by T. L. Cannon
Ethan peered into Kira’s eyes, seeing both determination and the deep emotion that she was trying so hard to hide lurking within their beautiful, molten depths. These were the eyes that had haunted him over the past two years, eyes that he thought that he would never see again. His hard, verdant gaze softened as he leaned in even closer to Kira, a soft lock of his dark hair gently brushing against her forehead as his face hovered a breath away from her own. Kira sucked in a sharp breath at the faint physical contact.
“I don’t want to fight you.” Ethan’s voice was low and husky as he inhaled the sweet, soft scent of her. She smelled just as he remembered, like vanilla and Jasmine. Familiar yet exotic.
“Then don’t.” Kira placed her hands on Ethan’s chest and firmly pushed him away. Warily, she circled around him, being careful not to turn her back on him as she edged to the other side of the elevator compartment. “All you have to do is leave Hong Kong and forget all about Gau Lung.”
“I can’t do that,” Ethan said as he turned around to follow her movements, allowing her to slip between him and the elevator controls.
“You mean you won’t do that.”
Ethan shrugged. “Let’s not get into semantics. Either way, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Closing in on Kira, he slipped a hand between the narrow opening between her right arm and the curve of her waist, gently sliding the back of his hand against her bare forearm as he reached out and pressed the button to restart the elevator. His touch was slow, deliberate and unnervingly sexual. “So that means we are going to be seeing a lot of each other.”
His whispered words managed to sound like both a threat and a promise as the elevator came to a stop on the garage level and the doors sprang open. Exiting the elevator without another word, he confidently swaggered away. With trembling fingers, Kira quickly pressed the button on the control panel of the elevators, tapping it several times in her impatience. In response, the doors of the elevators finally closed with a soft swoosh, shutting out the image of Ethan’s retreating back. As the elevator swept Kira back up to the Executive Suite in silent efficiency, she leaned unsteadily against the back wall, tightly clutching the metal hand rail to steady herself.
Shaken to her very core.
***
Ethan spotted the two goons from the corner of his eye the moment he stepped into the parking structure of The Gau Lung Building. Not that they were making much of an effort to conceal themselves. Jared Halifax was not exactly known for his subtlety. Ethan had known that news of his arrival in Hong Kong would reach his father sooner rather than later, making the upcoming un-pleasantries inevitable. Unbuttoning his suit jacket to clear the path to the Glock holstered beneath his left arm, Ethan decided against pulling out his weapon. Opting to allow the situation to play out, he made his way towards his rented Porsche. As expected, the two goons followed. When Ethan opened the driver’s side door, a large meaty hand reached over his shoulder and slammed it shut.
Ethan turned to face the two men. “Is there a problem, gentlemen?” He asked, his voice nonchalant, his eyes intense and watchful.
“Your father wants to talk to you,” the beefy one explained as he watched Ethan with a look of boredom in his already dull eyes.
“Thanks for the message, I’ll be sure to give him a call,” Ethan said turning his back on the man as he tried to open his door once again. Once again the door was slammed shut.
“He wants to talk to you face to face. Now.” Grabbing Ethan’s arm in a vice-like grip, the bulky goon guided Ethan towards a black stretch limo parked nearby, emphasizing the point that this was not a request. Ethan yanked his arm free but continued to walk in the direction of the limo, flanked on both sides by Jared’s men. When the trio reached the limo, Ethan reached for the handle of the back passenger’s side door.
“Not so fast, hot shot,” the smaller of the two men said as he reached into Ethan’s jacket an pulled out the Glock. Handing the gun to his stocky cohort, he then patted Ethan down for more weapons. When he was satisfied that Ethan was unarmed, he opened the door to the limo and waved him inside the car with a quick nod of his head.
Ethan paused briefly as he peered into the backseat of the limo and saw the face of the man he hated more than anything staring back at him. The face that still haunted his dreams over twenty-eight years after the nightmare of living with him had come to a violent, horrifying end, creating a new, more insidious type of nightmare for he and his two brothers. Fighting against the powerful surge of rage that he felt bubbling up inside of him at the sight of his father, Ethan slid into the backseat of the limo and slammed the door behind him.
“What do you want?” Ethan asked, fixing Jared with a look of pure hatred.
Jared's expression remained impassive in the face of his son’s unconcealed contempt. “I want you to back off of the Wong sub-concession.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Ethan replied firmly.
Jared’s dark green eyes, practically identical to the one’s staring daggers at him, watched Ethan curiously as he brought a hand up to his chin and began stroking it idly. Ethan was unnerved by the gesture, having seen it from his older brother, Donovan, more times than he could count when the eldest Chance brother was contemplating his next move. The only thing missing was the long, jagged scar etched into the side of Donovan's chin, which had come courtesy of the man seated in front of him now, eying him like a cat eying a canary. It was damned eerie how much Donovan resembled Jared. And, though he loved his brother dearly, he knew that the resemblance was more than skin deep. In his own, more subtle way, Donovan was just as dangerous as their father. They both had an indomitable will to have their own way and God help anybody that got in their way. It was remarkable how Donovan could be the spitting image in so many ways of a man who had walked out of his life at the age of nine. It made Ethan wonder what traits he himself may have inherited from the man, inwardly shuddering at the idea that their may be any hint of Jared lurking inside of him.
“I could just kill you right now and dump your body into the harbor,” Jared suggested casually, pressing the button that automatically locked all the doors to the limo for dramatic effect. “You’ve certainly made that option easy enough for me.”
Ethan smiled grimly. “You’re not going to kill me, old man.”
Jared cocked a thick, gray eyebrow. “What makes you so sure about that?”
“Because you’re a lot of things but suicidal isn’t one of them,” Ethan replied matter-of-factly. “You and I both know that if it were left up to Donovan, he’d have already ripped your throat out with his bare teeth. Dylan and I have been the only things keeping Donovan from your jugular all these years. If I were to turn up dead in the harbor, there’s no way that Dylan would be able to keep Donovan on a leash by himself. You’d be dead before my body even had a chance to dry out.”
Jared snorted. “You think too highly of your brother. I’m not nearly as easy to kill as you seem to think. The world is littered with the dead bodies of men who found that out the hard way.”
“But how many of those men were willing to die in the process? You and I both know that there is nothing harder to defend against than a man with nothing to lose.”
Jared sighed as he leaned back into his seat. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe killing you would just cause more problems than it fixes. Kira St. James, on the other hand is another story,” Jared steepled his fingers as he looked over to gauge Ethan’s reaction. “Her being in the mix is quite fortuitous and brings up all kinds of interesting possibilities.”
It took every bit of self-control he could muster for Ethan not to reach across the backseat of the limo and strangle Jared with his bare hands. He knew that Jared was on a fishing expedition, trying to find out if Kira was a weakness that he could exploit. If Ethan wanted to keep Kira safe, he could show no weakness where she was concerned. “Kira was a means to an end back in Las Vegas. Now she’s an obstacle. I don’t give a damn what you do to her. It
still won’t stop me from getting the Wong family’s sub-concession.”
“I hear that you’re a really good poker player which means that you know how to bluff,” Jared leaned in closer to Ethan, narrowing his eyes as he studied his son's face for any signs of a tell. “The question is, are you bluffing now?”
Ethan kept his face impassive as he withstood Jared’s scrutiny, knowing that Kira's life depended on it. After a long, lingering silence, Jared sat back in his seat without answering the question that hung ominously in the air between the two men. “Get out.”
Shrugging his shoulders indifferently, Ethan exited the limo. Accepting his gun back from Jared’s goon, he jammed the Glock back into its holster as he watched Jared and his two thugs drive off in the limo, silently praying to God that Jared had bought his bluff.
CHAPTER TWO
As she sat in the opulent comfort of her large, private office, Kira found that her sense of equilibrium had returned in the wake of the unexpected reappearance of Ethan Chance in her life but the nagging feeling of unease continued to gnaw insistently within the pit of her stomach. Tapping a pen absently against the glossy lacquer finish of her oversized cherry wood desk, she stared through the large window directly behind her chair at the sheets of rain that continued to pour over Hong Kong unrelentingly. A dense cloud of fog hovered over the harbor, casting the landscape in a gloomy darkness that matched Kira’s mood. She relived her last encounter with Ethan, remembering the rush of sexual energy she had felt at his nearness as a tiny shiver rippled through her body. Unconsciously, she rubbed at the spot on her arm where his hand had brushed against her skin as she replayed his parting words in her mind.
“We are going to be seeing a lot of each other.”
Anticipation pricked dangerously around the edges of the dread those words created in her mind. She had never expected to see Ethan Chance again. Had never wanted to. But now that she had been face-to-face with him again, she couldn’t deny that, on some level, she was still extremely attracted to him.
A foolish, self-destructive level.
Looking back on her past relationship with Ethan, it had always been driven by a previously unknown reckless streak on her part. Perhaps the by-product of a lifetime of being the good girl who always felt an obligation to do the right thing no matter how incredibly dull it sometimes was and who secretly resented those who were not likewise encumbered. She had certainly been fully aware of Ethan’s reputation as a consummate player before she ever even met the man. His exploits had become the stuff of legend in certain circles in Las Vegas. She had also known that he and his brother were looking to acquire Enclave, putting them in direct competition with her then client, Jared Halifax. The prudent thing to do would have been to politely turn down the advances that he had made towards her at the black tie charity event where they had first met. Kira had always prided herself on being prudent in all matters, and had even translated that bent towards good judgment into a very lucrative career as a Risk Management Consultant, which is what made her decision to pursue a relationship with Ethan so out-of-character and unsettling.
At first it had been a game to her. One with a sexy edge to it that gave her a chance to turn the tables on an unrepentant bad boy while assuring that Enclave would end up in her client's hands and have a hell of a good time while doing it. And, initially, she had enjoyed the thrust and parry of her relationship with Ethan as they had tried to out maneuver each other in the fight for control of Enclave. The game of cat and mouse that they had played had been highly exhilarating to her at first, both in and out of the bedroom. But then at some point during their sexually charged six month affair, she couldn’t exactly pinpoint when, it had ceased to be a game. At least it had for her. Clearly, it hadn’t for Ethan who ruthlessly used certain information that he had pilfered from her to give his brother the edge in the war over Enclave, resulting in her client losing the mega-resort and Kira losing her job.
Yes, her previous entanglement with Ethan had delivered a devastating blow to her ego, her career and her heart, resulting in her limping out of Las Vegas with her tail between her legs. And yet here she was, feeling the old familiar stirrings to either best him or bed him. Or both. There was something about Ethan that brought out the worst instincts in Kira, something that clouded her normally logical mind and tempted her into emotionally driven, erratic behavior, and she could not allow that to happen again. She needed him out of the well ordered world she had built for herself in Hong Kong.
A gentle tapping on her partially opened office door dragged her out of her ruminations. Swiveling her chair around, she turned to find Yi Wong standing patiently in the doorway. Kira immediately straightened up in her chair, her mind and body going on alert in the presence of her boss. Even though Yi was diminutive in stature, he had the ability to exude his quiet command over all of Gau Lung just by entering a room.
“I have something of great importance to discuss with you,” Yi said, running a hand nervously through his neatly trimmed salt and pepper hair as he softly closed the door behind him.
“What is it, Yi?” Kira asked, concerned by the worry she saw etched among the fine wrinkles on Yi’s face.
“There has been an attempt to breach our computer system,” Yi said as he folded himself into a chair in front of Kira’s desk.
“When?”
“Less than an hour ago. The hacker attempted to access highly sensitive files pertaining to our finances. Fortunately, our security system thwarted a complete infiltration but this person, whoever it is, managed to dig in far too deeply for my liking. I want you to work closely with the security and tech departments to track down the person or persons behind this attack and the motivation for it.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Kira said, immediately rising to her feet in her eagerness to spring into action. Yi remained seated, a distracted expression on his face causing his thick eyebrows to furrow. “Is there something else?”
Yi’s intelligent brown eyes flickered up towards Kira, watching her intently as if mulling over how much to say to her. “There is a lot going on right now. The timing of this breach concerns me for a great many reasons. I need you to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.”
“I will. I promise you that,” Kira assured, already knowing exactly where to begin digging.
***
“What the hell are you up to?” Kira demanded as she stood, dripping wet, in the doorway of Ethan’s penthouse. In her mad dash to confront Ethan, she had left her umbrella in her office and had been too single-minded in her intended goal to go back for it, even in the face of the deluge of stinging rain that bombarded her the moment she exited The Gau Lung Building, her bent towards Ethan-inspired foolishness already beginning to manifest itself, she'd noted glumly as she had barreled into the storm.
“I happen to be up to a great many things at the present time,” Ethan smiled down at her, holding a glass of Cognac in one hand. “You’re going to have to narrow things down a bit or else we’ll be here all night.”
“Fine,” Kira said through clenched teeth. “Allow me to clarify things. Someone tried to hack into Gau Lung’s computer system earlier today, shortly after you crapped out in the boardroom.”
“And you think it was me,” Ethan deduced impassively.
“I know it was you,” Kira corrected.
Stepping aside, Ethan waved Kira inside. “Come in. If I’m going to be falsely accused of something, I would rather it be done in the comfort of my home away from home.”
Kira stepped through the open doorway, quickly brushing past Ethan in a huff of anger.
“I’ll get you a towel,” Ethan announced as he shut the door and followed her into the living room.
“I don’t want a towel, I want answers.”
“Well, since you are currently dripping water all over some rather expensive carpet, you are going to be getting a towel.”
Ethan dashed up the back lit, rosewood staircase leading to the second story
of the penthouse. As she awaited his return, Kira’s eyes moved assessingly around the room, taking in her surroundings. The penthouse was owned by Games of Chance Industries and was every bit as luxurious as one would expect from a property owned by the Chance brothers to be. Taking up the entire top floor of the forty-four story sliver of a high rise building, the penthouse was essentially a mansion in the sky. A massive living room took center stage in the open floor plan, featuring modern yet comfortable looking furniture expertly selected and positioned to create a cozy environment despite the enormous size of the room. The muted amber and gold color scheme of the penthouse added an additional warmth to the room, creating a bright, inviting oasis in the middle of the dreary grayness of the storm that raged just beyond the walls of windows that literally surrounded the space. Kira slowly crossed the large room, pausing in front of one of the windows. In spite of her still simmering anger, Kira found the taut muscles of her body slightly relaxing within the soothing environment as she watched the rain continue to fall from the sheltering comfort that the penthouse provided. Suddenly, she felt a warm, fluffy towel being wrapped around her shoulders.
“This should make you feel a lot better,” Ethan said as he massaged her arms through the luxuriously thick softness of the chocolate colored towel.
“The only thing that is going to make me feel better is you leaving town,” Kira said frankly, even as she made no attempt to pull away from him as he produced another towel and proceeded to gently massage it through the now wavy mass of wet hair that dripped down her face and shoulders.