Chapter Four

Aja Blue gave Christian directions to her condo a few blocks away, and he pulled his rental SUV into the underground garage. They'd left her vehicle behind at the hotel for now.

She'd managed to cool her jets on her attraction to him for the moment, but it would be a constant struggle. He was just so male. Big. Strong. Handsome.

She'd never felt safer in her life. Aja Blue had been on her own for a long time. She was used to relying on only herself and took pride that she was so independant, but she had to admit that having Christian by her side removed a load from her shoulders. Many things she could handle alone, but a gun-toting, tracker-placing, purple-hat-wearing thug wasn't one she wanted to attempt solo.

They didn't encounter anyone on the elevator to the lobby, but they had to stop at the security desk to access the lift to her condo. The extra layer of protection was something she'd looked for when shopping for a place to live. It was especially comforting now that someone had been following her.

"Hi, Roland. How are you?"

Roland's brown eyes lit with pleasure, and a smile broke across his face. "Ms. Aja Blue. I'm glad you're back. I'm doing good. How was the trip?"

"Exhausting." She turned to Christian and grabbed his hand. "Roland, this is an old friend of mine. Christian. He's in town for a few days."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Christian," Roland said, holding his hand for Christian to shake. "Any friend of Ms. Aja Blue is lucky. She's the best. I will get you added to the approved list."

They went through the steps of filling out paperwork, making a copy of Christian's driver's license and snapping a picture for the files. No one got by Roland, and the extra measures were reassuring.

"Roland, has Jay been by to see me while I was gone?"

"Mr. Jay has not been here."

"What about anyone else?"

He shook his head. "No. Why? Is there a problem?"

She told him about the man who might be following her and described his hat.

"No, I haven't seen him, but I will keep an eye out and call the police if he comes here. He won't get past me."

"I know he won't. Thanks, Roland."

Once they were on the elevator, Christian turned to her. "Jay is the assistant whose apartment you were supposed to go to while you waited for me?"

"Yes."

"Something's wrong."

It wasn't a question but a statement. Aja Blue wasn't doing a very good job of hiding her feelings. Once again, she shared her load. She told him she hadn't been able to get in touch with him for a week and that he wasn't returning her calls.

Christian motioned for her to precede him when they reached her floor, and she stepped out. "That's unusual?"

"Extremely." She slid the key into the door. "He's always been reliable . . ." Her voice trailed off when she opened the door. "What the heck?"

"Aja Blue, go to the hallway and wait for me."

"What—" She gasped when she noticed the gun in his hand.

He motioned sharply with his head. He thought the person might still be there. She backed to the door while he methodically searched her destroyed condo. Rage quickly replaced terror. Someone had broken into her home and invaded her private space. She might not have a gun like Christian, but she had fury on her side, which seemed just as good.

When she caught up with him, he frowned at her but kept looking for the culprit. Christian stood and stashed the gun. "There's no one here now."

"How did they get inside without alerting security?"

"I'm guessing that hole isn't to feel the cool sea breeze?"

Aja Blue looked at where he was pointing, and her jaw hit the floor. A neat circle of glass had been cut from one of the windows on her balcony.

"What in the hot flaming flamingo beach towel happened?"

"Hot flaming flamingo beach towel?"

She glanced over to see one eyebrow cocked sexily, and she completely forgot her train of thought. "Huh?"

His lips, already quirked with amusement, curved into a devastating smile. "Your colorful phrase about tall wading birds with pink plumage . . ."

Oh, that. Aja Blue waved a hand. "I sometimes devise alternate ways to express displeasure instead of cursing."

"I remember."

Her eyes widened. "You do?"

"You did the same thing when we met in Sedona."

She winced. "I did?"

He nodded, that sexy smile causing every nerve ending in her body to dance. "When you didn't get a picture of the man following you."

"Oh, right. Well, get used to them. It's ingrained now, and I can't stop them from spilling from my mouth."

"Good. Don't try. I think they're adorable."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah."

Sparks flickered around them, and Aja Blue felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, probably by that gaping hole in the window. That thought sobered her, and she walked over to inspect the glass. "You think he climbed that high? It's what, one-fifty, two-hundred feet to the ground?"

Christian stopped beside her, looked down, then up. "Most likely, he repelled from the roof. That's how I'd do it anyway."

If she wasn't so devastated by the invasion of her home, she might've smiled. "Good to know."

"This is a sophisticated stalker. Going from the top down avoided any cameras that might be covering the property."

"Sadly, that makes sense." She turned to him. "It also means I'll never feel safe again."

"That's what I'm here for."

A shudder wracked her body. Too, too tempting to fall into his arms and beg him to hold her. "I need to grab some things if they aren't destroyed." Pictures had been ripped from the walls, the glass shattered. Cushions had been tossed from the furniture, and drawers were gaping open, their contents strewn across the floor as if they'd partied too hard at Mardi Gras. From what she could see, nothing had been left untouched. Why would someone do this?

A hand on her arm stopped her. "Before you touch anything, we need to call the police. You'll probably need an official report for the insurance company too."

Aja Blue gasped as a thought struck her, and she grasped his hand. "The police already know who he is. All we have to do is get his information from the cop who detained him earlier today."

Christian nodded. "That's a great thought. They might not be willing to share, but I'll get his name."

He made a call on his phone and left a message. A few minutes later, it rang, and he answered.

"Tyler, I'm putting you on speaker. I have Aja Blue LaLonde with me."

A snort sounded through the line. "Yeah, okay. Dream on, Z."

"I'm serious."

"What?"

They both jerked back from the screech.

"The Aja Blue Lalonde, of Aja Blue and Polly Too fame?"

Aja Blue smiled. "Hi, Tyler, and yes, I'm her."

"Oh my gosh, I'm fanboying here. I loved that show! I wanted to be president of your fan club, but someone beat me to it. Z, snap a pic for me, would ya?"

"Tyler, this is official business."

"Right. Sorry." His voice instantly turned serious. "No police report was filed during the timeframe you gave me, nor around that address all day."

"What? The cop didn't arrest him? He was pointing his gun at him and frisking him."

"For some reason, he didn't pull the trigger—figuratively. I don't mean literally," Tyler corrected.

"The guy must've talked his way out of it," Christian decided. "Or there was no evidence of a crime to arrest him."

"He was looking in my car."

"That in itself isn't enough. He might've thought it was his, or that's what he told the cop."

Aja Blue huffed in outrage. "That sucks."

"Yeah, it does," agreed Christian. To Tyler, he said, "Thanks for getting back to me so quickly."

"No problem. Now, Z, about that pic—"

Christian disconnected.

"We'd better let Roland know what happened while we wait for authorities to arrive."

#

Roland was visibly upset when Aja Blue told him what had transpired in her condo. By the time they finished talking to the police, it was late, and Christian was exhausted. A crime scene unit had dusted for fingerprints around the hole, and everyone agreed with his assessment that the person had repelled down, though no ropes or climbing devices were found when the roof was searched. The perp had policed their gear.

The cop assigned to the case, Nicole Herbert, had taken down the information on the man Aja Blue had spotted several times. Aja Blue told the detective about the cop who had detained him, and she promised to look into it. Detective Herbert wanted to know if anything had been stolen, but nothing had, as far as Aja Blue could tell among the destruction.

"Is it okay to grab some things now?"

Christian glanced around at the mess, now augmented by black fingerprint dust. The cops were gone. It would be safe for her to gather her items. "Yeah."

He followed Aja Blue to her bedroom, and his gaze was drawn to the wall of windows overlooking the ocean and the sliding glass door that led to a deck. What a view to wake up to each morning.

"Chocolate fudge-covered baseball-sized spitballs."

Christian turned to see Aja Blue standing with her hands on her hips as she stared into her closet. The intruder had also destroyed this room, shoving her mattress from the frame and upending drawers. He walked over and looked inside. Nothing was left hanging or on the shelves. It was all in a giant pile on the floor, shoes included.

She crouched down and picked up a blouse. "At least he didn't destroy them, though they might need to be dry-cleaned."

That was something. The vandal could've taken a knife to everything and ruined her wardrobe. He'd seen it happen before.

Aja Blue scrounged through the pile, picking out several items.

"What about your important papers and things?"

She shot to her feet and dropped the clothes she'd recovered. "Oh, fish sticks. I forgot." She rushed to a now-empty bookcase and ran her hand along the back. It slid to the side to reveal a steel door. She punched in a combination, and it opened. Christian followed her inside.

"Did you have this put in?"

She looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"The safe room."

"Oh, no. It came with the condo. The previous owner was a security freak, so he added a panic room."

"Nice." He liked hidden rooms. He planned on including one in the house he would build inside the CObrA Securities compound, even though it was one of the most secure areas on the planet. It would be a fun hiding place for kids in the future.

Christian jerked to a halt. Why was he suddenly thinking about children? He'd never given it much thought. If they happened, great. And why did they all have thick mahogany hair and crystal-blue eyes?

He shook his head to clear the thoughts and glanced around. Several awards sat on a shelf. He stepped closer to see they were Emmys from Aja Blue's previous career, and his eyes widened. Damn. They were legit. She'd framed her college degrees and pictures of herself with celebrities and presidents. The display reinforced the fact that she was so out of his league. What was he thinking, having carnal thoughts about the beauty beside him? She was a superstar. He wasn't.

The good news was that nothing had been touched. The panic room had done its job, keeping any perpetrators from breaching the perimeter.

Aja Blue crouched down and lifted a portion of the floor to reveal a safe. She entered the combination and opened the hatch. With an audible sigh, she said, "Everything is there. Thank goodness." She stared at him, and those lovely eyes sucked him in. Her lips were moving, but he had no idea what they were saying. The only thought in his head was telling him to taste them again.

"Christian?"

Blinking out of his trance, he said, "What?"

"Should I leave it all here or take it with us?"

Focus, Zamora. He was letting his hormones get the better of him, and that was unacceptable. Aja Blue was in danger, and she'd asked for his help. He would not fail her.

"It should be safe here. I doubt that whoever broke in would return to the crime scene. They didn't find the room the first time, so there's no reason to believe they would try again."

Her hair ruffled with the breath she blew out. "True."

Aja Blue closed the safe and arranged the floor back into place to disguise it. Even if an intruder managed to get inside the safe room, they likely could not find the hidden vault.

"What do we do now?"

"I've got a place for us to stay tonight. I want to review everything that's happened, and then we'll decide on the next move. We need to figure out why someone has targeted you."

Aja Blue gathered the things she wanted to take with her. Christian had her don a sweatshirt and pull the hood over her luxurious hair. When they reached his SUV, he had her climb into the back seat. "In case someone is watching the building," he explained. "Also, I need your cell phone."

"My phone?" She clutched it to her chest. "Why?"

"They can be tracked."

"But my whole life is on there."

"I'll have a secure one here tomorrow that you can use. Any calls made to your phone will ring there."

She looked conflicted. Finally, she nodded and handed it to him. "Okay."

He turned it off and removed the SIM card to be safe. He found a rubber band in the glove box and secured them together before stashing them in the compartment and closing the hatch. Then he checked the instructions to the place BeBe had booked for him to use and shook his head. He expected a chain motel. No, she'd found a secure house and had it stocked with food.

"Is there an alternate exit to this garage besides the one in front?"

"Yes."

She gave him directions and the code to lift the gate. Christian checked for any tails as he made his way around the crowded streets of the beach town. After a stop at an overnight delivery company to send Aja Blue's phone to Tyler, he took an indirect route to the house away from the coast. There were rumors about BeBe's abilities, and he totally believed him. She found out earlier today that he would be in the area and had already located a place to use. Some agents speculated that CObrA Securities owned safe houses around the country. He wouldn't be surprised.

The gate required a code, which he punched in. Christian checked the rear-view mirror as the iron bars opened, and he motored through.

"Whose house is this?"

"My company rented it for us to use. It's got state-of-the-art security, so we'll be safe here."

The home was a two-story limestone and brick structure with a nicely manicured lawn and tons of curb appeal. The garage door was already open, so he swung around and backed inside.

Christian stepped out and opened the back to grab their luggage. He realized how hungry he was when his stomach rumbled loudly.

"Yeah, we haven't had a chance to eat, have we?" Aja Blue commented.

"No. The house should have the basic supplies, but how does a pizza sound?"

"Delicious."

They carried their bags inside. The interior was spotlessly clean and tastefully decorated in beige, cream, and gray tones. Soaring ceilings added height, and overstuffed furniture provided coziness.

"This is nice," Aja Blue said.

"It is."

A curving staircase led to the second floor, where Christian assumed the bedrooms would be located. He discovered two main suites, so Aja Blue claimed one, and he put his bags in the room across the hallway.

"Let me call for a delivery, and then we can review everything that's happened."