Running Hot

aura a tad to prod her into losing her temper and spilling her guts?”
    He shrugged. “Figured by that time I had a right to know what she was up to. Turned out the reason that she wanted her ex dead was because she stood to inherit his share of the business they had founded together.”
    “That’s when she shot you?”
    “No. While she was screaming at me and I was concentrating on manipulating her aura, her lover walked out of the hallway behind me and shot me.”
    “There was a lover involved?”
    “It was a complicated situation.”
    “How did you get your one-second warning?”
    “I was facing away from the hall. But the client was looking straight at it while she yelled at me. When she saw her lover with the gun, I saw her aura spike. I knew something had changed in the situation. Cop instinct took over from there. Caught the bullet in my thigh. Before the lover could line up another shot, I put him to sleep.”
    Grace shuddered. “Close call. What happened to your client and her lover?”
    “They’re both sitting in prison at the moment. Probably be out on an early-release program. The family has a lot of money and more than one talented lawyer on the tree.”
    She nodded and ate the papaya very slowly, trying to make the moment last as long as possible. It was all so perfect, she thought. The sun-warmed room, the light, floral breeze off the lanai; Luther sitting there with her. Life didn’t get any better than this. But such moments could not last forever. She knew that better than most. After a while she put down her spoon.
    “We need to talk,” she said.
    “Oh, shit.”
    She frowned. “What now?”
    “I hate conversations that start with ‘We need to talk.’ ”
    “Sorry.” She sat a little straighter in the chair. “But this is important.”
    “Uh-huh.” He picked up a slice of toast. “Okay, let’s have it.”
    “Fallon Jones keeps saying that this situation, at least as far as you and I are concerned, is under control. But last night you were almost killed. Because of me.”
    He put the uneaten portion of toast on his plate. His eyes narrowed slightly. “Last night is over. If the situation wasn’t under control before, it is now.”
    “I don’t think so. Last night was a wake-up call for me. I don’t care what Mr. Jones says, I saw the Siren’s aura. My intuition tells me that she is obsessing over what happened on Maui. She’s powerful and she’s lethal and I don’t want you or Petra and Wayne to get killed trying to protect me.”
    “Protecting people is what I do, remember? I’m a bodyguard.”
    “You proved that last night. I don’t want you to take any more chances on my behalf.”
    “Let me worry about the chances I take.”
    “What about Petra and Wayne? They have nothing to do with this but she might target them to get to me. I don’t want to be responsible for putting any of you in more danger.”
    “Planning to disappear again?”
    She stiffened. “It worked well the last time.”
    “You’ve built a new life for yourself. You can’t be serious about leaving it behind to fire up another one.”
    “I’ve always been able to handle my own problems. I’ll deal with this.”
    “Not alone. Not this time. J&J got you into this mess. J&J has a responsibility to protect you. And since I’m the nearest J&J bodyguard on the scene, you’ve got me, whether you like it or not.”
    “Petra and Wayne don’t work for J&J,” she said, desperate now.
    “Remember what you said about the Society being the closest thing you’ve got to a family?”
    “What about it?”
    “Petra and Wayne are my family. As long as you and I are together, they see you as family, too. You couldn’t make them walk away from this if you tried.” He grinned. “Besides, they’d be crushed if you refused their help.”
    “I’d rather have them crushed than dead because of me.”
    “Trust me, Petra and Wayne don’t see it that way. They may be getting on in years, but they’re warriors, Grace—warriors to the bone.”
    She tried and failed to blink back the tears. “I was afraid of this.”
    “What, exactly, were you afraid of?”
    She wiped one cheek with the back of her hand. “I was afraid that I wouldn’t have the courage to turn down your offer.”
    “It’s not an offer,” he said softly. “It’s just the way things are. I couldn’t let you walk away now, even if you tried.”
    “Luther—”
    “Hush.”
    She felt herself grow unnaturally calm and