No Escape

by Heather Lowell

  Tessa’s lips twitched at Luke’s words. He looked so frustrated and worried. And annoyed. He was really angry at himself for underestimating the scope of Ricky Hedges’s operation. “Your being so concerned about me is the sweetest thing anyone’s said or done in a long time. But I’m not exactly your average client, so I’m going to do things differently.”

  Sweet. Luke winced. “Don’t I know it.”

  “You shouldn’t think of me as a regular client, either. Besides, while I may be in over my head in terms of investigative experience, I’m a really good swimmer.”

  “Enough with the water analogies, I’m drowning in them,” Luke said. He could see there was no point in getting upset because Tessa simply didn’t consider the situation to be dangerous to anyone but Kelly.

  And she’d promised to help the girl, apparently no matter what the cost.

  All he could do was keep Tessa close enough to watch over her. And the added benefit to that plan was the opportunity to explore the chemistry that seemed to be building between them on a daily basis.

  He considered it the best possible kind of fringe benefit.

  “So we’re agreed that our client-investigator relationship is in no way standard, right?” Luke leaned casually against the side of his car as he spoke.

  “Right,” Tessa agreed cautiously. She was a good enough lawyer to understand when a verbal trap was being laid.

  “And what would your evaluation of our, ah, relationship be at this point?” Luke asked.

  “I think we’re working really well together. I’ll admit, I was spinning my wheels before I met you.”

  “Does that mean I’m earning my pay?” he asked, his voice deep and husky enough to send a shiver through her.

  Suddenly, she wondered if they were talking about the case at all. She looked away for a moment.

  “You seem to have some uses, even if you’re not quite housebroken.” She was trying to lighten the situation with humor, but Luke didn’t smile.

  She sighed, knowing she owed him complete honesty after the way he’d dropped everything and taken on a case that was so important to her. “What can I say? You’ve gotten great information with your contacts—stuff it would have taken me weeks to uncover alone. I can’t begin to thank you enough.”

  That seemed to jolt him. “I don’t want your thanks for doing my job.”

  “Well, you have them.”

  He ran a finger down her soft cheek. “You should be careful. A man would do a lot to have you look at him the way you’re looking at me right now.”

  She swallowed hard. “How is that?”

  “Like he’s a hero,” Luke said, without looking away from her blue-gray eyes. When the wind pulled several strands of dark blond hair out of the conservative bun she was wearing, he tucked them back behind her ear.

  Tessa shifted the strap of her purse farther up on her shoulder, though it had been in no danger of falling. Finally, she said, “I don’t really believe in heroes, but I hope you’ll turn out to be one for Kelly. She needs that very badly.”

  “Why? She has you, Tessa.”

  She couldn’t speak for a moment as tears burned her eyes. “Now that is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” She placed her hand on Luke’s hard forearm and gently squeezed, wanting to convey how deeply he’d touched her.

  “I hope you meant it about not wanting to be treated like a regular client,” Luke said as he pulled her closer. She certainly wasn’t getting his attempts at subtlety.

  “Huh?”

  “Come here,” he said quietly.

  Then he kissed her. Softly, gently, at first. When she didn’t pull back or resist, he slid the tip of his tongue from one corner of her tender smile to the other. Probing for entry but waiting to be asked in.

  Tessa let her purse drop to the concrete floor of the parking structure as she put her hands on Luke’s chest and hesitantly leaned closer. She parted her lips and gave him a hint of tongue, just enough so he would have to go looking for more. As the kiss deepened, she opened her heavy lids and met his hazel gaze. His pupils were dilated, but the blackness only emphasized the intoxicating swirls of gold, green, and blue that made up his eyes.

  With a quiet sound of pleasure, she shut her lids, closing out the penetrating gaze that seemed to see right into her soul.

  Luke turned slightly, pinning Tessa’s hips between his body and the car. He took her soft cheek in his hand and tilted her head in order to spear his tongue more deeply into her mouth. She made another soft sound, and he was gone.

  Settling more deeply into her, he nudged Tessa’s legs apart and pressed his lower body to hers. She drew in a sharp breath through her nose at the sensation, then kissed him more deeply and wrapped her arms around his neck. He took that as encouragement to continue.

  Tessa sighed a little as she felt the back hem of her silk blouse being pulled free of the waistband of her business skirt. Luke’s hands felt incredibly warm as they stroked up and down her sensitive spine. Her own fingers clenched in the soft hair at the base of his neck in response.

  He brought one of his hands slowly around to the front of Tessa’s body, concealed from view by the vibrant fabric of her top. She hesitated for a moment as he cupped a small, firm breast with tiny nipple already standing at attention underneath the lace of her bra. Her breath rushed out again when Luke shifted and lightly rubbed his hips against hers in an unmistakable message. The hardness of his erection found the perfect spot between her legs, and an audible cry left her lips before she could stop it.

  As the passionate sound echoed in the parking garage, Tessa grabbed Luke’s hand to keep it from moving below her waist. She was breathing hard when she freed her mouth from his drugging kisses.

  “Fun’s fun, but I don’t do PDAs.” She wriggled subtly to get free of his weight. “Besides, I don’t think my father—who is currently paying your salary—would approve.”

  Luke gave her a hard look. After taking a moment to control himself, he realized that Tessa was afraid of him, or at least of what he made her feel. That’s why she was stepping back and throwing in his face the fact that her father was technically his boss.

  It was almost as if she were trying to remind herself that men couldn’t be trusted by invoking the name of her father—the first man to betray her. Luke had no intention of hurting her, but Tessa didn’t know him well enough to believe that or even understand what it meant. His Swiss was quite an enigma, but since he understood the deeply rooted pain and suspicion behind her behavior, it was easier to let her words go.

  No matter how hard she tried to piss him off.

  Luke ignored her discreet struggles and leaned in for another thorough kiss. Then he stepped back to address her comment.

  “I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t try to kiss your father, then.”

  With her mind spinning, a low laugh escaped Tessa at that thought. Then she stilled as Luke took her chin in his hand again. She thought he was going to kiss her once more, but instead he stroked his thumb over the lower lip she’d just bitten to stifle her laughter.

  “I know you’re uncomfortable with the attraction between us, Swiss. And I know you haven’t had a lot of reason to trust the men in your life.”

  Her chin came up at that. She wasn’t sure what he and her father had discussed, but it seemed Luke was aware of the effects the emotional baggage between her and Paul Jacobi had had on the rest of her life.

  She looked away from him as he waited for a response. “I can’t throw away a lifetime of hard lessons because you want to get me in the sack.” She forced herself to say it lightly, as if the whole subject didn’t really matter to her.

  “I’m not asking you to. But you should know that I’m on your side, no matter who’s signing the checks. Think about that, Tessa.”

  She opened her mouth to respond, then paused as he rubbed his thumb along her lip again. “And think about what I said regarding your safety. If you want to continue being involved in every
aspect of the investigation, you’re going to have to compromise.”

  “How?”

  “By letting me put a man outside your house for protection. Or coming to stay with me,” he added.

  “Since you just had your tongue halfway down my throat, you’ll forgive me if I find that suggestion self-serving.” She bit at his finger to get him to release her. “Besides, I’m the one who has to approve expense accounts. I can’t authorize twenty-four-seven charges for the president of the company.”

  “Even if I’m worth it?”

  God, he certainly is, Tessa thought. “Even then. But I appreciate the concern.” She listened to his gusty sigh of frustration. “Tell you what—in the spirit of compromise, I’ll ask Ed what he thinks. If he says it’s a reasonable idea, I’ll let you put surveillance on my apartment, and I won’t fight you about it again, okay?”

  Luke was smart enough to recognize an olive branch when it was offered to him. So he took it, hoping he could use circumstances and their mutual attraction to talk her into his home soon. Very soon.

  He didn’t like the idea of her sleeping alone at night for a lot of reasons. And not all of them were selfish.

  Chapter 26

  Hollywood, California

  Thursday evening, March 11

  “I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with the solution you’re proposing,” Ricky Hedges said. He was locked in his office on a private call. Despite the air-conditioning, a line of sweat was forming on his upper lip, and his custom-tailored shirt clung to his body.

  For some reason, he always started sweating when his secure cell phone rang.

  “The problem is too big to deal with in the usual way, Ricky.” The voice on the line was low and pleasant.

  “It’s being taken care of as we speak. Papa won’t be bothered by these stories again,” Ricky assured the caller. “Nothing has happened since the girl came back. The people investigating the charges will be forced to drop the case and move on to something else.”

  “Ah, but what we’re asking you to do is more than a way to eliminate an annoying problem. Think of it as a test. Or maybe it’s like earnest money, to ensure that you don’t walk away without thinking it over real hard.”

  Ricky set his newly lit cigar in the ashtray without taking a single puff. He knew a setup when he saw one, and he was being set up. Papa Ianelli’s right-hand man wanted Ricky to personally get involved in a serious crime so that he would be less inclined to betray his business associates in the future.

  Turning on his old boss in New York had been both the best and worst thing he’d ever done in terms of his career. Yes, it had gotten him out of the city with enough money to start a new operation. But it also was something his new business associates never let him forget—the fact that he’d betrayed his old colleagues and walked away with a fat wad of cash in his pocket was something of a liability to them.

  He supposed he couldn’t really blame the Ianellis for wanting to ensure that it didn’t happen again. But somehow that thought did nothing to provide comfort. In fact, it made his stomach clench uncomfortably as he sensed just how deeply he’d have to get in the shit in order to satisfy his business partners.

  “Ricky? Do you want to continue to be a real estate developer and expand your operations?” The voice was chiding.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And do you want to get your casino license in Vegas someday?”

  “You know I do,” Ricky said. “That’s been my goal all along.”

  “And we can help you achieve that goal. All you have to do is prove your loyalty by getting personally involved here. Then we know you’ll do whatever it takes to protect our future investment in the Club Red empire.”

  “But I’ve got a lot more to lose than you do,” Ricky pointed out. “So far your involvement in my club has been small, but I’ve spent the last ten years building this business. My stakes are much higher at this point.”

  “And so are the profits you get out of the arrangement. But don’t worry, we’re willing to expand our investment and spread the risk around. You just have to prove you’re committed to the partnership first.”

  “So you sit back in your Las Vegas mansion and ask me to commit the kind of felony that will get me on the shit list of every cop in California.”

  “Think about how much the others involved have at stake, Ricky.” The caller laughed lightly. “Consider how very lucrative politics can be for some of our common friends. You’re not the only one with everything on the line.”

  “I want to continue working with you, but this is such a personal risk—”

  “Oh come off it. Surely there’s a way to set up someone else to take the fall for this. Show a little creativity, Ricky. But however you do it, we want the job done.”

  “And if I don’t?” Ricky asked.

  “Then the money people and influence makers will melt away at the first sign of trouble. And we’ll use our political connections to crush your empire-building plans. Your Vegas and Reno casino license applications will go to the bottom of the pile.”

  Ricky cursed. He’d poured all of his profits into saving up for Reno and Vegas branches of Club Red. If the license applications got buried on some bureaucrat’s desk, he might as well set fire to the seed money for his expansion plans, because it would never happen.

  “So you’ll find a way to take care of this?”

  “Sure. I guess it won’t be that hard. I’ve got a lot of loyal people working for me. But I’ll need at least ten grand from you to make it happen.”

  “We’ll send it out tonight with a courier.”

  The caller hung up, leaving Ricky Hedges to ponder how he was going to arrange a murder without getting his own hands bloody.

  Chapter 27

  Santa Monica, California

  Friday evening, March 12

  “Thanks for coming over,” Luke told Tessa as he closed the door behind her. “I’ve been putting so many hours in at work that I let the house fall apart. Since this is the first day we’ve had without appointments, I went in to the office early and came home after lunch. I spent all afternoon cleaning and dealing with repairmen, mail, and garden stuff.”

  “I need to clean my apartment this evening, too. But you said you had some new information from MacBeth, and I didn’t want to wait until Monday.” Tessa looked around Luke’s comfortable home. It certainly didn’t look like a typical bachelor pad.

  He lived in a cozily chic neighborhood on the beach. Wood frame houses were mixed with modern buildings set on tiny lots, giving the area an eclectic style and feel. Tessa had stopped to admire Luke’s front garden on the way in; the sprawling, free character of the plants and wildflowers suited his personality.

  So did the house, with its comfortable and masculine furnishings. A leather couch sat between two recliners, and she could see a TV and small home theatre system perched in an entertainment center that was the focus of the living room. A low wall separated the kitchen and dining area from the rest of the main floor, and carpeted stairs led up to the bedrooms.

  “This is a great house. How long have you had it?” Tessa asked.

  She would have killed for his home. When she first moved to California, she’d wanted more than anything to live in a vintage Santa Monica house like this one. But the prices were outrageous, so she had to be content with renting her postage-stamp-sized apartment several miles away.

  “This place belonged to my grandmother. She was doing winters here long before ‘snowbirds’ ever became part of the California vocabulary.”

  “Where is your family from?” Tessa asked as she walked around admiring the artwork and furnishings. Luke trailed behind her.

  “Chicago, originally.”

  “I never would have guessed from the accent.”

  Luke laughed. “I came here when I was twelve, so the accent is gone. I loved this house from the first time I visited my grandmother, so she left it to me when she died. My siblings all had their own plac
es already, so no one complained. I had to mortgage a good chunk of the house to pay the taxes, even fourteen years ago, but the value has continued to increase every year. It’s one of the best investments I ever made.”

  “Oh, my God. You have a deck. This is so great—can you see the water from here?” Tessa craned her head to look out the sliding glass door.

  “When it’s not dark, yeah. There’s another deck upstairs, off the master bedroom. You can see the beach better from there. Hey, you’re getting drool marks on the carpet.”

  “Sorry. I’ve wanted a house like this for so long, but as you once pointed out, I’m on a public servant’s salary.”

  “I’m sure your father and stepmother would…” Luke’s voice trailed away at her fierce look. “Right. Feel free to visit whenever you want.”

  Luke left her staring enviously at the small, well-organized backyard beyond the deck. “Can I get you a glass of wine?”

  “I don’t think so. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and it would go straight to my head.”

  “Then stay for dinner. It’s what I had in mind when I asked you over to talk in the first place.”

  “You didn’t say that on the phone.” Tessa’s stomach had been rumbling since she’d walked in and smelled fried chicken, and it chose that moment to growl out loud.

  “I know. If I had, you would have found some excuse not to come over. Here’s your wine, Swiss. We’ve got fried chicken in the oven, along with mashed potatoes, bread, fruit, and a salad.”

  “A great house, and you can cook, too? Why hasn’t some woman snapped you up yet?” Tessa teased, the everyday words falling out of her mouth before she’d thought them through.

  “I told you, I’ve been working hard to build my business. And cops don’t make good domestic partners.”

  “Sorry, that came out rude. I was just joking—”

  “What about you?” Luke asked.

  “You mean why hasn’t some woman snapped me up yet?” Tessa asked. “I have this thing for guys.”