The restaurant was closed, but he took them in through a back entrance and up a set of stairs. At the top, he knocked on a door, and man’s voice called out, “Enter.”
Despite her annoyance with Brogan, she moved in close to him as they stepped into the room. It was an office, just like he said. It was big with a desk at one end of the room and two couches facing each other on the opposite end of the room.
The man sitting behind the desk had to be Brogan’s boss. He was well-built, but not as big as Brogan. His dark eyes locked onto her and there was an intensity that made unease stir in her gut. Anxiety made her muscles tense, and she wondered if she was in another dangerous situation.
But Brogan turned to look at her then, pulling her attention away from his boss. His face softened just a fraction and he gave her an almost imperceptible nod. It was a sign of how much he’d earned her trust when she felt herself relaxing.
He wouldn’t have brought her here if she was in danger.
The man behind the desk rose from his seat and came around, and she noted that he was wearing a black suit that looked like it was made for him.
“Amy, this is my boss, Owen,” Brogan said. “He just wants to ask you a few questions.”
“Take a seat,” Owen said, heading toward the two couches. He settled onto one, and she sat on the one across from him. Brogan stayed standing, leaning against the wall by her couch. She wished he was beside her for a moment, but she quickly brushed that thought away.
She was safe with him here. It didn’t matter if he was right at her side.
“Tell me what happened yesterday,” Owen said.
It wasn’t a request. There was no illusion that she had a choice in the matter.
It pissed her off. Who the hell was this guy to give her orders? She was sick and tired of people telling her what to do, making decisions for her, and threatening her life. She didn’t do anything to deserve this treatment.
“Why should I tell you anything?” she asked through clenched teeth. “I don’t even know you. I don’t understand why you’re helping me or what will happen if I tell you anything.”
“If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I won’t be inclined to keep you safe.”
She saw Brogan tense out of the corner of her eye, and she wondered if that meant that he didn’t approve of Owen’s words.
“Why should I trust you?”
Before Owen could answer, the door of the office opened. Amy expected another intimidating man to stroll in, so she couldn’t have been more surprised to see a woman with a bright and friendly smile plastered on her face. There was a flat white box in her hands.
“I brought donuts,” she said in a chipper voice, as if she didn’t just walk into a room with tension thick in the air.
Who the hell was this woman?
Amy glanced over at Owen, expecting him to kick this person out so that he could keep grilling her, and she was even more shocked to see that the expression on the man’s face had transformed to something warm and soft.
It was startling, but as the woman came near, Amy saw the way she looked at Owen. That was love in her eyes, no doubt about it.
“I brought donuts,” she said, placing the box on the low table between the couches. “Everyone help yourselves.”
Amy didn’t hesitate to grab one from the box. It wasn’t as if they were going to poison her. Men like this had better ways of killing people. Not that they seemed to want to do that, anyway. They wanted to get information out of her.
“This isn’t a social gathering,” Owen said, eyeing the box on the table. “We’re doing business.”
“Oh, be nice,” the woman said, giving Owen a dismissive wave as if he wasn’t a scary as hell guy. She turned to Amy with another bright grin on her face. “I’m Ruby.”
“Uh…Amy,” she replied, giving a little wave that made her feel even more awkward in this situation.
“I hope these guys aren’t intimidating you too much.”
“Ruby,” Owen grumbled, but she just sat down next to him and patted his knee.
“Amy isn’t one of your hard-ass men. She needs your help.”
Owen sighed, but when he turned to Amy again, he didn’t look nearly as intense as before. Just the presence of the woman beside him seemed to have put him at ease.
