by Nikkie Locke
“He has to have access to a key,” Burke muttered. “Nobody’s that good.”
Her stomach dropped. “Oh, shit,” she muttered.
“What?” Burke asked.
“I had an extra key. Under my doormat. I told Dean it was there the night he took me home from Bridgett’s engagement party,” she said. “The next morning, Maddie told me it was missing. I never thought about it.”
“That explains that,” Chief Whitley said.
“No way he was close enough to hear,” Dean protested. “We would have noticed.”
Burke shrugged. “Voices carry pretty easily at night. We’ll look into whether or not her key’s missing.”
“So, we stick together, we have an officer with us around the clock, and we stay at Dean’s?” Payten asked.
Chief Whitley huffed. “You had better buy the best damn security system money buys.” He open a desk drawer and dug through it. “Here,” he said, offering Dean a business card. “They’re the best. I’ll call ahead for you.”
Dean nodded. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I want an officer with you every time you step out of the house. I don’t care if you’re walking to your truck. You have an officer with you. Period. Your alarm will be on at all times. You’ll both get cell phones this afternoon — why you don’t already have one is a mystery to me — and don’t even think about not answering them.”
“I don’t need one,” Payten said. “I’m always at the diner or at home.”
Dean nodded. “Someone always knows how to get ahold of me.”
“Look how well that worked when we were trying to call you about Richards getting fired,” Burke pointed out.
“Hmm…”
“I don’t particularly care whether or not you think you need one,” Chief Whitley snapped. “You’re getting them. You’ll answer them every time you’re called. You’ll work out an emergency word with Officer Smith. She’ll inform the rest of us. She’ll escort you to the security shop.”
“What about Peterson?” Payten asked.
Chief Whitley sighed. “I talked to the warden as soon as Burke told me what Dean said. Peterson is rotting in the same cell he’s been in for the past twelve years.”
“I’m telling you I talked to him this morning,” Dean said. “I don’t know how, but it was him.”
“I’ll send Burke to the prison,” Chief Whitley said. “He can sort out what’s going on.”
“I can live with that,” Dean said.
• • •
“What do you mean he’s in prison?”
Dean stood inside the security store his father had suggested. His father had neglected to mention it was in the mall nearly an hour and a half away from town. Officer Smith and Payten were in a store a little farther down the maze of mall hallways. His father would have thrown a fit if he knew Officer Smith had left him, but he could tell the security store made Payten edgy. He appreciated Officer Smith distracting her.
“I saw him myself,” Burke told him.
Dean stared blindly at a display in front of him. “That’s not possible. I talked to him this morning.”
“Are you sure it was him?”
“I’m positive,” Dean snapped.
“Dean — ”
“The fucker murdered my mother, Burke. I don’t think I’m going to forget what he sounds like.”
Another man in the store gave him a weird look, but he was too pissed to care.
“Dean, I don’t know what to tell you. The chief has been on the phone with the phone company since you left, trying to track the call. We’ll figure this out.”
Dean nodded even though Burke couldn’t see him. “Thank you.”
“That’s my job, Dean. I’d like to get back to it. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
“Burke?”
“Yeah?”
“If it isn’t him, who is it?”
Dean heard Burke sigh. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
Dean hung up the phone and stared at it for a minute. Their first stop inside the mall had been the cell phone provider. Officer Smith and Payten had hemmed and hawed over phones for an hour before finally picking the two they had.
“Mr. Whitley?”
He looked up at the person addressing him. “Yes?”
“We’ve got everything taken care of. Your father said this was a rush order?”
Dean nodded. “It needs to be installed today.”
“We can definitely handle that,” the man assured him.
• • •
Payten looked over her shoulder nervously. There was no sign of Dean outside of the store. Officer Smith stood next to her.
“I think I’m in over my head here,” Payten said.
Officer Smith snorted. “It’s lingerie. You’re a woman dating a totally hot man. What is there to be in over your head about?”
She squirmed. “I don’t wear lingerie.”
Officer Smith eyed her, then leaned close. “You’re a virgin, aren’t you?”
She blushed and looked around to make sure no overheard. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Officer Smith jerked her head toward the door. “Does he know that?”
“Uh…I don’t know.”
“Why are we buying lingerie?”
“Officer Smith — ”
Officer Smith snorted. “Sweetheart, you just told me you’re a virgin. I think we’re past the ‘officer’ bullshit. Call me Dylan.”
“Dylan, I came in here to get underwear. They have the cutest panties, and they’re always on sale.”
Officer Smith nodded. “I get mine here too. And you’re buying enough panties and bras to outfit a bus full of cheerleaders. Now answer the question. Why are we looking at the lingerie?”
Payten squirmed again. She wished Bridgett were there. Or Quinn. Even Andie would be good. She planned on seducing Dean, and there was no one around to discuss her plan with. No one except Officer Smith.
She wasn’t sure when she made her decision, but it had been sometime in the past three days while she stayed with him. This morning had sealed it. Waking up in his arms felt right. She had managed to roll over and look at him without waking him. Unlike the night she witnessed his nightmare, he looked so peaceful while he slept. She remembered thinking about how dark and thick his eyelashes were against his cheek. She envied those dark eyelashes.
Shortly after that, she’d realized he wore boxers and nothing else. She wasn’t sure how she missed that when he’d lain down beside her the night before. The sight of nearly naked Dean stole her breath. She’d ogled him plenty while he was dressed, and she had no problem ogling him while he was asleep and mostly naked.
More than the sight of him mostly naked and the delicious memories of what they’d already done together — although she thought that was convincing enough — his actions were compelling. His casual teasing and fierce protectiveness, the way he reached for her without noticing, his absolute panic that morning after Peterson’s call, all of it made her melt. Even the way he went out of his way to make sure she was entertained — reading to her and playing a silly card game with her — made her more certain.
Maybe Officer Smith would make a great friend. Maybe she wouldn’t. At that particular point in time, Payten didn’t really care. She needed someone to talk to.
“I’m going to seduce Dean,” she announced quietly.
Officer Smith grinned. “I like. So lingerie is part of the plan?”
And, just like that, Payten thought of Dylan as a friend. That was what her girls — any of her girls — would have said.
“I think so.”
Dylan nodded. “I think you should go with a nightie. Simple, but gorgeous. You don’t need laces and snaps and hooks to deal with. Just a nice silk nightie that goes on and off over your head.”
“That sounds about right.”
Twenty minutes later, Dylan and Payten stepped out of Victoria’s Secret. They were both grinning.
Dean waited for them outside the store.
“What are you grinning about?” he asked.
She giggled. She couldn’t help herself. Dylan elbowed her.
“Nothing,” she told Dean, still grinning.
Dean looked at Officer Smith. She shrugged. He spotted the bag in Payten’s hand. “Victoria’s Secret, huh?”
Payten giggled again.
“Underwear,” Officer Smith told him. “Can’t leave the mall without it.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“Why?” Officer Smith asked. “You don’t wear underwear?”
Payten’s laughter caused other people in the mall to turn and look at them, but she didn’t care.
Chapter Twenty
Payten stared at herself in the mirror of Dean’s bathroom. What on earth was I thinking?
She stood on her tiptoes with her fingertips on the edge of the bathroom vanity for balance. She leaned forward, trying to see all of herself in the mirror. She could only see down to her upper thighs. She couldn’t even see to the end of the nightie. She fell back on the flats of her feet.
This was such a bad idea, she thought. I have no idea what I’m doing. I can’t even tell what this damn nightie looks like.
In the mirror, she watched herself cross and uncross her arms. Then she bit her lower lip. Disgusted with herself, she sat down on the floor and leaned against the bathtub.
The day had been great, especially considering she had some crazy murderer wanting to kill her. They had finished up their shopping at the mall. She had convinced Dean to swing into the electronics store. There, she sprung for a laptop. A top-of-the-line laptop that she had drooled over for months. She hadn’t bought it before because her desktop worked fine. She probably shouldn’t have spent the money on the laptop, but she knew she was never going to be able to comfortably use her computer at home again after knowing the creepy stalker guy had been on it.
After that, they had come home. Kalvin had been there with the guys from the security company. Dean had called him to let the workers in. While the security guys installed a security system that Payten was sure cost Dean a fortune, she made dinner. Kalvin and Dylan ate dinner with them, Kalvin driving Dylan insane throughout.
The security guys left shortly after the group had finished dinner. Kalvin followed them out. Dean had set Dylan up in the master suite upstairs. She planned on an hourly walk around the house and outside to check on things. She headed upstairs after that.
For the first time since she had started planning out her seduction, she was alone with Dean. He had hugged her close and told her he had a surprise for her. He grabbed one of the bags from the electronic store. It was a smaller bag that she hadn’t seen.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Look,” he told her.
She took the bag and peeked inside. “Oh my gosh!” She pulled a DVD out of the bag. It was the 2005 Keira Knightley copy of Pride and Prejudice.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it,” she told him. “It’s one of my favorites. How did you know?”
He smiled. “You have a movie poster for it in your bedroom at your parents’ house. I saw it when we went by to get your clothes Sunday. I figure you already have it, but since you can’t go home — ”
“It’s great!” she told him again. She grabbed him around the waist and hugged him tight.
After that, they curled up on the couch to watch the movie on her new laptop. It was a girly movie, but Dean had liked it. He pointed out several differences between the movie and the book. She was shocked he had even read the book. She had tried countless times since watching the movie the first time and had never finished it.
Smith popped in and out of the living room a couple times. Once, she’d stayed long enough to oogle Mr. Darcy with Payten. Mostly, though, she remained unobtrusive.
As the credits started rolling, Payten slipped away. She scooped up her bag and headed for the bathroom. A quick shower later, she braided her hair and slid into the nightie. Then her courage failed her.
She wondered how long she had been sitting on the bathroom floor.
The knock on the bathroom door made it clear it had been a long time. “Payten?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you all right in there?”
No, she thought. I want to seduce you, but have no idea where to start.
“Payten?”
Give me crazy murderers any day of the week over a failed seduction.
“If you don’t answer me, I’m going to come in.”
“Could you bring me my phone?” she asked quickly.
I need one of my girls, she thought. If I could just talk to one of them, I’ll be fine. This is just nerves.
“I will if you want me to.”
“Please,” she said.
“Would you like me to bring you some clothes to sleep in, too?”
She started to answer, then realized that Dean had noticed she hadn’t gone into the bedroom for her pajamas. “Dean?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think I’m wearing?”
“I’m praying nothing,” he answered through the door.
She laughed. Standing up, she moved toward the door.
“Payten?”
“Yeah.”
“Is your hair braided?”
She grinned. He knew her so well. “Yes.”
“Unbraid it, please.”
She pulled the rubber band out of her hair and quickly shook it out. “Ready?”
“Are you?” he asked her.
She didn’t hesitate. She pulled open the door and looked at Dean. His dark hair was mussed from lying on the couch with her. His slightly wrinkled shirt stretched across his broad chest. His jeans sat at his narrowed hips and tightened through the thighs. At the bottom of his jeans, his bare feet peeked out.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Are you kidding me? I love it.”
She smiled sweetly. “I’m seducing you,” she told him as she stepped out of the bathroom.
She had no idea where the sudden burst of courage had come from. Maybe the way he so obviously enjoyed what he was seeing. Whatever the reason, she decided to take advantage of it. She lightly placed her fingertips against his chest and pushed him.
He stepped back. “Are you?”
“Yup.” She pushed him again.
He stepped back again. “I think I’m going to let you.”
“Let me?” she asked. They repeated the push-and-step routine again.
“Yes. I’m going to let you.”
“Then I might let you back into that wall.” She pushed him a little harder.
Dean glanced over his shoulder before giving up another step backward.
“Don’t you trust me?”
He laughed. “Not any farther than you can throw me.”
She smiled and pushed him again. “Lose that shirt.”
He backed up another step. “I like this shirt.”
“So do I.” She pushed him again. This time, her whole hand brushed against his chest. “I like your chest better, though.”
At her urging, he took another step back. He peeled off his shirt, too.
She grinned. “You could make this quicker and just turn around.”
“Want to look at my ass?”
She laughed. “I meant you could walk faster.”
“If I turn around, I won’t be able to look at you anymore.”
“Oh, how tragic.” She snorted, giving him a push.
“You’re either going to push me all the way into the bedroom or you’re going to walk in front of me,” he told her, backing up another step.
“Want to look at my butt?” she asked, laughing as she pushed him again.
He took another step back. “I want to look at your ass, sweetheart. I want to see the swing of your hips and watch that silk slide across your skin. Then I’m going to touch
you everywhere that silk does.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. So keep pushing or get in front.”
She was tempted to keep pushing him. She liked teasing him, and she enjoyed being in charge. She admitted to herself that she had no clue what she was going to do with him once she got him to the bed, though. Decision made, she deliberately stepped around him and led the way to the bedroom.
• • •
Holy shit, he thought, following Payten to the bedroom. Like he had warned her, he watched her ass. With every step, her nightie rose the tiniest bit, showing even more of her long, gorgeous legs, then fell gently back into place.
He enjoyed her teasing, but was relieved she was going to let him lead. With him leading, he could set the pace. He was dying to get his hands on her again.
She hesitated in the door of the bedroom. “Should I turn on the light?”
“Do you want the light on?”
“Not really.”
“Then the light stays off.”
He took her hand and led her to the bed. He laid down and motioned for her to do the same. She crawled into the bed and stretched out next to him with her head on a pillow and her arms straight to her sides. Smiling, Dean turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow.
He kissed her gently. She responded, the tension in her body gradually easing. Moving slowly, he placed one hand on her stomach. Through the cool silk, he could feel the warmth of her skin.
“Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really nervous.”
He tried to bite back a smile. He doubted she could see him well enough to notice in the dark room, but wasn’t willing to risk her taking it the wrong way if she could. He pressed his face into her hair.
“I know you’re nervous,” he murmured against her ear.
The tips of his fingers slid along from her stomach to the middle of her chest in long, slow sweeps. He could feel a little more tension seep out of her with every pass.
“What can I do to make it better?”
“I was hoping you’d know the answer to that,” she said with a small laugh.
He nuzzled his nose against her hair. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” she answered quickly.
He scraped his teeth across her earlobe in the barest of nips and followed that with a gentle kiss. Her swift intake of breath made him smile.
