"Go back inside," Rick told Natalie.
She didn't. Not right away. Because her arm was touching his, he felt her muscle tense. He also felt the argument she was having with herself. She didn't want to leave him alone to face this irate man, but she also couldn't put the baby at risk.
"I need to talk to Natalie, too," Troy insisted.
"Tough. Whatever you have to say to her, you can say to me." Rick didn't take his eyes off Troy, and he gave Natalie a nudge to get her moving. She hurried up the steps and opened the door. What she didn't do was go inside. She stood in the doorway, watching them.
Well, she watched for a few seconds, and then she shouted. "Kitt, call the police. Troy's here."
That brought Troy out of the shadows. With a feral-sounding snarl, he charged right at Rick. Rick was ready for him, too. When Troy got closer, Rick aimed his fist at the man's jaw. And connected.
Hard.
Troy's head jerked back and he staggered, trying to maintain his balance. He also tried to punch Rick. But Rick merely dodged the attempted blow and landed another punch in the guy's solar plexus.
Troy went down like a bag of rocks.
So much for his beefcake body and his superior DNA. It hadn't helped him one iota in a physical confrontation. Of course, Rick had been a lot more motivated than Troy. Rick had been protecting Natalie and his baby.
Natalie rushed down the steps. She had a large umbrella in her hand, and she aimed it at Troy. With that fierce look on her face, Rick didn't doubt she was ready and willing to use it. But it wasn't necessary. Troy stayed on the steps, groaning in pain.
"The cops are on the way," Kitt relayed from the doorway. "Do you need something to tie him up?"
Rick shook his head. "I don't think he's going anywhere."
But Troy tried to prove him wrong. He rolled to his side, looked up at Rick and made eye contact.
"This isn't over," Troy warned. "You had me fired. You turned Macy against me, and you ruined my life. One way or the other, you'll pay me back for that."
"Is that a threat?" Natalie asked.
"You bet it is."
And then Troy made one more huge mistake. He got up. Not empty-handed, either. He pulled a snub-nosed revolver from his pocket.
Adrenaline and panic sliced through Rick.
He dove toward Natalie, to drag her out of harm's way, but he soon realized it wasn't necessary.
Troy turned and broke into a run.
Chapter Fourteen
Natalie dabbed some hydrogen peroxide on Rick's scraped knuckles. She blew on them to take away the sting and then added a kiss for good measure.
"Feel better?" Natalie asked.
"No." But then, his puzzled look over that hand kiss turned into a smile. "Well, a little."
She stared down at him where he was sitting on the edge of her marble bathtub. "Well, I certainly feel better."
"You didn't mind me pulverizing Troy?"
"No." She recapped the peroxide and put it back in the medicine cabinet. "I only wish I had the physical strength to do it myself. Troy deserved what you did to him."
It hadn't taken Rick long to catch up with the man and wrestle him to the ground—where he kept Troy pinned until the police arrived. Sometime within the next twenty-four hours, her mother's former assistant would be booked on attempted assault and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. None of those charges would land him much jail time, but Natalie prayed it would scare him enough to stay away from Rick and her.
Rick obviously didn't believe that.
After they'd arrived back at her house, Rick had gone on another security tirade, rushing through the rooms while he checked all the windows and the doors. It'd taken her nearly a half hour to lure him into her bathroom so she could disinfect the scrapes on his knuckles that he'd gotten in the altercation with Troy.
"I never thought Carlton would do something like this," he mumbled.
Natalie slid her hand onto his shoulder. "Neither did I." And that was an understatement. She hadn't believed anyone would do something like this. "He manipulated a dying man to keep us apart. It doesn't lessen the pain of David's death, but it does ease the guilt."
"Does it?" he asked.
She nodded. "I have to believe it does. David wasn't well. I know that now, and he was easily manipulated. Heck, I manipulated him. He knew I wasn't in love with him, that I would never be in love with him, yet he asked me to marry him."
"You didn't manipulate that."
"I did by saying yes. If I'd declined, then maybe David would be alive today."
"And maybe David would have killed himself sooner," Rick pointed out. "As you said, he wasn't well."
Natalie leaned against the sink. "Still, we have to live with what happened."
"And we have to live with what Carlton did," Rick added.
Yes, that too.
Natalie knew which would be harder. "Eventually, I'll be able to forgive your uncle. With time. But I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself."
He looked up at her. "Let's go back to that night. If David hadn't been a part of the picture, what would you have done when I kissed you?"
"Is that a trick question?" Because she was certain he knew the answer.
"No. What would you have done?"
"Exactly what I did—I kissed you back." She paused, thought about it a moment. Images started to flood her mind. "The kissing would have escalated. At some point, we would have probably decided it was stupid to resist each other because of our over-bearing parents."
"And?" There was some heat in his voice now.
Natalie felt that heat drift her way. "And we would have kept kissing until we dragged each other off to the linen closet."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "The linen closet?"
"It was the nearest place. Since this is my fantasy account of what might have happened, I get to choose the location."
Without breaking the eye contact between them, he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. "So, let's rewrite history."
Without waiting for her to agree, Rick kissed her.
Natalie hadn't had time to brace herself for the onslaught, and as a result, she lost her breath almost immediately. She didn't care. Breathing didn't seem nearly as important as what Rick was doing with his mouth.
Oh. He was good.
But Natalie had never doubted that.
He looked good, but tasted even better. He touched the seam of her mouth with his tongue. A warning, of sorts, that he was about to deepen the kiss.
He did.
And Natalie felt herself melt against him.
"There's no linen closet in here," she said against his mouth.
"We don't need one. We've got everything we need right here."
And he proceeded to prove that to her.
* * *
RICK SNAPPED Natalie to him and pulled her onto his lap. He took her mouth, feasting on it.
"The no-kissing rule obviously is out the window," she remarked.
"Yeah. It went out with that no-sex rule."
"Good."
That was it. The only green light he needed from Natalie. They were finally going to have sex, and this time he'd make sure they both remembered it.
Natalie obviously agreed because she wound her arms around him, readjusted herself, and moved her legs to either side of his hips. Straddling him. All in all, it was a darn good position—except, of course, they were in the bathroom. Her big, comfortable bed was only yards away, but judging from the heat of their kisses, that bed was a million miles away.
Without breaking the kiss or the body contact, Rick eased them to the floor, and he somehow managed to do that with Natalie still in his lap. The new position must have created a new urgency in her because she went after his T-shirt. It was a frenzied motion, and for some reason speed seemed to count here.
Rick didn't like speed when it came to sex.
So, he helped her with his T-shirt removal and then caught
onto her hands. When he took her mouth again, he did so slowly, hoping it would set the pace.
It didn't.
Natalie obviously didn't like slow when it came to sex.
She pressed herself closer and closer until it was hard to tell where he started and she began. When she slid her hand between their bodies and went after his zipper, Rick remembered which parts were his and which were hers.
Rick tried a different tactic and eased her back onto the thick white rug that covered the floor. He followed on top of her. A temporary move. Just so he could get control of her clever, zipper-lowering hands.
"Oh, this is good," she mumbled. And to prove her point, she made some adjustments of her own and cradled his hips with her thighs. She also nudged him with the center of her body and had him seeing stars.
Oh, man.
This was not going to be a long session of lovemaking if she kept doing that.
"Plan B," he whispered. "I take you here, now, and later we do this the right way."
"We're doing it the right way," she insisted. "I like having your weight on me."
Okay. He'd remember that. Since he liked having her beneath him, this was working out pretty good. Of course, he would have equally enjoyed having her on top.
Heck, he just wanted her.
Everything else was optional.
Since she was going on another zipper-finding mission, Rick made a counterstrike. He went after her zipper. Well, her panties anyway. He slid his hand up her dress and found a little swatch of silk and lace. Despite Natalie's nudges and mumbled pleas for more, he took a moment to savor her choice of underwear. He circled his fingers over the fabric, making sure he also circled his fingers over her.
She moaned softly and lifted her hips.
He liked that reaction very much so he upped the stakes. He rid Natalie of those panties and touched her with his fingers. She was wet and hot. Oh, and she was ready.
He tossed the panties aside, and with some maneuvering, he slid down her body. And replaced his fingers with his mouth.
She said something very, very dirty.
That caused him to smile, but he stayed focused on the pleasurable task at hand. He sampled. Savored. Enjoyed. And judging from the names she was calling him, Natalie was enjoying it, too.
Well, for a few moments anyway.
She caught onto him and forced him to make his way back up her body. Rick dropped a few kisses on her stomach along the way.
"I want you in me," she said.
And it was a powerful demand. Especially coupled with the fact that she was stripping off the rest of his clothes. Rick decided to strip off her clothes as well.
Her bra distracted him a moment. He was a sucker for white lace, and that's what she had on beneath that little peach dress. Despite her insistence that they get on with this, he kissed her nipples through the lace. It was definitely an erogenous zone for her because she slid her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer.
Man, it was exciting to learn what excited her.
Rick continued to excite them both a little longer, but Natalie soon began tugging and pulling him until she had him between her legs.
"Now," she demanded.
He gave her now.
Rick watched her as he took her. Her eyelids fluttered down. Her mouth opened slightly. Her breath deepened.
Inch by inch he entered her. The sensations were overwhelming. The pleasure. The feel of being inside her. The way she moved against him. And then, with him.
The rhythm they found was as old as time itself. Easy and slow. Then, building. Escalating. To a frantic pace. Until it was unbearable.
His body begged for release. So did Natalie's. He could feel her so close to that release. He could see it on her face. So he pushed into her.
She met his gaze at the exact moment he felt her surrender. Rick moved deep inside her, giving and capturing as much of the pleasure as he could.
Then he kissed her.
One hot kiss.
And the taste of her was all he needed to send him over the edge. Rick buried his face against hers and let go.
* * *
RICK HEARD the peaceful rhythm of Natalie's breathing. She'd fallen asleep once he moved her into the bedroom. Thank God. She'd been exhausted and hadn't been getting nearly enough peace and quiet.
Well, it felt peaceful and quiet now.
It also felt right.
He frowned at that right feeling and reminded himself that just because they no longer were bound by that promise they'd made to David, it didn't mean they were a couple.
Yes, they'd had sex, but it was just that. Sex. Between two people who'd always been attracted to each other. Sex was a natural progression—which seemed ironic since Natalie was already pregnant with his baby.
That whole natural progression had obviously skipped a few steps, thanks to whoever had drugged them.
But where would the steps take them now?
Rick didn't have a lot of time to contemplate that because his cell phone rang. Natalie woke up. Of course. And he rifled through his clothes to locate the phone so he could chew out the person who'd called and disturbed her much-needed sleep.
"It's me, Carlton."
Oh, man. Rick definitely wasn't ready for round two with his uncle. "We have nothing more to say to each other."
"But we do. Don't hang up. Please."
It was the please that caught his attention. "I'm listening," Rick finally said. "But make it quick."
"Okay. Here goes. I've been investigating what happened to Natalie and you, and I tracked down the missing bartender, Brandon Stevens."
"Where is he?"
"At this exact moment, I don't know, but he's agreed to meet us at a bar down on the Riverwalk. He's scared, Rick. He says someone tried to run him off the road. And get this—it was an SUV with dark tinted windows."
Well, that was a puzzle piece that actually fitted—if the bartender was telling the truth, that is. "Is he willing to come to Natalie's house? I can meet him outside."
With Natalie tucked inside. Where she'd be safe.
"He says he'll only meet us at the well-lit area in front of the Yellow Rose Bar," Carlton explained. "It's open all night. He says that's the only place he'll feel safe since he knows the area well and there'll be people around."
Safety was a big issue for Rick, too, and this didn't sound safe. "Then, have him call me so we can talk."
"He wants to talk to you in person," Carlton said without hesitation.
His uncle's lack of hesitation, however, caused Rick's uneasiness to rise. "Why?"
"I don't know. Like I said—he's scared."
But fear could be faked, and even if it was real, it didn't mean this meeting was a good idea. "Is this some kind of trap?" Rick asked point-blank.
"No. Not by me, it's not. But I can't vouch for the bartender's motives. That's why I'm meeting you there. I'll be your back-up."
"I don't trust you to be my back-up." Rick didn't even have to think about this.
"I know. And I'm sorry about that. Hell, I'm sorry about everything I said and everything I did. I can't make that up to you. I know it. But I can stop someone from trying to hurt Natalie and you. This Brandon Stevens seems to know who's responsible for that. He even says he has proof."
Rick met Natalie's gaze. He could see the conflict going on in her eyes. Proof was something they were sorely lacking. Was it possible this bartender had that kind of proof? And could this proof lead to the arrest of a would-be killer?
He didn't have to debate it long. Rick knew this was a meeting he'd have to attend, even if such a meeting was setting off all kinds of alarms in his head.
"Give me an hour," Rick told his uncle. "I need to make some arrangements before I can leave."
"Sure. And, Rick, be careful. Bring your gun."
Oh, he intended to do just that.
But even with precautions, Rick figured this could be a deadly meeting.
Chapter Fifteen
"You know you're not coming with me to the bar, right?" Rick asked as he strapped on a shoulder holster and slipped his gun inside it.
She knew she was staying home. Natalie had figured that out as soon as she'd heard Rick agree to the meeting. He would have never agreed to it if it meant taking her with him. The risk to the baby was just too high.
But so was the risk for Rick.
"I don't want you to go," she said, knowing she couldn't change his mind.
"I don't want to go, either, but we have to put a stop to this. We can't keep looking over our shoulders, waiting for someone to make the next attempt on our lives."
He was right. There would be another attempt. And probably the attempts would continue until this person got what they wanted—the two of them dead.
But was Carlton the very person responsible?
"The PI is on his way over," Rick explained. "Kitt trusts him. She says he'll protect you if necessary."
Natalie didn't doubt it. Her sister's recommendation was enough to know she'd be in good hands. "And who'll protect you?" she asked Rick.
He shrugged. "I can take care of myself."
She caught onto his arm and turned him around to face her. "Swear to me that's true."
Rick touched his mouth to hers. "I swear."
He didn't add more, probably because at that exact moment the doorbell rang. Rick maneuvered her into the living room and hurried to answer it.
But not before drawing his weapon.
Natalie peeked out, hating that she couldn't be standing side by side with him in case there was danger waiting behind that door. She hated that she couldn't help him. But the pregnancy changed everything.
She let out the breath she'd been holding when Rick opened the door and let the tall, wide-shouldered man inside. They made introductions. He was Mason Tanner, and judging from his brawny build and seemingly permanent scowl, he was formidable. No wonder her sister had hired him.
"Stay put," Rick told her. "I'll call you as soon as I know something."
She nodded. "You'll be careful." And she refused to make it sound like a question. It couldn't be a question. He had to come back to her.
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