Dominated: The Enforcers 2 (The Enforcers Series)

by Maya Banks

  “Did someone try to hurt you?” he demanded. “Did someone threaten you in any way?”

  “No,” she whispered, the sound nearly a sob. “But someone intends to hurt you.”

  He reared back in surprise because that was the very last thing he’d expected her to say. Certain he’d heard wrong, he put both of his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look directly into his eyes.

  “What are you talking about? Tell me everything that has happened and especially tell me why you think someone is trying to hurt me.”

  She took in a deep, steadying breath and when she lifted her gaze to his, tears sparkled on her lashes. “Zander, Thane and Hatcher were going to take me shopping today, but first, we went to eat lunch. While we were waiting for our food, I went to the bathroom and when I came out, there was a man blocking the hallway. When I tried to step around him, he wouldn’t let me pass. He showed me . . . He showed me his badge and he was wearing a gun too. Then he called me by name and told me he needed to speak to me about police business.

  “I was confused. I mean, why would the police need to speak to me about anything?” she asked in a bewildered voice.

  Oh, Drake could well imagine, and the picture was finally starting to form. Fucking bastards using an innocent woman to try to get to him. It shouldn’t surprise him. Little did.

  “When I said as much, he said—not asked—that you were my boyfriend. And I told him that I didn’t see how my personal life could possibly be any sort of police business.”

  Good girl. He mentally applauded her.

  “Then he said, and again it wasn’t in the form of a question, did I know what all you were into.” She shook her head, anger sparking in her eyes, removing the trace of tears from moments earlier. “I told him you had several businesses, one of which was the club. He called me naïve and told me that you would take me down with him. Then . . .”

  Her voice cracked and she shuddered, lifting her hands to rub up and down her arms as though she were freezing to death.

  “What then, Angel?” he asked gently.

  “He gave me this.”

  She dug into her purse and drew out a business card, holding it out to him with a look of utter distaste as if she couldn’t bear to touch it.

  “He asked if I’d be willing to pass them information about you. If I would spy on you,” she said in a horrified voice. “I told him no. Never. He told me that he would make sure I had police protection and that you would never be able to harm me.”

  There was a note of derision and scorn in her voice.

  “As if you’d ever hurt me,” she seethed. “I told him that you do a good enough job on your own of protecting me. And then I told him to get out of my way and to leave me alone. I knew I had to come here and warn you. So after lunch, I pleaded illness and told the others I wasn’t feeling up to shopping, and then I asked Zander to walk me up to the apartment, but as soon as the others left, I asked Zander to bring me here. To you.”

  She looked anxiously at him as if worried he would denounce her, call her a liar or worse. But all he could do was sit there, absolutely flabbergasted by everything she’d told him. An alien warmth filled his chest. He didn’t at all know what to make of her declaration. And he had to know why she’d done it. Why had she warned him?

  Shame filled him as he remembered his anger, rage and sense of betrayal just minutes before her arrival. Here he’d been doubting her and her loyalty to him when the entire time she’d been tying herself in knots because she was worried about him.

  “Why did you warn me, Angel?” he asked in a choked whisper. “I know you have your suspicions. And no, I’m not a good man. So why would you warn me instead of helping them put me away?”

  He knew he’d made a serious error in his judgment of her when he saw her reaction to his question. Shock and hurt entered her eyes, and her mouth fell open as she continued to stare wordlessly at him. As though she couldn’t believe he would even ask such a question. And God, how he wished he hadn’t now.

  “I would never betray you, Drake,” she said, her words nearly inaudible as she worked to get each one out. “Ever. I am yours. I belong to you. And that means you have everything that is me and mine. My loyalty. My trust. My love.”

  She abruptly stood and turned away from him and a sense of panic crawled over his skin like a hundred spiders. At the moment, he’d take the actual spiders over the feeling of panic. Would he lose her because of his lack of faith in her?

  Then she whirled around, anger and determination in her eyes. “You’re wrong, Drake. You are a good man. I don’t care what you or anyone else says or thinks. They don’t know you. I do. And you are very much a good man.”

  She threw up one hand, her fingers delicately fluttering through the air.

  “Can you be ruthless, arrogant and demanding? Absolutely. You’re driven and relentless. But those aren’t bad traits. Those traits are what made you into the man you are today and I very much love the man you are. I still wake up every morning wondering if it’s all just been a dream because this beautiful man who could have any woman in the world he wanted chose me.”

  Tears glittered harshly in her eyes once more, and it was all he could do to continue sitting there while she flayed her heart open to bare it—to give it—to him. He’d never felt so humbled in his life than by this sweet, generous and loving woman who stood there fiercely defending him when he’d jumped to nasty conclusions without even asking her about the meeting first.

  “And you’ve been so patient with me,” she continued, her voice choked with emotion and the mounting tears she was trying so hard not to shed. “You always take the time to teach me what pleases you, and you please me ten times more in return. I just hope . . .”

  She turned away in a valiant effort to compose herself before finally turning back to face him.

  “I just hope that you never wake up one day and look at me and say to yourself, What in the world was I thinking?”

  She closed the distance between them and slipped to her knees between his, reaching for his hands, gripping them tightly between hers.

  “I have only one thing to ask, Drake,” she whispered. “If that ever does happen, if you ever get tired of me and no longer want me, all I ask is for you not to regret the time we spent together. Because I won’t. I’ll cherish every single memory I made with you, every single minute, and I’ll never regret a single second. All I ask is that you do the same and remember me fondly.”

  Drake felt as though he’d just been flattened. Like a tank had run over him. He was in absolute awe over the woman kneeling before him. His throat contracted painfully as he realized it was he who should be on his knees in front of her.

  Instead he yanked her into his arms, holding her so tightly, it was likely neither of them could breathe very well. Who cared? He’d never get enough of this, of her, soft and sweet in his arms.

  “Jesus,” he breathed. “You don’t get it, do you? There isn’t going to be another woman, Angel. There won’t come a morning that I wake with you nestled against me or tied to me, so sweet and good and innocent, that I wonder what I was thinking. The only thing I’ll ever think when I wake up next to you is that I’ll never let you go.”

  She went utterly still in his arms. So still he wasn’t sure she was breathing. He loosened his hold and she drew away, staring at him with features seemingly frozen in place. There was a dim light of hope in her eyes that cut him to the bone. Almost as if she were afraid to question him. Or confirm what he’d said.

  She licked her lips and finally whispered in a thready breath, “Never?”

  “Never,” he said firmly.

  She sagged so that her behind came to rest on her heels and her shoulders drooped. Then her hands flew to cover her face, but he saw the evidence of her tears leak from underneath.

  “Don’t cry, Angel,” he soothed, carefully pulling her into his arms again. “Never cry. I want you to be happy. Always.”

  “Oh, Drake, don’t
you know? You’ve just made me the happiest person in the entire world,” she sobbed. “I was so scared for you today. I’m still scared,” she amended. “What are you going to do?”

  Fear replaced all other emotion in her vivid blue eyes. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead.

  “Don’t worry, Angel. Can you do that for me? This is nothing new, I assure you. The cops are always poking around my affairs. Talking to people I work or associate with. They’ve never been able to get anything on me. They never will.”

  She bit into her lip so hard that he gently thumbed it, rubbing soothingly over the abused flesh.

  “Are you sure?” she asked nervously. “Maybe you should call your lawyer. Surely it can’t be legal for them to go around harassing people who know you and asking them to spy on you.”

  He had to suppress his smile over her innocence. “Unfortunately, my angel, it’s very legal for them to question anyone they want. You did very well. I’m proud of the way you handled yourself. That couldn’t have been easy. I’m sorry it happened. You can be sure that in the future it won’t.”

  “I don’t care about me,” she said impatiently. “I’m more worried about the fact that this cop seemed awfully determined to get something—anything—on you. Somehow I don’t think it would matter to him whether it was actually true.”

  Her scathing tone did make him smile then.

  “Who needs a lawyer when I have you to defend and protect me?” he asked in amusement. “Apparently you are all I need, my darling angel.”

  “I hope that’s true,” she said, her expression growing serious. “Because you are all I will ever need, Drake.”

  24

  The weeks leading to Christmas were a magical time for Evangeline. Though Drake had always been loving and tender with her, there was a marked difference in his entire demeanor than there had been in the beginning. He was openly demonstrative with her and had no problem showering her with affection whether in private or public.

  His men ribbed him about it, but he took it in stride and blithely told them when they found a woman like Evangeline to come back and they’d talk then. There hadn’t been much in response his men could say to that, so they quickly shut up.

  Then he’d surprised her by flying them both down to visit her parents just before Christmas, though he’d insisted they return to the city so they could spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together at the apartment.

  They’d spent three wonderful days with her family, but it was Drake’s Christmas gift to them that had blown Evangeline—and her mother and father—completely away.

  The day before he and Evangeline were to return to New York, Drake had taken Evangeline and her parents to a beautiful house in the same town they lived in and told them it was theirs.

  It had been completely renovated to make it wheelchair accessible, and the kitchen had been gutted and a chef’s dream kitchen had been constructed with top-of-the-line appliances and countertops. Her mother had cried tears of joy. Even her father had been overwhelmed and emotional.

  But Drake hadn’t stopped there. He’d done one better. The new house not only came with a housekeeper who came in three days a week to clean, but he also presented her mother with the keys to a brand-new van so her dad wasn’t housebound so much.

  Her mother had hugged Drake at least a hundred times and thanked him profusely not only for his generosity but also for making her baby so happy. And one had only to look at Evangeline to see that she radiated happiness. She glowed from head to toe with contentment only someone deeply in love could feel.

  And to properly and creatively express her gratitude for all he’d done for her family, Evangeline had wickedly made love to him aboard his jet the entire flight back to New York City. He’d jokingly told her as they’d gotten into the car at the airport that she’d worn him out and that he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed to celebrate Christmas with her.

  She had very seriously told him that if he couldn’t get out of bed, then she would have no choice but to join him there, and since she’d be bored out of her mind she would have to come up with ways to keep herself entertained. He’d informed her that what she was saying wasn’t exactly a threat and he could certainly think of worse ways to spend the holiday.

  Christmas Eve dawned clear and cold, a brisk wind whistling through the streets, but the skies were completely clear and cloudless, the sun bright overhead, much to Evangeline’s disappointment. After all, what was Christmas without snow?

  Drake laughed and told her that snow was indeed in the forecast starting early in the evening.

  Evangeline hustled around the kitchen the entire morning in preparation for Drake’s men to arrive for an early Christmas Eve dinner that afternoon. She’d bought every single one of them a gift and they all lay wrapped underneath the tree. Along with the dozen she’d bought for Drake.

  He’d been highly secretive about what he was getting for her, even going so far as not to put a single one under the tree that had her name on it. She pouted every time she looked at the tree, and he merely laughed.

  Drake found her tending one of the many skillets at the stove and slid his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest. His lips feathered over the side of her neck and he nibbled at the sensitive flesh just beneath her ears.

  “There you are,” he murmured. “Planning to spend the entire day in here? I’m starting to feel neglected.”

  “You poor baby, you,” she said without real sympathy. “You won’t be complaining later when you taste what I’m making.”

  He sniffed appreciatively. “It smells delicious. What is it? It doesn’t look traditional. Aren’t those fish fillets and shrimp over there?”

  She smiled. “Yep. I’m cooking you down-home Southern food for Christmas Eve. Tomorrow I’m forgoing turkey and ham, and instead I’m cooking a rib roast with several delicious sides and we’ll have lobster bisque as a starter.”

  He groaned. “God, woman. I’m seriously going to have to hire a personal trainer. I swear I’ve gained twenty pounds since I met you and you started feeding me.”

  She lifted an eyebrow and turned her head so she could look up at him. “Where are these twenty pounds you’ve gained? Because they aren’t anywhere I can see them.”

  He pretended to give the matter serious consideration. “Well, I suppose the fact that you ravish me on a daily basis balances out all the calories I’m consuming. Satisfying you is very strenuous activity.”

  “I can always curb my appetite,” she said sweetly. “I’d hate for you to suffer needlessly.”

  “Try it,” he growled. “If I die, I’ll go a happy man. Well fed and sexually sated by the most gorgeous, sexy, desirable woman on the planet.”

  “Wow,” she murmured. “Biased much?”

  He smacked her playfully on the ass but it carried a bite, causing her pulse to surge to life.

  “I’m not biased. I’m a man of discerning tastes. I refuse to settle for anything less than the best. Which is why I waited for you.”

  She was speechless and precariously close to tears, and she wasn’t about to ruin the light and playful mood by sobbing all over him.

  He sighed and gave a mock groan of exasperation. “When will we ever get to the point that I can compliment you without you crying all over me?” he chided.

  “Never,” she mumbled. “Get used to it.”

  “It appears I have no choice,” he said dryly.

  The door buzzer sounded and Drake made a disgruntled noise. “So much for being alone anymore.”

  “Don’t be rude and antisocial toward our guests,” she reproached.

  He laughed at that. “Darling, I’m always rude and antisocial. They’d likely have me committed if I ever wasn’t. Or at least they’d think I’d been abducted by aliens.”

  She elbowed him in the gut as he moved away from her to answer the summons. A few moments later, Drake’s men were crowding into the apartment, all carrying brightly wrapped packages
that were immediately stuck under the tree.

  Then, predictably, they all sauntered into the kitchen with the same question. What were they having for dinner?

  Evangeline had set the formal dining table and made certain there were enough chairs for every single person. Two hours after Drake’s men arrived, she made the call for dinner and then watched in satisfaction as they all gathered around the table. Drake sat at the head while Evangeline sat to his right and Silas sat to his left. The others took their places down either side with Maddox taking the other end across from Drake.

  “Before we all dig in, I just want to thank Evangeline for going to such trouble to prepare such a wonderful meal for us all,” Drake said, pride clearly reflected in his eyes as he gazed affectionately in her direction.

  “I propose a toast,” Silas said, lifting his glass of wine. “To Evangeline. One of the sweetest, kindest and most generous people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and who also, irrefutably, has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “I’ll drink to that,” Maddox said, raising his glass in salute.

  “I, as well,” Drake said, tipping his glass in her direction. “And don’t you dare cry.”

  She laughed, because if she didn’t, well, she would indeed cry. She raised her glass and swept her gaze over all of the gathered men.

  “Thank you all for coming and for making this holiday so special.”

  They were a bit noisy as they all chimed in, but then they drank down part of their wine and Evangeline started the dishes flowing around the table, serving up blackened catfish fillets, grilled and fried shrimp, crawfish étouffée to accompany the fillets and then the vegetables, after which the best came last. Her homemade rolls.

  As soon as the first man bit into a fresh, piping hot roll, a groan went up.

  “Oh Jesus,” Hartley said, his expression one of supreme bliss. “That is the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”

  Curious over his reaction, everyone began grabbing for their rolls at the same time and then the table erupted in moans, sighs and exclamations of sheer bliss.