Nari looked over her shoulder, holding tight to Angus’s hand. “I’m glad she’s going to be okay, Quan. Have a nice night.” Then she walked out into the hallway. “I’m starving. Have you eaten?”
“No.” Angus nodded at the agents watching them leave, and a couple nodded back. “We can grab something on the way home. I’ve had a rough enough day without you trying to cook something.” Her answering laugh was a balm to something inside him that he hadn’t realized needed soothing.
He opened the outside door. The rain slashed at them, and he took off his jacket and set it over her shoulders.
She sighed and leaned into him, tripping over her feet. Just how exhausted was she? “Before I forget, the guy spoke to me, and his voice was all raspy. I don’t know if he was faking it or if it was real. Did Lassiter have a raspy voice?”
“Yes. Very,” Angus said, fury rising in him faster than a tornado. For a second he’d forgotten that Lassiter had had his hands on Nari. Not once, but twice. The bastard really wanted her, but it wasn’t going to happen. Angus didn’t care what he had to do or who he had to go through, but Nari would be safe.
No matter what.
They reached the Jeep and Angus sat in the back with Nari, holding her close. She didn’t even pretend not to want to snuggle into him, and it felt good. Right.
As Raider started the car, his phone buzzed. He pushed a button. “Brigid? You’re on speakerphone.”
“Hi. I just wanted to let you guys know that Angus’s arrest has hit the news. Pictures, profiles, and everything else. The anchors are making a big deal about the hero FBI agent going bad.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, but I figured you should know.”
Nari sat up, her body stiffening.
“No,” Angus said, drawing her near again. “Tomorrow. We’ll deal with the shitstorm tomorrow. For tonight we’re going to be grateful we’re alive and free.”
For now. It was all he had, and he was going to hold on with both hands.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Nari would never forget the look in Angus’s eyes when he’d barged into the hospital room looking for her. Only her. He’d fought an entire squad of HDD agents to get to her, as if she mattered more than anybody else. Her heart warmed as much as her body as she let the hot, bubbly water cocoon her. Apparently when Angus Force promised a bubble bath, he delivered.
He walked back into the bathroom and topped off the wineglass sitting on the edge of the tub. “I saw the new bruises when I undressed you.”
She had almost attacked him at the time, but the bubble bath had been drawn, and he’d been insistent. “Yeah. I fight better than this guy, but he’s no slouch. He brought a gun this time.” She was pretty sure it had been Lassiter, but she didn’t want to ruin the peaceful moment by saying his name again. Not here and not now.
Angus sat with his own glass of wine, right outside the tub. “I don’t know where Jethro gets this stuff, but it’s pretty good.”
Amusement tickled through her. “That’s a Sine Qua Non ‘Pearl Clutcher’ Chardonnay from 2012. I’m surprised Jethro let us have it.”
Angus winced, looking at his glass. “I found it in the wine cellar. Figured he wouldn’t mind.”
She laughed out loud, stirring the bubbles. Then she sobered, sighing as her muscles soaked in the heat. “I don’t want to spoil the mood, but my brain is going nuts.”
He looked down at his ripped shirt and pulled it over his head, showcasing that broad, strong chest. “Okay.”
Now her body went nuts. She shook her head to clear her mind. “I’m not a profiler and don’t know Lassiter like you do, but it’s odd he’s coming after me first, considering I’m the closest one to you.”
Angus nodded, his torso still looking relaxed—and sexy. “I agree. He likes to draw out the suspense and would want to save you for last. Plus, the risks he has taken in getting to you are extreme. Before, he liked to work under cover of darkness.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, spreading her fingers through the warm water.
Angus took another drink of the expensive wine. “All I can figure is that he’s working under some sort of time constraint that we don’t know about. I’ve run it through my mind and just don’t see what it is.” He was quiet for a moment. “Or he may be misdirecting us.”
Nari blew a bubble away from her mouth and sank deeper into the tub. “Misdirecting us?”
“Yeah. We’re concentrating on you, while he’s stalking another target. Oh, he would’ve taken you earlier if he could have, but now we’re convinced he’s after you. He might be preparing to take Pippa. Or Brigid, who’s working out of the house and still living in Raider’s apartment until their house is built.”
“You think Brigid is the most vulnerable?” Nari asked, making a mental note to call her friend. She might need to talk.
“Now that you quit your outside job, Brigid is the most accessible, although she’s at HDD all day,” Angus said. “But Raider is with her to and from work, as well as at home, and he can fight. Plus, she has been training and is a good shot.”
Nari took a big sip of her wine before broaching the next subject. “I’m tired of waiting for him to make a move.”
