“I just am. I’m sorry if it’s bothering you. I just get nervous when I’m around guys I think are cute. I say silly things sometimes.” I did my best to look bashful, instead of like I wanted to bash him in the face with my plate of shrimp—vegetarianism be damned.
He stared for a bit longer and then must’ve decided that I was safe. “I could tell you lots of things that would make your eyes cross. I didn’t tell the cops a lot of it because it doesn’t have anything to do with the case, I’m sure, but it’s wild just the same.”
I sat forward in my seat. He had me eating out of the palm of his hand. “Paul? Wild? I guess I never really knew him, but he seemed so tame.”
“Oh, no. Paul was insane. He made sales fun.” He leaned in and his mouth turned into something that almost resembled a smirk. “He had this list.”
“A list?”
“You don’t want to hear about that, though. It’s just locker-room shit.”
I stroked my hand down my hair and across my chest, drawing his attention there. Lightly biting the tip of my blood-red nail, I tilted my head to the side and shrugged. “I find it kind of interesting. Are you a little wild, too, Cody?”
He licked his lips and leaned in, even closer. His eyes flashed between my eyes and my chest. “We all were. Paul, Matt, and me. Paul started it, though. He kept a list of all the women in the office he slept with. He ranked them and made notes.”
I saw red and I wanted to bring Paul back to life so he could be murdered again. I wanted to slap the shit out of Cody for thinking of it as some cool thing they did. I had to remain calm, though. “Wow.”
Cody kept his eyes on my chest. “Yeah. I noticed that you never made it onto that list. It’d be really cool if I got you when Paul couldn’t.”
I was seconds from stomping Cody into the dirty floor of Porky’s when a large hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up to find Branson grinning down at me. Horrified to be busted on the case, I felt my face heating up.
“Funny running into you here, Elizabeth.” His deep voice was like a stroke down my bare spine.
I forced my face into something peaceful and nodded. “It is. I didn’t know you came to the city very often.”
Cody cleared his throat. “Cody Kanis. I work with Elizabeth at the Stelton Firm.”
Branson shook Cody’s hand, squeezing too hard, I could tell. “That’s nice. I go way back with Elizabeth.”
I stood up and gave a sexy smile to Cody. “I’ll be right back to pick up where we left off. I need to run to the restroom.”
I prayed Branson would follow me. He was going to ruin my plan to get information from Cody. I waited in the back hallway and grabbed his arm as soon as he turned the corner. I dragged him with me into the bathroom and locked the door behind us.
“What are you doing?”
Branson stared down at me and raised his eyebrow. “You just dragged me into a bathroom. What are you doing?”
Even more annoying than the fact that he was trying to ruin my investigation was that he was so fucking calm about it. “I’m working out there and you’re going to ruin everything.”
“I figured as much.” He leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “I doubted you were on a date with that guy.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s small enough to be someone’s child.”
“Everyone is someone’s child.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Maybe I am on a date with him. Just before you showed up, he propositioned me. Maybe I like that.”
“Don’t let me get in your way, then. Go ahead.”
I balled my fists up and put them on my hips. “Why are you here?”
“The bathroom?”
“Porky’s!” I growled the word out between my clenched jaws. “Why are you at Porky’s?”
“Food?”
“Are you following me?”
“No, I’m not following you. My whole team is out there. We’re trying to have dinner. I couldn’t get past the crazy redhead with the pipsqueak of a date, though.”
“Don’t call me crazy.”
Branson pushed himself off of the wall and reached for the doorknob. “I’ll just go back to my dinner.”
I pressed myself against the door, the metal cold against my back, but I wasn’t done with him. “Don’t bother me again tonight.”
With his hand on the knob, Branson was close enough to me that I could see the jagged lines of his scar, the depths in the amber of his eyes, the curls in the hair of his beard. My breath caught in my throat and I had the crazy urge to throw myself at him and beg him to take me. He was too good-looking. There was something to him that made me insane.
“You’re the one blocking the door.” His voice was deeper and his pupils dilated. His breath fanned over my shoulder. “Elizabeth?”
I shook my head and made myself move. What was I thinking? “Sorry.”
“What does he know?”
Standing facing away from Branson, I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. “Paul apparently kept a list of all the women he slept with at Stelton.”
“Including Helena?”
I spun around to face him again. “I didn’t get a chance to ask anything else. I’ll find out, though. That would be interesting. A list with something like that on it could be a big deal.”
Branson cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “It’s the kind of thing that could really get you into trouble.”
“I’m tougher than you think.”
“I have no doubt about how tough you are. That won’t keep you from being fired and sued, though.”
“They won’t catch me.”
He shook his head and grabbed the doorknob again. “It’s like talking to a brick wall with you.”
“And it’s like talking to fried green beans with you. Sexy outside and boring inside. All you want to do is lecture me.” I felt my ears heat up because of the self-hatred flowing through my body at having said that to him, but I stayed firm. He didn’t need to know how embarrassing I found myself. Why did I keep saying shit like that to him?
“Did you just call me a fried green bean?”
I bit my lip and stifled a laugh. “Yep.”
Branson ran his hands through his hair, revealing more of the scar he tried to hide. I wanted to run my fingertips over it and maybe my tongue. He just didn’t get how sexy he was.
“Have you ever been checked out by a therapist?”
“Have you?”
“Touché.”
I smiled despite myself. “It kind of feels like you’re helping out in the investigation.”
“I’m not.”
“Come on, Branson.” I looked up at him through my eyelashes. “I’m tired of flashing Cody my cleavage. It’s your turn.”
He laughed and looked over at me with his eyes still squinting from a smile. Laugh lines decorated his face and that smile was like a pull straight down to my core. “You’re shameless.”
“I can be.”
“Stop flashing your cleavage at that jackass.”
“He doesn’t like me without the cleavage. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
He closed the gap between us and grabbed my hips. Using them, he tugged me into his body and groaned. “I should know better.”
Chapter 11
Branson
I told myself to let Elizabeth go. I needed to step away from her and let her go back to her date while I went back to my table. I knew I should. It was a terrible idea to kiss the beautiful woman pressed up against my body. Worse than terrible. She was a mess. She was insane. She was heaven pressed up against me.
Though usually a man who followed the rules, I couldn’t force myself to with her. I wanted her.
With my mouth hovering over hers, I ran my hands down her bare back and over the silky curves of her ass. Her breath came faster and her barely contained chest rubbed against the front of my T-shirt. I was just a man. There was no hope of
feeling her like that and walking away.
“Fuck, you’re going to be trouble.”
The mumbled words were like a promise as I kissed her. She was soft and smooth. Fire. Fireworks were nothing. She was pure fire. Instantly, her hands were wrapped around the back of my neck, her body pressed even harder against mine. Her mouth moved against mine in a dance that was pure seduction. When I nipped her bottom lip, she moaned and turned to liquid in my arms.
I held her against me as I kissed her. Even when I needed to pull away for air, I didn’t want to. She didn’t want me to, either. We broke apart to gasp in air and then deepened the kiss. I held the back of her head and explored her mouth with my tongue.
Elizabeth made these little sounds that felt like pleas to take her right there. Her hands were everywhere. She touched my neck, my shoulders, my sides.
It wasn’t unlike jumping out of a plane. The adrenaline surging through my body said it was exactly like it. Hurtling towards the earth, wondering what I’d done, I crash-landed when a knock on the door jerked Elizabeth out of my arms.
She panted and immediately turned to a mirror to make sure her face was okay. It wasn’t. Lipstick was smeared, her hair was fucked up, her eyes looked dazed. She looked like she’d just been given the ride of her life.
I rubbed at my mouth, wondering if she was some sort of siren. Lipstick smudged onto my hand and then onto my shirt, but I wasn’t paying attention. I’d noticed a tattoo at the base of her spine. I couldn’t see what it was, but I was one thousand percent sure I needed to spend some time there.
“Fuck you for being good at that. You don’t get to be a good kisser and hot. Follow the rules, Branson. Now, I have to go back out to my date and pretend that I give a shit about him. Don’t come back over to my table. I’m working.”
I watched as she unlocked the door and swung it open. She looked mostly put back together, but I couldn’t help but see my mark on her.
Elizabeth stopped and looked back at me, ignoring a woman waiting for her turn in the bathroom. “Have you changed your mind yet? Want to help?”
I shook my head and grinned as she groaned and hurried away.
I got out of the women’s bathroom and headed back to my table. Vince, Tucker, and Mercer were sitting at a large booth in the back. They all looked up at me when I sat down and all of their eyebrows shot up.
Tucker cleared his throat and passed me a napkin. “I’m not sure if you’ve taken to wearing makeup or if you just hooked up in the bathroom like some kind of wild animal.”
Confidence riddled me as I glanced over at Elizabeth’s table. She looked ruffled and she kept glancing over at me. It was such an unusual feeling and one I’d never felt before. Before the explosion, I’d never felt pride in hooking up with women. It was just something that I did. Maybe I’d been proud of being able to hook up with women, but it was never about the woman. With Elizabeth, I was proud of being able to hold her attention at all.
Vince handed me another napkin and smirked. “Dirty bastard.”
I laughed and shook my head. I wasn’t going to kiss and tell. I was still expecting Elizabeth to open her eyes and see what a monster I was. “Y’all order already?”
Mercer grunted. “No. I don’t think we can stay. Lauren called me. She’s freaking out about something.”
“When is she not freaking out these days?” Tucker sighed and pushed his drink away. “Just once I’d like to be able to sit through an entire meal without something coming up.”
“I’ll pay the tab.” Mercer pushed to his feet and limped a little more than usual on his way to the waitress booth.
We all watched him, but none of us said anything. Vince and Tucker headed towards the front, but I detoured to stop by Elizabeth’s table again. I couldn’t help myself. I trailed my finger along her back while sending a casual wave to her little friend.
“Have a good night. See you around.”
Elizabeth looked back at me with heat in her eyes and it was all I could do to keep walking. I wanted to stop and show her date what to do with a woman like her. There wasn’t a chance in hell that a man like that would have a clue.
On second thought, there wasn’t a real big chance that I’d know either. She was as untamed as the hair suggested. It didn’t mean I didn’t want to try, though.
I drove Mercer to Black Dog, while Vince drove Tucker. I pulled in a few minutes before them and took my time playing with Black Dog outside before going in to see what the new chaos was. The mutt was as cheery as ever, his scruffy tail scattering dirt.
Inside, all cheer was gone. Lauren was yelling with both of her hands in the air, gesturing madly. “What the fuck are we going to do?”
I walked up to find everyone there, including Cooper. Mercer was staring at the ground, his demeanor even more closed off than usual. “What’s going on?”
Lauren looked over at me with tears in her eyes that were so unusual they felt like a punch to the gut. “The blood they found in the kitchen matches Jessica’s blood type. They’re going to arrest him.”
My stomach dropped. “What? They issued an arrest warrant?”
She shook her head. “No, but it’s only a matter of time. They’re going to frame him for this.”
“No fucking way. This is just a big misunderstanding. This isn’t a movie. They can’t frame Mercer for it. He didn’t do it.” Even as I said the words, I had to wonder. Maybe they could.
“I’m moving in with you until this is settled. I want to be closer and Mercer won’t stay with me.”
All the guys looked at me, except Mercer, and I just shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell her no. Not that she was asking. “That’s fine.”
“The hell it is. Stay at your own home, Lauren.”
She looked at Mercer and glared. “No. You don’t tell me what to do. You somehow got yourself mixed up in something crazy and I’m going to get you out of it.”
“I didn’t fucking get myself into this!”
We were all shocked to hear Mercer raise his voice, but it made sense. He was under the pressure of potentially being arrested for murder.
Lauren had never met a challenge she couldn’t turn into an accessory of some sort, so she didn’t blink at him yelling at her. She just hardened her jaw and shrugged. “I’m moving in. Or you’re moving into my house. Those are your options. Get over it.”
For a change, Lauren stormed off and Mercer chased after her, already arguing. I watched them with more dread in my stomach than usual, knowing they were going to be doing that at my house.
“Fuck. You’re welcome to come stay with me until they’re done, if you need.” Tucker shook his head and slapped me on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t blame you for retreating from that battle, brother.”
Vince sighed. “No one would.”
Cooper crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “We’re going to have to step in and do something with this.”
“Mercer and Lauren?”
Cooper slapped the back of Tucker’s head. “Mercer and the murder charge.”
I nodded. “Yeah, this isn’t looking good.”
“Call your contact and I’ll call a guy I know. We’ve got to try to figure something out before they try to lock him up.”
We all looked in Mercer’s direction and shivered. Locking Mercer up would go down horribly. He wouldn’t take it well.
We all said our goodbyes for the night and the rest of the guys headed out while I sat on the top of the picnic table and waited for Mercer to be done arguing with Lauren.
I was worried about Mercer, but there was a part of my brain that was finally starting to process what Elizabeth had said earlier. The dead guy, Paul Porter, had kept a list of his conquests. If Helena Stelton’s name was on it, it wouldn’t be something that she’d be happy about. She was busy presenting a perfect marriage to the media daily.
It just made what Elizabeth was doing even more dangerous. I hated to think of her being run out of town by Helena’s goons.
&n
bsp; I’d have to make sure she understood how dangerous what she was doing could be. She was a smart woman, obviously, but she was in over her head. Not that I really believed Helena Stelton had murdered someone, but if she felt like Elizabeth was trying to ruin her pristine image, she’d lash out, I was sure.
Plus, warning Elizabeth again meant I got to see her again. I shouldn’t kiss her again, but I didn’t want to stay away. She was addicting. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was interacting with someone without the explosion hanging over my head. It was like she didn’t see the scars. I knew she did, but she genuinely didn’t seem to care.
I liked the way I felt while we were bickering. Normal. And wasn’t that what I’d been missing for so long?
I looked up as Mercer came limping my way. “Ready to go?”
He nodded and headed out, not waiting on me.
Lauren came out, those tears back in her eyes. She blinked them away when she saw me and frowned. “He’s not taking this seriously. They’re going to arrest him, Branson.”
I shook my head. “We won’t let them. We’ll figure something out.”
She blew out a breath and pushed her hands through her hair. “I hope so. He’s not being any help. He won’t talk about that weekend. He won’t tell me what happened when he came back.”
I held my hands up. “I don’t know. You know how Mercer is. He’s private. He keeps his cards closer than anyone.”
“I hate it.” She squared her shoulders. “Anyway. I’ll be at your house tomorrow. You sure you’re okay with it?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks, Branson.”
“Of course. Get some sleep tonight, Lauren. You’re no good to us if you’re a zombie.”
She rolled her eyes and backed away. “Too late.”
Chapter 12
Elizabeth
Wrapping my hair into a bun, I held my phone between my ear and shoulder, waiting on Sammie to answer. I pried open a bobby pin with my teeth and then shoved it into my hair.
“Hello?”
“Sammie! Hey!” I straightened and shoved a few more pins into my hair to hold it up. “I need a favor.”
Black Dog Security- Complete 5-Part Series Page 22