Playing With Fire. Rebecca Hunter

for holding back in any situation, especially not one that involved a woman. Didn’t make much sense.

      But obsessing over a woman did strange things to a reasonably sane guy. He should know that better than anyone. Simon frowned.

      “I hear you, Derek,” said Cameron. “Glad you made it back from Miami, Simon. How was the visit?”

      Cameron knew exactly how that visit would be. He knew better than anyone in the world the way Marianna had torn his heart out.

      “We don’t need to talk about this now,” he growled. “That has nothing to do with Blackmore Inc. business.”

      “Actually, it is Blackmore Inc. business,” said Cameron.

      Simon gritted his teeth. What the fuck? Derek and Max looked from Cameron to him.

      “I got a call from Marianna Ruiz yesterday,” Cameron continued. “She’s coming to Sydney for a few days. And she wants to hire you as a personal bodyguard, Simon.”

      “Hell, no,” he blurted out. A screech of feedback echoed from the video conferencing system. “Follow her around while she’s here? What the fuck is she thinking?”

      Cameron put his hands up. “I know. And I said something like that, though not quite in those terms.”

      Simon’s heart was pounding hard in his chest. Hell, no. Just thinking about her was making him crazy. Spending time in close quarters with her, keeping his hands off that sweet little body? Watching her smile at every guy who hit on her? Yeah, not going to happen.

      “No way I’m doing that, Cameron,” he said.

      Cameron raised his eyebrows. “She said you’d probably react that way. I don’t even want to know what went down in Miami.”

      Did he have to use the words what went down? Because that was all it took for that scene he had just imagined back in his office to flash in front of him. Vividly.

      Simon closed his eyes. “I walked out on her, and she’s trying to get her revenge, Cam. That’s what’s going on.”

      Max gave a low whistle.

      “Now we know why you’ve been in a shit mood since you got back,” said Derek.

      Cameron shook his head. “At first I thought it might be something twisted like that, too. But not anymore. She’s serious.”

      Simon scowled.

      “Simon, there’s a real threat,” said Cameron. “She was in a hit-and-run accident a couple days ago.”

      He froze as Cameron’s words hit him hard in the gut. His heart thudded. “What?”

      “She wasn’t hurt,” Cameron added quickly. “Thanks to that security team you hired for her. If one of them hadn’t been driving, she’d probably be in the hospital.”

      Simon tried to stop his hand from shaking by running it through his hair. Fuck. He knew what a well-timed accident meant.

      He shook his head slowly, letting the news sink in. This was exactly what he was afraid would happen, and now he had no idea what the hell was going on. Simon had specifically told the Miami security team not to give him updates, just to keep her safe. Now something had set William and whoever else he was working with into motion. She’d be lucky if her ex wasn’t on the plane with her.

      “Why is she coming to Sydney?”

      Cameron furrowed his brow. “She set up a meeting with some business partner. But I think there’s more to it than that. She’s sending over the details, and the three of you will meet with her.”

      Simon stared down at his clenched fists. This was going to be a mess. He looked across the table at Derek and Max. Both were watching him, not bothering to hide their curiosity. The two of them knew something of his past, but they were about to learn a whole lot more.

      Cameron cleared his throat. “Look, she’s flying in tomorrow. No one else knows her background the way you do. No one will be able to understand this job as well as you do.” He looked almost sympathetic. “But you want to know why I said yes to this?”

      Simon shook his head slowly. “Not really.”

      “I’m telling you anyway,” said Cameron. “If I send her to someone else and she gets hurt this time, you’d never forgive yourself.”

      Damn. There it was. Cameron knew him better than anyone else in the world. His friend didn’t even have to ask. As angry as Simon was at Marianna Ruiz for going behind his back to hire him, he needed to be the one to protect her.

      “She said you were the only person she could really trust with her safety,” Cameron added softly.

      Simon breathed deeply and let it out. “Well, I sure as hell don’t trust myself around her.”

      “Looks like you have a day to get your shit together, Simon,” said Cameron, looking at the papers in front of him. “You’re picking her up from the airport tomorrow.”

      By the time the wheels touched the ground, Marianna had exhausted all the reasons this flimsy plan was a colossally bad idea. What was she thinking?

      But she had to get out of Miami. Plan A had died when Simon got her to talk through a few scenarios she hadn’t considered. Plan B, report her suspicions about Ruiz Imports to the authorities, had only made things worse. It exposed how far William’s influence had spread, and the high-speed chase across Miami Beach was a lesson in the consequences of defying him. She shivered at the memory of the other vehicle tailing them, then the impact...

      Thank God one of the guards Simon had hired was driving that day. At first she’d resented the team of hulking, stoic men who ensured no one came within a ten-foot radius of her. Her well-schooled debutante charm was met with stone-cold disinterest by every single one of those guys—the queen of England probably got more conversation. But then she’d needed them. They had been at her house when William came to her door later that night, too.

      But William couldn’t have bought off the entire world. Not yet. While there was no one she could completely trust, Joseph Goodwin was a good bet. Even though she hadn’t seen him since she was a child, the bond had been strong between him and her father. They had been more than business partners, even after Goodwin left Miami. Goodwin wouldn’t hurt her, and he was her best chance to stop this mess at the Australian end, outside William’s realm. At least that was the idea. And she needed Simon’s help to pull this whole crazy plan off.

      But Simon would be mad as hell at her. Rightly so. She had hired him, used her wealth and position to push him to do something he didn’t want to, just like the spoiled girl he’d left behind would have done. Would Simon understand that she wasn’t that same girl? Her father had tried to protect her from reality growing up, but her sheltered life had come to a swift end in the months after she had married William. Hope had pushed her to finally leave him, but that had dampened in the last few months.

      As angry as Simon probably was, she could trust him. He had also been right about the danger she had stumbled into. After her failed attempt to get the police to investigate Ruiz Imports, everyone in Miami was a question mark. And she put herself and them in danger by asking for help. Even she knew what a hit-and-run accident really meant.