The Defender. Adrienne Giordano
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her, she’d walked across the street for a latte, one she never did get and still desperately needed. Her dad had promised to either move or cover her client meetings for the day, but still, she felt like a slacker.
“No. Thank you. You have people watching my family, right?”
He nodded. “I’m on it. Trust me on this, okay? You all have protection. If we find your family needs to be in a safe house, we’ll deal with it.”
Penny swung her gaze to the back of Marshal Thompson’s—Brent’s—head. Smart man that he was, he kept his eyes on the road, pretending he couldn’t hear any of this conversation. “If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
With that, Russ turned front again and didn’t speak for another twenty minutes until they pulled into the driveway of a white beach cottage with large, covered windows. The house didn’t look all that big, but she knew from her parents’ lake home there might be a ton of property behind it where the house cascaded onto the beachfront. Heck of a safe house. This baby had to have been seized during an investigation. She’d grill Russ about it later.
A curving brick walkway led to the porch, but Russ jumped out, punched in the garage-door code on the keypad and Brent pulled in.
This would be Elizabeth’s new home until the FBI figured out how to save her life. Or maybe Penny would figure it out first. Either way, Colin Heath would be brought down.
Brent killed the engine, and Penny, needing freedom, yanked on the handle. The door didn’t move. Seriously? They’d locked her in. As if she was the criminal.
“You boys think I’m going somewhere?”
“Nope. Waiting on Russ to close the garage door so no one sees you. Smart-mouth.”
Penny hooted and—wow—it felt so good to laugh. Even if Brent had struck her as a little pushy and overbearing with the way he’d ordered her into the car at the coffee shop. She preferred verbally sparring with someone who didn’t confuse her—the way Russ did. She didn’t know what she wanted from Russ. She liked bickering with him, but sometimes she wanted something else. Something quiet and calm and...and...protective. She squeezed her eyes shut. Protection from a man. When did that stop being the plague?
“Nothing to say?” Brent cracked.
“Oh, I have plenty to say. And you and I will get along just fine.”
Finally, Russ opened her door and she nearly knocked him over leaping out.
“Head inside and stay there while we check the perimeter. We had agents clear the inside already, but I want another look outside.”
Penny snapped to attention and saluted. “Sir, yes, sir. Why don’t I just wait here until you do your thing? Make it easier on all of us.”
He held a finger up. “Even better. Don’t move.”
Sure. Fine. What she needed was a barrel of gummy bears. Sugar right now would be excellent.
The two men walked to the back of the garage to the solid wood door—no windows to be broken by would-be intruders.
Ten minutes later, in the suffocating heat of the closed garage, the back door opened and Brent stepped through. He whirled his finger at her. “We’re good. Perimeter is clear.”
“Where’s Russ?”
A loud sucking noise came from the opposite corner of the garage and she spun backward. What’s that? Russ stood in the doorway kicking at the weather stripping—terrorized by weather stripping?—on the bottom of the door leading to the house. She slapped her hand over her chest.
“Scared the hell out of me, Russell!”
He snapped his head up and jiggled keys at her. “I went in the back door. We’re all set in here.”
Penny marched up the three wooden steps and swung by Russ into a mudroom the size of a small office. “How far out is Elizabeth?”
“Twenty minutes.”
Russ waved her through the second door into the sunny yellow kitchen and its cozy breakfast nook. Cute, but the real deal was straight ahead, where hand-carved walnut floors led to an open living room and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the lake. Penny wandered the room, running her fingers over stuffed pillows and shelves holding clay pitchers and bowls. She imagined snuggling up on the huge sofa. And if a sexy FBI agent wanted to join her, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Gummy bears. Think about the gummy bears.
She glanced back at said agent. “This place looks like a Pottery Barn catalog. You feds know how to treat a witness.”
“We seized it last year. Stockbroker turned Ponzi schemer.”
She’d hit that one right. Russ flipped a switch on the wall and sent the drapes sliding closed. No. The man was killing her fantasy of the two of them curled up, watching the afternoon sun skitter across the lake.
“Can we leave those open? The view is amazing.”
“If we can see out, people can see in. They shouldn’t have been open in the first place.”
Point there. So much for fantasies. Penny sighed.
“Now my life is complete,” Russ said.
“How’s that?”
“You being...wistful.”
“Wistful?”
Please.
But he stared right at her, those dark eyes devouring hers. So-oh-oh sexy.
“I liked it. The softer side of Penny Hennings. Another facet to a fascinating package.”
As if she believed that. “You think I’m fascinating? The FBI agent who hates defense attorneys.”
He propped a hip on the arm of the sofa and crossed his arms. Casual, but guarded. “I don’t hate defense attorneys.”
“You said—”
“I hate that defense attorneys get criminals off. I don’t hate you. In truth, I rather enjoy you.”
Hello, fantasy. If he kept this up, she’d have those curtains open in the next ninety seconds. There they’d be, the most unlikely pair the justice system ever saw, sprawled across that sofa, doing things she hadn’t done in a very—very—long time.
“Russell—”
The hum of a motor—garage door going up—sounded and Russ turned. Don’t kill this moment. Except Brent appeared, his hulking body filling the kitchen doorway.
“Elizabeth Brooks and her son are here. Kid’s going nuts over the lake.” He glanced at Penny. “Kids are tough. Always wandering. I’m going to check the upstairs again before they come in.”
Brent disappeared upstairs and Russ waved Penny to the couch. “Have a seat. Want something?”
Oh, she wanted something. For a brief second, the room went silent, not a breath to be heard while Russ stared at her and she stared back, the two of them charging the current streaming in the room. Her stomach clenched. Maybe other things clenched, too. At this point, Brent and the entourage that had just pulled up were about to get booted for ten minutes.
Whew. Hot in here.
“Penny?”
“Caffeine. Anything with caffeine. And some white gummy bears. I love gummy bears.”
Not that her system needed any more activity, but she still mourned the latte she never got at Erin’s.
“Gummy bears will have to wait. I’ll see what else we’ve got.”
Russ came back with two cans of cola—one diet, one regular. Smart man to not assume she’d want the diet.
She took the diet. It