Take a Risk (Risk #1)

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘If you’re ever in the vicinity of a shooting I want you to call me right away,’ he said to Lyssa, who peered at him. ‘Even if you just hear what you think is a gunshot, ok?

  ‘Ok,’ Lyssa said. ‘Why did you say that?’

  ‘I don’t care what you’re doing. I don’t even care if you’re screwing another guy or we’re in a fight, just call me.’

  ‘Why would I—‘

  ‘Because he wants to swoop in and save the day,’ Ruger said. ‘And he wants to protect you because he’s so in lurve.’

  ‘Or you could call Ruger,’ Colt said. ‘Especially if it’s at three in the morning and you know he has company, or a really early morning alarm set for the following day.’

  ‘Are you telling me that I should call Pete?’ Suzette asked.

  ‘No, he’s implying that your relationship is a sham because you can’t,’ Ruger said.

  Maybe Colt wouldn’t have used those exact words but his brother was right. Either Ruger had read his mind, or they had once again had the same thought. Suzette squealed in indignation and Lyssa scooted forward until her ass was perched on the edge of the couch.

  ‘He didn’t mean it like that,’ Lyssa said, reaching for Suzette’s hand. ‘We’re here to support you; you don’t have to call Pete. I understand that you don’t want to worry him. He cares for you so much, and hearing that you were put in danger like this might upset him.’

  He appreciated that he had a view of Lyssa’s snug ass because he might have sniggered if he wasn’t distracted, which didn’t explain why Ruger didn’t laugh at Lyssa’s placation. Glaring at his brother, he caught him in the act of admiring the same view he had been and though he intensified his glare, Ruger only smiled and shrugged.

  ‘You could tell Pete that you went for a drink with one of your sisters,’ Lyssa said. ‘They would cover for you, wouldn’t they?’

  Suzette griped. ‘You’re the one always harping on about the importance of honesty in relationships.’

  The reminder of this was a bit of a kick in the teeth for Lys, bearing in mind that she’d been caught in the act of lying tonight herself. ‘Sometimes we have to lie to the people we care about when we want to protect them.’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  ‘Just tonight I lied to Colt,’ Lyssa said and his ears perked up. ‘I told him that I didn’t want him to eat me out after I blew him when actually I did.’

  His nose wrinkled in a cringe because that wasn’t exactly the same thing. A cough of laughter came from Ruger and his hand flew up to his mouth to cover the hilarity that clearly wanted to follow. But Lyssa remained between them, reaching over to hold Suzette’s hand.

  Ruger’s laughter suddenly stopped and he cast him a look of horror. ‘You didn’t do that here, did you? I’m not sitting where you…?’

  Colt shook his head, pained to admit the truth because of Suzette’s position, so he just pointed over Lyssa’s head toward the loveseat, and Suzette didn’t seem to be paying attention.

  ‘If you want him here, if you want to call Pete and tell him where you are and what happened then we’ll all be here to support you,’ Lyssa said.

  ‘No,’ Suzette said, drawing in a breath. ‘You’re right. I’ll just tell him that I was with my sister. He wouldn’t understand why I came here.’

  ‘Why did you come here?’ Ruger asked.

  ‘I wanted to help Lyssa. I thought I could persuade your friend to do his thing and trap the stalker so that everything could go back to normal. Pete wanted me to stay away from Lyssa, but he didn’t say anything about not helping her without seeing her… I didn’t know she would be here.’

  ‘Colt has handed everything over to the police,’ Lyssa said. ‘He had to so that he could have sex with me.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Ruger asked him, but Colt shook his head, it wasn’t worth explaining now.

  ‘Colt,’ Suzette said. ‘Is that him?’

  ‘You haven’t been introduced, but yes, his name is Colt Warner.’

  ‘And he’s the guy?’ Suzette asked and Lyssa nodded.

  ‘Uh, what guy?’ Colt asked and Lyssa sat back to address him.

  ‘She wanted to set me up with Keith, but I told her that I was interested in someone else.’

  ‘I told you that he wanted to screw you,’ Colt muttered.

  ‘Does it matter?’ Suzette said. ‘It seems to me that you’ve got the girl.’

  ‘The girl who could be getting shot at,’ Ruger said. ‘Are we going to talk about that?’

  ‘I don’t think he was shooting at me,’ Lyssa said. ‘This is just a coincidence. Like you said, there have been shootings around here before. Maybe he was aiming for Blaser.’

  ‘Blaser wasn’t outside,’ Colt said. ‘But it’s unlikely your stalker was outside at the exact moment you and Suzette went out there. He’d have no way to know that you were going to go outside.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Lyssa said. ‘So we’re all agreed that we don’t have to talk to the police about my current situation? It will just complicate things.’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ Ruger said. ‘If they’re that interested then all of your information is at the police station, right? So it’s up to them to do their jobs and put the relevant pieces together.’

  Suzette hadn’t said much, and Lyssa noticed how her friend sat staring at her own knees, so Colt noticed it too. ‘Are you alright?’ Lyssa asked, moving to the edge of the couch again. ‘Are you sure that you don’t want us to call Pete?’

  ‘You lied to me,’ Suzette said. ‘All of this has been going on, and you lied to me.’

  ‘It wasn’t a lie—‘ Colt said, but Lyssa’s hand on his knee stalled him.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Lyssa said. ‘I know that this has hurt you. It was always my intention to tell you when everything had blown over. But things were handed to the police and before I got a chance to clue you in, Pete said he didn’t want us seeing each other and I… I didn’t want to lump more onto your plate.’

  ‘That woman said she’d cover your zone, and how you’re dressed… you’re working here, aren’t you?’

  ‘Just as a waitress,’ Lyssa said. ‘You encouraged me to get back to my research.’

  ‘Why don’t we go and help Blaser,’ Ruger said and rose from his seat. ‘The women can stay up here and talk. We might even get one of the girls to bring you up a coffee.’

  ‘There’s a coffee machine in the building?’ Lyssa asked and Ruger faltered.

  ‘Beer?’

  ‘There’s beer in the fridge,’ Lyssa said. ‘But we’d appreciate the privacy.’

  She deliberately turned to him and Colt knew that he had just been excused, even if he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of leaving her alone yet. Ruger stepped past Lyssa and grabbed his shoulder to haul him up.

  ‘I’ll take care of you, brother. We’ll come and get you if the police want to speak to the witnesses,’ Ruger said to Lyssa and then bundled Colt out of the room.

  ‘We didn’t have to leave them,’ Colt said as Ruger shoved him down the stairs.

  ‘You were only going to jump in and defend Lys at every opportunity. They need to work this out themselves, and you don’t want her best friend to hate you. You need the best friend on-side if you want this relationship to work out, and you do want it to work out, don’t you?’

  He did. Being with Lyssa was thrilling and his respect for her, his admiration for her, only amplified his feelings for her. Ruger was right, as he so frustratingly always was. If he kept taking the flack and diverting it from Lyssa then Suzette would hate him, she’d blame him for trying to drive a wedge between the friends. Which was actually ironic because that’s what her fiancé, Pete, was attempting to succeed in doing, whether that was his intention or not.

  But Colt did have to take some responsibility because he had told Lyssa to lie to Suzette. Granted, that had been before they got personally involved, but it had been his instruction that had led to Lyssa misdirecting her friend on the succ
ess of her meeting.

  At the reminder of their meeting Colt fished his phone from his pocket to get in touch with his cousin. He wanted to know what the police were doing and what progress had been made, because while Lyssa’s admirer was around they would all be jumping at every snap in the street. The shooting tonight would have been a coincidence, they’d deduced as much, but he didn’t like there to be any hint of a possibility that Lyssa’s life was in danger.

  He’d get an update from Chavez and then he’d play nice with the cops who showed up to take statements about the shooting. After that he was taking Lyssa home to her place, and he’d make sure that if anyone was watching the house they knew damn sure that Lyssa wasn’t alone anymore and that he was watching her back. Anyone who wanted to get near Lyssa would have a hard job of it while he was standing in the way.

  Chapter Twelve

  Talking to the police was becoming a habit for her, but not one that she relished. Colt hadn’t let her finish her shift once they’d gone. He’d had her home not long after the police left the club, and then he took her upstairs, into her own bed, forbidding her to go through her ritual of checking out the house. His kisses were an easy, and a welcome, distraction. With him in the house, she didn’t feel so vulnerable and so a full run through wasn’t required.

  Today, as she had worked, the occasional footfalls that echoed through the ceiling reminded her that he was still here, watching over her as she worked. Now that the end of her work day was approaching, she speculated as to what they would do that evening and whether they would spend the night together inside or go out, though she couldn’t decide which she would enjoy more.

  ‘You should see this as a triumph,’ she said to her final patient of the day. ‘It’s natural to be nervous before a date, Bobby.’

  ‘It’s a Monday. Who has sex on a Monday?’ he grumped. Lyssa tried not to think about what she and Colt had done that morning… and on her lunch break.

  ‘Is that what you want from your date tonight?’

  ‘I’m a guy, right?’

  ‘Yes, you are.’ His insecurity about that fact flared up in anger on occasion. ‘But developing this relationship is important to you too.’

  ‘I feel like I have to do it. I have to get this done. Maybe then this stress will leave me, you know?’

  ‘Don’t be impulsive,’ Lyssa said, this was the same advice she gave to several patients. ‘Do you care about Deshana?’ The woman he was going on a date with.

  ‘Yes, I think so… maybe.’

  ‘Breathe out,’ she said, sensing his rising panic. ‘Tell me what you’re thinking. You can say anything here. This isn’t a place of judgement.’

  ‘All I can think about is her breasts,’ he admitted, shaking his legs in a sign of nerves. He kept his lowered attention on the carpet and the tent that grew in his slacks made him mutter and grab one of her cushions onto his lap. ‘I’m sorry, this is mortifying.’

  ‘You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m a doctor. It’s good that you have a positive reaction to your memory of Deshana. She must be very beautiful.’

  ‘She is.’

  ‘Bear in mind that Deshana will be nervous too. I’m sure she wants things to work out between you both. It’s possible that she’s not ready to be physically intimate with you.’

  His leg stopped shaking and his eyes shot to hers. ‘You think she’s not attracted to me?’

  ‘She wouldn’t have agreed to go out with you at all, let along agree to go out with you again, if she wasn’t attracted to you.’

  He began to shake his head. ‘I can’t do this. I’m not ready for this. I don’t know what I’m doing.’

  ‘You do,’ she soothed. ‘We’ve spent many sessions talking about what you should expect from physical intimacy and how to react to the sensations you’ll experience. You just have to remember the techniques we discussed. This date, your relationship with Deshana is the last hurdle, Bobby. Look how far you’ve come. You should be so proud.’

  ‘Ok,’ he nodded. ‘Ok, yes, ok.’

  ‘It’s natural to be anxious, but once you’ve done this, once this is over with, you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about. Being with someone, relationships, are positive things that can be very fulfilling.’

  ‘If I don’t do it now then I never will,’ he said.

  She checked the time. ‘Next week, you can tell me how it goes. Baby steps still show progress, it’s all forward motion. Remember that and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. This is a marathon.’

  ‘Not a sprint,’ he agreed, somewhat bolstered.

  They scheduled the next appointment and she maintained her smile until she heard the front door close. After that, she slid her pen and pad onto her desk and reminded herself that all she had to do was bring Bobby’s notes up to date, then she was free to spend the rest of the night with Colt.

  ‘Did you ever think about converting the attic?’

  There he was, sauntering through her office door, tall, broad, and sexy, and already raising her temperature with his proximity.

  ‘I did actually,’ she said. ‘But I thought I would wait until I decided it was time to have children.’

  ‘Whoa, forward,’ he said, holding up his hands then dropping to the middle of her patient couch. ‘You’re on the pill, right?’

  ‘You never asked and that’s quite an assumption, Mr. Warner.’ She picked up her notebook again. ‘Do you think that you made the subconscious decision that you were ready for children?’

  ‘I’m thirty-five, I’ve thought about kids. But my lifestyle isn’t conducive to it.’

  ‘Nothing to do with the lack of a stable female in your life and your fear of making mistakes in terms of choosing a mother for your offspring?’

  ‘Honestly? I think that as a guy you assume that you have all the time in the world.’

  Switching into doctor mode was natural for her and he didn’t moan or point it out, he just went with it and answered her questions.

  ‘What are you hiding?’ she asked.

  ‘Hiding?’

  ‘You never shy from a question. I have patients who won’t be so honest with me even after I’ve been treating them for a year.’

  ‘I had a lot of secrets from Carrie,’ he said. ‘I figure that part of the reason it didn’t work out is that she didn’t know what was going on in my head, and my life… I don’t want to make that mistake again… Plus, I have doctor patient confidentiality, right?’

  Slipping her pad and pen onto the side table she pulled the clip and bobby pins out of her hair to shake it out, letting it fall around her chest. Popping open two shirt buttons, she rose, and gathered her skirt up her thighs in her fists, revealing the stockings she had donned that morning.

  ‘Nice,’ he drawled.

  Sliding one knee the length of his thigh, she straddled him, closing her other leg on the side of his other outer thigh.

  ‘I’m feeling frisky.’

  ‘Isn’t this against the rules, doc?’ he said, flicking her hair out of the way with his forehead, he sucked her neck.

  ‘You need a more hands on approach, Mr. Warner. You know how I value my patient’s satisfaction.’

  ‘Satisfaction is still a ways off.’

  The swelling in his groin, protruding between them, begged to differ. She wriggled forward against it. ‘We have lift off,’ she whispered and took both of his hands around to splay them on her ass. ‘Is it my butt? Or my boobs?’ Arching up, she squashed them against him.

  ‘Maybe I’ll consider that while you’re laying those sugar lips on me.’

  ‘Take your time,’ she said, meeting his mouth on its descent to hers.

  Something about his chest drew her hands, she yanked up his tee-shirt, and spread her fingers on his pecs, purring out as she widened her legs to grind down on him.

  ‘Nice,’ he growled on her lips and ripped open her shirt.

  Her gasp made her curve back and she was shocked to see a gaping Bobby stand
ing just behind the couch.

  ‘Bobby,’ she stuttered, snatching the sides of her shirt to hold it closed. Colt was frowning, obviously not appreciating that she’d said another man’s name.

  ‘Doctor Cutler, I… I didn’t realise your services extended this far.’

  Colt twisted and hooked an arm over the couch to sneer at Bobby. ‘Boyfriend, not patient, get lost.’

  ‘Don’t talk to him like that,’ she muttered and clambered off Colt, holding her shirt with one hand and yanking at her skirt to take it back down to its intended length. ‘Why did you come back, Bobby? Is there a problem?’

  ‘I forgot my scarf,’ he said, pointing in the direction of the hat stand but fixating on her chest, which was more visible than he was used to it being, and the tent formed in his pants again.

  ‘Get the fuck out of here!’ Colt was off the couch, stalking toward Bobby, he must have noticed the tent.

  ‘Colt!’ she said, scurrying after him but Bobby spun and ran out, slamming the front door on his frantic exit.

  ‘Little prick!’ Colt said, whipping around, except his glare didn’t match her fury.

  ‘What did you do?’ she hollered. ‘Why did you scare him like that? He’s my patient.’

  ‘The jerk had a boner! He was checking out your tits. I’d have knocked his teeth out if—‘

  ‘Bobby is not a threat to me. Do you think I’ve never seen an erection before? Dicks are my bread and butter, you idiot! I’ve seen more than you, I guarantee it. I spent years specialising in sexual issues. There were days I had twenty different dicks in my hands.’

  ‘Those guys didn’t see you half-naked, making out with a guy.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter, this is a non-judgemental space and now you’ve scared him. He might not come back.’

  ‘So what? He’s a little pervert—‘

  ‘No!’ she said, eliminating the space between them. ‘We do not use that word in here. We heal here. I have to be accepting.’