“We’ve got an audience.”
****
Kris lifted the phone with a smile. “Hey, hot shot,” she murmured. Fort Knox was too damned far away for her. But it gave her a hot little thrill in her belly every time every time she thought of him, which was often, and every time he called her, which was daily. He drove out to see her once a week, and she drove out to see him once a week, and it still wasn’t enough.
“Hey, rich girl,” he returned, and that slow, sexy voice of his sent a quick shiver down her spine as she settled back in her chair in the small office Kacie had set up in her house in Old Louisville.
“I’m going to be finishing up a little earlier, I think,” she crossed her fingers as she glanced at the pile of work on her desk. “I was going to head down your way—if that’s okay with you.”
She could almost hear the smile in his voice as he sighed. “Well, I was planning on hitting the night life down here, but I guess I could hang around home and wait for you to get here instead. I’ve got an appointment with a damned therapist at three, and then an interview at four thirty. What time were you planning on getting here?”
Kacie appeared in the door, arching a black brow. The ring pierced through it flashed in the light. And she was mouthing, “Go now. Go now. Go now.”
Kris smothered a laugh, and said, “Well, actually, I think I can leave now. I may stop on the way and pick up something to fix for dinner, if that’s all right with you.”
“Pass up my cooking, or a hamburger, in favor of a home cooked meal? I think I can handle that,” he said levelly.
“Smart ass,” she returned, rising and scooping a handful of discs and folders into her bag. She blew Kacie a kiss. “I’ll see you soon, slick.”
Looking at her boss, she said, “I love you.”
“Just give me details. Those quiet ones just give me the shivers looking at them,” Kacie said, shuddering dramatically and rolling her eyes. “And you never did tell me what happened when you talked to Nikki Kline.”
“Well, the time hasn’t been right,” Kris hedged.
Kacie rolled her eyes. “Chicken,” she called as Kris hotfooted it out of the cramped office.
The only thing that gave her a little bit of pause was the car she knew was waiting out in front.
Her tag.
He had been ever present since she had made the damned bad mistake of dating one Max Blessett. Well, she had thought his name was Max Delacourte and that he was a sexy man with a steadily rising, promising career in military intelligence.
Yeah, and she had also thought he was single.
The difference was since Max’s very narrow escape from the military authorities who had damned near caught him, Kris’ tag was obvious. Normally it made her feel safer and she didn’t mind.
But she’d rather he not be around when she was seducing Dylan.
She slid her tongue over her lips as she walked out to the car where the man she knew only Raintree was leaning against the hood. He had a camera installed in her office and a tap on her phone line and he watched her like a mama hawk.
Well, maybe a mama hawk wasn’t quite accurate. He was six feet five inches of dark Native American sex appeal, attitude, and just the right amount of mischievous charm thrown in, enough to make her laugh, and he was stubborn, smart, and funny. Everything he needed to be to make this situation tolerable. He had pale gray eyes that watched you out of a dark face, disconcertingly pale, and disconcertingly thorough in their appraisal, short dense black hair, so black it had the bluish sheen to it in the light—and he was one of the most intimidating guys she had ever seen.
If it wasn’t for that smile, Kris would probably be scared to death of him. But he had an amazing smile. It could be downright mischievous or playful, depending on what he was up to, or what mood he was trying to convince her out of.
The guy he shared his shifts with was his dead opposite, a silent brooding bastard with cold dark eyes. He had introduced himself as Luciano that first night and since then, she might have gotten a few grunts out of him. Other than that, she saw him come, she saw him disappear at the break of dawn when Raintree came on, and that was it. Luciano was not a man who seemed happy to be around her.
But that was okay. Fortunately, he took the nights and Raintree seemed to like her, and that was good, because Raintree was more likely to give into her.
Or so she thought.
“No can do, darlin’,” he said, shaking his head, tossing his keys up and down. He slid her a wicked look and asked, “So how come you want to ditch me? Got a hot date?”
“I’m just going to Fort Knox,” she said, blowing a frustrated breath out. “I’m going to be with Dylan. I’ll be perfectly safe.”
“Uh-huh. And when Sergeant Kline sees you don’t have your tag, he will have my career, my ass, and my head on my platter.” Then Raintree’s pale eyes softened and he smiled gently as he added, “Not to mention the fact that I’ve gotten to like you a little too much to let you go risking that nice neck of yours. Drive on to Fort Knox. Believe it or not, there’s not a damn thing you can do there that I wouldn’t know about. And I don’t exactly go writing your daily life up in a report. I’m here making sure you don’t get killed. We messed up—that’s why your life is in danger, ma’am. So until you’re safe again, we’re here to protect you. But we aren’t going to interfere in your life either.”
Kris resisted the urge to poke out her lip. Well, she hadn’t gotten her way.
But he was such a sweet guy. It was hard to be mad at him about it.
****
Kris studied her dress.
She wasn’t waiting any damn longer.
They had been dating for three damn weeks.
This long distance relationship, driving back and forth an hour was for the birds. And it didn’t help that Dylan was slowly going out of his mind in Fort Knox. He tried to act like he was looking for a job, and she knew he was going to interviews, but the problem was…he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
He was overqualified for most of the stuff available around here. The one thing that might satisfy him, he couldn’t do; he couldn’t be a cop. Not with his back injury, he wouldn’t get through the training just yet, even though he could the kick asses of everybody on the force in hand to hand still.
Stifling a sigh, she shook her head. What in the hell was he interviewing for? It was after seven.
She paced back and forth, rubbing a hand up and down her tense neck and worrying. He’d go slowly insane if he didn’t find something to keep him busy, and satisfied. She just hoped it was around here. Kris wasn’t sure she could stand to lose him when they had just now gotten started.
Being with him helped keep the nightmares at bay. And not just the nightmares of Max. But the other ones…man, the others.
Those were getting worse. Sometimes, though, if she thought about him enough, focused on his face enough, daydreamed about him enough, by the time she fell asleep, she was so tired, the nightmares didn’t really have the energy to attack her.
But that didn’t always work.
She had one last week. And it had repeated itself, over and over, every night this past week.
A little girl. In a tiny little cabin by the muddy, flood swollen Ohio, miles outside of Fort Knox, just shy of Louisville. Kris had even thought she recognized a gas station where the little girl had tried to run away.
Wide terrified eyes, round cheeks, white blonde hair.
A scar, jagged and ugly, on her back.
And when she searched the web this morning, trying to find out if a girl that matched her description had gone missing, she had felt like ripping her hair out. Of course a girl that matched her description had gone missing. The question was…which one was she? And when had she gone missing?
You’re an editor, Kris. Not a private investigator. You’ve no clue how to handle this. And you couldn’t handle it anyway. You’d go crazy, she said to herself, shaking her head.
She worried th
e choker of pearls at her neck and looked at the clock. “Come on, Dylan, where are you?” she muttered. Her mind wandered back to the dream and then she asked herself, “What are you doing here, Kris?”
Dylan…the date…remember the date?
Dylan. Yeah, Dylan. I’m here to seduce his socks off. And a few other pieces of clothing.
Speaking of clothing, she made her way into his bedroom and flipped on the light, standing in front of his mirror and studying herself.
The dress…
About the dress.
A smile curve her lips. It was black, of course, and went to the ankle. Kris’s mama did not raise a woman who would be so déclassé as to stage a seduction that would look like another woman’s seduction.
But it had a slit from the ankle up to mid thigh, and she wore opaque black stockings under it, and a pair of lacy boy shorts. Nothing else. The dress had one of those nifty built in bras, which was good, since it dipped rather low in the back. So low, in fact, that if it went any lower, she would have to forgo underwear as well as a bra.
Tossing her copied key up and palming it, she smiled a cat’s smile and looked around the little rental house. It was perched on a hill overlooking the river and it was as cozy as you could hope to find.
Dylan had better be home soon. She was getting as nervous as a cat.
“Chill out, girl,” she muttered. “He’ll be here.”
And he was going to find lasagna, his favorite meal, Nikki’s recipe of course, some good wine, though he wouldn’t appreciate it as much as Kris would, so she had put some beer in the fridge as well. There were candles she would light as soon as she heard his truck, and the music was already playing. Jazz, which she had discovered he had a fondness for, much to her surprise. The low, bluesy sound of saxophone playing in the background, and sultry female voices, a local group recorded by friends of Nikki’s, played throughout the entire cottage.
Walking to the bedroom, she checked it. Again. For the fourth time. Kris didn’t believe in letting little details go unchecked. She’d had the dress, and the sheets, and the groceries that hadn’t needed to be bought fresh in her trunk since this morning. The sheets were ivory cotton sateen. Silk was too blasé, in her opinion, and also too damn chilly. The red silk-velvet comforter topped the bed and she had pulled it back in invitation.
His navy comforter and sheets were bagged and in the closet.
Yep, when Kris staged a seduction, she went all out.
The silver ice bucket and two champagne flutes were already on the table by the bed, waiting for the ice and the wine that was chilling in the fridge. Pleased, Kris turned and walked back into the living room and settled down on the couch to wait.
****
The dim glow of light greeted him as he climbed out of his truck. Kris’s car was in the driveway, and Dylan sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. He never should have done this. How in the hell could he have a relationship with this woman, when he didn’t even know what in the hell to do with himself?
There was nothing here for him.
No work. No job. Most of Fort Knox’s jobs were reserved for soldiers still in the army. And civilians took up a lot of what was left.
He supposed he could go brain dead sitting in front of a computer all day doing some kind of tech work. He had no idea what the labeling that went with it, but he could do any damn thing with computers that he wanted to. Problem was, he had absolutely no desire to work with them.
And he wasn’t going to bore himself senseless being a cop here. That was the only thing that had any kind of potential, but even that was months away. And he’d go brain dead within months.
He needed to be doing something that was right.
That needed him.
Kris seemed to be putting down roots in Louisville. Her job with the newly established publishing company was fast becoming a career and she was looking at houses to buy.
Gravel crunched under his boots as he headed up the driveway, his footsteps weary, heading first to the gray the Ultima where David Luciano waited. The window went down and the first words out of the ex-Ranger’s mouth were, “You are one lucky bastard, you know that? That woman has got legs up to her neck, I swear.”
Dylan cracked a grin. “She doesn’t like you. If you bothered to speak to her now and again, that might actually change. Of course, if it went anything behind mild friendship, I’d have to kill your ass,” he said amicably.
David shrugged. “I’m not paid to talk to her, or for her to like me. I’m paid to make sure the cute little butt of hers stays safe if and when Blessett ever makes his move. I don’t think he’s going to. It’s been more than two months. He’s probably living the high life down in South America now,” he said, blowing out a puff of air as he reached for a cigarette.
Dylan cocked a brow. “Thought you quit. Didn’t you kicked that habit back while we were training together?” he said as David lit a cigarette.
David shrugged. “I quit because I didn’t want anybody smelling smoke on me when I was supposed to be hiding in the jungle. I don’t hide in jungles in my line of work any more,” he said, studying the glowing red tip of the cigarette.
“What line is it, anyway?” Dylan asked conversationally.
David slid him a look as he took a deep drag on the cigarette, his eyes narrowed with pleasure. “If you’d really wanted to know, you should have kept your ass in the Army, slick,” he replied.
Dylan flipped him.
David’s eyes moved to the house. “Well, you’re not exactly my type. And I’m not sure, but I bet that’s what the lady in the house has planned for the night.”
Dylan muttered, “I’m not going to get my hopes up about that.” And he still couldn’t figure out what in the hell she was doing here. She was wasting her time with him, and sooner or later, she was going to figure that out.
Pick a fight, send her away. Make her wonder why she ever wanted to be with you…you’re wasting her time…
The scent of jasmine and vanilla wafted to him as he opened the door, and homemade lasagna, yeasty bread. And underneath it all, Kris, hot, sweet woman.
Seated on the couch, watching him, lifting a glass of wine in toast, she smiled a slow, hot smile and Dylan felt all the blood drain out of his head as she slowly rose from the couch, her long, curved form outlined in a sleek, body hugging dress all in black.
“Hello, handsome,” she murmured softly, moving in his direction. Drops of pearls hug at her ears and a triple stranded pearl choker wrapped around her neck, with a diamond pendant nestled in the hollow of her throat. Her hair, that dark, rich red hair was piled on top of her head in artful curls, making him want to yank the pins free, just to see it spill around her shoulders.
Damn it, I’m in trouble.
“Are we celebrating?” he asked, keeping his voice casual through sheer will alone.
“No.” Kris’s mouth, slicked and red, curved up in a smile, and she shook her head. “Just having dinner.”
Taking his hand, she turned and led him into the kitchen, and Dylan’s eyes dropped to her back. “Oh, hell.” Her whole damn back was bare, from the brief band at her neck that held her dress up, down to just above the swell of her ass, the soft, smooth flesh was naked and soft, smooth and scented, just begging for his touch.
Her mouth, painted a dark wine red, curved up as she glanced over her shoulder. “Of course, we can always start with dessert first.”
Dumbly, hardly able to think as he gazed at all the bare, ivory flesh, Dylan asked stupidly, “What’s for dessert?”
Her laughter peeled from her mouth. And Dylan thought he’d hit the floor when she replied, “Me.”
All the blood rushed from his head straight to his loins, as his sex started to swell, blood pumping in slow, hot waves through his veins. Passing his tongue over his lips, Dylan narrowed his eyes, studying her face. “You sure about that, rich girl?”
She smiled slowly. “Hot shot, you’re the one who has been slowin
g things down. I’ve been sure about it for quite a while.” With a tug of his hand, she led him down the hall, and Dylan arched a brow at her as she opened the door to his room, toasty warm from a fire, ivory linens on his bed, a ruby red comforter, wineglasses, a bottle of wine in a silver ice bucket, ice chilling it. And in front of that, a pile of silver foil-wrapped packets.
“Lady, you do know how to set a scene, don’t you?” Dylan mused, trailing his fingers down the bare skin of her back, lowering his mouth and kissing the smooth, soft skin of her neck.
“Hmmm. It’s a skill I was taught early in life.” Taking his hand, she led him into the room before turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ve been dying to know what it would be like to be with you, Dylan. For years and years, I’ve wondered. Don’t make me wonder any more.”
Fisting his hand in the silk of her hair, dislodging the pins, Dylan ravaged her mouth, wrapping his other arm around her waist, groaning as the taste of her filled him, feasting on it. No. No more wondering, not for either of us. That hot, sexy little body was pressed up against his, the firm push of her breasts against his, the diamond hard touch of her nipples evident through her dress and his shirt, her soft tummy cradling his cock as she moved seductively against him.
Pulling back, Kris smiled up at him, reaching behind her neck. Dylan felt his heart—simply stop in his chest as her dress fell to her waist, revealing her breasts, full, proud and naked under her dress, topped with hard, rosy nipples. She worked the dress over her hips, bending down slowly, never taking her eyes off him, in a move that would have done any stripper proud as she slid the dress to her ankles.
And when she stood, she was wearing a pair of lacy shorts that hugged her hips, dipped well below her navel, showcasing those curvy hips to perfection. And her legs…oh, damn her legs were encased in opaque black thigh highs. Lifting his eyes back to hers, Dylan couldn’t stop the wicked grin that split his face. “Are you gonna leave the thigh highs on?”
She smiled a naughty smiled as she turned around, treating him to the back view. Dylan groaned. The shorts rode high on the cheeks of her butt, showing him the firm, rounded curves, making him want to lean over and just bite her right there as she moved to the middle of the bed and settled there, drawing her knees to her chest in a pseudo-modest pose as she studied him, smiling angelically.
ALWAYS YOURS Page 9
