He and Willa had very different definitions of alone time. James had been waiting for her to come out of her room for a good hour before he realized that she had no intentions of facing him again.

Understandable. He’d come on strong. He hadn’t meant to scare her, but he’d bottled everything up for too long. From the second he saw her when he first walked into that conference room, he knew it was only a matter of time before everything came back to the surface. The fact that he’d kept himself together until they reached her apartment was a miracle. And if Toni hadn’t shown up? He had to bite his lip as he thought about what he could be doing to Willa right at this moment.

And she would’ve let him. He could see that she wanted him with every not-so-subtle glance she gave him. The knowledge that she wanted him too just made it harder. Literally.

James had to adjust himself as he stood and took out his phone to run through any messages. His new “boss,” Ike, was in frequent contact to make sure his coverage of Willa was going well. Then he had to take out his other phone to see whether Toni was trying to get in contact with him.

There was no news from Toni, but he had a feeling Hart had arrived by now and figured he should check it out. Something to keep him from knocking down Willa’s door. He could at least go a few hours pretending he was a civilized human.

However, before he left, he’d have to tell Willa he was leaving. And that would involve going to her door and not kicking it down. Because that would be bad. Very bad. Maybe if he told himself enough, he’d believe it.

He knocked gently. “Willa?” he called. No answer. If she didn’t give him anything, he really wouldn’t have any choice but to knock down the door.... “Willa, if you’re not there, I’m going to open this door one way or another.”

“What?” she called. Her voice was quiet, but she wasn’t yelling. She was right on the other side of the door. James pressed his palm flat against the wood and once again ran through the reasons he didn’t need this kind of distraction right now.

Once he had himself reasonably under control, he said, “I’m going downstairs to talk to Toni. Don’t go anywhere without me.” When she hesitated to answer, he added, “I need your help. I can’t have you ditching me again.”

“I’ll be here,” she said.

That would have to be good enough. He went back to the elevator and entered in the code that would give him access to the lower level. The doors opened to an apartment very similar to Willa’s, but slightly smaller. From the look of the main hallway, this unit also had two bedrooms, but didn’t have an extra den and the balcony space was a bit smaller. He wasn’t an expert on real estate, but for that kind of view, space, and high-end finishes, he knew Willa was paying top dollar. Or at least her father was.

It was strange to reconcile what he knew logically about Willa with what he knew from experience. She wasn’t the first heiress he’d dealt with. And it wasn’t as if they were all spoiled, vapid people who drove him crazy. But they sure as hell weren’t people he’d ever connected with on any level at all. Keeping his distance had never been a challenge. Hell, keeping himself detached from his jobs was practically his specialty.

So why was it different with Willa? Was it because she’d been in his home? A place he didn’t even take the women he slept with to? Or was it because she wasn’t just a protection job, but someone who had sought him out while trying to do the right thing?

And as pissed as he was that she tried to run from him, a sick part of him just liked her more for it. Because he knew she had run right back to the person who she was most terrified of. He thought when she had run, it had been out of fear of him. Considering she’d just seen him kill someone with his bare hands, it was understandable.

But she hadn’t just run. She’d gone right back to her father. Any thought of her going back to her old way of life had been alleviated once he saw how angry she was at his sudden appearance. And not angry because she thought he would get her in trouble. Angry because she was worried about him. Which was kind of adorable.

His mouth turned up as he came into the living room where Scott Hart sat awkwardly on the couch to type on his laptop, which was set up on the low coffee table. Toni was nowhere in sight.

“What the hell are you smiling about?” Scott typed something into the laptop before he sat back.

James immediately went back to his normal blank expression and didn’t answer. “I hadn’t heard anything from down here and wanted to see what was happening.”

Scott waved a frustrated hand in the air. “Fuck if I know. Toni has the most complex system known to man and she’s been setting it all up in the back.”

At that moment, a loud curse echoed through the apartment.

“Don’t offer to help,” said Scott. “That just pisses her off more.”

“Noted.” James debated sitting down but decided against it. “Any news on the hunt for Sterling?”

“Lots of news. But every time we find him, or think we find him, he’s gone by the time we follow the breadcrumb. I think Melody was right when she wanted to look into Belli. Every time Toni or I get a new lead, it circles around him. And from what she can tell, he’s been taking out large amounts of money once a month but we can’t trace where it’s going. He has to be funneling it to Sterling somehow, but until we figure out the how, we’re kind of at a loss.” Hart ran a hand over his head and rubbed his temples. “What about you? Sorry you got stuck with the daughter on this one, but it just worked.”

If only Hart knew the hell James would’ve raised if they tried to keep him away from Willa. “It made sense. She’s having dinner with Belli tonight. Anything we need to be doing?”

“Dinner?” said Toni.

James looked over his shoulder to see Toni walking to the kitchen, where she filled the empty glass in her hand with tap water. She wore the same clothes as earlier, but her hair was falling out of her ponytail and there was just a hint of sweat at the top of her brow. He didn’t want to think about how complex the setup she was working on was.

“I don’t know the name of the restaurant yet, but I can get it. I don’t think I’ll be close enough to hear anything, though.”

“I don’t need you to hear anything. Think you can get a hold of his phone?”

James didn’t have to think twice about it. “Not a chance in hell. I mean, I could, but not without him knowing.”

Toni nodded but didn’t seem surprised. “Figured. Then I’m going to need Willa to do it.”

“Willa isn’t stealing her father’s phone.”

“I thought she wanted to help.”

“She wants to help but she also has no idea what she’s doing. She’s a debutante, not a thief. If we need the phone, I’ll figure out how to get it.”

She raised a brow. “That’s a quick switch from not a chance in hell to I’ll figure it out.”

“I’m a flexible guy.”

Hart must’ve sensed the tension and he got off the couch and came closer. “What’s the problem? Why do we need Belli’s phone?”

“We don’t need it forever,” said Toni. “We just need to borrow it. If I can get a cloning program installed, then we’ll be able to track all of Belli’s incoming and outgoing calls, texts, and even turn on the mic whenever we want to listen into his conversations.”

Hart’s face scrunched up as if he’d just smelled something sour. “I worked a stalking case once with a cloned phone. That’s nasty stuff.”

Toni shrugged it off. “Don’t look at me with those judgey little eyes. Jadon Belli is a nasty guy. The more I dig into his revenue streams, the more convinced I am I want him rotting at the bottom of Lake Michigan.”

“If it gets us closer to Sterling, let’s get it done,” said Hart. The words seemed to leave a bad taste in his mouth. James knew that Hart used to be a cop, but he figured he’d be more used to the more uncomfortable details of what they’d all been working on lately. Usually when you spent enough time around morally compromised people, it tended to rub off.

And the righteous ones like Hart tended to fall the farthest off their moral high ground.

“Let me know what I need to do.”

Toni eyed James. “I’m going to write it down. And you’re going to give it to Willa.”

“Willa isn’t a professional.”

“Willa is the mark’s daughter. There’s literally no one else better to do this. Just because he trusts you with his daughter’s life doesn’t mean he’s going to trust you with things that are really important to him. Like his phone.”

“How did you managed to get him inside so fast?” asked Hart.

“Oldest trick in the book,” said Toni. “If you want to get someone into the inner circle, you need to discredit everyone else who is there.”

“We should be happy there’s any security left after the work-up that Toni did,” muttered James.

“All those guys were scum anyway. I barely had to fabricate anything to make it look like they were trying to get their boss fired.”

“You did too much,” said James, trying to walk the line between gentle warning and annoyance.

“It got the job done, didn’t it?”

Hard to argue with the results. But James knew the security world better than Toni. “Belli was unsettled to begin with. With the issues in his own security force, I want you to be on the lookout for new guys. They might start outsourcing.”

Hart frowned. “What kind of outsourcing?”

“The bad kind. It could be a whole team of guys just like me.”

“Just like you, as in qualified? Or just like you, as in you’ve worked together and they’d know you?”

“That really depends on the guys,” said James.

“Well, that’s a bridge we’re going to have to cross when we get there, isn’t it. For now, focus on the phone. All you have to do is download an app. I’ll tell you exactly how to find it and where to get it. Once it’s on Belli’s phone, we can use it to get almost everything on him.”

“So we’re going to have to unlock it too,” said James.

Toni clicked her tongue as a way to agree with him. “And you want to know who would be most qualified to know the password to Belli’s phone?”

All James could muster out was an annoyed growl.

––––––––

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Willa stared at her closet and then at the clock on her cell phone once more. She had officially been standing in her bra and panties for twenty minutes. She was going to have to pick out an outfit eventually, but she wasn’t even close to figuring out what to wear.

What did she want this outfit to say? Devoted daughter. Spy. Sexy? No, she shouldn’t want to dress sexy for James. But she did. But just because she wanted to didn’t mean it was a good idea. But she did normally dress sexy, so if she covered up too much, that might be suspicious too.

Damn it. She winced at her own indecision. It was a dinner. Grab a dress and get it over with. Willa closed her eyes; she reached out and pulled a hanger off. When she opened her eyes, she saw the short sparkly mini dress and immediately vetoed it. The next one she grabbed was black with a very subtle print of white flowers. But the attention wasn’t supposed to be on the print. The dress was exceptionally short, but with long sleeves and a modest neckline, all attention was supposed to go to the legs. Good enough. She slid it on and then pulled on some matching black ankle boots. After she gave herself a once-over in the mirror, fluffing her hair so it appeared thicker and making sure her nude lipstick was in place, she went to her bedroom door. She’d managed to avoid James all day, but she knew she couldn’t stay away from him forever.

Was this how it was going to be? Whenever home, she was going to retreat into her bedroom and stay there until she needed to leave again?

She would have to find some way to make this work. How, she had no idea, but staying in her room and hiding wasn’t going to be sustainable. The new her was strong enough to work with James and not jump his bones the first chance she had. Probably. Maybe.

When she opened the door, she didn’t see him standing outside waiting for her, which was a plus. She half wondered whether he had been there all day, just waiting to pounce. She passed the open door to the second bedroom, but he wasn’t there and the den was empty too. Which meant he had to be in the living room. When she reached the living room, she saw his feet, in black socks, sticking off the side of her couch. He was a tad too big to fit comfortably. She smiled as she rounded the corner to see him sprawled out with one arm behind his head and his eyes closed. She’d never seen him sleeping before.

He had that rather angelic quality most creatures had when unconscious, but it was impossible to forget exactly what he was capable of. Maybe it was because he was much too big for the sofa. Maybe it was because the way his arm was bent, his bicep pushed against the soft material of his black button-down shirt.

She was still admiring the view when his gruff voice said, “I’d get up, but I think you’re enjoying yourself too much.”

Willa stiffened. “You’re awake. Of course you’re awake. Robots don’t sleep.”

His eyes opened and he sat up. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

When he stood, Willa took a step back. He met her eyes and she knew they were both replaying the scene earlier when he’d pinned her against the wall. She turned away and blinked a few times to clear her mind. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste.” She grabbed a water bottle, something she carried with her out of habit, and took a painkiller because she already knew this was going to be a headache-inducing evening.

“What was that?” asked James, who had crossed over to the island.

She took out the bottle and handed it over. “Something for headaches. Want one?”

He shook his head and set it down.

“You thought I was taking something heavier than over-the-counter, didn’t you?”

“It’s not unheard of for someone in your...circles.”

Oh, that was something she knew all too well. Willa leaned against her side of the island. “Sometimes I forget just how little we know about each other.”

“Here I thought you thought the mysterious thing was sexy.”

If only he knew how true that was. “My mother had a big issue with prescription drugs. Ended up OD’ing a bunch of times.”

James didn’t change his expression. No pity or remorse about her past. Just a slow nod. “Is she still around?”

“Still alive and ticking, but not around. It was a messy divorce with her and my father, so her problems got even worse. He offered her an option. She could have full custody of me or a massive one-time payment.” She didn’t say what Susan Belli chose. She didn’t have to.

“She chose wrong,” said James.

Willa shrugged. She tended to think the same, but other times.... “I don’t know. Am I really a great catch? I’m selfish. Hedonistic. Lazy. You know I’ve never had a job? Ever? Who does that?”

“Someone who doesn’t need to work,” said James plainly.

She didn’t know why she was telling him this. Was she trying to talk him out of liking her? Maybe she just wanted him to understand what he was getting. “I went to university for a few years too. I had all As in boarding school. Did decent in college too.”

“But you didn’t stay.”

That still stung. “I failed a test. It was stupid, but I had partied the night before. One failure wasn’t a deal breaker. I could’ve survived. But the professor came to me after class and told me he could make the F disappear if I helped finance his upcoming trip to the Caribbean.”

James’s stone eyes studied her as she continued. “And I don’t play like that. I wasn’t exactly a good girl, but I didn’t need to lie, cheat, and steal to get what I wanted. And I told him exactly where he could go shove it. That’s when he told me that no matter how good my grades were, it was the massive donation my father made to the university my senior year that got me in. So I left. What’s the point? I don’t need school to get a job. I just tell someone my name and who I know and I’ll get hired. And it doesn’t matter how I do at that job. They’ll keep me on just to get to know my father, right?”

She motioned around at the apartment. “So now I just live off him. He doesn’t seem to mind. And I guess since I now know that he’s getting his money by being a dirty rotten son of a bitch, I understand why. It’s not like he’s working hard for it.” She rolled her eyes and tried not to think about the mess her life was in at the moment. “But no, I don’t take prescription drugs for anything other than exactly what they’re prescribed for. Thanks to my personal history and tendency to overdo things,” she forced herself not to look at James as she mentioned her tenuous self-control, “I stay away from those.”

“That’s smart.”

She gave him a fake smile as she tried to get back in the mindset she needed for tonight. “I’m a very smart person.” She left the kitchen to collect her purse and made a quick call to have a car come and pick them up. When she came back, James was sliding on his jacket and buttoned it to hide the shoulder holster he’d also put on. She tilted her head to admire the view. Why were guns sexy? Had she always found guns sexy? Or was it just a James thing? Hell if she knew why her brain liked to go all haywire around him.

“Ready?” she asked.

He nodded and he hit the down arrow. “I, um, I need to tell you something.”

Well, that was never good. “Everything okay?”

“Toni wants you to do something.”

“I can do things. What does she need?”

“Can you get access to your father’s cell phone? You’d need two, maybe three minutes, with it and we’d have to know the password.”

“Doesn’t seem too hard.”

“And if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

“I should be able to—”

“And if you think it’s too risky, you don’t have to.”

She pursed her lips as she started to understand. “You don’t want me to?”

“I don’t want you to get caught.”

It was tempting to be insulted by that, but she had to admit that she wasn’t exactly qualified to be doing this. “I know how to be careful.”

“If you knew how to be careful, you wouldn’t be here with me right now.”

She didn’t know whether she should laugh or roll her eyes at that. “You’re not all bad, James. I think ending up with you might be on my list of smarter decisions.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and tried to see whether the compliment got to him, but he was just as stoic as always.

“Agree to disagree.”

All she could do was shrug. “Agree to disagree.”