“You don’t need to go to any trouble,” Talia called out as Lennox disappeared into the room at the end of the hall. “I’m only staying for the night. Two at the most.”
“It’s no trouble,” Lennox promised, his voice a little muffled by the distance between them. It also sounded like he was fighting with something. Probably those fresh sheets he’d mentioned. “My sisters are picky about clean sheets, so I keep a lot of them. It will just take me a minute to get them on. Feel freeto look around the living room or check out the kitchen to see if you can find anything you want to eat.”
Talia didn’t bother to tell Lennox there was absolutely no way she’d be able to eat anything tonight. Besides that it was way too late for food, there was the simple fact that her stomach was still churning so much that the idea of eating made her queasy.
Still, Talia took Lennox’s first suggestion, wrapping her arms around herself to calm her nerves while moving over to the closest wall to take a look at the pictures hanging there. Almost every photo was of him with one or more women who were clearly related to him, all of them a little older than he was. While there were a few pics of an older couple—his parents obviously—there were far more of his siblings, with two dozen pics covering at least a twenty-year span. From the smiles and arms thrown around each other, it wasn’t hard to see that Lennox was close to them.
“How many sisters do you have anyway?” she asked, having a hard time getting an accurate count from the pictures since the women all had the same dark hair and blue eyes he had.
“Five—all older than me,” Lennox answered from the bedroom with a laugh. “A fact they never let me forget.”
Smiling at that, Talia moved over to the wall closest to the kitchen and the collection of picture frames located there. While the ones behind her had all been of Lennox’s family, these were of him with other men in tactical uniforms she assumed must be his Teammates. There were also quite a few photos of Lennox standing by himself in various desert and jungle locales, each with him holding a weapon and looking dangerous. It was a stark reminder that Lennox was a Navy SEAL, a man who deployed frequently to scary places around the world where he was asked to do things that could easily get him killed.
That had been one of the biggest reasons Talia had been hesitant to commit to a date with Lennox even though she wasattracted to him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved with someone who did something so dangerous.
It was a concern that looked silly now, considering Lennox had been the first and only name that had popped into her head when the detective suggested she have someone pick her up from the police station. Talia felt more than a little guilty at the knowledge that when push came to shove, she was willing to look past all the danger to have a man like Lennox there to protect her.
He came out of the bedroom then, throwing her a grin as he walked through the living room with its big, comfy looking couch and gigantic TV and into the adjoining kitchen. “I know it’s late, but do you want something to drink before bed?”
Talia started to say no, that she was too tired to stay up a minute longer, but then realized that wasn’t true. In fact, she was wide awake at that moment. Getting to sleep anytime soon was out of the question.
“I don’t suppose you have any hot chocolate?” she asked, following him into the kitchen. “Hanging out with Maria got me addicted to the stuff.”
“Actually, I think I might. My sister, Mia, was here a few months ago with her daughter and insisted we have cocoa for movie night. I’m sure I still have some.”
Lennox opened one cabinet after another, searching for the elusive chocolate drink.
“Found it!” he exclaimed a few seconds later, pulling out a familiar blue box of hot chocolate mix. “It even has mini marshmallows.”
Lennox put water in the microwave to heat then grabbed mugs before rummaging around for what he called some “suitable late-night snacks,” though she had no idea what constituted suitable. A few moments later, she learned that Fudge Stripes cookies were apparently in that category.
“Now that we have a little time to talk, maybe you could tell me what happened tonight,” Lennox said when they were both seated at the small table in the kitchen a few minutes later. “Detective Green gave me his version of the events, but I’d like to hear yours.”
Talia felt a wave of anger again, but it wasn’t directed at Lennox this time. No, right now, her frustration was focused only on that stupid police detective and his patronizing smile. She’d known from the very first words out of her mouth that the man would never believe anything she had to say.
“I’m not sure what that guy’s problem was,” she grumbled, reaching into the package for a cookie. “He acted like I was making the whole thing up.”
Lennox considered that. “I think the detective is one of those old school cops who believes every crime is simple. He doesn’t do complicated or convoluted. He doesn’t look for a shadowy conspiracy to provide a suspect when he thinks it’s probably just some regular Joe looking to rob someone.”
She got what he was saying and had no doubt that he was right, but it still bothered her that a cop could be so blatantly clueless to what was happening right in front of him.
“I’m friends with about a dozen other au pairs,” Talia explained, sipping her cocoa. “Our employers are all in the same social circle, so we help each other when it comes to watching over the children in our care. While the kids are playing in the park, we sit and talk.”
“What do you talk about?”
Talia smiled. “Girl talk for the most part. And the families we work for of course—the arguments we overhear, who’s cheating on whom, that kind of stuff. But lately, the conversations have started going in a different direction.”
“Different how?” Lennox asked, helping himself to another cookie.
After being dismissed so readily by Detective Green, she appreciated the fact that Lennox seemed to be taking her seriously.
“All of the families we work for are extremely rich,” she said. “They’re CEOs of manufacturing companies and bio-tech firms, shipping magnates, financial geniuses, real estate moguls, and powerful politicians, so it isn’t unusual for people to show up at all hours of the day or night at their homes trying to curry favor.”
“Okay.” Lennox took a sip of cocoa that left behind a chocolate mustache that had Talia’s fingers twitching at the urge to lean over and wipe off. “Did one of those people make you suspicious?”
“Not me. The other au pairs,” she said. “About a week ago, some seriously sketchy guys showed up to speak to the people they work for. None of the au pairs were able to listen in on what was said, but whatever it was, it freaked out their employers. After comparing notes, we figured out that all the same people were going from family to family, saying something that sent them into a panic.”
Talia paused, expecting Lennox to say that she was imagining stuff that wasn’t there, like Detective Green had done. But instead, he regarded her thoughtfully, waiting for her to continue.
