Dungeon Games (Masters and Mercenaries #6.5)(52)

Sean groaned. “Dumbass. Karina isn’t Maia.”

He stared at her as she smiled up at Master Will. Now that he was really looking at her, the real Karina and not the one he’d made up in his head, he could see the difference in her smile. She was giving Master Will her best “client” smile. Pretty, friendly and warm, but without the all-out glow she saved for her friends. And without the heat she reserved for him. “I know. Not even close. If it makes you feel better, I accused her of sleeping with you as well as O’Donnell and the big guy. She didn’t give me enough time or I would have thrown the Brit in.”

He was such a f*cking dumbass and he had to pray Karina could forgive him.

Sean had a great poker face. His expression never changed. “Don’t you ever tell the women. Ever.”

Shit. He hadn’t thought about the ramifications. “You think they would be mean to Karina?”

Sean huffed and rolled his eyes. “No, they love Karina. They will be more than mean to you. They will take off your balls and do crafts with them or some shit. You do not want to piss off the subs. Seriously. They’ve unionized. We should never have let them start that book club.”

The idea of the Sanctum subs looking for a little revenge spooked him. He didn’t want to know what Charlotte would do to him. “Yeah, let’s keep my stupidity between us. Do you think it would help my case if I ask her to marry me?”

Sean’s poker face dropped away. “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

“I don’t think she’ll say yes.” He’d thought he’d never get married again. He thought he’d control the relationship by keeping it to a contracted D/s partnership with securely placed boundaries.

He didn’t want boundaries between them. He didn’t want f*cking walls. He just wanted her. He wanted his wife. He wanted to take her home and have his mom fuss over her and his dad tell her she was far too good for his son. He wanted to get dragged to church and sit beside her and hold her hand.

“Well, then we’ll have to set the subs on her,” Sean said with an evil grin. “A few casually placed words about how she broke your heart and they’ll be all over her. They love drama and more than that they love matchmaking. I would be utterly terrified if I wasn’t married to the ringleader. Grace believes it’s her mission in life to make sure everyone gets married. I think she’s getting kickbacks from a wedding planner.”

At least he had an appeals board. He kept his eyes steady on Karina. She seemed a little concerned. Master Will shook his head and ran a hand over his brow before nodding and stepping away. He felt better when both Master Will and his sub walked away. “So did you run a background check on the brother-in-law? I don’t like him.”

“I didn’t like him either,” Sean agreed. “He pushed her to feel bad about dating. It’s been years since her husband was killed in the line of duty. He was NYPD.”

Shit. Would she marry another cop? He was mostly behind a desk at this point in his career, but there were always risks with his job. He wanted to know the story so badly, but he stopped himself. That was Karina’s story to tell, and he would hear it from her or not at all. “So what’s the line on Terry Mills?”

“He’s drifted a lot. His mother died before his brother. The father was killed in a boating accident when Terry was sixteen. The family made their money off the dad’s business. He had a boat and gave tourists tours of Long Island Sound. Kevin became a cop in the city, but Terry took the boat and kept up the business after he turned eighteen. After Kevin died, he took the boat to the Caribbean and had been working there until he showed up in Dallas a couple of months back.”

Derek frowned. “I thought he’d only been here for a few weeks?”

Sean shrugged. “He told Karina he came to rehab his broken arm. I guess it was worse than he said.”

“A broken arm heals in six to eight weeks. I’ve had more than one broken bone.”

Sean shook his head. “Look, I don’t like the guy, either, but we’re looking for a serial killer.”

“He would have known her e-mail. He might think that’s still her e-mail.” His brain was working overtime. Yes, they were looking for a serial killer, but what if they were being manipulated? What if they were seeing what the killer wanted them to see?

Sean’s eyes widened. “I’m going to call Adam. I’ll have him check into some things. Do we know the doctor he’s been seeing?”

He shook his head. “Find out and keep it quiet because Karina doesn’t need to know anything until we’re sure.” It would kill her. It would threaten her calm and he wasn’t going to do that again unless he had to. “And see if we can put a tail on him. I’m going to make sure Karina isn’t alone with the man again, and I think I need to break into her apartment manager’s office. That shouldn’t be hard.”

“Fun. Why?”

“He’s very interested in a package she’s supposed to get.”

Sean’s eyes narrowed. “He mentioned it the first day. I’ll get on it and we’ll find out where he’s staying and tail him for a couple of days.”

“Good.” He didn’t like the coincidence. He’d been a cop long enough that he knew coincidence was just a word people used. Coincidence usually meant something shitty was about to happen.