Page 22 of Deadly Designs

He looked up and smiled. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“Coffee’s fresh. There are muffins and bagels on thetable. Would you rather have an omelet?”

She perused the pastries and selected a blueberrymuffin. “No, this is good.”

Aja Blue sat at the table to eat, watching him forsigns of unease. There were none. That was a relief. She would haveneeded to apologize if so.

“I have a phone for you to use.” He held it up.

Her brows raised. “Wow, that was fast.” She took itfrom him.

“Any calls to your old number will ring there, andyou can access your messages and texts.”

“Thanks.” She scrolled to the email, punched in herusername and password, and hoped for one from Jay. Therewasn’t.

“Also, I will need you to wear Kevlar when we gopublic.”

“You mean like a bulletproof vest?”

“Exactly. They’re lightweight and not bulky so thatthey won’t be obvious.” He lifted his shirt to show her his. Shehadn’t realized he was wearing one.

“You think it’s necessary?”

“I’m not taking chances with your life.”

A shiver went through Aja Blue at his forceful words.“Okay.”

“As soon as you finish breakfast, we’ll stop by Jay’splace.”

“Let me put on the vest. I can eat on the way.” Shewas anxious to talk to her assistant and ask why he’d ignored hercalls and worried her for a week.

Aja Blue ducked into the downstairs bathroom toremove her shirt. The vest was sleek, but she had on the wrong topfor it. She darted up the steps to her room to change. She found atunic that would conceal it better and pulled it on.

When they were in the car, she turned to Christian.“I don’t want my employees to know I hired you.”

That sexy brow quirked. “Did you hire me?”

Aja Blue frowned. She’d called him, and he’d droppedeverything. They’d never discussed payment. Heck, she didn’t evenknow how much his company charged. Since she’d received thethreatening letter and package at her office, she decided Aja BlueDesigns would pay, which would count as a work expense. She hopedher accountant agreed. “We’ll talk about that later. I willintroduce you the same way I did to Roland, as an old friendvisiting for a while, who works in security.”

“Not a lie,” he agreed. “We have known each other awhole week.”

She chuckled and buckled her belt. When they were onthe road, she guided him to Jay’s apartment. As they got out, sheglanced around, and her stomach dropped. “His car still isn’there.”

When they approached, the same woman from the lasttime was watering flowers off her first-floor patio.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Christian said. “Good morning. Iwanted to ask if you know most of your neighbors?”

“Sure do. I’ve been here since seventy-eight. Know‘em all.”

“Have you seen Jay Guitterez from apartment six?” AjaBlue asked her.

If it were possible, her furrowed nose wrinkled evenmore. “That the foreign fellow who thinks he’s a woman?”

“He isn’t foreign and doesn’t think that,” defendedAja Blue.

“Looks like it. Dresses like it.”

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