Mr. Dangerous (The Dangerous Delaney Brothers Book 1)

by July Dawson

  "Hi, Naomi," the receptionist said sprightly. "I'm calling from Dr. Z's dentistry. We wondered if we could set up a daily cleaning after 8pm?"

  "I can do that for you, absolutely," I said. I felt a sudden sense of lightness. And sure enough, as business hours opened, more calls came in. Our clients were coming back.

  Thank god for that bright spot, because without my phone connection to Alice, I was nervous as hell. I kept jumping every time the windy, rainy day outside caused the branches of the willow tree in the yard to scrape against the roof.

  A sudden noise in the next room caused me to jump again, snatching my phone out of my pocket. My heart beat out of control. Then two waving white tails appeared in the doorway, just visible over the edge of my desk.

  "You guys startled me," I scolded the cats, who did not seem remotely apologetic. I scooped them up into my lap, feeling my heart slow again to normal as I stroked their fur. They flopped on top of each other, shameless in their competition for belly rubs.

  There was a distant thump.

  The cats were right there with me.

  It had to have been a noise from outside: an animal, maybe, or a big branch falling off the tree. I eased the cats off my lap, unhooking their claws from my jeans. Getting up from the desk chair, I picked up my cell phone again, turning it nervously in my hand.

  The cats suddenly fled the room, their bodies low to the ground. They were fleeing for their beloved hiding space behind my refrigerator. Growing nervous, I eased the office door quietly shut behind them, popping the doorknob lock shut. It would only take a few seconds to open it from the other side, but it was something.

  I went to the window, pushing the blinds aside and pressing my face against the glass so I could get the best look possible down at my backyard.

  A flicker of motion. A man. Entering my house through the glass sliding doors.

  I pressed my back against the wall, overcome with a sudden sickening fear. My hands shook as I dialed Rob's number, trying to stay calm despite the sudden dizzying surge of adrenaline. Rob picked up after the first ring.

  "Hey," he said, his voice full of concern. “Where are you?”

  "There's someone in my house, Rob. Maybe more than one person."

  "You need to hide," he said. "Buy us some time to get to you. Joe is calling 9-1-1 right now, the police have already been alerted you’re in trouble. We're on our way."

  "I locked the door. I can go out on the roof. By the garage. It'd be hard to see me from the ground."

  "Do that." In the background, I could hear Liam rapid-fire on the phone, the roar of the Suburban’s engine.

  I quickly opened up the closet door in my office, pulling at hangers, dropping a few to the ground. Hopefully once they broke into the room, they'd waste time searching. Walking as softly as possible, I crossed to the window and slid my fingers under the sill, easing it slowly up. My backyard looked serene: rain specked the poured-concrete patio, my brightly colored patio umbrella waved in the breeze, and beyond the yard were the swaying green pines. There was no sign of anyone at all.

  Tucking my cell phone into my bra so I had both hands free, I eased myself out onto the roof. The shingles of the roof were rough under the soles of my bare feet.

  I had to reach up to get my fingers on the top of the window sash, and the sense of hanging out over the ground below, stretched to my full height, made my head swim. I hated heights. I dragged down on the window. It stuck, just barely open. Just enough to give me away. Biting down on my lip, I leveraged my body weight, hanging off the sash. It ground the last half-inch shut.

  I shuffled on my knees across the roof to the bay window by the garage, nervously climbing over the peaked roof of the garage so I could hide from view of the office window. Then, settled with my feet braced on the roof and my back against the curve of the roof window, I fished my cell phone from my bra. "You still there?"

  "I'm on my way, Naomi. Just hang on."

  "I'm hanging on. Pretty much literally. Don't have much choice." There was a shake in my laugh.

  "You're a brave girl," Rob said. "I've seen that before.”

  “I know I’m brave. I do your laundry.”

  But despite the brave words, my hands were shaking so badly that I was afraid my clumsy fingers would drop the phone. My adrenaline made the world a dark-edged blur.

  "I don't feel brave," I whispered, my voice so soft I wasn't sure Rob could hear. "I feel terrified."

  "I'll be right there," he promised.

  He didn't say there was no reason not to be terrified.

  34

  Rob

  "Naomi? Naomi?" I demanded. But there was no answer, no matter how tightly I pressed the cell phone to my ear.

  "How the fuck did we beat the cops here?" Liam demanded, pulling the Suburban to a stop at the side of the road alongside Naomi's house. We were hidden from view of the house by the pussywillows and bushes that lined her yard.

  "Works for me," I said bleakly. "You two stay here. Meet up with the cops and tell them what's going on."

  "You're not going in alone," Liam said. "No way."

  "Someone needs to rendezvous with the cops," I said, "And I'd rather work alone. No offense."

  "Joe can stay," Liam said. "And I don't really care what you'd rather, you're less likely to die with backup, if you insist on going in without the cops. No offense."

  "No time to argue," I said curtly, getting out of the car.

  I threw the cell phone to Joe, wanting him to update Naomi if she called back. I couldn't waste another moment getting to her. Pure, rage-fueled adrenaline flowed through my veins.

  I took off through the brush, skirting the house, wanting to surprise the men who had dared to mess with my Naomi. Liam followed. We arrived at the front door to the house, which stood open, and then Joe came running up, limping, out-of-breath.

  "I saw movement," Joe said. "Someone ran into those woods over there."

  I cursed as I took off running.

  It didn't take me long to pick up the trail of the two assholes who were just in front of me, and they were right on Naomi's heels. Unable to get ahead of them easily without alerting them that I was there, I stalked them as they tripped through the brush.

  "She's hurt," the first guy said. "Won't get far fast."

  The anger in my veins turned icy at the thought of Naomi tumbling off the roof, limping into the woods.

  "This is a waste of time anyway," the second one said. "This house? That girl? She can't be the girlfriend."

  "You never know. All kinds of tastes out there."

  "Rich guys don't go wrong-side-of-the-tracks. She saw our faces. We should kill her."

  "There's no rush. Let's see if she means anything to him first." The guy stopped, swearing. “God, I hate the woods.”

  I skirted ahead of them, choosing my footing carefully but quickly so I could move soundlessly through the woods without breaking branches underfoot. Once I was between them and Naomi, I waited. They almost passed by me without seeing me there, hidden among the trees.

  They were looking for prey. They didn’t realize they were the prey.

  I registered their startled faces, the guns in their hands that they couldn't turn on me in time. I grabbed the wrist of the nearest man— Mr. Wrong Side of the Tracks— turning it abruptly to one side. The gun came away in my hand as the man let out a pig-squeal of pain. I pointed the gun at the second guy, my finger slipping onto the trigger guard as the gun fully seated in my palm, and pulled the trigger. Twice. The man crumpled to the dirt, red blooming across his shirt.

  I stepped in close to the first guy, my momentum carrying me along, and pressed the gun to his throat.

  "You have one chance to live," I said.

  Liam burst into the clearing, his gun drawn and low, looking far more dangerous than I ever would have expected my little brother to look.

  "I need to get to Naomi," I said.

  "I've got him," Liam said.

  I took off throug
h the woods. Naomi must have heard the gunshots. What would she think? Would she know that they meant I was here, ready to take care of her, or would she be afraid that I might have been killed?

  "Naomi!" I shouted. There might be other surprises out here, but I needed to find her, to let her know she was safe. "Naomi! Where are you?"

  "Rob?"

  The voice was small, behind me. I whirled.

  Naomi was above me, her legs dangling as she climbed back down the oak tree she'd taken refuge in. I reached up and caught her in my arms, lowering her gently to the ground. Her knees buckled when her feet touched the fallen leaves.

  "You're hurt.” My voice came out heated, even though it wasn’t her that I was angry at.

  "I heard gunshots."

  "How many of them were there?"

  "Two," she said. "Just two. That I saw."

  "Well, I took care of two," I said. "I'm not ever going to let anyone hurt you, Naomi. Not as long as I'm alive."

  A wry smile touched her lips. "As long as you’re alive. I worry about someone hurting you."

  "You don't ever have to worry about me."

  She rolled her eyes, but she was still leaning heavily on me, her warm weight against my side. "I do, actually. There's a lot of reasons to worry about you, besides the obvious tendency to get yourself into danger."

  I put my thumb under her jaw, tilting her face up so I could study her: those big hazel eyes, that sweet pink mouth, the faint faded freckles over her nose and cheeks.

  "You were always a monkey," I said, remembering how we used to climb together in the trees in front of the house. "Who knew that would save your life one day?"

  She blinked at me. "It wasn't the climbing that saved my life, and you know it."

  "I'll always come to you," I promised. I was desperate to take away the fear in those eyes. "I'll always protect you."

  She smiled mirthlessly. "Don't make promises you can't keep, sweetheart."

  "Why do you say things like that?"

  "Because I know you want to protect me," she said. "But I mostly worry about my heart with you around."

  "Naomi," I said.

  "What? You're going to tell me I don't have to worry? That you didn't mean it when you said don't fall in love with me? Because I think you're an honest guy, Rob, and I think that was an honest thing you said to me." Those beautiful dark-lashed eyes were serious. “If I doubted it for a moment–if I wanted to doubt it–the truth was right there when you kissed Kate.”

  I felt the impossibility of saying the things to her that would matter, that would sum up my fear for her, my affection and my wanting.

  "I'm not going to tell you anything," I murmured. I swept her up, holding her against my chest. Naomi let out a small gasp, clinging instinctively to my neck. I liked feeling her arms looped around me like that, her cheek pressed against my shoulder. In the distance, there were sirens. The cavalry. An ambulance for Naomi.

  "I think I sprained my knee," she said. "How am I going to change your sheets and wash your dishes now?”

  "I don't need clean sheets," I growled. "In fact, I don't need sheets at all." With her body held tight to mine, I sat down on the ground, planting my feet. I leaned back, holding Naomi against my chest, so I could kiss those sweet olive-skinned cheeks.

  "You're ridiculous," she murmured. "The police are going to want to talk to us."

  "Just kiss me once," I said. "In lieu of me trying to tell you anything. You never listen to me anyway... you don’t answer your goddamn phone…"

  “You never listen to me!”

  "Just kiss me," I demanded.

  "You're so bossy."

  "I am." I wrapped my arms around her tightly, possessively. "But you have to trust me. You have to believe I'm always going to be here for you. So kiss me."

  Naomi shook her head as if she didn't believe I could convince her of anything from a kiss alone. But I had more faith in the chemistry between us than that.

  Still, she listened, for once, and pressed her lips against mine. Her long dark eyelashes fluttered shut against her cheeks. I could feel her heart, still pounding with adrenaline, with her breasts pressed against my chest.

  I put my palm on her cheek, kissing her deeply, and felt her body begin to relax into mine. As if her body knew that I would be her safe place, even if she couldn't believe it yet.

  35

  Naomi

  Watching them take Rob away in cuffs made my stomach twist with anxiety, even though he winked at me right before he ducked into the cop car.

  “He’ll be fine,” Liam promised me. “He didn’t do anything but protect you. They’ll get his statement and let him go.”

  I sat in the back of the ambulance, with my legs dangling over the gravel of my driveway. “I’m fine,” I promised the EMT. “I don’t need to go to the hospital. I just need Motrin and two weeks’ sleep, and I’ll be good as new.”

  “I promised Rob I’d stay with you,” Liam said. “Stay or go. I’ll be here.”

  I nodded, even though I felt nervous around Liam. He didn’t even like me; he’d made that abundantly clear. It was weird, because we had known each other as kids too, and I didn’t know where this certainty that I was some gold-digging hussy came from.

  The police came to take my statement, and Liam wandered away to give us privacy. When I’d finished, I waved to Joe, who waited at the car, sitting in the passenger seat of the Suburban with the door open. Sunrise had cracked open fully, and the morning was clear and cool.

  It was Liam who joined me first, though, instead of Joe who was creaking slowly towards us.

  “Let’s get you home,” Liam said curtly.

  “It’s not my home,” I said. Lord knew Liam wanted to make sure of that.

  Liam offered me his arm. I shook my head, not willing to take it, as I slid off the bumper of the ambulance. My knees buckled, and Liam slid his arm around my waist impatiently. Pain radiated from my knee up through my hamstring, so bad that it was hard to walk. Funny how a sprain sounded so minor and yet felt so agonizing.

  "My brother seems a little bit concerned about you," Liam said lightly. "I've never seen him like this over a girl before."

  "Really?" I said. “Well, I’m pretty sure I’m the only woman who’s ever been carjacked with him on a first date and kidnapped by the third. So you can’t read too much into it.”

  The truth of those words hit me hard, no matter how much I said it like a joke.

  “I think he loves you, you idiot,” Liam said.

  I had nothing to say to that. Even though I wanted to walk away from Liam, I had to lean some of my weight on him as we made our way down the driveway to where Joe had parked.

  “But my brother’s a commitment-phobe,” Liam said. “You two… it’s hopeless.”

  “Thanks, Liam,” I said drily. “Who said I even want a commitment?”

  “Well,” he said. “The things you two are doing… if you don’t expect him to put a ring on it… I mean, I don’t want to call you a floozy…”

  “What is with your family?” I demanded. Hussy. Floozy.

  Rude.

  “You know you can just enjoy sex,” I said. “Things can just be fun. Not every woman wants to get married and have babies with every guy she sleeps with.”

  “I know,” Liam said impatiently. “But you’re not every woman. And my brother’s not every guy.”

  “Kate’s not every woman either.” The bitterness was audible in my voice.

  “Nope,” Liam said. “She’s an old friend that still has a thing for Rob. Even though he’s clearly lost his mind and just wants one girl in Newport.”

  I was quiet. Joe opened the back door of the Suburban, and Liam helped me in. I stretched my leg across one of the seats.

  “I know it might not be where you want to be,” Joe said, swinging up into the passenger seat. “But Castle Delaney is where you need to be.”

  “I know,” I said.

  I was trapped in Rob’s castle.

&n
bsp; I was trapped with him.

  I was trapped with the feelings I couldn’t handle. And Liam was too goddamn right about the whole thing.

  Back at Castle Delaney, I felt like I could breathe again. I settled on the balcony off Rob’s room to watch the waves roll in, the low rumble of the surf draining out my frantic internal voice. I didn’t know how I’d ever sleep again; I couldn’t stop thinking about those men who had hunted me through the woods. About how there were men like that in the world, willing to cut my throat to hurt Rob. The thought was so overwhelming that I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare of the sun off the ocean water.

  The French doors closed quietly behind me, and I jumped, turning, to see Rob. He was broad-shouldered in a blue sweater and dark jeans, his eyes tired and his strong jaw covered in some serious dark shadow. I felt my heart jump.

  "They let you go," I said.

  "No reason to keep me." Rob held his arms out to me. "Except that they think I'm a danger to any criminal population in Newport. I'm supposed to try and stay out of trouble."

  I let myself sink into his arms, which clutched tightly around me. “Are you?”

  “I wish I could,” he said. He pressed his lips to the top of my head. “Trouble came looking for me. For the Delaneys. And because of us… for you. I have to end it.”

  “I want to help you,” I said.

  “And I want to keep you safe.”

  His hard arms around me made me feel like I was safe, no matter what the truth was. But Rob’s eyes sharpened, his jaw setting, as if he was remembering how he’d felt when I was running in the woods from his enemies. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into my world. I never thought this would happen, Naomi.”

  “I know,” I said. “Believe me, if you’d said this way to great sex! And carjackings! And torture! And kidnappings! I would’ve been like ehh, Rob, I have really missed you, but I’m going to have to pass.”