Into the Fury (BOSS, Inc. #1)(44)

Val sat down hard on the sofa.

“I’m going over to the crime scene as soon as it can be arranged,” Ethan said. “I’ll know more after that happens.”

Carlyle walked over and sat down on the sofa next to Val. When he took hold of her hand, Ethan felt like growling again. The notion surprised him. He’d never been a jealous man. At least not until now.

Carlyle squeezed her hand. “Listen, Val, I know you’re upset, but we’ve got all kinds of protection in place for you and the other girls.”

“Maybe you should . . . consider canceling the show.”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid that isn’t possible. The company has millions of dollars invested in this tour. At this point we aren’t even sure it’s the same guy. As Ethan said, the note was similar, but the rest of what happened doesn’t match.” He patted her hand. “The tour’s going forward, Val, but we aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”

She nodded but didn’t look convinced.

Ethan spoke to Carlyle. “Valentine won’t have to worry about anything happening to her because from now on I’ll be sleeping on her couch.”

Carlyle stood up, anger making the thin line along his jaw stand out. One of the guys said Matt got hit with a beer bottle in a fistfight when he was a kid. It wasn’t hard to believe.

“You can’t stay in here,” Carlyle said. “You know the rules.”

Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you before, Val’s a family friend. If I have to quit to protect her, then I will. You decide.”

Carlyle’s features hardened. His gaze swung to Val. “How do you feel about this? About Brodie staying in your suite?”

She opened her mouth, caught the dark warning glance Ethan cast her way. It said he’d be staying one way or the other.

Val closed her mouth and simply shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a two-room suite. If Ethan’s close by, I won’t be afraid.”

Carlyle hesitated a moment, then stiffly nodded. “You’ve got connections with the Dallas police. I need you to stay on these murders—both of them. We’ve got to stop this guy.”

“Like I said, I’ll know more after I look at the crime scene.”

“All right. For now, you can stay with Valentine. But the rules haven’t changed. You step over the line, you’re out. And you had better keep this quiet. We’ve got enough trouble without stirring up Beau Desmond and his security people.”

Ethan didn’t give a damn about Desmond. But he cared about Val, and he didn’t want to make this any more difficult for her than it was already. “They won’t hear anything from me.”

Carlyle turned to Val. “Are you feeling up to making the rehearsal?”

“I’ll be there.”

Carlyle checked the time on his Rolex. “I need to go. I want to speak privately to each of the models who got a note. I’ve spoken to most of them already. I’ve called a general meeting to talk to the rest of the models and the crew.”

His gaze went to Ethan. “You’ll be with her on the bus?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll see you both there.”





The sound of the lock sliding into place as the suite door closed jarred Val out of the wide-awake nightmare she was living. Coming up off the sofa, she walked over to Ethan and stopped in front of him. She tried not to remember their fiery kiss, to think that if she just leaned in the way she had before . . .

She commanded herself not to move. “About . . . umm . . . what happened earlier . . .”

“Nothing happened, Val. Thanks to Matt Carlyle’s very timely arrival.”

She glanced away. Nothing happened? She would never forget that scorching kiss, or the hot yearning that had burned through her body as his mouth closed over her breast.

She looked into his handsome face, commanded her heart to slow. “Whatever did or didn’t happen, I’m the one to blame. I just . . . this whole thing is so unreal. It’s like it can’t really be happening, but it is. I needed someone and I . . . I got carried away. I’m sorry.”

One of his big hands unconsciously fisted, as if he were fighting the same battle she was not to move. “It wasn’t your fault. I let things get out of hand. I’m here to protect you, not take you to bed. It won’t happen again.”

But he would be staying in the suite with her. And the truth was, Val wanted it to happen again. Wanted to take up exactly where they had left off—with Ethan kissing her as if he would die if he didn’t. With him carrying her off to bed.

She was fiercely attracted to him. Add to that, she hadn’t slept with a man in years.

She wanted him. There was no denying the fact. But her instincts warned her to be wary. Ethan was an amazingly attractive man. Whenever he walked backstage, the eyes of every woman in the show cut in his direction.

We’re all just conquests to Ethan.

The words rang in her head. Was that all she was to him? A conquest? She thought of the control that until this morning he had always maintained. Ethan had never pressed her for sex or any sort of relationship beyond that of client and protector.

She had been the one who’d lost control.

“You need to eat something,” Ethan said mildly, as if that burning kiss had never happened. “I’ll phone room service unless you want to go downstairs.”