Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(29)

She hung up with a decisive click.

Shit. His sister was pissed. Somehow he’d thought he would march back into Papillon as the returning hero. He might have to rethink that.

He set the phone down and heard a masculine laugh. Remy sat straight up in bed.

The first thing he was going to write into their contract was a clause where she didn’t let strange men into her apartment. He reached for his jeans. It could be Will. Her brother might have stopped by, and wouldn’t old Will be surprised to find the bodyguard he’d hired was taking his job seriously?

“You should have seen him,” a deep voice that did not match Will Daley’s said. “He’s standing on that ramshackle porch of his with two babies and a dog and I swear he started to cry as we drove away. I’m pretty sure that blonde of his escaped at the earliest opportunity.”

He practically ran out the door because Ian Taggart was here, and if he was fucking up Remy’s job, they were going to have a problem.

Lisa laughed. “Are you insane? You left your precious baby girls with him?”

“No choice. It was that or take them with us to the hospital and watch them burn the place down before their baby brother could be born,” Tag replied. “Honestly, he turned out to be the best of my iffy babysitting choices. The girls lived and no one got shot with an arrow.”

“Poor Boomer,” Lisa said with a shake of her head. It sounded like everyone had heard about that night. “I heard Theo did a good job stitching him up.”

“Like Boomer noticed. Charlie made him a couple of hot dogs and he didn’t even sue. I had a long talk with Kenzie about that. Told her she was legally on her own when she starts hunting down the most dangerous prey.” Taggart looked up, one brow rising. “Hello, Remy, we were just talking about your secondary job.”

“I am way smarter now. I see you or Charlotte outside my door and I hide. Obviously, Lisa hasn’t learned that trick yet.” God, he hoped the kids weren’t here. Though at least he could bet Lisa wouldn’t storm out of the place like what’s her name had.

Lisa was smiling like nothing had gone wrong. She poured him a mug of coffee and handed it over. “Big Tag came by to check on me.”

“She hasn’t been in the club in a couple of months, and quite frankly my girls miss her,” Tag said.

Sure, that’s why he’d shown up out of nowhere. He wasn’t at all checking up on how this high-paid assignment was working out.

“I explained about the car,” Lisa said. “And he said no sob story was complete without bacon and walked over to the grocery store. Now we have bacon and eggs and pancakes for breakfast.”

“Her refrigerator was completely empty with the exception of a half a pizza and some highly suspect milk.” Taggart’s eyes had narrowed.

She flushed. “I’ve been way too busy to shop.”

A lie, but one to save her pride.

“Well, you should expect your man here to feed you,” Taggart replied. “He’s doing all kinds of other things on your behalf, including forcing his coworkers to look into some legal case involving valet services. I was surprised when he called last night, but now I get it. This is new, I take it. I’m confused because you’ve been coming to play nights, but Lisa hasn’t.”

Shit. Tag thought he needed to know something so he’d stopped by on his way to work and run into Lisa, who naturally would want to know why he was here. He’d given her a line about the girls being worried about her only to discover Remy was here and not in his own apartment, where he should be. Now he seemed intent on giving Remy hell about it.

“It’s brand new,” he explained. “I moved in across the hall yesterday while I’m getting my house ready to sell. Lisa and I started talking and decided to spend some time together while we’re living in the same building.”

“It’s casual,” Lisa said breezily.

“We’re signing a contract this morning. It’s not that casual.” Had she changed her mind?

Lisa flushed again but this time he didn’t think it was embarrassment. “All right. It’s temporary, but not casual.”

“I’m glad you two seem to have worked out the important stuff.” Tag did not look impressed.

Lisa turned to Remy. She was wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top that showed off her luscious breasts. A silky kimono thing was wrapped around her, giving her a bohemian vibe he liked. That crazy mermaid hair of hers was in a bun on top of her head. Without a stitch of makeup on, she was still the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. “You called Big Tag about my old job?”

This was going to be sticky. Unless he played along. It would be natural. “I texted him last night. You can’t expect me to be in your bed and not look into this. That’s not the man I am. It’s not the Dom I am.”

“But the Dom you are lets her starve?” Taggart asked.

“I’ve been her damn Dom for less than twenty-four hours. I supplied the pizza,” he groused. “I haven’t had time to take her grocery shopping.”

“I don’t need him to…” She stepped back slightly, pointing her spatula their way. “Do you know you both look very intimidating right now? Way to Dom a girl. And Remy’s right. He hasn’t had a chance to go all freaky protective, get-all-up-in-my-business Dom on me. He did buy me a pizza before blowing my mind in bed. Four times.”