Read Obsession (The Plus One Chronicles) for Free Online Page B

his hard drive. “But I’m going to find out his identity.”
    “How?”
    He looked down at her. “I have investigators on retainer. They do my backgrounds for employees, clients, enemies. I’ll crop the picture so you’re not in it, send it to them and see what pops. Your name won’t be involved.”
    “I guess that could work.”
    “Trust me.” He closed the file to work on later, while keeping his breathing steady, trying to shield her from the fury boiling in his stomach and chest.
    “Your scar is white.”
    Shit. “Don’t know why I bother trying to hide my feelings from you.” Kat saw him, knew him. Few others ever penetrated his poker face, but she did. Because Kat cares enough to look deeper. That thought tripped a profound terror he didn’t want to think about. She could see too much of him one day, and like his mother, come to hate him or fear him. But Kat was not his mother. She’d never leave her child. She wouldn’t even leave Drake, had risked Sloane rejecting and humiliating her by coming to his house and hanging with Drake.
    Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her and tugged her against his chest. “This helps. Feeling you warm and safe.” She was his. No one was going to hurt her again.
    Not that asshole in the picture, not David the Dickhead and not Foster.
    The front door of the bakery opened. Sloane set Kat aside and leapt up.
    “Morning!”
    “It’s Ana.” Kat raised her eyebrows in amusement then called out, “In the kitchen.”
    “You’ve got reporters outside and…Sloane inside.” Ana held up the computer clasped in her hands. “And here I worked most of the night and came in early to cheer you up.”
    Sloane frowned, caught on the idea of paparazzi bothering Kat. “There weren’t any reporters when we got here.”
    “They’re just showing up. From Afterburn .”
    Icy rage froze his veins. He hated that show.
    “That video of you rescuing Kat from reporters has over eight hundred thousand hits. They want more like that.”
    Kat laid her hand on his arm. “Don’t give it to them, Sloane. Ignore them.” Shifting to Ana, she asked, “How do you know how many hits the video has?”
    “I’ve been researching for my project, which…” she flashed a huge grin, “…is done.”
    Kat’s fingers burrowed into Sloane’s arm. “Really? Can I see it?”
    “Right now.” Ana set up her computer on the table.
    Sloane moved behind Kat as she perched on a stool next to Ana. He could feel the tension and excitement eating at her shoulders and back.
    “I have the longer bio tape set up to play first.” Ana glanced over at Kat. “Swear you won’t kiss me or vow to name your firstborn after me once you see this. Because that’d be embarrassing.” Her eyes sparkled behind her glasses. “Especially if your firstborn is a boy.”
    “Agreed, but I reserve the right to name any reptile I get after you.”
    “You’ll be singing a different tune once you see this.”
    Kat arched an eyebrow. “Will that be today? Or next year?”
    Ana bounced on her seat. “You’re lucky I’m so excited or I’d make you wait.” She pressed play.
    Sloane’s amusement at the girls’ banter shifted into total focus on the screen. Music flowed softly as Kat came into view sitting at one of the tables in the front of her bakery. “There are people who think the best part of me died the night thugs with a baseball bat crushed my bones.”
    He was hooked right there. Kat wore her Sugar Dancer apron over black pants and a shirt. The lighting caught the pink streaks in her brown hair. He loved that signature touch of defiance in her. But it was her eyes looking directly into the camera with a startling authenticity that made him hold his breath waiting to see what she’d say next.
    After a single heartbeat, Kat stood up in the video and walked with her slight but distinct limp toward the glass cases displaying an array of cakes, cupcakes, muffins and cookies. She turned to the camera, an