“This is Devlin Shade,” Lex said as he quirked a brow. “The last partner in our little business.”
“I hardly think your business will stay little for long,” Gwen murmured.
Devlin headed toward her. He offered his hand to her, just as Lex had done. She shook his hand, a bit cautiously, and felt the strength in his hold.
“My friends call me Dev,” he said as he stared down at her. “I hope you will, too.” His voice was quiet.
She managed a faint smile as she pulled her hand back from him.
Dev had a laptop tucked under his right arm. He put the laptop down on Chance’s desk and booted it up.
“Dev isn’t just brawn,” Lex told her. “He’s pretty much a tech genius. When I found those little devices tucked away at your place, I called him—”
“And I started working to track the signal on those babies,” Dev finished as he leaned over the laptop. “We left them in place and followed the transmission.”
Chance moved, a ripple of menace. “Tell me you found the bastard.”
“I do believe that we did.” Dev glanced up from the screen and smiled. Gwen decided the guys all needed to work on their smiles. Sharks had friendlier grins. “The signal went right back to a little club I think you’ve heard of…a place called Wicked.”
Her gaze flew to Chance at the mention of Wicked. She knew the club and knew he did, too. After all…she’d first met Ethan Barclay in Wicked. The place had opened last spring and become the place to be in D.C., provided, of course, that you were looking for a site to party hard.
When she’d been in Wicked that first night, everyone had been catering to her. Later, she’d learned the reason why. Ethan owned the club. He also seemed to own everyone in it. He’d wanted to catch her attention, and he had.
“That sonofabitch,” Chance snarled. “I told him to stay away from her.”
A chill skated down her spine.
“Guess he didn’t heed your warning.” Lex’s eyes had hardened. “And I’m thinking that means it’s time we pay the guy a visit.”
A muscle jerked in Chance’s jaw. “If that bastard burned my place, if he’s the one who’s after Gwen, he’s getting more than a warning.” His eyes glittered. “He’s about to face the fight of his life.”
Lex nodded.
“Get a tail on him,” Chance said. “I don’t want the bastard so much as sneezing without me knowing about it.”
“Chance…” Gwen touched his arm. “We should call the cops. Give them this evidence. Let them take over the case from here.”
All of the men turned equally unreadable gazes on her.
“What?” They didn’t need to look at her as if she was crazy. It was a perfectly reasonable request. “You’re bodyguards, not vigilantes. You don’t need to hunt this man down.” She shivered. The last thing she wanted was an encounter like last time. “Just…just let the cops handle it, okay?”
Now the men were exchanging glances. She could practically feel the undercurrents in the room.
“Excuse us a bit, will you?” Chance murmured to the guys.
Lex and Devlin—Dev—hurried toward the door.
Chance braced his legs, cocked his head, and studied her. He didn’t speak until the others had cleared the room.
Then, voice low and vibrating with a barely controlled fury, he said, “Someone tried to kill you tonight.”
“Chance—”
“That fire was set while you were upstairs with me. Someone cut the alarm. They wanted the blaze to spread until it was too late for us to escape. But that SOB made a mistake. I had a backup system in place, a secondary alarm, and we managed to get out alive.”
Her hands twisted in front of her. “I’m so sorry about your home.” Her voice sounded as miserable as she felt, and, right then, she couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes. If he hadn’t come after her that night, if he hadn’t followed her from the bar, he’d still have his place. His mementos, his—
“Fuck the home. It never mattered much to me anyway.”
Her gaze shot up to him.
“I’ve had houses in dozens of countries over the years. I’ve lived in so many places, they all blur together for me.” His lips twisted in a grim smile. “You want to know the one place I actually felt comfortable in? Where I felt as if I belonged?”
Gwen nodded.
“With you,” he said simply and he gave a hard smile. “You’re the closest thing to a real home I’ve ever had, and I didn’t even realize how important you were until you kicked me out of your life.”
Breathing was pretty hard right then.
“I never meant to get that close to you. I have a rule…I don’t get that close to anyone, but you snuck up on me. Slid past my guard, and you got to me.” That grim smile vanished. “Then you told me to get the fuck out of your life.”
She was actually starting to feel a little dizzy, so Gwen gulped in a deep breath. “You know, it would have been incredibly helpful if you’d told me all of this months before, instead of, you know, dropping this little bombshell on me when it seems as if someone may be trying to kill me.”
“My timing is shit.”
“It totally is.”
“I don’t want you to slip away again.”
This was the moment. The big moment in her life. The moment that could change her future. Sometimes, you didn’t know when these moments were happening, but this time…she knew. “I’m not going anywhere.” She’d tried to run from her feelings before, and that had done nothing but brought her trouble. If he wanted them to take a risk together, she was more than game-up for that plan. After all, she’d already spent far too much time loving him in silence. Why not see if they could do more than crash and burn?
His shoulders relaxed. “Good. Good. Lex and I will hit Wicked and fix Ethan.”
Um, fix him?
“You stay here with Dev and I—”
Gwen knew he’d stopped talking because Chance had noticed her shaking head. “You aren’t leaving me behind. This is my life we’re talking about. If Ethan is after me, then I think I deserve to be there to find out why he’s doing this to me.” Besides, should she admit that she felt a whole lot better being close to Chance? She honestly did think of the guy as her guardian angel. No offense to Dev, but Gwen knew nothing about the man.
“Gwen, I don’t think…”
“I feel safer with you,” she blurted. Well, so much for playing that one close to the vest.
His face softened. She’d never actually seen it do that before. Cute.
“Then you stay with me,” he agreed.
Right. Good plan. Another step in that good plan would be…to call the cops!
“While Lex was at your place, he picked up some clothes for you. They’re in his office. I’ll get them sent in here, you can change, and then we’ll make plans to hit Wicked.”
He turned and headed for the door.
She didn’t move. “Are we going to talk about it?”
His hand was reaching for the doorknob, but Chance paused and glanced back at her.
“What almost happened between us,” Gwen clarified. The best orgasm I’ve had in ages. And she’d had some fairly good ones over the years. “If it hadn’t been for the fire—”
“I’d still be fucking you right now.”
Some men would have made a fake boast like that. They would have acted like they could truly fuck that long. All night.
But one look in his eyes, and she knew he wasn’t lying.
Oh, wow.
“I am going to have you, Gwen. I’m going to have you long and hard, but it won’t be here.” His lips thinned. “My partners won’t be down the hallway, able to hear every sweet sound you make. You and I will be alone, and I’ll have you just the way I’ve fantasized about for far too long.”
Her skin was definitely overheating.
He opened the door.
“And I’ll have you,” she said, her words soft, but she knew he heard them. She saw the
sudden tenseness of his shoulders. “The way I’ve fantasized about for so long. I guess we’ll see…we’ll see which of us had the better fantasies.”
Swearing, he left the room.
Gwen smiled.
But her smile faded a few moments later when she realized…hell, I have to call my father. Because if he found out about these attacks before she spoke with him, her dad would freak the hell out. And when Will Hawthorne freaked out, it wasn’t a good situation for anyone.
She strode toward Chance’s desk. She picked up his phone, and Gwen made the phone call that she dreaded. The line rang once, twice. She glanced at the clock and winced. At this hour, her father would—
“Chance, what the hell is happening?” Her father’s voice thundered over the line. “Is my daughter safe?”
She swallowed. “Dad, it’s Gwen. And, yes, I’m safe. But there are a few things you need to know.”
* * *
When Chance headed back to his office—with Gwen’s change of clothes in tow—he heard the sound of her voice. He’d left the door ajar and he pushed it open. Gwen stood near his desk, and she had the phone to her ear. Her back was turned to Chance as she said, “No, you don’t need to worry about me. Dad, look, I told you, Chance is helping me out…”
Fuck me. Her father. He hurried across the room. He hoped Will hadn’t done something stupid…like tell Gwen that Chance had been hired to protect her. That would really screw all of his plans.
“Look, Chance is right here,” Gwen said quickly. “He can assure you that I am perfectly safe. I’ve hired him to protect me, so you don’t have to worry.”
With those words, Chance knew that Will hadn’t told Gwen the truth. At least, not yet. He took the phone from Gwen and almost smiled as she mouthed Thank You! to him. Obviously, she wasn’t enjoying her little chat with her dad. But then, most folks didn’t enjoy chats with Will Hawthorne.
Then Gwen took the clothes from him and headed toward his attached bathroom. He didn’t speak until the door closed behind her, and then Chance chose his words very carefully, just in case she happened to overhear him. “Gwen is safe. You know her protection is my top priority.”
“A fire?” Will nearly yelled in his ear. “Gwen was in a fire? Shit, you should have called me right away! You should have—”
“I was kind of busy getting out of the fire, with Gwen.” He kept his gaze on the closed bathroom door. “My partners have been doing recon work. Right now, we think we’ve got evidence that points to Ethan Barclay.”
“I told you it was him! I’ll destroy that upstart bastard. I’ll—”
“I’ll be paying him a visit in the next hour. Gwen wants the police brought in, so I’ll get in touch with my contact at the department before I head over to Ethan’s club. Be assured, I am handling this situation.”
“You’d better be,” Will snapped right back. “Because if anything happens to Gwen, you’re done in this town. Hell, you’re done in the whole country.”
The guy was confused. His threats had never worked on Chance before, so why would he think they’d work now? Chance didn’t speak, and he knew that Will would understand his silence for the I-don’t-give-a-shit that it was.
“She’s all I have,” Will mumbled. Those words surprised Chance. “After her mother’s death…it was just Gwen. I know half the time she hates me, but I need her. You keep her safe. Keep. Her. Safe.”
The guy hung up on him. Big surprise.
But then the bathroom door opened. Gwen stood there, looking so gorgeous she made him ache. Sure, she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and her hair was loose around her shoulders, but Gwen wore those clothes better than other women wore expensive gowns. They fit her body perfectly, showing off her curves and making him itch to touch her.
He put the phone back down on his desk. Chance cleared his throat. “I’ll change too, then we’ll have that chat with Ethan.” He sure wasn’t looking forward to seeing that bastard. Putting him in jail? Oh, yeah, that part he anticipated.
Gwen nodded.
“I’ve got some spare clothes, too.” He turned away from her. “Just give me a minute…” He was grateful her father hadn’t blown his cover, but Chance felt like shit because he was misleading Gwen. He needed to tell her the truth, but he was afraid that if he did, she’d doubt him.
He wanted Gwen’s trust. He needed it.
He looked back at her. Tell her. But he couldn’t. Because she was staring at him with trust filling her bright green eyes, and the last thing he wanted to do was wreck that trust.
She doesn’t need to know. But they did need to be clear on one thing. “You told your father you’d hired me to keep you safe.”
A light flush stained her cheeks. “Well, yes, I mean, since you have your own bodyguard business and—”
“You’re not paying me to keep you safe. No one is paying me.” He wasn’t going to take money from her father and he sure as hell wasn’t taking her money. He was protecting her because he needed to know Gwen was safe. If he didn’t, Chance would go mad. “I’m doing it because you matter to me.”
She seemed to absorb that a moment and then Gwen said, “Just promise, that no matter what happens, you won’t get hurt.”
He’d been hurt plenty before and he would be again. Lex had even called him an adrenaline junkie once. But then, Lex was the one truly addicted to the high. Chance had already found something he enjoyed more than the rush of danger.
“Chance? Please, I don’t want you taking risks for me.”
“If not for you, then who?” He smiled at her. “Baby, my life is all about risk. Just ask Lex or Dev. They’ve got stories that scare even me.”
She marched toward him. Caught his hand. Stared up at him with determination stamped on her face. “I’m not talking about stories. I’m talking about the here and now. You say you want me safe? Fine. I want you safe, too. So let’s make that happen. Let’s both stay safe, let’s stay out of any fires…and let’s just see what came happen for us. I want a chance to be with you.”
And he needed one with her. Needed it, more than he needed anything else.
But he didn’t promise her that he wouldn’t get hurt. There were already enough lies between them.
Chapter Five
At night, Wicked was a hotspot teeming with people. The line to gain entrance to the club usually stretched around the block. Music would blare. Laughter would fill the air.
But during the day…especially so early in the day, Wicked was totally different. Deserted. All of the lights were off and no bouncers guarded the doors.
Lex marched toward the doors. He lifted his fist and pounded.
Gwen kept her position near Chance’s side. She hadn’t seen Ethan in months, not since she’d woken and found him in her bedroom. Chance had come in like a wild fury, and she’d had to pull Chance off the guy. She’d been afraid that Chance would get hauled to jail with Ethan but…
That hadn’t happened.
Ethan hadn’t been charged with any crime. He’d said that she’d left a key for him.
Total lie.
But she had managed to get a restraining order issued against him. She hadn’t seen him since that night, but it seemed as if he’d still been seeing her. Videoing her movements.
The door opened. A tall, broad-shouldered guy with dark red hair glared at them. She recognized the man as Ethan’s driver and sometimes bodyguard, Daniel Duvato.
But Daniel’s attention wasn’t on her. His glare was all for Chance and Lex. “The club is closed, dumb-ass. Come back at midnight.” He tried to shove the door closed again.
Lex threw up his hand and stopped the movement. “I’m here to see your boss.”
The red-haired guy’s eyebrows shot up. “Too bad for you because my boss isn’t looking to see anyone right now.”
Chance stepped forward. He shoved open that door, sending the redhead stumbling back. “He’ll see us,” Chance said, his voice strong and commanding. “Go find Ethan and tell hi
m that Chance Valentine is here to see his sorry ass.”
Daniel laughed. “You are making one big mistake, asshole. But if you want Ethan as your enemy…” He waved his hand to indicate the empty bar. “Come inside. It’ll be your funeral.”
“I doubt that,” Chance muttered.
Gwen caught sight of Lex’s smirk. The guys didn’t look intimidated, but her stomach was in knots. Chance’s home had been torched. This wasn’t some alpha guy social call. This was life or death shit. This was scary.
So, yes, maybe she did inch a little closer to Chance. And she did wish that she had a can of pepper spray with her. Or maybe a stun gun or…
“That way,” Daniel said, pointing toward the bar. Then his gaze shifted and he finally locked his stare on her. Daniel gave a low whistle. “Oh, but he’s gonna want to see you, pretty lady.”
Chance growled.
Daniel smiled. “He said you’d come back,” he told Gwen. “Sooner or later.”
Chance took Gwen’s hand and shouldered past the guy. Daniel’s mocking laughter followed them.
The bar was familiar to her, unfortunately. When she’d stumbled into Wicked with her friends, she hadn’t rushed for the dance floor. She’d gone to the bar, wanting to drink up a little dancing courage. She’d met Ethan at that bar. She’d thought he was just a bartender at first. Later, she’d learned he owned the whole place—and a few other bars in town. He’d had that tall, dark and dangerous vibe and after her rejection from Chance, Ethan had seemed like a temptation she shouldn’t pass up.
Too late, she’d learned that the tall, dark, and dangerous label was all too true for him.
Chance strode toward the bar now, and she could see a man standing behind the gleaming, wooden counter top. A man with dark brown hair and broad shoulders. She knew by the cut of his hair, those faint curls, that she was looking at Ethan even before the guy turned around.
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