Page 16 of When He Protects

“I want you.” In so many ways. For so many things. “That’s a non-negotiable point in any deal that is made.I want you.You’ll be my bodyguard. My shadow. My hero. My protector. My twenty-four, seven companion until all the danger is well and truly over. It will be you and me. Until the bitter end.” Now she did smile at him. “Doesn’t that sound amazing?”

Chapter Four

“This is insane,”Tyler snapped to Grayson. The words were for his friend, but Tyler’s gaze? It was fully locked on the woman who had gone back to sitting on the interrogation room table. Her feet were swinging again. Though this time, she wore her insanely sexy heels as she swayed her feet. And he was pretty sure that she was humming or singing some sort of song.

They’d turned off the volume, so he didn’t hear her. The other Feds had filed out before Tyler entered the observation room. Hell, Gray had gone with them for a while. Some big Fed and CIA meeting that had excluded him. Why? Because Tyler didn’t have the fucking clearance for whatever bullshit was going on.

But Gray had just returned. Only the two of them were in that room. And… “Insane,” Tyler snapped again. No way were the Feds going to agree to her terms. No. Way.

“Uh, Tyler…”

Esme turned her head toward the mirror. Her hand lifted. Shewavedat him.

Damn if Tyler didn’t almost want to wave back. Instead, his hand fisted at his side.

“You know that you were recruited to work on the joint task force because you do have a history with Jorlan.”

Yeah, he did. The story he’d told Esme about the boarding school? It had been true. Once upon a time—in another life—he’d gone to boarding school with the prick. But he’d broken out of that world. Joined the Marines. Fought in hell. Survived. And he’d become a U.S. Marshal. He did the job because it meant something to him. He wanted to make the world a better place. A safer place.

A place where kids didn’t lose their whole damn families and wake up alone. Scared.Lost.

The way I fucking was.

“There is a lot at play here that you don’t know about,” Gray continued grimly. “A lot thatIdidn’t know about.” He pointed toward the glass. “That woman in there is keeping a whole truckload of secrets.”

That he could believe.

“And she’s got power. Enough power that my boss wants to consent to every demand she has. If she’ll cooperate, he’ll give hereverything.”

Tyler got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. “No.” The denial was for Gray, but, again, his eyes were on Esme.

“We need you, Tyler. My boss has already talked to your boss—hell, you know how that interagency shit goes. You scratch my back, and I’ll be in your debt forever. Your boss was way too eager to get the Feds owing him, so he agreed to continue the partnership. You have a new assignment.”

“No.” He kept staring at Esme.

“It won’t be that bad.” Gray’s voice had turned almostwheedling. “I mean, look at her. Protecting her? How is that a bad job? The woman is gorgeous.”

Her head was dipping back and forth as she hummed. Or sang. Definitely sang.

“She’s a criminal,” Tyler gritted out.

She stopped singing. Her head swung toward him.

She can’t see me. She can’t hear me.

“She’s a super sexy criminal,” Gray corrected.

A growl rumbled in his throat.

“What, exactly, is that about?” Gray edged closer. “Each time I mention that she’s hot, you get all weird. Growly.”

“You mention it too fucking much.”She is hot.“You need to be professional. Eyes on the prize, man. Eyes on the prize.” Tyler’s eyes were still on her.

Her legs weren’t swinging any longer.

“Criminal,” he said again. He needed to remember that important point about her, and not think about how damn angry he’d gotten when he’d seen tears spill from her beautiful eyes. Tears that she had magically stopped in a blink.The woman is an actress. A true con artist. She can’t be trusted.

“Yeah, well, sheisa criminal, and your job is to hunt down runaway criminals. You do that shit all the time. You track the baddest of the bad. You transport them. You secure them. Hell, you also secure key witnesses. You help give them new lives. In this case, you’re basically combining your two main mission objectives as a marshal.” Gray clapped his hands together. “Two worlds collide, but in a great way. You protect the woman who is both a criminal and a witness—and you help her get a new life.”

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