Taking a calming breath, she scanned the crowd, looking at the familiar faces. When she didn’t see him anywhere, she looked toward the back of the room but only saw security members. She had to think. Maybe he wasn’t here. But then how would he know what she was wearing? She’d gone straight from the hotel suite to her office today, then after a full day of phone calls, emails and employee issues that simply couldn’t wait, she’d come here with Wyatt and the security team. Jay had met them right outside the room, escorting them the rest of the way in.
Battling nerves, she turned around to make sure Logan and Roman were still behind her and caught Jay’s gaze. Those electric green eyes of his missed nothing. They narrowed the tiniest fraction, but she knew she couldn’t let him know anything was bothering her. Not in full view of everyone. Especially if Kevin was in the room. If he saw her signaling to Jay then he’d know she’d told someone about his threats. Then that monster would know something was up and she was lying to him.
Tucking her phone back into her jacket pocket, she gave Jay a half smile before facing the crowd again. As soon as they were alone she’d tell him about the text, but she couldn’t risk giving herself away before then.
Seconds after Wyatt answered the last question, two members of the team stepped up, surrounding him on each side. One of them murmured something to him and after a nod at her, Wyatt headed out one of the back doors of the room which would take him directly to a private parking garage. She was surprised Jay wasn’t going with them.
“Why aren’t you leaving with Wyatt?” she asked as he made his way across the raised podium toward her. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted two people waiting to talk to her. She held out a hand letting them know she’d be a moment.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured, low enough for her ears only. “I saw your face when you looked at your phone. Did he text you?”
“Yes, but I can’t talk about it now,” she murmured, pasting a big smile on her face. She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. “Give me sixty seconds then drag me away.”
One of his hands reached out and clenched around her hip in that possessive way of his she adored before he nodded and let her go. But she sensed him standing behind her as she approached the two waiting individuals.
Right on schedule Jay tapped her shoulder, no doubt exactly a minute later. He murmured something about a work emergency loud enough for the others to hear. She smiled apologetically and broke away then watched as Roman and Logan boxed her in from the front and back in perfect synch.
“Come on. We’re getting you out of here.” Jay’s voice was low again.
Subtly trying to scan everyone’s faces again, Ellie fell in step with the security team as they exited the room. “Don’t react, but someone texted me about the clock ticking down. A different number than before. He mentioned the color of my top, which means he might be watching. He also mentioned ‘the suit’ and I’m sure it was a reference to you, not Wyatt. He threatened you.” Her hands balled into tight fists at the thought.
Ever the professional, Jay didn’t miss a beat as they strode past a row of slot machines on their way to the main lobby. The dings and whirs barely registered, the typical casino sounds white noise to her now. But she wondered why they were coming to the lobby instead of back toward the private elevators.
“I’m going to kill him,” Jay murmured, a half smile on his face, as if nothing was wrong. But the deadliness rolling off him was very real.
She slid her hand through his arm as they walked. “Jay—”
“Forward the message to me and V. V will see what he can get from the number. Logan and Roman are going to escort you from the hotel. They’ll drive around for a while before looping back and entering through the private garage. We don’t want anyone to know you’re staying here.” Again, his voice was so low that no one could possibly hear but her.
Her fingers dug into his forearm. “What about you?” After that text she didn’t want him out of her sight. She knew that he could take care of himself more than most, but the fear she felt for him had sunk its claws deep in her chest and wasn’t letting up anytime soon.
“I’ve got some stuff to take care of but I’ll be in the suite in a few hours.” His tone was abrupt.
“Stuff?”
He didn’t answer and she gritted her teeth.
“Are you going to expand on that?”
“No.”
“Then maybe I won’t be wearing my—”
He cut off what she’d been about to say with a searing kiss as they reached the valet area outside the main lobby. She nearly stumbled, clutching at his chest as he claimed her mouth. And that was what he was doing, no doubt about it. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and when he pulled back, he ran his lips along her jaw, up to her ear, nipping her lobe between his teeth.
“You better be wearing what you said. I’ve been thinking about that all day,” he growled.
His demanding tone sent a shiver down her spine. “We’ll see,” she whispered, though they both knew that she would be. Even though she knew it might dispel the flirty mood, she grabbed his hand and said, “Be careful.”
Expression serious, he nodded. “Always. You know I’d be with you if I could. Roman and Logan are the best.”
“I know. We need to seem like it’s business as usual.” Keeping Jay out of harm’s way was all that mattered so even though she wanted him with her, she understood the need for normalcy.
After giving low-spoken instructions to Roman, Jay waited until the three of them had gotten into the already waiting company SUV. As soon as they drove away from the hotel Ellie pulled out her cell phone and texted Sierra. She needed a little help with her seduction plan tonight and Sierra was the perfect person to help her. Ellie was even more determined to fix things with Jay, to show him exactly how much she loved him.
* * * * *
“Lost them,” Tadeo muttered to Kevin as he slammed on the brakes to avoid ramming into the back of a Jeep.
Kevin’s hand tightened on the arm rest. Ellie wasn’t staying at her home, which was to be expected since her car had been bombed. He’d wondered how she’d explained that to the police, but according to De Luca, who had a source at the police station, she’d claimed to have no idea who could want to hurt her in her official statement. The police were chalking it up to gang violence or an attack meant as a threat to her boss. Both were wrong, but as long as she kept her mouth shut about him, he didn’t care what she told them. “Those guys are good.”
He figured they must be hotel security or maybe her boss’s personal guards. And they were definitely armed. Kevin hadn’t seen any weapons on either man, but it was in the way they walked, the way they carried themselves. Same with the suit Ellie was with. After seeing the giant guy move, Kevin wondered if there wasn’t more to him than he’d originally thought. Christiansen wouldn’t ha
ve anyone guarding him who wasn’t trained. Unfortunately all De Luca had been able to find out about Jay Wentworth were some basic financial records and that he’d been in the Navy. But nothing about what he’d done while he’d been in. After seeing him in person, Kevin had noticed some tats peeking past one of the sleeves of his jacket. In his experience, typical suits didn’t have tats.
“Not surprising. What do you want to do?” Tadeo asked.
“Head back to the hotel. I want to take some more pictures. We’ve still got half an hour before the display closes.” Even though he was still waiting for the building plans from Ellie, he and Tadeo were doing as much recon as they could. So far they had the daytime guards’ schedule down, but he knew there had to be a shift change sometime after hours. Unfortunately there was no way to find that out without a big risk of being exposed. The casino was open 24/7, but not the display area and they had no business being on that floor after a certain time. Sure, they could come up with an excuse, but it would make them memorable. Something he couldn’t risk.
“You sure she’ll come through?”
“Yeah.” He sounded more confident than he felt, which was good. He had to keep up appearances for Tadeo. He might like the guy but Kevin couldn’t let his guard down. Not when he knew Tadeo would always look out for number one. Not that he blamed him. It was the law of survival, something prison had grilled into him even more.
When the phone Tadeo had given him buzzed in his pocket, he glanced at the incoming text message and didn’t hide his smile. “She’s got what we need and will give it to me tomorrow. Wants to set up a meeting at a public place.”
“She might have backup. That big guy doesn’t seem like he’ll let her out of his sight, especially not after that car bombing. Did you see those guards on her?”
“This’ll be a good way to test if she’s lying.” He texted back with the location of a private park and a time.