Dangerous To Love

by Toni Anderson, Barbara Freethy, Dee Davis, Leslie A. Kelly, Cynthia Eden, J. Kenner, Meli Raine, Gwen Hernandez, Pamela Clare, Rachel Grant

  “We can cross any line we want.” He wanted to cross every line with her right then. He wanted to take her, right there, to claim her as he should have done so long ago. Then there would have been no fear from Gwen. No threat from Ethan. It would have just been the two of them.

  “I want you,” Gwen said, staring up at him. “But I’m afraid.”

  No, no, no. He didn’t want her afraid of him. “I’d never hurt you.”

  Her smile was bittersweet. “You could destroy me, and you’d never have to lift a hand to do it.”

  “Gwen—”

  “Ethan didn’t matter, not enough to break me. You…you’re different.” She backed away, almost hitting the window. “You should go now.”

  The last thing he wanted to do was leave. He wanted to stay right there with her. All night long.

  “I’m safe. You protected me.” Her head inclined toward him as her hair brushed lightly over her shoulders. “Again. So you can go home knowing that I’m all good for the night.”

  “Or I could stay here, with you, and make absolutely certain that you’re…good…for the night.”

  Her pupils expanded. For an instant, he saw desire blazing in her eyes. His heart thundered in his chest because he was so very close to the one thing he wanted most.

  “I’m not going to make a mistake again.” She shook her head. “So for tonight, it’s good-bye.”

  “But your locks—you need them changed—”

  “I’ll secure the deadbolt again when you leave. And I’ll put a chair under the door.”

  She’s kicking me out. His back teeth clenched, but he leaned forward, and, after a tense moment, he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “If anything happens, if you get scared, call me.”

  “I will.”

  She walked him to the door. Gazed at him a little wistfully as he slipped out of her apartment, then she shut the door in his face.

  Hell. Getting back into Gwen’s good graces wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as he’d hoped.

  * * *

  Gwen was being a good girl. She’d just sent that bastard on his way. Locked the door. Now she was pacing her apartment. Looking a little lost.

  And completely alone.

  He leaned toward his screen. She had no idea the hell that was coming her way. She thought she was safe.

  There was no safety.

  Before he was done, Gwen would know that. Gwen would know what it was like to lose everything.

  Every fucking thing. It was his job to make sure she suffered before the end came.

  * * *

  Gwen’s light was still on.

  Chance sat in his car, darkness all around him, and peered up at her apartment. He could see her silhouette near the window.

  A light rap came from the passenger side of the car. He’d known that Lex was there, so he unlocked the door and let the guy inside.

  “Huh…kind of figured you’d be doing the surveillance from inside her apartment,” Lex said as he handed Chance a burger from the local fast food joint. “Guess you struck out tonight, huh?”

  “Screw off,” Chance told him as he tossed the wrapped burger onto the dashboard. “I want to know how the hell you lost that van.”

  Lex winced. “The clubs are all letting out, man. Traffic two roads over is a bitch. The guy knew that. He planned it. He disappeared in that maze and there was no catching him. At least…not yet.”

  Chance waited.

  “I’ve got some connections we can use. I’m already pulling strings to get access to the traffic cams in the area. We might get lucky and spot the guy on video. If we do, we’ll find him. The guy only slipped away for the time being. He’s not gone for good.”

  He’d better not be.

  “So are we still looking at the ex? Ethan Barclay? You think the guy got obsessed and can’t let go?”

  “Ethan has a history of obsession.” And violence. “Three years ago, his ex-fiancée was killed in a car crash, one week after she’d broken up with him. Then he had another girlfriend, Marjorie…she wound up in the hospital, with broken ribs and a concussion. She filed charges against him, but then…hell, I don’t know what happened. She dropped the charges and vanished. He got away clean.” His fingers tapped against the steering wheel. “So, yeah, I think it’s safe to say the man may have one serious problem with rejection.”

  Lex whistled. “Sounds like a serious asshole.”

  “Ethan has had plenty of brushes with the law, but nothing has stuck. The guy has been in and out of jail more times than I can count. Or at least, he was, until he turned eighteen. Since then—”

  “He’s gotten smarter about avoiding arrest,” Lex guessed.

  Chance nodded. “That’s what I figure.” The guy sure hadn’t gone legit.

  Gwen’s lights turned off.

  Chance tensed.

  “Um, man, are you sure he’s the only one obsessed?”

  Very slowly, Chance turned his head to stare at his friend.

  “What I mean…” Lex rushed to say. “What I mean is that until we have proof that Ethan is our guy, we have to keep our options open.”

  Damn straight they did.

  Lex bit into his burger. “And I also meant…” He mumbled around the food, “that you’ve got it bad for her.”

  Tell me something I don’t know.

  He stared back up at Gwen’s window.

  * * *

  Her phone rang. Gwen turned in her bed, moving so that her gaze fell on the phone that rested nearby. The phone was on the nightstand and when it rang again, it vibrated, moving slightly against the wooden surface.

  She reached out and her fingers curled around the phone. She swiped her finger across the screen. Gwen didn’t recognize the number. She shouldn’t answer it—

  She did.

  “Hello?” Gwen put the phone to her ear.

  Nothing.

  Another one of those damn calls.

  “This isn’t funny,” she snapped. “Stop calling me. I’m sick of this game, got it?”

  She heard the quick exhalation of breath and then… “Never said it was a game.”

  The voice was a low, rough rasp. Her heart actually stopped when the man spoke.

  “Who is this?” Gwen demanded.

  “You smelled good tonight.” He was still talking in that low, raspy voice, as if he wanted to disguise himself. “Like vanilla. You use that vanilla lotion, don’t you? Put it all over your body.”

  She pulled the covers closer. She did use vanilla lotion. She kept it on the vanity in her bathroom.

  “Scared?” He laughed then. “Are you going to sink under the covers and wish this monster would go away?”

  Sink under the covers…

  She had sunk beneath the covers.

  “Too bad, princess. I’m not some bad dream you can wish away.” His voice roughened. “You’re not going to escape from me.”

  “Who is th-this?” She hated that her voice trembled.

  “I like those panties you’re wearing. They’re sexy. But you should have ditched the shirt.”

  Before she’d climbed into bed, she’d pulled on a pair of bright red panties and an old college t-shirt.

  He saw me. It was suddenly hard to breathe.

  Sink under the covers…

  She was inching even deeper beneath those covers. Dear God…was he watching her right then? Was he in her apartment? “Leave me alone,” she told him.

  “Never,” he promised.

  The line went dead.

  The silence was suddenly too thick. Too terribly thick and consuming. Every muscle in her body was tight because she was afraid that she wasn’t alone.

  She’d woken once before and found a man in her bedroom. Ethan had reached out to her and she’d screamed.

  Was he back? Had he come for her again?

  Maybe her father had been right. Dammit, she hated it when he was right and—

  Something scratched against her window. With a sharp cry, Gwen leapt from
the bed and raced out of her bedroom.

  Chapter Three

  Chance’s phone rang. He frowned down at the screen, but he answered quickly. “Valentine—”

  “He’s watching me.”

  Chance would have recognized Gwen’s voice anywhere. Anytime. But he sure didn’t like the fear that trembled in her words.

  “I-I searched my apartment, twice, but the things he said when he called me…he has to be here. He has to be close. He’s watching me.”

  “Gwen, baby, slow down.” But he was already reaching for his car door. He motioned to Lex, covered the phone and said… “Keep an eye out.”

  Then he was leaping out of the car. The snow was falling even harder. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “He called again.” She wasn’t slowing down. Her words were shooting out in rapid-fire succession. “What he said…he had to see me. He knew how I smelled.”

  Chance was in her apartment building and running for the stairs.

  “He knew what I was wearing. My…my panties. The t-shirt.”

  Chance was on the second level of stairs.

  “He could see me,” she said, her words rough. “But I can’t find him. I can’t!”

  Chance was on her floor. “Baby, open your door. I’m here.”

  He could hear the quick thud of her footsteps. Then the door flew open and Gwen was there. She saw him and she threw herself against him. His arms closed around her, the movement as natural as breathing. She trembled against him.

  Gwen still had her phone gripped tightly in her hand as she eased back to stare up at him. “He was watching, but he isn’t here. He isn’t.”

  He could hear her fear and he hated that she was so terrified. No one should do this to her.

  Without her heels, Gwen stood at only five foot four in front of him. She seemed far too delicate standing there. Too breakable.

  “He said I wasn’t going to escape from him.” She glanced back over her shoulder and into her apartment. Chance realized that she’d turned on every light in the place. “He said I’d never get away.”

  The SOB was dead wrong.

  * * *

  An hour later, Chance had Gwen safely installed at his place. He’d sent Lex to thoroughly search her apartment and to go ahead and change her locks. Chance had done a sweep before they’d left the place, and he knew that the guy harassing Gwen hadn’t actually been inside her home. At least, not when the jerkoff had called her.

  But he was watching her.

  Which meant the guy had probably wired the place. Chance didn’t think the incident from earlier had been a mugging gone wrong. Hell, no. He thought that bastard had just planted cameras or bugs at Gwen’s place. Only she’d arrived home before the guy could make his getaway. And with Gwen so close, the guy hadn’t been able to resist grabbing her.

  You are going to pay, asshole.

  “I could have stayed in a hotel. Or even gone to my father’s place.” Gwen’s arms were wrapped around her stomach. “You didn’t have to bring me here.”

  “Yes, I did.” Because he wanted her in his house. He wanted her close.

  Gwen was wearing a pair of faded jeans that hugged her hips and ass beautifully. Her old college t-shirt was weathered and looked far too sexy on her. Her hair was loose, and it fell over her shoulders. He thought she’d never looked more beautiful.

  Shit, pull it back, man!

  The woman had been threatened, harassed, and the last thing she needed was his lust right then, too.

  So pull the hell back. Give her the protection she needs.

  He pointed to the hallway. “My room’s on the right. Go on in and get some sleep. I know you have to be dead on your feet.”

  Gwen didn’t move. “Where will you sleep?”

  His lips quirked. “The couch.”

  “No, Chance, you—”

  “Baby, I’ve slept on plenty worse.” Especially back in his soldier days. When he’d been a fresh recruit for Uncle Sam, he’d slept anywhere and everywhere, and often woken to the sound of gunfire. “Sleep in my bed, and I’ll bunk down out here. I swear, you won’t have a thing to worry about from me.”

  She hesitated, but then gave a quick nod.

  When Gwen started to pass him, Chance’s hand lifted and his fingers curled around her arm. “I’ll need your phone. If that creep calls back, I’ll handle him.” And he’d also get his buddy Dev to try and trace down those calls. He and Lex had plenty of military and security training. And Devlin Shade was their tech expert. Dev could hack his way into pretty much any piece of information.

  She gave him the phone, but she didn’t move away. “I’ve been wondering…” Her head tilted to the side as she studied him. “How did you get to my place so fast?”

  Ah, he’d figured that question would come up, sooner or later. He’d rather hoped for later. “This is the part where I get to confess that I hadn’t left.”

  “You were…watching me?”

  “I had a bad feeling.” True enough. “I just wanted to stay around a little bit, in case you needed me.”

  Her lashes fell, covering her eyes. “You seem to make a habit of saving me.”

  “I just don’t want to see you hurt.”

  She swallowed. “My father…hell, he’ll have a field day with this. He was convinced Ethan was after me. I have a restraining order on the guy and I haven’t seen Ethan in months, so I thought he had to be wrong. Or maybe I just wanted him to be wrong.” Her fingers brushed through her hair in a weary gesture. “Now my dad’s going to insist I get a body guard and—” Her fingers stilled. A faint smile curved her lips. “I guess I have you.”

  Always. But he didn’t say the word.

  “Can I hire you, Chance? Will you keep up that habit of saving me…just until we figure out what’s happening?” She shivered and said, “The man on the phone…he was talking about my panties. About them being sexy and he said he’d never let me go.” Her lashes lifted. He could easily read the emotion in her gaze. “I’m scared.”

  And I want to destroy that bastard.

  “Tell me your price.”

  Her words were eerily like her father’s. Only…there was no price to pay. “Go to sleep,” Chance told her. “You don’t have to worry about anything tonight. I already told you, I’m not going to let you be hurt.”

  She started to speak, but then seemed to change her mind. Gwen gave a little nod and headed for the bedroom. He watched her walk away, his knees locked so he wouldn’t give in to the urge to trail after her.

  “If you need me…” His voice came out gravel rough. “Just call out.”

  Her hand lifted and her fingers curled around the door frame. Gwen glanced back over her shoulder. “Are you my guardian angel?”

  Hell, no. His thoughts were far too sinful, and he was more like the devil who couldn’t let her go. “Good night, Gwen.”

  “Good night,” she whispered and then she disappeared into his bedroom.

  * * *

  He’d followed Gwen back to Chance’s place. The prick Chance Valentine lived in a far more isolated location in the city. An old warehouse that Chance had converted into a home.

  He’d already scoped the place out before, so he knew security was everywhere at that place. Chance and his little gadgets. The guy must think he was so damn smart.

  Not smart enough.

  Because if I can’t get inside to dear Gwen, I’ll just make Gwen come to me.

  Playtime was over. He’d warned Gwen. The real party was about to begin.

  “And it’s going to be hot,” he whispered.

  * * *

  She’d never been in Chance’s home before. And everywhere she looked, Gwen saw Chance. His touch. His presence. She could practically feel him, all around her.

  Almost as if he were in bed with her.

  He wasn’t, of course. He was down the hallway. Playing protector because she’d totally freaked out back at her apartment. But when a stalker called and basically threatened you, was
n’t a little freak out normal? Gwen sure thought so.

  And she also thought that sleep was about a million miles away.

  She shoved off the covers. She was still wearing her jeans and her t-shirt. After that phone call, she’d been a little gun shy about just stripping off her clothes. Biting her lip, Gwen tip-toed toward the door. She’d been in the bedroom for over an hour, staring up at the ceiling, trying to decide why someone would want to make her life hell.

  So surely Chance had fallen asleep in that time, right?

  She opened the door and crept down the hallway. Her bare toes curled against the wooden floor. He’d turned off all the lights so she kept her hand against the wall as she walked. Gwen didn’t hear him so she figured that had to mean Chance was sleeping—

  “Where are you going?”

  Or not.

  She jumped, then automatically put her hand over her heart, as if that movement could somehow calm its frantic beat. “Jeez, Chance, were you trying to scare me to death?”

  He turned on the lamp near the sofa. She noticed that he was sitting up and staring straight at her. He’d taken off his shirt and her gaze couldn’t help but dip down and take in all of those wonderful muscles. It was almost a crime for a man to look that good.

  “Gwen…”

  She snapped her gaze back up to his face. “I couldn’t get to sleep, so I was just going to grab something to drink. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “You didn’t wake me.”

  Gwen took a few quick steps toward him.

  “I was wide awake,” he continued. “Sitting in here and thinking about how close you were to me.”

  She stopped taking those steps.

  “I was trying to play the gentleman and leave you alone, but then you opened the door and you came to me.”

  She thought about retreating.

  “Do you have any idea…” Chance asked her, voice roughening. “How much I want you?”

  In that moment, she wished for the darkness. She wanted him to turn off the light because it would be so much easier to bare her soul in the darkness. But the light was on and maybe it was time to stop being afraid. “I offered myself to you before.” Because she’d wanted him for so long. “You told me you weren’t interested.”

  His hand clenched around the arm of the couch. “The hell I did. I told you I worked for your father and that I was supposed to keep my hands off you.”