His Christmas Assignment

Or that lucky?

If he was working for Chekov again, his luck would probably run out. Like Stacy had said, he was in danger. Candace just didn’t believe there was anything she could do to stop him. Or to protect him.

By coming back, she had only put herself in danger—her heart and maybe even her life.

* * *

“What the hell are you doing?” Garek asked when his vision cleared and he recognized his brother as the one who’d knocked him into the side of his SUV.

“What the hell are you doing?” Milek asked, his voice raised and sharp with anger.

Garek blinked again—making sure he was really seeing his brother. Milek didn’t get angry; he didn’t lose his temper anymore—not even when he had every right. “What’s wrong with you?”

Milek shoved him back, knocking him against the SUV again. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Garek answered honestly. His brother wasn’t making a whole lot of sense. “And how the hell did you find me here? Did you follow me?”

He had suspected someone might have, but he hadn’t seen anyone behind him. He’d been distracted, though. But...

“Did you follow me?” he asked again.

Milek snorted. “How else would I have found you? Of course I followed you. You’re not as good as you think are.”

His brother must have been right—about Garek’s not detecting a tail. But maybe that wasn’t the only thing Garek wasn’t as good at as he’d thought he was. Candace had left that night—after they’d finally given in to the attraction that had burned between them for a year.

At least he’d felt it.

“I taught you everything you know about following someone,” Garek reminded him. That was why Milek was so good. “And I may have noticed you were behind me, if I’d known you were back already.”

Milek had taken the assignment Candace hadn’t wanted him to take—protecting the reality star. Why hadn’t she wanted him to take it?

She had never explained her real reason. Jealousy?

But if she’d cared, she wouldn’t have run away—like she had sometime in the night. She wouldn’t have left him if she’d really wanted him.

“The girl wasn’t in any danger,” Milek said. “It was just a publicity ploy.”

Which was what Candace had suspected. The woman was so astute. How had she never realized how he’d felt about her—how he’d felt about her for nearly a year?

“It took you two weeks to figure out it was all a publicity stunt?” Garek teased.

Milek shook his head. “It only took me two minutes.”

“So you milked the assignment to enjoy the weather in California?” Garek gestured at the snow. “I don’t blame you.” He would have razzed him about staying for the starlet. But it was too soon to tease Milek about women.

“I might have stayed longer,” Milek admitted, “if Stacy hadn’t called me.”

Garek shook his head, both frustrated with and sympathetic to his sister. “I told her to back off and give you time.”

“She didn’t call me about that,” Milek said.

That was the single most devastating thing that had ever happened to his brother. So it was no wonder he didn’t want to talk about it; he probably couldn’t.

Garek had tried a couple of times to get him to talk, and Milek had asked him to move out of the warehouse apartment they’d once shared. He’d moved into an apartment while he’d looked for something more permanent.

Milek continued, “She called me to talk about you.”

Garek chuckled. “Sounds like she was just looking for any excuse to reach out to you.” And he couldn’t blame Stacy for trying. He wanted to try again, but he was worried his brother would cut him completely out of his life then.

Milek shook his head. “It wasn’t an excuse to talk to me. She didn’t want to call me. So she hesitated—maybe too long. How deep are you in?”

Garek sucked in a breath and then choked on the cold air. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Milek shoved him again. But Garek was already backed up as far as he could go against the SUV. “You’re working for Viktor Chekov again.”

“Not like I used to,” Garek assured him. And he felt a flash of pain that his sister and brother had assumed he had. Didn’t they know him better than that? He could understand other people thinking the worst of him; he’d done nothing to correct misconceptions of him. In fact with Candace, he had enjoyed playing the bad boy with her—to tease her and irritate her. But he hadn’t been a boy for a long while—if ever. “It’s an assignment—a protection job.”

Milek cursed him. “You brought Viktor to Payne Protection as a client. You sought out this assignment. I’m going to ask you again—what the hell are you up to?”

Garek opened his mouth, ready to spin the situation the way he had to Logan, so the CEO of Payne Protection had agreed to take on the Chekov family as a client. But Milek knew Garek hadn’t been in love with Tori—like he had professed to Logan. His brother would immediately know he was lying.

So he admitted, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone what I’m really up to.”

“Is that what whoever you just met in the alley has been telling you?”

Milek hadn’t seen Rus. To keep the FBI agent out of it, Garek could lie about whom he’d just met. He hesitated as he considered it.

And Milek asked, “Don’t you think I’ve had enough secrets kept from me?”

That question struck Garek harder than Milek had when he’d knocked him into his vehicle. He nodded in agreement. “But it’s hard to be totally open and honest when you’re working undercover.”

The tension eased from Milek’s shoulders and he breathed a sigh of relief. “That was Special Agent Nicholas Rus who you met in the SUV in the alley.”

“Nobody can know.”

Milek tensed again. “You’re trying to take down Viktor Chekov?” The anger was back in his voice as he asked, “Are you crazy?”

“Maybe...”

But a man had been murdered. Recently. Before that there had been others. Lives Garek could have saved had he taken Chekov down fifteen years ago. He hadn’t been brave enough then; he’d been a scared kid who’d given in to threats. But now he was a man, and he knew if Chekov wasn’t stopped, there would be more lives lost.

“But it needs to be done,” Garek said. “He has to be stopped, or he’s just going to keep killing. He should have been stopped a long time ago.”

“Killing...” Milek murmured.

Garek wanted to bite his tongue again—that he’d brought up a subject too close to his brother’s wounded heart. “I’m sorry...”

Milek raised his voice again, which shook with anger. “Garek, this is too dangerous.”

In the spirit of being honest, he had to admit, “And it’s not dangerous just for me. He threatened if my assignment is more about betraying him than protecting Tori, he won’t just hurt me. He’ll hurt my family, too. He’ll hurt everyone I care about.”

Garek shuddered but not because of the cold; he shuddered because he remembered the coldness with which Viktor had so casually uttered that threat. But he knew it hadn’t been idle.

“If you want to do this or you feel you have to, don’t worry about me,” Milek said. “I can take care of myself.”

His brother always had.

“And Logan will protect Stacy just like he did before,” Garek said. He was trying to assure himself that he hadn’t put everyone he loved in danger. “You’ll all be fine...”

But then Milek warned him, “I’m not the only one Stacy reached out to...”

Garek raised his brows. “Who else is there?”

Since their father had gone to prison, it had been just the three of them. Their mother didn’t count; she had never been there for them and then she’d turned on them. He wouldn’t have gone to prison and Milek juvenile detention if she hadn’t testified against them. They had an aunt and uncle, too, but they had only wanted to exploit them—like Viktor Chekov had.

“Candace,” Milek said. “Stacy was going to track her down and bring her back to River City.”

“Damn her.” He loved Stacy, but she had interfered in their lives too much. Her interference had cost Milek everything that mattered to him. What would it cost Garek?

Candace?

* * *

Logan couldn’t stop staring at his wife—with his usual awe at her beauty. But he was also in awe of her powers of persuasion.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

She paused with her fingertips on buttons at the front of her blouse. “You did this,” she said. “You threw me down on your desk the minute I stepped inside your office.”

He grinned unabashedly. “That is true,” he admitted. Then he leaned down and gently skimmed his mouth across hers; her lips were slightly swollen from his previous kisses. “But that’s because you’re irresistible. And beautiful and amazing...”

Beneath his, her lips curved into a smile. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” he said. He pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. “I missed you.”

“I guess.” She gestured at the papers and pens strewn across his floor. He’d swept them off when he’d pulled her down onto the mahogany surface with him. “Nikki and I were only gone a couple of days.”

“That’s a couple too many,” he said.

She nodded in agreement. “It was.” Disappointment darkened her already dark gray eyes. She stepped back from him and uttered a heavy sigh. “And it was for nothing. I couldn’t convince Candace to come home.”

He skimmed his fingers along her bottom lip and tilted it back up. “You were so successful she actually beat you home.”

“Really?” Stacy’s eyes brightened, and her whole face lit up with a smile. He hoped their daughter took after her beautiful mother. “She must have packed right up and headed back. Nikki and I only stopped at an outlet mall for some early Christmas shopping.”

“Nikki, of course...”

Stacy arched a brow. “You wondered how I found Candace on my own?”

“I don’t doubt you could have done it,” he said. His wife was as brilliant as she was beautiful.

“I didn’t have any time to lose, though, so I asked for Nikki’s help.”

His sister was as brilliant as his wife. If only she could be happy doing what she did best—instead of nagging for dangerous field work.

Then Stacy’s words sank in and he asked, “What’s the urgency in bringing Candace back? I know I’ve been griping about not having her on my team, but...”

She smiled and kissed his cheek. “You think I did this for you. That’s sweet.”

He grinned at her teasing. “And obviously off base. Then why did you want Candace back so desperately that you and Nikki tracked her down and convinced her to come ask for her job back?”

Stacy cupped his cheek now in her soft palm and gave him a pitying smile. “Men are so oblivious.”

He was used to his wife giving him a hard time; they’d been going at each other since they’d been teenagers. If only he’d realized sooner most of that resentment and anger had been attraction and passion...

“What am I missing?” he asked.

“Candace didn’t come back for her job.”

He tilted his head. “Then why did she ask me for it?” Even though he had been able to tell that it had been really difficult for her to bury her pride and ask...

Stacy shrugged. “I guess she needs the job. But it’s not what she really wants.”

Logan tensed with dread. He had been oblivious once before, totally unaware the woman he had considered a friend and only a friend had had a crush on him. “What are you up to?”

Stacy patted his cheek and laughed. “Sweetheart, once again—not about you. Candace has been over you for a long time. Not that I think her feelings even ran that deep or she wouldn’t have been able to continue working for you after you fell for me. Nobody’s that much of a masochist.”

That was what he’d thought, too. That everyone had exaggerated what might have been Candace having a small crush on the boss.

“No, Candace came back for Garek.”

He cursed as his dread rushed back.

Stacy’s smile faltered, and she insisted, “That’s a good thing.”

Logan shook his head. “No, no, it’s not.”

Now hurt flashed in her dark gray eyes. “Do you think she’s too good for my brother?”

He cursed. “That’s not it at all. You know I love your brothers.” Which hadn’t always been the case. But they’d helped save his and his brothers’ lives.

Then he’d gotten to know them and had learned how hard they’d worked to build new lives for themselves. They’d also brought him a ton of business—better business than Chekov. But because Garek had brought him so many clients, he hadn’t been able to refuse to take on Chekov when his brother-in-law had asked—especially once he’d explained to him why—which was also why Logan hoped that Candace hadn’t come back for Garek.

“She’s the only one who will be able to get through to him,” Stacy insisted, “to get him away from Viktor Chekov.” She shuddered—with revulsion and fear—as she uttered the mobster’s name.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because she’s the reason he went back to that life,” Stacy said. “When she quit Payne Protection and left town, he was devastated.”

Logan snorted. “He’s Garek. Nothing devastates Garek.” He’d never known a more resilient human being. The guy had been through hell and back and never lost his sense of humor.

“She did.”

He shook his head. “You’re wrong.”

“He was crazy about her,” Stacy insisted.

“Garek flirts with every female,” Logan said. “He’s even flirted with my mom.”

“Penny’s a hottie,” Stacy said with a giggle. “But Candace was different. He tried to be a better man for her. For the past year he hadn’t even dated another woman. That’s why, when she took off, he was devastated—so devastated he went back to his former life.”

Logan needed to find a way for her to make up with her brothers. She was so estranged from them that she didn’t even know them anymore.

“No,” he told her. “That’s not why he went back to his old life.”

“It’s not?” She furrowed her brow and studied him as if he had been holding out on her. “What do you know?”

“Only what Garek told me,” he said. “He had a reason for asking for this assignment with the Chekovs.” One that had convinced Logan to take on a mobster as a client. “He wanted this assignment so he could protect Tori Chekov.”

Stacy shrugged. “Why?”

“Because he’s in love with her.”

He heard a gasp, but it hadn’t slipped through his wife’s lips. He turned to the open door of his office. Had they forgotten to shut it? He’d wanted his wife so badly he hadn’t even noticed. His desire for her only seemed to intensify the longer they were together.

Candace Baker stood in the doorway, and all the color drained from her face, leaving it stark with shock. And he realized his wife had been at least half right. Candace had come back for Garek.

Now, having overheard what she had, would she quit again? The news had obviously affected her.

While he didn’t want to lose her as a team member again, he didn’t want to lose her as a friend either. They had been friends for years. So he was worried about her—worried about her safety if she were to stay. It would probably be the wisest and the safest thing for her to leave again.

If Tori Chekov thought Candace could potentially be a threat to her relationship with Garek, she might have her father take care of the female bodyguard.

Permanently...

Chapter 4

At that ski cabin in Northern Michigan, Candace had gotten her quota of quiet. She might have needed it then—the boring to outweigh the excitement she’d had and left. Now she needed noise, and it had to be loud enough to drown out the voice in her head that kept calling her an idiot.

She had found it at the downtown club. The music was so loud that it wasn’t heard; it was felt. It throbbed low in her body, beating as hard as her heart. But her heart hadn’t started beating that hard—that frantically—until she’d seen him.

On some level, she’d probably known Garek would be here—since Viktor Chekov owned the club. It was probably why she’d gone home and changed after she’d awkwardly stumbled into the middle of that conversation at the Payne Protection Agency. She’d told herself that she’d just wanted to look her best to make herself feel better.

But she’d wanted to make him feel bad.

As if Garek would care...

He hadn’t sought her out. And now she knew why. He’d reunited with the girl he’d loved since they’d been teenagers. Or so Logan thought. Stacy had denied her husband’s claim even though it was apparently what Garek had confided in him.

Logan had broken that confidence because he hadn’t wanted her wasting her time or her heart again—like she’d wasted it on him.

Yet here she was, wasting her time some more—coming down to a club to torture herself with the sight of Garek and his girlfriend. At least her martini was good. Over the rim of the glass, Candace studied them. They were a distance away since they sat at some raised-up, roped-off table near the dance floor and she sat at the crowded bar.

She’d been lucky someone had given up his seat to her. He’d even bought her martini. He stood near her now, his mouth near her ear as he tried talking to her. She couldn’t hear anything, and it had nothing to do with the music. It had everything to do with that voice in her head—the one that continued calling her names.

Tori Chekov was as beautiful as Candace had suspected she’d be. Petite. Curvy. With long curly blond hair. No one would treat this woman like one of the guys—or a buddy.

But Garek...

He wasn’t flirting and joking as he usually did. Instead he seemed tense, on edge—more cognizant of his surroundings than of the woman who sat beside him. He acted as if he was on a job—not a date.

But he looked like he could be dressed for a date. In a black shirt and pants, he looked dangerously sexy. His blond hair gleamed like gold under the strobe lights from the dance floor.

In Candace’s mind flashed the image of how she’d seen him last, lying naked in her bed, moonlight gleaming off his bare skin. He was almost too beautiful to be a man, but he was masculine, too—all toned muscle and chiseled edges.

How had she left him lying there alone? How had she just walked away?

But she hadn’t just walked. She’d grabbed her half-packed suitcase, and she’d run.

Garek continued his visual surveillance of the club—his attention on everything but the woman beside him. She knew he was assessing the entire building for possible threats like the vigilant bodyguard he was. In that assessment, he turned and his gaze met hers.

The air between them vibrated like the bass of the music. There was an electricity—a connection so overwhelming that she had that urge to run again.

And this time she needed to keep running.

* * *

“Damn it!” the words slipped involuntarily through Garek’s lips as he leaped to his feet.

One of Chekov’s goons reached beneath his jacket for his weapon. “Is there a problem? A threat?”

Tori reached out and grasped his arm. “What’s wrong, Garek?”

He shook his head and lied, “No problem...”

But he had a problem. She sat at the bar, her legs endlessly long and sexy beneath the short hem of her strapless dress. It was red and tight and so damn sexy that it was drawing every man in the club to her.

One of those men placed his hand on her bare shoulder, and Garek ground his teeth together as jealousy and rage coursed through him. He wanted to break every finger in that man’s hand for having the audacity to touch his woman.

Candace was his.

But he couldn’t stake his claim—not without risking her life when Garek put Viktor Chekov behind bars. Because even from behind bars Viktor would be dangerous—maybe even more dangerous because he would be out for vengeance.

And if he wanted to hurt Garek...

He was already hurting, every muscle tense with desire and fear for Candace. He had never wanted any woman the way he wanted her. And making love with her once had only increased the intensity of that desire to madness. His body throbbed with the need to be with her again—to be inside her—because now he knew how amazing it was. How amazing they were together...

“You want me to get rid of her?” a voice in his ear asked.

He touched his fingers, which shook slightly, to his earpiece.

“What?” he asked, fear gripping his heart in a tight fist.

“I can get rid of her,” the man offered.

Because the danger was real, he thought immediately she would be gotten rid of for good—forever. But then he remembered the man talking to him wasn’t one of Chekov’s hired goons. It was his brother’s voice in his ear, offering to help—not hurt.

Not that Candace wouldn’t get hurt. Hell, knowing Candace, Milek might get hurt, too, if he tried to get rid of her. The woman wouldn’t go anywhere unless she wanted to. She was stubborn and strong.

So why had she left him that night?

He wanted to know. Had to know...

“I’ll handle her,” Garek said, although he doubted he was any more capable than Milek of getting Candace to go anywhere she didn’t want to. As a former soldier and cop, the woman had skills. “I need you to watch Tori.”

Her hand tightened on his arm. “Nobody needs to watch me,” she said, her tone as waspish as it had been since he’d taken over as her bodyguard.

She hadn’t welcomed him back into her life. In fact he wasn’t sure from whom he had more to fear: her or her father. Viktor had accepted his explanation for why he’d stayed away after he’d been paroled. Tori wouldn’t even let him explain. She had barely spoken to him over the past two weeks—which was probably fortunate for him, given how nasty she sounded when she did speak to him.

“It’s for your protection,” Garek reminded her.

She pulled her hand away from his arm and sat back in her chair. He didn’t know why she’d wanted to come here. She didn’t dance. She didn’t drink. She didn’t even seem to enjoy the music. Hell, she didn’t seem to enjoy anything anymore. But then, had she ever?

He wasn’t sure if he ever remembered Tori Chekov being happy—even when they’d been younger. He hadn’t had the chance to be a kid; his father and uncle had recruited him into the family business at a young age. And then when his father had gone to prison, he’d gone to work for Tori’s father. She hadn’t had to work, though. Ever.

Her father made sure she had everything she wanted. So why wasn’t she happy?

But then Milek—finally—approached the table, and she actually smiled. “It’s great to see you. Come sit with me,” she implored him.

Milek slid past Garek to take the chair he’d vacated, and his brow was furrowed in bewilderment. Maybe Tori’s warm greeting had confused him since she’d never been that friendly to him before. Or maybe he was worried that Garek intended to speak to Candace.

He wanted to do more than speak to her. He wanted to do everything he’d done to her that night—over and over again. But she’d run from him.

She wasn’t running now—which was good, since it had taken Milek too long to take over for him on protection duty. And the club was crowded, so crowded he had to push his way through a crush of bodies to reach the bar.

For a moment he thought she’d slipped away, but then a man moved and he saw her sitting on that stool, her long legs crossed. She had painted her lips as red as her dress, and they were curved into a smile as she looked up at the man standing over her.

Garek’s blood heated with jealousy and anger. He’d arrogantly thought she had come to the club to see him. But what if she’d actually come here for a date?

He wouldn’t have brought her to a place like this. It was too loud. He would have taken her someplace quiet and intimate—like her bedroom.

He wanted to take her there now. He pushed forward and wedged the other man aside with his shoulder. His maneuver brought his thigh flush against hers. His body tightened with desire.