Page 16 of Seductive Secrets

“My hotel room was tossed. I went down to the lobby to get out of there and I thought someone in the lobby was watching me. I found James and we left the hotel parking lot, but someone followed us. It took James over twenty minutes to lose the person. They were very persistent.”

Dash grunted and she heard typing in the background. “Okay. I’m tracking you now. I’m at a safe house where we can figure out what’s going on. I’m sending you the address and I’ll continue to track your phone until I hear your car outside. Park in the back. I’ll leave the garage open. Tell James to park inside and we can figure out the next step.”

She relayed the directions to James, grateful that Dash had gone ahead and set it up for them. She hadn’t thought about it before, but she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of spending the night in a seedy hotel.

“This is nice,” James commented when he pulled into the driveway. There was a garage door standing open and he pulled inside. Once the engine shut off, the interior garage door opened and four tall, angry looking men stepped out, all of which were glaring at Angela and James.

Correction, they were glaring at James.

“What the hell did you do to put Angela in danger?” Kasim demanded, the first to step forward.

Angela realized what was going on and stepped in front of James, almost getting smooshed by her guys as they barreled forward.

“It wasn’t his fault!” she asserted, trying to push Kasim back. But he was an immovable force followed up by three additional unstoppable objects. Dash, Marco, and Callum were equally livid and all were ready to tear James apart.

“Of course it was his fault!” Callum inserted, stepping around the others. “You were perfectly safe until he showed up!”

“No!I wasn’t!”

That stopped the four of them and even James looked down at her. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be threatened by her guys. Did nothing bother him?

She sighed, pushing several wisps of hair that had come loose from her professional twist she’d pulled her hair back into this morning. “Could we please go inside instead of discussing this out here in the garage?”

There were a few grunts, more angry glares, but they all agreed to walk into the house.

Once inside, she tossed her purse down on the kitchen counter, then turned to explain the situation to the wall of huge, angry men standing in front of her.

“Guys,” she said, trying to ease their concerns. “A few days ago, James called me, asking about one of the employees from Hazelton. His name is Mark DuBreck. DuBreck and James knew each other in college, and DuBreck also works at Hazelton. So we both have an interest in finding the guy.” She paused meaningfully, looking at each man in turn to ensure that they were paying attention. They were. But they were also sending sporadic glares at James. “Stop it,” she snapped at Callum, who was the latest to send a fulminating look in James’ direction. Callum ignored her, crossing his arms over his muscular chest, while eyeing her with wry amusement. Angela restrained herself from rolling her eyes and focused back on the story. “Anyway, Mark DuBreck is the one who sent…”

Marco held up his hand, silencing her explanation. “Have you eaten today?”

The others grunted again. Angela tended to forget eating when she was caught up in a problem.

“Yes!” she assured them. Then pointed to the long, sectional sofa. “Maybe we could sit down?. She suddenly realized how exhausted she was. “I need to sit down in a place that isn’t careening around corners at twenty miles over the speed limit.”

All of the guys had turned as one, heading to the sofa, but at her description of the drive over here, they all swiveled towards James.

“He was protecting me!” she gasped, trying to grab Marco’s arm and missing as he lunged for James.

“You put her in danger?”

“No!” she yelled, irritated now. “I putmyselfin danger.” She huffed a bit, and pushed her hair out of her face. Suddenly, she was jerked against James’ side and she put out a hand to steady herself. If that hand just happened to have landed on his chest, and if the gesture seemed a bit more intimate than she anticipated, well, she was too tired to do anything about it.

“Sofa!” she ordered, pointing towards the inviting sectional. “Where’s Rosalee and Chloe?” she asked.

“They are having a glass of wine,” Marco replied, pausing to glare at James over his shoulder.

“I can’t believe that you guys didn’t tell them to stay away! We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.” James snapped.

Marco and Kasim both grunted. “We tried.”

Callum chuckled. “The ladies didn’t listen?”

Angela’s eyes brightened. “Your wives are here?” She pushed her way through the wall of tall, menacing men and rushed to the kitchen. Sure enough, Rosalee and Chloe were sitting together, wine in hand as they chatted.

“You’re here!” Angela exclaimed, rushing over to hug them. After Marco and Kasim had married, their wives had become good friends. Just like her guys were like brothers, Chloe and Rosalee had become the sisters she’d never had. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

Callum chuckled while Marco and Kasim grunted their irritation. “She didn’t greet us that enthusiastically,” Marco commented, standing by the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

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