"I'll wait until Dave arrives if you don't mind."
"Suit yourself."
Dave exited the main room, and she groaned dramatically. Nadia was still at his side. She turned to Jake. "You're going to have to get her away from here."
Jake walked over, took Nadia's arm, and led her away, but not too far.
"How do you want to play this?" Kim asked Dave.
"We want him to leave quietly. As far as I can see, he isn't doing anything illegal, and we don't want trouble."
"I'll go talk to him then. He's less likely to see me as confrontational." She left before Dave could argue, but she felt both his and Jake's gaze on her as she sauntered over to the fake waiter. He must have sensed her approach because he turned to watch her, and Kim couldn't help but be aware of the purely masculine appreciation in his stare. He was handsome in a hard way. Tall and lean but broad at the shoulder, he exuded that same air of reckless excitement Jake seemed to emit.
She came to a halt in front of him. "Mr. Winters?"
He looked startled when she addressed him by name, then chagrined, and then a grin spread over his features. "You have the advantage on me, Ms. … ?"
"Rawlings," she replied. "Kim Rawlings. I'm with the security company covering the party."
"Oh." He sighed, but the smile didn't leave his face. "Well, perhaps I could interest you in one of these." He pulled a sheaf of leaflets out of his pocket and handed her one. She glanced briefly at it and grimaced.
"I think you'd better leave. You can hand them out outside, but not in here."
He gave her a long, lingering look. "I'll leave quietly if you come with me."
"What?"
"Come for a drink with me, and I'll leave."
Kim shook her head in confusion. "I'm not sure I understand-"
"Is there a problem, Kim?"
She turned to see Jake behind her. He stared at the other man, his eyes like shards of ice. Nick Winters' eyes were equally cold. The two men faced each other as if about to draw pistols. Kim sighed loudly.
"Just leave, Mr. Winters," she said. "Or we might decide to prosecute you for trespassing."
"I'm legally employed by the catering company," he countered without taking his attention from Jake.
She ground her teeth. "Go!"
His eyes flickered to her, a look of surprise in the gray depths, then he smiled, transforming the forbidding lines of his face. "Okay, Kim Rawlings, I'll go peaceably. See you." He nodded insolently at Jake and strolled away.
Kim exhaled. "I was handling it!" she snapped.
"Perhaps you think I should have let you go with him then? A known violent activist?"
"I wasn't about to go anywhere with him. And anyway, he's not violent. He's a vet, and the worst he did was let a load of animals free at a research center. It was in the file."
"He looked the violent type to me. Definitely unstable. All these activists are. Besides, his eyes were too close together."
Kim gaped at him in disbelief. "I thought he had rather nice eyes myself."
"I noticed. But flirting with potential suspects is hardly likely to convince me that you're ready for the more dangerous jobs."
"Flirting?" she snarled. "Flirting," she repeated as though she couldn't quite believe what he'd accused her of doing. She whirled to face Dave, who'd joined them. "Did you see any flirting?"
Dave put up his arms in mock alarm. "Don't drag me into your squabbles."
Kim turned back to Jake, and they glared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Nadia tugged his arm. He whispered something to her, then returned his attention to Kim.
"We're leaving now, but I'll talk to you on Monday."
Kim watched him walk away, then peered at Dave. "Did that sound like a threat to you?"
"Yeah." Dave grinned. "I guess he's not a nice guy after all."
Chapter Three
"Nadia has called three times," Margie, Jake's personal assistant, informed him as he entered the reception area.
Shit. After the party, he'd told Nadia their relationship was over. It had never been real anyway, but he'd come to realize that Nadia didn't quite see it that way. A friend of the family, she'd seemed ideal camouflage while he worked out how to get past the barriers Kim had raised. Nadia had recently been through an acrimonious breakup with her former lover and she'd wanted somebody to help her save face. She claimed she wasn't ready for a "real" relationship, so he'd obliged. She must have changed her mind.
She hadn't taken the break-up well-had insisted that they were "fated to be" and if he just gave her a chance, he'd see that. Bullshit. As Kim had so nicely pointed out, the woman was wacky.
And she was jealous of Kim-had claimed Kim had stolen him from her-which made it obvious he hadn't hidden his feelings nearly as well as he'd imagined.
His "talk" with Kim had been postponed as he'd been called away on business the day after the party, a property deal falling through at the last minute. The delay had provoked a mixture of relief and impatience, but he had a duty to the company.
Five years ago, at twenty-six, Jake had left the army to take over the family business, a multinational company involving everything from property development to gold mining in South America.
One of the first things he'd done was invest a percentage of the profits in setting up a security company. He knew a load of people-many of them friends-who'd left the army and found it hard to adjust to civilian life. The company provided them with a good job and prospects. It also gave Jake an interest when he got bored with the more mundane aspects of his other businesses.
He'd just returned from New York and was eager to see Kim. She was changing. He sensed it. She'd been different at the party, and it hadn't only been her appearance.
"Where's Kim?" he asked Margie. "Can you tell her I want to see her in my office?"
"She's down in the gym. With Steve. Shall I call her?"
He went still. Was that a look of malicious enjoyment in his assistant's eyes? Yeah, he definitely hadn't hidden his feelings. In all likelihood, the only person in the building unaware of how he felt was Kim herself.
But shit, she'd looked seriously hot the other night. He couldn't blame other men for looking at her. That didn't mean he had to like it or put up with it.
And it was definitely time to find out what the hell was going on with Steve.
"Never mind," he said to his assistant. "I'll go down there myself."
He took the private elevator from the top floor of the building down to the basement, where the gym and shooting range were located. He expected his operatives to stay in peak condition, and this was where Kim spent most of her spare time.
Jake understood her need to feel strong, to learn how to protect herself. And he knew she wanted to work the more dangerous jobs. But bodyguards had to be willing to take a bullet for the people they protected, and no way would he allow Kim that option.
He also knew that what she feared most was loss of control, something she carried from her wreck of a marriage. That bastard had hurt her physically, but it was her powerlessness that she'd hated the most. She needed to feel in charge of her life, but unfortunately, Jake had inherited his father's controlling nature.
Kim would just have to accept that he had her best interests at heart.
Somehow, he had to make her realize that she loved him and that loving him was safe. That he wouldn't hurt her. But first, he had to make her see him as a man. Because she seemed to have blanked that piece of information from her mind. Instead, he was her friend.
He was beginning to hate that word.
After coming to a halt outside the door to the gym, he peered in through the glass panels and every muscle in his body locked. Kim was there all right. Dressed in gray sweats and some sort of sports top that left her midriff bare. His eyes were drawn to the smooth, flat expanse of flesh. There wasn't an ounce of surplus fat on her.
She wasn't alone. Steve stood opposite her, also in sweats, but with a white T-shirt on top. He was laughing at something Kim said, and Jake's eyes narrowed.
Kim moved suddenly. Her leg swiped out and knocked Steve's from under him. He laughed again and grabbed her shoulders so they fell together onto the exercise mat, Steve's body half covering hers, and she chuckled as well.
Jake took a deep breath to calm the fury that rose up inside him.
Mine.
The word echoed through his mind as he pushed open the swinging doors and stepped into the room.
He stood in silence, waiting for the giggling couple to realize he was there. It took at least ten seconds, and his fury mounted. Steve saw him first. His laughter cut off abruptly, his eyes widening. He made a move to stand, but Kim clung to his arm.
"Kim," Steve murmured.
"What?"
"Er … " He nodded toward Jake, and she finally, at long last, noticed him.
For a second, Kim's face lit up, and she gave him a wide smile. Then she must have spotted his far-from-happy expression, and she pushed herself free and scrambled to her feet. She tugged at the top, settling it in place, then hitched up the sweatpants hanging almost off her hips, showing her belly button and far too much skin.
"Is something the matter?" she asked.
It was amazing. She had no fucking clue.
Steve seemed more attuned, however. He got to his feet and shifted awkwardly. Jake stared him in the eye until he glanced away.