by Lori Foster
Heads turned appropriately as she sauntered through the dim interior and took a direct path to the bar. She didn’t want to look too closely, but she was sure Mr. Jacobs, the slime, was here. She had his description and knew this was his prime picking ground. This was where he chose the women. Hopefully, he’d choose her as well.
Slowly sliding onto a bar stool, she worked to gain his attention. Her heart pattered rapidly. Though she couldn’t deny the underlying fear she felt, she also relished the excitement, the anticipation…the end satisfaction. It had been laughably easy to leave her old proper life behind, though her relatives were still having a hard time accepting it. They expected her to show up at the company office any day, dressed in a business suit, hair neatly tucked away in a functional, professional style, begging for her old job back. Ha.
It didn’t matter that no one thought she could do this. All she had to do was prove to herself that she was capable, that she wasn’t too pristine or squeamish to see the job through. That she could make a difference in some other woman’s life. She’d do that tonight.
It was a nice enough bar, she thought, smiling at the bartender as he took her order. They made idle small talk, and she slipped in the fact that she was a woman alone, new to town, without relatives or friends in the area. He lingered, subtly, politely, asking her more questions. How long would she be in town, did she have a job. He cautioned her to be careful, and she almost laughed. He worked with Jacobs, she was sure of it.
Sipping at the drink she didn’t really want, she watched him walk away. Cool air from a ceiling fan brushed her bare thigh where her dress had parted at the side slit. Ever since they’d locked her fiancé away for crimes too horrific to think about, she’d done all she could to forget her carnal appetites, to deny an overly sensual nature. Yet here she was, prepared to do her damnedest to get a man’s attention by using her body.
Surreptitiously, she glanced down the length of the bar to the small round table located there, situated in the far shadows. The man occupying the table, blond and very good-looking, perfectly matched the description she had been given. It was easy to recognize Jacobs; he had the same classic, refined, golden-boy appearance as her ex-fiancé, a look she now recognized as slick and phoney.
It took all her control to keep from reacting as he surveyed her through narrow, contemplative eyes. His gaze skimmed over her from her loose tousled hair down to her high-heeled sandals. Not wanting to be too obvious, to look too anxious, she turned her head away and flipped her hair over her mostly bare shoulder.
Seconds later her pulse jumped, then raced wildly as she sensed the approach of a man. She didn’t turn to look but she could feel the tingling awareness of him, could detect his male scent, not in the least subtle. Yes! He was going to take the bait. Her palms began to sweat in nervousness but she ignored it. She felt him brush against her while taking his own stool, and that brief touch felt electric, making her jump in surprise. She struggled to moderate her accelerated breathing. He was looking at her; she felt the burning heat of his gaze as strongly as a firm stroke of flesh on flesh.
Mentally rehearsing the speech she’d prepared, she turned to face him, her smile planted as she leaned slightly forward to display as much cleavage as possible, given her small size. Her gaze slowly lifted, met his, and she froze in horror. “Oh no.”
“Hello, Celia.” The low, barely audible words were said in a familiar growl through clenched, white teeth.
“Oh no.”
His smile wasn’t a nice thing and sent gooseflesh racing up and down her spine. His eyes locked onto hers, refusing to let her look away, and his lips barely moved when he spoke. “Close your mouth, honey, or you’re going to blow your own cover. And I don’t feel like fighting my way out of here tonight. But then again, seeing you in that dress, a fight might be just what I need.”
She snapped her mouth shut, but it wasn’t easy. The eyes looking at her weren’t blue, weren’t admiring, and didn’t belong to the man she was investigating, the man still sitting a good distance away, now watching curiously. These eyes were too familiar, a cold, hard black, and at that moment they reflected undiluted masculine fury.
Her heart raced even faster, urged on by new emotions, new sensations. She felt nearly faint, and collected her thoughts with an effort.
Forcing a shaky smile that actually hurt, Celia whispered, “Just what are you doing here, Alec?” She tried to make it look as if they were merely conversing, getting to know each other. She needed to maintain her camouflage, damn him, and Alec knew it.
Rather than offer an answer, he tossed back a handful of peanuts from the bar and watched her. His black hair—taken to curling toward the ends—hung loose tonight to touch his wide shoulders and reflected the glimmer of colored bar lights. Those same lights shone brightly in his narrowed eyes, eyes that made many a man back up in nervousness without a single word being spoken. His sharply cut, ruthless features seemed etched in stone, accurately reflecting his mood. He even smelled of danger, a hot, spicy, masculine scent that appealed to the senses, even as it amplified her nervousness.
Everyone in the bar seemed to be looking at them, waiting, but then Alec often got that reaction. He exuded menace, and people picked up on the silent threat quickly. He was a man who wore his tiny gold hoop earring and tattoo without artifice; the small decorations merely seemed a part of the overall man. His requisite jeans, scuffed boots and black T-shirt weren’t exactly appropriate dress for the upscale bar, but Celia doubted anyone would be brave enough to ask him to leave.
She was brave enough. “Look, Alec—”
His dark, devilish gaze did a slow burn down the length of her body, effectively stifling her protest. He paused on her small breasts as they rose above the neckline of the dress, thanks to the wonders of the push-up bra. She shifted uneasily.
He smiled, not a reassuring sight, and his attention snagged again on her tummy. She felt that look inside herself, then more so as his intense scrutiny lingered on her exposed thigh.
She wanted to smack him for rattling her so, but then she always wanted to smack Alec. He confounded her and angered her more than any man she’d ever met. But worst of all, he made her feel the undeniable reactions of a woman just by his mere presence, and she resented it. She didn’t want to want him, not when something inside her was a little afraid of him. He wasn’t an easy man, wasn’t domestic in the sense of the average male in today’s society. When he looked at her, when his black eyes met her own, she sensed a certain degree of savage wildness, of primal masculinity that couldn’t be tamed. She always hesitated to push him too far, and that angered her more than anything.
“Answer me, Alec.”
His smile was again more taunting than comforting. “I suppose I’m here to save your stubborn little behind, though to tell you the truth, that’s not my first inclination. At least, not where your posterior is concerned.”
She sucked in a startled breath as heat flooded through her. What in the world did he mean by that? She couldn’t quite tell if it was a threat of physical punishment, which she could easily ignore, or a sensual promise, which would be impossible to ignore. Alec did that all the time, made those suspicious little comments that stirred feelings she didn’t want to acknowledge. Her one liaison of a romantic nature had ended in tragedy, and made her determined to ignore her baser instincts. They had overruled her common sense once, but never again would she put the people she loved in danger. Now she wanted to help protect women from bastards like her ex-fiancé. But her experiences with him, while making her wiser, hadn’t in any way prepared her for a man like Alec Sharpe.
When they’d first met, he’d made his interest in an affair, and his disinterest in marriage, well known. Celia wasn’t inclined to indulge either one, so she’d done her best to disregard his attentions—not at all an easy feat considering Alec was an impossible man to disregard on any level. But then she’d left her family’s company and joined her brother’s private investigations fi
rm where Alec worked. He’d had a fit, appointing himself as her bodyguard, dogging her every step. Nothing had been the same since. Especially not after she’d gotten him shot a couple of weeks ago.
Celia winced, her guilt still keen. “Uh, should you be out and about on your leg already?”
His eyes narrowed, the obsidian depths almost hidden by long, sooty lashes that she envied every time she looked at him. “That’s right, this is the first time I’ve gotten to see you face to face since that bullet hit my leg. Were you worried about me, sweetheart?”
That purring undertone had her defenses rising. Alec ruthlessly used every available opportunity to wear her down, to point out her shortcomings. She shook her head and feigned a casual interest in the bar. “Not at all. Your hide is as tough as nails and Dane said it was only a flesh wound.”
“Yet you’ve still been avoiding me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve just been…busy.”
Alec reached out and caught her chin, bringing her face around so she had no choice but to witness the seriousness of his gaze. Her heart tripped, her senses coming alive with the simple touch. “That bullet was meant for you,” he said, his tone low and rough, rubbing along her raw nerve endings. “If I hadn’t been there, you would have been shot. I thought you might have learned your lesson then, but obviously you’re not as bright as I first figured, considering you’re here now.”
That was an insult she couldn’t let pass. She started to jerk away, then remembered her audience. She desperately wanted this case, wanted to prove she could handle herself while helping others, and if she got into an argument with Alec now, her cover would be blown. Dane had taught her that was the most important thing, the strongest safety measure. She had to remember to stay in character or she put not only herself at risk, but also the client and the other agents—in this case, Alec.
So she leaned toward him instead, seeing his nostrils flare and hearing his indrawn breath as her lips came within a millimeter of his own. Her heart thumped heavily with her daring, but she was getting sick and tired of him playing caretaker, constantly checking up on her. She still thought it was mostly his own fault for getting shot. He’d distracted her by his unexpected presence, otherwise she would have seen the threat before it became a reality.
She felt his incredible heat, smelled his musky, male scent, and felt his breath brush her parted lips. She stared into his dark eyes point-blank and a sense of sheer feminine daring filled her, almost obliterating her nervousness. It was like facing down a wild beast, exhilarating but also terrifying, making mush of her insides.
Against his mouth, she whispered, “I’m smart enough to know you have no say over what I do or don’t do, Alec Sharpe. So why don’t you just pretend you’re not interested in me tonight, and head on back wherever you came from so I can get on with my business?”
Rather than backing off in anger as she expected, his long hard fingers slid from her chin to the back of her head where they tangled with her hair and wrapped around her skull, locking her firmly in place. She saw his small, satisfied smile before his lashes lowered, hiding his eyes. In response, Celia’s own eyes opened wide in alarm as she belatedly realized his intent. Too late.
His mouth, hot and deliciously firm, closed over hers.
Slow, softly biting, inexorably consuming, the kiss obliterated all thought. The world seemed to come to a shuddering standstill as his mouth devoured hers, hot and easy. She didn’t hear the quiet droning of the bar, no longer felt the bar stool beneath her or the cool air-conditioning on her skin. She lost awareness of the man she was here to investigate. Nothing penetrated her fogged mind but Alec and what he did to her, how he made her feel.
Good grief, the man could kiss.
His teeth teasingly nipped her bottom lip, and when she gasped for breath, his tongue licked inside, then plunged. She moaned in sheer surprise and excitement. He tilted his head, fitting their mouths more surely together and she thought she might have helped him with that, reaching blindly for him. The kiss seemed to go on and on before he finally pulled back, releasing her by slow degrees with soft, tiny kisses meant to appease. She was so stunned, he had to pry her clutching hands from his shoulders and put them in her lap. Her first reaction was regret that he’d stopped—but it was quickly followed by the hot lash of shame.
It had been a long time since she’d been kissed, forever since she’d been kissed like that, and she’d responded as if starved. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to deny the truth about herself, but she couldn’t. She had hoped the awful ordeal with her fiancé had cured her of her overly passionate nature. But Alec, a man who didn’t care for her, who relished insulting her and tried to bully her at every turn, had gotten an even stronger response from her. How could she have kissed him back like that, losing all sense of time and place and purpose? Where in the world was her pride?
It took her precious minutes to get her bearings again, to hide the embarrassment that threatened to bring her low. And when she did, Alec was helping her off the stool. He had her purse in one fist, had paid her bill, and was leading her out. He walked behind her, automatically protecting her back, she knew, constantly nudging her forward.
Oh no. She hadn’t accomplished a thing yet! She stiffened, but Alec’s hand came around her waist and curved over her belly. The thin material of her dress was no barrier against the hot hardness of his large palm. His long fingers spread, spanning her from hipbone to hipbone. She sucked in a startled breath in response and retreated backward, attempting to pull away. But that only brought her up flush against the front of Alec and she felt his tall, hard body all along the length of her back. His erection, so blatantly obvious, pushed against her bottom. She felt a new, wilder rush of heat and she locked her knees against the tightening curl of desire.
Alec bent and his lips brushed her ear. To the onlookers, it appeared to be foreplay. To Celia, it was a sizzling threat. “Don’t look back or you’ll give yourself away. Every man here, including the ones who count, figure I just made arrangements with you for the night. That was your objective, and for the moment, keeps you safe.” He pressed his mouth to her temple in a strangely tender kiss, then added, “From them.”
From them. Meaning she still had to deal with him and that was much more alarming than what she’d faced in the bar. But she knew he was right. For now, there was no salvaging the night. She could come back tomorrow and hopefully her ruse would be validated by Alec’s actions. Mr. Jacobs, the blond, blue-eyed villain she’d been trying to meet, would see her as a desperate woman alone, an easy pick-up.
Celia forcefully snuffed out the small voice in her mind that claimed the ruse a reality. The kiss with Alec was a mistake; she wouldn’t let it happen again. She wasn’t desperate, or easy—not anymore. She was only determined to see the job done. One way or another, she’d keep her overheated sexuality under control, and she’d nail the man who was ruthlessly ruining young women’s lives.
Mr. Jacobs picked up women who seemed to be alone, telling them he wanted them to model for him. Some of their photos might even make it into a small-circulation magazine or two. But that wasn’t what he really wanted. And Celia intended to prove it. She only hoped she’d made an attractive enough picture to draw his notice. Combined with the conversation she’d shared with the bartender, she hoped to have left enough bait.
Forcing Jacobs to show his true colors, exposing him to the authorities, would be an absolute pleasure. But her first priority, for now, was saving one young woman in particular. She couldn’t forget that; she couldn’t forget Hannah.
As Alec led her to his truck, she thought about what she would say to him. The night air was warm and humid in mid-July and the sensual haze lifted while she felt her skin grown damp beneath the slinky dress. He was still behind her, still pressing her forward, and she wanted to run. Alec Sharpe, her brother’s number one agent, had kissed her senseless. He had curved his big hand over her belly and she could still feel the imprint of it
there though he’d moved it away when opening the door. She felt like an animal.
“I can get home on my own.”
Without explaining how he knew it, Alec said, “You didn’t drive, and I’m damn sure not letting you get on a bus or wait for a taxi.”
She twisted to face him. “You have no say in what I do.”
His eyes flashed down at her, then skimmed her body once again. “Wanna bet?”
They waged a silent battle for all of three seconds, but Celia knew she didn’t dare cause a scene so close to the bar. Anyone might see, and then questions would be asked, questions she couldn’t afford if she wanted to handle this case without complications, without embarrassing Hannah further.
Taking her silence for acquiescence, Alec opened the truck door, lifted her by the waist and plopped her inside. He dropped her purse on her lap then slammed the truck door, and without a single care, strode to the driver’s side and slid in.
Damn it, she’d known since the day she met him he was trouble. It didn’t matter that her brother, Dane, trusted him more than any other man he knew. It didn’t matter that her sister-in-law, Angel, actually let him baby-sit her sweet, innocent little son. It didn’t matter that he always got the job done, that he had never hurt her, that he had in fact taken a bullet meant for her on the last assignment she’d botched.
What mattered was that he was lethal to her senses. He had kissed her, and she’d liked it. But his kiss had been meant to remove her from the bar without fuss. He’d used that kiss against her, just as her fiancé had used her sexuality against her. And it had worked.
She couldn’t, wouldn’t, let herself get involved with him. For the past year-and-a-half, she’d effectively put her sensual, prurient nature under wraps, and she wanted to keep it that way. As soon as she got home, she’d call Dane and make him intervene. She hadn’t wanted to do that because it felt too much like tattling, like using her relationship with the boss to get special favors. But this was crucial.
