by Lexy Timms
That was destroying her here now, in front of him. She was going to lose him, too.
Through misty eyes she saw him fade, shrink away as though a million miles from her, out of reach, beyond her. Forever. He’d known and hadn’t bothered to warn her. That betrayal hurt worst of all. As the tears gathered, welling up and threatening to fall, a hand grabbed her arm, roughly.
She reacted without thought; instinct took over and she spun, breaking the grip. Her other hand shot out to grab the wrist that had captured her, only to look into the scowling face of her father, who drew her stumbling to the back of the room before she had time to realize they were in motion.
Not that she was about to let go. Not in a million years.
“Did you honestly think you would be the one replacing me?” he hissed, barely audible under David’s speech. Servers eyed them curiously as they cleared tables, giving them wide berth as he fought to get free of her iron grip.
“No.” She dropped his wrist as though it burned her fingers. He knew her so little as that? He thought she was upset because she wanted Markland Enterprises for herself? “I never wanted it. Never wanted—”
“No, you never did. You were always too good for us. You turned your back on this family a long time ago!”
“Not on the family. Just you.” She stared at her brother, who was shaking hands with the intensity of a seasoned politician.
“David’s been preparing for this his whole life—”
“You mean he was being prepared for it, don’t you?” She glared at her father. “You didn’t give him a choice any more than you gave me one. Or my mother.” She spat the words at him like they were bullets. His bully boys in the corners of the room were ignoring the altercation with all the earnestness of people being paid very good money to see nothing.
Her brother glanced their way, and frowned before turning to accept another congratulatory remark from someone else.
“We’ll finish this later,” her father snapped, and turned away. He rubbed at the wrist she’d grabbed. Maybe it was a rather perverse pleasure, but she was glad she’d hurt him.
Truth be told, he deserved far worse.
Dani pushed past him and headed for the bar. She didn’t even look at the bottle she grabbed. Not that it mattered; there were still walls to be christened.
Chapter Seven
Luke leaned against a wall; far enough to the back of the ballroom and behind enough fake plants that he’d hoped for a few minutes, at least, he could just vanish. Though, more likely than not, he’d just hit the creeper factor, given the startled look some woman had just given him as she’d wandered past more than a little drunk, and probably seeking a restroom from the way she was trying to hobble with her knees crossed.
Still, he at least had a moment’s peace to think. And recover.
Damn, he should have seen that coming. In the meantime, think. You’re getting distracted.
So the old man was stepping down in favor of the kid. Luke sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to erase the beginnings of a headache. Here he’d thought he was going to hear some corporate mumbo jumbo. A merger. He’d needed the name of the new partners who were rumored to be coming in to the business. They’d needed to know if Rineheart was climbing into bed with the Esposito clan or someone else.
Instead they’d gotten this.
And isn’t that just wonderful? Months and months of all that hard work! Building backstory. A dozen agents. All just to worm into Markland and to get noticed by the old man.
And boom! Just like that, the whole thing blows up. A change of command would mean restructuring. Just as Luke hit a promotion that would put him on the edges of the inner circle—he’d even managed to get invited to this big company party—he was inches away from getting in. Dammit! Twenty-four hours ago he would’ve said he was solidly ‘in.’
The pain in his balls brought him back to the present. Well, I certainly got noticed.
He leaned against the wall, allowing his head to fall back and thunk the drywall, hopefully hard enough to knock some sense into himself. Maybe erase the beautiful blonde from his recent memory, as if that would undo the entire mess that had been fast unraveling an investigation that had been over a year in the making.
What were you thinking? Whisking the boss’ daughter off to dance right out from under his nose certainly hadn’t helped his chances of keeping a position in the new regime. The old bastard was likely to have him canned just because he thought she was his daughter’s boyfriend. Oh yeah, like you hadn’t been marked for a pink slip already when you got caught in a compromising position with the girl in a fucking lockdown. You just know that goon reported the whole thing to Rineheart before Dani even got back to the ballroom.
If thunking his head a few more times would’ve solved anything, he would have happily volunteered to put a dent in the wall. As it was, he’d only shoved the headache into the world of developing migraine.
Months. Months of wasted effort fucked up by an ill-timed retirement and a bombshell with daddy issues.
Oh, I can’t wait to report in. They’ll reassign me to Alaska. When they get done laughing.
He was trying to figure out how to write up this disaster, when he saw her cross the room like a woman on a mission, another bottle in her hand like a glass grenade. He broke free of the hole he’d hidden in and followed her, calling himself twelve kinds of idiot for doing so.
She stalked through the door that separated the ballroom from the hallway and all the conference rooms. He was halfway to the door when a voice called out to him.
“You!” It was David. “Stop.”
Luke turned, thought about the gun that should’ve been in his pocket. Or in a holster. In fact, anywhere but back at home where he’d left it, fairly sure he’d never get it through security. He thought about making a break for it, but David’s call had attracted the attention of half a dozen of the armed security who suddenly were fascinated with Luke and everything about him. Running would get him precisely three feet before someone took him down. Someone who was smart enough to show up armed for this particular party.
Balls it out, Luke, just bullshit your way through.
“Hey,” Luke said, a big smile on his face, and thrust out his hand as the younger man approached. “Congratulations! Fresh degree and heir-apparent.” Keep him off-center, Luke. Keep him guessing.
Only, David wasn’t even a little off-center. His eyes were hard, calculating. Sober, and not the least bit rattled by anything that had happened thus far tonight. “Thanks! We haven’t met yet; I’m Dani’s brother.” David took the proffered hand, and shook it vigorously. He had a stronger grip than Luke expected.
“Luke. I, uh… I work in… I’m an analyst for your… I work in finance…” So smooth, Luke. Shape up. You’re acting like a raw recruit. This is what, the second time you’ve sounded like an absolute idiot tonight? If he got out of this alive, he’d blame it on the blonde. Tonight just about anything could be blamed on the blonde.
“Well, that’s all right,” David smiled, and clapped Luke’s shoulder. “Listen, a group of us is going to go rock climbing tomorrow; you should come along.”
Luke blinked and then blinked again, not sure he’d heard correctly. Rock climbing? His mind reeled through a dozen scenarios. Maybe there was a way he could salvage the operation yet. “Sure! I’d love that.”
“Great! Come by my place about 9:00. You know where it is?”
Intimately. “Pretty sure I can find it.” Luke said. “9AM. Thanks for inviting me.”
But David had already been snagged by someone from the crowd. Luke stood still a moment, nonplussed, trying to keep up. Okay, so maybe it had been a disaster of a mission, but now…
He took a deep breath and suddenly remembered he was going to track down Dani. If he could find her. He ducked into the hallway and closed the doors to the ballroom behind him, hoping to at the very least give himself some warning should anyone try to follow. He faced an endless length
of corridor, doors on all sides as innocuous as the last. There was no way to determine which one currently housed a beautiful angry blonde.
An idea occurred to him, and he walked quickly to the middle of the hallway and stood still, his head down, ears straining. Within moments a grunt and an explosion of glass brought him to the right place.
He opened the door to the sight of Dani standing on the balls of her feet, one foot behind in a classic martial-arts pose and burgundy liquid covering a far wall. In the center of the mess, a gaping hole in the wall where the bottle had embedded itself moments before exploding winked eerily at him.
“Nice shot.”
She whirled on him, moving like a fighter, like a panther. He took a defensive stance out of reflex.
“What’re you doing here? Who are you?” She glared at him. “What part are you playing in all this?” She didn’t yell, didn’t raise her voice, but it was all the more threatening for that. She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and twisted, holding him tight, letting her forearms rest on his chest. It was meant to exert control, to intimidate.
Luke didn’t intimidate easily. If anything, he found himself smiling. A little.
He reached between her arms and brought his arms up like a fountain between hers, breaking her grip. She responded by taking a swing at his head, but he caught her forearm and held her tight.
They froze a moment, both reassessing the other. Her arm was solid, hard, but his grip was iron. She stared at him, the anger and frustration that had so obviously been building in her eyes now focused on him. Her free arm shot out and grabbed the back of his head.
His hand went to her throat.
Dani launched herself at him, her mouth seeking his. Her kiss was brutal, hard, and long. She pulled his head down to hers; he lifted her by the jaw to meet his lips, intrigue giving way to something deeper. More primal. He released her forearm and she tore the jacket off his back, shrugging it off, letting it fall to the floor.
A voice in the back of his mind began screaming a warning. This is dangerous, this won’t end well, don’t, don’t, don’t… It was a small voice and easily ignored. His hands went to the small of her back and up the back of her shirt. She stepped away long enough to whip it off and then tore into his. The tie was inconvenient, she ignored it, but the buttons of the shirt didn’t fare as well. They exploded like little dress-up shrapnel, flying in every direction as she reached for his throat and chest, her eyes dark, ravenous.
Beautiful.
He grabbed the back of her bra like it was a harness on a wild animal. It snapped in his grasp and fell free, as shattered as his shirt. She barely noticed. She was fighting his belt, pulling it so tight he grunted under the strain until she released it and focused on the button holding up his pants. That, too, flew off to find its fellows and the zipper slammed down a second before the pants hit the floor.
Luke stepped out of his shoes and grabbed her under the arms to push her off him. She slammed into a table, over-balanced as he tore into her jeans, bringing them down with the same ferocity she’d used on him. Her panties went with the jeans, and she kicked them off violently and grabbed his underwear in her fists so they tore off completely.
She took a moment to examine the prize she’d uncovered, but he’d already been doing the same thing. She was gorgeous, sprawled against the table, chest heaving, hair down around her shoulders.
Dani said nothing, had said nothing at all in any of this. Yet her nod showed approval? Permission? All of that? Did he care? He wanted, and so he would take what she offered. No worry about tomorrow. No regrets. Just…this. Here. Now.
He took a step toward her, but she shoved him, hard. He landed against the wall heavily, holding her hips as she raised a leg to wrap around his waist and reached down to guide him inside of her.
Her leg coiled around him like a python’s grip and she rocked over him, around him, her fists grabbing the skin of his back and ass and pulling him in.
She staggered a little and he realized the awkwardness of the position and pushed her away, throwing her off balance and spinning her around. When her back was to him, he shoved her down at the waist and forced her over the table. He entered her from behind, burying himself to the hilt in her warmth.
She gripped the edge of the table and thrust back against his pressing. Her ankles wrapped behind his knees and she growled into the table. He had a rhythm going, holding her hips, glorying in the feel of her. He braced himself against the table, bending to inhale the scent of her hair, stroking the long line of her back. Adjusting her hips to draw her up, higher, to take her deeper. She squirmed, moaning, rocking against him until his knees buckled under her onslaught and he fell against two chairs, scattering them across the room. The table crashed, overturned as they both fell. They stared at each other a moment, the corner of her mouth rising in wry amusement as she sprang up with the grace of a panther, easing herself over his prone body, dragging a carefully manicured hand down his chest. He could have sworn she was purring, and felt an answering smile tug at his lips as he raised a hand to steady her as she clambered aboard.
She took him as he lay there, bold, beautiful, head thrown back with arrogance. Victory. Sighing a little as she eased herself down, impaling herself on him and holding him down, her hands clawing into his chest. He responded by grabbing both breasts and squeezing, giving as good as he got. She made an odd little mewing sound and he felt the answering squeeze from deep within her, a small precursor to orgasm.
Only, as far as he was concerned, that wasn’t allowed. At least not yet.
He rolled abruptly, sending her onto her back. They tumbled halfway underneath another table and he rose to re-enter her, tipping the table over with a resounding crash. He thrust into her, holding her throat with one hand, the other a balled fist in that glorious hair.
Dani screamed in a mixture of passion and frustration as he buried himself in her again, rising in a new rhythm until he felt the tremble in the legs wrapped around him. She reared up in his arms, the violence of her orgasm surprising them both perhaps, sinking her teeth into his shoulder as she came, burying her screams in his flesh as her body shuddered and jolted. He swallowed his own shout, gasping with the force of his own release, overwhelmed and in awe of this wild, crazy creature who could wring so much passion out of him.
His entire body still shaking, Luke fell beside her. They lay side-by-side like two half-drowned survivors of a shipwreck. They said nothing. There was little enough to say maybe. Luke pondered all the possible statements he could make but ‘thank you’ seemed weak, and he wasn’t entirely sure his words would be welcomed.
Eventually hearts slowed, and they could breathe again.
It was Dani who moved first. She stood, sweat glistening between her breasts, moisture trailing down the inside of her thighs. Her hair tumbled about her face, giving her a soft, innocent look as she gazed about the ruin of the room, then kicking aside furniture as she retrieved her clothing. She pulled on the panties and jeans and shook her head in sadness at the ruin of the bra.
Yet she didn’t look at him. Luke frowned a little, rising perhaps a little slower than she had. The remnant of his underwear was hardly worth saving. The pants had miraculously survived, sans button, though with the belt it was hardly needed or noticeable. He threw on his shirt, wondering what the hell her problem was, wondering why she took so long over her own clothing and hair, why she cared so much to restore herself when she thought so little of the people in the next room.
Or maybe I’m just pissed that I had the most amazing sex in my life with a woman who thinks just as little of me as she does anyone else in this building. Not counting her brother.
Luke tucked in his shirt, not really caring that it was beyond buttoning, that throwing the suit jacket over it wouldn’t erase the fact that he was perhaps more casually dressed than he’d been since he arrived. It’s not like he planned to stay any later. And he certainly couldn’t compromise his position any further, could he?
Dani cleared her throat. It was an awkward sound, overlaid with meanings he couldn’t begin to guess as she stood, facing away from him. “Thanks for the workout.”
Four words. It’s all she had to say to him before she walked out of that room, walked out of his life. He stared after her, feeling the anger build in his gut.
Best damn treadmill I’ve ever been on. Luke growled in frustration, half inclined to chase after her. Half inclined to tell her to go to hell.
Except she was long gone, and the moment was past.
His headache returned with a vengeance. Damn woman. He stuffed his torn underwear into his pocket and headed for the door, turning toward the exit rather than return to the party. He was right. He was definitely done for the night.
It was going to be one hell of a report.
Chapter Eight
Thanks for the workout? Okay, that could have been a little nicer.
The sun threw a spotlight across the bed, and Dani lay watching it slide up the sheet covering her chest to her neck to her face. She’d been watching it rise for some time. Before that, she’d watched the darkness of her room.
Her mind was still going a thousand miles an hour, picking at details, worrying at memories, trying to pull out every fiber and weft, looking for another clue. Someone made a threat on David. Her father named David as his successor. And Luke was an incredible fuck.
Her mind kept coming back to that. She was supposed to keep David safe, to figure out who was making the threats and deal with whoever it was—harshly. She tried using her anger and frustration to keep her mind on the job of keeping David safe. But Luke kept showing up in her thoughts with that infuriating half-smile and that tight, muscled body…
Enough, already.
