"Good morning, Suzanne. Roman." Wayne, the fire chief, shook their hands in the lobby of her apartment building. "This is Lee Mitch.e.l.l, one of our top fire investigators."

"It's nice to meet you both," Lee said. "Why don't we head up to your apartment and I'll show you what I found?"

Suzanne was a strong woman, but she was still glad that Roman kept his hand on the small of her back as they headed for the elevator. She could have faced all of this on her own-but she didn't have to be a one-woman battleship anymore. She had Roman beside her now. And, she thought with a smile, she had her family and friends too. They'd been there all along, waiting for her to open the door and let them in. At long last, she finally understood that needing other people didn't make her weak.

Roman's eyebrows rose in question when he noticed her smile. She answered him with a quick kiss, one that instantly brought a smile to his face.

When the elevator doors opened on her floor and her heart began to pound hard and fast, Roman took her hand before she even had a chance to reach for his. Whatever it was they found out today, they'd deal with it as a team.

Lee stopped just inside her front door in front of a hole in the wall where her home automation system used to be. "We were able to trace the start of the fire in your apartment to this wall. From what we've been able to ascertain so far, someone did an update to your home automation system, reinstalled it, and then one of the new parts got too hot and melted down. This is turn caused the electrical wires behind the unit to heat up and start smoking and sparking." He handed her a plastic bag with the unit inside. Previously bright white plastic, the device was now covered in soot and half melted.

"CP Systems. One of these home automation systems is also in the apartment next door." Fury rang out in Roman's voice.

But Suzanne was beyond furious at this point. She was stinging with betrayal.

"There's a CP Systems unit in every apartment in the building," the fire chief confirmed.

Suzanne refused to let her hands shake. "I know this is evidence, but could I please take this with me? I'll return the device as soon as I've shown it to someone."

"Who would that be?" Lee asked.

"Craig Boylan, one of the founders of CP Systems."

Lee looked to Wayne in question. When the chief nodded, Lee said, "Okay, but I'd like to be there with you when you show it to him."

"That's fine. Roman and I will meet you in the lobby of their headquarters in a few minutes." She handed the investigator the device, proud of how steady her hands were.

On the way down to Roman's car, Suzanne called her father's cell. "What did you find out, honey?" he asked. "I'll put you on speaker so you can tell us all."

"The fire started behind my home automation unit." It took some effort to keep her voice steady, but she managed it. "Evidently there was an update done to it while I was at the wedding that caused the wiring behind it to smoke and spark. We're going right now to talk to the founder of the company that makes the unit, but I was hoping you and the rest of the group might be able to tell me first-are the Philippines showing up on any of the server logs?"

"Yes." She recognized Calvin's voice. "None of the early logs show activity from the Philippines, but this week that's where everything originated."

"Thanks, guys. That information helps a great deal. I'll call you again as soon as we're done with our next meeting."

"Everyone in the security business used to set up their servers in the Philippines," Suzanne explained to Roman, "but over the years, CP Systems undercut everyone by so much that we all had to leave the country to find other places to host our servers." Despite the security work Suzanne did for a living, she had always believed that most people were fundamentally good. It was a big part of why she did what she did, in fact: She didn't want all the good people to be hurt by the few bad ones out there. But learning that her friend had targeted her...that was a low blow. "With so few companies there now, there's a really high chance it was them. I trusted Craig. I can't believe he would do something like this to me."

A muscle was jumping in Roman's jaw. "When I had him up against the wall, I looked into his eyes. I trusted him too when he said he wasn't after you."

She'd always thought she was a good reader of people, and she believed Roman was too. How could they have both been so wrong about Craig?

Peeling her clenched fingers from her phone, she found his number and dialed. "Craig, this is Suzanne Sullivan. We need to talk. I'm on my way over right now, and I'm going to need security pa.s.ses for myself, Roman Huson, and Lee Mitch.e.l.l." She slid the phone back into her bag. "He's going to have everything ready for us immediately."

"Surely he's got to know his game is up. So why would he cooperate?" Roman looked as confused as she felt as he pulled into the underground parking lot beneath the CP Systems building. "Unless he thinks you'll be willing to make some sort of deal with him. But he's got to know that you would never make a dirty deal with anyone."

Despite the ridiculously stressful morning they were having, sweet emotion burst through Suzanne's chest at how well he understood her. "I love you."

Roman parked, turned off the ignition, then pulled her close and kissed her breathless. When he finally let her go, her heart was pounding for reasons that had nothing whatsoever to do with the fire in her apartment.

"If that's your way of saying you love me too, I'll take it."

He stroked her cheek with one callused fingertip. "Ready to kick some a.s.s?"

This time she was the one kissing him in lieu of a verbal reply, practically crawling onto his lap in the tight quarters of the car.

"If that's your way of saying yes," he said when they finally came up for air, "I'll take it."

"Thank you for making me forget to be mad, forget to be scared. I'm more than ready to kick a.s.s now."

Lee was waiting for them when they walked into the lobby. If he could tell that they'd been making out in the garage, he didn't give any sign of it. The receptionist on the ground floor looked more than a little alarmed as she handed Roman his temporary security pa.s.s. After Suzanne and Lee were also given pa.s.ses, a CP Systems security guard escorted them to Craig's office on the top floor.

Craig's office door was already open when Suzanne stormed in. "I thought we were friends." She was barely aware of Roman closing the door behind them.

"We are." Craig had his hands out as if to take hers, but she wouldn't let him touch her. She was sorry she ever had. "What's going on, Suzanne? Why are you so upset? Roman said you've been having some problems at work, but he didn't say what they were."

After all the years that she and Craig had been in the business together, shouldn't she have seen the darkness inside of him before now? "Don't try to act like you don't know about the endless phone calls. About the denial-of-service attacks."

Craig looked from her to Roman. "So that's why you were here earlier this week? Because you thought I was behind a big broadcast storm to max out your servers?"

"I said you couldn't be behind it all," Suzanne said before Roman could reply. "I swore that you were a good guy."

"I am," Craig said, hands up in the air now. "I wouldn't do that to you, Suzanne. Wouldn't do that to your company. I may not be as squeaky clean as you, but you know I have my limits. How could you possibly think I would stoop to something like that?"

As if on cue, Lee laid the half-melted CP Systems home automation device on Craig's desk. Craig's eyebrows lifted beneath the hair falling over his forehead. "What the h.e.l.l...?"

"Roman and I left town for my cousin's wedding a couple of days ago and when we returned there were fire trucks in front of my apartment. Lee is the fire investigator who discovered that the fire started inside of this unit. One of your devices, which has obviously been tampered with."

Craig swallowed hard as he reached for the plastic bag.

"Wait." Lee handed a set of gloves to Craig. "Put these on first."

Suzanne noted that Craig's hands shook slightly as he donned the gloves. He took the unit from the bag and turned it over to look at the wires and chips that ran it.

"This chip was never supposed to be used." His teeth clenched as he looked back at Suzanne. "I don't know what the h.e.l.l is going on here, but you'd better believe I'm going to find out."

Roman had already reached for Suzanne's hand and was holding it tightly by the time she said, "Either you're really good at acting surprised all the time-"

"Or I didn't have anything to do with this." Being innocent of the charges they'd come in with wasn't making Craig look any happier, however. He picked up his cell and dialed. "Dennis, it's Craig. Did you install a new chip in one of our home automation systems a couple of days ago at-" Suzanne gave him the address, which he repeated into the phone. "Who a.s.signed the job to you?" Craig's face paled. "Got it."

He disconnected, then stared at the phone's screen for a long moment before dialing again. "Patrick, I need you to come to my office. No, this can't wait for your meeting to end. Get your a.s.s in here now." Craig put the phone down, his hands shaking more than ever. "Suzanne, if anything had happened to you in a fire..." He looked anguished. "I want you to know I'm sorry. I didn't know about any of this, but I'm so sorry-"

Patrick burst through the door, nearly slamming into Roman. "You again. What the h.e.l.l are you-" He belatedly realized Suzanne was standing beside Roman. "Suzanne? What's going on?"

"I'll tell you exactly what's going on, Patrick. My phones and corporate servers have been under attack for months. And then, yesterday, my apartment almost went up in flames because of an update done to this device while I was away at a family wedding."

Something that looked a heck of a lot like fear flashed in Patrick's eyes before he shuttered his gaze. "Our units have undergone strict testing and they are guaranteed to be fire safe."

"They're fire safe with the approved chip." Craig advanced on his partner, his Irish accent becoming more p.r.o.nounced with his growing agitation. "This new chip installed in Suzanne's unit is unauthorized for use. You know d.a.m.n well that I rejected it in early rounds of testing on the grounds that I never intended CP Systems to spy on its customers when that's what we're supposed to be protecting them from. Which is why we never took the chip far enough into testing to find out that it is also a fire hazard."

While Craig was speaking, Roman slid his hand from Suzanne's and shifted position so that her body was shielded by his. Lee, meanwhile, had backed into the corner of the office, as far from everyone as possible.

Danger crackled in the air as Craig advanced on Patrick. "You could have killed her."

"And listen to you cry over your lost love? I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't have signed up for that." At Craig's surprised expression, Patrick sneered. "You think I don't know that you were banging Suzanne?"

Roman was halfway across the room to make Patrick pay for saying that when Suzanne jumped in front of him. Though she spoke to Roman only with her eyes-I know, he's p.i.s.sing me off too-she knew he would understand her. He always did. But we need to let him talk, need to find out what he was involved in. And I'm strong enough to withstand anything he has to say.

She watched as the man she loved warred with himself over his natural instinct to protect her in any way he could, before nodding his agreement that he'd let this scene play out a little while longer. If Patrick was stupid enough to lay a hand on her, however, she wouldn't hold Roman back again.

"Watch your mouth," Craig warned his partner.

"You should have watched your mouth," Patrick fumed. "If you hadn't gotten so cozy with her beneath the sheets, she wouldn't have found out that we were working on the same new software. As soon as she found out we were also in the game, she ramped up production and beat us to the punch by a flipping mile. You lost us hundreds of millions of dollars in future revenue, and for what? She might have thought you were fun for a couple of nights, but she was never going to stay with you. Girls like her look innocent, when all they really want is to do dirty things with guys like that." He jerked his thumb in Roman's direction.

Before either Craig or Roman could get their hands around Patrick's neck, Suzanne moved in front of him. Yet again, she was glad she'd learned how to be so quick, growing up in a house with three brothers.

"I always knew CP Systems was trying to build a similar program, Patrick. Creating affordable digital security software is a no-brainer." She made sure to emphasize the no brain part. Though she connected with Craig on a technical level, she'd never been able to find a point of connection with his sales-focused co-founder. But that didn't mean she'd thought Patrick was capable of going after her the way it now seemed he had. "I didn't speed up my game after talking with Craig. I just went at the same speed I always do." She bared her teeth at him in a smile that wasn't a smile. "Fast. Sullivan Security is going to beat you to the market fair and square. Even with all the distractions you kept sending my way."

Patrick's pupils had grown so large that his irises barely showed. "I don't know what the h.e.l.l you're talking about. I didn't send any distractions."

"Funny," she said, even though it wasn't. "The phone and server logs my family and friends have been poring over point to a different story."

"Those logs can't prove a d.a.m.n thing."

"I know you're not the most technical person in the world," she deliberately taunted, "but I've spent the last three decades eating, breathing, and sleeping so much technology that I could paint the Mona Lisa out of those logs if I wanted to. Which means that even with no more evidence than that, I can prove CP Systems has sabotaged me and my company."

"Bulls.h.i.t." But there was unmistakable fear in his eyes as he began to move away from her.

"It's true, Patrick." Suzanne had never seen Craig look so angry. Or so disappointed. "Suzanne is that good. Worlds better than you or I will ever be. And Dennis already told me you had him install the unauthorized chip in her unit-one that I'm sure he thought was no different than any other install he's done this year. As soon as you heard that she was away, you must have thought that was your chance to get in there and do the deed undetected, didn't you, you son of a b.i.t.c.h?"

Before Craig could throw the punch he was clearly itching to launch, Patrick spun and leaped for the door. He was quick enough that Suzanne had barely started after him when she realized he wasn't standing there anymore.

Because Roman already had him on the ground in a wrestling hold that looked-and sounded-not only painful, but unbreakable.

Lee finally moved out of the corner. "I've sent a message to the chief and he's calling the police. They'll be here shortly."

"I truly am sorry about this," Craig said to Suzanne. "You have my word that I'll make sure Patrick is brought to justice, no matter the impact on my company."

"I do want justice," she agreed, "but I'd like to work to find a way to make sure none of your shareholders, employees, or customers have to pay for your partner's bad decisions."

At the same time, the truth was that she didn't exactly hate hearing Patrick's groans as Roman dug his kneecap even harder into the other man's lower back. Though she'd never been a fan of things like ultimate fighting, she had to admit it was pretty darn hot to see how easily Roman held the other man flat, as if he weighed almost nothing instead of two hundred pounds.

Patrick wasn't right about much, but he'd been spot-on about one thing-she did want to do dirty things with Roman. What woman wouldn't? And not just because they'd finally caught the bad guy.

Roman loved and trusted her enough to know that she could protect and defend herself. And she loved and trusted him enough to let him protect and defend her-just the way she'd protect and defend him against anything or anyone who might try to hurt him in the future.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

So this is what it's like to have a big family.

Roman didn't bother to hold back his grin as Suzanne and Alec verbally sparred over a recent movie. "The layered messages about humanity were what made it great," Suzanne insisted, while Alec countered, "There weren't any layered messages, just nonstop action. That's why it was great."

Roman's dining room table was covered with platters of pizza and pasta from Jerry's restaurant. Every seat was full as Suzanne's family mowed through lunch with everyone talking over one another. Her phone had been ringing like crazy for the past half hour, but not with junk calls. One by one, each of her cousins, aunts, and uncles who had heard about the apartment fire were checking in to make sure she was okay.

She'd barely eaten one slice of pizza when she put her food down yet again to take a call from her Aunt Mary, a lovely woman in her seventies whom Roman had met at the wedding. Suzanne had told him that Mary had raised her eight kids by herself in San Francisco after her husband pa.s.sed away in his early forties, which frankly blew his mind. The Sullivans were a force of nature. He couldn't believe he was lucky enough to be in any part of their circle, let alone in the heart of it with Suzanne.

"I should have set up a family conference call to explain things to everyone at once," Suzanne joked once she put her phone down.

"If you wouldn't mind explaining it to us again," Harry said, "I'm sure we'd all appreciate it. I was so relieved you weren't hurt today that I didn't catch much of your original explanation."

"Let me shove this last bite into my mouth first." Suzanne's cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's as she inhaled the pizza Jerry had renamed after Roman. "Best pizza ever." She grinned at Roman. "You should get an award for creating that combination." The kiss she gave him was the best reward he could have asked for.

Alec half-snarled, "Time to get to the explanations, Suz."

Out of respect for his friend, Roman held back his grin that time. Drake, Rosa, and Calvin, on the other hand, didn't bother. Nor did Suzanne hold back her eye roll at her brother's irritation.

"In a nutsh.e.l.l," she said, "one of the co-founders of CP Systems was upset about my progress on the new digital security product I've been working on for a while now. Even though they were nowhere near close to being able to launch it, he was hoping that if he could distract me enough with phone and server attacks, I would lose momentum. But when that didn't work, and he realized I was away at the wedding, he decided to take things to the next level by switching out a chip in my home automation system." She made a face. "The new chip would have controlled not only my temperature levels, lights, and Internet, it would also have been able to tap into my phone and any computers I connected to my home Wi-Fi. His partner, Craig, shut down production on the new chip last year because of privacy issues, but it turns out Patrick kept a secret stash just in case."

"The sc.u.mbag was trying to steal her code." Though Roman had long ago vowed not to use his fists unless absolutely necessary, he couldn't help but wish the guy had put up a fight rather than going down so quickly. Smashing the guy's pretty face would have been extremely satisfying.

"Could he really have done that?" Rosa asked.

"Not the whole thing, although he probably could have accessed enough messages sent between me and my development team to figure out our methodology. But the chip burned up before he could access anything at all."

"Thank G.o.d you weren't home," William said, going pale at the thought of his daughter trapped in a fire.

"Everything's okay, Dad. No one got hurt, and happily, there won't be any more junk calls or server attacks." She looked at everyone sitting at the dining table. "Thank you. Not only for being here today, but for always being here for me. Even when I tried to push you guys away, you never left me. You never gave up on me." She turned to Roman. "Especially you."

"When you love someone," he said softly, "you stay. No matter what."

And as everyone got up to give both Suzanne and Roman hugs, he finally understood: This is what it's like to have a loving family.

Two hours later, Suzanne closed the door behind Alec and locked it with firm purpose. "I thought he'd never leave." She walked into the kitchen, where Roman was loading the dishwasher. It turned out that big, close-knit families were not only great-they were also really messy. "He was afraid that the minute you and I were finally alone, I was going to jump you." She kicked the dishwasher shut, then reached for the b.u.t.tons on Roman's shirt, deftly slipping them free one by one. "He was right."

Roman didn't waste any time on removing Suzanne's clothes as he headed straight for her mouth. She tasted sweet and spicy and so delicious he couldn't wait to make love to her again. And again and again and again.