Redeeming Page 10

  Never had she felt so close to losing it as she did now. “You lost the girl? A fifteen-year-old girl, who knew no one in this city, and you couldn’t keep her in one place?”

  “I was drunk. I’m sorry, Mother. It won’t happen again.”

  “Damned right, it won’t. Find that girl. And I don’t want to see your face until you can say you have her.”

  He didn’t like her tone, but he’d been raised to respect her. Her position as his father’s wife made that a priority. He nodded.

  “How many girls were lost the other night?”

  His mistake hadn’t been the only one made the other night. All of his men had screwed up, and she knew the number tally. They’d lost close to a million dollars.

  Because of Davis Lucas.

  She’d recognized the man in the grainy photo her oldest had shown her. Lucas’s preferred bodyguard and all around gopher. He’d struggled with one of her stepson’s men, and his facemask had come off in the struggle.

  Ironic that the security system that had captured the man’s image was a Lucas Tech brand. It hadn’t taken much after that to determine that the tallest man on the camera was none other than the great man himself. What in the hell was Davis Lucas doing interfering in her business?

  His net worth was more than fifty times hers, and hers wasn’t something to sneer at—so why did he feel he had the right to stick his nose in what she was doing?

  She needed to think; time to find out what his interest was, and what her next steps should be.

  He wasn’t interfering in her profit again. No matter what it was she had to do.

  Everyone had something that they would kill to protect. Her livelihood—her sons’ livelihoods—were high on the top of her list.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Luc buried himself in work; it helped marginally. Although after two long weeks the wound of Payton Asher still seemed raw. He had difficulty staying at home, and was thinking of making several changes to his bedroom. He kept seeing a certain woman there, in positions she’d never been in.

  Every night he dreamed of having her beneath him, with him, and not just engaging in sex. He dreamed of holding her, like he had before.

  It had been one damned night. One night.

  Why was it driving him so crazy?

  His assistant knocked on the door and he buzzed her in. Whilton was perfect at her job. He’d promoted her from the legal department, where she’d worked as a paralegal doing research and such, about a year ago. He hadn’t regretted it.

  She was petite, cute, fiery, and efficient and he found her frightening. Her organizational skills bordered on an obsession. But she kept his business running smoothly, and did the same for him. She planned where he’d be and when, and he found her invaluable.

  Her hair was cinnamon brown and hung down her back in a mass of wild curls. He knew the hair drove her crazy, but he couldn’t stand it when she put it up in a bun. He’d told her that once or twice. Her head looked lopsided when she did that. He’d told her that, knowing that every woman had some vanity. Even Whilton.

  And she had no crush on him, not like his last personal assistant. Whilton was all business, and that was what he needed. “This came by special courier. I’m not sure what it is.”

  She didn’t open his mail, said that was going too far in her position. But she brought it to him every day. He didn’t have a home mailing address, not with all of the crazies out there who thought that he owed them something simply because his bank account was bigger than theirs, so most of his correspondence came direct to this office.

  He took the manila envelope and slipped it open. Several glossy photos fell out on the desk in front of him. Along with a note.

  It hurts to lose someone you love. Pity if something happened…stay the hell out of things that don’t concern you, Lucas, or you’ll pay the price. Or someone you love will…

  He studied the photos; candids of Payton dominated. She was with Paige and Cody in most of the pictures. There she was at the baseball game and the party afterward. There were a few of her coming out of her office building, a few at a bar, and even one of her apartment building. Her hallway. Some photos were so close up that he could see the slight freckles over the bridge of her nose.

  His blood froze.

  He grabbed his phone and typed in Cody’s number. He had to find her and he didn’t want her alone until he could get to her.

  Cody picked up on the second ring.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  He watched her; something he knew was a habit he would probably never be able to break. Something about Payton drew him more than a moth to a flame, to quote the old adage, and it was time he admitted it. He was like a damned insect, swarming around the light he knew he shouldn’t touch, the light he knew would singe him if he got too close.

  She didn’t realize her nerves showed, did she? Of the six women prepping to go on stage, she was the one most uneasy. His sister was prowling, ready to climb the walls; Alessandra Brockman was practically walking on air, and he suspected that Lorcan guy behind her was the reason. He assumed it was Seth; Sebastian—his sister’s team-leader—waited next to his wife. It was getting damned crowded backstage. But Luc wasn’t going out into the audience, no matter what the questions were that were brewing in Payton’s friends’ heads. Or hers. She’d barely looked at him when he’d walked in with Cody a few minutes earlier.

  He wasn’t leaving this area without her.

  Not with her being threatened.

  Cody sauntered up to him, sexy as hell in a man’s shirt barely buttoned and tight jeans. He gave her a quick admiring glance, but the peek at flesh did nothing for him. Not like Payton, even with Payton dressed much more sedately, in similar jeans and a bulky sweatshirt.

  “Following Payton around again? That’s beginning to be a habit.”

  “Get used to it.”

  Cody studied him a moment. “Should I?”

  He smiled. He’d made his decision on the limo ride from his office to this club where Cody told him Payton would be. “Everyone should. Especially Payton.”

  Cody sobered. “Just don’t hurt her. She’s still reeling from the accident, and the lab attack. More than the rest of us.”

  “In what way?” He knew she’d recovered physically, but he suspected Cody meant more.

  “She blames herself, for her brother’s death…and for the clerk who died at PAVAD.” Cody looked over her shoulder to where Payton and their friend Compton were setting up drums. Cody lowered her voice and leaned in toward Luc. “Her brother was driving to pick her up at work that night. And the guy who blew up the lab, who attacked me that night, shot Kelly at Smokey’s, and kidnapped Marianna’s son and shot Ed Dennis—he did it because he blamed all of us for Payton leaving, moving away from him.”

  Luc cursed. He hadn’t known that. “He was her lover?”

  “He wanted to be. Obsessive over her. Payton didn’t have a clue. And most of the explosives were set near her office, Luc. He was determined to kill her because he couldn’t have her; it was damned lucky he didn’t. If Paige and Al hadn’t been with her, she’d be dead, too. And she still doesn’t talk much about what happened in that lab that day, but it was bad. Very, very bad. For all three of them. They weren’t that close of friends before that day, but now? Al and Paige are fiercely protective where she’s concerned. And that guy died instead, a twenty-two year old clerk with an eight-month-old baby. Combined with her already blaming herself for Patrick’s accident, it’s done something to her. And frankly, I’m worried to death about her.”

  Luc looked at Payton for a long moment. Just what was she bottling up inside? He understood that kind of guilt. Could he help her deal with it, without hurting her more? He honestly didn’t know. But he’d have to try, wouldn’t he? “I’ll take care of her, Cody. I promise you that. I’ll give her everything she wants.”

  “I don’t doubt that you can, but can you give her everything she needs? Ask yourself that, no matter
what it is you’re planning. If the answer is no, then please stay as far away from her as you can get. Please. Don’t forget, I know you pretty damned well. And her, too. I don’t want either of you hurt.”

  “Just forget about me and Payton and concentrate on what you need to do tonight.” Was she right? Should he just walk away from Payton now, leave her to some man like that Compton guy, who she apparently liked and had common ground with? There were enough people in that division she worked for that he could turn over the whole mess to one of them and they’d see that she was safe. He could just walk away.

  He looked at her again as she shrugged out of the shirt she wore over her blue t-shirt. Her hair was down and sexy around her shoulders, the shirt tight and just short enough to show a bit of midriff. She’d taken off the glasses and slipped her contacts in, and applied more makeup than usual. So beautiful.

  He looked back at Cody as she shrugged out of her own over shirt and tossed it to him. Her t-shirt was bright red, just as tight as Payton’s—on much curvier flesh—but he didn’t care. Even Cody wouldn’t stand in his way, not in this. “Stay out of my way on this, Cody. You and I are friends, but Payton…is going to be everything.”

  He didn’t miss the way her mouth opened and her eyes widened. “Luc…”

  “I mean it. Stay out of it.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Half an hour later he was in the front row, watching every move Payton made. His sister and the rest of the women on stage barely registered to him. He had a lot to think about. A lot to plan.

  What he was thinking was a hell of a lot more demanding and complicated than an affair. An affair would be far safer for both of them, emotionally, wouldn’t it? No attachments, no expectations?

  That was the way Luc had always handled things in the past.

  But could he ever end an affair with Payton?

  That was the billion dollar question, wasn’t it? He somehow doubted that an affair would end peacefully between them—he couldn’t be involved with her and then watch her just walk away someday. Not him, not with her. And it was time he admitted that to himself. But…

  What exactly did he want from her?

  Dark thoughts swirled around in his head for most of Payton’s band’s turn on the stage. As she was taking a final bow, her hands clasped tight, one in Paige’s and one in Cody’s, it became perfectly clear to him.

  Everything.

  He wanted everything. Luc knew he’d spoken the truth to Cody—he did want all that he could get from Payton. With Payton.

  Manny had said it would happen that way. That he’d find a woman and he’d get sick with wanting her. He wouldn’t even sleep, eat, or even think without having a part of her in his soul.

  And Luc knew that woman was Payton.

  He needed to stop being so stupid about it.

  He wanted her at his side forever, wanted her sleeping in his bed, wanted his money paying for everything she needed. Wanted her naked with him and no other man for the rest of her life. He wanted her dependent on him for everything—materially, emotionally, all of it.

  But how was he to get that from her? He wasn’t even sure she liked him.

  And how could he blame her? A guy like him wasn’t what she needed, but damn it, he was what she was going to get.

  The evening charity event came to its inevitable conclusion, and Luc watched with pride as his little sister stepped on stage with her friends surrounding her and accepted the symbolic check for the donation to the charity of her choice. Paige was so damned skilled, did she realize that?

  Their mother had sung for a living, when she wasn’t drunk or prostituting, and she’d had some serious talent. If alcohol hadn’t taken hold of her so young, she might have made a success of her life.

  Instead, she’d thrown everything away.

  Payton stayed at the back of her little crowd, along with Carrie Lorcan, the two of them the least comfortable with eyes on them. But he had a hard time looking away from her. She looked out at the crowd and her eyes met his. Heat hit her cheeks.

  So sweet, so beautiful.

  He could ruin everything about her if he wasn’t careful with her. She’d have to be taken care of. Could he do it?

  He damned well better. This wasn’t something he could screw up.

  Fifteen minutes later he walked backstage, leaving the security guards to deal with his security team. A benefit of being Davis Lucas—he was free to go wherever he wanted; and the check he’d just finished writing to the organizer of this contest for the winning charity pretty much guaranteed his entrance to any part of the place.

  Luc found Payton and the rest of her friends breaking down their equipment and laughing near the back dressing rooms.

  He stepped up behind Compton and tapped the other guy on the shoulder. “Can I have a few minutes with Payton, please?”

  “Sure. I need to help Kelly, anyway.”

  Luc wrapped his hand around Payton’s wrist and dragged her into a secluded nook next to the hallway. “You’ll be coming home with me, tonight. We need to talk.”

  “About what? I figured we were finished with everything between us three weeks ago.” The definite bite in her words had him wincing internally. He couldn’t screw this up any more than he already had.

  “Someone knows about you and I, and they’re trying to force my hand.”

  “In what way?” She kept her tone cool, but he saw the nerves in her eyes. She pulled her wrist free of his hold. Luc wanted to crowd her back against the wall and kiss her with all the emotions running through him right then. The corner they were in was just dark enough no one would ever notice.

  “Threats, baby. Threats to you directly if I don’t mind my own business. We need to talk. You’re coming home with me.” And if he had his way, she’d never leave his house again. He just had to find the right way to make that known to her. He needed to think; and he’d do that best with her at his side where she belonged.

  “Luc…”

  “Do we really have time to debate the inevitable now?” He could hear Paige giving instructions to her friends. “We’ll help you load up. Then you and I can head home.”

  ***

  After the contest was over and they’d loaded Josh’s truck with all of their equipment and instruments, Payton wanted nothing more than to go home, without talking to Luc.

  But that wasn’t about to happen. The man wasn’t letting her out of his sight, and he’d set Chase on her, as well. She’d seen the bodyguard lurking behind her even when she’d slipped off to the restroom. How was she supposed to deal with that?

  Luc waited for her with Seth and Sebastian Lorcan. Seth had shown up at Smokey’s a few hours earlier, and from the way he and Al couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other, her friend had something else to celebrate besides their win. It had been so romantic seeing Al’s face when she realized the triplet standing there hadn’t been Sebastian, but his identical brother. The love and raw emotion had had Payton’s eyes watering, as well. She was so happy for Al. Her friend deserved to be happy.

  Payton felt a bit wistful when she thought about it all. Al and Seth had been together for only what amounted to a few days, yet the look on both their faces when they saw each other was deep, intense, and beautiful. They’d been together only a few days before she and Luc had…She wasn’t going to think about that.

  She wasn’t so certain she’d ever have something like that. And she half didn’t think she wanted it; not anymore. It was too hard, too confusing. Too easy to screw up.

  Luc stepped away from the brothers and toward her. He held out his hand for hers and she took it without thinking it through. He had her against him and was kissing her quickly. He pulled away before she could react. “Congratulations, sweetheart. I heard this was the biggest donation ever raised from a Battle of the Bands.”

  It was worth it; the proceeds of the entire contest went to the charity choice of the winning band. They’d unanimously agreed that whatever they’d raise if they
’d won would go to the runaway and homeless teen-shelters that Carrie and Paige had bankrolled years ago, with proceeds from Carrie’s computer programs.

  And one shelter had nearly been destroyed by fire a few months before Payton’s team had transferred from Indianapolis. Paige would officially deliver their winnings in the morning. The Battle was Paige’s baby, her obsession, and everyone had known it. They’d been practicing for months. Luc’s sister had also written most of the songs they’d done, and all of the musical arrangements. Paige was immensely talented, but Payton knew she had little confidence in her skills. A shame, really. If Paige ever left the FBI, she’d make a killing as a songwriter; Payton didn’t doubt it in the least.

  Too bad Paige did.

  Her friend was remarkably lacking in confidence, at times.

  Her brother didn’t seem to be. He pulled away and gave her a look filled with such heat she was surprised she didn’t turn into melted slush at his feet. He’d never looked at her that way before, even when he was trying to intimidate her that first night. Except for that night in his bed…He’d looked at her just like that. And then the next day he’d made it perfectly clear there wouldn’t be a repeat of that night.

  What had changed his mind in the weeks since?

  Or was it just for the benefit of the people surrounding them?

  It sure hadn’t felt like a show.

  Paige came running out of the back door and stopped where they stood. “Heading over to Smokey’s to celebrate, Payt. Bring your friend. Big party! Half of PAVAD’s going to be there.”

  Payton just nodded, though a party at Smokey’s was the last thing she was really in the mood for. She looked at Luc. He stared at Paige, a brooding expression in the eyes so like Paige’s.

  Why did no one else see it? They were both tall and lean, dark-haired and eyed. And the shape of their eyes was so distinctive, not to mention the smiles. Even the small gap in their front teeth was the same!