“No.”

She made no move to stand up, so he pulled her chair out. It made a loud screeching sound as it dragged over the tile floor. Kay jumped up and gave him a dirty look before marching back into the family room. The other girls abandoned their drinks on the table to follow. Their expressions were a little too bloodthirsty in Eli’s opinion. He had no intention of being the sacrifice.

Matt stood near the door, talking to Jackson. He looked up when they entered. “Hey, are you guys getting ready to leave?”

Kay turned toward him with what looked to be desperation. “You’re not coming with me?”

Matt glanced at Eli before responding. “I was just assigned to a new client. I’ve been working with him all week. It would be unprofessional to yank me off his job and then force him to reacclimate to someone else. I thought Eli explained everything.”

A strange sense of satisfaction came over Eli as he watched Kay’s face. She was stuck with him and apparently didn’t like it. He knew he’d hurt her. Their kiss at Christmas should have never happened. But he was the best man for this job. He hadn’t protected her well enough last summer, obviously, or this dickwad wouldn’t still be out there toying with her. This was his chance to make it right.

Eli wasn’t going to leave her safety up to some new associate who might screw it up. Even if he hadn’t gotten the right guy before, he’d kept her safe. They’d kept her security low-key since last summer, but it had been there. She didn’t go anywhere without letting someone know and her cell phone and car were constantly being tracked. She also had a state-of-the-art security system at her apartment so she was safe while she slept.

“Is there a problem, Kay?”

She wouldn’t meet his eyes. To his surprise, it was Mara who answered.

“It’s no biggie. She’s just nervous about her date.”

Eli gritted his teeth at the reminder of the conversation in the kitchen. He was careful to keep his face neutral when he replied. “Her date? What date?”

“We’re setting Kay up on a blind date. She’s looking for Mr. Right. Or Mr. Right Now. Whatever. Either way, I know we can find the perfect guy for her.”

“I’m sure Eli doesn’t care about that.” Kay grabbed her coat and slid her arms into it. “I’m sure he has a lot of important stuff to do running his company. In fact, maybe it would be better if Tank or one of the other guys stayed with me for a while.”

“You don’t want me on your case, Kay?” Eli tucked his hands in the pockets of his jeans, the better to enjoy watching her squirm as she tried to figure out how to respond.

“It’s not that.” Kay made several indistinct gestures while pointing at him. “It’s just that, I don’t know…”

“You’re kind of scary,” Mara supplied.

“Mara! I think Mara meant to say you’re a little intense sometimes.”

“And you’ll scare her date away,” Mara finished.

Kay dropped her head into her hand. Eli bit his lip to hold in a laugh. Damn if she wasn’t cute when she was embarrassed.

“I’ve been in this business a long time. We’re trained to be inconspicuous.”

Kay sent him a disbelieving look as she grabbed her handbag. “So you won’t interfere in any way?”

Eli made a motion as if he was crossing his heart. “You won’t even know I’m there.”

KAYLEE SHOVED THE books on her night table in the drawer. Her eyes swept over the rest of the room frantically. Hopefully she hadn’t left anything embarrassing lying around. She wasn’t used to having guys at her apartment. Especially not men like Elliott.

Big, masculine men that she fantasized about every night.

The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she didn’t have to look to know that he was standing in the doorway. Her apartment wasn’t that big, but it suddenly seemed exponentially smaller with Eli sucking up all her oxygen.

“Tank finished his assessment before we got here. We’re all clear.” Eli stepped in and looked around. “Where do you normally keep the figurine?”

Kay pointed to the top of her dresser. Eli walked over and looked down at her collection. He touched one and the sight of his thick fingers stroking the delicate china shouldn’t have seemed erotic at all. But the image of this big, strong man handling tiny breakables with such care struck her as incredibly tender. Would that be how he treated a woman in bed? Like she was delicate, precious?

Or would he push her hard, demand things she didn’t know how to give? Warmth spread to her face just thinking about it.

Not that you’ll ever find out.

“There’s an empty space here. He didn’t even bother to push the others closer together to conceal what he took.”

Kay hated to even think of it. Someone had been in her apartment, touching her things. Had he been here while she was home alone? While she was with her daughter?

While they were sleeping?

She shivered and grabbed the duffel bag she kept underneath her bed. Her favorite nightshirt was on top of the comforter, so she shoved that in the bag. Then she pulled open the drawers in her nightstand and added a big handful of underwear and bras. She didn’t even look at how much she was taking, just grabbed blindly. Who cared, really, what she wore? All she cared about was getting out of here. Would she ever be able to relax in this room again without wondering if someone was watching?