“I have his contact information,” she said hopefully. “I can set up a meeting with him. When he shows up, you’ll get him.”
Alejandro hadn’t gotten as far in life as he had by being an idiot. “It’s too dangerous.”
Cora looked up at him crestfallen, and he felt like he had been kicked in the gut. He had taken that joy away from her. “But it’s a good plan.”
“It is,” he quickly assured her, “but Alejandro is sending men after you which means he knows you are connected to us. He’s having people watch your house. He’s not going to trust you to set up a meeting. He’ll know it’s a trap.”
“Then what do yousuggest?” She huffed, her anger quickly returning.
“Since you refuse to leave, I’m going to stay here with you. When I can’t be here one of the guys will stay, or they can sleep out in their car or at Midas’s.”
“So, if they have to sleep in their cars or at Ben’s why can’t you?” Cora knew she sounded like a broken record by now. But he obviously wasn’t taking the hint she didn’t want himsleeping under her roof. She didn’t care what kind of threat was looming over her head.
Liam’s nostrils flared. He was getting irritated. “Because they don’t have a history with you. I want to stay close to you because they seem focused on your house, not Midas’s. You don’t like it, tough, but it doesn’t matter what you say, I’m not leaving.” To emphasize his point,Liamcrossed his arms overhis chest. The action caused his biceps to bulge, and Cora’s eyes drifted down to them. Her fingers itched to touch them. She remembered what it was like to feel them around her. Enfolding her. Protecting her.
Cora took a step back. “Fine, stay. Do whatever you want. You always have.” Cora marched out of the bedroom and raced to her room and slammed the door. She collapsed on her bed and buriedthe pillow over her head. She could do this. She could handle having Liam back in her life and temporarily in her home. She could pretend he wasn’t there. Simple.
~
The next day Cora was feeling refreshed. Last night she had been tired, and adrenaline had worn off. Now, she was feeling better. She would pretend Liam was not here and she would go about her day like she always did. She wouldshower, have coffee, then work at her computer. Nice normal day. After showering and getting dressed Cora walked past Liam’s room and saw the door opened. It didn’t surprise her. He had always been an early riser. She made her way down to her kitchen and smelled it before she saw it. The coffee had already been made. Her favorite coffee cup was sitting out with a single daisy in a vase next toit.So much for pretending he wasn’t here.Cora fixed her coffee and ignored the flower and went to her office.
If Cora thought it would be easy to pretend Liam wasn’t there she was mistaken. She found herself listening for when he came home, which had been shortly after she ran to her office to work. She had stared at a blank screen for thirty minutes until she heard the front door open. Shehad purposely left the curtains closed in her office, so she wouldn’t be tempted to look out the window for him. Now that he was here, she quickly turned on her computer and made it look like she was working. She kept her eyes glued to her computer as he stepped in and paused at her doorway.
“Good morning, Cora.” He purred.
Cora’s hands clenched and was thankful he couldn’t see them. “Morning,”she needed to focus on her work, not him. He had a job to do, and so did she.
“Have you called Hound yet?” He asked as he came over to her desk.
Cora’s software was just opening when he came to stand next to her. Cora started typing randomly while he looked over her shoulder. “Not yet, I just got up.”
“I’ll give him a call. He can come by sometime today or tomorrow to set everything up.”
“That’s fine.” Cora kept staring ahead.
“Are you okay, Cora?”
“Fine, why?” Why was he still there?
“Because you are only looking at the screen and just typing. You’re not even in an account. And that’s not a code.”
Cora looked at what she had been writing and saw that it was in fact just random letters. Busted. “It’s an exercise I do in the morning before I get started. Stretch out thefingers.” She was so lame. “How do you know it’s not in an account?”
“I’ve told you before I notice everything about you. It doesn’t hurt we dated for over a year. I’ve seen you work. I may not be able to understand it, but I can tell when you are in an account or not. Can I get the contact information you have for Alejandro? I want to get it to Hound.” Cora stopped pretending to type.
“Ican’t contact him, but Aaron can?” She asked incredulously.
“Hound won’t be contacting him. He can trace the phone number, and we might finally know where he is.”
Cora didn’t say anything as she scribbled the information down before thrusting a sticky note in his direction. She still refused to look at him when he reached for the sticky note and let their fingertips graze. “I’ll see youlater.” He turned around before he let her see his smile.
“Where are you going?” She asked before she could stop herself.
“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you. I need to shower and make some calls.”
Cora was about to snap at him about not worrying about him, but she looked up at him, and the words died on her tongue. He had sunglasses propped on top of his head keeping him unruly locks atbay. His t-shirt clung to him like a second skin and rivulets of sweat rolled down his neck and arms. And that was why she avoided looking at him until now. All his sensual muscles were on display. Was there anything that could make this man look bad? “Just get cleaned up quick. I don’t want all your sweat all over my floor.” Cora turned back to her computer and erased everything she had been typingand opened a client’s file. This time she was focused on her work and missed Liam smile at her before he ran upstairs to shower.
~
