After combing her hair and doing a half-ass job of drying it, she smoothed some of the provided lotion on her newly shaved legs and let out a sigh of relief. Her aunt Esther had always told her that there wasn’t much that a hot shower and a hot cup of tea couldn’t cure. Or at least soothe. The sweet woman who’d been the only mother-figure Taylor ever knew, had been right.

The simple shower had done wonders for Taylor’s outlook. At least she wasn’t ready to spiral into a breakdown anymore. As long as no one shot at them for the rest of the evening—well day, considering it was after midnight—she’d be fine.

She rolled her shoulders as she stepped out into the large bedroom. Roman had given her the big bedroom but she was pretty sure they’d be sharing a bed later. Even if they didn’t have sex, she was big enough to admit she didn’t want to sleep alone. The color scheme of the huge room was dark blue, light gray and pearly white. The rest of the place was the same. Neutral, soothing to the eye—bland, like a hotel. The setup of the place was simple. Two huge rooms, both with ocean views, were separated by a living room with an entertainment center most men would probably drool over. The living room also had an ocean view, but they’d pulled all the drapes shut. The glass doors were all secured and bullet resistant because Powers Group didn’t mess around with their visiting clients’ security. While she didn’t think someone from a boat or helicopter would be spying on them with binoculars, she still didn’t like the idea of feeling so exposed.

For all she knew Neal could be on the beach watching. Unlikely considering Escobar had called in another security team and two of those guys were patrolling the strip of beach in front of the building. The extra security made her feel a lot better, but Roman’s presence was the only thing helping her keep it together. She still couldn’t believe someone had opened fire on them gang-style. It had been an actual drive-by, something that felt surreal to even think about.

When she stepped out of the bedroom into the tiled living room, she jerked to a halt.

Her stuff had been delivered while she’d been in the shower and Roman was going through her suitcase, which he’d opened up onto the thick, wood coffee table. “Uh, hello?”

He glanced up at her and half-smiled, but didn’t stop what he was doing. “Hey, how was the shower?”

“Good… If you wanted to see my panties all you had to do was ask.” She snatched a pair of boy-short Wonder Woman panties she was mortified one of the security team had grabbed. Balling it into her hand, she shoved it into one of the robe’s pockets.

Roman snorted and spared her a quick glance. “I’m definitely seeing you in those later… And I’m just searching for any tracking devices. I know it’s paranoid, but…” He trailed off, shrugging as he continued his methodical examination.

Paranoid, maybe, but she didn’t mind in the least. They’d be leaving this place after they’d slept a few hours and she’d rather him take every precaution available. Because the truth was, she hadn’t even thought about tracking devices. It seemed insane, but then Neal Lynch was clearly not right in the head. She still didn’t understand why he’d opened fire on them. Or she assumed it was him who’d done it. It could have been the man he’d hired. Either way he’d clearly been willing to kill her and innocent men. She’d already made her statement to the police though and if she never had to make another report again that was fine with her. Maybe Neal thought with her dead he’d have a better defense—even though that sounded stupid.

“I’m going to make some hot tea. Do you want any?” she asked. When they’d arrived she’d scoured the cabinets and was grateful there were plenty of tea choices.

He shook his head as he ran his hand along the lining of her suitcase. “I’m good, but thanks.”

Since he was intent on his task, she headed for the kitchen and made a pot of peppermint tea. The microwave would have been easier, but it felt wrong on so many levels to make tea that way. As she waited, she slipped her Wonder Woman panties on. Wearing nothing under the robe felt weird and she kind of hoped he’d been serious about seeing her in them later. Once the teapot whistled on the stove, she inhaled the familiar scent, letting it ground her before pouring herself a mug.

She found Roman still meticulously looking over her things. Considering what a private person she was, it was one of the first signs that this man had already gotten under her skin when she hadn’t been paying attention. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Bent over the table, searching her suitcase, his arm muscles flexed, his expression intense and insanely sexy. She could watch him all night but forced herself to do something productive. She pulled her laptop from the bag they’d retrieved from her car and turned it on. “Did you search my backpack?” she asked.

“Yeah, scanned your laptop first. It’s clean.”

Good. If Neal thought he was going to get away with any of this, especially the attack that could have hurt Roman, he was about to get a taste of her wrath. Sitting on the couch, she propped her feet on the coffee table and got to work.

“What’re you doing?” Roman asked almost absently as he slipped one of his big hands into a zippered compartment, feeling around inside.

“Now that I’ve got a lot of Neal’s information and complete access to his files, I’m going to start searching for him using it. It’s very hard to go completely off the grid unless you use a new identity. Which he might very well have. But I’m not going to let him just get away without trying to track him down.” She opened up a folder in one of his email accounts, scanning old messages. Investigations could be tedious work, but she was used to it and right now she was more determined than she’d ever been to dig up information on someone. And after she plugged in some key search words, she should be able to narrow down the right files quicker.

“You should leave that to the police.” She could hear the frown in Roman’s voice without looking at him.

“The police missed a key piece of evidence in this investigation. Not to mention…” She trailed off, wondering how much she should tell him about her past. Oversharing too soon was one of those relationship no-no’s. Of course they weren’t in a relationship.

“What?” he pressed.

Because she didn’t want to see his expression when she told him, she kept typing in commands as she continued. “My stepfather was a cop. He killed my mom in a drunken rage.” The words sounded almost robotic even though saying them felt as if she was being torn to ribbons on the inside. It was just too hard to let emotion seep through when she discussed it. She was already at a breaking point after everything that had happened the last couple days and didn’t want to unleash too many long-buried feelings now.

She watched Roman still his movements out of the corner of her eye. He moved slowly and rounded the coffee table and sat next to her on the couch, still giving her some space. When he reached out and placed a gentle but possessive hand on the back of her neck, she tore her gaze from the laptop and looked at him. He watched her carefully but didn’t say anything, obviously letting her talk when and if she wanted.

She’d never told any of the men she’d dated about her mom, had seen no reason to. But she wanted Roman to know this about her. Even if things between them never amounted to anything, she wanted him to know. “My mom was…everyone said she was a sweet woman. The truth was, she was weak. I’ve felt guilty for a long time because of the way I viewed her and I know it’s hard for anyone being abused to leave their abuser, but she had me. Her daughter to worry about. And she tried a couple times to leave him, even went so far as to attempt pressing charges, but each time she was talked out of it because she could potentially ruin her husband’s career.” Taylor rolled her eyes at that, biting back the anger that surged through her any time she thought of that man.