“Wonder what would have happened if my father had lived and Mom still met Sean?” David mused. “Yeah, I sometimes wonder about that. They fit. They have a real passion for each other I don’t remember Mom and Dad having.”
“Well, you were a kid, and kids miss things like that if it’s not right in their face,” Ian pointed out. “It’s precisely why I leave the door unlocked every now and then. Gives the kids a jolt they need. It also makes them nauseous for a couple of hours, so I save on food. Sorry. Sarcasm is my go-to when I find myself in a hard conversation. There’s no way to know what might have happened if your dad had been alive when Grace met Sean. I have to deal with the reality in front of me, and I assure you the groups who might view you as a way to make some cash don’t care about your conflicted feelings. I’m not saying that to piss you off or to be an ass. It’s the truth, and I can’t let you go down there without a trained guard.”
His frustration was rising. “I have to go, and I’m willing to take the chance. I don’t see what you can do to stop me.”
“Well, there are a couple of things I can do. I can have you on a no-fly list in fifteen minutes. Hutch will be more than happy to do that. He lives to hack. He even has the T-shirt,” Ian said evenly. “Or I can save you the trouble of getting kidnapped down south and do it right here. I assure you we have places to stash you. We’ll set you up next to your brother.”
“Okay, I get it.” David felt his jaw clench. “You’re bigger and stronger and smarter than me.”
“Definitely not smarter on most things, but I am in this,” Ian allowed. “I know how important this is to you, so take a bodyguard and listen to her. You’re in charge of all things intellectual, and she’s in charge of making sure you don’t get hurt. Do it for your mom.”
“Her? The bodyguard is a woman?” His brain went into overdrive. It would take a while to get over seeing Tessa again. He prayed Ian wasn’t saying what he might be saying.
“Yes, Tessa is going to escort you.” Ian confirmed his worst fear. “I know you and she have apparently had a moment, but she’s all I’ve got unless I want to inconvenience a bunch of families who need some vacation time. And honestly, she’s who I would send. She speaks Spanish, and she blends in. Blending in is important at times.”
That was the last thing he needed. “Come on, Ian. You saw how she reacted. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me. I would feel uncomfortable forcing her into that situation.”
Not to mention his discomfort at having to be around the woman who’d managed to break his heart and he’d barely kissed her.
“She can be professional. You can be professional.” Ian wasn’t backing down. “If she thinks the island is safe, she won’t have to be with you every minute of the day. So basically you have a ten-hour flight that you can mostly sleep through and then a boat ride, and you’re on the island. Also, she’s not uncomfortable with you. She’s uncomfortable with herself and the fact that you’re connected to me. She had a relationship with another employee. It didn’t work out, and she’s still not sure why it didn’t. She thinks if she starts something with you and it goes bad she might lose her job. I don’t know why she thinks that since I never get to fire anyone, but that’s where she is.”
David could understand that. “I heard she was engaged.”
“To Michael Malone. Charlie set them up, but I always thought they were too alike. Tessa needs someone who can balance her. Honestly, Kyle’s been talking about setting the two of you up,” Ian said.
His brother had mentioned there was a woman at his office who might fit well with him. Had his brother been trying to play matchmaker? “Why would he do that?”
Ian chuckled. “No idea, man. He’s spent too much time around happy couples, I suspect, and he’s not even close to being ready to go after the woman he’s crazy about. So he’s turned his attention to you. And he’s not necessarily wrong. You hit it off, didn’t you?”
In spectacular fashion. “And then she ghosted me.”
“Well, now you can give her the cold shoulder and let her know how it feels,” Ian pointed out. “Or you could show her that you’re not Michael and you’re not going to move in a world she feels uncomfortable in. I suspect she thinks you’re more invested in your stepfather’s wealthy world than you are. I also suspect she doesn’t understand that the kind of money my brother and I have isn’t the same as Malone money. We might have a private jet, but we share it between three different businesses and bicker over that sucker endlessly. We might have a lake house, but again, it’s a family asset. It’s amazing, but it’s not a mansion. We’re new money and happy to be new money. It’s not the same. Although I suppose canceling your coach seats and shoving you on the aforementioned private jet isn’t going to make my case.”
“What?”
Ian pushed back from the table. “Yep. I canceled your tickets. According to MaeBe, there’s talk of a wealthy American coming into Buenos Aires via commercial jet tomorrow, so we’re going to change that up. You leave at eight this evening from Dallas Executive. I’m not doing it for your comfort. I’m doing it because of those messages MaeBe found on the Dark Web. If they don’t know when you’re coming in, they can’t kidnap you. You’ll have a car and a driver waiting for you. Or we can do the kidnapping thing. It could be fun.”
He sat there for a moment, trying to figure out if his uncle was being…
He’d just thought of Ian as his uncle. Damn it. He worried about his father being erased, but somehow this crazy family his mother had married into had become his, and Ian wasn’t being a dick. He was worried. Sean would be worried. God knew his mother would. “I’ll do this your way. And thank you for putting up with my stubbornness.”
Ian chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder. “Your stubbornness is nothing. I’ve had to deal with telling Boomer that a sandwich he wanted to eat had gone bad. That was stubbornness. I’ve given Tessa Kyle’s notes, but you should know they’re thin. You’re going to have to fill her in on some aspects of the op. She’ll meet you at the airport.”
Where he would have to survive an all-night flight with the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. A woman who wanted nothing to do with him.
Because he was some wealthy dude with connections that could cost her a job she loved.
Except he wasn’t.
He was being pessimistic. The way she’d ghosted him had thrown him for a loop.
“You honestly think she rejected me for my family connections?”
A brow rose over Ian’s blue eyes. “She told me so. She also told me she said what she said today because she’s afraid if she’s alone with you, she’ll rip your clothes off and ride you like the intellectual stallion you are.”
That got him sitting up straighter. “She did?”
Ian shrugged. “Not in so many words, but you get the gist. Tessa’s fierce when it comes to some things. She’s a genuine badass, but she took some losses she hasn’t dealt with yet. I don’t even think she realizes how they’re holding her back. If you want her, I would bet you could have her. It wouldn’t take much, but be careful with her. She’s oddly delicate. You might need some of that stubbornness. And I can answer the real question that’s going through your head. You need to answer it and be sure before you go after anyone.”