Hard Justice(42)

Justice opened his mouth and she snapped, "Hush it!"

He clamped his lips together.

Scowling at him, she added, "Around the clock does not, in the usual course of things, include intimate involvement with the client."

Justice wasn't the only one to flush. Leese did his own fair share of looking chastised, and with good reason. His wife, Catalina, had started out as a client.

"Right," Miles said, clearing his throat. "I get that. But for the sake of clarity, I'm curious what's happening, too, so if you want to deal with Justice, I'm happy to stick around."

"Dick," Justice muttered.

"You may as well," Sahara agreed. Sighing, she shifted to face Justice.

As the silence stretched out, he said, "Well?"

"Rebecca is thrilled with how things are progressing."

Huh. Hadn't seen that one coming. "She is?"

"Very."

For reasons that had nothing to do with the job, Justice smiled. "Well...that's good, then, right?"

"If it's all fine," Leese interjected, "what's the problem?"

"The problem is that if Justice breaks her heart, I'm going to have some seriously irate clients on my hands."

Justice pushed to his feet. "I told them they weren't clients anymore."

Brows up, Sahara immediately understood. "You're that serious about her?"

"I am."

"You haven't known her that long."

Justice waved that away. "Have you met her?"

"Not personally, no."

"Well, they have," he said, nodding at his friends. "There was no way to resist her."

Miles said, "I resisted her just fine."

"Ha! Because you knew I'd flatten you if you didn't."

"I resisted her, too," Leese pointed out.

"You're disgustingly in love with your wife, so it doesn't count. And if you recall, you didn't resist Catalina worth a damn."

Leese smiled. "True."

"Boys," Sahara warned...but then she laughed. "Ah, this is starting to be a trend. At least I know Leese is now off the market, so he can henceforth perform his protection details without intimate involvement."

"Absolutely," Leese said.

"Same here," Justice assured her. "If Fallon hadn't been so...different, I'd have done fine with her, too. Hell, I worked for that movie star with chicks throwing themselves at both of us nonstop and I wasn't once tempted to be inappropriate. But Fallon got to me."         

     



 

"You were different with her," Miles said, offering up some defense. "We all noticed that right off."

He sighed. "Yeah."

Sahara pointed at Justice. "I won't ask for details-"

"Good." He wouldn't have shared anything private anyway.

"But Rebecca insists that they continue to pay, so they're still clients-and no, don't argue about it. It's not your decision to make." Leaving her desk, she muttered, "I'm running an agency, not a dating service."

"Yes, ma'am."

She shot him a look so mean, he had to bite back a smile.

"Do not screw this up, Justice."

"Won't."

In a silent command for everyone to go, Sahara opened her office door. "Miles, let me know if you have any questions. If you decide to join us, we can meet again and go over any unanswered questions you might have."

"I'll be in touch," he promised.

Leese said, "I have time to give him a tour before I head out."

As Justice passed her, she touched his arm to get him to pause. To Leese, she said, "You're meeting with the lottery winner this morning?"

"Him and his wife. Seems like a real nice guy."

"Good, keep me posted." Pitching her voice low so the others wouldn't hear, she said to Justice, "At this point I'm starting to feel like a pimp but...keep up the good work."

She closed the door on his look of surprise.

Slowly, the grin spread over his face. Working for Body Armor was a hell of a good decision.

And thinking of the job... He jogged to catch up with Leese and Miles. "I'm joining you on your tour so I can talk to you about something."

"Something like Fallon Wade?" Leese asked.

He shook his head. "Something like...Tomahawk Nelson."





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

JUSTICE PARKED IN front of the Wade household and bounded up the steps. Anytime he was away from Fallon, he looked forward to seeing her again.

Every time he had her, he wanted her more.

He'd managed to cool his jets enough to actually help her experience some of the things she'd missed out on. The woman was a true movie junkie and wallowed in any theater experience. Together they could go through an entire tub of popcorn, two colas and a box of candy.

Her favorite flicks were of the action variety, and man, he loved her for it. He could tolerate a sappy movie just barely, and had in the past done so just to appease a date.

With Fallon, it wasn't necessary.

Scary movies spooked her, but that just meant she cuddled closer, especially once he had her in bed. He couldn't get enough of that.

Two weeks had passed, and he'd tried to be considerate with her parents by only keeping her overnight on the weekends. Little by little, she was coming into her own and he couldn't have been happier about it.

The whole bodyguard thing, though...nothing else had happened. They dated, had sex, enjoyed each other, and there wasn't a single risk to be found. So how did he justify charging them when he didn't do anything differently because of the job? He would always protect her when she was with him, and he wanted her with him more.

He figured he'd talk to her dad about it today.

Before he could knock, Rebecca opened the door.

"Good morning, Justice. How are you today?"

"Terrific." He looked past her but didn't see Fallon. "How about you?"

She drew him inside. "I'm well, thank you. But I have a favor to ask."

With the way she looked at him, suspicions sparked. He said only, "Yeah?"

Glancing around, she tugged him toward the dining room. "If Fallon heard me ask you this, she'd overreact."

Yeah...he was getting a really bad vibe about things.

"However, I'm not only certain you'll understand, I'm positive you'll agree."

Having no idea what she wanted, he said, "Yes, ma'am."

"Clayton and I are going out of town together for ten days. We haven't done so in a very long time."

Given the way they hovered over her, he figured they probably hadn't left Fallon alone since she'd been burned. "Someplace special?"         

     



 

"Clayton has business in New York. I used to always go along and shop, then join him for dinners. But..." She faltered, then looked away.

Justice gently patted her shoulder. "I understand." He really did. Losing one child, having another so badly hurt, it made sense that they hadn't wanted her out of their sight.

"I'll be better able to enjoy myself if Fallon stays with you." Flapping a hand, she said, "Oh, I realize there hasn't been any real danger, but I'm still very anxious about it. The two of you have spent some nights together, so I was hoping, if it wouldn't be an imposition-"

"Totally works for me," he rushed to tell her. Have Fallon all to himself for ten days? Hell, yeah. "Don't give it another thought."

"If Fallon knows I asked you-"

"Yeah, about that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't want to keep secrets from her, so how about I make the suggestion that she stay with me, then later-like after it's a done deal-I can tell her that you explained things to me up front?"

The way Rebecca's eyes softened and her mouth curled, Justice wasn't surprised when she hugged him.

It did startle him when she said, "You're just too, too wonderful, Justice. Thank you."

Wonderful? He didn't know how she figured that just because he agreed to keep her daughter close. True, he didn't know much about long-term relationships, definitely didn't have much experience with them, but everyone knew lies, even lies of omission, weren't the way to go.

"Is something wrong, Mom?"

They both turned to Fallon, who watched them closely.

"I was just telling Justice how I plan to join your father on his trip to New York tomorrow."

"Oh." She dusted her hands over trim denim capris that hugged her thighs and ass. "You're leaving early, right?"

"Too early," Rebecca agreed with a laugh. "But Clayton's first meeting is at lunch tomorrow and he wanted me settled in the hotel first." To Justice, she said, "We'll use the suite in our own hotel. Since so many people greet us, it takes a few minutes to actually get to the rooms."

Keeping his attention glued to Fallon, Justice barely heard her mom. It pleased him a lot to see her wearing a top with a more open neckline. The peach colored, V-neck T-shirt was still modest and her scar didn't show, but at least she hadn't bundled her neck in a scarf. Her hair was a little more tousled, her eyes bright and already he wanted her.

"You look nice," he told her in a voice gone deep. But damn, now he knew what she looked like naked, and it wasn't like he'd be forgetting anytime soon.

"Thank you."

He watched as she stepped into casual flip-flops, then tracked her every step as she came to hug her mother.

She said, "I can be home earlier tonight to help you pack."