B. J. Daniels

by Secret Weapon Spouse

  Just for tonight, she told herself, watching Alex savor each bite, each sip of wine, each laugh they shared, she would let herself enjoy this. Enjoy Alex. Just for this magical, wonderful tonight.

  ALEX WAS SMILING at something Samantha had said when he saw from the corner of his eye someone approaching their booth.

  He glanced up and saw the last person he wanted to see. “Brian?” He’d never seen him here before.

  “Looks like the two of you have been enjoying yourselves.” Brian picked up one of the two empty wine bottles on the table.

  Alex hadn’t realized they’d drunk that much. Nor had he realized how late it was. They’d been here for hours. He’d been having too much fun to notice.

  “We were just leaving,” Alex said to his brother, amazed how quickly the tone of their dinner had changed when wet-blanket Brian appeared.

  “You’ve both had too much to drink for either of you to drive,” Brian said.

  Alex started to argue that he didn’t need Brian telling him what to do.

  “I insist,” Brian said, a little less abrasively. “Please, let my driver take you both home. Can you let me do this one small thing for you? I am your brother.” Brian seemed to have had a little to drink himself and appeared sincere. Alex figured Brian was just trying to impress Samantha. And it seemed to be working.

  “It’s a gracious offer,” Samantha, the peacekeeper, said and looked to Alex as if she thought Brian was trying to be kind.

  “Be gracious for once,” Brian said quietly.

  Alex didn’t want to make a scene and truthfully, he had drunk a lot of wine and so had Samantha. He’d planned to call a cab for them, but why not take Brian’s limo and driver and let Brian take a cab.

  “Sure,” Alex said with a smile. “Whatever the lady wants.”

  Samantha gave him a thankful smile. The woman actually thought she could make peace in the Graham family? Her optimism was one of the things Alex found so delightful about her.

  Alex watched Brian pick up their bill. “I’ll get this,” Brian said and smiled at Samantha. Yep, his brother was just trying to impress her. “Good night.” Brian turned and walked back to a booth down the aisle. Alex couldn’t see who he was sitting with.

  The limo driver leaped out to open their doors the moment they came out of the restaurant. Alex realized that Brian had called the driver, no doubt with instructions.

  Alex tried to be gracious even though he found a limo and driver too pretentious, not to mention the inside of Brian’s limo.

  “Pretty impressive,” Alex said as he sank down next to Samantha on the deep warm leather seat. He had a wayward thought. Why was Brian going out of his way to impress Samantha? Did he think Alex and Samantha were an item and wanted to steal Samantha away?

  He felt a stab of jealousy. And more than a little concern. Could Samantha be taken in by Brian’s success, his lifestyle, his money?

  Alex glanced over at her as the limo driver asked for Samantha’s address. She gave it and the driver put up the thick glass between him and the back.

  Samantha was gazing around the inside of the most expensive limo that money could buy. She was impressed, Alex thought.

  He couldn’t help himself. “You do realize that my brother has an ulterior motive.”

  She cut her eyes to him and seemed disappointed that he was looking a gift horse in the mouth.

  “Trust me, my brother is up to something,” Alex persisted.

  “Maybe he really was just being nice,” she suggested.

  Alex laughed and shook his head. “Brian doesn’t do things just to be nice. You can bet there’s something in it for him.”

  But what Brian didn’t know was that Alex was willing to fight for this woman. He might not have all the things that his brother did, including a prestigious job and a cool limo, but Alex did have something to offer this woman.

  He put his arm around her. She turned to regard him. He’d expected surprise. Or at least the usual wariness.

  Instead it was almost as if she wanted this as much as he did. Almost as if she’d been expecting his kiss.

  VICTOR COULDN’T believe his luck. There was no way he was going to lose this fancy-pants limo, not in a million years. And unless he missed his guess the driver was going to lead him right to Samantha Peters’s house.

  This was finally working out. He thought about calling his client and telling him the good news.

  But even as he thought it, he knew he wasn’t going to tell his client. Another broken rule of his. Withholding information from a client.

  Victor felt a rush of expectation. He’d been following this woman all over Miami. Finally he would get a look at her house. Not to mention, she would be home.

  He felt a tightness in his belly. Normally, he didn’t desire women. But this one… This one was different. And he did like to take his passion by force on occasion.

  Yes, he would break every rule tonight.

  This would definitely be his last job.

  He would end it with Samantha Peters.

  Chapter Ten

  The kiss was everything Samantha knew it would be. His mouth was warm and soft at first, tentative then insistent.

  She’d wanted it, wanted him, wanted to feel his lips on hers. He was strong, his chest rock hard, and yet there was a tenderness about the way he held her, the way he kissed her.

  At first.

  Then he drew her closer until her breasts were crushed against his chest, her nipples as hard as pebbles and aching.

  Desire raced along her nerve endings, heating her blood, quickening her pulse. She felt need rush to her center. Her breath came faster.

  He deepened the kiss, the tip of his tongue brushing over hers. She felt a quiver of excitement as he shifted in the seat so his hand could cup her breast. His fingers brushed over the turgid nipple and she quaked at his touch, a soft moan escaping her lips.

  They were completely alone. Nothing could stop them from making love.

  Samantha knew she should stop him. Stop herself. Nothing good could come of this. It was wrong in every way, given that he was part of a case she was working on. And she was lying to him about who she really was. Not to mention that he would end up hurting her. That was a given, wasn’t it?

  But she wanted him as she’d never wanted any man. She told herself that if she could have him just for tonight it would be enough—no matter what the future held. She lied to herself because right now she couldn’t have stopped him if her life had depended on it.

  He pulled her skirt up until he could reach under it. She felt his hand between her legs. He cupped her there through her panties and she pushed against him, needing him inside her.

  His cell phone rang. He ignored it as he began to open the button of her suit jacket, his fingers working hurriedly as if, like her, he couldn’t wait to bare her breasts to his touch, to his lips, to his tongue.

  The cell phone rang again.

  She groaned and arched against him as his left hand cupped her breast and the other finished unbuttoning first her suit jacket, then her silk blouse down to the lacy black bra she wore.

  She heard his intake of air as he saw the bra, saw the smooth white curve of her abundant cleavage, the nipples pressing against the sheer black fabric. His nimble fingers unhooked the front latch freeing her breasts.

  He let out a groan as he dropped his head down to suckle at one, then the other.

  He was working her skirt up, his hand snaking under her panties when the phone rang again.

  With a curse he drew back and reached for it as if to turn it off. His glance fell on the caller ID and he swore again, his gaze coming to hers.

  “It says caller unknown, could be the hospital. I have to take this,” he said.

  She nodded when what she really wanted to do was scream. But the call might be about Caroline. Of course he had to take it.

  She pulled down her skirt and drew her blouse over her breasts even though Alex had turned away from her, the
side windows were tinted and there was only darkness outside, and she couldn’t see the driver through the privacy screen.

  She placed a hand on Alex’s broad back, not wanting to break the connection between them and closed her eyes, the ache painful. She could still feel his mouth on her breasts. She was wet with need for this man. It had been so long and no man had ever made her feel like this.

  She felt him tense under her hand and opened her eyes, knowing it was bad news. Slowly she removed her hand from his back and began to button up her blouse, then her jacket.

  FOR A FEW MOMENTS, Alex thought he hadn’t heard the caller correctly. The voice on the other end of the line was disguised. It threw Alex for a moment.

  He’d assumed that the call was from the hospital and had taken it expecting it to be a doctor. Or maybe Preston calling about Caroline.

  Instead it had been the strange-sounding voice. The words even stranger.

  “Thought you’d like to know that your girlfriend broke into your sister’s condo last night. Now why would a wedding planner do that?”

  “What?” he’d asked, sitting up straighter. He no longer felt Samantha’s hand on his back.

  “Why don’t you ask your girlfriend if you don’t believe me. Ask her how she got that bruise on her cheek.”

  The line went dead.

  Alex sat holding the phone, the caller’s words finally starting to register. His girlfriend? Samantha? He glanced back at her. She’d dressed again.

  “Bad news?” she asked, looking scared. “Is Caroline all right?”

  He nodded. “It was just…just a crank call.” Or was it? He tried to imagine Samantha in her business suit breaking into anyone’s condo let alone Caroline’s in that not-so-fine part of town.

  Anyway, she couldn’t have gotten past the guard.

  Or maybe she could, he thought as he recalled her defensive reaction when he’d come up behind her at the hospital.

  So she had some self-defense training. But that didn’t make her a woman who committed B and Es.

  For a moment he thought about asking her. But what would he say? “Break into any condos lately?”

  That was just plain crazy.

  What possible reason would she have to go back to the condo, let alone break in? None.

  He sat back, disappointed because the moment was lost. The driver tapped on the security screen. Alex hit the button, the separator coming down.

  “We’ve reached your guest’s residence,” the driver said.

  Alex looked out at the beach house. Nice location. This hadn’t come cheap. He wondered what wedding planners made and hated that he was even more suspicious of a woman he would have made love to if it hadn’t been for the call.

  SOMETHING HAD CHANGED. Samantha could see it in his eyes. If Caroline was all right, then what had the call been about? Whatever it was, Alex didn’t seem to want to tell her.

  The interruption had definitely sobered them both up. The driver opened her door.

  “I’ll be right back,” Alex said as he slid out and walked her to her front door. Apparently he wasn’t coming in.

  She felt as if she’d been saved—and hated every moment of it. “Thank you for tonight.”

  He smiled at that. “It didn’t go the way I had hoped.”

  “Maybe some other time,” she said brazenly.

  “Maybe,” he said with a nod as he leaned toward her. It was a goodbye kiss and it took every ounce of her strength not to put her arms around him and pull him down for a real kiss.

  But by then he had turned and was walking back to the limo.

  She opened her front door and stepped inside, not having the strength to watch him walk away. Who had the call been from? Whoever it was had changed things instantly. Another woman?

  The thought almost floored her. Of course a man like Alex Graham would have a lover. How foolish of her not to realize that.

  Suddenly she felt the ache in her shoulder, the fatigue of the last two days, and yet she knew sleep would never come. Not tonight. Not after what had almost happened.

  She walked through the house, not bothering to turn on a light and went straight to the garage. The motorcycle was a crotch-rocket, the fastest, sleekest one that money could buy. She didn’t even bother changing her clothes as she lifted her skirt and swung a leg over the leather seat and snugged down her helmet.

  The moment she heard the limo drive away, she hit the garage door opener and the door began to rise. She didn’t wait for it to reach the top before she shot out, signaling the door to close automatically as she took the first corner and sped toward her office.

  She passed the limo going eighty-five. Even if Alex had looked over, he wouldn’t have recognized her, she told herself. His mind would be on the woman who’d called him. If indeed it had been a woman. He was probably on his way to her house.

  Samantha pushed the bike up to a hundred, trying just as hard to push Alex Graham from her mind. Tonight should have taught her something. Not to make the same mistakes she had in the past with men.

  ALEX COULDN’T GET the call out of his mind. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Was it possible that the caller had been Preston?

  Maybe Preston was just trying to get him over to Caroline’s condo again tonight. Could it be a trap of some sort?

  That made even less sense than Samantha going back over to the condo last night and breaking in.

  The driver had put the window up between them. Alex touched the intercom button. “Drop me back at the restaurant so I can pick up my truck.”

  The driver nodded. “Whatever you say, sir.”

  Alex realized, a little belatedly, that the driver would be reporting to Brian. Alex wasn’t sure what bothered him more, that the driver would know hanky-panky was going on in the back during the ride—or that Alex hadn’t even tried to spend the night with Samantha.

  That, he realized, was the least of his worries, though. If the caller was right about Samantha going back to the condo last night…

  It would be just his luck to start falling for another woman he couldn’t trust.

  VICTOR COULD NOT believe his luck. His bad luck, that is. He’d followed the limo straight to Samantha Peters’s door, staying back enough not to be conspicuous.

  Everything had been going his way. Alex Graham had kissed her at the door and left. The guy had to be a loser. Even from a distance, Victor could see that the woman was ripe and ready.

  Victor couldn’t wait for Graham and the limo to leave. Breaking into the place would be child’s play for him. He was debating whether to wait until she was asleep or to surprise her now when the garage door opened and a motorcycle came shooting out.

  It was her. There was no mistake about it. She was still wearing that awful oversize suit but it was hiked up her slim bare thighs as she zoomed past.

  Victor had thought he couldn’t want this woman more. He was wrong.

  He hurriedly swung his car around and started after her, angry with her that she’d disappointed him more than she could ever know tonight.

  But he hadn’t gone far when he realized there was no way he was going to catch her. Instead, he fell behind the limo. It was little consolation, but at least he would see where Alex Graham was headed.

  ALEX GRAHAM stopped to tell the security guard he needed to get something from his sister’s condo again.

  “How’s she doing if you don’t mind me asking?” the guard asked.

  “Better. She’s conscious.”

  “Oh, I’m glad to hear that. She’s a real nice woman. And her fiancé, too. He never fails to ask about my wife and kids.”

  Alex thanked the man, surprised by his concern and what he’d said about Caroline’s fiancé.

  “Have you seen Mr. Wellington around lately?”

  The guard shook his head. “He has a lot of irons in the fire so he comes and goes a lot.” There was respect and admiration in the man’s voice. Alex nodded, thinking Preston certainly fooled a lot of people.


  “One more thing,” Alex said. “Has anyone else been around the condo since I saw you last night?”

  “Not that I know of.” The guard looked worried. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” Alex said quickly to reassure him. The guard obviously took his job seriously and clearly didn’t want to let Preston or Caroline down.

  Alex dug out a card with his number on it. “If you see Preston before I do, would you give me a call?”

  The guard took the card. “Of course. Tell your sister she’s in my prayers.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  Alex couldn’t get the man off his mind as he headed for Caroline’s building. His footfalls echoed as he entered. He noticed no sign of a break-in. Taking the elevator, he rode up to Caroline’s rooftop condo.

  The empty building had an eerie feel to it as he stepped off on her floor. He shone the flashlight he’d brought on the door to her condo but could see no signs that the door had been forced open. For all he knew someone could be waiting inside for him.

  If his caller had been telling the truth, how had Samantha gotten in? The caller’s story seemed even more outlandish and he wondered what the hell he was doing here this late at night on an obvious wild-goose chase.

  He inserted the key and hesitated, hefting the weighty flashlight, as he slowly opened the door. It was dark inside the condo but a little light from the streetlamps outside bled through the plastic.

  He turned on the light. Nothing looked any different than it had earlier.

  That was until he stepped deeper into the room. A piece of two-by-four lay in the middle of the hallway. He frowned, sure it hadn’t been there earlier.

  Stepping over it, he started toward the wall of plastic and stopped. Part of the plastic was torn from where it had originally been tacked along the ceiling to keep the dust out of the bedroom.

  He stared at the floor. He couldn’t swear to it, but there appeared to be more tracks in the Sheetrock dust.

  Taking a step back, he picked up the two-by-four and shifted the flashlight to his left hand as he thought about the call he’d received. The caller had known that he and Samantha had been here last night. How? Had they been followed?