“She did?” Matt was genuinely surprised to find that out but not enough to complain. Right now, he would be happy to talk about anything other than the hundred-thirty-pound beauty in the room. “Why’d she do that?”
“She wanted to. Which, as it turns out, is a good thing, because I need you on this.”
Matt slid his cold eyes to Kat before focusing on Jake once more. “Need me on what?”
“Your next assignment.”
With his jaw muscles working overtime, Matt begrudgingly asked, “And what is that, exactly?”
Don’t say it. Please, God, don’t say it.
“Dr. Marsh needs protection.”
“Dr.Marsh?” Matt looked back at her. “Didn’t realize you’d become a doctor. Of course, I also thought you were married, so…”
In a moment of weakness about two years after they split, Matt had a buddy search her through his social media account. The fact that she’d married someone else shouldn’t have surprised him, but it had. What didn’t surprise him was how wealthy the asshole was.
Actually, if Matt were being honest—which, he wasn’t—it had completely fucking devastated him. Which is why he never bothered looking her up again.
Genuine sadness filled her pretty eyes. “I got my Ph.D. a few years ago. As for being married, I was. I’m not anymore.”
If she’d been any other woman, Matt would’ve stored that bit of information away for future use. But he didn’t want to keep it. Didn’t want to know a damn thing about her life, now.
Even so, he couldn’t help but go for the dig. “What happened? Hubby run out of money?
“Turner,” Jake said his last name as a warning.
Kat drew in a deep breath. “Brian died sixyears ago.”
Eight years, and she hasn’t remarried?Not that he cared.
“Dr. Marsh was sent to us because she needs our protection.”
Making a snorting sound he didn’t bother trying to cover up, Matt nearly rolled his eyes when he asked, “From what?”
Surprising him—because apparently it was Let’s Surprise the Ever-Loving Fuck out of Matt Day—Katherine straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin.
Looking him square in the eye, she said, “From whoever’s trying to kill me.”
Chapter 2
Matthew. Freaking. Turner.
Of course he’d work here. After all, that was par for the course with how her life was going lately.
Damn it, Kat. Why didn’t you check this place out more thoroughly?
Oh, that’s right. She’d been too busy running for her life.
Wanting to crawl into a hole and disappear, Kat did everything she could not to show the reaction she was having from seeing him again. Not that he’d bothered hiding his feelings about her being here.
One look at his face and she knew Matt would rather be anywhere but in this room with her. It had been in his cold, uncaring eyes.
As soon as he recovered from seeing her again, he’d looked back at her as though she were a stranger. Worse than that. An enemy.
Kat had become dizzy with shock when she’d found herself staring back at the only man she’d truly loved, and when he spoke? God, just hearing his voice again after all this time had damn near brought her to her knees.
Then it turned cold, like his expression. And he’d spit his next words out as if they were a curse.
