Page 58 of Some Like It Deadly
A singular nod. “Sometimes they need a swift escape and can’t take anything with them. Some need to be relocated to other states or be somewhere they’re sure no one will find them. I can bring them here, they can come and go via the back and theyfeelsafer and it helps them to make the decisions that are right for them.”
He really was one of the white hats. “You do realize that if you’d told Peterson and your security team, we might have looked to the ex-husbands and abusers for a potential threatagainst you.” Keeping it a secret may have protected his clients, but it had left him unguarded.
For a long moment, consternation arrested Richard’s expression. She expected him to argue, but instead he sighed and gave a slow nod. “You’re right. I didn’t want guards because it threw me back to my childhood—to the FBI watching us and digging through my life. Ireallydidn’t think anyone was afterme.”
Because she adored him, she threaded her fingers with his. “That man wasn’t really after you, so in that you were right. You’re one of the good guys—the real deal. You take a risk with yourself and not for any reward but to help others. You’re amazing man, Richard.” He was too. He’d let himself bleed, take any hit for another, but for some reason he didn’t think others should do it for him.
“It was about my father.” With a sigh, he slid a hand up to cup her nape and leaned his forehead to hers. “I am so sorry that he was the reason you were shot.”
“No, I was shot because I wanted to save your life, because yours means more to me than my own.” She told him honestly. “Don’t let the actions of a man made mad by grief, and mental illness, color any of this. Yeah, maybe your father screwed his family, but Leonard Braun’s actions were his own.”
“Except…” Of course he wanted to argue it.
“No,” she shook her head and the gentle friction where their foreheads brushed offered comfort and connection. “No.Youdid nothing wrong, except keep some key details from your security team.Idid nothing wrong except let myself get distracted from my training. At the end of the day, Braun chose to come at you with a weapon, to make you pay for those slights against him, real or imagined and he’s in custody, you’re safe and I’m?—”
“Hurt.”
“But I’ll recover and I thought you said my scars were sexy.” Her tease had the desired effect, the hard line of his mouth softened into a smile. Then she sobered. “What about your father, though? What will you do?”
Richard shrugged. “To me—the big man I loved and admired died when I was a kid, and it disrupted my whole world. The man who took his place? The selfish jerk who trashed so many lives? That’s not my father.”
Her heart twisted for him, but she could understand the need to distance himself.
“But—I can’t make decisions for Barb.” At the mention of his sister, he frowned. “I’ll call her. If she wants—if she wants anything to do with him, I’ll be there. I’ll help her.” Without a second thought for how it might hurt him. God, the man needed a keeper, someone to protect him. “I can’t ask you to quit,” he said suddenly. “I want you to, but?—”
She stopped him again with a kiss. “I was already thinking that a change might be necessary. Like I said earlier, I have a pretty specific skillset. Don’t suppose you know anyone who could use someone like me?” Like the women at the shelter—she knew Richard helped some disappear and restart their lives. She could protect them.
“You can interview for the position of my assistant. I lost the last one due to some meddling by a certain jackass royal who’s about to have his hourly rate climb exponentially.”
“Really?” Kate cleared her throat. “That sounds very challenging.”
“Quite.” He nodded. “I’m not going to lie to you. The job won’t be easy and will demand travel at least forty percent of the time. Where I go, you go. When I need a file, I need you to pull it up. You have to anticipate last minute changes and I may be calling or texting you at three in the morning to come in because we have to have a brief in front of a judge at eight.”
“That won’t be a problem. I’m used to a tough schedule and travel. Of course, I’ll need to get out of the hospital first.”
“True, you will need plenty of recovery time.” Richard traced the outline of her mouth. “At least a month or more.”
“I believe the recommendation from the physician would concur. I was remarkably lucky, but I should probably not rush it.” Daring to hope, she pressed a kiss to his fingertips. “But I have to ask, do you think we can work well together? Do you have any particularly annoying habits that I might object to? Are you a vegetarian perhaps? Or someone who speaks with their mouth full of food? Do you eat while you dictate your notes? Do you prefer MP3s or in person dictation? What types of confidentiality contracts am I expected to sign? Will I receive any type of additional compensation for the level of disruption in my life? When you have romantic liaisons will you expect me to wait in the other room on the off chance of a three-a.m. emergency?”
“We work exquisitely well together, and the only annoying habits I have are that I have been called impossible on more than one occasion.” Heat kindled in his eyes and the last of the shadows drifted away. He shifted, and pulled a prescription bottle out of his pocket. “The only time I talk when my mouth is full is when I’m devouring you.”
Electricity tingled through her. “I do recall that habit…on more than one occasion.”
He thumbed open the top and poured two pills out into her palm. It washerprescription. “And you know about how I dictate my notes and where—and when. But what about you?” Rising, he crossed the room to the kitchen and returned a scant moment later with a bottle of water. “Do you have a boyfriend or significant other that will object to my calls at three a.m.?”
After swallowing both and washing them down with a drink, she said. “There’s only one man in my life that may object, andsince he’s the one offering me the job, he’ll know exactly where I am at three a.m.”
“Naked and in my bed,” came the very firm order. But she didn’t mind it, because that was exactly where she wanted to be.
“Richard? Do you think you can forgive me?”
“I already have.” He pressed his lips to hers in a soft, very chaste kiss that still managed to curl her toes. “I love you, Kate. Everything else we can figure out—and Armand is sending us to the Mediterranean. I hope you like Florence and yachts and very expensive vacations.”
Delight curled through her. “Oh?”
“Oh yes, you need to recover and I need you.”
Her cell phone buzzed where she’d left it on the table and she grimaced at her mother’s name appearing on the caller ID. “I don’t suppose you could run interference with my mother?” In all likelihood, Shirley Braddock had turned the hospital upside down when she’d realized Kate left.
