Under Pressure (Body Armor #1)(18)

“How would you know my friends?”

“Social media is always a start.” And since he hadn’t learned anything all that useful, he saw no reason to go into the specifics of how he’d been drawn to her even then. Her Facebook page had been left blank for more than a month, but prior to that, the things she’d shared and the comments she’d made were all humorous, optimistic, or inspiring. Nothing too deep or personal. Catalina Nicholson was not a woman who shared her life online.

She’d posted a few photos, mostly of artwork done by her students, or projects she’d organized for her community. Pics of her with friends, not family, and most of those settings were afternoon lunches with her girlfriends, movies, or casual dinners.

Not a single nightclub photo to be seen.

No dates with guys.

“So you completely snooped into my life?”

“As much as I could given the skills I have.” When she looked disgruntled, he decided it was a good time to move on. “No one mentioned any specific threats to me. My assignment was just to ensure your safety. Not to take you to anyone.”

“That’s why you didn’t hand me over to Tesh?”

Ah, so she definitely knew the creep from the parking lot. Interesting. “I’m not handing you over to anyone. That’s not my job. If you want to go with someone, I’ll follow. If you don’t want to go—”

“I definitely didn’t!”

“—then I won’t let it happen.”

They stared at each other until Cat again turned away. Unfortunately, dismissing him wasn’t a luxury she currently had.

“I never met your stepfather. I only know he paid enough that I could stick by your side for more than a month.” Leese watched her profile and saw her brows pinch together in obvious confusion. “What?”

Cat chewed over her thoughts before asking, “He paid up front?”

“Yes.” Leese didn’t know if it had occurred to her yet, but given she appeared to distrust the man, maybe he’d been buying his own alibi. Who could accuse him of wrongdoing when he was the very person who’d paid to ensure her safety?

Then again, Tesh—he needed to learn more about that man—had flat-out said he would take her to her father, and she hadn’t appeared to disbelieve that part.

Which maybe meant he and Justice would have been removed as witnesses.

“He’s used you to find me.”

Certainly seemed that way to Leese, but that only opened up more questions. Wondering how much she’d understand, and what she would share, Leese said, “Why not just hire a private investigator to do that? Why hire a bodyguard?”

She turned her head and dissected him with a long look. “The thing is, I’ve gotten good at figuring out who is who. I recognize his men real fast.”

“And you dodge them?”

Instead of answering, she said, “But you? You looked different to me. I didn’t think you were one of them.”

“I’m not.” Unable to help himself, he asked, “Different how? Not threatening?”

Her mouth curled. “Oh, you look threatening all right.” She sighed. “Just not toward me. Somehow I figured you were there to help, like... I don’t know. A Good Samaritan or something.”

Was he really so obvious? “Got all that in a glance when we first met, huh?”

She paid no attention to his humor. “People discount their instincts all the time. But not me. When my senses scream run, I run.”

“Into people,” Justice said.

“You snuck up on me!”

Justice grinned. “Honey, I’m nearly six and a half feet tall. I don’t sneak up on anyone.”

Peeved, she scrunched her brows. “Okay, so maybe I was distracted.”

“With fear,” Leese said gently. “Of me.” But first she’d trusted him, so he’d hold on to that.

Now that the heat of the car had warmed her, she gave him back his coat, opened her own and pulled off her gloves. “You seemed one way, but then another when I realized you were working for Webb.”

Despite all they needed to discuss, her understated curves and delicate bone structure drew his gaze. He’d always enjoyed shapelier women, but somehow, with Catalina, he couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than her petite little body. Whatever she lacked in size she made up for with backbone—and wasn’t that just about as sexy as it could get? Leese pulled together his fractured patience. “I already explained—”

“Yeah, yeah. No one hired you directly.” She tucked back her fawn-colored hair and gave him the full force of those expressive blue eyes, currently filled with worry. “But don’t you see? Until you came along, I knew who to avoid. I knew what they looked like, how they acted.” She gave him a frown of pity. “Now I’m not the only one in trouble.”

“What exactly do you think Mr. Nicholson plans to do?”

On a dramatic groan, she dropped back against the seat and closed her eyes. “I don’t even know for sure if he’s the one after me.”

Okay then, he’d work with that. “So who else would you suspect?” In every problem like this, the victims always had an idea about who was after them.

Cat shook her head.

“You think it is him?” he guessed.