She kept her eye on me as I paced back and forth while muttering under my breath and gesturing with my hands. A few minutes later, she made a call and told me it would only be another fifteen minutes before Knox returned. I practically wore a hole in the carpet in front of Knox’s desk waiting for him. I was beyond worked up again when Knox finally walked into his office.
Spotting Addilyn, his wife, with him, I realized what had taken him so long. The blues singer was glowing with happiness, and I had a feeling from her puffy lips and mussed hair that it wasn’t just because she was eight months pregnant. I wasn’t surprised since I’d learned early on in the friendship we’d been building since I’d started working at the Lennox that her husband couldn’t keep his hands off her.
Offering her a small smile in greeting, I not-so-patiently waited while Knox got her settled on the couch across from his desk. After sitting down in his chair, he asked, “What’s the problem, Anna?”
“Julian Storm!” I paused in front of his desk and planted my hands against my hips as I glared at Knox. “You need to do something about that, that…jerk face!”
“Calm down, Anna,” Knox said patiently. “What did he do that has you so worked up?”
I started pacing again, the frustration bubbling up again. “I’m not worked up,” I insisted, feeling my cheeks heat as I thought about how I’d reacted to Julian’s kiss. “He doesn’t have any effect on me.”
“Okay,” Knox agreed. “What did he do to upset you?”
The tone he was using irritated me even more. It made me feel as though he was placating me when he should be hunting Julian down after the stunt he pulled. “He kidnapped me! He was supposed to make me disappear for the show, but then the box was moving, and when it opened up, I was locked with him in his dressing room!”
My blush intensified as I thought about how much further Julian could’ve taken our encounter. My cheeks felt as though they were on fire, so I fanned my face with one hand.
“While I can understand why you’re upset, I’m afraid this isn’t a security issue,” he drawled as he leaned back in his chair and tapped the fingers of one hand on his desk. “Therefore, not my problem.”
I couldn’t believe he just said that. Stomping my foot on the ground, I argued, “Of course, it’s a security issue! He can’t just go kidnapping women from the audience. Someone is going to call the police…and…and…” I knew there were a ton of reasons what he’d done was wrong, but I was having a difficult time coming up with them. “It’s a publicity nightmare!”
Addilyn snorted, and I swung my head in her direction. “I disagree,” she chirped happily. “I think it’s marketing gold.”
The pregnancy hormones must’ve gotten to her brain because she wasn’t making any sense. “Pardon?”
She nodded and grinned. “If word got out that the incredibly sexy and talented Julian Storm was kidnapping women and locking them in with himself, the audience would be sold out every freaking night.”
I should’ve been jotting down notes because improving attendance at the Lennox’s shows was my job, but I was too busy being horrified by the idea of Julian kidnapping someone else.
“What?” Addilyn gave her husband an innocent look after he growled. “Seriously, he’s gorgeous, and women fall all over him. We should capitalize on that.”
What.
The.
Heck.
“Women...um...throw themselves at him?” I didn’t know why I was so surprised, considering my reaction to him, but I was horrified by the possibility of not being the only woman he’d kidnapped from his stage. “Does that mean this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this?”
She shook her head and frowned. “Not to my knowledge. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen him with a date.”
Her answer was more than I could’ve hoped for, and I barely refrained from heaving a deep sigh of relief. But when I caught Addilyn smiling at me, I twisted my lips into a grimace and threw my arms up in the air. “This is crazy! You’re crazy! It doesn't matter how hot he is; he can’t just go around snatching women and making out with them in his dressing room!”
And the next time I saw Julian, I was going to make sure he knew it...before he decided to pull the same stunt with another woman.
3
Julian
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and stared at the door where Anna had just disappeared out of. Trapping her in the box and ambushing her in my dressing room probably hadn’t been the best idea, but I was having a hard time feeling guilty about it. I’d finally been able to get my hands and mouth on her. She tasted sweeter than I imagined, and one kiss would never be enough.
She’d started to respond before she shut down, giving me even more confidence in my determination to make her mine. It also confirmed what I’d known since the first moment I saw her; we were made for each other. Now, I just had to get her to admit it. Which meant tracking her cute ass down and forcing her to talk to me. Then I could do all the very dirty things I’d been fantasizing about for a month.
Unfortunately, I had another show to prepare for. However—I glanced at my watch—I had time to visit someone who should be able to help. As long as he didn’t decide to be a pain in the ass and force me to go on a merry chase for Anna. All for his own twisted amusement.
I stalked to Knox’s office and Darby, his secretary, blushed and smiled when she spotted me. She always seemed to have this reaction around me, and while I knew I was considered easy on the eyes, I was surprised she hadn’t gotten over being starstruck in the year I’d been performing at the Lennox. I returned her smile and lifted my chin toward Knox’s closed door. “He in?”
Darby nodded and pushed the intercom button. Before she could say anything, Knox’s gruff voice barked, “Tell whoever it is to go the fuck away.” A feminine giggle followed his instruction, and I rolled my eyes. Obviously, he was in there with his wife doing the kind of things I was hoping to be doing to Anna very soon. But I didn’t have time to wait for him to finish his...activities.
This time, I reached over, hit the button myself, and spoke without waiting for him to answer. “It’s Julian. We need to talk.”
There was a long pause, and I was about to hit the button again when he finally said, “Fine. I need to talk to you anyway.” After another minute, the door opened and Addilyn waddled out of Knox’s office. She winked at me, and I was grateful she was facing away from her husband because I liked my face just the way it was.
“I know quite a few women who would love to be kidnapped by you, Julian,” she teased. “If you’re interested.”
I shook my head firmly. “There’s only one woman who has captured my attention.”
Addilyn’s smile grew and she canted her head, looking at me with sparkling brown eyes. “I had a feeling that was the case.” Then she twisted—as much as she could with her very large stomach—and glared back at Knox. “Don’t be an ass.”
His eyes narrowed on his wife, and I chuckled but swallowed it when his scowl turned on me. I wasn’t afraid of Knox unless it involved his wife. Then he became a scary motherfucker no one wanted to mess with. “Get in here,” he snapped.
I walked in and slammed the door behind me, then stood in front of his desk with my feet planted apart and my arms crossed over my chest. “I need your help,” I stated.
Knox leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. “And I need you to stop kidnapping women from your audience.”
I rolled my eyes. “No problem. Now, I need to find Anna, but I have another show in an hour.”
“Just like that? No more kidnapping?”
I started to agree but stopped when I realized it would be a lie. “I didn’t say that.” If snatching Anna was what it took, I wouldn’t hesitate. “The audience thing was a one-time occurance”—I narrowed my eyes on him—“and I’m pretty sure you know that, so stop busting my balls and let’s get back to finding Anna.”
“Why exactly would I help you stal
k one of our employees, Storm?” His face was deadpan, but the glint in his eyes hinted at his amusement with the situation. My hands balled into fists at my side to keep me from leaping over the desk and strangling the jackass.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t take advantage of the security resources here when you were chasing down Addilyn.”
“It was different. She was my wife,” he rationalized.
I snorted and eyed him drolly. “I’m not sure it counts when you had to get her drunk to marry you, and she ran to get an annulment right after you said ‘I do.’” I grinned and needled him a little further. “You’re a walking, talking cliché, man.”
Knox glared at me and grunted, “Doesn’t matter. My ring was on her finger, and that’s where it stayed.”
“And as soon as you stop wasting both of our time, I’ll be putting one on Anna’s.”
Knox contemplated me for a few moments, his eyes searching my face. He must have found what he was looking for because he grabbed a slip of paper and scrawled something on it before holding it out for me to take.
I glanced down to see a web address and a string of letters and numbers. “Our security feed is on an airtight, secured network. But that address will take you there, and the password will get you in.” He speared me with an intense look and added, “There is a log of anyone who accesses the site. If I think for a second that you’ve given it out or even lost this information, I won’t hesitate to have Drew lock your ass up. No matter how much our wives enjoy your show.”
With a nod of understanding, I folded the paper—almost reverently—and slipped it into my wallet. “Thank you.”
Knox’s mouth kicked up on one side into a crooked smile. “Don’t thank me yet. Access to the security feeds won’t magically make Anna fall for you. Oh, and by the way”—he pointed a finger at me—“you have forty-eight hours before I nullify that password. I suggest you dance your magical twinkle toes out of here and work on making a ring mysteriously appear on your woman’s finger.”
“Says the man wearing lipstick,” I quipped. “I have to say, it’s not really your shade. Maybe you should compare it with your stilettos next time you dress up.”
“I’m not the one wearing rhinestones, sequins, and sparkles.”
I didn’t have time to stand around trading insults all day, so I spun around and flipped him the bird as I marched from his office.
Being forced to wait until after my show to start hunting Anna grated on my nerves. I would never let it affect my performance, but I snapped at my assistants and a stagehand or two. I owed some people apologies, but I’d get to it after I handled Anna.
It was late, so it wasn’t like I could go running off after her right then. I was too keyed up to sleep, though, and since I knew she didn’t live on-site, I used the time to go through the footage and determine her schedule. Thankfully, she was a creature of habit, which meant I knew exactly what time and which entrance she arrived at in the morning. I managed to catch a few hours of sleep, but I was up and at the hotel an hour before she was due. It seemed she liked to arrive before most of the staff to get some work done in a quiet office.
I indebted myself to Knox a little more when I had him look into her calendar so I knew if she had meetings. She was free and clear today, so I set myself up in one of the empty cubicles out of her view.
While I waited, I played out several scenarios in my head. My favorites were the ones that ended up with her sprawled across her desk and my head buried between her thighs. However, on the opposite end of that spectrum were the ones where she tried to run from me. I wouldn’t lock Anna in a box again, but I came fully prepared to take her away, kicking and screaming if I had to, since it wasn’t as though security was going to stop me. I’d secured a suite at the hotel so I had easy access to a place where I could lock her sexy ass up until she understood that she belonged to me.
4
Anna
I was cranky as I walked into the office the morning after Julian’s little kidnapping stunt, and he was entirely to blame for my unusually bad mood. Beating everyone to work so I could get a head start before things got crazy was my favorite way to start the day, but I’d had to drag my butt out of bed after spending the night tossing and turning. Every time I drifted off to sleep, I dreamed that I was back in Julian’s dressing room. But instead of ending our kiss and storming out, I fell into it.
All the dirty things I had fantasized about were still in my head when I walked into my office. When the man who had starred in each and every one appeared in my doorway as soon as I set my purse on top of my desk, I assumed I’d resorted to daydreaming about him too. I didn’t realize he wasn’t a figment of my imagination until his fingers wrapped around my wrist to tug me around my desk. “Hey! Stop that!”
“Sure.” The sexy grin he flashed me sent a shiver up my spine, even as I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Sure?” I echoed suspiciously as he released my wrist. I hadn’t been expecting the guy who’d kidnapped me to give in so easily.
“Yup.” His green eyes swept down my body before he slid his arm around my waist. “But only so I can do this instead.”
My response was captured by his mouth when he took advantage of my parted lips to kiss my thoughts right out of my brain. By the time he lifted his head, I could barely breathe, let alone remember what I’d planned to say. I shook my head to clear it and pushed at his chest. He didn’t budge an inch, so I took a step back. If I wanted to have any hope of dealing with Julian, I needed a little space. It was too hard to think when he was near.
“You can’t just run around kidnapping women from your audience and kissing them whenever you want.” I refrained from mentioning how I’d react if I found out he’d pulled something similar with another woman. He didn’t need to know that his kidnapping of me would be tame in comparison because then he’d use my unreasonable jealousy—an emotion I’d never experienced before Addilyn had mentioned how other women reacted to Julian—against me.
His lips curved up in a smug grin as he leaned his hip against my desk. “Now that I’ve finally got your attention, there’s no need for me to kidnap you during one of my shows.”
I appreciated how his response—and all his attention—were focused on me. It soothed the newly discovered green-eyed monster inside me. But that didn’t mean I was going to cut him any slack.
My schedule was wide open today, but I wasn’t about to admit that to Julian. He struck me as the kind of man who’d take more than a mile if you gave him an inch. “Sorry, but you won’t have my attention for long because I have a busy day ahead of me. Lots of meetings, calls to make, and reports to finish.”
“That decides it then.” He closed the small gap between us.
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I doubted that the resolve in his eyes boded well for me. “What decides what?” I asked, pushing my palms against his chest.
“You’ve left me no choice.” I yelped as he bent low, pressed his shoulder against my stomach, and lifted me off the ground. “I’m not about to let you run from me again.”
“Wait! I thought you said you weren’t going to kidnap me anymore,” I cried out as he carried me out of my office.
Stalking toward the hallway that would take us to the elevator for the guest floors, he disagreed, “I didn’t say I’d never kidnap you again.”
My brow wrinkled as I tried to focus on our conversation. Between hanging upside down and his mind-numbing kiss from earlier, I couldn’t recall exactly how he’d worded it. “But—”
“Since this isn’t one of my shows, I’m not going back on what I said.” He punctuated his statement with a light swat against my butt. I gasped, jerking up my head and twisting my neck so I could glare at him as he pressed the button for the twenty-fifth floor.
“Did you just spank me?” I squeaked, my cheeks full of heat that wasn’t completely due to the blood rushing there from hanging upside down. More of it was from the feel of Julian’s hand against my
butt cheek than I was willing to admit.
“That was barely a love tap.” Julian had the audacity to wink at me, making me gasp in dismay. “Trust me, you’ll know when I give you a real spanking.”
The elevator doors slid open, and I sputtered as he carried me down the hall to one of the corner suites. Once we were inside the room, he set me on the couch before sitting on the cushion next to me. Looking around the spacious suite, I couldn’t help but compare it to Julian’s dressing room. He had one of the biggest ones in the hotel, but it didn’t compare to the beauty of the suites at the Lennox. “At least you’ve improved your kidnapping techniques since yesterday.”
“Except I missed the most important step.” I was trying to figure out what he meant when he lifted me onto his lap so I was straddling him. I wound my arms around his neck to help me regain my balance—and also because he was nearly impossible to resist. With our bodies pressed close, his head dipped down and his lips brushed against mine. “Our kisses were the best part of the kidnapping, if you ask me.”
“Nobody was asking you,” I whispered, shaking my head as I tried to catch my breath since the slight touch of his lips against mine had taken it away.
“Sure you were.” His palms came up to cup my cheeks. “I could see the question in your pretty, emerald green eyes.”
I pressed my lips together to stop myself from smiling at him. He didn’t need any encouragement. “Now you’re an eye reader?”
“Only yours,” he murmured softly before kissing me passionately. His tongue swept in my mouth to tangle with mine, and his teeth nibbled at my bottom lip. I felt as though he was devouring me whole. When he lifted his head again minutes later, I’d been thoroughly kissed, and we were both breathless.
Vegas, Baby: Volume 3 Page 2
