THE BATH WATER WAS cooling. Tess would have to move soon. Soaking in the tub was supposed to clear her head, but no amount of thinking would lower her father’s walls.
Harry hadn’t wanted her, she got that. He hadn’t wanted Daire either. No, not that he hadn’t wanted Daire, he hadn’t expected fatherhood to be thrust on him after the death of one of his agents. It was no surprise that after thirty-three years together, Daire had a connection with his superior officer and father-figure.
In his own way, Harry cared about his ward. With her, his biological daughter, obligation to her deceased mother urged him to fulfill the duty of keeping her safe. DNA was all that linked them, and he was big on duty.
Her fingers skimmed the surface of the water. Just over an hour ago, Daire had convinced her to stay in Three’s Vegas mansion with the Olympus cohort. The argument with her father ignited an intention to leave. If Daire hadn’t put himself in her path, she’d be miles away. He’d used her feelings for him to fix things for Harry. Unfair? Yes, yet she’d let it happen.
After persuading her to stay, Daire turned on the water to fill the tub, touched her lips, and took her semi-packed bag from the room. He didn’t like things lying around, sure, but neatness wasn’t his motivation. The bag and its contents were a temptation. One he’d want to confiscate from her sight.
She wasn’t an expert on much but staying low and starting over were her specialties. Starting a new life was an appealing idea. Except the only life she wanted included Daire, her Heart. They could never be together; both had acknowledged that sad truth.
Leaving would save them from being reminded of that reality every time they laid eyes on each other. Yet, her Heart asking her to stay was enough. Sticking around was better than abandoning him.
It was crazy. Daire didn’t need her. Of all the Olympus men, he was the most capable. He’d grown up in the organization, been raised and nurtured by it since birth. He didn’t need her to keep him safe. But their time together, before Harry returned to the picture, had shown Daire a different kind of life. Maybe it was his sanity she feared for, or that Olympus would chew him up and spit him out. Her job was to remind him he was worthy of more than just being used. He was a human being with rights and feelings, neither of which should be ignored.
How had she got to this point? The letters she’d found after her mother’s death were to blame. She hadn’t known it at the time, but her father was the author. A man enraptured, one with feelings, with conviction. In their short association, she hadn’t seen much evidence of that emotive vehemence.
The journey from those letters to that bathtub was orchestrated by her Heart. At the time, Daire’s motivation wasn’t altruistic. He’d duped her into trusting him so he could lead her to Harry in the name of revenge. The grand plan worked, she’d fallen for it and had walked into the Olympus Beta control room believing that she was following her mother’s breadcrumbs.
All along, Daire had been manipulating her. Pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Danny, Daire’s false persona, was a harmless junkyard lackey with zero ambition. Harmless. Safe. Or so she’d believed. The month they’d spent together—intimate in every way together—gave them a taste of something they’d never had. Whatever it was, there was no going back. That part of their relationship was over… though their libidos seemed to forget that whenever they had the chance.
Only ten days had passed since they’d left the Beta control room as a trio. Because Harry raised Daire in Olympus, training him almost every minute of every day, the men had fallen back into their traditional roles with ease.
It hadn’t been so easy for her to find common ground with her father.
Her downtime led to naught. She got out of the tub, washed her hair in the shower, and blow-dried. Yet, the way she’d walked away from Harry still bothered her.
Slipping into a silky camisole and shorts set, she left the bedroom intending to track down her father. Okay, so maybe it shouldn’t fall on her to be the bigger person. But life wasn’t always the way it should be.
She traipsed down the stairs and along the corridor.
Everyone, including her father, Garrick, and all of their soldiers were in the foyer. An odd place for them to congregate.
Tess came to a halt. “What’s going on?”
The front door opened. A man entered wearing slacks and a loose shirt. When he noticed the gathered people staring at him, he stopped.
After a tense moment, his lips quirked to a smile, then he laughed. “Happy to see my money was well spent,” he said, scanning the men in the room until he stopped on her father. “Hades.”
Harry’s Olympus code name.
“Three,” her father said in response to the new guy.
Another code name.
Three’s smile brightened. He kept scanning past Daire and Garrick and everyone else until he stopped on the last person: her.
His smile dulled. The serious expression on his face transformed to a kind of wonder as he glided toward her. He didn’t say a word. No one else moved. They were absorbed by Three’s focus on her. Why exactly was she so interesting?
Three swept her loose hand into his. “I wouldn’t have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes,” he said, raising her fingers to his lips. “Pandora in the flesh.”
And there was her code name. Tess wasn’t a fan. Not that she was a fan of any of the frustrating code names.
Olympus was a private agency with shady government and business links. Their “Six,” referred to by their individual numbers, were the financial backers. They paid for Olympus to do what official agencies could not.
Since childhood, they had pursued her. Her mother hadn’t explained the need for their run and hide life. Tess was only now learning that Olympus was the Big Bad. The truth went deeper than she’d imagined. Much deeper.
“And you are Three,” Tess said.
“Hugo Balfour. Please, call me Hugo.”
Of the Six backers only one original member remained and two were recently dead. In the last year anyway, she couldn’t be more specific than that.
“Tess,” she said because she’d always rather hear her own name than the one given to her by a man she’d never met.
“Beautiful and devious… Now I know at least the first is true,” Hugo said. “If I’d known someone so enticing was sleeping in my bed, I wouldn’t have stayed away so long.”
Three, Hugo, was a third generation Vegas hotshot. His hotel and casino were among the most successful in the city, and they weren’t his only business interests. She knew little about him. Hadn’t considered who he was beyond the number he’d been given as a moniker.
Probably in his thirties with short brown hair and a warm complexion over his strong features. Three didn’t immediately strike her as the type to fund an underground organization. More playboy than secret operative; he definitely had a glint in his eye.
“You’re used to getting your way with women, aren’t you?” she asked, extricating her fingers from his grasp.
“Forgive me,” he said. “Spending so much of my life in this city has made me bold.”
“And popular, I imagine, especially with all your money.”
He laughed. “You are a firecracker.”
“Thank you,” she said, taking the suggestion of strength as a compliment.
“And one I can’t wait to know better.” Hugo turned to the Olympus men. “I have luggage in the car.”
Daire gave Milo and Zip a nod. Harry might be the senior rank, but even he wouldn’t lower himself to giving orders about any man’s bags.
The two assigned men went out the front door.
To her surprise, Hugo offered her his arm. “The patio is one of my favorite places in the house. Join me?”
“I came downstairs to say goodnight…” sort of and to talk to her father, but this stranger didn’t need to know that. “This is usually the time everyone retires.”
“It’s much too early for someone so luminescent to hide their light… I’ve been on a plane all day, so forgive me… If you’d like to change, I’ll call a car and we can be in the—”
“Pandora stays in after dark.”
Most people would expect her disapproving father to be the one stepping in. But the abrupt command didn’t come from Harry, it came from Daire.
“Ares,” Hugo said, lowering his arm to saunter a few yards closer to the agent. “I understand Pandora’s importance. I’ll have a squad of bodyguards waiting for us. We’ll use the private entrance.”
Daire didn’t blink. He just took one step toward Hugo and lowered his deep voice. “She stays here.”
“Yes, it is getting late,” Garrick said, crossing the space to put himself between the men.
They were ten feet apart, more than that, but the tension radiating from Daire was unequivocal. That it could chill her spoke to his intensity. After their earlier conversation, she didn’t doubt her Heart’s dedication to her. He followed Harry’s orders, yes, but if she was in peril, Daire would do whatever was necessary to protect her. No matter who was threatening her.
Problem was, he was stepping up to face off with a player, not a slayer. Her life wasn’t in danger, and neither was her virtue. All the pick-up lines in the world wouldn’t tempt her near Balfour’s bed.
Still, she had a responsibility to keep the peace. “I suppose one glass of wine wouldn’t hurt,” she said, going to take Hugo’s arm.
Garrick’s exhale betrayed his gratitude. Daire kept glaring even after she narrowed her eyes on him and shook her head. Whatever was wrong with him, her Heart wasn’t dialing down.
Hugo took her past the guys and out onto the patio. The lights were on and the pool glowed blue. With the twinkling lights of The Strip on the horizon, she could see why he enjoyed the magic of it.
“How long have you been in town?” Hugo asked, gesturing to the chair Harry had been seated in when she called him out earlier.
“Not long,” Tess said, choosing to be vague. “I understood you were enjoying some vacation time. What brought you back to us?”
“Business,” he said, rounding the low table central to the heavy patio chairs. “And Olympus, of course, it’s time we got back on track.”
She smiled. “Couldn’t agree more.”
He opened his hands. “Red or white?”
Tucking her fingers under her thighs, she rocked forward. “Surprise me.”
The man had been home for just a few minutes and was already entertaining. Must be the Vegas way. Hugo went back inside, leaving her to enjoy the essence of peace for a few seconds. Not that she was alone.
“If you loiter there all night keeping a lid on it…” she said to the man watching her, “your head will explode.”
She didn’t need to look to know Daire was on the patio somewhere behind her. Stewing in his own… whatever that had been inside.
“That fuck puts his hands on you, I’ll open his throat ear to ear.”
The deep growl of his low voice came from the blackest depth of his soul. She’d never heard him so primal. Despite trying to swallow it away, a smile curled her lips. Her head stayed down, hopefully no one would notice he’d aroused her… including him.
“Weren’t you just saying tonight that no one could ever know about us?” she whispered, her chin drifting toward her shoulder. “I think if you murder an Olympus backer while he’s making a move on me, someone might notice.”
“I’ll invent a reason to kill him.”
Another smile threatened her lips. Not because she wanted Hugo to die, no. But anything that revealed the extent of Daire’s feelings thrilled her.
“Just make up a reason that an innocent man has to die?”
“No man who touches you is innocent.”
“You touch me,” she murmured.
“Guilty.”
He moved in behind her, his fingertips brushing across her hair. Flowing with the almost invisible caress, her heavy eyelids closed.
Hugo’s voice broke her trance. “Sorry for the delay.”
They’d been talking about him, but she’d almost forgotten their host would be returning. Hugo took the seat next to hers and put two wine glasses down on the table. The bottle in his other hand was already open, so he began to pour the rich red liquid.
“There’s nothing like a good red,” he said, glancing over her head. “We don’t need oversight here, Ares. You can stand down.”
Ares might be able to stand down. The man who called himself her Heart? Not so much.
“If anything exciting happens,” she said, wearing a smile. “I promise to scream.”
What else could she say? Asking Daire to stay would contradict a man clearly used to giving orders. Witnessing her drinking and socializing with another man would also drive Daire to the edge of his control. She wouldn’t have tagged him as the jealous type, not until his reaction to Three. Turned out it took little to rub her Heart the wrong way.
Hugo had already mentioned Olympus. Harry didn’t think there was any need for her to understand the agency. She thought different. So if this Three was willing to give her answers, she’d let him.
“Thirty minutes,” Daire said, retreating into the house.