York pulled in a deep breath. He'd heard about a woman scorned, but he had a feeling a woman a man had set out to use would be just as resentful and spiteful. She would also be revengeful, and that's what he didn't have time for. He didn't need her or anyone else getting in the way of him bringing down Felder and whoever he was working for and with. “Darcy, I want you to let me handle it. Let it go.”
“I can't.”
He heard the seriousness in her voice and realized at that moment she truly couldn't. Then he again remembered what she'd told him about her father. She was a woman wronged, and she intended—come hell or high water—to get even. At that moment, he truly felt sorry for Felder.
But still, York decided to try to appeal on her logical side, to get her to back away from the unknown. He had some names of those Felder might be in cahoots with and expected there might be others. The bootlegged films would bring in a lot of money and would possibly bankrupt the production company. It wasn't fair that many people would lose their jobs due to shameless greed.
“You have got to let me do this, York.”
Her words regained his attention, and he glanced down at her, saw the determination in her eyes. “This is not a game, Darcy. It's serious business. You don't know the type of men we're dealing with. You could get hurt.” He came short of saying she could lose her life. He thought about Rhonda, how her life had ended and she had been trained to take down the bad guys. But a bullet had stopped her, anyway.
“Yes, but think about it for a moment. They'd singled me out as their fall guy. Supposedly, without my knowledge, they have given me something to pass on to someone. But who? How is the contact supposed to be made? Why was I singled out? All we know is someone is supposed to get those memory cards. But when? I think I should go along pretending that business is usual and see how this plays out. I'm just as capable as any female employee you might bring in. Have you forgotten I can defend myself?”
No, he hadn't forgotten. He knew she was trained in martial arts. And from what he'd heard she was pretty good. But still, karate couldn't stand a chance against a gun aimed at you with a bullet destined to kill you.
He rubbed his hand down his face and then said, “Let me think about this.”
She nodded, but again he saw the determined look in her eyes. Regardless of what his decision might be, she'd already made hers. “Did Felder say when he'll be back?” he asked her.
“Yes. He said he was returning Monday and wanted to see me again.”
He thought for a second and then said, “That tote bag isn't something you would automatically bring with you, and he knows you'll probably get suspicious if you were asked about it. He plans to get it some other way. And I don't think it will be on this island. I believe he plans for someone to get it from you when you get back to Miami. I think he just wants to keep up with you while you're here on the island. Those videos are worth a lot of money, and he'll want to keep tabs on them.”
“Let him.”
“Did you ever mention to him how long you'll be on the island?” he asked.
“Yes, that night he took me to dinner and dancing. He also knows that I have a few hours layover in Miami before flying on to Minnesota.”
York nodded slowly. “Come on, let's get up, get dressed and go back to my place. We can think some more there.”
But it wasn't thinking that he wanted to do. He wanted nothing more than to make love to her again. And more than anything, he wanted to keep her safe from men like Felder. But he knew she wouldn't appreciate his protection. She would see it as a weakness on her part.
He eased his naked body out of bed and glanced around the room for his jeans. “Can I ask you something, York?” He heard her say.
He turned his attention to her. “Yes.”
“How do you manage to stay hard for so long? Even when you don't have sex on your mind?”
Of all the things he had expected her to ask, that wasn't it and he couldn't help his quick laugh. But then he really shouldn't be surprised. Darcy did have the tendency to speak her mind. “And what makes you think I don't have sex on my mind?” he countered.
She shrugged beautiful naked shoulders. “I just figured you didn't.”
He smiled. “You're lying in bed naked and you think I don't have sex on my mind? Less than an hour after I got to perform one of my fantasy positions?”
A smile curved her lips. “That was your fantasy position?”
“Yes, but I have several.”
She pushed the bedcovers aside exposing her nakedness. “Show me another one. I'm game.”
The pulse at the base of his throat was fluttering erratically as he raked his gaze over her. He thought she was simply beautiful whether she was in clothes or out of them. Lying there naked in bed, looking more gorgeous than any woman had a right to look made him get harder and thicker. He wasn't surprised she noticed that as well.
“You're getting even more aroused, York. There's no need letting a good, hard erection go to waste, is there?”
He truly liked the way she thought. “No, there's not,” he said and headed back to the bed.
They had been back at York's beach house less than ten minutes when Darcy's cell phone rang. York had gone outside to put away the Jet Ski and set up the grill. She smiled when she saw her caller was Ellie. She was glad her friend was not there to see the deep blush that suddenly appeared on her features. If Ellie knew what she'd been doing for the past few days and with whom, she wouldn't believe her.
“Hello.”
“Hey, girl, just thought I'd give you a warning. Uriel mentioned at dinner that York is also on the island.”
Darcy smiled. Everyone in their inner circles knew of her and York's dislike of each other and would probably be shocked, surprised as hell to discover they liked each other after all. In fact, she would go so far to say they liked each other a lot.
Their last escapade in her hotel room had turned into a sex game for them, one she had enjoyed. She hadn't known there were so many naughty ways to have fun with one's lover.
Lover.
Yes, he was definitely her lover … at least while she was here on the island. She knew once they returned to New York that it would be business as usual, although she doubted she could draw enough energy not to like him again. She liked him way too much now. What woman wouldn't like a man who could make her head spin, her knees go weak and her toes curl? A man who had the ability to dish out multiple orgasms?
“Darcy?”
“Yes?”
“Why aren't you saying anything? I expected you to have sent out a few colorful curse words by now, especially since you and York can't get along.”
And under any normal circumstances when it came to York, she would have. But that was before she had discovered a lot more about him, including some things not connected to the bedroom. Over the past couple of days, they had talked a lot over dinner, breakfast and when they weren't busy blowing each other's minds in the bedroom. She believed he was a great brother, as great as her two, and a girl couldn't ask for more than that.
She also believed he was a natural born protector. That was evident in the way he was still trying to talk her out of any involvement with those memory cards.
And she would even go so far as to admit that once you got to know him, he was a likable person, a lot of fun to be around and wonderful company. He was well versed on a lot of things. She liked the fact that they shared the same political party, held strong in their belief there was a God and thought no matter how old he got, Prince was the bomb.
“Darcy!”
She snapped to attention. “What?”
“What's the matter with you?” Then in a low voice, Ellie asked, “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Darcy smiled. “If you're asking if you caught me with my panties off and in bed with a man, then the answer is no. But had you called an hour or so earlier the answer would be a resounding yes!”
“You are protecting yourself, right?”
/> She swallowed deeply. “Yes, I am protecting myself.”
She knew why Ellie was asking. Ellie was the only person who knew how much she enjoyed the feel of a man's release erupting inside of her. That had always been a deep, dark fantasy of hers—one she could never indulge in with a man. It had been okay with her and Harold when they were married, but after her divorce she could never trust any man to go that far with her.
But she trusted York. She believed he was in good health like he believed she was. He had told her he didn't make it a point to make love to a woman without a condom, regardless of whether she was on any type of birth control or not. Too many women out there were looking for some man to become their baby's daddy, and he did not want that status. However, he didn't mind letting go inside of her. In fact, she would probably be safe to say he enjoyed giving it as much as she enjoyed getting it.
“So you've met a man …”
Ellie's statement reclaimed her attention. She decided to be honest. “Yes, I've met a man.”
“Is he someone from the islands?” Ellie asked.
“No.”
“American?”
“Yes.”
“I don't have to ask if he's nice looking,” Ellie tacked on.
Darcy smiled. “No, you don't have to ask. And don't bother asking if he's good in bed because he is. And yes, he was well worth my two years of abstinence.”
There was a pause on the other end, and then Ellie asked quietly, “Is he someone you can see yourself falling in love with, Darcy?”
At that moment, Darcy's heart literally sank from her chest right into the pit of her stomach. Ellie's question hit her like a ton of bricks and made her realize something she had tried not to think about. She had come to the island for fun and sex but not love. Love had been a word that had gotten torn from the pages of her memory the day she'd divorced Harold. Love was an emotion she hadn't thought about since the day she had refused to take any more of her ex's foolishness, and had come to the realization that she could do bad all by herself and that he wasn't worth the heartache.
But now thanks to Ellie that one word was back, and all the emotions that came with it were staring her right smack in the face. And the sad thing was that she knew the answer to her best friend's question. Yes, York was someone she could see herself falling in love with, and heaven help her, she was almost there. It wouldn't take much to push her over the edge and get her heart screwed up all over again.
She rubbed her hand down her face. How could she have let it happen? When did it happen? Was it too late to pull back and run in the opposite direction?
“You've taken too long to answer, Dar. Should I include another place setting at the New Year's Eve dinner party?”
She closed her eyes, trying to force her body, her mind, her thoughts into denial. York was just her island lover. When they returned to New York, things would go back to how they were before. Her mind could agree with that reasoning but her heart was playing hardball. Darcy drew in a deep breath, knowing why. She would want to continue to play all those naughty and fun games with him. She couldn't imagine being in the same room with him and not being able to plan their next sexual escapade. And she refused not to be able to kiss him, tangle her tongue with his, suck on it as if she had every right. Rights.
He wanted rights when it came to her, and hadn't she given them to him to some degree? Did he expect those rights to extend beyond Jamaica? Would it truly bother her if he did expect it? She shook her head knowing it would probably bother her if he didn't.
“Maybe I need to call you back later. Sounds like I've given you a lot to think about,” Ellie said, once again interrupting Darcy's thoughts.
“Yes, you have.”
“And when you call me back you will let me know if I should add another name to my guest list, right?” Ellie said.
Darcy forced a chuckle. She was one hundred percent certain her lover's name was already on the guest list. But she wasn't ready to tell Ellie that yet. “Yes, I'll let you know then.”
Moments later, she hung up the phone. Ellie was right. She had been given a lot to think about.
Chapter 12
“It's a good thing you discovered those memory cards on Ms. Owens, York,” Wesley Carr was saying. “There's a chance she would have cleared security like Felder counted on her doing. But what if she hadn't?”
York leaned against the shed in his backyard and rubbed a hand down his face as his talked to Wesley on his cell phone. That scenario Wesley had just mentioned was one he really and truly didn't want to think about. It would have been hard for her to convince anyone that those memory cards had been planted on her and that she knew nothing about having them.
“I know, Wesley. And she's determined to let Felder think he's using her and has her just where he wants her. I'm just curious to know how he intends to get that tote bag from her.”
York released a deep breath. Unknowns were what had his gut twisting when several scenarios flashed across his mind. He didn't like a single one of them since all of them placed Darcy in some sort of danger. And all he had to do was think of what had happened to Rhonda to know he had no intention of letting that happen.
“Where is the tote bag now?” Wesley asked.
“We brought it back from the hotel, and it's here at my place.”
“So what's your plan, son?”
York couldn't help but smile. Wesley personified the saying “Once a cop always a cop.” “Don't know. But what I do know is that I don't want Darcy Owens placed in any danger.”
“And we will work hard to make sure that doesn't happen. You got good men and women working for you.”
York knew that to be true. But still …
There had to be that but in there somewhere, and he didn't like it. And of course Darcy was trying to make things complicated. She should have taken his advice from the jump and not become involved with Felder. But the stubborn woman refused to do so, and now she had the nerve to want to help him nail the guy. Well, he had news for her. Things would not go down that way. He couldn't take the chance.
“York, you still there?”
It was then that York remembered he had Wesley on the phone. “Yes, Wesley, I'm still here. I'll check in with Marlon to see how things are going with Johnny Rush. He seemed put out that Danielle Simone is missing.”
“I guess he would be when it appears that she and Felder have a thing going on right under the man's nose. In my day, a man found the woman he wanted and settled down with her. Nowadays you young people shy away from commitment. Why is that, York?”
York knew he couldn't speak for others, only for himself. “Marriage isn't easy to deal with anymore, Wesley.” He then thought about Rhonda. He had planned to ask her to marry him Christmas night. Her untimely death had shown him you couldn't take much for granted. It had also made him vow never to fall for another woman who didn't mind putting herself in a dangerous position.
So why was he falling for Darcy?
And he would admit that he was falling for her big time. It wasn't just the sex, although he would be the first to admit any time he was inside of her was off the chain. But there was a side of her he hadn't gotten to know until recently when he'd begun spending time with her. Besides being sexy, she was witty and fun to be around.
“I'll check in with the others. As you know, Felder and Simone aren't the only ones I'm keeping a close eye on. I have a feeling there are others in this game of deceit. And I think it's time we need to move to plan B. And fast.”
A few moments later, York had ended his conversation with Wesley and was about to go back inside his house when he got another call. This one was from his godbrother Zion to say he would be returning to the States for the holidays since Ellie insisted he attend her New Year's party.
They talked a little while, and Zion brought him up to date on how the jewelry business was doing. His hand-made jewelry was now on every woman's wish list, after the president had purchased a few pieces for the fi
rst lady. Moments later, he hung up the phone thinking he had left Darcy to her own devices way too long. It was time for him to go check on her. And time to come up with a game plan to get any ideas out of her mind of working with him to bring Felder down.
“So what's our game plan, York?”
York glanced up from his breakfast and looked across the table at Darcy. Yesterday they had gone swimming and later he had treated her to grilled trout, a salad, roasted corn on the cob and ice cold lemonade. As before, she had sat at the kitchen counter and watched him work. She had volunteered to pitch in to help, but he'd convinced her his kitchen was a one-man show and that he preferred she just sit and watch him in action. She had a way of undressing him with her gaze. Usually thinking that any woman found him that interesting would annoy him, but not with Darcy—mainly because he was just as interested in her as she seemed to be in him.
And he'd proven just how much at bedtime. Memories of making love to her were still vibrant in his mind. She had surprised him upon waking up this morning. She had treated him to breakfast … only after treating him to something else. He'd never enjoyed early morning lovemaking so much.
He met her gaze. “Would it matter very much if I said we don't have one?” he responded while twirling his wine glass between his fingers. He had taken her up on her suggestion of swapping orange juice for wine, and he rather enjoyed it.
She gave him a sweet smile, one that didn't fool him for a minute. He'd figured it was only a matter of time for her to recall they still had a bone to pick. “Of course it would matter, York. I thought we agreed that I would be included.”
He didn't want to argue with her, but he decided to try once again to make her understand why he couldn't—wouldn't—let her become involved. “We didn't agree to anything.” He took a sip of his wine and then said, “I don't want anything to happen to you.”
Evidently it was how he'd said it more than what he'd said that gave her pause. For the longest moment, she just stared across the table at him, and he was able to feel the intensity of her gaze. Exactly how had he said it? Then he realized it was with more emotion than he had intended.
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