Free Stay With Me by S.E.Harmon Page A

Even though I was sitting there making money (my favorite type of sitting), I was irritated. And as I squinted at the closed door of her house, I realized the reason was a combination of three things: it was the crack of dawn (to me), I was working, and Jordan was inside with this Rachel person doing God knows what. Why the last should bother me, I didn’t care to explore. Why images of them would torture me, I had not a cl— All right, I knew why. I wanted him for myself.
    Not for a relationship, and not for long. Love could keep all her hearts and flowers and fake crap to herself. No, I wasn’t looking for someone to share my breakfast table with. I wanted him in my bed, all long legs and soft, inviting eyes. He would look at me with that slightly amused expression and a raised brow and ask, “What are you waiting for?” The fact that my dream was impossible didn’t dampen my spirits or my erection, and Drew’s voice startled me out of my very pleasant musings.
    “So what’s the deal with this chick?” Drew’s voice sounded close in my ear, and I adjusted the volume of my phone.
    “Top of the morning to you too,” I said. “She’s Jordan’s fiancée. A real business type, legal shark.” Right now, Legal Shark’s yard was quiet and empty, and I grabbed a video shot of the scene. “It’s 8:40 a.m.,” I murmured into the device.
    “I can’t believe you’re up this early.”
    “ You can’t believe it? If I had to come in to the office, I would be setting up a hologram of myself right now.”
    He laughed. “And it would probably do more work than you usually do.”
    “Shut it, Rodriguez.”
    A woman in a short black dress elbowed open the front door, her hands full with two briefcase-type bags and a purse. I realized I was looking at her with a critical eye, almost as one would a rival, but I couldn’t help myself. She was flawless from the top of her layered haircut to the perfectly manicured claws that hit her key remote. I watched the red bottoms of her black stilettos disappear into her car and threw my car in gear.
    “She’s on the move,” I said. “And so am I.”
    “Don’t forget we have to meet with McGarrett at one o’clock.” When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “Don’t flake on me again,” he warned, and I groaned.
    My phone buzzed again, and Jordan’s name flashed on the screen. “Gotta go,” I said even as Drew was complaining, and clicked over. “Shit,” I said as the white Beemer flew past me.
    “Is that the way you answer the phone?” Jordan’s amused voice filled my truck as I put him on speaker and pulled out into the street. I was going to need both hands for this.
    “Yeah, pretty much.”
    “She just left,” he informed me.
    “Was that the white blur I saw?”
    The Beemer made a high-speed turn and flew around the corner.
    “Shit!” I exclaimed again.
    If they’d ever seen any sort of TV at all, everyone knew the rules for following another car. Not close enough to get noticed, but not far enough to lose your prey. Actually doing it was another story. This Rachel character was in one hell of a hurry. My beat-up truck cried as I sped after her.
    “Did I mention she drives like a bat out of hell?”
    “No, you didn’t. Where is she supposed to be heading? Bank robbery?”
    “She’s supposed to be going to work.” I heard the clatter of dishes on his end and had a vision of him puttering around in the kitchen on his day off. I was less interested in what I was supposed to focus on (my prey) and more interested in what he was wearing. I tried to concentrate. “Where does she work?”
    He rattled off an address that gave me a vague idea of where I was supposed to be going. “You need me to repeat?”
    “I’m good.”
    “I hope you’re not writing this down while you’re driving.”
    “You worried about me?”
    “Hardly.”
    His dry tone made me smile, and I realized it was the first time I’d done that today. I couldn’t hold back my