Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5)(8)

“I’ll stand watch while you get some sleep tonight, ma’am.”

She sighed. “Ryder, first off, my name is Megan. Second, no one is after me. It was a random break-in. Theft of one computer. End of story. I’ve only been here a few weeks. They probably thought they were getting some of Patrick’s expensive equipment or some government secrets or something.”

“He works for the government.”

“Private contractor, actually. I don’t know much other than that.”

“Explains the top-notch civilian security system. I still don’t think some kid looking for drug money did this. Why they didn’t clean out this place is confusing as hell.”

“I guess you’re right.” Her hand trembled as she reached for a brandy snifter and a bottle of Courvoisier. She poured until the snifter was more than half filled.

“We’ll know more after a few days.”

What? A few days? The man already had a disturbing effect on her. One minute, he ticked her off because he didn’t believe her. The next he had her face flushing and nipples peaking because he exuded some kind of sexual pheromone or something.

Did humans have pheromones?

She tossed her head back and drained the snifter in two swallows.

“Whoa! Go easy with that!”

She set the empty glass on the counter and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the burning down her throat and watering in her eyes. The potent drink’s warmth spread through her belly. How did her brother drink this stuff? She preferred margaritas, but he didn’t have a machine for them. She coughed to clear her throat before turning around to face him.

“It’s been a hell of a night. That’s going to help me sleep.”

Rather than lie awake fantasizing about a man sexier than sin keeping watch over me.

*

Damn, he didn’t mean to scare her. But she wasn’t taking this as seriously as she should be.

“Do you think your brother can come home early?”

“No. He was flying to Pakistan on a humanitarian-aid mission with a new friend of his. Then they have to fly back to Italy to pick up the couple who flew over with them. Do you know Marc D’Alessio?”

“Doc?”

She nodded.

“He was my Navy corpsman in Fallujah.” I nearly got him killed.

“Patrick is co-piloting for the guy flying Marc and Angelina to Italy.” She furrowed her brows and cocked her head. “When’s the last time you saw Adam?”

“He retired following my last tour. I left the unit not long after.”

“You must be one of the few Marines he served with who didn’t show up for his wedding last December.”

Ryder shuffled his feet. He hadn’t heard about the wedding, but that had been a rough month for him. He wouldn’t have been in any shape to show up in polite society for something as special as Top’s wedding.

“Sorry I missed it.” Not really. He was glad no one had found him to send an invite. He’d worked hard to stay under the scope since his discharge. But Megan didn’t need to know that.

Guarding her was not going to be an easy assignment, either. He hadn’t spent much time alone with a woman since Sherry left him. He’d topped a few women at a private dungeon in Santa Fe one night, but only because Carlos dragged him up there.

Last thing he wanted or needed was another woman in his life. How many nights had he slept on the couch before his ex walked out, afraid he would hurt her during a night terror? His inability to be a husband anymore probably was the main reason she’d called it quits. That and she didn’t want to live holed up in a f*cking cave in the desert, which was how she’d referred to the place he’d chosen to hide away from life.

His refuge.

Jesus, let me just finish this mission so I can head back there.

The demons lurked on the edges of his consciousness. He couldn’t keep them at bay forever. Last thing he needed was for Megan to report back to Top that he was in desperate need of a shrink.

She placed a mug of steaming coffee on the counter between them, and he removed his leather jacket. She stared at the Marine emblem ink on his forearm. He’d been drunk and on shore leave in Istanbul when that became his first and last tat back in 1998.

He noticed a trembling in her hand. “You don’t have to worry about anyone hurting you. I won’t let anyone near you.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

He waited, but she didn’t elaborate. He needed more answers from her. “Is there someone who might have wanted to hurt you by disrupting your life? A thwarted lover maybe?”

“Sorry to be so boring, but I have no enemies or jilted lovers. I can’t imagine anyone having it in for me or wanting revenge, and Lord knows no one would be jealous of me.” She met his gaze. “Even if there had been some former lover, what would he want with my computer? I’m a photographer, but I don’t take those kinds of photos.”

He wondered what she did photograph, but clearly the woman had no clue how beautiful she was if she thought no one would be jealous.

“You don’t believe me.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” She glanced at her empty glass before meeting his gaze again “I hate to disappoint a conspiracy theorist, but I’ve been solely focused on earning my master’s in fine arts and making plans to start my career. No time to date anyone on a serious level. I haven’t been in love since my high-school sweetheart, and we broke up in college.”