4
Tywin
There weren’t many people I liked right away, but I liked Patrena. The notion was a strange one because I liked her from the first moment I had spotted her weeks ago having dinner with Mecca and Desiree.
Since that night, I had checked in on her at her apartment and a few times at the outreach facility where she worked. Work kept her away from her friends enough that she thankfully, hadn’t been in any danger until today.
I didn’t enjoy the aspects of dating, because the messiness of a relationship was something I didn’t have an interest in dealing with at this point in my life. I was content with my non-messy approach to hooking up that involved getting our needs met and never having to see each other again. That way, there weren’t any questions, concerns, and feelings to worry about.
Patrena didn’t appear to be the sort of woman who would go for a one-night stand, so there was no need lingering on the prospect.
Once we stepped inside the safe house, I marched over to a wall panel and pressed the notch that would release the computer equipment. The ladies watched the floor shift apart and lift a portable workstation. They were getting a peek into my world where tech was as dangerous, if not moreso, than a gun.
“Ladies, I’ll go and find you something to wear,” Khane announced before heading into one of the bedrooms. If Khane thought I didn’t see his reactions to Desiree and the way he watched her, he was crazy.
As soon as I had the laptop fired up, I contacted my man, Rhino, who gave me access to the feeds that would showcase how much destruction we had caused to the city. I needed to know what to cover up, who to pay off, and what to make disappear.
A warm tingle flowed through me, and I felt her before she said a word.
“What are you doing?” Patrena asked, easing closer and planting herself at my left shoulder.
She was a curious woman, but I didn’t blame her. She had just faced life and death on a massive scale and had taken it all like a champ.
“I’m going to link up with a few contacts to see if we can find out who was shooting at us and why.” It wasn’t a lie, but I didn’t know her well enough to tell her the whole truth. There was someone with a lot of power after Desiree and we needed to figure out who it was and why.
Patrena rolled the second desk chair up next to mine and took a seat. I would have been perfectly fine with her sitting on my lap, but I figured that was a bit too much, considering.
It was odd that I wasn’t uncomfortable or even bothered by her closeness. She didn’t say a word. She just sat there watching me while I worked. We weren’t speaking verbally, but we were certainly communicating something that gave me an energetic buzz and kept me keyed into her. Every now and again, I glanced at her and she met my admiring gaze with a smile.
From the moment I pulled her off of that truck it had been an unstoppable knee-jerk reaction. She was attracted to me and she wasn’t hiding it. I, on the other hand, fought tooth and nail to not lead her on, although I shared the attraction that was alive like an actual breathing presence between us.
I distracted myself, turning my attention to Khane and Desiree. He handed her a bundle of clothes before they began speaking in hushed tones. The sight of him so open and caring with a woman was blowing my mind. Like me, Khane didn’t do care and concern, so observing him being that way with Desiree was new.
He stepped away from her and approached Patrena with a stack of clothes before standing at my back. Patrena stood, preparing to go and change, and I locked gazes with her for a second. The intensity in our shared glance seemed to last forever before she walked away.
She and Desiree stepped into the bathroom, and I sensed Khane’s question about me with Patrena when he should have been worried about the eyes he had for Desiree.
“I like her,” I admitted, tilting my head in the direction of the bathroom. “And I know what you’re going to say, so let me save you the trouble. I like her because any woman brave enough to stand up to you has balls. Also, she’s witnessed five murders, has been dragged from a spa in nothing but a robe, survived being shot at, and trekked through the woods on a strange man’s back. And she hasn’t complained once.”
His brows lifted. We were Vallin men, used to the mayhem, and even Desiree to a certain point being an Evans. But Patrena, as far as I knew, was a civilian. A down-to-earth domestic-abuse counselor who took her job seriously and cared about the women and children she helped.
She was smart, educated, and lived a normal uncomplicated life. She should have been out of her depth with all the chaos she had witnessed today, but she impressed me with how well she’d handled herself.
Khane released a low breath at my statement since it was the first time I had admitted to something so out of character. In an effort to keep the target off of my unusual behavior where Patrena was concerned, I decided to point out his problem.
“I feel sorry for you,” I teased.
“Why?” he questioned, his brows pinching tight at my statement.
I tilted my head towards the bathroom again. “She is the only woman I’ve ever seen you interested in and she’s marrying your brother. What’s even worse, it’s not one-sided. Arrangement or not, Arjen is going to lose his fucking mind if he sees the way you two look at each other.”
“What?” Khane asked and appeared genuinely oblivious to what I was pointing out.
Desiree and Patrena came into the room dressed in his oversized T-shirts, shorts, and new socks before he could ask me for an explanation. As soon as Desiree filled his view, his entire demeanor seamed to brighten, and I flashed him thelook to let him know that I’d seen it.
He did his best to act discreet, but I wasn’t blind. The affectionate brush of Desiree’s hand against his arm had him clenching his fist so tight that it appeared his knuckles might snap. He had forgotten that I studied people’s reactions. Observing people in person or behind a lens allowed me to see every nuance, twitch, and in some cases, decode some of their behavior patterns.
“Do you guys know who’s after me yet? Do you know if my cousin’s all right?” Desiree’s question was meant for us, but her eyes never left Khane. Shit will be hitting the fan, was all I could think while doing my best to hold in a laugh.