Page 7 of Blackstone's Heart
"I need to get back to the office. Ethan's going to stay here so you two can discuss what you need to do." Nicholas said approaching her. He gently laid his hands on her shoulders. "Please honey, listen to him and cooperate."
Krista covered his hands with her and smirked. "I will dad. I trust Ethan and Blackout a hell of a lot more than I do the Feds. At least with Blackout I know what I'm getting."
Nicholas chuckled and kissed her forehead, he then moved over to Ethan. She watched as the men hugged before her dad left. Now she was alone with Ethan Blackstone. She licked her lips as she stood a mere three feet away. His body language hard to read, but his eyes were another matter. They were filled with worry. For her? Determination, what looked like sadness, and something else she couldn't quite place. She jumped when her phone chirped.
"Um, the Feds say they'll share." Krista stuttered reading the text on her phone.
"Alright, once I’m done here I’ll have one of my guys meet me at the Federal building. Say, about an hour." Ethan ordered as he started moving toward her noticing her looking down at the phone sending the text.
She quickly sent the text to Jimmy and Cain before looking up again. Krista fought the urge to step back. She wasn't scared of Ethan, but at the moment her emotions were running crazy and THAT scared her just a bit. "Thanks. I gather Blackout will be doing a background check on Jerry."
Ethan smirked again. "You seem to know a lot about Blackout."
She chuckled. "Not personally. I have a PI friend who I consult with for my writing. He told me a bit about what you guys do. Plus, you forget our parents are friends. Your dad has been bragging about ityour operation to dad ever since you opened it."
Ethan laughed then. Oh his laugh shot right through Krista to her core. She felt heat pulse between her legs and her nipples tingle in the confines of her bra. Taking a slow breath, she spoke again. "I can tell you right now, since I know you’ll look into him anyway, Jerry isn't the guy, nor would he help him."
"People can surprise you Kris." Ethan stated, his laugh dying and his eyes and facing growing deadly serious.
"Oh I know that, but Jerry...well, let's just say you are more his type than mine." Krista giggled as Ethan raised one brow in understanding. "Jerry is the sweetest guy. He would gain nothing by doing this. He's been with me since the beginning. Before I ever published my first book. We were housemates in college and up until we moved here last year."
"We'll still check him out. I'll need to look around and see about your home security. I'll also need a list of names of people who know you and Kris James are the same person. Publishers, stylists, all of it." Ethan instructed.
"Alright, but it will be a short list." She nodded with a shrug.
As Ethan left the kitchen, Krista sagged into her chair. If she had thought he was trouble when they were teenagers, the man he was now was lethal. What the hell was she going to do now that he was protecting her? On unsteady legs, she moved to a drawer and pulled out a pen and pad of paper to get started on the list Ethan asked for.
***
Ethan silently moved through Krista's home. His eyes missing nothing as he took in each room. Her living room impressed him with the sixty-inch plasma screen mounted over the stone fireplace. The room was welcoming. Smiling a little as he headed upstairs. The first room he came to housed what looked like the hub for her security system. It was top of the line, but Blackout's was even more top of the line.
He sat at the main computer and pulled up the systems specs. Though his men constantly teased him about his strong dislike of computers, Ethan was no slouch at them. He just didn't particularly like them. There was a difference dammit. He was impressed with the system, but knew his system would better protect the woman downstairs in the kitchen.
Sighing, he stood and left the room. As he moved down the hall his thoughts ran circles in his head. Seeing Krista again brought back feelings he thought he no longer had. She had always held a special place in his life and at one time his heart. The last time he had seen her was nine years ago. She had been twenty-one. He recalled the last time he saw her.
He had come home on leave for Christmas that year. That had been right before he was recruited by MARSOC and been accepted into the special unit. She had brought her boyfriend at the time home with her. Ethan recalled how during Nick and Debbie's annual Christmas party, he and her three brothers had delightfully discussed the different ways to hurt the guy.
His smiled disappeared and he let out a low whistle as he entered one of the guest rooms. The room was nothing like he had ever seen. The wall to his left faced the backyard and was nothing but windows. Across from the door, right in front of the bank of windows sat a massive antique oak desk. If his memory was correct, it had belonged to Krista's grandfather when he had been a Texas Senator back in the day.
The walls were painted in a soft blue that reminded him of the waters out in Cancun. On the walls were framed pictures of what looked like book covers. As he examined the first one he realized he was looking at the covers of Krista's books. He studied the couple that graced the book cover.
The woman was beautiful. She had long straight blonde hair that, he would bet his eye-teeth, fell to the middle of her back, just like Krista’s. She wore a tight fighting tank top with a wicked looking shoulder harness studded in silver. The woman was holding two SIG P239 Scorpions, her arms crossed over her chest. Behind her was a man that he thought looked a bit like himself. The same blue-grey eyes, his dark blonde almost brown hair in a slight spike, with the sides in a fade. The man had his arms extended over the woman's holding matching Colt 1911's.
The image was striking and Ethan had to admit hot as hell. It was like he was looking at an image of himself and Krista. Shaking his head, he moved around the rest of the room. With one last look at the picture on the wall with the title, "Dress Blues" scrawled in an elegant script, he exited the room. The door across the hall revealed a guest bathroom. Down a few feet, yet another guest room lay that housed Krista's work-out equipment.
The room held a treadmill, an elliptical and something that made Ethan smile. He grinned at the sight of the hanging punching bag. He and Jax, as well as Hayden and Krista's little brother, Daniel, had taught her to fight. Ethan himself had taught her some boxing. He remembered her having a mean left hook. He turned and almost ran smack into Krista.
***
Krista giggled as he jumped. "Sorry."
"Dammit woman. Wear a bell or something." Ethan grumbled.
Krista laughed then. "Hey, you're the one invading my house jarhead."
Ethan glared at her. Her laughter faded, but her lower belly did a flip flop. Damn if the man wasn't hot. She held up the slip of paper for him. She studied him as he took the paper and began reading the ten names. He looked up with a quirked eyebrow.
"Told you it would be a short list." She shrugged. "Look, dad has made enough enemies over his career that I knew if I wanted to pursue writing as a profession I would have to be careful. I talked to him and Danny. Hell, they and Jerry helped me come up with my appearance as Kris James."
