Dangerous Surrender by Katie Reus Page B

SUVs. He sounded sincere, but the man was hard to read. If Roman had to guess, however, the guy had definite military training. It was in his bearing and vigilant posture. “The police are going to catch that fucker Neal.”
    “Thanks, Benjamin. I heard that you told the police I wasn’t involved even before I came forward.”
    The man lifted his shoulders. “I knew you didn’t do it. You loved him too much.”
    To Roman’s surprise, Taylor started crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks and Escobar stared at her in horror, as if the sight of her tears was too much to handle. Roman understood the feeling.
    “Sorry, just nice that someone actually believed me,” she murmured, her voice watery as she leaned into Roman’s outstretched arm.
    Escobar didn’t respond, just cleared his throat and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the display of emotion.
    Roman tugged her close, needing to comfort her as they reached one of the SUVs. The passenger door opened and when a blond man got out, Taylor immediately froze.
    All of Roman’s senses went on alert. Without thinking, he stepped in front of her and went to reach for a weapon that wasn’t there. Because he traveled so much with Wyatt, he and all security personnel who worked for the billionaire were able to carry in multiple states. But this wasn’t an official work thing so he’d kept his weapon packed and unloaded. Unarmed or not, he’d take this guy down if he posed a threat to Taylor.
    Escobar let out a short sigh. “Taylor, I know your concerns with Simpson and they’re unfounded. He was at the—”
    “Taylor, I’m not working for or with Neal,” the man said heatedly, but not with anger. Just concern. “I was at the police station yesterday waiting for my girlfriend to get off work. She’s a dispatcher. We live together and her car is in the shop. I just didn’t want her to have to catch a ride home.” The guy had blond hair, but it wasn’t the man who’d shot at Roman outside Vadim’s house. Even though most of the guy’s face had been obscured, he had a slightly smaller build and his voice was different. Didn’t mean Roman was completely removing the guy from his radar.
    “He’s telling the truth, Taylor. He was with me most of yesterday at the office.” It seemed as if Escobar wanted to say more, maybe really defend the guy, but didn’t.
    Taylor sidestepped Roman, but still hovered a little behind him. “Okay,” she said, not much conviction in her voice.
    They didn’t have time for this and Roman didn’t want Taylor around a man who clearly made her uncomfortable. “We need to get to the station and she’s not riding with him.” Roman knew he was being rude, but didn’t care.
    Seemingly unsurprised, Escobar nodded. “No problem. We’ll take the other SUV.”
    It was clear Simpson wanted to say more and he actually appeared as if he felt bad, but Roman didn’t care. No one was innocent or a non-threat as far as Taylor was concerned. Right now the only goal was to get her to the police station unharmed.
    * * *
    Neal stepped out of the small bathroom of his forty-foot cruiser. As boats went this was a decent sized one. Some called it a yacht, but to him, only cruisers over sixty feet should be designated with that title. While he might wish for something flashier and bigger—which he would get one day—for now this boat did its job of keeping him safe and under the radar.
    No one knew he was here and he had enough food to last for a week without having to leave the marina. He’d chosen this particular one because it was mid-sized. Not so small that he would have regular neighbors who paid attention to him and not so large that he wouldn’t see or hear if the police were coming for him. Or the Russians. That was key right now. He was still waiting to hear back from his contact who’d arrived back in town not long ago. The guy had said he might have news about Taylor.
    All this waiting was making him fidgety. He needed