Page 26 of Her Surprise Protector
“Oh, how could I be so lucky,” I commented, a little disappointed. How convenient would that have been? Bree and I could have stayed safely in our Montauk home, avoiding this impromptu trip to the city.
Maybe I needed to stop thinking about it as a trip to the city. Instead, I should take it as a chance to get to know a new side of Riker. The Riker who spent time with me on weekends was lighthearted, pleased to be back in the Hamptons and fun to be around. Not that he wouldn’t be like that during the workweek too, but it didn’t stop me from being curious. What was he like when he came home from a long day at work? There was so much I still didn’t know about Riker, and I would learn a lot by living with him, even if it was only for a short time.
“Lucky for me.” Riker grinned. I had to rewind my thoughts until I remembered that I had said “lucky” last.
“I guess it is for me too,” I admitted. “Just a little unexpected. Let me grab Bree and head home before it gets dark though, okay? I’ll text you when we’re on our way.”
“Sounds good. That’ll give me just enough time to get home and take care of one or two things.” His brows drew together, sharpening his eyes into a glare. Sometimes, I forgot that Riker was a CEO. He still could look as forbidding and intense as those first two times I had met him.
“Bree! Come on, Honey,” I called to her, crouching at the entrance to a tunnel low to the ground. “Come to Momma. Dinner time!”
Eagerly, Bree came crawling toward me and let me scoop her up in my arms. She could eat at home while I got us ready to go. We would be out of our house in no time and settled into Riker’s well before dark.
Chapter Eleven
Riker
The apologetic voice on the other end was cut off abruptly when I ended the call, practically seething. During the conversation with the security guard assigned to Elena’s house, I had used every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep my voice civil.
I understood that no one was perfect. I wasn’t perfect. But I did my best to hire talented, dedicated people to work in my company. And I had hand-picked Jack and his partner to watch Elena’s house. While I didn’t expect anyone to be perfect, I did expect them to follow instructions and put forth their best efforts.
After giving it more thought, I supposed Jack had partially followed my instructions. Since Elena’s property was surrounded by multi-million dollar homes, I had explicitly instructed Jack and his partner not to trespass in the event of a chase. If my guys chased him onto someone else’s property, we might not get that needed proof, and my guys could get arrested for trespassing themselves instead. I wanted to catch Oscar more than anything, but I had to do it right - the reason Elena would stay with me until I made that happen.
No, it didn’t bother me that Jack hadn’t managed to catch Oscar when he jumped the fence and got away. What bothered me was something so incredibly obvious that it flabbergasted me that Jack hadn’t thought of it himself. Jack had seen Oscar on the cameras. He had watched Oscar stop at the back door and reach into his coat pocket before he investigated in person. Since Jack knew about the threatening notes left in the past, it should have been abundantly clear what Oscar was doing.
Instead of checking the back door and the mailbox for notes, though, Jack decided to leave that for Elena. I could have explained the situation in person this evening and saved Elena a lot of worry and stress if Jack had found the note himself.
His answer when I called to ask why was, “I didn’t think to check for a note.”
“And I don’t hire people incapable of using their brains either,” I had told him before I realized I was getting too angry and needed to take a moment to calm down. Jack was back in the van now, probably staring at his phone and waiting for me to call him back and tell him he was fired.
Elena would be here in a few minutes, and I needed to check the guest bedroom and make sure everything was ready for her and Bree. As I straightened things and checked surfaces for dust, my anger gradually melted away.
There’s no point,I realized, finally reaching a state of calm. Staying angry about something I couldn’t change was not only pointless but wouldn’t help Elena feel any better either. And about not following instructions…well, I hadn’t told Jack what to do if Oscar left a note, and the camera hadn’t definitively picked up the small piece of paper.I was a bit unfair… Jack didn’t deserve all that…
I sighed. I hated apologies – specifically, I hated apologizing. Seldom did I see a real reason for it, and often, apologies had no place in the business world. Putting a twist on being wrong so that I came out right in the end was a skill I had spent many years perfecting.
Still, apologizing to Elena had been the best thing I’d done in a long time. So, maybe a few more wouldn’t hurt.I need to call Jack and explain I may have jumped to conclusions.
Finished with the guest room, I sat down in the living room to wait for Elena. The idea of Oscar prowling around her property at night tightened my fists, causing my nails to dig into my palms. Jack wasn’t to blame at all. I should have been there. I should have been the one to come to her rescue and handle things.
The truth relaxed my fingers. No matter how much I wanted to protect Elena, she needed to know that Oscar was still around. She could handle the truth, as she had shown today. But God, if I could have kept her from the facts and saved her mental anguish, I would have moved the entire state of New York to do it.
Within the hour, my phone lit up with a call from Elena. I knew what the call meant so I didn’t bother answering. Instead, I tapped the button to open the front gate. I took the few feet from the living room to the front door at a jog and exited just in time to see her blue Toyota pull over to the side of the driveway.
“Is this okay?” Elena asked as she turned off the ignition and stepped out. “I wasn’t sure...”
I kissed her before she could finish, knowing our height and the roof of the car would hide us from Bree’s view. “You’re perfect. Oh, you mean the car!” I exclaimed, glancing at the vehicle meaningfully. “Yeah, the car is fine.”
“You’re impossible.” Chuckling, Elena went to the other side to extract Bree from a mess of toys she had somehow managed to drag out during the short drive.
“I got the guest room ready for you,” I called after her. Elena had been to the Eagle’s Perch a couple of times by now, of course. But usually, if we wanted to chill and watch a movie or something, we did it at her already childproofed house where she could keep an eye on Bree. Payton – who I had also met – insisted that she never minded watching Bree, but I knew that Elena didn’t like pushing her daughter off on her friend every weekend.
Elena. Thoughtful Elena. She never wanted to be a burden and continuously reminded me of that. But she didn’t realize all I wanted was to make her happy anyway I could.
“Thanks. Can you grab a bag out of the trunk?”
I did one – actually, two – better and grabbed two bags, then led the way inside. Bree stared around with big eyes, and I realized that we would have to keep a close watch on her in this massive house filled with fragile and dangerous things. Tomorrow, I would run to the store and grab a few baby gates so we would have less square footage to worry about at least.
