On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(71)

He had his job, and he was damn lucky to have it. The boss didn’t have to trust him. Hell, no one else did. He had one shot at having any kind of a future, and he wasn’t going to let Alex McKay, world-class pervert, get in his way. He’d surely been right before. The tenderness he’d seen was an illusion. If the boss said he had to go, then he had to go.

And then Jesse would be in. Then he would really be on the team, a true soldier again.

He picked up the pace, his resolve hardened. He would put the woman down easy, but maybe he wouldn’t be so kind to the man.

He had a little aggression to work out after all.





Chapter Eleven


“So you’re saying you won’t be here any time soon, huh, boss?” Adam asked, his voice clear as day as Alex walked through the front door of the condo. The balcony doors were open and a peaceful breeze came off the Atlantic.

There was nothing peaceful about his best friend’s response. Ian’s voice cracked through the condo.

“You invited Taggart here?” Kristen whispered, holding back as though the devil himself was in the room.

Well, Ian had quite the reputation. He suspected there was a reason Kristen didn’t want Ian around. He would very likely take over. Of course as lovely and soft as Kristen was, Ian would also very likely try to get into her bed. He needed to get her to chill because he’d spent forty minutes listening to her bitch about Jake showing up. “I did not. And since he’s talking to Adam through a computer, it’s likely he’s not on his way.”

Ian practically snarled over the connection. “No. I will not be getting on a plane any time soon because some motherf*cker managed to get my name on a no-fly list. I swear to god, when I find Nelson I am going to kill him real slow.”

Eve gasped a little beside him, rushing toward the dining room table where Adam had a monitor up.

Kristen simply frowned and carefully walked around the mass of tech gear Adam had accrued. She was deliberate about not walking in front of the camera attached to the computer. “Are you sure you weren’t going to bring him in, too? I might as well just walk away for all you respect me. I have plans, and you’re going to screw them up.”

“Oh, Ian. Did they detain you?” Eve asked, her voice sympathetic.

“I didn’t ask him to come in,” Alex said quietly to Kristen. All her plans had been working, so he chose to placate her for now. The truth was he rather liked Kristen. “And I’m sorry I didn’t mention Jacob. The idea came to me late last night. He did his job and he’s out of it now. And it doesn’t sound like Ian’s going to make it out of Texas. I do respect you. I want you on this team. I know Eve respects you, too. She really wants to take a look at those files.” She’d mentioned it to him as he’d dried her off from their shower. His gut tightened at the idea of Eve getting deeper in, but he was going to honor her request. And he was going to get back in good with Kristen. He could be charming when he wanted to be. “I’m so grateful that you have the full files. My old partner is a slave to the rules. He couldn’t help me.”

He could stroke her ego a little.

A little smile curved her lips up. “Warren Petty. I’ve studied up on him. Interesting guy. His brother is about to be in a tough election fight.”

Warren had always supported his brother’s campaigns. When they were working together, he’d always been so proud he had a brother in politics. “Hoping you get a story out of it?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, I hate politics. Talk about mired in scandal. No. I’ll stay out of Washington. Yeah, let’s not bring the feds in here. I can get us any info we need, though Adam has proven to not be a total nimrod.”

“I’m excellent, thank you very much,” Adam said. “I could totally have those files in five seconds. Do you want me to prove it?”

Ian’s voice came over the monitor. “No, *, I want you to prove that you can get my f*cking life back in order. Nelson is screwing with me, and I don’t like it. I got more than detained, damn it. I got searched by two of Homeland Security’s finest, and by finest what I really mean is hairiest and least gentle with the body cavities.”

Wow. “Nelson is playing hardball.”

Adam snickered. “Or hardballs, as in Ian’s case.”

Adam should be happy Ian was four states away.

“I’ll get the files for you.” Kristen walked back to her office.

“Holy shit, did I just hear that big brother got the slow hand from Homeland Security?” Sean wasn’t even trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, well wait until Nelson decides to come after you, baby brother. We know he doesn’t like you either,” Ian said. Alex moved in front of the monitor. Ian was in his office, but somehow he made his presence felt despite the distance. “In the course of a few days, he’s managed to blow my whole damn life apart. I just got a notification that someone changed the ownership names on my properties to Hottie McHot Pants. I can’t sell those assets or change things or accept rent until I get this fixed. He is seriously f*cking with me.”

“I can figure it out.” Adam hid a smile behind his hand. “I can totally fix all of that for you, but it’s going to take a little time. I need everything that’s been changed and I can fairly easily change it all back. These are all simple hacks for an expert.”