“You did?” Fynn looked Stone in the eyes. The man seemed sincere.
“Sure. It’s totally up to you how much information you want me to share with Micah. Your brother thought you’d want to be kept out of the nitty-gritty details, but I got the impression you weren’t pleased.”
Got the impression. I was hardly subtle.AlthoughMicahhad either missed or ignored Fynn’s displeasure. “I want all the details. Anything you’d tell Micah. In fact—” He tested his power in this situation. “—there may be things about my private life I don’t want you to tell Micah. Can you promise confidentiality?”
Stone tilted his head. “Our only focus is your safety. I see no reason why we should share personal details with your brother.”
“Really?” Fynn felt a smile tug at his lips. “All right then.”
“You’ll accept my team’s protection?”
“I suppose so.”Protection…
A shudder rocked Fynn as a sound blared in his memory— the crash of metal on metal, a blasting horn, a flashback to the blue pickup closing in beside his Lexus and the realization that the man behind the wheel wore a ski mask over his face. He’d yelped and clung to the door handle, as Joe snapped, “Hang on.” Sudden acceleration and his belt slamming him back in his seat, the shudder as they bumped the truck but didn’t stop—
He sucked in a breath and turned away, rubbing the spot over his shoulder where the seatbelt had bitten in hard.Joe got us clear. Everything was fine. We were okay.He didn’t realize he’d bent over, breathing faster and faster, until Stone appeared, leaning down to peer into his face.
“Take a breath,” Stone advised. “Slow and easy. In… Out… In… Out…”
Fynn followed orders because he couldn’t think of anything else to do. A dozen shaky breaths eased the pounding of his heart.
Stone straightened. “Better? Your brother told us what you went through, and I read the police reports. That must’ve been scary as hell.”
“I— Yeah, it was unpleasant. An unpleasantepisode.” Fynn unbent and rubbed his face, trying to get his act together.
“I promise, my team and I are here to keep anything like that from happening again.”
Suddenly, a bodyguard didn’t sound like quite such a bad idea to Fynn. In fact… “You like guacamole, right?”
“Um, yes.”
“Plain avocados? Fresh pears?”
“I enjoy fruit. I try to eat well.” Stone’s cheeks flushed ever so slightly under his beard. “No innuendo intended.”
Fynn hadn’t spotted any innuendo. “You’re a big guy. I bet you can eat a lot without getting full.”
“Um.” Stone’s lips pressed together in an interesting way. “Well, yes.”
Finally, an upside to Micah’s life-management.Fynn had forgotten where he’d been headed when he left the lab, so presumably the errand wasn’t essential. He gestured at his door. “This could work out well. Mr. Stone—”
“Just Stone. Or Nolan, if you prefer.”
“Nolan.” He liked that. Much less cartoon-character-y than Stone. “Yes, good. And I’m Fynn. Come along, Nolan. Let me show you my laboratory.”
Chapter 2
Nolan had guarded a variety of clients since leaving the police force and moving into private security. Everyone from the reclusive octogenarian billionaire who’d hired him to be an unneeded tenth man on his protection team when one of his own guys was out for surgery, to the daughter of a famous actor desperate to get her father’s attention by ever-more-dangerous stunts. He prided himself on summing people up after a few minutes together.
Micah Dempsey was easy, at least at a superficial level. All business, eyes on the bottom line. Nolan thought he probably cared about his younger brother, but his eyes lit up brighter when he talked about RipeBox, and the millions the company generated.
Fynn Dempsey wasn’t so straightforward. Absentminded scientist, sure. Shaken by the kidnapping attempt, which was understandable. Nolan had seen the police reports and talked to Fynn’s driver— good man, that Joe— but the use of two vehicles and at least two men worried him. That wasn’t some single stalker or random impulse. Stone wanted to get Fynn’s recollections, too. Not moments after an aborted panic attack, of course.
Normally, a dedicated science type would be telling Nolan to wait outside the room till called for, ignoring him, and going back to work, not ushering him into the laboratory. Maybe Fynn wanted to keep an eye on him, or maybe he was lonely.His brother Micah didn’t seem like the warm and fuzzy type.
Nolan obeyed Fynn’s demanding wave. He was curious about the set-up he’d be defending, and it paid to keep on the good side of his primaries. Stepping past Fynn, he glanced around.
The lab looked exquisitely clean, lit by large windows and steady, diffused overhead lights. A long bench ran down one side, loaded with an array of instruments. Across from it, a countertop island inset with a stainless-steel sink held what looked like a microwave trying to mate with an electric octopus, and a row of avocados. The other side of the room had four refrigerators standing between two closed doors.
