Page 11 of Guarding the Rock Star
I remembered Mark. He’d been one of the two guys trailing us today when we met with the reporter and then gone to lunch. He was a human with mean eyes and a little too much cologne for my taste. And I really didn’t like the way he kept staring at my mate like she was the last piece of pie on Thanksgiving.
“Ah yes, I remember him. Well, I’ll let you get to work,” I said, retreating to my laptop and logging back in. I didn’t mention that work would include a thorough background check on both Monica and her brother, as well as the rest of the staff on Tasha’s team.
My boss Lois called me just before dinner.
“How’s the job, Diaz?” Lois asked without any preamble. “Any updates?”
“No updates. We met several people today, but the only insider was the manager, Chloe, and her driver Nate. Both seem clear. There was another letter today before I got here. I’ll email you the details tonight.”
“Yeah, do that,” Lois ordered. “Anything else?”
I debated telling my boss that Tasha was my mate, but I decided not to. I didn’t want Lois to take me off of this case, and I’d decided that I wasn’t going to act on the mate thing until the case was over anyway, so there was no sense in getting everyone riled up about it.
“No, nothing else,” I said.
“Okay, check in tomorrow.” Lois hung up without saying goodbye. Typical.
Once the chef had finished preparing dinner she slipped away, leaving me and Tasha alone again. We sat across from each other at the large dining room table, eating a meal that even I could admit was delicious. Given how often I settled for takeout or cereal, I could understand the appeal of having a personal chef.
“How long do you think this will go on?” Tasha asked, breaking the comfortable silence between us.
“What will go on?”
“You being here. The stalker.”
I put my fork down, hoping her question was more about getting rid of the stalker and less about getting rid of me. I knew she was attracted to me. I’d smelled her arousal in the car after I pushed her to the floor. It made me think my mate might like things to be a little rough, which lined up perfectly with my own tastes.
“Well, every case is different but depending on how well hidden this guy is, it could be a month, maybe more.”
Tasha winced.
“Are you getting tired of your dear old cousin already?” I couldn’t help but tease her.
“Nothing personal but I don’t like people in my space,” she said.
I had the sense there was more to it, like maybe I bothered her, the same way she bothered me, but I wasn’t going to push. I’d never been one to want to talk about feelings, and having a mate wasn’t going to change that.
“Should we talk about tomorrow?” I asked.
“If we have to,” she said sulkily.
My fingers itched with the urge to spank her. The truth was that I’d never spanked anyone in my life, but with Tasha I was tempted.
“Do you give everyone on your team such a hard time?” I asked curiously.
She sighed deeply. “I’m sorry Wanda, the truth is, this whole situation is making me feel out of control. And I don’t like feeling out of control. It reminds me too much of being a kid and not knowing what we were going to eat or if today was the day the landlord was going to put an eviction notice on our door.”
Wow, that was a lot to unpack. Maybe I’d do some background checks on Tasha and her family too. Just for research purposes of course.
“Don’t worry, Tasha. We’ll find the asshole who’s harassing you, then everything can go back to normal for you.”
Even as I said it, I had doubts. I’d spent a sum total of one day with my mate and I already knew it was going to be hard to let her go. She was looking at her new normal – me by her side. She just didn’t know it yet.
We finished our meal in silence, then without a word, Tasha popped up from the table. Her mood seemed to have suddenly improved.
“I just had a great idea. Come with me,” she said.
My mate was up to something, I just didn’t know what.
