Capturing Charlie [Braden Security 5] (Siren Publishing Classic)
Page 1
Braden Security 5
Capturing Charlie
Grant, the behind-the-scenes tech man of Braden Security, is thrown to the forefront when he’s the victim of mistaken identity.
While filling in at Braden Investments for James’s brother Chase, Grant has a hard time concentrating while working alongside Charlie. In fact, he finds himself focused more on her figure than the company’s bottom line.
Charlie, Vice President of the firm, doesn’t have time for a personal life. Yet she’s secretly lusted after Grant for months. On his last day at the firm, Charlie realizes she may never see him again, and finds the courage to ask Grant to dinner.
Their night together is memorable, but not in a way either of them would have ever envisioned. Kidnapped outside the restaurant, Charlie and Grant are forced to become closer. Grant needs to keep their captors believing that he’s another man if they want to escape with their lives.
Braden Security is called on to solve their greatest case, saving one of their own.
Genre: Contemporary, Romantic Suspense
Length: 68,185 words
CAPTURING CHARLIE
Braden Security 5
Dale Cadeau
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
CAPTURING CHARLIE
Copyright © 2015 by Dale Cadeau
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-478-5
First E-book Publication: June 2015
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
For Bill, Keri, Monty and Ike
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
About the Author
CAPTURING CHARLIE
Braden Security 5
DALE CADEAU
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
Groggily, Charlie became aware of her surroundings. Her head hurt, throbbing something awful, and she could feel cold metal under her head. Trying to make sense of where she was, she opened her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings. The light was so dim that it made it hard to see anything. She vaguely saw a metal wall about four feet ahead of her.
Suddenly she was bumped from below, and not prepared for it, she was unable to brace herself, her head coming down hard on the metal. Ow, that hurt, Charlie thought to herself. Turning to get up off the metal, she tried to move her hands and discovered them tied behind her back. Wiggling them, she felt them tingle at her movements. Her hands felt numb.
What the hell happened? Where was she? Panic started to overtake her as she became aware of the smell of oil and gas and she was jarred again, her head hitting the hard metal for a second time. Taking a deep breath, she mentally told herself to calm down, she must be dreaming.
When her body slid across the metal floor after another jolt from the truck or whatever she was in, her body stopping its slide when it bumped into someone on the floor near her. A cold feeling of dread came over her, like she had never experienced before. Moving her foot, she nudged the body. When she felt no movement from it, she tried to wiggle herself away.
Oh God, was she laying here with a dead person? Was she next? Telling herself to calm down and not overthink things, she turned her body over until she was facing the other body beside her. In the dark, it was hard to tell but she thought it could be a man. She could see a dark stain near his head. It looked like a pool of blood. Leaning closer, near his chest, she could make out his shallow breath. Taking her own breath of relief, she tried to think back and remember what the last normal thing that she could remember.
Earlier in the day.
Charlie watched Grant’s hands as they made the computer keys sing. He was so engrossed in his work that he wasn’t paying any attention
to her. Nothing unusual in that, he never seemed to be aware of her, other than as work colleagues. Her subtle attempts over the months to gain his attention met without success. She knew today was probably her last chance to get him to notice her. He had come into her life when Chase, her boss, had gone off on a retreat in Canada months ago.
Grant was one of the members of the Braden Security team that Chase’s brother James led. Before Chase went away, he had talked to his brother and they had come to the conclusion the Grant was best suited to help out with his computer expertise.
Charlie still remembered the first day that Grant came into the office. Oh, Chase had told her about Grant coming to help, and she had been expecting a nerdy, skinny guy wearing glasses. She got it right with the glasses, but everything else was wrong. Grant stood six feet with muscles bulging from under his dress shirt and a handsome face that in her opinion should have been on some movie screen. His brown, almost black hair was just long enough to curl below his shirt collar.
Charlie didn’t think he noticed her stare, he was so involved talking with Chase as they reached her side. Standing up as they neared, Charlie wiped her damp palms on her dress pants and put out a hand to welcome him. His handshake was strong but gentle and his eyes behind the glasses were a robin’s egg blue, his smile when he turned it her way made her knees weak.
Covering up her reaction, she took her hand back and turned her whole attention on Chase. Chase was oblivious to her reaction, went on to introduce them, filling Grant in on her position and how Grant would be helping her out.
After a few minutes of chit-chat, Chase and Grant had continued on leaving her to go into the war room. That is what Chase liked to call it. It held all the computers with up-to-the-minute screens with the news data on stocks around the world. Charlie remembered sitting down in her chair that day and wondering how she was going to work with a man that affected her like no one else had before.
Now she smiled as she thought of the months that they had worked together. Grant was always polite but all business. Charlie had come to respect his mind as much as his body in those months. She was always in awe of how he could get the computer to do whatever he wanted with just a few strokes of the keys.
Charlie had tried everything short of asking him out to get his attention. She wore skirts, something she never did at work, brought him coffee, when there was staff to do it for them. She even broke down and made cookies one night and brought them in. He had told her they were great, but other than a twinkle in his eyes as he took one, he didn’t get any friendlier toward her.
Yesterday, Chase had called and said he was back in town and would see her in a few days. Grant would be coming in one last time to make sure that everything was running smoothly before Chase took the reins back over. Charlie knew it was now or never if she wanted to have a chance with Grant. After Chase returned, there would be no need for Grant to come to the office anymore.
The day had passed like any other, but just before quitting time, Charlie got up her nerve.
She walked into the war room and her heart was beating so fast she could have been really entering a war zone.
Grant didn’t look up and didn’t seem to notice her anxiety. He just kept typing away as he had done for months on end. Charlie’s eyes were drawn to his hands as they often were and she wondered what it would be like to have his hands on her. If she was ever going to find out, she had to be brave.
“Grant?” Her voice wobbled as she said his name. At least this time he did look up and give her some of his attention.
“Yes?”
“I was wondering—”
“If I had all the files converted?”
“No. I know you do. It’s just that—”
“You’re worried about additional network security? I went ahead and added a firewall. You should be secure now.”
“Thanks. No I was wondering if you were hungry.” He gave her a curious look, but she pushed ahead before he could interrupt her again. “What I mean is…would you like to go to dinner with me?
“To celebrate our time together? Finishing this project?”
He smiled in surprise, and it made his features even more handsome. It made her more nervous.
“Sure.”
Grant shut his laptop. It was both exhilarating and unnerving having his full attention on her. “I know a little Italian restaurant on the east side. It’s called Sajiour. We could meet there about seven?”
Charlie felt herself nodding like an idiot. “Yes, that sounds great.” She barely squeaked it out before she retreated.
She couldn’t believe it! She had a date with Grant!
The restaurant was an experience that she wanted to savor when she got home. She had arrived at the restaurant a few minutes before him, and was glad that she had. When he had walked into the lounge where she was waiting, she didn’t recognize the tall, dark-haired man walking in the door. It took her a few minutes to realize that it was Grant. Gone were the T-shirts and jeans that he usually wore to the office, in its place he wore a casual but elegant charcoal suit. Also gone were the black-rimmed glasses that forever kept sliding down his nose. Now he must be wearing contact lenses as she could see his baby blues clearly.
“Charlie, you look great.” Grant spotted her right away and after greeting her, he put a hand on her back and escorted her into the dining room and to a table near the fireplace after talking to the maître d’ on his way in. Grant was the perfect gentleman and pulled out her chair and helped her to be seated. Throughout the meal, Grant was outgoing, talking about his likes and his job with Braden Security, and seemed to be interested in her life and her lifestyle.
Finally, Charlie thought she might have a chance with him. They had lingered over coffee and had even made a date for seeing each other the next day to go for a ride in the country. Charlie didn’t want the evening to end. After settling the bill, Grant had walked her out to the street and both had started walking to her car that was parked around the corner. They had both been so engrossed in their plans for the next day that as they turned a corner, Grant was blindsided and jumped on from someone in the shadows.
He went down hard on the cement sidewalk with his head hitting it hard. Charlie watched in horror as blood seeped from his head as he lay still. Before she could think to scream or react, a hand was put over her mouth and a beefy arm grabbed her around the waist. She was picked up roughly and thrown into the back of a white van. Everything went dark shorty after as the man followed her in and held a cloth over her mouth. That’s all she could remember. At least now, she knew that the man laying with her in the back of the van was Grant. But why would anyone want Grant or her enough to kidnap them? They were nobody special. Grant did work for Braden Security, but other than that, there was nothing special about either of them.
Chapter Two
After what seemed like hours of being bounced around in the back of the van, the truck finally stopped. Charlie held her breath and closed her eyes. There was no way that she wanted them to know that she was awake. Maybe they would say or do something that she could use to get them out of here. They would probably speak freely, if they thought she was still unconscious.
A draft of cold air reached her as the back doors of the van were opened. Charlie tried not to shiver, but when her legs were grabbed and she was pulled from the van, her skirt that she wore ended up around her waist. It took everything in her not to shriek when the large hand reached her. She held her breath as she was unceremoniously hoisted over a man’s shoulder. At least with his movements, her modesty was restored, as her skirt fell back around her knees. Looking back after the guy holding her had turned away from the van, she saw another larger man grab Grant and try to hoist him over his shoulder. With a grunt, he dropped Grant into the dirt at his feet. The guy holding her swung around.
“Careful, we need him. I’ll be right back to help you.”
“Hurry up.”
Charlie bounced on his shoulder as the man walked up
steps and into a house that looked very rustic when she took a quick glance around. The man walked from the room into another that held a bed and dropped her on top of it. She couldn’t hold back a grunt when she hit the mattress, but kept her eyes shut. The man stood for a few minutes looking down at her, then pushed her roughly onto her stomach and grabbed her hands and undid the rope binding them. He then turned and walked back through the door, locking it behind him as he went.
Charlie looked around the room, nothing to distinguish it from any other room, a bed, a dresser, and one small window. Before she could even think to get up to investigate, the two men were back with Grant, and pushing her roughly toward the back of the bed, they dropped Grant beside her. Grant didn’t make a sound, which disturbed Charlie. He should have had some reaction to being dropped like she had been. Keeping her eyes shut and not moving, she heard the two men leave the room and the lock bolting on the door.
Moving her hands to get the feeling back, she swung around on the bed so she was looking directly at Grant. His eyes were still shut and his face was pale, but she could see that the blood had now dried on his brow.
“Come on, Grant, Please don’t be dead.” A tear slid down her face as she reached out with a shaking hand and brushed the hair out of his eyes. Charlie couldn’t help herself and ran her hand down his face. She put one finger out and traced it over his bottom lip. His lips were so full for a man, Charlie just wanted to lean down and kiss him, feel those lips under hers. Her finger must have tickled him, as his lips twitched and his eyes opened. Hastily she pulled her hand back and started down into his blue eyes. Eyes that held a twinkle in them, which didn’t seem to be fitting with the circumstances that they were in.