“It isn’t playing when you really are one of the bosses,” I pointed out. And it wasn’t like any of the guys gave her a hard time because she’d more than proven herself to them when she’d shot a client’s stalker after taking a bullet in the shoulder. “Why am I not surprised that my grandmother is putting her retirement to good use? Sneaking in all those baby cuddles while I’m not around to steal Madison away from her.”
“We’re lucky that she’s back from Europe and available to help out.”
“Lucky, my foot,” I mumbled. “I’m willing to bet she planned it that way.”
“That’s not a bet I’d take,” Calista laughed. The two women had gotten to know each other fairly well after my grandmother had recovered from her appendectomy and spent a couple ofmonths training me as her replacement before she retired as Xander’s assistant. She was the only person who’d been allowed to babysit Madison so far—on the night she’d turned six-weeks old, so Xander and Calista could have a night out. Since I’d moved in with my grandmother to be closer to work, it meant I’d gotten to spend some time with the baby, too. But only a little.
“She’s greedy when it comes to Madison. I think she let me hold her for a grand total of maybe fifteen minutes when we watched her for you guys.”
“My baby girl might be my favorite topic in the world, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget about our workout session tonight,” Calista warned. “Or—”
She was cut off by the ringing of the phone. “Saved by the bell,” I mumbled as I grabbed for it. Without Roman around to distract me, I was able to get my full greeting out and give a new client directions to our office without sounding like a bumbling idiot. If only I could figure out how to manage that when he was around.
2
ROMAN
“Ithought for sure she’d gotten over her nervousness and settled in a little, but I swear that girl has been jumpier lately than when she first started here,” Xander muttered, shaking his head as I settled into the chair across his desk from him.
I leaned forward in my seat, narrowing my eyes at him as I growled, “She isn’t that bad.”
He held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “No need to jump to her defense, Thatcher. It’s not like I’m going to fire Jessa. She’s part of the Gray Security family.”
I relaxed again and flashed him a sly smile. “Plus, Calista would kick your ass if you did.”
“She’d be the only one who might succeed in that endeavor,” he snorted. “But we both know you’d be the first to try.”
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow in question, acting like I didn’t understand the implication. I’d never been one to overly share personal information, and my time in the Army had only sharpened that instinct. It didn’t deter Xander, though.
“Try and deny it all you want, but the bigger they are...the harder they fall.”
I sank back in my chair and shook my head. “Like you can talk. You’re an inch taller than me.”
“You’re not going to hear me denying that I fell hard for my woman. I think you’ll find there’s no shame in that.” He lifted a folder off the top of the pile I’d brought into the office with me, and rifled through it. “If you’re going to stay on here permanently, then you might want to man up.”
I ignored the jab at my pride, knowing damn well that he was just trying to get a rise out of me so I’d admit to my interest in Jessa. Instead, I focused on the purpose of our meeting this morning—my one-month performance review. “IfI stay on? Does that mean you’re not sure about your decision yet?”
“Nah, the one-month trial run was a formality more than anything else. I knew you were qualified before I interviewed you, and you’ve fit in well with the team since you’ve been here. The position is yours for as long as you want it.”
I felt a deep sense of relief that had more to do with the woman sitting in the receptionist’s chair than knowing I got to keep the job that I’d come to enjoy so much. If things hadn’t worked out with Xander, then I’d either have to hunt for another position in Atlanta or take the one I’d been offered in Chicago, working for an Army buddy of mine who’d started up his own security company several years ago. It was something I’d seriously considered, but my preference had been to stay in my hometown because it was familiar. Now it was to stay close to Jessa—as much of a pussy as it made me since I hadn’t even asked her out on a date yet.
Damn, my reaction to her had knocked me for a loop when I first saw her the day I’d come in for my interview. The tiny blonde packed a punch to my libido. When she blinked up at me with those innocent brown eyes, blushing like she had a direct line to the filthy thoughts running through my brain about her, I’d wanted nothing more than to skip my interview, tossher over my shoulder, and take her back to my new apartment. Since she’d barely been able to stammer out a hello and I hadn’t wanted to scare the shit out of her, I reigned in my caveman impulses and swore to take it slow with her. But I hadn’t considered that I’d make virtually no progress at all in a month’s time.
“I’ll take it.”
“Good,” Xander clipped out. “We have a potential new client coming in at ten o’clock who I’d like you to meet with. I have a meeting I need to head to, but Calista will be here if any issues pop up.”
“Will do.”
He lifted up a manila envelope to hand it to me. “Jessa must have gotten this mixed up with the folders I needed.”
I glanced down and noticed that it was addressed to her and already slit open at one end. Xander tilted the envelope as he handed it to me, and the contents spilled onto his desk. When what I was seeing registered, my entire world tipped on its axis.
“What the fuck?” I growled, snatching the photos off his desk. My blood pressure rose as I looked through them. They seemed innocent enough at first glance since they were shots of her going about her day but I didn’t like the idea of some guy taking pictures of Jessa when she didn’t know about it. Or even if she did.
One was of her crossing the street in front of the office. Another was of her sitting in the coffee shop down the street. A third was of her opening the front door to the house she shared with her grandmother. They were all taken from a distance, and they’d come to the office in an envelope addressed to her without a return address or postage.
Worst of all, there was a note on the back of the photo taken where she lived. It said that the sender was keeping his eye on her. “She’s got a stalker.”
