Securing His Destiny (Power Security #2)

Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

T abitha straightened her skirt, patted her now short hair, and took a deep breath before she opened the door to Power Security—Steve’s business.

She’d been out of the hospital for three days, and apart from the odd text, she hadn’t seen Steve since he’d dropped her off at her place.

He’d gotten a call requiring him to dump her and run. He’d been super apologetic and had given her an amazing kiss goodbye before he’d rushed off to deal with a situation that had come up. Steve hadn’t gone into details, and she hadn’t asked, even though she’d wanted to.

Last night, he’d called and asked her to come to his office because he had something he wanted to show her. Something to do with her attack.

At the time, she’d been wary about seeing whatever it was, as she was just getting comfortable with what’d happened to her. Lauren, her assistant, hadn’t allowed Tabitha to come to the café but had assured her everything was running smoothly and the regulars had asked after her and wished her a speedy recovery once they found out what’d happened.

Come tomorrow morning, she was heading back to work, no matter what. She was done sitting around the house, baking until her freezer couldn’t fit anymore yummy treats. Which was why Tabitha had a container of brownies in a bag on her shoulder that she planned to give to Steve and his staff.

“Right, let’s do this,” she muttered and opened the door.

The décor in the reception area wasn’t fancy. A solid wood desk took up most of the area, but no one sat behind it.

Power Security logo hung on the wall above, and the room held a two-seater couch and two smaller chairs for people to sit on while they waited.

A young woman walked through the door to the left of the desk, a cup of coffee in her hand. “Oh,” she said when she spied Tabitha. “I’m so sorry to keep you waiting. Welcome to Power Security. I’m Margot. How can I help you?”

Tabitha smiled and reached into the bag with the brownies and pulled a container out. “It’s all good. I just got here. I’m Tabitha Newton, here to see Steve. And I think one of these will go wonderfully with your coffee.” She removed the lid, and the scent of chocolate wafted toward Tabitha. Pride came over her when Margot’s eyes widened.

“Oh, they look good.” Margot took the napkin Tabitha had whipped out of the bag, and she placed the chocolate square on top.

“They do look good. I hope you’re planning on leaving some for the rest of us.”

Tabitha’s heart kicked into overdrive at the sound of Steve’s smooth baritone. She’d spent some time down by the river the previous day, enjoying the sunshine, looking at the beautiful city scape, and remembering his imagined proposal story.

Even though it hadn’t happened—probably wouldn’t happen—she’d loved every word he’d spoken.

Giving herself a mental shake, she plastered on a smile and thrust the container toward Steve, which he took and placed on the reception desk. “There’s plenty. I made sure of it, but I made you these.” She pulled out a smaller container that held two chocolate chip muffins.

His smile went from pleasant to blistering hot.

Margot gasped as if she’d never seen her boss smile like that.

Perhaps she hadn’t. Maybe Steve barely smiled at work.

“I would’ve been happy with a brownie, but these–” He nodded toward the plastic tub, and locked eyes with her. “I will savor every morsel of them.”

Tabitha was trapped by his words and his gaze. There wasn’t anything earth-shattering about them, but his brown eyes held a hidden message that had desire flaring to life low in her belly. “I’m sure you will,” she murmured.

“Umm, I’ll put these in the staff room,” Margot commented, breaking whatever bubble had surrounded her and Steve.

“Great. I hope everyone enjoys them,” Tabitha said, impressed that her voice didn’t sound as out of breath as she felt. She hadn’t even done any exercise to warrant this breathlessness. It was Steve’s presence that was pushing her over the edge.

“Steve, shall I take those as well?”

“Nope, these are mine, and no one is getting them, but thanks for looking after Tabitha’s treats, Margot.” He gave the young woman what must have been his normal smile, before cupping Tabitha’s elbow, and a jolt of electricity zipped along her veins. “Shall we?”

A few moments later, she was seated on a couch in Steve’s office, admiring the view of the river from the wall of windows. “How do you get any work done? I’d spend the day gazing out at that view.”

He gave it a cursory look. “You get used to it. Did Margot ask if you wanted a coffee or anything?”

How did she answer this?

If she said no, would Steve get angry at his employee?

If she said yes, and Margot didn’t show up, then he’d either think the girl was incompetent or Tabitha had lied.

The truth really was the only option, and she prayed she didn’t get Margot into trouble. “No, but she really didn’t have a chance to ask me. I saw she had a coffee, and I told her she needed one of my brownies. Don’t be mad at her. I stopped her from doing her job properly.”

“Tabby, stop. It’s okay. Margot’s not in trouble. She knows her job and if I hadn’t interrupted you both, she probably would’ve asked you. So do you want one?” His expression was warm and kind.

“Okay. Good. Umm, can I have a water instead?”

“You can have whatever you want. I can get you a soda if you would prefer.”

“Water’s fine, but if you’ve got sparkling, I’d like that.”

“I do.” Steve went to the cabinet on the opposite side of the room and pulled out a bottle from the fridge. He grabbed a glass and brought them both over to her.

“Thanks,” Tabitha said, as he placed her drink on the squat, polished, wooden coffee table in front of her. “You asked me here for a reason, but didn’t really elaborate on the phone. Is it to do with my attack?”

After she’d gotten home from the hospital, and Steve had left, she’d made herself call the police officer who’d been at the scene. He’d been happy for her to give her statement over the telephone, but she’d gone down to the station and looked it over the next day.

Apart from that she hadn’t heard from them, and she didn’t expect to—considering she hadn’t been able to give them much information about who her attacker was, and the fact she didn’t have cameras at the café—something that had been taken care of by Steve, according to Lauren.

“Oh, before you say anything more,” she said. “I wanted to thank you for getting the security cameras in place and upgrading my alarm system. How much do I owe you for it all?”

“All good. And there’s no charge.”

While the answer was expected, hearing it from Steve didn’t make it sit any better with her. “No, that’s not how this works. My business was affected, and I need to be responsible for it. So please tell me how much I owe you, and I will do a bank transfer for you. I should’ve upgraded my security ages ago.”

“Fine. I’ll get Margot to email the invoice to your café address.”

She studied him. Steve had given in too quickly. She’d expected him to put up more of a fight. “For the full amount.”

“Yes.”

Again, his quick response had her senses on alert, but she would wait to see the invoice. If she believed he hadn’t charged her what the job really cost, she’d be having words with him. “Good. Now, how about we get down to business?”

Steve went to his desk and grabbed his laptop, unplugging it so he could place on the table next to her drink. “I asked Wilt to discover any places nearby with cameras where he could access the footage from your attack.”

The water she’d drunk churned in her stomach, and she took a deep breath to settle it. “And did he find anything?”

“There were a couple of houses that had cameras, but the way they were angled, he couldn’t get a good view of the front of your store.” Steve tapped the keyboard, and a grainy video popped up on the screen. “We were able to get this, though, from one of them. It’s not great and Wilt tried to enhance it, but there’s only so much magic he can wield.”

A masked man ran down the street away from her café. As Steve said, there was no way they could distinguish who he was.

However, seeing him on the screen brought back the moment of her attack. The helplessness she’d felt as he’d stalked her around the store. Not saying anything. Just watching her through the holes of his balaclava.

The way he’d lunged for her, catching Tabitha off balance so her head slammed against the edge of one of her tables before smashing into the hard floor.

A whimper escaped her, and her whole body shook. Lost in the moment of the attack, her head thumped.

A second later, she was engulfed in warmth. The familiar scent of pine teased her senses.

“You’re safe, Tabby. I won’t let anyone touch you. You’re safe.”

The words took a while to sink into her psyche. Slowly, she rose from the hollow of her mind, and everything came back into focus. “Oh God, I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Steve’s lips brushed her temple. “No, it’s me who should be apologizing. I should’ve been more aware that showing you this footage might affect you. Your reaction isn’t something to be ashamed of. You suffered through a traumatic event.”

What he said made sense, but it didn’t ease the embarrassment that still coursed through her.

Tabitha closed her eyes and leaned farther into his embrace, liking the way his arms tightened around her. When she was with Steve, she felt a lot safer. A fact that hadn’t hit her until that moment.

She’d been coping well with everything, but now it was obvious she’d been fooling herself—she was still suffering from her attack. Tabitha hadn’t got over it, after all.

How many times had she gotten up during the night to check the locks?

A lot.

Sleep had been sporadic at best. She’d put it down to her concussion and the stitches in the back of her head. Her wound wasn’t exactly comfortable to lie on.

“Will it go back to normal?” Tabitha asked after a few moments.

“What do you mean?”

“Life. Will I be able to be relaxed in my own home? God, will I even be able to go back to the café?” The idea slammed into her. She hadn’t even considered she might not be able to continue doing what she loved.

If her reaction to seeing the guy on the video was any indication, there was a good chance that Tabitha would have to close up shop and find something else to do.

“Yes. To it all, but it’s going to take time, and you’ll probably need to talk to someone about it. There’s no shame in doing that either.” His voice was soft and warm. Comforting.

“In my discharge paperwork, there was a card for a psychologist. I gave it a quick look and thought I didn’t need it. But, yeah, maybe I do.”

“It couldn’t hurt, and you might only need a couple of sessions. Or you might need a lot. Your recovery is your own, and you can handle everything in your own way. Every person is different. What might work for one may not work for someone else.”

“What about you? How did you cope with you’ve seen and done?”

He stilled beside her, and she expected him to pull away. The idea that he might hurt more than she was willing to admit.

If he expected her to be open with him, was it unreasonable for her to expect the same from him? That he would share his deep thoughts with her?

“In the past, I didn’t. I just pushed it deep down and went about my job. But . . .” Steve paused, and she didn’t push him to keep going.

He always gave her time to consider her thoughts before she spoke. She’d give him the same courtesy.

“After one particularly bad mission, I knew I needed help to get through it. We all did. I sought out some help, and when I feel like I need it, I will arrange another session with my therapist.”

Why had she doubted that he’d share his thoughts with her?

Because it was a reasonable one to think, and she still didn’t know him well.

Tabitha couldn’t fault her inner voice. “Thank you for sharing, and I will make a call. I wish I could’ve been more help with the video.”

“I didn’t expect you’d be able to identify him, but I wanted to show you anyway. Hopefully, we can get more footage from other cameras. Wilt won’t give up and neither will I until we find who did this to you.”

“I don’t know what to say, except thank you for everything. For stopping that day. For staying with me at the hospital. For this.” She pointed to the computer.

Steve’s hand cupped her cheek, and her flesh warmed beneath his touch.

Her attention was drawn to his lips, and Tabitha remembered the feel of them against hers. How gentle he’d been. How from the second his mouth landed on hers, everything had settled within her.

Had it only been because of all the trauma she’d been through, or was it something more?

He’d said he wanted to pursue a relationship with her, but his job had interfered and now she didn’t know where she stood with him.

No way was she going to resent his job. He’d had it long before they connected, and like her café, she suspected he gave everything he had to his clients.

“Tabitha.” He whispered her name reverently before he closed the gap between them and fused his mouth to hers.

This. This was everything. This was what her heart desired the most.

Steve.