by Sherrilyn Kenyon; Dianna Love; Cindy Gerard; Laura Griffin
He had no self-control around her. If dinner went anything like what happened last night she’d be the main course.
Dessert would be her in that twisted yoga position. In the middle of the bed or on the sofa or kitchen table.
But where would that leave him tomorrow morning? Skulking away in the dark again?
When he didn’t answer right away, she glanced around and fiddled with the cuff of her sleeve then lowered her voice. “I know you’re leaving town, but I thought we could have some fun… while you were here.”
Well, that cleared up any confusion he had over where he stood with her. Just his luck the minute he convinced himself he was through playing loose with women that he’d meet one who wanted no strings. At least, not from him.
He’d never stepped completely over the line from casual to caring, but he’d scuffed it somewhere with CeCe, which meant getting dumped later on was going to feel like shit.
So why make being cut loose later any worse by spending more time together?
“I don’t think so,” he told her.
“Why not? I haven’t cooked a full meal since moving in and I’m not a half bad cook,” she joked, but her eyes were tinged with worry.
Jeremy paused as one of the personal trainers walked past chatting on a cell phone. Then he speared CeCe with a no-bullshit gaze. “Your brother coming by tonight?”
“No, he couldn’t make it back until tomorrow,” she said excitedly then stopped talking and cocked her head to one side. She frowned as if she didn’t understand why they were talking about her brother.
“I see.” Jeremy hesitated to say more with so many people walking around behind CeCe to access the equipment in this area.
Her mouth gaped open. “Is something wrong? I mean, I thought last night was, like…”
The vulnerable look in her eyes and her pleading tone stabbed him to the core.
“…really nice,” he finished for her. That was a lie.
Last night had been spectacular, had sucked him right in to thinking how much he’d like to wake up next to her every day.
She raked a hand over her hair, knocking the ponytail further askew, and hissed a sigh. “Then I don’t understand why you won’t have dinner with me tonight.”
Now she was hurt.
Jeremy knew better than to change his mind about seeing her again, alone, but this was not the place to pursue their discussion. He’d handle it tonight.
“In that case, I accept,” he finally conceded. “No reason we can’t have dinner… as friends.” No reason other than the idea of only being friends and not touching CeCe grated on him. After tonight they would just be neighbors. Not even that since he planned to put in for BAD to move his residence while he was gone. He checked his watch. “I won’t get out of here until after eight.”
“Friends, right,” she muttered. Her smile faltered a little then she offered a conciliatory smile. “Come over whenever you get in. Late is fine.” She turned to walk away.
Jeremy remembered something he had for her. “CeCe?”
“Yes?” She spun around, her gaze lit with interest that stroked a warm place inside him.
He cursed silently over how deep she had burrowed under his skin. In three weeks, she’d come to matter to him in spite of having spent most of that time in a platonic mode.
Last night had drawn him under her spell so far he would not walk away unscathed.
“Got a copy of today’s paper for you.” Jeremy reached over to where the newspaper lay next to his toolbox and lifted it. “Your picture is front page in the living section.”
Her eyes rounded, then she frowned. “You’re kidding.”
What was wrong? “No. It’s a nice shot of you. Nice write-up.” He lifted the folded papers and handed her the section he’d pulled out.
She took the paper. Her forehead creased in a deeper frown. She finally mumbled her thanks and hurried off.
What the hell was that all about?
Jeremy rubbed his forehead. Women. The man who figured them out would rule the world. All he had to do was figure out one female and what it would take to get her out of his system.
STARFACE PAUSED IN wiping the oil from the barrel of his Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum and used his little finger to press the button on his Bluetooth headset. “You find the woman in the newspaper?”
“No problem,” Dorvan answered, then chuckled. “Didn’t have to threaten the first chump. Receptionist at Double Take took one look at my phony detective badge and coughed up everything I needed. She showed me a picture of the statue from Sunday. That’s our girl.”
“Sweet.” Starface snapped the gun parts together. “Go get that memory card and meet me back here.” He’d paid a man to secretly film and videotape a meeting between an ambitious Chicago family and a Russian organization planning to partner up then wipe out all the midsize crime family competition in North America. That memory card was worth a small fortune to Ziggy Gambino. The Chicago family had tricked Ziggy’s people into a trap then tipped the feds to a major drug operation that cost the backbone of his organization. Ziggy had offered Starface a premium contract for evidence that would take down the Chicago leader. A sweet deal all around since Starface had been burned in the same sting.
Everything had fallen into place until Sam the Man interfered.
Starface had promised Ziggy delivery this week and Ziggy had no patience for hiccups.
Sam the Man had put his nuts in a vice by snatching the photo card. Sam paid the price for screwing with the wrong bastard.
Starface wouldn’t be so kind to the next person who interfered.
CLUTCHING TWO ARMLOADS of groceries, CeCe stormed from her car into the house that had been the perfect place to live until Jeremy Sunn started driving her crazy.
What was all that at the gym about her brother?
Vinny called earlier to let her know he’d hit a snag and wouldn’t get in until tomorrow morning. Which left her the whole evening with Jeremy again.
Great news. Right?
So why wasn’t Jeremy excited about another night together? She’d told him how her brothers were an overprotective bunch. Didn’t he realize she was trying to make it easy for them to spend some time alone?
Or did he think that she hadn’t enjoyed the evening?
Or had he not enjoyed last night?
Juggling bags all the way to the kitchen, she thought back on how Jeremy had acted when she’d asked him to leave before daylight this morning. He’d been a little cranky, but she’d attributed that to his not being a morning person. He seemed to accept her explanation that her brother might stop by on the way to the airport and how it might be uncomfortable for everyone.
Mainly her.
Jeremy had dressed, kissed her, and left quietly.
So what was bugging him? Why had he withdrawn? Did he think she would make assumptions based on last night? She’d made a point at the gym of letting him know she wasn’t trying to push him to the altar after sleeping together.
To be honest, she’d never push any man to the altar, but last night with Jeremy produced a revelation.
She wanted a man like him in her life.
No, she wanted Jeremy in her life.
And with a little patience from him she could be creative enough to make this work, but he’d have to agree to keep their relationship quiet for a while. At least until she could get settled here and figure out how to introduce him to her family.
She’d planned to explain her situation over dinner tonight, but now she was reconsidering after Jeremy’s about-face in the gym. Guys had the strangest way of thinking. What had happened since this morning for him now to want to be only friends all of a sudden?
Was he backpedaling, worried she was going to cling?
CeCe shook her head and yawned. With Vinny out of the way, she had twelve hours to show Jeremy that he was more than a neighbor to her, but she’d have to rethink her original plan of laying it on the line with him. If she approached ton
ight wrong, Jeremy might back away big time at the first sign of anything that sounded too serious.
Opening cabinets, she started shoving cans onto shelves, getting more ticked off by the minute.
At everyone, including herself.
Her brothers meant well and had been her rocks of support since her mother died when she was in high school, but the men in her family expressed that love by smothering her.
Her fault for letting them.
CeCe finished shuffling everything into place then raced into the bathroom to shower, shave her legs again, and groom any other wild hair on her body. She attempted to tame her wavy locks as they dried and finally gave up.
Jeremy hadn’t seemed to notice her uncivilized morning hair.
But then Jeremy hadn’t even noticed the new outfit she’d picked up today just to do her stretches at the gym. He’d been more interested in that damn cooler.
When the familiar sound of a vehicle next door reached her, CeCe ran over to peek out between the slats of her blinds. Night had taken over the city. Jeremy drove his sport utility into his garage, then the lights went dark. She felt like she was sixteen again, watching for the cute guy in the neighborhood to walk by her yard.
But back in high school she’d been warned against acting on a primal urge to go out and flirt with a boy.
Tonight she intended to act on a primal urge that went way beyond flirting with Jeremy. She didn’t have experience in holding the attention of a man like him, but she had one chance to pull out all the stops and find out if she could.
Spinning around, she strode over to her antique bureau that had one drawer filled with fabulous lingerie she’d been buying for a night like tonight. CeCe glanced at the pink robe lying across her bed.
That had friends written all over it.
Digging through the drawer, she shook her head at the pastel colors and paused when her fingers touched lacy red and black selections she’d purchased from an online store. Lifting two sinfully sexy pieces into view, she chewed on her lip.
If Jeremy saw her in this and still wanted to be just friends she had no chance of keeping him.
JEREMY SHOWERED, THEN pulled on a pair of jeans and shoved the wallet and cash he’d tossed on the bathroom vanity into his pockets. He’d finger combed his damp hair back off his face and strolled into the bedroom when a light blinked twice over the doorframe to the bathroom. Someone had tripped the silent alarm for his backyard, which meant he’d jumped the chain-link fence since his gate was locked.
It could be an animal but he doubted it since there was nothing to draw a dog or cat to his yard. In his line of work he took any intruder seriously.
Yanking on a shirt, he palmed his weapon off the nightstand. He opened a drawer where he found a pair of night-vision binoculars and moved silently through the dark house.
Years of living on the edge had taught him to leave the lights off anytime he didn’t absolutely need them on.
He checked his security panel hidden in a kitchen cabinet, which showed additional sensors being tripped. Someone was moving through his backyard. Jeremy shuffled over and barely lifted the curtain aside where he could scan the pitch-black area filled with just two trees and patio furniture.
A stocky figure that might top out near six feet and moved through the shadows in a decidedly male way crossed his yard and climbed the fence into CeCe’s yard.
Lucky for this guy neither he nor CeCe had dogs.
But the intruder’s luck ran out at that point.
Jeremy checked for any additional threats before easing out the sliding glass door that opened to his patio. He vaulted over the fence into CeCe’s yard and crouched all the way to where he found the sliding glass door open just enough to let a person pass through.
She’d probably left it unlocked for him.
He entered silently and paused in the kitchen. A deep voice rumbled low in the living room.
Much as he wanted to race in there and slam a head, Jeremy couldn’t make a mistake that would put CeCe in further danger.
A rough male voice said, “You’re Cecelia Caprice. Pretended to be a statue at the festival this weekend, right?”
“Y-yes, but I don’t understand,” CeCe answered as Jeremy crept forward. “What do you want from me?” Her voice went up an octave every couple words. She was closing in on hysteria.
Jeremy covered the last fifteen feet to the short hallway leading to the living room and paused again, peeking around the corner.
The bulked-up intruder held a weapon to CeCe’s head. “Calm down. If you scream, I swear I’ll blow your brains out.”
Rage sheared through Jeremy like a honed razor. He lifted his weapon and stepped into the room.
Five
The intruder stood to the side of CeCe, who sat shivering on the couch. Wearing a red silk kimono might not be the warmest clothing, but she was shaking from terror of having a weapon shoved against her head.
If this was a mission for BAD, Jeremy would take the clear shot he had. There were plenty of reasons not to, but the only one that mattered was the danger of the weapon at CeCe’s head discharging.
Jeremy pulled a penny from his pants pocket and tossed it down the hallway where the coin bounced against a baseboard.
“What was that?” the intruder said, eyes turning toward the sound.
“I don’t know,” CeCe whispered. “I live alone.”
Indecision played through the perp’s hardened face until he backed a step away from CeCe, pulling his weapon off her head.
Just what Jeremy had hoped for. He let the guy take a second step toward the hallway that brought him closer to Jeremy, who rushed him.
The perp’s eyes flashed surprise. He hesitated in raising his gun hand just a second, long enough for Jeremy to reach him in time to knock the weapon away.
But that left Jeremy open for the left hook that felt like a sledgehammer when it clipped his jaw. He took the hit then came back with a right cross of his own, using his gun to slam the guy in his temple.
The intruder fell back against her front door and dropped down between the door and the end of her couch.
“Jeremy.” CeCe had barely said his name as if she couldn’t breathe for hyperventilating.
“Are you okay?” He gave her a quick glance while he bent to pick up the intruder’s Glock and shoved it inside the waistband of his jeans. She wasn’t screaming and her eyes hadn’t glazed over with shock yet in spite of being terrified.
CeCe nodded from where she sat frozen. Her eyes zeroed in on the weapon in Jeremy’s hand and widened. If her face lost any more color he worried she might pass out.
Taking a look to ensure the guy was still out cold, Jeremy stepped over to where CeCe sat frozen in place on her sofa, hands gripping the cushion on each side of her legs.
He leaned down and put his palm against her face. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, fighting to hold back tears.
He kissed her, just enough to give her some comfort. When Jeremy lifted his head he was heartened to see her shock fading. Giving her a task would take her mind off the fear she’d just endured. “Have you got duct tape?”
She blinked, clearing her gaze. “Yes.”
“Walk around the far end of the coffee table and go get it.”
The minute she exited the room Jeremy went back to the guy, whose fingers were moving. He’d come to in a minute. The intruder packed an easy two hundred and twenty-five pounds of corded muscle into black pants and a tight-fitting T-shirt. Thick ruddy brown–colored hair an inch long covered his blockhead and deep lines carved into his ugly mug. A scar made up of X’s ran from elbow to wrist on his left arm. Prison cuts?
The guy shook his head and opened eyes that narrowed with hate.
In that instant, Jeremy saw something familiar in his face, but he couldn’t place him. “Who are you?”
“Someone you shouldn’t be pissing off,” the thug answered.
“Hard not to do when that’s my specialt
y.”
The guy’s arrogant gaze flattened. “You’re fucking with the wrong person.”
“I could say the same thing.” Jeremy listened for CeCe who was digging through drawers in the kitchen, followed by slamming a drawer and cursing. His gaze stayed on this guy, who was too calm for being caught breaking and entering. “How do you know CeCe?”
Dull gray eyes stared then he shrugged. “Picture was in the paper.”
“What do you want with her?”
“What do you think?” The perp grinned.
Jeremy drew on all his discipline not to shove that smile down to the guy’s boots.
“Wait a minute,” the intruder whispered. His eyebrows lowered over soulless eyes that pondered on something. “I know you.”
Shit. He hated to be right some days. “No you don’t.”
When CeCe slammed a drawer this time it was followed by her footsteps rushing back to the living room.
The guy’s face shifted from trying to place Jeremy to problem solved. “I do know you.”
Jeremy would have liked another minute to find out how this guy knew him, but he didn’t want that conversation in front of CeCe or the police. Just before she entered the living room, Jeremy slammed his weapon against the perp’s head hard enough to knock him out for a long while.
“What happened?” CeCe hurried over to him.
“He lunged at me. When I get him rolled over, tape his hands,” Jeremy instructed her.
When he had the perp on his face and hands behind his back, Jeremy nodded. CeCe tore off a strip of tape she slipped under the man’s wrists and wrapped the length around and around with shaking hands.
“Tape his ankles too.” Jeremy waited until she finished to send her to the kitchen. “Call the police and tell them someone broke into your home, but that he’s contained.”
She hesitated for a second, then rushed away and called. After turning the guy around and dragging him over to prop against the couch so they could get the front door open, Jeremy stepped into the kitchen.
