She turned around and kept her eyes firmly above his bare shoulders. It didn’t help. Her gaze wandered down to his snug boxer briefs and she started to blush. “Yeah?”
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Scare me?” She frowned. He thought one accidental tumble scared her? Seriously? What did he think she was made of? Julie thrust her chin out with injured pride. “Eric, the only one who seems freaked out is you.”
HE BLEW IT. ERIC GRITTED HIS teeth as the disappointment rolled through him. Six weeks of being a gentleman and he ruined it by one instinctive move. Tackling a woman and pinning her to the floor was not the way to her heart.
Eric hovered over the sink in the men’s restroom and sluiced ice-cold water over his face. He regretted falling asleep in the office instead of driving back to his hotel in Bellevue. He was alert now, but it was too late to fix anything. He glanced up and looked in the mirror. He saw the scars along with the weariness and the darkness in his eyes. He was not the knight in shining armor that Julie wanted.
He had spent most of his adult life as a government agent. He was honored to serve his country, although he spent most of his days outside its borders. He missed home, but he had a sense of pride over his accomplishments.
He could also speak three languages, assimilate in any major city and handle a gun and knife with the same ease as a knife and fork. So, why did he feel like a monster around Julie?
Because he was a monster. Eric speared his wet hands through his hair, allowing the water to drip down his head and neck. He had been wild and destructive as a child. His home life had been a battlefield and then a wasteland. When he left home, he had been trained to destroy and shoot to kill. Julie was the opposite. She was creative and saw the good in everyone. She liked her espionage novels and believed that good always won over evil.
Eric didn’t remember when he stopped believing in that fairy tale, but he didn’t want her to find out the truth. He may be bitter, but he found her sweetness addicting in a way he never understood before. If he got close to her, even touched her, he would taint her with the darkness of his world.
He wasn’t going to let that happen. He would do whatever it took to protect her sunny view of the world.
What was it about her that had gotten under his skin? There was something about Julie that made him want to linger around her. She was always smiling, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. She had endless energy and an insatiable curiosity.
But there was something about Julie that made him sweat. There was a natural sexiness about her, in the way she walked, in the way she laughed and the way she dressed. At the last casual Friday, Julie had worn a pink tank top, blue jeans and flip-flops. Eric had been so mesmerized that he had found it difficult to concentrate.
And he needed to concentrate right now. Eric wiped the water from his face and gripped the edge of the sink. Today he had to give some bad news to the company. He immediately conjured an image of Julie. She was going to be upset and there was nothing he could do to comfort her. It was just another mark against him.
Eric took a deep breath and straightened to his full height. He wasn’t one to procrastinate. He tugged at his shirt collar, checked his watch and headed for the conference room.
The moment he walked into the room, everyone at the table fell into silence.
There were only fifteen people who worked at Gunthrie S&I. Ten of them were only qualified to do the administration work for the security accounts. The remaining employees were licensed investigators.
Ace, a computer nerd who only wore jeans and gaming T-shirts, did computer forensic work. Martha did interviews and surveillance. A grandmotherly type, she often said that she was good at her job because she was practically invisible. Max was retired military and did most of the background checks.
All of these investigators learned on the job with Perry. The only employee who had any real experience was Asia. She had been a police officer and was Gunthrie’s top investigator.
Until Eric had shown up. Asia wasn’t pleased when he started taking over. Eric knew he had the skills Perry needed right now to keep Gunthrie S&I open for business. He coordinated missions, trained lower-level agents and knew how to represent his work to other organizations and companies.
While working with Perry over the past six weeks, Eric had been giving the older man a crash course in the cutting-edge techniques for conducting criminal investigations. In the past, the latest trends would have excited Perry, but now it made him feel overwhelmed and defeated. When Eric had suggested trying a different kind of investigation, it took a while to convince Perry to give it a try.
Eric saw his godfather sitting at the head of the table and gave him an encouraging smile. Eric automatically searched for Julie.
She was whispering furiously with her friend Asia. As Eric moved to the foot of the table, he considered how strange the friendship was between Asia and Julie. They were an unlikely pair. Asia was shrewd and abrasive while Julie was warm and friendly.
He reluctantly pulled his attention away and noticed the other employees watching him. Did they know everyone was in danger of losing their jobs? They were good people, though some were odder than the others. There were a few he wouldn’t trust with a car, let alone a gun. All of the employees seemed to emulate their detective idol, right down to the catchphrases. They made up for their lack of experience and technological know-how with hard work and enthusiasm.
“Okay, everyone,” Eric said. “I’m going to just open the meeting with some news. We no longer provide security services for Bellows and Groggins. Murphy and Associates won the bid.”
There was a beat of heavy silence. Eric paused to let the news sink in. His attention gravitated toward Julie. He frowned when it registered that she didn’t seem particularly worried. In fact, she looked at him as if he would come up with a perfectly good solution to keep the business afloat.
There was something about that look. It was as if she trusted his skills and strategies completely. As if she knew behind the scars and the fatigue, there was a hero inside him ready to save the day.
The way she was looking at him, he almost believed it, too.
He didn’t realize he’d allowed the pause to linger for too long. The employees started to all talk at once, their voices beginning to rise with panic and anger.
Eric raised his hands and motioned for them to quiet down. “But this gives us an opportunity to move in a new direction.”
He was determined to give the idea a good spin, but he didn’t know how the rest of the office would react. When he ran it by his godfather, Perry was surprised. The sad thing was that it didn’t shock Eric at all. He wondered if that was a sign. Was he jaded? Was he that world-weary and cynical?
“Investigations are a lucrative field and Perry has approved of it.” Eric didn’t feel the need to mention how much convincing it took to get Perry to sign off on the idea. “It will require a lot of man hours so everyone will be assigned cases.”
The tension in the room slowly disappeared. He had a feeling it would. Everyone at Gunthrie S&I wanted to be on a case. They longed to solve puzzles that didn’t come out of the crosswords or Sudoku section of the newspaper.
Eric saw Julie sit straight up in her chair. He should have known. Julie has been badgering Perry to let her on a case. Eric saw the thirst for adventure and excitement inside her. It was his job to keep that in control.
“What type of investigation?” Max asked, as he stroked his Magnum, P.I. mustache.
Eric paused as he tried to come up with the most professional description. “We are going to provide premarital screenings and decoy assignments.”
Max cast a glance at Martha, a Miss Marple look-alike who sat next to him. Max returned a steady gaze at Eric. “You mean we’re going to spy on cheating boyfriends?”
Eric