by Sophia Rae
Guilt consumed Nick when the mention of her father put a lost look in Eve’s eyes. Damn it. He hated this. She deserved to know the truth, but if he came completely clean, she’d never let him protect her. He might have failed Eve’s father, but he damn well wouldn’t fail her.
“How do you know him, anyway?” Nick asked.
“What did he tell you?” she countered.
Nick shrugged. “He said you were special to him and that he’d known you for six years. Are you guys related or something?”
A sad smile formed from Eve’s full lips. “Or something.”
“Maybe you should call him and see what he says about me sticking around,” Nick suggested.
Eve spun on her heel and went in the direction of what he assumed to be her bedroom. When the door slammed, it wasn’t long before he heard her muffled voice through the thin wall.
Poor Grady. He didn’t want to be in that man’s shoes right now. Nick went back to the couch and resumed his position with his feet on the old trunk, his hands on his stomach.
Unwanted doubts filled his head. What if he couldn’t protect Eve? The more she put up a fight, the more difficult it would be to protect her. Hopefully Grady would talk some sense into her, make her realize what was at stake here. Her life.
Nick rested his head on the back of the cool leather sofa. Eve didn’t even compare to any other woman he’d ever known. With a body made for the stage she strutted on, a kick ass attitude and just a touch of softness about her, any man would be damn lucky to get with her.
Nick chuckled at his next thought—Eve would make a great cop. She didn’t take shit from anybody and insisted on having all the facts before she reacted to any situation. But he had to agree with Grady…The woman had a hot temper.
Moments later she came back into the living room, only now she had on a pair of cut-off denim shorts and a white tank. No bra. The thin white material pulled against her well-rounded tits, basically the same way his jeans were pulling against his dick.
“Grady and I have come to an understanding,” she announced as she plopped down on the other end of the couch. “You can stick around, but I call the shots.”
Nick laughed. Hard. “Oh, that’s great. You? So I’m just supposed to follow you around like a…a…”
“Bodyguard?” Eve finished with a grin. “Isn’t that what you are? You were hired to guard my body, were you not?”
Nick couldn’t help when his eyes wondered over that said body. She’d pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her feet—red toenail polish always did something to him. With her arms wrapped around her shins, she looked so…dainty. Nick nearly laughed at that realization. Dainty and Eve did not belong in the same sentence. Feisty, stubborn, cautious… Yeah, those words fit her.
“I will protect you, but you have to fill me in on what you know regarding your father’s death. When and how did it happen? Do you have any leads? Who was handling the investigation?”
Eve extended her legs, her very toned legs, and sighed. He nearly sighed himself when her feet, with perfectly polished red toenails, came to rest on his lap. He should be thankful she trusted him now, but all that ran through his mind was her naked body when he’d first arrived.
Focus, he told himself. He had to listen to her story and act as if he knew nothing of her father or his death.
“My father was murdered a little over a year ago,” she began. “He was a cop in Charleston. We hadn’t been close for a while.”
Nick looked away when her voice trembled. A crying woman always did him in and made him feel useless. He really didn’t want to put his arms around her and offer comfort… That would only lead to disaster.
When Eve cleared her throat, Nick looked back up. Not a tear in sight. He shouldn’t be surprised. This woman wanted people to think she was made of steel. He knew better.
“I’ve lived in Virginia since I was five and my parents parted ways. They were never married, they just lived together. Since then I had only seen my dad maybe a half-dozen times. We weren’t close, but I loved him because he was my dad.
“To make a long story short, when I found out about his death from Grady, I went crazy. For months I let guilt and the ‘what-ifs’ plague my mind, then I was so focused on harassing the Charleston PD that I lost my job. When the cops he’d worked with his whole career weren’t moving fast enough for me, I decided to move down here and start looking myself.
“I knew he’d been working on a case where prostitution was said to have been going on in the back of some gentlemen’s club. Some of the women just vanished and were never heard from. I was told The Excalibur was the club my father was closing in on the night he was killed.”
Nick listened to her talk. She sounded as if she’d rehearsed her words. They had no emotion, no depth. Her eyes never wavered from his and her body remained tense.
In an effort to get her to relax, Nick began rubbing her feet, a gesture he doubted she even noticed. She kept talking in that monotone voice, relaying facts he already knew. But he nodded his head now and again as if he were hearing all the facts for the first time.
“I was told he fired his weapon as he got shot,” she continued. “He died before the ambulance could get to him. All I know now is that the case remains unsolved and those women are still missing.”
Eve’s body slid down a little more into the cushy sofa as she relaxed, her lids growing heavy. “The last conversation I had with my father wasn’t pleasant. It was five years before his death. I wasted five years because I allowed my pride and his pride to get in the way. That’s why I’m here. I need to know who did this.”
Eve’s head lay on the arm of the sofa, leaving her long, creamy neck exposed. Nick could practically see himself running his tongue in a path up to her mouth. But just because he could envision it, didn’t mean it would happen.
Before he knew it, her breathing had slowed. Her breasts rose and fell softly under the cotton tank; her hand fell freely to the side. He let his hands rest on her feet while he listened to her calm breath.
The woman had spunk. She’d moved from everything she knew and taken a job stripping simply to find the person who killed her father and lay her guilty conscience to rest. She risked her life in a world she knew nothing about. Nick couldn’t help but admire her, even though he feared all that spunk would get both of them into some sticky situations before all was said and done.
The shrill ring of the telephone startled Eve from her sleep. She looked down at him and jerked her feet off his lap, out from under his hands almost like she didn’t know how she’d gotten into that position.
Because she’d left one of the phones in her bedroom, she ran to the small galley kitchen for the other cordless and grabbed it off the charger on the third ring.
“Hello?”
Nick followed her, intending to remain in the background, but when her face turned stone-like, he wrenched the phone from her and held it up to his ear.
“Too bad about the car, Eve. Maybe I’ll see you dance tonight. Don’t forget, you owe me a private show.”
“Who is this?” Nick asked a second too late. The caller had hung up.
Nick slammed the cordless on the tile countertop and looked down at Eve. Her eyes remained cold as she continued to stare at the phone.
“Eve. Eve,” Nick said again to get her attention. “What did he tell you?”
“He said, ‘It’s almost time.’”
Nick drew his brows together. “Time for what?”
Eve shook her head. “I don’t know. He has to be watching me because he knows where I work and live.”
Nick figured that out himself seeing as how the caller knew she danced. “Is this like the call you got the other day when you told me it was the wrong number?”
“This voice didn’t sound the same.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “Any other calls?”
Her silence answered his question.
“I need to know it all, Eve,” he sa
id, losing his patience.
“I had a note on my car when I got off work. It said something about time being almost up and it implied a bomb.” She lifted a shoulder. “Then he left a message on my cell phone. I called the cops as soon as I saw the note and got away from my car.”
“I want to see the note and listen to the message.”
“Well, the note exploded with my car, but I did save the message on my phone.”
Nick followed her to her bedroom where she grabbed the cell off the small table by her unmade bed. If he weren’t so preoccupied he might have taken a moment to make some smart-ass comment about her lack of organization. He did remain in the doorway, though, for fear of tripping over what looked like all of her dirty laundry since she’d moved here.
She walked on shirts, shorts and who knew what else as she came back to him and extended her phone.
“Press three,” she said.
Nick listened to the call and got angry all over again. He snapped her phone shut and strode back to the living room.
“Is something wrong?” Eve asked, following close behind him.
“You have to come with me,” he said matter of factly as he rounded on her. “It’s not up for discussion. I don’t want to hear your mouth. You’re not staying here.”
“Excuse me?” Her hands came up to her hips, her brows lifted as if she dared him to repeat it.
“You heard me. You have two minutes to pack whatever clothes you want.”
“I’m not packing anything.”
Nick lifted a shoulder. “Fine, then come as you are. I don’t care.”
When he reached down to take her by the arm, she stepped back. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what has got you so riled up.”
“Do you really need to ask? It’s not safe for you here. That bastard implied you would be taken like those other women. Would you even have told me about that call or the note if I hadn’t pressed?”
“No,” she said, tilting her chin defiantly. “I’ve told you I don’t need watching over. The only reason you’re sticking around is because Grady insists.”
“Yeah, well, why don’t I call him and see what he says about your safety, being alone in your apartment.”
Nick pulled out his cell and began to dial, or so he made her think. He had no intention of calling Grady over her tantrum. The day he couldn’t handle a snotty, stubborn, independent woman was the day he retired. Well, technically he’d retired, but still.
“You are so childish,” she vented, “acting like a big brother, tattling to Daddy when things don’t go your way. You are free to walk away at any time, Nick. I don’t want you here. I’ve been doing just fine on my own.”
She’d provoked him one too many times with that smart mouth of hers. In one move he had her petite, curvy body wrapped in his arms and tucked against him. He had the pleasure of seeing her eyes widen in surprise, then narrow when she knew his intent.
“Don’t you d—”
His mouth came down hard and fast. For a second, she fought him, pushing against his chest. But when he slipped his tongue into her mouth, he took it as a good sign when she didn’t bite him.
The rough, one-sided kiss only lasted for only a moment before Eve gave into the inevitable…and his little plan to intimidate her turned into a hot, smoldering kiss.
Those long, slender arms came up around his neck, her fingers threading through his hair as she pulled him closer. Her firm, yet lush body rubbed against his, making his jeans fit a little tighter than he liked. His hands took on a mind of their own as they made their way up her cotton tank. Silky skin warmed under his fingertips. Her body shivered beneath his hands as he roamed up her sides, finding the softest spot on a woman’s body, just on the underside of her breast.
He swallowed her moan as he stroked her with the pads of his thumbs. Her gentle lips continued to explore his as she changed the angle and the intensity of the kiss.
Control of the situation slid right from Nick’s hands when the slow, easy manner in which she took his mouth made him nervous. No way would he let passion and lust guide him again.
Nick pulled his hands out of her shirt and stepped back, knowing he’d be sorry for his next comment. “Did that feel brotherly to you, Sis?”
Eve’s swollen, wet lips thinned right before she took her hands and gave him a shove. “You bastard. How dare you kiss me like that? Why don’t you go ahead and call Grady? While you’re at it, tell him you can’t keep your fucking hands off me.”
“Said the girl who rubbed her tits all over my body.”
Nick made the biggest mistake by looking down where his hands had been only seconds ago. Her nipples remained stiff. Would this be a bad time to ask her to always wear a white tank and no bra? Probably.
“Watch those wandering eyes, Nick,” she warned. “I’ll come with you, only because I’m not sure who blew up my car and it’s stupid of me to think I’d be safe here. But if you pull a stunt like that again, I’ll make sure Grady knows what kind of man he hired.”
While she could still move on wobbly legs, Eve went to her room to grab some clothes. She shut her door and leaned against it just in time. Her whole body trembled and she had to admit to herself, that kiss was more than she could handle at the moment.
Being pulled up against that hard male body would feed her dreams for a long time. There had been so much heat and power behind that kiss, even more power in the arms that held her so close.
Now that she had a moment alone, Eve gave in and smiled when she thought how good it felt to be ravished. Granted, he’d only done it out of arrogance to try to gain the upper hand, but the way he’d kissed her couldn’t have been fake. The man had acted like he would have taken her right there on her living room floor had she not slowed it down and taken control.
Eve grinned. So that had been the problem. He’d pushed her away when she tried to dominate the kiss. It scared him to let a woman take over his emotions. She’d file that bit of information away for another time.
With her lips tingly and her stomach still in knots, Eve threw her stuff together in a small suitcase. She hoped they weren’t going to an airport, seeing as how her father’s gun nestled right between her thongs and a new leather bustier she’d just gotten for work.
Once her nerves were under control, Eve went back to the living room. Nick snapped his cell shut and put it back in the pocket of his jeans as she entered.
“I called Grady and informed him of the situation,” Nick said as he reached down to take her luggage.
Purely out of defiance, Eve shifted the bag to the other hand and walked past him. She had no doubt the “situation” he spoke of had nothing to do with the I-want-my-hands-all-over-your-body kiss.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she grabbed her small bag off the hook by the door. Nick held out her cell phone and she slipped it into the outside pocket.
“A hotel for now,” he stated, then grinned like the devil. “We’re sharing a room.”
“Oh, no.” Eve stepped away from the door and shook her head. “I’m not going to share a bed with you.”
Nick sighed. “I’ll get us a room with double beds, so don’t go throwing one of your tantrums now.”
“There’s no reason we can’t get separate rooms. They can be adjoining, if that would make you feel better.”
“No. This is not up for discussion.”
Eve kept her fierce glare on Nick as his jaw muscle constricted. His hand reached out to grab her suitcase. Before she could say anything, he hoisted her up and over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. Too stunned to scream, all she could do was watch his denim-clad ass as he carried her out the door. Her shoulder bag banged against his side and for a split second, Eve contemplated grabbing his gun from his shoulder holster and shooting him in the ass.
“Put me down,” she demanded as he hauled her onto the elevator. “People will see us.”
He said nothing, just continued to carry her out of her apartment buil
ding. He crossed the street and went to the passenger side of a sporty black BMW that chirped when he unlocked it. Without any effort, he deposited her in the front seat. When he closed her door, she settled back and set her bag in her lap.
Eve knew she needed to get out of her apartment, on that they were in agreement. She would not, however, let Nick know that, deep down, the bomb had shaken her more than she liked to admit. And, since she was being honest with herself, she felt safer with him than without him.
If Grady sent him, that could only mean one thing. Nick Shaffer had to be the best at what he did.
Nick climbed in behind the wheel, after depositing her suitcase in the trunk, and drove off. Eve waited for him to speak, but he just kept his eyes on the road, except for the occasional look to his rearview mirror.
“Go ahead and tell me what a jerk you think I am,” he finally said.
Eve wound her fingers through the thin strap of her bag. “I don’t need to if you’re already aware of the fact.”
“You need to call the club and tell them you’re taking a few days off.”
“No.”
Eve almost smiled when his hands tightened on the steering wheel. Good, at least she wasn’t the only one frustrated with this situation. Normally she wasn’t so difficult to get along with, but something about this man made her want to go against his every demand. Perhaps it was because as much as she despised him, she wanted to kiss him even more. Stupid female hormones.
“You are not stripping there,” Nick said through clenched teeth. “Use some common sense. How can you find your father’s killer if you’re dead?”
“It’s bad enough I left my apartment. I need to be at the club. I won’t let them scare me off.”
Nick exploded. “If you had any sense about you, you would be scared. Do you know what could happen to you? You could become the next victim to disappear from the club. Is that what you want?”
Eve fisted her hands around the leather strap so she couldn’t haul off and hit him. If he thought he could frighten her into succumbing to him and letting him take over, he was insane. She would not let this pushy man tell her what to do. Somehow he’d come in and taken over her life and for some asinine reason she’d allowed it.