7.

Tuesday. Grimaldi Place, Chevy Chase, MD.

Yvonne tabbed through the spreadsheets.

Something was wrong. What had Theodore done to her perfectly working spreadsheet to make it return so many errors? She’d given it to him for five minutes and he’d broken four weeks of work bumbling around.

God, she was going to be here all day trying to undo this mess while her brothers were—what were they doing? Playing pool? Going one on one in a video game?

They certainly weren’t working. She’d gotten Theodore’s new out of office message. He’d changed it to indicate he was out for an undetermined amount of time.

Just because they were holed up in Maryland at Mom and Dad’s didn’t mean they couldn’t work. It was just that Theodore was particular. He liked his desk with his computer just so. Getting him to work while on the road was always a trial.

She closed her eyes and covered her face.

This wasn’t about Theodore skipping a few days of work. Lord knew they pulled a lot of late nights and hadn’t had a weekend off since before they’d begun the campaign to secure the DoD deal. She was projecting her frustration, and it needed to stop. It wasn’t fair to her brother and redirecting her anxiety helped no one.

It was easier to focus on little things rather than the big picture of her life. She had no idea what that looked like now, so here she was, burying her head in a spreadsheet instead of dealing with it.

Yvonne might be pregnant.

When Dad found out he was going to be more than just disappointed in her.

She wasn’t ready to know the truth yet.

“Something wrong?” a deep voice asked.

She snatched her hands away from her face and stared at Nolan standing in the archway leading from the formal dining room into the kitchen. He had his hands braced on either side, stretching his white polo shirt across his chest. And those arms...

Last night she’d had fantasies about his arms. How he could hold her, the strength, biting down on the bulge.

“What? No.” She straightened and directed her gaze to her laptop screen and not studying how the fabric strained across his shoulders.

“Are you working?” He pushed off the wall and ambled through the kitchen toward her.

“Yes. I can work anywhere.” She hit tab a few more times, still trying to find the offending data point.

“Didn’t mean to offend. Just saw your brothers watching TV and your dad’s out golfing. I assumed everyone was taking the day off.”

Yvonne didn’t have an answer for that. She needed something to do that would occupy her mind or else she’d mentally dive into the next, messy chapter of her life. Until this chapter with Douglas was sorted out, she couldn’t focus on herself. The family and the business had to come first.

Nolan opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, his attention drifting from her.

Yvonne barely knew him. It wasn’t like they’d had deep, meaningful conversation in Vegas. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was there for her. A shelter in this storm. Would that change if she were carrying his child? How would he react?

She didn’t know.

Maybe she should take this chance to get to know him better?

At the very least she might come to a decision about how to tell him if or when the time came and a feel for whether or not he’d want to be involved in her baby’s life.

“What are you doing today?’’ She cringed at the question. Wasn’t it obvious what he was doing?

Nolan wiped water off his lips and screwed the cap back on the bottle. “Well, we spent this morning doing a few drills and testing our perimeter to make sure we don’t have any blind spots. Now we’re taking surveillance in shifts.”

“When did you do all of that?” She hadn’t noticed them outside at all.

“Before sunrise.”

“Oh.” Color her impressed. She hadn’t known what to expect with personal security, but it had far exceeded her assumptions. “Is all of this normal?”

One side of his mouth screwed up, and he shrugged. “There really isn’t a normal job for us.”

“Do you enjoy this work?” And how dangerous was it?

“Sure.” He pulled out a chair across from her at the breakfast nook and sat. He studied her for a moment, a smile curving the corners of his lips. “Any other questions?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Pry away.” He shrugged.

Yvonne propped an elbow on the table and studied him. Normally she wouldn’t be so forward to ask about his motivations or personal life, but she wanted to know. Needed to.

“How did you get into this line of work?” she asked slowly, choosing her line of questioning.

“Well, you don’t really apply to work at Aegis Group, you’re invited. I’d retired from the Marines and was trying to decide what came next. AG reached out to me through a buddy of mine and here I am.”

“That’s an awfully opaque story. How did you choose the Marines?”

“I don’t care for water, so the Navy was out. Didn’t want to fly, so I wasn’t going to bother with the Air Force. Marines fit.” He shrugged.

That wasn’t all. He wasn’t telling her the real reason and might not ever share it. Why that disappointed her, Yvonne couldn’t say. But it did.

“And working for the Aegis Group, that fits, too?” She shut the laptop and sat back, content to follow this conversation where it led.

“It provides me a comfortable life doing something I’m good at. I get to travel and see the world. Not a bad gig.”

“What does your family think about it?”

Nolan glanced away from her then. There was the tiniest of winces.

Family wasn’t a good topic. She could relate.

He didn’t refuse to answer. He did stare past her to the patio and pool beyond as he spoke. “They don’t like it, but they have their own problems to deal with that are bigger than my career path.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Don’t be.” His gaze slid to hers. “They’re adults. They made their choices.”

Yvonne nodded. On that point she could agree.

“What’s the history of this place?” He gestured to the house. “There’s a lot of really old pictures?”

“It’s been in my mother’s family for generations. Her ancestors, the Grimaldis, came over with quite a bit of money, established themselves here as merchants and moved into industry then politics. Over time they lost the Grimaldi name due to several generations of daughters, which is why we call it Grimaldi Place now. Mom inherited it a few years ago when her parents died.” Yvonne blew out a breath and shuddered.

“Didn’t like them much?”

“My grandparents? They were nice people. It’s the drama that happened after their death. My aunt and uncle didn’t want to believe their parents left the house to my family. Mom was considered the black sheep for marrying someone not of her class. They’re...a bit stuck up, if you ask me. They both married people from their circle of friends who came from old money families. Mom fell in love with Dad just as his company was hitting it big. They all think she married down.” And that Yvonne and her brothers were somehow not as deserving of success because of their self-made father.

“What a bunch of assholes,” Nolan said without missing a beat.

Yvonne sputtered a laugh before she got herself under control.

“Am I wrong?” He spread his hands. “I’ve seen the pictures around here.”

She glanced down at her hands. Regardless of her extended family’s views, they were still her family. But that didn’t mean they were always right or good.

Nolan crossed his arms over his chest.

He wasn’t wrong, and this was the same family who would eventually pass judgment on him, her and their child.

Did she want that for her baby?

“Enough about family. Screw ‘em.” He leaned forward, elbows on the table. He glanced at her now closed laptop. “You feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you.” She’d made careful food choices, and the candied ginger was helping.

Her mind shied away from there that topic led. She wasn’t ready to go there with him yet, but she also didn’t want this conversation to end.

“You said you travel a lot for work?” she asked.

“Yeah. Rarely destinations you want to go to, let’s be clear.” His smile widened. “Japan was a welcome change. You probably see much nicer places than I do.”

“Not really. I mean, we have done some vacations, but nothing exotic. Growing up Dad was attached to work and Mom didn’t want to take us far without him.” She shrugged. “I can’t complain. I’d like to do more travel for the fun of it.”

“What’s stopping you?”

She opened her mouth, but what answer could she give him that would make sense to someone else?

“I guess because I’m married to my work,” she said slowly.

“Do you enjoy it?” He was turning her question around on her and she didn’t like it.

“Yes.”

“That sounded dragged out of you. What do you like about it?”

“I like being part of something. I like building the family legacy. My father created a product that is still a household name. That’s the part that’s exciting.” She smiled. Too bad the daily grind didn’t give her this buzz. “The day to day work is much more boring, I’m afraid.”

“And it couldn’t survive for a few days while you took a vacation?”

Yvonne stared at the marble table top.

Her job would survive without her. That was the problem. If she wasn’t there to do her part, there was a good chance no one would notice until something broke. She felt invisible next to her brother. Disposable. It wasn’t true. She did an immense amount of work. She was good at it. But she also could afford to take time away.

Except Dad never did, and he was the model by which she tried to live her life.

“Hey?” Nolan reached across the table toward her, hand outstretched.

She blinked away that line of thought and looked at his hand instead.

There was a scar at the base of his thumb. She’d traced it while lying in bed. There were other scars on him. Some were small. Others were large.

She placed her hand in his. The warmth of him chased the chill away as he wrapped his fingers around her hand. He had this way of touching. It was as though he weren’t just caressing her skin, he was reaching deeper, stirring nerve endings that might have been dormant. She’d thought it was the alcohol, but now, watching his fingers stroke the back of her hand, she couldn’t deny that it was him.

The click-thump of heels punched through the bubble, bringing her back to reality.

Yvonne snatched her hand from his a moment before her mother strode into the kitchen from the front of the house.

“There you are.” Mom sighed and her gaze flicked to Nolan. She didn’t frown, that would invite wrinkles, but she wasn’t pleased. “What are you doing in here fooling around?”

Yvonne opened her mouth. Her cheeks flamed hot at the implication, but she never got the chance to say anything else.

“Your father needs a set of reports before he finishes this morning. The particulars should be in your email.” Mom waved her hands. “I know you do not mean to work in the kitchen. Go to the library like a civilized person. I’d say go to the study, but...”

“I’ll handle it.” Yvonne wasn’t going to invite further discussion about her decision to set the Aegis team up in the office. She’d had her ass chewed out last night for that decision.

Fleeing the kitchen was a good idea right about now. She pushed to her feet and picked up the laptop.

“What on earth are you wearing?” Mom chose to frown now.

Yvonne glanced down. She’d thought she might get away with the knit slack-like pants and a button down blouse, but her luck was not with her today.

“Put on some appropriate clothing before your father returns home. You’d think I raised a bunch of animals.”

“You look nice to me,” Nolan said with a shrug.

Yvonne froze.

Mom stared at the back of Nolan’s head.

He also pushed to his feet, turning to give Yvonne’s mother a polite smile. “But what do I know?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Mom’s upper lip curled, and she waved her hand, dismissing Nolan.

Great. Her mother and the possible father of her baby were getting off to a beautiful start. Just what they all needed.

TUESDAY. CHEVY CHASE Club, MD.

This was too easy.

Lee watched Robert Krieger take a practice swing. He wasn’t what one might expect the founder of a tech company to be. Robert was a tall man built for power, but who knew how to use his head. Lee expected the patriarch of the family to be a difficult target to take down, unlike his sons.

He was going to need back-up for this and his clients should get a warning he was going to come in hot.

Talk about a golden opportunity.

He pulled out his phone and hit dial on his client’s contact. The line rang twice.

“It’s me,” Lee said without waiting for the person’s greeting. “I’m going to have an opportunity to grab Robert Krieger for you. I suggest—”

“No.”

“No?”

“Robert Krieger didn’t work on the deal. He will know nothing.”

“Okay, but he’s leverage.” Lee wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste.

“One of the children will suit our needs better.”

“There are three. Which one? All you told me was that I’d need to kidnap a Krieger. Now you’re telling me they aren’t all equal. So which is it?”

Silence stretched on broken only by a rhythmic tapping. “The oldest brother or the daughter. The others are useless.”

Of course he wanted the two who seemed to have security glued to their ass.

Lee blew out a breath. “Look, if you want those two I’m going to have to up my price. I’ll need more manpower.”

“I’ll send you people.”

“That’s not—”

The line cut off.

Lee pulled the phone from his face and glared at the screen. This was what he was reduced to?

TUESDAY. GRIMALDI PLACE, Chevy Chase, MD.

Nolan stood his ground while Mrs. Krieger studied him. Over her shoulder he caught the last glimpse of Yvonne heading down the hall and back to work.

He’d grown up with an overbearing, perfectionist mother. Even now nothing he did was good enough for her. His father had broken under that pressure, fracturing their already damaged family even further. Nolan’s mother was dead set on being miserable these days. Mrs. Krieger wasn’t his mother, but she wasn’t all that dissimilar either.

“Is there anything I can help you with, ma’am?” he let his voice drawl.

“Do your job,” she snapped and turned on her heel. Her furious tap-tap-tapping shoes faded as she retreated to the other side of the house.

To hover over her sons?

That seemed her normal mode.

Nolan remained where he was, listening to the house settle in her wake.

He wasn’t technically on duty right now. He was pulling the night shift which meant he should be sleeping. But he wasn’t tired and there wasn’t much to do. It was barely past noon. He could sleep later.

When he’d come into the kitchen, he hadn’t expected Yvonne to put her work aside and talk to him. That had been a pleasant surprise.

It seemed as though they were engaged in some kind of dance. They weren’t intimate, but she was no longer hostile toward him. At times he even thought that Yvonne wanted him. But he couldn’t be certain it wasn’t wishful thinking.

Maybe he was playing with fire here.

At first he’d had a hard time seeing how the woman he’d slept with and the woman he watched over were the same person. Now he was beginning to see them as layers. She hadn’t needed to guard herself when they first met. He’d gotten to know that woman, the one this frosty exterior protected.

Nolan wanted her to let him in. He liked the woman he’d met in the sparkly dress. She’d been a breath of fresh air. He got why she had to be this way. It was similar to how he had to handle his family, but for vastly different reasons.

He had half a mind to go track Yvonne down and convince her to step away from work for a while. Perhaps he could tease that other side of her out for a bit. Except he didn’t get involved with clients. It was too messy. But things with Yvonne were already complicated. Could they really get worse?

Nolan turned to stare out at the lawn.

He might not like to admit it, but he’d inherited his mother’s need for everything to be in order. Hell, half the reason he’d gone into the Marines was to apply structure to his life because it had been spinning out of control.

Yvonne disrupted that order, but he didn’t want to put her back in her place. He’d tried looking at her as a client, but he couldn’t forget. And he didn’t want to either.

He glanced over his shoulder.

Screw it.

All they had was one life.

He left the kitchen for the main hall that ran the length of the home. Wood-paneled walls were illuminated by brass lamps with flickering flame lights and stained glass fixtures overhead. Every dozen or so paces another oil panting hung on the wall, like this was some kind of museum.

The library and study were across the hall from each other, both doors shut. If Vaughn were watching the cameras posted in the hall, he’d see where Nolan went. He trusted that his team mate would be discrete. After all, it was Vaughn who slipped into more beds than anyone Nolan knew.

He didn’t knock, just let himself into the library.

Yvonne’s head snapped up from her laptop, eyebrows arched, lips parted as though she were about to speak.

“I think your mom likes me.” He grinned, knowing that statement was furthest from the truth.

“She’s very protective.”

Protective?

That wasn’t a word he’d use to describe Mrs. Krieger, but what did he know?

Yvonne held up a finger. “I need five minutes to send this off. You don’t have to leave, but I need to concentrate.”

Nolan could wait if she meant to give him her time.

He had hours to kill.

While she tapped away at her laptop Nolan turned his attention to the shelves of books lining the walls. The whole room looked like something out of a movie with its dark, polished shelves reaching up a good twenty feet in the air. A rolling ladder provided access to books too high to reach. The windows at the end of the room had been covered by long drapes. A desk sat in front of the windows, its surface tidy.

He couldn’t imagine growing up in a place like this. It didn’t feel like a home. Even their bedrooms were more about the appearance of grandeur than comfort. Places like this might look good in a magazine or in a picture, but he didn’t want this for himself.

“Just...about...finished. Done.” Yvonne closed the laptop for a second time.

“Now what?” He turned toward her.

“I think my plan is to avoid my mother for the rest of today.” She slid down in the chair.

“Would you like some help with that?” He was ready to admit that whatever had pulled him into Yvonne’s orbit in Vegas was still at work. He didn’t know what it was about her, only that he couldn’t get her out of his head.

“It’s easy, really. Just stay in my room and out of sight.” Yvonne shrugged.

Nolan stopped, a bitter taste in his mouth.

Yvonne was a beautiful, smart woman and her family treated her as though she didn’t matter. He couldn’t begin to understand that. Wrapping his brain around it hurt to the point he didn’t want to try.

“What?” Yvonne straightened.

He opened his mouth to brush the question away then thought better of it. How many people did that to her?

“I was just thinking it’s a fucking shame so many people treat you like you’re invisible.”

Yvonne’s mouth opened and her eyes widened.

Why stop now?

“Our mothers are a lot alike. Nothing’s ever good enough for my mom. Even me.” He smiled because it was more polite than what he wanted to say.

“I’m not—she doesn’t...”

Nolan watched the play of emotions on her face. She was too intelligent to not realize her place in this family, how the hierarchy put her at the bottom, and that pissed him off. He’d watched her do all the work to make her older brother look good. She kept her younger brother in line while also giving him some slack. And did they ever seem to notice or appreciate it?

He stalked around the long table to where she sat. She didn’t move, even to get away from him. He grabbed the back of her chair and turned it so she faced him. Her wide, hazel eyes stared up at him.

Surprised because he saw her? Because he fucking noticed?

“Tell me I’m wrong,” he said.

“Can we not do this?” She sighed, weariness slumping her shoulders. “It’s not malicious. It’s just how she was raised. It doesn’t make it right, and she’s not going to change. So—can we not?”

Nolan frowned down at her. He’d chafed against his mother’s overbearing nature to the point he’d had to leave. Thank God for the Marines who gave him direction. But those were his choices. And he was a different person. He wanted to press the issue, to poke at it, but why? What was he trying to do here?

“Sorry.” He took a step back. “Usually I know my place better.”

“No, that’s...” She pushed to her feet and shoved a hand through her hair.

She was barefoot again. For some reason that heightened his desire to scoop her into his arms and hold her. She was so damn small, and yet her curvy little package contained one hell of a sensual punch.

Yvonne tipped her chin up and his brain stopped working. He wanted to stand there and stare into her color-shifting eyes.

“My family isn’t perfect, but...they’re my family. Does it bother me how I’m treated in comparison to my brothers? Sometimes, yeah. But, do I really have room to complain?” She glanced around the room, the wealth on display. “I chose to go into the family business, no one made me, just like no one is forcing that on Douglas.”

Nolan wasn’t sure he agreed. Just because she’d been born into a family with wealth and privilege didn’t mean she should be treated the worse for it. But it was also her life. And he was getting awfully invested in it for someone he barely knew.

“Thank you,” she said softly, her eyes locked on his chest.

“For being an asshole? Again?”

She chuckled and finally glanced up at him. “You aren’t an asshole. At least not intentionally.”

Nolan knew a few people who would disagree, but they weren’t here.

The smile dimmed and her eyes searched his face. “The job you went on, did everyone come home okay?”

The question punched him in the gut. That’s where her head was? Fuck. That hadn’t been an easy job. “Yeah. It was a close call, but everyone went home.”

“Good.”

“Yvonne, look, I’m really sorry—”

“Don’t—seriously—don’t worry about it. I think we have more important things to worry about now.”

She had an expert way of putting herself last. He wanted her to be mad at him, to demand better treatment, because that was what she deserved.

Nolan took a step toward her. Yvonne stood her ground, tilting her chin to look up at him. She was a wonderful set of contradictions. It was frustrating and admirable all at the same time. There was something about her that made him want to look out for her, kiss her, hold her. Because someone should realize how precious she really was. She deserved someone that saw her for who she was, who cared about her and put her first.

He reached up and cupped her cheek, fascinated by her softness. “It’s my job to be concerned about you.”

“For my safety,” she corrected. “You can’t blame this on the job.”

“And what is this?” He ran his thumb over her lower lip. Her cheeks were a lovely shade of pink.

“This?”

“Yeah. What is this?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’m not that guy who gets involved with clients.” He placed his left hand on her waist and she swayed toward him. “You should know I don’t do this.”

“This?”

“Yeah—this.”

He bent his head and kissed her. Her parted lips were soft and they fit together just like he remembered. He lifted her up on tiptoe and she gripped his shoulders—holding onto him, not pushing him away. Her little hands fisted his shirt, and she pressed against him. She tasted as good as he remembered. His cock throbbed between him, recalling just how good the rest of her was.

A voice echoed down the hall.

Yvonne jerked her head around, staring at the door.

Another voice joined the first. Theodore and Douglas. Whatever they were saying, it was impossible to make it out. The two voices faded until the loudest sound in the library was his breathing.

“Oh my God.” Yvonne dropped her head forward, butting his shoulder.

He squeezed her to him.

“You can’t tell me Douglas hasn’t been caught doing worse.” Nolan kissed her cheek.

She chuckled and turned her head, some of that sparkle back in her eyes that had first captivated him. “What hasn’t Doug done?”

“You want me to find out? I know a guy.”

“That was a rhetorical question. I don’t really want to know what my little brother has or hasn’t done.” Her eyes drifted shut.

Nolan didn’t hardly want to breathe for fear of breaking the moment. They’d gone from practically hating each other to this in a few days. He wasn’t sure what—if anything—could happen between them. They came from two different worlds. But it didn’t change the fact that he wanted to kiss her again.