Dungeon Games (Masters and Mercenaries #6.5)(23)

He felt his pulse rise and wondered if he was about to get into a real fight. “Are you trying to accuse me of something, Sean? I’ve never abused a sub and I never will.”

“You won’t hurt her physically, but she’s more fragile than she looks. You can rip her apart and you won’t even know you’ve done it because she won’t show you anything. Her ex brother-in-law was here right before you came in.”

He hadn’t known she was married. Well, that was something they had in common. They were both divorced. He wondered what had broken up Karina’s marriage and decided he probably didn’t want to know. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“His visit upset her. She hadn’t seen him in a while and I made the call to start our cover, including telling him that she had a boyfriend,” Sean explained.

Derek totally agreed with the call. “The faster we get the cover up, the better. He was upset she’s seeing someone?”

“He was a complete dick. He wasn’t just nasty about the fact that she’s dating. He gave her hell about the lifestyle. Called her perverted and stupid.”

Yeah, he definitely needed to check himself. Liam had been doing what any other Dom who cared about her would have done. He was comforting her, reassuring her that there was nothing wrong with her. No matter how he felt about her, he would have done the same. At least he hoped he would have. He’d always treated Karina differently because she was such a threat to his peace of mind. “Did you punch him?”

Sean huffed a little. “Someone already had. The f*cker had a broken arm. Look, I’m just worried about her. Like I said, she’s more fragile than you think. I can’t tell you about her background. I’m not even supposed to know the whole of it, but she’s been through a lot.”

“Why is she living here? From everything I’ve heard, she charges out the ass. I kind of thought she was a high-priced PI who worked for whoever paid her the most.”

Sean pointed at him. “And that’s why I’m afraid. You go to the absolute worst possible answer for a woman like Karina. She charges the hell out of my brother, who likes to complain but who probably knows exactly what she’s doing. She then turns around and lets every sad sack with a sob story take advantage of her. She’s fighting the good fight, man. She does this for reasons you can’t know, but if you really saw her, you would respect the hell out of her. This is a woman you could know. Do you understand me?”

“I know Karina.” Though he was starting to wonder. He hadn’t expected her to live like this. He’d expected to find her in someplace nicer or at the very least bigger and with way better security.

“No, you don’t. So take a few days and get to know her because she’s more like you than you can imagine. Just give it a couple of days. Li and I are going to go do a sweep of the area. She thinks she felt someone watching her and K’s got great instincts. You keep her safe tonight. One of us will be by in the morning and someone’s going to be watching the security at all times.” Sean held out a hand. “She’s family, Derek.”

“I’ll take care of her.” He shook Sean’s hand and wondered how she managed it. What kind of spell did Karina weave that she stayed friends with the men she slept with and even got in good with their wives? What kind of woman did that?

He looked over at her even as he answered his own question. What kind of woman was Karina?

The dangerous kind.





Chapter Five



Karina sat up in bed, completely unable to sleep because she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that Derek was asleep on her couch.

The whole evening had been oddly comfortable. After Li and Sean had left, Derek had sat on her couch watching a baseball game while she cooked dinner. When he’d popped open a beer, he’d offered her one and he’d stared at her oddly when she refused, but then he’d gone back to casual talk.

They’d talked about the cops they both knew. They’d exchanged a couple of war stories. He’d sat at her bar and eaten three bowls of her homemade chicken and dumplings. She was glad she’d made extra, though originally she’d done it so she could eat the leftovers for a few days. Derek Brighton didn’t leave leftovers. The big guy really liked to eat.

But he hadn’t touched her. He hadn’t even come close. The nearest they’d come to physical contact was their fingers brushing against each other when she’d passed him a pillow.

Her hand still tingled where he’d brushed against her.

She threw back the covers and walked to the window, peeking through the blinds. She couldn’t do what she wanted to do. She wanted to open them, open the window, and let the night air in, but some asswipe was out there and everyone would be pissed at her if she did something stupid like make herself a massive target. She couldn’t stand the thought of someone watching her.

But damn it, the f*cker was screwing up her contemplative process. When she opened the windows and looked out over the city, she could sometimes pretend she was back in New York and she was young with her whole life ahead of her. She could pretend Kevin was just working. She could make believe she’d never opened the door one night and seen Grant’s haggard face and known her husband was gone.

But she couldn’t throw her blinds up so now all she could think about was Derek and all she could wonder about was how long she was going to hold herself apart.