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But I’ll wait until the job is done. I’m a professional, after all.
There’s a soft knock at the study door.
“That will be her,” Maverick says. “Come in, sweetheart.”
The door opens.
Holy shit.
She’s changed since she slipped out of my bed this morning. The soft white sundress clings to every curve I had my hands on a few hours ago, but now she looks every inch the perfect angel. Shoulders back, chin high, spine straight like someone shoved a steel rod up her ass. If she’s shocked to see me sitting in her father’s study, she hides it like a pro.
“Grace, this is Drew Blackwood,” Maverick says, completely oblivious. “He’s the security detail I mentioned.”
Grace. It suits her.
She doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t blink. Just gives me a cool, polite smile that would fool anyone who hadn’t heard her moan my name with her thighs locked around my head.
“Nice to meet you,” she says.
“The pleasure is all mine, Grace.” I hold her gaze a beat too long, letting the corner of my mouth lift into a slow, knowing smile.
Maverick keeps talking like he’s reading from a contract. “Mr. Blackwood will accompany you on every outing. He has full access to the grounds and the security feeds. If you leave this house, he stays within ten feet of you at all times. If he tells you to move, you move. If he tells you to stay, you stay. Am I clear?”
Grace’s eyes flash with the same fire I saw last night when she had me pinned to the mattress. “That’s a little overkill, don’t you think?”
“No,” Maverick replies flatly.
“And how long will he be here?” she asks, glancing between us like she’s hoping one of us will say this is all a joke.
“As long as necessary.”
Maverick’s phone buzzes on the desk. He sighs and stands. “I have to take this. Stay put, both of you.”
The second the door clicks shut behind him, the mask shatters.
Grace rounds on me, voice low and furious. “You said you were a consultant.”
“I’m a security consultant,” I say. Close enough.
Truth is, I’m more of a contractor. Levi and I work for Ray Malone.
On the surface, Ray looks like a successful local businessman—a few car dealerships, some real estate. But the people who matter know what he really is: a connector. The man who makes things happen. He owns half this city. Politicians, cops, judges—you name it. They all answer to him.
Need city permits fast-tracked? A law rewritten? Someone who keeps causing problems to disappear? You call Ray.
Whatever the job is, he handles it. Cleanly. Quietly. And permanently if that’s what it takes.
And when Ray tells you to jump, you don’t ask how high. You make damn sure you’re already in the air before he finishes the sentence.
“You need to quit,” she hisses. “Right now. If my father finds out what we—”
“Relax,” I say, still grinning. “I’m not a snitch. And my boss would lose his mind if he knew I’d slept with the client’s daughter.”
Her shoulders drop, just a fraction.
Before I can say anything else, the door cracks open again. Maverick doesn’t even step inside, phone still glued to his ear.
“This is going to take a while,” he says. “Grace, go find something to do. Drew, get settled in the guest house. We’ll talk later.”
