Zenith's Legacy (Zenith Series #4) (The Zenith Series) Read online

  Zenith’s Legacy

  The Zenith Series, Book Four

  Leanne Davis

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Other Books by Leanne Davis

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  ERIC JAMES TWISTED THE screwdriver in his hand as he mounted the new security sensor over the window, having already figured out the range that would provide the best monitoring potential. It was just another part of the upgrades he was doing for Rob Williams on the compound that Rob lived on with his family. Music filled his ears from the headphones he wore as he did the rote work of installation. He’d previously completed the harder calculations before determining what and how to upgrade the Williams’ security systems. The easier stuff was all that was left to do… the physical work of installation.

  As he finished tightening the last screw, he climbed down the ladder, stepping past his tool bag to snatch a quick glance at his phone. Lunchtime. His stomach rumbled as he set his screwdriver back in the bag before sauntering through the bedroom where he was working. As he passed through the doorway and down the small hallway, he suddenly stopped dead.

  Boobs? He was inexplicably confronted with naked boobs. He blinked, instantly confused. Could he be imagining it? No, blinking his eyes didn’t make the naked boobs disappear; they were still there. If it took a split second longer than it should have to register that a pair of naked boobs should not be there right now, there was an even bigger issue: they were definitely not a hallucination and he was there, unable to resist staring, which meant, much more importantly, he should not be there!

  The subsequent scream pretty much punctuated that with an exclamation point.

  An ear-piercing, loud scream fully penetrated his noise-canceling headphones along with the music that was playing. A scream that came from truly terrified fear.

  Of him!

  Standing in the woman’s living room, staring at her naked breasts at twelve-thirty in the afternoon, of course, she was screaming. At him. Because of him.

  Panicked, he ripped the headphones off his head and his gaze jerked up to her face. It was like a punch to the guts when he found the face. Soft, sweet, and lovely. Her huge, blue eyes were rounded at him. Her mouth was also very round as she screamed, backing up. Dark reddish hair was pulled back off her face, revealing her natural beauty… and terror.

  Still she screamed.

  He realized all at once he was staring in disbelief at her. He covered his eyes. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t hear you… the music…”

  She wouldn’t stop screaming. “Get out! Get out! You pervert! Get out of here!”

  No. Crap! He wasn’t any pervert. Or rapist. He had legal permission to be there! He didn’t mean to alarm her… but crap! How could she know that?

  “No! Ma’am, I’m with the securi—”

  “Get out! Now! Get back! Or I’ll… I’ll shoot you!”

  Fuck. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could. Backing up as he spoke, with his eyes covered and without peeking, he was unceremoniously flipped over and suddenly flat on his back as his head smacked the tiled floor loudly. Shocked, he uncovered and opened his eyes to find himself staring up at the ceiling.

  What happened? Did she shoot him? Was he in shock? Downed by a bullet he couldn’t feel? What was it?

  Staring up vacantly, he was utterly confused by what happened. For a moment, he felt disoriented and began trying to figure out where he was. What could have occurred during the last ten seconds that resulted in him being flat on his back and completely stupefied? His head was ringing as he slowly realized the woman he surprised obviously feared he was a rapist. He again wondered why she was half naked in the afternoon, standing in the middle of her living room.

  He was so stunned while lying there, he couldn’t move. Or even breathe. He felt the floor around him and didn’t encounter anything wet or sticky. Good. Apparently, he was not shot. Crap. Was his breath simply knocked out of him? Yeah. Yep, that had to be the reason for the suffocating sensation he felt. The tightening of his torso and the panicky, light-headedness in his head combined to give him the weird sense that he was levitating above his body in time and space. Crap, that hurt.

  “Are you dead?”

  The soft words penetrated his daze. He didn’t fail to notice they were undeniably laced with what sounded like near hysteria.

  “No. Just knocked the breath out of me,” he managed to gasp out. The ringing began to fade as his lungs finally started to function properly. “Don’t shoot me. I’m with Mr. Williams’ security.”

  Silence for a long moment. Then, “I don’t have a gun. I wanted to scare you into leaving here.”

  “Well, it worked.” He breathed deeply a few times as the feelings of being strangled and oxygen-deprived started to fade. He remembered falling off the swings as a kid and later getting socked in the guts in a fistfight when he was a teenager. On both occasions, the breath was knocked out of him. Sure, it hurt and felt uncomfortable both of those times, but nothing like this. He was too old for this shit.

  “What are you doing inside my apartment?” the soft, feminine voice asked. Now, however, it was not quite as breathless or terrified.

  “I’m not a pervert or a Peeping Tom,” he replied before asking, “can I sit up? I promise I’m with Rob. I won’t hurt you.”

  “You can… sit up.” She sounded quite strained still, like she dared not trust him, yet. Now or possibly, ever.

  Pulling his elbow back, he slowly lifted his torso and slid his butt under him. He had to blink because he still felt dizzy. He smacked his head pretty hard. After blinking a few more times, he watched the female in question move across the room until she was as far from him as she could manage. She was all but huddling behind a recliner. If he intended to do her any harm, did she really think that might deter him? No. But he’d never say that to the woman. She was so pale, terrified, puzzled, and visibly unsure.

  And she was blushing. Incredibly to him, her entire face was flushed and rosy. She’d grabbed a sweatshirt to cover herself and huddled into the garment modestly. How had she done that so fast? Where was the sweatshirt from? He averted his gaze when he realized she was all but having the vapors over him being there. Embarrassment? Fear?

  Dear God. What if she passed out?

  “I swear to you, Rob Williams gave me legal permission to work here. He said the place was supposed to be empty today.”

  “Well… yes…” Her tone finally lightened as she grudgingly admitted that fact. “He did assume that correctly. I spilled something on my dr—myself and I had to come home.”

  Dress. She was about to say dress, which she’d obviously taken off. That was why she came here and released those lovely, white globes that nearly danced on her chest with deliciously big, pink nipples standing on end. Shutting his eyes, he tried to shake the images free, but he was too late; they were already deeply ingrained. He wasn’t such an ass as to think it was perfectly okay to steal a gli
mpse of naked boobs when a woman wasn’t aware of him, let alone, unwilling. He’d violated her privacy, which really bothered her, and therefore, it bothered him. But now he could not unsee them.

  Although he did try.

  He tried more than once. However, it didn’t work.

  Unfortunately, the longer he tried to forget the image he tried so hard not to recall, the easier it popped back into his mind’s eye. So often and vividly that it made him blush. He reassured himself she couldn’t possibly know what he thought about as he felt the heat rising up his neck and flooding his cheeks. Luckily, she was still humiliated and cast her gaze far from his now pinkish face.

  “I had my earphones on. Couldn’t hear anything. I was just going to grab some lunch when I… I—” Perhaps reminding her wasn’t the best move. He cleared his throat. “When I barged in on you. And scared you. I’m really sorry. It certainly wasn’t intentional.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Oh. Right.” He shuffled around. “My name is Eric James. I’m going to get up now. Back on my feet, I mean. Okay?”

  He didn’t look at her when she muttered, “I guess so.”

  As he lumbered to his feet, he hunched his shoulders down in an effort to lessen his bulk. The last thing he needed now was to panic the poor woman all over again. He slipped a discreet peek her way and found her still huddled behind a chair. She was literally squatting down so her breasts were well hidden. Visible only from her collarbone up, she was pressed against the wall behind a chair and the only way out of the room and her apartment was behind him. Aware of how intimidating he could be, Eric stepped back slowly before he just walked to the front door and opened it. By giving her and himself some fresh air, he hoped to convey to her the sense that she was free to move about. Free to leave. Free to bypass him. He, in no way, wanted to pose any threat to her.

  Standing six feet six inches in his bare feet, Eric’s shoulders had been described as massive, bulky, ridiculous, and Hulk-like. He’d resented his extra height and girth as a kid and teenager. Eventually though, he learned to accept it. He began weightlifting and his damn body just filled out… looking like it should. He was preordained to be a bodybuilder. Huge, sinewy muscles made him appear like a freaking lumberjack. A linebacker. A big lug. He’d been called every version of huge and so much worse.

  But he knew how intimidating some women found him. This one was cornered in her own house. Sigh. He hated to be the source of the fear he was so obviously causing her. “I’m really sorry I walked in unexpectedly and scared you.”

  She clutched the collar of the hoodie she was now covered in and huddled modestly. “Could we just not mention anything about it ever again?”

  Right. Squirrelly with embarrassment, she made him uncomfortable and he fidgeted by shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Sure. Of course. Look…” He scratched his forehead. “I, uh, was just installing the latest surveillance equipment…” Wincing, he realized that sounded like a stalker and probably creepy since the lady to whom he spoke already concluded he was a pervert.

  She finally let out a sigh. “Right. I guess I remember Rob mentioning that.”

  Oh, thank God. “Yes. He… uh, told me to start here since you were gone. I mean, that is, if you’re… Kathy?”

  “I am. But where is Marv?”

  “Mr. Williams hired me to replace him last week. Marv had a family emergency and asked to be relieved. It’s been a quick turnaround.”

  “That explains why I don’t recognize you.”

  “Yeah. I was on Nick Lassiter’s detail. Nick recommended me.”

  “He’s my uncle.”

  “Ahh. Well… that’s how I ended up here… like this. Again, I’m really sorry. I was wearing the headphones and didn’t think…” His voice trailed off. Hell, he’d been working in her bedroom and never expected to walk into the living room and find her half naked. Why should he?

  Finally, his brain cleared and reality slapped him in the face. “Where’s your guard detail? They should have come running with all of that screaming from you.” He glanced out the open door.

  “Evona? She’s at headquarters. Eating lunch.” The Williams family had their own surveillance headquarters. It was in a separate building behind their detached garage. All the security feeds terminated there with top-of-the-line monitoring. The numerous bodyguards for the family also reported there. There were lockers for their personal belongings and bunks for those who worked the night shifts. A fully complete and well-stocked kitchen was included as well.

  “She or he should always enter and clear the area before retreating.”

  “She did. You weren’t in this room,” Kathy reasonably pointed out.

  “She could have done no more than taken a swift glance around. I wasn’t trying to be quiet. All of the rooms should be thoroughly checked, per our policy. And she should have also made sure her cover was already on you before leaving you alone.”

  “Well, since we’re here already, behind locked gates and razor-wire fencing, I told her not to worry about it.”

  That made him frown harder. It was no excuse. Evona didn’t answer to Kathy, but to the security leader, who then reported to Rob and Rebecca Williams. “She still should have.”

  “I told her to go.”

  “She should have ignored you and done her job.”

  “Ignored me?” Kathy’s tone changed from almost whispering and trembling to something slightly stronger. Defiant.

  “Yes. It’s our job as personal bodyguards to cover you at all times. No matter what you say or think. Whoever was on duty should have known better. Mr. Williams pays for your safety at all times. No one ever can predict or guarantee safety. We seek the unexpected and we are supposed to be on the lookout for it at all times. Consider this: I was in your bedroom and neither of you knew that. Luckily, I’m not a threat, but what if I were? You’d be in harm’s way by now.”

  “Well… maybe. Yeah. But it turns out you were the one who got harmed. So don’t go reporting her to Rob. I’ll have a word with her. She’s my favorite bodyguard and I won’t have you tattling on her.”

  “Favorite?” He frowned. That sounded awfully like a personal connection. Another thing there should never be. Ensuring the safety of another should always be clinical. Professional. Otherwise, the lines got blurred and mistakes got made. All that familiarity had a tendency to end up like this. A young woman, the client, being left alone in what could have been a dangerous situation.

  “Yes. She’s the least intrusive of guards and also the friendliest. Having one’s entire business open to lurkers can be both intrusive and bothersome. She picks up my cues to make herself discreet faster than anyone else. I value her more than all the others.”

  “Even if she’s also the least effective?” he asked, his tone sharp.

  “She’s not. You don’t even know who she is, right?”

  “If she were doing her job, I couldn’t have walked in on you half naked and we could have avoided what appears to be a very embarrassing encounter. It ended up with me getting hurt. So yes, she needs to be reprimanded for her recklessness and to learn that she can’t do what you say; she has to follow our policy and protocol at all times. It doesn’t matter if she and you like it or not.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, forgetting he was sorry and trying to be smaller, lesser, and appear totally unthreatening. But she failed to realize the danger in her fondness for her bodyguard. If the guard ignored her own judgment and quit being impartial in an effort to please Kathy, that was not good, not at all. It was his duty to report this infraction to Rob Williams. In Eric’s opinion, it was grounds for dismissal. It was ridiculous that any guard didn’t notice him in the bedroom of the woman she was hired to protect. The bedroom. Duh. First place one would look. It was a small, three-room apartment that opened to the central living/dining room, and a step-saver kitchen that all flowed together. It was one of the smallest buildings on Rob and Rebecca Williams’ acreage. Sitting ato
p a separate building, the three-car garage was below it.

  Kathy twisted her hands together, repeatedly. “I am sorry you got hurt. Is… is your head okay?”

  He felt the back of his head gently, wincing at the tender spot. “It’s hard enough, I guess, to take a bump. No permanent damage was done. But I might have a goose egg tomorrow.”

  “Do you think you could possibly have a concussion?”

  “No, it wasn’t that hard, although it does hurt.” His tone that of a grumpy child. He wanted her to know he was hurt, and she should care about that and feel bad. “But again, it would not have happened if your bodyguard were doing her job. She should have detected me in your bedroom and rightly questioned me, most likely at gunpoint. Now, that response would have pleased me.”

  She released a short laugh. “Oh, yes, that’s quite normal.”

  “Well, better than being mistaken for a rapist.”

  She snorted and he finally sucked in some air to fortify his courage before lifting his gaze to hers. “Not a rapist but a robber. I actually thought you were robbing us. Or maybe one of Zenith’s stupid fans.”

  “Another reason why your bodyguard should have checked things out and has to be reported. There’s no excuse for that. Zenith has some crazy fans. You’re not new to this, I presume. Middle stepdaughter, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re not new to this. You know how it works. You know what the fans could and have done to get near any of them. And especially Rob, since he’s the lead singer. You can’t ignore that just because you’re—”

  “Home?” she interrupted. “Because I’m in my own home on my parents’ private land? My mother’s land. I was born and raised here, Mr. James. It’s just home to me and I refuse to start treating it like something I have to fear.”