Burning Up

he said was, “Hold on. I’ll get cover for your home then we can go.”
    “Still no luck with tracking Vincent down?”
    Sliding the phone into his pocket after rearranging his people, he shook his head. “Creep’s laying low. He thinks we’ll give up.”
    That, she knew, was simply not a possibility. “You haven’t been sitting still.” He’d only swung by her house in the mornings and at night. The other times, they’d had a rotation of both male and female DarkRiver soldiers.
    “We have a bead on his base of operations.” A smile that was openly feral. “We’ll get him.”
    She nodded, but had the distinct feeling he wasn’t telling her everything. And why should he , part of her pointed out. She was just someone he was protecting. Maybe he lusted after her, too, but Jet was right, the cats stuck together. She didn’t know any DarkRiver people who’d entered into long-term relationships with humans—sexual, business, or otherwise. “Emmett,” she began, intending to ask that question, then realizing he might see it as expectation.
    “Yeah?”
    “Nothing.” She shook her head. “I think the first appointment is about a ten-minute walk away.”
    For a second, it looked like Emmett was going to pursue her aborted statement, but to her relief, he followed her lead and they headed off—with Ria sandwiched between the safety of the shop walls and Emmett’s big frame. His constant alertness made her feel safe on the innermost level.
    “What kinds of jobs are you applying for?” he asked a block from the first location on her list.
    “Administrative,” she said, then made a face. “I’d really love to run my own office—you know, be in charge of all the organizing for the boss, but that’s going to be far in the future. First, I need experience—so I’ll end up someone’s lackey.”
    Emmett laughed at her tone. “I don’t think you’ll be a lackey for long.”
    “No, I won’t,” she said, and took several deep breaths. “Right, here it is. Wish me luck.”
    “I’ll wish you luck inside.” He pulled open the outer door.
    “Emmett, I can’t go into an interview with a bodyguard.”
    His eyes turned flint-hard. “Vincent knew when you’d be coming home from your course. Chances are high that he’s worked out you’d now be applying for jobs.”
    She grit her teeth. “This is an established firm. I hardly think I’m going to be in danger from the sixty-year-old manager.”
    “You’re not going behind a closed door with anyone.”
    Ria argued until she was close to the screaming point but he wouldn’t budge. Predictably, her interviews didn’t go well. The first manager was so affronted at the idea of being considered a threat that he booted her out without an interview. The next two were female and couldn’t stop staring at Emmett long enough to listen to Ria. When one finally did throw her a crumb of attention, it was to give her a condescending smile and say that maybe she wasn’t cut out for office work.
    A babysitter didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
    Ria was close to tears by the fourth interview, but not from anxiety. From sheer rage. “Thank you for destroying my chances of employment,” she said as they got off the skytrain near Chinatown, having circled the city for her appointments.
    “Ria,” he began.
    She slapped up a hand, palm out. “I am cut out for office work. I do my mother’s books. Not only that, I do the entire family’s books. I make sure my father goes to his appointments and Amber sees the obstetrician on time, that Grandmother takes her medications and Jet doesn’t forget to write New Year cards to our aunts in Albuquerque. I am damn well cut out for office work!”
    “I never said you weren’t.”
    The soothing tone in his voice made Ria want to bite him. “No, you simply stood there like I couldn’t be counted on to take care of myself if someone tried to hurt me. That day, at the gym, it was all bullshit!”
    His scowl was thunderous. “Take that back.”
    “I’m not talking about that , you idiot. I’m talking about the self-defense stuff. It was just to pacify me. You don’t even trust me to scream.” That had been the first lesson he’d taught her—scream as loud as you can and run. “You know what, I think that makes the other stuff bullshit, too.”
    “Hold on a fucking minute.”

SIX
    I gnoring him, she walked through the automatic doors of the medium-sized office building that was the location of her next