Somehow she wasn’t buying that, given his reaction to the cereal idea.
Shifting around, he cupped her cheek, and with his thumb under her chin, tipped her face up gently. “You don’t have to cook for me, Mallory,” he said in a very intimate tone. “It was never part of the arrangement. I’m more than capable of fending for myself. But that means letting me in your kitchen.” He grinned slowly.
What? Let him into her kitchen? Her baby? “Ah, no, that’s fine, I’ll do the cooking,” she assured him. Patting his chest, she nodded with a smile.
“Thought you’d say something like that. Though the look of absolute terror on your face was kind of cute,” he teased.
Oh! “You rat,” she smacked his chest. “That is mean.”
He was laughing too hard to answer her, so she went to smack him again. But he caught her hand instead and brought it up to press a kiss to her palm.
Shock whipped through her at the feel of his warm, firm lips pressing to her skin. Her belly clenched and a wave of need slid through her, ending at her pussy. Licking her lips, she nearly whimpered when he moved her hand and brought his mouth closer to hers.
“I think you should get up, Mallory.”
Well, that certainly was a mood killer.
“Because, if you don’t,” he added, leaning in closer until she could feel the warmth of his breath. “I won’t let you up for a very, very long time.”
And, just like that, her body was on fire again. She did whimper this time.
She needed a very cold shower and a lot of projects to keep her mind off his words and the underlying promise. “I think I’ll get up,” she said, breathless despite her best efforts.
For a moment, Trent actually looked disappointed. Then it was gone and he nodded. “Probably best,” he said, not sounding like he believed it.
Licking her lips, Mallory pushed upright and scraped her hair back from her face. Making a face as her fingers found the tangles, she groaned.
Trent was climbing off the bed and stretching when she looked over. Holy shit, the man was seriously built. Hard, hard and even more hard.
Not good thoughts to be having. Tossing the blankets off she slid out of bed, holding the bottom of the shirt down so he hopefully didn’t get more of a view than he was already getting.
“I’ll grab a quick shower and then you can get one in there while I get something cooking,” she told him as she went to her armoire. Digging around she found a pair of yoga pants, a bra, underwear and a shirt.
“Sounds good,” he said, right behind her.
Spinning around, she jumped a little. He was right there. “Okay,” she nodded and moved to go around him.
But he caught her around the waist and drew her back until she was pinned between him and the big piece of furniture. Staring up at him, she licked her lips again and tried, desperately, to slow her breathing down.
“Mallory,” he said, his head lowering. “Are you running away from me?”
Was she? Shaking her head, she shivered as he got closer. “No. Why would I run from you?” she asked. Damn, that was so not her voice.
Chuckling, Trent brushed a kiss to her cheek. “Well, it sure seems like you’re running away from me, sweetheart.”
“Nope, not running. Couldn’t really, as I have this very large, hot and sexy male holding me hostage currently.” Holy shit! Did she really just say that?
He stilled and then lifted his head, a huge smile curling his lips. “Did you just call me sexy?”
“No. That was my evil twin that took over for a few minutes.”
Trent burst out laughing at that and gave her a hug. “Go and have your shower. I’m going into your kitchen and starting coffee. So be quick or I might start poking around in drawers and shit.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said in horror. “Trent, please, be good.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugged.
As soon as he let her go she bolted for the bathroom. Five minutes. She would be in and out in five minutes, come hell or high water. Stripping, she jerked on the water and then tapped her foot as she waited to get past the blast of ice water.
“What does this shiny thing with the knobs do?” she heard him call out.
Argh! She barely resisted the urge to race out there to see what he was up to.
Ice water hit her hand and then warmed back up and then she jumped in the shower.
Chapter Eight
Chuckling as he listened to Mallory scramble around in the bathroom, Trent shook his head. “Silly woman.” He’d make the coffee and maybe move one thing. That way, she’d be kept guessing about what he had been up to.
It was a great plan really. Whistling under his breath, he got her top of the line coffee maker up and running and then looked around.
“What to move? What to move?” He grinned.
He loved the idea of messing with her. It was just too much damn fun.
“Oh, you’ll do just fine,” he said. Moving to a drawer he pulled it open ever so slightly and then adjusted the alignment of the crockpot just a smidge. It would have her going insane as she put everything back and checked everything else.
The water shut off. “Wow, that has to be a new record for a woman in the shower,” he muttered, with a glance to the clock.
Five minutes. Absolutely had to be a record.
Going into his room, he collected a pair of jeans and a shirt before lounging outside the bathroom.
Mere seconds later, Mallory emerged with a gust of warm air and eyed him up and down suspiciously. Grinning, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Coffee’s on,” he told her before slipping around her and shutting the bathroom door.
He couldn’t hear her but he knew she bolted for the kitchen as soon as he got out of sight. That was fine. He expected nothing less, given he’d pretty much provoked her into it.
It was fun messing with her, he thought, as he stepped under the water.
Especially since she was messing with him. He didn’t know if she realized it yet, but she would by the end of the day.
Grabbing her bottle of shampoo, he took a sniff and with a shrug, squeezed a bit into his hand. It was a little fruity for his taste, but beggars could not be choosers. He really needed to move some of his stuff into the bathroom so he wouldn’t use up all her supplies.
After doing a quick wash, thankfully with unscented soap, he climbed out. Drying off, he pressed an ear to the door but didn’t hear anything. At all.
That could be a very bad sign. Dressing quickly, he eased the door open. She wasn’t out there, but he still didn’t hear anything. Frowning now, he dumped his laundry in his room and moved to the kitchen quickly. He didn’t like not knowing where she was. His gut clenched at the idea she might be in trouble and he’d let it happen. Peeking around the wall, he saw she was stirring something at the counter.
The crockpot was back in place and the drawer was tightly closed again. Smiling, he moved over to the coffee pot as he forced his body to relax and poured some into one of the mugs sitting out. Turning, he propped a hip to the counter and watched her.
“What are you making?”
“Pancakes,” she said, shooting him a bland look.
“Nice. Need any help?”
That earned him another look. “Nope, I’ve got this” she said with a smile.
The smile worried him. A lot. “Okay. I’ll just check in with the boss and see if anything’s come up on the case from the additional information I sent them yesterday.”
Mallory just nodded and kept smiling. Oh, hell. He was in serious trouble.
Sometimes retreat was the only option available, so he got out of there.
When she finally called him in for breakfast, he approached with caution. His momma didn’t raise no fool. A prankster, absolutely, a fool, definitely not.
She was at the stove flipping some pancakes when he walked in. Setting his cup by the very full plate he went over to her. “Mal?”
“Mm-hm?” she hummed.
Okay, this wasn’t going well. Slipping his arms around her waist, he put his chin on her shoulder. A feat and a half really given how short she was. “Mal?” he said.
He could feel her laughing as she set the spatula aside. “Yes, Trent?”
“How much trouble am I in?” he asked.
She was really laughing now and began to turn. Lifting his head out of the way, he looked down at her as she faced him.
“You’re not in trouble, you goofball. But don’t mess with my kitchen again,” she said, poking his chest lightly.
“Yes ma’am.” He nodded.
Huffing out a breath, she squeezed his arm. “Go and eat before it gets cold.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said again. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Thank you for not killing me.”
“Go, before I change my mind,” she said with another laugh. Giving him a push, she grinned at him before turning back to the stove.
****
“Do you have an update?” the man asked as he settled behind his desk.
“Unfortunately not, sir,” the other man in the office told him. “We can’t get into the building at the moment. They have a maintenance team in there doing some work on the old pipes as well as their security provider replacing cameras and stuff. Until they are gone, we’re not getting near the place.”
Slamming his hand down on the desk, he glared at the man. “We only have three weeks before the announcement is made. I need that drive in my possession by then.”
“We know that, sir. But you insisted on a low profile after the fiasco Ulrich created.”
“I know that!” he yelled. Forcing himself to calm, he rubbed his fingers to his temples. “When are the crews to be done with their work?”
“The security guys said two days, but the maintenance guys are scheduled for a week. Given the age of the building and the pipes in there, they seem quite hopeful,” the man reported.
“Fine, fine. That still gives us two weeks to get the drive back. Don’t miss the window,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
“And, so we’re clear,” he said as the other man went to leave. “If she doesn’t give it up, use whatever means necessary to get the information from her. Just make it clean. No more mistakes like Ulrich’s.” Who, because of his mistake, was now swimming with the fish, as the mob used to like to say.
“Understood, sir.”
****
“Can we get out of here for a bit?” Mallory asked Trent.
Looking to her, he glanced around at the C&M crew that had invaded her apartment and then back. “Yeah, we can,” he said. “Grab a jacket and shoes. We’ll go for a walk.”
She looked so relieved, he winced when her back was turned. He really should have been the one to think of getting out of the team’s way earlier. Sighing, he went over to Vincent, the head tech-guy, and let him know he was getting Mallory out of the way while they finished up.
“I’ll stick around if we’re done before you get back,” Vincent said. “I’ll have to go over everything with her and get her to pick the code she wants to use.”
“We shouldn’t be long. But she’s going stir crazy and isn’t liking having so many people poking around her place while she can see it.”
“I totally get that,” Vincent chuckled. “Go, I’ll see you when you get back.”
Trent paused as he looked around. “Vincent, whatever you do, don’t touch anything in her kitchen. She’s like a mama bear protecting her cubs when it comes to that room.”
The look on Vincent’s face had Trent readying for the coming Apocalypse. Relief poured through him when the other man punched Trent on the shoulder. “I won’t mess with the lady’s stuff. Go, have some fun, get her to relax before her head explodes.”
Thanking him Trent grabbed his jacket, a weapon and his phone. Snagging his wallet, he smiled at Mallory as she came back out of her room to join him. Taking her hand in his, he led her out of the apartment.
Down on the street, he looked around before leading her away from her building.
He chose to go the opposite direction of the park. No sense prodding an open wound.
For a time they just walked in silence, but he knew she was thinking. Hell, he could practically hear the wheels turning. Spotting a cafe, he tugged her gently across the street.
Inside, he looked at her. Her brow was furrowed and she seemed a little distracted, letting him pull her wherever he wanted, so he let her be for the moment and ordered for them both. Collecting their drinks, he led her to a table and pulled his chair in next to her.
“You going to talk to me or keep spinning your wheels?” he asked taking a sip of his coffee.
That seemed to bring her back to the moment. Blinking, she looked around and frowned. “Why are we in a coffee shop?”
“You were thinking hard, so I made a call on where to take you. Now, answer the question please.” He gave a shrug and took another drink.
She gave him what could only be called the stink eye. His mother used to give him that look when he was being a little shit. Actually, now that he thought about it, she still did.
“No matter how much I try not to think about it, my mind keeps coming back to this drive he seemed to think I had,” she admitted quietly.
Glad she was keeping her voice down, Trent still looked around to ensure no one paid them undue attention. Leaning on the table, he looked at her. “What about it?”
She heaved a breath and flicked a nail to her cup, then shrugged. “I keep wondering why he thought I had it. I mean, I’m a chef, not a spy or anything like that. So where would I even get this drive?”
He’d been wondering the same thing, but he let her talk it out. Trent was curious to see where she went with the line of thought.
“The only thing I could think of is that either it was sent to me by mistake, like through some screwed up digit on the address, or someone gave it to me and I forgot about it. But I haven’t gotten any parcels in the last four months that didn’t contain anything more than lingerie.”
Trent perked up at that and made a mental note to ask about the lingerie later.
“And I can’t think of any packages beyond those, other than the ones that come to the restaurant.” She looked at him. “But they were all addressed to the restaurant.”
“What was in them?” he asked.
“Orders of spices, replacement uniform jackets, aprons, the new menu boards and dozens of other things that we get in on a daily basis,” she said with a sigh.
“Okay.” He nodded. “Any packages that you signed for that were addressed to the owner that you didn’t open?”
“No,” she said shaking her head. She looked ready to say something else, but then she stopped and stared blindly in his direction for a moment. “No, wait, there was. Three weeks ago, a box came in to the attention of my boss. It had the name of some magazine on it that I know he advertises with so I signed for it and tossed it on my boss’s desk.”
“How big was it?” he asked.
Mallory held her hands up to show him the size.
“That would hold a hard drive,” he said. “With padding to keep it protected during shipping. And since you signed for it...”
Putting a hand over her mouth, Mallory stared at him in horror. “Oh, God. That’s why he thought I had it. My name was on the tracking information.”
He nodded slowly.
“But why wouldn’t he go to the restaurant and look there? That’s where it was shipped to.”
That was a very good question. “Maybe they did. But I know where we need to go this afternoon. After Vincent gets you set with the alarm, he and I will head over there.”
“I should come with you, Trent.” She put a hand up when he opened his mouth. “I have free rein there. I’m the head chef. I can go places you won’t be able to, especially if my boss isn’t around.”
Damn. She was right. He absolutely hated that she was right but she was. Something must have sho
wn on his face because she gave him a big, shit-eating smirk.
“Do not,” he said, pointing a finger her way. “Rub it in, woman.”
Mallory batted her lashes and lifted her cup to take a slow sip. “Who me? Never.”
Yeah. Like he was going to buy that act.
Lifting his cup, Trent sipped and watched her over the rim. She looked a little too please with herself. He found he also liked this confident version of Mallory. It was fucking sexy as sin, truth be told.
Damn it, he thought with an internal groan. He had to shift in his chair slightly as his cock twitched when he saw her lick a drop of coffee from her lips. Suddenly, all he wanted to do was take her back to her place, strip her naked, and put that sexy little mouth to other uses. Unfortunately, there were a few too many people at her place. It was going to be a very long day, of that he had no doubt.
Chapter Nine
She knew that Trent was still trying to figure out how to keep her home. Which was fine. Mallory knew that he knew there wasn’t an option. She was right about the situation, and he was still trying to come to terms with it.
He and Vincent chatted, heads together in a huddle, trying to figure out how to leave her behind. Snickering, she went to get her jacket and purse. Humming softly, she found a pair of shoes and, because it was going to be chilly, she dug out a scarf and her mittens.
When she was dressed, she went to stand by the front door and began to tap her toe.
Both men turned to look at her. “So, I’m going to head out. If you feel like joining me...” She shrugged. Then, smiling brightly, she left the apartment.
She could hear the mad scramble behind her as she walked to the stairs. She was a bad, bad person to do that to them. Especially Trent. She liked him, a lot. More than a lot. She was pretty sure he felt little something for her as well. Maybe more than a little if she was lucky.
Stopping at the door to the stairwell, she waited. She was out of sight of her apartment so she knew the men would come barreling toward her. Stepping slightly out of the way, Mallory leaned back against the door and waited.
The slam of her apartment door was easily heard before heavy, thundering steps came her way. Trent round the corner first and his eyes went wide when he spotted her.
Dangerous Secrets Page 5
