

  “I told you he was security.”

  “He can’t watch her all the time.” He looked down at his watch and noticed he was running late. “I’m late. Follow her, grab her if you can. If not, text me and we’ll continue with the backup plan.”

  They watched Ann drive away in her car, followed closely by the dark van. Then the man got out of his car and sprinted to his vehicle.

  The next morning Ann marched into her office with a plan. There was no way she was going to let Anthony fire her. She walked out of the elevators and past the secretary with her head held high. She avoided talking to anyone; she just wanted to make it into her office. She was so focused on getting there, she didn’t see the man sitting behind her desk until after she’d closed the door, leaned back on it, and released a sigh of relief.

  “Was it that bad?” Dave asked from her chair. She couldn’t help it, she squealed. She’d only met Dave Myers once before, on the day she’d been hired almost five years ago. He was an older gentlemen with silver hair. His suits always looked pressed and he never had a hair out of place. He had a reputation for being a hard-ass and she’d done everything she could to avoid dealing with him directly.

  “Oh,” she stood up straight and ran her hands over her skirt, trying to make sure she looked perfect.

  “Come in, Miss Rhodes. I’d like to hear all about your adventures.”

  She walked in and sat in one of the chairs that sat in front of her desk. She felt nervous, like she was being interviewed for a job. This was her office, but she didn’t quite know what was going to happen next.

  Less than an hour later, the laughter could be heard down the hall from her office. Ann realized a few things talking to Dave. First, he was a pretty cool guy for a hard-ass. And second, he only wanted what was best for his business and his employees.

  He’d told her that he had set up a fund for Mark’s and Joe’s families. Even though the business had nothing officially to do with their deaths, he’d promised to take care of them, something she’d almost broken down crying over. She’d missed their services since she was still hiking through the jungle trying to save her own skin at the time.

  Dave had also told her that he was very interested in running her piece on Heitor, especially in light of her father’s new campaign. It would shed some more light on the whole subject of the struggle with the drug lords. Not to mention the effects his new law would have on stopping drugs from coming in through one of the largest states, one that had problems with border patrols. The fact that Texas has the most drug seizures through traffic stops weighed heavily on her father’s campaign. Dave was a huge supporter of her father and had dedicated the network to cover his upcoming speeches.

  Ann didn’t know if Dave treated her special because of her connections, but she didn’t think so. She liked to think that Dave was just a really good guy, who’d been judged by the wrong people.

  “You understand that the story idea still needs to be run by the board. I’ll let you know when they make a decision. It should be sometime later this week.”

  He stood and shook her hand. “Again, I’m really sorry about everything that’s happened to you over the last few weeks. If you need any more time off, please, just let us know.”

  She smiled and shook his hand. “Thank you, no. I’m ready to get back to work and keep busy.”

  She needed to so she could stop thinking about the one person she still couldn’t get out of her mind.

  Later as she made her way to the supermarket, she was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn’t realize she was being followed. At first she thought she was hallucinating. Then she’d purposely gone into the frozen food section and opened one of the large glass doors. There he was, looking back at her through the reflection. Heitor stood at the end of the aisle, but when she turned to look, he was gone. She’d rushed to the end of the aisle, but hadn’t seen him or anyone else for that matter.

  As she walked out to her car, she was shocked to see Javan leaning against her car. She’d rushed to him and hugged him. When he told her he was working with Ethan to watch her, she’d been a little upset that Ethan wasn’t going to do it himself.

  “Don’t look like that, Princess.” The use of Ethan’s nickname jolted her. “Sorry, that’s what he calls you.” He smiled and she realized she couldn’t be mad at him. “He wants me to watch you when you’re out. Plus, I’m supposed to install surveillance in your place. I wanted to wait until you got back.”

  “Well, I’m just heading back now. Were you following me earlier? In the store?”

  He nodded his head. “Did you happen to see a large Brazilian man, gray hair, a little taller than you?”

  He looked at her and thought about it. “No, but then again, I wasn’t looking for a Brazilian man. Should I be?”

  She looked around the full parking lot and shook her head. “No, I think my mind has been playing tricks on me. Come on, let’s go put up cameras for Ethan.”

  “That was too close. Now there is a big Jamaican watching her as well. I think she spotted me in the store.”

  “I don’t care. I’ve just found out that I might have a chance to get my hands on her at the end of this week. I’ll keep you posted.” He clicked his phone shut and smiled as he thought about literally getting his hands on her.

  Damn, he was a fool. It was two nights later and he was sitting in a dark van across from Ann’s condo, watching her on the monitors. Javan sat next to him, chewing on a handful of peanuts.

  “Thanks again, man, for handling my situation. I really needed to get out of there. My parents were trying to get me married off again.” His friend shook his head in horror.

  “Marriage to you would be a nightmare.” Ethan mumbled.

  “I’m sorry. What?” His friend crushed a handful of peanuts in his palm.

  Ethan laughed for the first time in two days. He thought his friend knew something was up with him. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t handle the simple job on his own, it was more like he didn’t want to anymore. He needed the moral support of a man who’d fallen once. And boy had Javan fallen. She’d been the “African Beauty to beat all others,” or so his friend had called her. Ethan had been shocked that a woman so beautiful could have ever fallen for his friend.

  Actually, it was thanks to that particular woman, Leena, that he’d deserved the two punches from Javan in Rio. But Ethan couldn’t let her get away with the diamond heist. After all, it was his job to catch the bad guy, even when the bad guy turned out to be wearing four inch stilettos and sleeping with his best friend.

  His mind kept playing over so many questions. He was back to questioning Ann’s motives at this point. Sometimes he’d think he’d figured it all out, but then he’d be swayed in the opposite direction. It was as if he was playing devil’s advocate with his emotions.

  Was Ann any different than Leena had been? She’d acted grateful to him about rescuing her in Rio. She’d spent all that time with him in Peru, acting like they were closer than he’d ever been wit
h anyone else. Hell, he’d taken her to meet his family!

  Maybe it was all in his mind? Maybe he was the reason she had pulled away? If he had said or done something… He thought back to all the time he’d spent with her.

  Maybe she had played him? Maybe she was just getting through her survivor’s guilt by sleeping with him. He closed his eyes as he listened to her talk on the phone. The wiretap and cameras were something he’d made Javan do. Then he remembered Ann’s face when she’d seen his friend. It had lit up and she’d hugged him like he was an old friend. Maybe it was all just an act?

  “You’re being too hard on her, you know.”

  Ethan glared at Javan from across the small space.

  “You should listen to me, I know what I’m talking about.”

  “Right, because your relationships have worked out great so far.” Ethan turned back to the row of monitors. Each screen showed a different scene in Ann’s condo.

  Javan punched him lightly on the arm. Even though it was a light punch, Ethan knew he’d have a small bruise there by the morning.

  “Do what you will, old friend, but in case you haven’t noticed, we are getting much older. You won’t be able to do this kind of job much longer. I’m planning on retiring soon.”

  “Javan, you’ve been planning on retiring since I met you eight years ago.”

  Just then, Ethan watched as a red, Honda Civic pulled up to Ann’s curb. A young kid around the age of twenty jumped out carrying a large red pizza box.

  “I’ll be back. I’m going to check it out.” Ethan slid open the door open quietly and reached the kid before he could ring Ann’s doorbell. Paying the kid too much, he stood and looked down at the pie.

  Maybe he was being too hard on her? He stepped back and rang her doorbell. Waited to see what her next move would be.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ann was bored. Since returning home, she’d gone to work, gone to the grocery store. Her kitchen was now fully stocked with groceries. When she’d arrived home last night she had realized there wasn’t anything to eat since she’d left for a long journey. She’d visited her family and done other boring everyday tasks, but was still bored out of her mind. How could she ever get back in the swing of a normal life after what she’d gone through with Ethan?

  She’d been happily surprised to see Javan yesterday at the store. When they’d come back to her place, he’d come in and installed several small cameras throughout her place. She’d talked to him and had found out that he’d had to leave Rio on account of helping them escape. She felt bad, but was happy that he was going to be helping Ethan out now.

  She was in the middle of watching the evening news, when the doorbell rang. She hadn’t even heard a word the announcer said since she’d been too busy thinking of Ethan again.

  Knowing it was the pizza man at the door, she rushed to grab her new purse. She’d ordered online since she knew her phones were being listened to. She opened the door without looking out the peephole.

  Then she was pushed up against the door and pinned there as she stared into Ethan’s very angry face.

  “You didn’t even check to see who it was?” He growled out, pushing her against the door further. He kicked her front door shut with his foot. Then he used his arms and pinned her hands beside her body.

  She could see the anger in his face, and she was beginning to feel angry herself. How dare he leave the other night? He hadn’t even talked to her, just left her like she’d been some job. The least he could have done was say thanks for the hot sex while we ran for our lives. Then he’d hired Javan to deal with her because he was too chicken to deal with her himself.

  Using that anger, she pushed her hands away from the door and used her best Judo moves on him. She was free from his grasp in only a few seconds.

  Then she was pinned against the wall beside her front door. Damn, he was good. She almost smiled at his moves. But she was still angry at how cowardly he’d been. She tried a second time, this time making sure not to turn her back to him. She ended up pushing him back a full step. He looked at her as if he was impressed. Then he came at her and she avoided his hands by twisting, then blocked his legs as he tried to swoop them out from under her. She was so happy that she’d avoided the maneuver, she hadn’t seen the next move coming.

  She ended up flying through the air and landing on her back on her plush carpet. The wind was knocked from her slightly as she landed. He’d held her hips and had taken most of the blow with his knees, which were on either side of her hips, pinning her down. Her arms were grasped tightly in his hands as he held them up beside her head.

  “Is this how safe you are? Opening the door without looking?”

  She tried to kick him off her, and using her hips, she bucked until she was running out of breath. She realized she was getting nowhere. Blowing the hair out of her face, she glared up at him.

  “Fine, you win. Now let me up.”

  “No, not yet.” He leaned over until his nose was less than an inch from hers. “Was I just a game to you?”

  When she looked up into his eyes, she saw more than anger there, which totally broke her. Her entire body went lax.

  “No! Was I was just a job to you?” She lifted her chin, challenging him. She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

  He pulled back a little and looked deep into her eyes. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but she had seen the anger drain from his eyes.

  “Javan, sign off for the night. I’ve got this.” Ethan pulled a small ear bud out of his ear and set it on her coffee table. Then he was kissing her and she had the wind knocked out of her lungs for the second time in less than five minutes.

  “I thought you didn’t want this.” He pulled her head back, exposing her neck as he ran his mouth down her skin. She pushed on his shoulders until she rolled him over. Then she straddled him, pinning him to the floor, and looked down at him.

  “How could I not want this?” She bent down and bit his lip lightly, pulling on it gently. Then she sucked on it, soothing the sting she’d caused.

  His hands went to her hips and he pushed them against him. Using his knees to spread her legs, he pinned her hands over her head and just looked at her.

  She needed the speed, she needed him. They rolled across the carpet, removing clothing quickly. She even heard something rip at one point, which caused her to laugh. She moaned as she nibbled her way down his stomach. How she’d missed the taste of him, the feel of his hot skin, vibrating under her hands.

  She knew they were going fast, but when he lifted her knees and plunged into her, she stopped caring. She arched her back and screamed with delight as he held her hips and repeated the movement more slowly this time. Then she looked up into his eyes and saw what she’d tried to deny in herself.

  She was in love. Finally. Wholly. There was no use denying it any further. Reaching up, she took hold of his face and pulled him down to her mouth. Just before he kissed her, she closed her eyes as a tear escaped.

  “Did you want some pizza?” Ethan asked half an hour later. They were lying naked on her floor, their clothes scattered in piles around them. Their breathing had finally calmed down to a somewhat normal level.

  “Mmmm, no. Maybe later. Besides, I only ordered it to see what you’d do when it arrived.”

  He closed his eyes and realized that he’d fallen right into her trap. Then he remembered the monitors. If Javan was still watching the monitors, he’d have to kill him. He cringed, remembering that everything that happened in here was neatly being taped. Okay, first on his list, erase the tape, then kill Javan if he watched.

  “What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Ann asked, looking down at him. He cringed again.

  “How bad would it be if we accidentally just made a porno?”

  She laughed. Actually, laughed. Then she smiled and leaned over him. “You know, if you hadn’t come in to talk to me, I was going to do a nice striptease for one of these cameras, just to get you in here.”

 
; He could have sworn she was purring. His mind instantly flipped to her slowly removing her clothes for him as he watched in the van. She was starting to rub her hips over him and the friction was going to kill him.

  Not wanting any more rug burns on his back, he picked her up and carried her, as she laughed, into the bedroom.

  Later, after Ann was asleep, he quietly went out to the van. Javan had shut everything down, including the tapes before he left. Which meant no porno. Then he snuck back in the house and back in the bed with Ann and slept until morning, holding her tight against him.

  “I can’t believe it. It’s taken almost a week and they are finally going to let me run my piece from Rio. They want it edited a little more and some more back story, but the executives want it by Friday.” Ann was so nervous, she was pacing her small office.