Protecting The Billionaire (20 page)

“Should be.” He’d heard about the party from his sister. According to her, it was a Sherbrooke tradition, which went back to the earlier 1900s and everyone from Hollywood movie stars to powerful politicians attended.

“Then consider yourself busy on New Year’s Eve.”

Sounded like she intended to wait for him. He smiled before he could stop himself.

“What are you smiling about?”

Answering her would give too much away. “Nothing.”

Allison opened her mouth to speak, but the doorbell stopped her. “Be right back.” The legs of her chair scrapped against the tile floor. However, he was out of his chair before she stood up.

“Got it.”

“Seriously, it’s just Connor. He’s got babysitting duty again today.”

He didn’t care who it was. She wasn’t opening the door, end of story. “Probably. I’m still getting it.” Rock didn’t stick around to hear her argument on the matter.

“Adding doorman to your resume?” Connor asked when he came inside.

Rock ignored his friend. If it meant keeping Allison safe, he’d add a lot of jobs to his resume. “We’re finishing breakfast. Want some coffee?”

“Why not,” he answered as they headed for the kitchen. “I owe you one, Raimono, for telling your girlfriend to request me. Got me out of watching over Stan Bonds.”

He’d seen Connor on both Monday and Tuesday, but both times Allison had been around too. This was the first time they’d been alone. Rock had expected his buddy to be unhappy with his current assignment, but he didn’t seem bothered. “The big mouth oil guy from Texas?”

“He’s traveling to Venezuela. Hired the firm again to keep his sorry ass safe. They planned to send me, but the Sherbrooke name pulls higher rank. I’m not complaining. I much prefer working with your girlfriend. She’s not what I expected.”

He’d thought the same thing back in March. “I know what you mean.”

Allison was filling a mug with coffee when they walked in. “Help yourself to anything, Connor, if you’re hungry.” She handed Connor the mug as she walked by him. “I need to shower, I’ll be back.”

Rock nodded and glanced down at his watch. What he wouldn’t give for an extra thirty minutes or so right now. As it was, he was cutting it close this morning. “I’ve got to leave in five. See you tonight.” He pulled her close before she got further away. He didn’t care if Connor stood in the room. He wasn’t letting her leave without a kiss first.

“Have a good day.” She dropped a second kiss on his cheek and left.

“Saw the time check,” Connor said before he sipped his coffee. “You’ve got it bad my friend.”

Yeah, he did. So what.

***

Had someone sped up the day or something? One minute her computer read ten and now it said one o’clock. Most of the time she’d be pleased the end of the workweek was only hours away, and if it didn’t mean dinner with her dad and Abby was much closer, she’d be happy this afternoon too. Unfortunately, in a few hours, she had to sit down and tell them everything. Even before this morning, she’d known it was the right thing to do. Some things you couldn’t keep from your family no matter how much you wanted to. A stalker following you around fit into that category. Knowing this fact and telling her dad though were two different things. How did one even start a conversation like that? No matter what her word choice, he’d lose it tonight. She just hoped Rock’s presence and the fact she’d not only hired bodyguards but also gotten the police involved would prevent her dad from having a heart attack in her living room.

“Think about something else.” Thinking about the task ahead didn’t change it or make it go away. It only made her sick to her stomach. Allison focused on her other conversation with Rock this morning, the one they’d had when she’d woken up from her nightmare.
I love you too damn much
. Those had been his words. When she’d asked him out after the Falmouth Foundation fundraiser, she’d only wanted to get to know him better. She hadn’t had any expectations past a night out.

Odd how life worked sometimes. In a strange way, she guessed she owed Charles a thank you. If he hadn’t shown up at Siena the night she meet everyone for dinner, she wouldn’t have lied and Rock wouldn’t have escorted her to the fundraiser.

Gone for six months. Yuck.
Even if neither of them could change the fact, he should’ve said something before today. She realized when the Marines told him to go, he had no other choice. And it wouldn’t have changed her feelings even if she had known sooner, but still she wished he’d mentioned it sooner. It looked like it was going to be one long summer and fall. She’d need to find something to distract her and make the time go by faster. Maybe a trip somewhere. More than once Sara had asked her to Alicante in California. Perhaps sometime after Sara and Christopher’s honeymoon, she’d visit them for a little while. Her grandparents in New York loved visitors too and often asked her to stay with them. She hadn’t visited them in over a year. A week or two up there would kill sometime, and she and Nana could get some shopping in. Nana might be in her eighties, but the woman still loved shopping as much as a teenager. As long as she worked while away, Jake wouldn’t mind if she took some time off.

Yep, she’d find ways to make the months pass. And until Rock left, she’d enjoy their time together as much as possible considering the circumstances. So far the police had no leads. The only fingerprints they’d found in her house had belonged to either her or Rock. When they informed her of their finds, she’d almost cried. She’d been positive they’d find something. Even if they hadn’t been able to match the print to anyone yet, at least it would’ve been some hard physical evidence. Right now, they had none. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’d imagined it all. Too many things pointed at someone being after her, including the bullet through Rock’s apartment window.

Technically, the police had nothing to tie the shooting with someone breaking into her house, but she knew they were related. Rock agreed, although he’d admitted he didn’t know if the bullet had been intended to hurt her or scare her. Either way, she didn’t care. She just wanted the madman caught and her life normal again. She loved having Rock with her every night. Both Connor and Neil were nice guys, but she hated having a shadow everywhere she went.

Allison’s mood plummeted straight to her Prada pumps.
Positive thoughts, think positive thoughts. Only about a month until my niece or nephew is born
. If thoughts of a baby weren’t a positive thing, she didn’t know what was. She couldn’t wait to meet Trent and Addie’s son or daughter and then spoil him or her like a good aunt.
Sara’s wedding
. Even if Rock wouldn’t be around then, she couldn’t wait for the wedding. Although not her only female cousin, she’d always been closest to Sara. Her cousin had dated her fair share of jerks before her relationship with Christopher, Jake’s best friend, and Allison had never seen her happier.

Slowly, her mood inched its way up from her toes. Now if she could just get the sick knot out of her stomach, the day wouldn’t be a total loss.

***

Allison stepped off the elevator a few hours later and walked toward the reception desk. She’d needed a little afternoon pick-me-up and the best place around for a coffee was the Coffee Factory Café next door.

“Miss Sherbrooke, you have a visitor,” Denise said from behind the reception desk. “He arrived not long after you left.”

Before Allison managed a word, Connor stepped closer, the fingers on his right hand flexing. “Did he give you a name?”

More than ever, she appreciated Connor’s presences. She didn’t have any meetings scheduled today, so who waited for her?

“He said his name was Hunter Perkins,” Denise replied, reaching for the phone. “Should I call building security?

Hunter here?
While odd, it didn’t require a call into building security. “Don’t worry about it, Denise. I know Hunter.”

“A friend?” Connor asked, his posture telling her he still didn’t like the idea of someone showing up unexpectedly.

“More like an acquaintance. I used to date his older brother, Charles. I’ve known him a while.” She walked toward the office waiting area.

When Hunter spotted her, he stood and stepped forward. The movement only caused Connor to move so he walked a step or two in front of her. “Connor, really, it’s okay. I know him.” She kept her voice low so neither Denise nor Hunter heard her comment. Her constant shadow remained where he stood directly between her and Hunter

Hunter made as if he intended to embrace her when she got closer, but then his arms fell by his sides. “Allison, I hope I’m not disrupting anything. I was in the area and wanted to say hi,” Hunter said with a smile.

“Nah, we just stepped out for coffee. Come on in my office.” She’d seen Hunter numerous times when she’d visited Charles and his family. She’d always found Hunter a little odd, although she couldn’t explain why. That didn’t mean she had to be rude and ask him to leave. Besides, a visit with him provided a nice little distraction from her earlier thoughts.

Connor’s tightlipped expression let her know his thoughts on the situation, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he followed them back toward her office and to his seat outside the door.

“What are you doing in Alexandria?” Allison asked once they both sat.

“Interviewed for a summer internship at Novo and Sullivan. I have another with Griffin, White, and Crosby next week.”

She’d heard of the well-known law firm located a few blocks over. With one of her questions answered, she posed her other one. “How did you know I worked here?”

“Charles mentioned it when we talked. He said he saw you with Trent and your sister-in-law.”

Duh
. Charles, she should have thought of him. Hunter and Charles talked a lot, or at least they had when they’d been together. “They were down for a fundraiser.” With her questions answered, she searched for some conversation starters. School came to mind first. Hunter attended Georgetown University. “How’s the semester going?”

“It’s a breeze. Wish the fall semester had been as easy.”

“Football must take up a lot of your time in the fall.” She didn’t recall what position he played, but she remembered Charles telling her his brother played for the Hoyas.

“Yeah and I tore my ACL last season,” Hunter answered, then went into way more detail than she needed about the play that caused the injury and the rehab afterward.

Twenty minutes later, Connor knocked on the door saving her from any further football plays. “Miss Sherbrooke, you asked me to remind you when it was four.”

“Thanks Connor,” she said, playing along. Honestly, she’d had enough football talk for one day, but Hunter hadn’t given her a chance to interrupt him. “I’ve got this bad habit of losing track of time and I’m meeting my dad and stepmom for dinner tonight.”

“Gotcha. Saw your dad when I visited Providence last month.” He stood but didn’t make a move to the door. “If I get the internship at Novo and Sullivan, I’ll need a place in Alexandria. Any areas you recommend?”

“I’m over on Cameron Street. Everything around there is nice.”

Hunter nodded and smiled. “Thanks. I’ll check it out. Talk to you later.”

She waited until her guest left before she went for the door herself and opened it. “How did you know I needed a break?”

Connor lowered the coffee he still nursed and looked at her. “Just wanted him out of your office. Didn’t like the guy.”

“He’s harmless. But thanks anyway. I thought I’d hear about every play from last season.”

“Not a football fan?”

“How’d you guess?” Although perhaps if it had been someone else giving her the season recap, she wouldn’t have minded so much. Rock could give her a lesson on the proper way to wash dishes in his sexy voice and and she’d enjoy it. “I’m not going to get anything else done today. As soon as I close out my computer programs, we can go.”

“Ready when you are, Miss Sherbrooke.”

***

Rock thanked Detective Graves, the officer who was investigating the shooting at his apartment, and ended the call. While the police had found fingerprints on the casing recovered in the parking lot, it had not matched any on record. The only positive news from the call, if you could call it positive, had been that they’d matched the bullet to a weapon used in a fatal robbery the previous year. However, the homicide remained unsolved and the official from Dumfries didn’t know how the weapon had made its way back into circulation. At the time of the robbery, the gun had been found in the dumpster outside the convenience store and taken into police evidence. Graves claimed all this was further evidence the shooting at his apartment had been a random gang related act and nothing else.

He didn’t buy it. He tried convincing the guy otherwise. Although the detective had remained polite, he’d more or less told Rock he had no clue. He recognized a hopeless case. If the detective didn’t want to hear it, he wouldn’t waste his breath. The cops in Alexandria knew about the shooting. They might have better luck getting Graves and the Dumfries’s police force onboard. Either way, it didn’t change his mission. Until he left next month, he’d do everything possible to keep Allison safe.

After passing through the base exit, he headed for Interstate 95. Typically he took the interstate straight to US-1. Since tonight of all nights he couldn’t be late, he’d checked traffic reports before leaving. According to them, an accident had traffic on US-1 backed up for miles, which meant if he hoped to reach Allison’s with enough time, he’d have to take an alternate route.

Rock’s smartphone beeped while he waited at the traffic light and he glanced at it.

Addie’s water broke. They’re on their way to hospital. I’ll call when I have more news. Your dad and I are on our way over there.
The message from his mom said.

He reread the message. He’d hoped she’d go into labor early and have the baby before he left in June. Now maybe he’d get to meet his nephew before he came back in the winter. Both he and Allison were convinced the baby was a boy. His sister and Trent kept denying they knew, but on more than one occasion Addie referred to the baby as him. Allison was so positive in fact she’d ordered dozens of baby boy outfits, which she’d showed him the moment they arrived. He’d been blown away by the tiny size of them. The idea another human could fit into them boggled the mind.