The Protectors
“You know your brother,” Haywood said, sliding into the seat behind the steering wheel and buckling her seat belt. “It’s going to be hard to pull anything over on him, so a surprise birthday party is out of the question. I think I’ll host a birthday dinner instead.”
Randi nodded while buckling her own seat belt. Yes, she did know her brother, and Haywood was right. It would be hard to pull anything over on Trey. It always amused her to watch people’s reactions whenever they discovered her sister had married her brother. Then Randi would have to explain, as simply as she could, that she and Haywood shared the same mother, where as she and Trey shared the same father.
Jenna Fuller’s first husband and Haywood’s father, Steven Malone, had died of a heart attack when Haywood had been four. Randolph Fuller and Jenna, who’d been college sweethearts, reunited and married when Haywood was six. Trey, whose real name was Ross Donovan Fuller III, was Randolph’s son from his first marriage and was named after their father’s brother, who’d been killed in the Vietnam War.
Thanks to Haywood and Trey, Randi had two nephews—ten-year-old Ross Donovan Fuller IV, who was affectionately called Quad, and seven-year-old Randolph Devin Fuller II, who went by the nickname of Dev. Then there were her identical twin nieces, Brooklyn and Brynn, who turned three a few months ago. Randi adored her nieces and nephews and considered them her joy in life.
“What do you have planned for this weekend?” Haywood broke into her thoughts to ask.
“I’m thinking about painting my bedroom.”
Haywood glanced at her when she brought her SUV to a stop at a traffic light. “Why? You know you don’t want to do that.”
Randi chuckled. “What are you? A mind reader?”
Haywood shook her head, grinning. “No, reading minds is your thing, not mine.”
True, Randi thought as she settled back in her seat. After all, she was Dr. Randi Fuller, psychic investigator and behavioral analyst. She’d been fifteen when she’d gotten her first premonition but hadn’t told anyone until she was nineteen. That’s when she’d confided first in Haywood and then her parents.
No one had been surprised, since it was a known fact that Randolph Fuller’s maternal grandmother and great-grandmother had been psychics. Nor had it been surprising when those not close to her family had been skeptical of her abilities. At first Randi had consider her psychic abilities a curse, especially after an incident in college involving her best friend, Georgie Mason, and Larry Porter, the guy she’d convinced herself she would love for life. She’d secretly confided to Georgie she had psychic powers. In her junior year she began dating Larry, and Georgie had betrayed Randi’s trust by telling Larry of Randi’s psychic abilities before she’d gotten the chance to do so herself.
When Larry confronted her about it, she’d confirmed what Georgie had told him. Larry broke things off with her, saying there was no way he could be involved with a freak. She’d taken their breakup hard, and it was only with her family’s love and support that she had gotten through that difficult period in her life.
“I wasn’t going to mention it, practically promised Trey that I wouldn’t, but...”
Randi glanced over at her sister. “What is it that Trey doesn’t want you to mention?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.
“It’s about Larry.”
Now she wondered if her sister could possibly read minds, since her ex-boyfriend had been in her thoughts just moments ago. “What about Larry?”
“Zach ran into him this week. Seems he’s moved to DC and works for an IT company there.”
Zach was Senator Zachary Wainwright, Trey’s best friend. Zach was also married to their cousin Adrianna, whom everyone called Anna. “Why would Larry moving to DC bother me?”
Haywood shook her head. “Come on, Ran, it’s me you’re talking to. I of all people know how much you loved Larry and how badly he hurt you.”
Larry had hurt her. “I’ve gotten over him, Haywood. It wasn’t easy, but I did.” What she said was true. She’d taken a year off college just to get herself together. That time spent on Glendale Shores had been just what she’d needed. Located off the South Carolina coast, Glendale Shores was one of the most beautiful of the Sea Islands and had been in her family for generations.
“Are you sure?”
Randi glanced over at her sister. “I’m positive.”
Haywood didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she said, “I’m glad, because according to Zach, he’s married. Larry mentioned to Zach that he’s attending that big bash at the Kennedy Center this weekend with his wife. Since you have plans to go as well, there’s a chance you might see them there.”
Randi drew in a deep breath and felt...nothing. Not even that painful ache in her heart that it had seemed would take forever to go away. But it was finally gone. Who would have thought she would actually feel zilch upon hearing the man she once loved so deeply had committed his life to someone else?
“Randi?”
She heard the worry in her sister’s voice and glanced over at her. “I heard you, Haywood. So Larry’s married. I’m happy for him. Truly I am. And it wouldn’t bother me in the least if I saw him.”
She paused a minute, then added, “I got over Larry. I now understand that not all men could handle a girlfriend having psychic abilities. I shouldn’t have expected Larry to be different.”
“Well, I did,” Haywood said with indignation. “He claimed he loved you.”
Yes, he had claimed that, and when I needed him to be supportive and understanding, he’d been neither. In fact, he was a total ass. “Well, like I said, I’m over Larry, and no one has to be afraid to mention him around me or freak out at the thought we might run into each other someplace whenever I’m in DC.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Randi. I know getting over Larry was not easy for you. But I’m still concerned, because you haven’t dated much since your breakup with him, and it’s been close to four years.”
Reaching up, Randi adjusted her sunglasses. Had it been that long? “I date.”
“I didn’t say you hadn’t dated at all. I said you don’t date much. There’s a difference.”
“I date enough. Criminal cases take up a lot of my time, Haywood. You know that.” After college she’d gone to work for the FBI as a behavioral analyst. She’d found the position too restricting because she couldn’t assist other law enforcement agencies. That’s when she’d made the decision to freelance. In between job assignments, she used her time writing books on psychic criminology that were being used at the FBI Training Center at Quantico. And on occasion, she would teach classes there, as well.
“Speaking of cases, you haven’t said much about the last one you worked. The one in Charlottesville,” Haywood cut into her thoughts to say.
Randi shrugged. “Wasn’t more to tell. All the details were blasted on television and in the newspapers.” It had been crazy when a mobster who’d been found guilty had put a hit out on everyone in the courtroom the day of his sentencing. Close to ten people had been assassinated before it all ended.
“The media gave you a lot of credit.”
“They shouldn’t have. It was a team effort.”
“Yes, and with all the cases you’ve helped solve, you’d think people’s skepticism of an investigative psychic’s abilities would have lessened.”
Randi was well aware that most people didn’t believe or accept the possibility that some individuals were born with psychic gifts. Over the years she’d gotten used to closed-minded people. “It’s not always easy to have an open mind to the unknown...especially when it contradicts what you think you know or believe,” she said in defense of the doubters. She would admit that in the beginning, she’d had a hard time accepting people’s attitudes about that. Now she mainly ignored them.
“Why do I get the feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me about that case in Charlottesville?”
Randi started to speak, to deny there was anything she wasn’t telling her sister, but she knew there was no point. Her sister could read her like a book. “I saw him.”
Haywood had pulled her SUV into the parking lot of one of their favorite dress shops. She brought the car to a stop, cut the ignition and turned to Randi. “You saw whom?”
When Randi felt a part of her breath backing up in her lungs, she let out a whoosh; otherwise, what she was about to say would overwhelm her. It practically did whenever she thought about it. “While in Charlottesville, I saw the man Gramma Mattie told me in my dream that I would one day meet.”
As Randi expected, Haywood was quiet for a minute, allowing what she’d said to sink in. Then her sister lifted her brow, stared at her with that thoughtful expression she could wear so well and asked, “You saw him?”
The corner of Randi’s mouth lifted into a smile. “Yes. And it happened pretty much like the dream said it would.”
In actuality, it had been a vision instead of a dream, but she’d told everyone it had been a dream so they wouldn’t ask too many questions about the experience. It had happened during that year she’d spent on Glendale Shores while getting over her breakup with Larry. Her deceased great-grandmother, who’d also been blessed with psychic powers, had come to her in a vision. Gramma Mattie had told her Larry was never meant to be her mate, and there was a man chosen just for her.
Her great-grandmother further said that Randi would know him when she saw him. Although no physical description of him was given, it was revealed that the first time she saw him, he would be wearing all black, and when their gazes locked, she would feel the connection.
And she had.
“I don’t understand, Randi. If you met him, then why isn’t he here with you? Why haven’t you introduced him to us?”
Randi smiled, hearing the excitement in Haywood’s voice. “Mainly because I haven’t officially met him myself. I saw him one night at the crime scene, and he saw me. Something passed between us just the way Gramma Mattie said it would. I’m sure he thinks it was nothing more than sexual attraction.”
“And you didn’t say anything to him?”
“No. It was the same night the assassin was killed, and everyone’s attention was focused on what had happened. Two people had come close to losing their lives that night in a fire. Besides, according to Gramma Mattie, he has to make the first overture. The only reason I know his name is that I overheard someone call out to him.”
Randi didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she added, “And another thing, the most important thing Gramma Mattie said, was that I have to earn his love, and he has to earn mine.”
“How?” Haywood asked.
Randi answered thoughtfully, “I don’t know. But what I do know is that if one of us fails, then we both lose out on love. There’s not anyone else out there for either of us. If not together, then we will live apart and forever alone.”
CHAPTER TWO
RANDI LOVED ATTENDING galas at the Kennedy Center, especially when they were honoring a well-known humanitarian who deserved the award. Since her parents were still out of the country, she was attending with Trey and Haywood and her godbrother and her cousin, Zach and Anna. It was a dressy affair, and she’d enjoyed going shopping to buy what she thought was the perfect outfit.
She glanced around, remembering the first time she’d come here. It was with her parents and paternal grandparents when the Kennedy Center had honored the Performing Arts. She’d been eight at the time and had been starstruck, not only by the performances but also by the notoriety of her father. That night, she realized Randolph Fuller might be Daddy to her, but to others he was a world-renowned defense attorney. She had been amazed at the number of people who’d admired her father and whose lives he’d touched.
She couldn’t help noticing how close Trey was sticking by her side tonight and was about to ask why when she remembered Haywood’s heads-up that Larry and his wife might make an appearance. Since she wasn’t supposed to be privy to that information, she had no choice but to let him play the role of big brother and protector.
“You okay?” Trey leaned down and asked her for what seemed like the tenth time that night. It was intermission and they’d stepped out into the lobby. She was glad to see so many people were in attendance. Security was high due to the number of celebrities and dignitaries in attendance, including the President.
“Any reason why I wouldn’t be, Trey?” she asked, reaching up and giving him a sisterly pinch on the cheek.
“None that I can think of.”
Yeah, right. She glanced over at Haywood, who looked as though she was trying hard to keep a straight face. “I guess it’s time to go back to our seats,” she said. At that moment, Trey and Zach left Haywood’s and Anna’s sides to flank hers.
“Good evening, everyone.”
Randi recognized the masculine voice immediately. Glancing up, she took in Larry’s face as well as the woman by his side. His wife.
* * *
THERE IS A big crowd tonight, Quasar thought, glancing around the huge lobby. The celebrities and dignitaries sitting in the balcony areas were now mingling upstairs. He was posted by the bank of elevators to make certain that only those with VIP passes got past him. Several young women had tried him, all but offering him a hot night in their beds if he looked the other way for a minute so they could sneak up to socialize with the rich and famous. Of course he’d turned down their offers. They would have to hobnob on someone else’s time. He had a job to do.
He glanced around, not for the first time admiring the beauty of the inside of the Kennedy Center. The decor was colorful with beautiful, gigantic chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings, which gave the lobby an intrinsic charm. His attention went to the huge bust of President John F. Kennedy. He recalled the first time he’d come here and seen it. He’d been around ten at the time, and his mother had brought him for his first tour of DC.
His mother.
Not for the first time, he wondered how different things might have been had cancer not claimed her at forty. He’d been fourteen, and a part of him would forever feel the loss. His life had gone downhill after that. With his mother gone, there was no one to protect him from Louis’s verbal abuse or Doyle’s bullying. At some point, his godmother, Lucinda, had stepped in, giving him the love and support he’d desperately needed and wasn’t getting at home.
Checking his watch, he noted intermission would end in ten minutes. Already the crowds were dispersing as individuals began leaving the lobby to return to their seats. In a few hours he would be able to go back to his hotel and rid himself of the suit and tie. He’d decided to take advantage of Roland’s offer and stay in town until Sunday. He’d contacted Ryker, and they would be hanging out on Sunday. Tomorrow he would take in the sights. The last time he’d been in DC, he’d been with Striker and Stonewall. They’d eaten breakfast at a café in Georgetown, and he planned to revisit it tomorrow morning.
Several crowds lining the lobby floor shifted, and suddenly his breath caught. He did a double take to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Standing across the room was the one woman he’d assumed he would never see again, although he’d hoped otherwise. The woman who’d stolen her way into his thoughts for the past three months. Dr. Randi Fuller. Psychic investigator extraordinaire.
He studied her profile, willing her to turn ever so slightly. Then he would know for certain it was her and not a figment of his imagination. She was standing in a group. Friends of hers, he assumed. Or was one of the men standing so close to her side more than a friend? A lover, perhaps? The thought of her involved with someone tightened his gut.
She looked beautiful, and her gown flattered her body in a way that had every cell in his body responding to her curves. A deep sexual hunger surged to life within him, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. How could a woman he didn’t know arouse him to a degree no other woman ever had? And why did the very thought that they were standing under the same roof practically thicken the air flowing through his lungs?
What were the odds that he would see her again? Here? Tonight? Was she a resident of DC? Or was she, like him, just in town for the gala? More than once he’d been tempted to research her, to see what he could find. But to do so would put too much importance on the night he’d seen her and the connection he’d felt, so he hadn’t. Now a part of him wished he had.
Then he wouldn’t have been wondering where she lived. Where had she grown up? Was her family as fucked-up as his? Did she have a lover? He continued to look at her while those questions went through his mind.
He was about to force his gaze away, fix it on something else—like that huge bust of President Kennedy—when something happened to halt those plans. As if she felt the caress of his gaze, she tilted her head in a way he thought was sexy as hell, such a damn turn-on. And then, as if she had a sensor detecting his exact location, she looked over at him.
* * *
RANDI DREW IN a sharp breath when something akin to an electric current passed between her and the man standing across the lobby.
Quasar Patterson.
Where had he come from? Why hadn’t she detected his presence before now? And why was she tempted to leave everyone standing right here and cross the room to him? She then quickly remembered one of the things Gramma Mattie stressed in the vision. He had to make the first overture.
“I guess we’ll head back our seats now,” Larry was saying. “It was good seeing you again, Randi.”
She quickly broke eye contact with Quasar to look at Larry. “Same here.” Giving Larry’s wife a gracious smile, she said, “And it was good meeting you, Yvette.”
“You, too, Randi. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the show.”
When the couple walked off, Randi quickly returned her gaze to Quasar. He was standing in the same spot, staring at her. He looked blatantly male, handsome as sin in a dark suit. He broke eye contact with her when a well-dressed, very attractive woman approached him. It was obvious the woman wanted to use one of the elevators, and he was denying her the right to do so. It then occurred to Randi why he was here. He was part of the security detail. When the woman walked off, Quasar returned his gaze to her. Why hadn’t she seen him when they’d come down from the balcony? She then remembered they had used the escalator instead of the elevator.
“You handled that well,” Trey said, interrupting her thoughts.
She broke eye contact with Quasar, a little annoyed that she had to. She glanced up at her brother. “What?”
“Seeing Larry Porter again.”
Randi shrugged, shifting her gaze from Trey back over to Quasar. He was busy sending a group of ladies away. “I told you I was over him, but you didn’t believe me.”
“Only because I know how much he hurt you.”
The very fact that Trey had fought to be cordial and not take Larry apart meant he had let her handle her business, like their father had told him to do if they ever ran into Larry again.
“That year I spent on Glendale Shores helped me realize it wasn’t meant to be for me and Larry. He’s married now and looks content. I’m happy for him.”
The lobby lights blinked. “That’s our cue to get to our seats,” Haywood said quickly, taking Trey’s hand and giving Randi an I’m-proud-of-you smile.
Trey led the way. “We’ll take the elevator back up,” he said. “It will be faster.”
Randi felt a quickening in her stomach. That meant she and Quasar would be in proximity to each other. Would he acknowledge her presence? She could feel blood rushing through her veins when the group got close to where he was standing.
They had been to enough of these events to know the procedure. Only VIPs were allowed upstairs in the balcony area, so she, like the others, took out her badge. When he stood directly in front of her, she showed him her pass. He nodded, and before she moved to pass him, he inconspicuously slid a card into her hand. Not wanting to call attention to what he’d done, she tightened her hand on the card as she stepped on the elevator with her family. When she was certain no one was watching, she slid the card into her purse.
“Wow! He was definitely a handsome guy,” she heard Anna say.
“Who was?” her husband, Zach, asked.
“That security guy. He’s hot.”
Trey chuckled. “You might want to be worried, Zach. Your wife and mother of two is checking out other men.”
“So was your wife, who’s the mother of four,” Haywood said, smiling. “A man who looks that good would be hard to miss. So what do you say about that, Ross Donovan Fuller III?”
Trey frowned at his wife. “You and Anna are married. Neither of you have any business checking out other men. On the other hand,” he said, glancing over at Randi, “Randi is single and has every right to look, but I doubt she even noticed the dude.”
The elevator door opened and Randi quickly stepped out. Otherwise she would have to tell her brother just how wrong he was.
* * *
IT WAS THREE HOURS later when Randi was able to pull Quasar’s card from her purse. Everyone was crashing at Zach and Anna’s home across the Potomac in National Harbor, Maryland. The tri-level house was huge and had plenty of room for the sleepover guests, which included Randi, Trey and Haywood and their four kids. Zach and Anna both worked outside the home. Zach as a senator and Anna as a physician. Carole, a woman in her fifties who’d been their live-in nanny since their first child, had kept the kids while everyone had gone out tonight.
Randi thought it had been a nice evening spent with her family. After leaving the Kennedy Center, they had stopped at a café for coffee. When they returned to Zach and Anna’s home, an announcement was made. Anna had found out a few days ago that she was pregnant. This would be their third child, and they were hoping for a girl. Their news prompted a celebration and calls to Zach’s parents, who resided in Miami, and Randi’s parents all the way in Rome.
Randi stared at the card Quasar had slipped into her hand. It was his business card representing Summers Security Firm.
She flipped the card over and read the message he’d scribbled on the back.
Please call me tonight. No matter how late.
Quasar Patterson
Underneath his name was a phone number. Randi tapped the card to her chin as she felt a slow roll in her stomach. This was the overture she was to wait for. She figured he was probably wondering why there was such a strong attraction between them. It was more powerful than just sheer sexual chemistry. Both times she’d seen him, what had passed between them had stimulated her senses and made her realize something she’d conveniently not dwelled on for quite some time. The fact that she was a woman.
She’d appreciated how Quasar had filled out that suit with such a powerful, sexual physique. Not all men wore a suit well, but Quasar didn’t just look good—he looked breathtaking. The suit had appeared tailor-made for his body. For all she knew, it could have been.
She looked back at the card and then at the clock on the guest bedroom nightstand. It was after midnight. Although he’d said she should call him tonight, no matter how late, she couldn’t do that. The last thing she needed was to hear his voice. She’d bet it was as sexy as the rest of him and then she was certain not to get any sleep for thinking about the sound of it.
Drawing in a deep breath, she placed the business card on the nightstand. She would call him first thing in the morning. Tonight she needed to get some sleep and accept the realization that, for better or worse, her life was about to change.
CHAPTER THREE
QUASAR TOSSED THE empty coffee cup in the trash can to join three others. If his friends had told him he would stay up half the night, guzzling caffeine while waiting for some woman to call, he would have told them they were out of their ever-loving minds. But here he was, four cups of coffee later and still waiting for the call.