“But-”
“But what, Leigha? Are you trying to protect him?”
“No.” Everything in me revolted at the idea of protecting Steven. “No, I’m not.”
“Then what?” Dylan asked, his eyes searching my face.
“I don’t know,” I said. I didn’t. It’s not like Dylan had sent this Russian guy after Steven. Owing money to the Russian mob was Steven’s mistake. Axel and Dylan just hadn’t gotten him out of it by turning him in to the police. Still… “Will they kill him?”
Dylan shrugged, looking unconcerned. “I doubt it. But I’m not in on the specifics of how the Russian mob handles delinquent loans.” He must have seen the doubt in my face, because he went on, “Axel wouldn’t have let them have him if he thought they’d kill him, sweetheart.”
“So Steven’s with the mob?” I asked. I had a hard time picturing it. I didn’t know anything about the mob, Russian or otherwise, but I couldn’t imagine Steven, average, normal looking Steven, a prisoner of the mob. “What happened?” Dylan sighed.
“You’re not going to let go of this until you know everything, are you? You can’t just trust that I’ve got it under control?”
“Are you serious?” Dylan raised an eyebrow at me in answer. “I trust you. As far as I can trust anyone I’ve only known a few days, I do trust you. But this is my life. Steven stole from me. He attacked me. I know you want to make this easy for me, but I need to know what’s going on. I’m never going to be the kind of woman who wants to hand over all her problems for someone else to solve. If that’s what you want -”
“It’s not.” We glared at each other. Then Dylan sighed again. “It’s not. I know I have a habit of wanting to be in control. You’re going to have to deal with that. But I can work on not taking over.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll consider it my job to keep you from thinking you can take over the world.”
“No. You can consider it your job to figure out a way to put up with me while I take over the world.”
“I can figure out how to put up with you trying to take over,” I shot back, “Just don’t try to shut me out of my own life.”
“So I shouldn’t tell you what Axel found out about your new boss?” I stiffened in Dylan’s lap. I’d forgotten about mentioning my boss’s name the first night we’d met.
“Don’t do anything to my boss. I like my job.”
“Even if you’re working for a guy who’s had three sexual harassment suits filed against him in the past five years? All dropped, and the women involved aren’t talking.”
“Why?”
“My guess is money or threats. Maybe both. But I’ve seen this guy’s picture and money seems more likely.”
I couldn’t say I was surprised. My old boss had been great. He’d had high expectations, and he worked my department hard, but he’d been my first real mentor out of college. His replacement was slimy, way too touchy, and despite that, not threatening enough to get an angry woman to drop a lawsuit.
“What a creep,” I said, reaching for my abandoned coffee cup.
“Do you want me to get him fired?” Dylan asked, casually. I choked on my sip of coffee. Could he do that?
“You can’t just get him fired!”
“Because you think it’s wrong or because you don’t think I could do it?”
“Both,” I sputtered. “Don’t get him fired.”
“So you do think I could do it,” he said, grinning at me.
“I don’t want to find out. I can handle this,” I said.
“I don’t like you working for a man like that.”
“Tough,” I said, my mind racing. “He hasn’t actually done anything inappropriate. If he does, I’ll let you know.”
“Will you?” he asked. I sank back against him, relaxing into his hard chest, my half full coffee cradled in one hand.
“I will,” I said. “I promise. I don’t want to be groped at work. If he steps out of line, I’ll tell you. But until then, stay out of it.”
Dylan grunted in response and stabbed a piece of French toast with his fork. I hoped it was for him because I was stuffed. I hadn’t missed that he’d changed the subject earlier. I still wanted to know what had happened to Steven. After fending off the French toast, I said, “So, are you going to tell me what happened to Steven? How did Axel know the Russian guy caught up with him?”
“You really won’t let this go?”