by T. L. Cannon
Why shouldn’t he be smug? she asked herself ruefully. Despite all your protests, you let him seduce you again!
Kira closed her eyes tightly as she recalled the events of the night before. Correction, he didn’t even have to seduce you. You threw yourself at him! Literally!
If she could have literally slapped herself without awakening Ethan she would have but, as it stood, her top priority at the moment was extricating herself from the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, when she attempted to roll out of the bed she found herself tethered in place by the weight of Ethan’s arm draped possessively around her waist. Gingerly, she grabbed Ethan’s wrist and removed his arm from her body, ignoring the slight erotic tingle his fingers left behind as his hand slid limply over her hip. With slow, cautious movements, she managed to slip from beneath the tangled sheets without disturbing Ethan. Moving quickly now, she began collecting as many of her discarded items of clothing as she could find in the dimly lit room.
“Your panties are downstairs,” Ethan murmured helpfully, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he watched Kira’s frantic search and recover operation through partially closed eyes.
The unexpected sound of his voice caused Kira to whirl around abruptly, her eyes wide with a look of sudden alarm as she clutched the handful of clothes she had managed to retrieve tightly to her body in a futile attempt to shield her nakedness from him.
Ethan chuckled. “You look like a teenager who just got busted sneaking out of her boyfriend’s bedroom window.”
“I’m glad you find this situation so amusing,” she said humorlessly. Feeling exposed and even more foolish than before, she began furiously putting on the clothes in her hand.
Ethan climbed out of the bed and scooped up his slacks from the floor. “On the contrary, I find the fact that you were apparently planning on sneaking out of here without saying a word anything but amusing.”
“I thought it was the prudent thing to do under the circumstances,” she replied primly as she slid the zipper of her pencil skirt over her backside.
“More like the cowardly thing to do.” The harshness of his assessment was underscored by the sharp sound of his pants being zipped up.
Kira glared at him as she slid the straps of her bra over her arms. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“Then why are you running away?”
“I’m not running away. I’m walking away.”
Ethan caught her by the arm a split second before she could storm out the room. “No, you’re not. Not this time.”
Once again Kira ignored the erotic shock to her flesh caused by Ethan’s touch. “Let me go!”
“Shh!” Ethan suddenly raised his index finger to his lips, hushing Kira. “Did you hear that?”
The look of concern that hardened Ethan's face caused Kira to quickly gulp down the angry words that had been on the tip of her tongue. In the ensuing silence, she heard a muffled thump coming from another part of the penthouse.
“Someone else is here,” she whispered, an unmistakable note of fear in her voice. Two men had already been murdered. Ethan had even gone after one of the killers. Was the killer about to return the favor?
“Wait here,” Ethan demanded in a hushed tone as he grabbed the 9mm handgun from the nightstand next to the bed.
Kira clutched Ethan’s arm tightly. “Let’s just lock the bedroom door and call the police.”
“You can do that while I’m searching the penthouse,” Ethan replied resolutely as he made his way towards the door.
“Ethan!” Kira practically hissed his name in her struggle to keep her voice low.
“What?” Ethan hissed back, his impatience evident as his gaze shifted from the darkened hallway outside the bedroom and landed on Kira.
“I’m going with you,” she announced, recognizing the determination on his face and knowing that it would be impossible to keep him from going.
“No, you’re not,” Ethan said firmly, the look that he shot her making it clear that he would tolerate no more argument from her.
“Be careful,” Kira implored as quietly as possible as she watched him slip out of the bedroom door, gun drawn.
“Lock the door behind me,” Ethan instructed as he stepped out into the hallway and crept his way towards the stairway.
Glancing down into the living room from the top of the stairs, he saw a long shadow slide across the floor accompanied by the sound of heavy footsteps. Angling his body to face the direction from which the shadow was cast, he cautiously made his way down the stairs, his gun at the ready.
“What’s up, little brother?” Donovan Chance nodded towards Ethan as he caught sight of him descending the stairs. Pouring himself a shot of whiskey from the bar, he appeared unperturbed by the 9mm pointing in his direction. The soft sound of bare feet against hardwood drew his gaze up towards Kira as she scurried down the stairs behind Ethan, having ignored his instruction to lock herself in his bedroom. Donovan’s dark green eyes sparkled with amusement as he took in the image of Kira dressed only in her bra and pencil skirt. “Though I guess the answer to that question is pretty obvious.”
“You’re as crude as ever I see, Donovan,” Kira snarled, too annoyed by the presence of Ethan’s overbearing older brother to be embarrassed by her current state of undress.
“It’s lovely seeing you again too, Ms. St. James,” Donovan said, gracing Kira with a grimace that she assumed was intended to pass for a smile before quickly downing his shot of whiskey with one gulp.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Ethan asked irritably as he tucked his gun into the waistband of his pants.
“I have that information you requested last night. You said you needed it quickly.”
Ethan eyed his brother warily. “You didn’t have to deliver it in person.”
“I disagree,” Donovan said tersely as he sat the empty glass down on the bar with a little bit more force than was necessary. While Donovan never hesitated to second guess the actions of others, he was completely intolerant of having his own behavior questioned. It was just one of his many personality traits that grated on Ethan.
“Then you should have called first or at least rang the damn doorbell,” Ethan stated, unable to resist the urge to push that particular crazy button in his brother. “You almost got your head blown off.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, little brother. I heard you coming from a mile away. For a semi-professional thief you have surprisingly heavy feet,” Donovan snarked as he ran a hand through the spiky strands of short cropped, sandy blond hair. “It appears you may be losing your touch, which brings me to the reason for this little impromptu family reunion. We need to talk. Alone.”
Donovan once again directed his gaze at Kira, this time with no hint of amusement in his eyes, causing her to inwardly shiver. Visually, his irises were the exact same shade of emerald green as Ethan’s but there was an iciness in the elder Chance brother’s eyes that had always disconcerted her. Instinct told her that Donovan Chance was dangerous in ways that she couldn’t even imagine and Kira couldn’t help but wonder if the similarity between and him and Ethan extended beyond mere eye color, if the warmth and humanity that she saw when she looked into Ethan’s eyes was nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion.
“Don’t worry, I'll be out of your hair shortly,” Kira replied indignantly as she snatched her blouse from its resting place over the back of the couch.
“You don’t have to go anywhere,” Ethan said as he took the blouse from her hand and attempted to help her guide her arms into the sleeves.
“I want to go,” Kira snapped as she yanked her blouse out of Ethan’s hands and her arm from his grip. “I never should have come here in the first place.”
“Don’t forget these on your way out,” Donovan said as he scooped up the bikini panties that Kira had hastily discarded on the floor the night before.
Ethan angrily ripped the panties out of his brother’s hands prompting Kira to angrily rip them o
ut of his before storming off towards the door. She was already at the elevator just outside the door by the time that Ethan caught up with her.
“We need to finish the discussion we were having upstairs.”
“I've already said everything that I have to say,” Kira replied crisply. “Last night was a mistake. A momentary lapse of judgment on my part that won’t happen again.”
With that, Kira stepped inside the elevator. Ethan sighed heavily as he watched the doors slide close between them.
“Do you always have to be such an ass?” Ethan railed at Donovan as he slammed his way back into the penthouse.
“Don’t try to pin that on me,” Donovan said as he reclined in an armchair directly facing the foyer. “Based on the conversation I overheard, she already had one foot out the door before I even got here.”
“The conversation you overheard?” Ethan’s voice rose in direct proportion to his mounting anger.
“You two were practically screaming at each other at one point there,” Donovan explained, shrugging his shoulders indifferently at his brother’s ire. “How could I not overhear? I’m not deaf.”
“No, you’re just annoying as hell.”
“Based on the way that Ms. St. James hightailed it out of here, that seems to be a shared family trait. But I’m not here to talk about your apparent post-coital deficiencies. We have much more important matters to discuss. I got a lead on your shooter.”
Ethan arched an eyebrow. “You know who whacked Xiao already?”
“Not exactly. But I do know that tiger you described as being on the shooter's jacket is the symbol for the Yellow Tiger Triad.”
“Was Xiao triad affiliated?”
“Loosely. He used their assistance in moving black market merchandise every now and then. According to my sources there was nothing in his direct interactions with The Yellow Tiger Triad that would account for them wanting him dead. At least not on the surface.”
“And when you scratch the surface?”
“Something nasty comes up. Namely, dear old dad.”
“So Jared is mixed up in this.”
Donovan nodded. “The Cartel that is bankrolling him has strong ties to The Yellow Tiger Triad.”
“Strong enough that they would do Jared’s dirty work for him?”
“Yes.”
Ethan began pacing the floor as he pondered this new piece of information. “This certainly does fit with my theory that Jared was behind the theft of The Dragon's Breath. He could have used Xiao to steal The Dragon's Breath, thereby disgracing Gabriel Wong in his father’s eyes and paving the way for Jeremy to gain control of the gambling sub-concession.”
“Then he had Xiao whacked to cover his tracks,” Donovan concluded. “Yeah, that sounds like dear old dad.”
“For all we know he could have killed Yi, or rather had him killed, and then framed Gabriel for his murder.”
Donovan pondered the theory. “That certainly would be killing two birds with one stone. With both Yi and Gabriel out of the way, Jeremy selling the sub-concession to him would be a virtual lock. But that’s pretty convoluted, even for Jared.”
“Yeah, but if we could find proof that he was behind Yi’s murder then who has control of the sub-concession would become irrelevant. We wouldn’t even need the damn thing to take Jared down.”
Donovan’s eyes narrowed. “The sub-concession becoming irrelevant would be very convenient for you, wouldn’t it?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ethan asked warily, not liking the accusatory tone he heard in Donovan’s voice.
“It means that if control of the sub-concession becomes a moot point that would be one less obstacle between you and the lovely Ms. St. James.”
“Kira and I have more obstacles to overcome than just this damn sub-concession,” Ethan replied ruefully.
“So you’re not even going to deny that you are trying to get her back?”
“Why would I deny it?” Ethan asked with an unmistakable edge in his voice.
“Because that would be tantamount to admitting that you’ve lost your focus, just as I suspected, which would explain why you’ve managed to turn a simple business negotiation into a real life game of Clue ”
“My focus is just fine. I’m more than capable of multi-tasking.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Donovan said as he suddenly rose to his feet.
“Any chance you will be doing this judging from Las Vegas?”
“No such luck, little brother,” Donovan chuckled as he sauntered towards the stairway. “I will be remaining in Hong Kong until this business with the sub-concession is wrapped up, one way or another.”
“That’s just great,” Ethan muttered irritably under his breath as he watched his brother ascend the staircase.
Getting Kira to trust him again was already a Herculean task in and of itself. Getting her to trust him with Donovan stomping around Hong Kong like Godzilla, wrecking his typical brand of havoc wherever he goes, seemed damned near impossible.
CHAPTER NINE
Removing her reading glasses from her face, Kira carefully folded the spectacles and placed them on top of the piles of papers covering her desk. Closing her eyes, she attempted to massage away the dull ache of strain that was causing her vision to blur. She had attacked the mound of papers on her desk with a single-minded intensity, determined to focus all of her attention on something…anything…other than Ethan Chance and the night of mind-blowing sex she had just engaged in with him. She didn’t want to think about that, didn’t want to contemplate what the fact that she had given herself to him so easily…so enthusiastically…meant. Upon leaving his penthouse that morning she had stopped by her apartment just long enough to take a quick shower, hoping to wash away the delicious tingle that still taunted her mind and body from the previous night’s amorous activities. When that hadn’t worked she had made a bee-line for her office and attempted to distract herself from thoughts of Ethan by focusing on something more important and had been mostly successful. But as she sat rubbing at her tired eyes, images of Ethan suddenly flashed through her mind. Images that reminded. That tempted.
Snap out of it, Kira! she demanded of herself angrily.
With stubborn determination, she forced her attention back onto the task at hand, taking in the mess on her desk with a heavy sigh. She had been pouring over documents for hours, trying to get a picture of what was going on with Yi just prior to his murder by going through phone records, visitor log-in sheets and printouts of the various files he had accessed on Gau Lung’s computers. What she had found provided more questions than answers. She had been quite surprised to learn that Yi had commissioned the services of a very well known private investigation firm in Hong Kong. Yi had always relied on her or Oliver Nelsen, head of security at Gau Lung, to conduct investigations on his behalf. The fact that he felt the need to go outside of Gau Lung for help suggested that whatever it was that he was investigating was a of a highly sensitive nature. Perhaps even explosive.
Slipping her glasses back onto her face, Kira picked up one of several shipping documents littering her desk, a look of puzzlement distorting her features. For some unknown reason, Yi had shown an inordinate interest in Gau Lung’s fleet of cargo ships with a particular focus being put on a freighter by the name of The Wayfarer, having secretly obtained copies of shipping schedules, dock receipts, packing lists and a variety of other documents relating to The Wayfarer’s cargo and movements for a period of time dating back for more than a year and a half. In studying the documents, Kira learned that The Wayfarer's regular route was between Hong Kong and Sydney, Australia but not much else. Whatever it was that had piqued Yi’s interest was lost on Kira’s untrained eyes. She had briefly considered having Jeremy look at the paperwork given that the shipping division was his baby but quickly decided against it. Yi had clearly wanted to keep his interest in The Wayfarer close to his vest, strongly suggesting to Kira that it would be wise for her to do the same. Besides, she didn
’t trust Jeremy as far as she could throw him.
“We need to talk about what happened last night,” Ethan announced as he barged into Kira’s office, once again without knocking.
Kira sighed wearily as she looked up from the papers in her hands, startled but not entirely surprised by his arrival. She knew that she would have to face him sooner or later, she had only hoped that it would be later. Much later. “If it’s all the same to you, I would rather we both forget that last night ever happened.”
“What happened between us last night was unforgettable and you damn well know it,” Ethan countered as he shut the office door firmly behind him.
Removing her reading glasses, she peered coolly at Ethan.. “What happened between us last night was sex. Nothing more. And while I’ll admit that you haven’t lost your touch in that area, it was hardly the big deal that you’re making it out to be.”
“Is that right? Because it sure seemed like a big deal to you when you traveled across town in the pouring rain to jump my bones.”
Kira winced at the accuracy of Ethan’s description. “I had an itch and I scratched it,” she said with a shrug. “Now both you and it are out of my system.”
“Is that a challenge?” Ethan asked, his voice suddenly taking on a seductive tone as he rounded the corner of Kira’s desk, advancing on her with the determination of a tiger moving in on it’s prey. “Because I’m more than willing to put your words to the test right now.”
“Don't you dar…”
Ethan’s mouth cut Kira off mid-sentence as it swooped down on hers, his tongue slipping deftly between her lips. Kira’s tongue greeted his invasion with a eagerness that she found mortifying yet impossible to stop as it slid against Ethan’s in a decidedly lascivious manner that proved her previous claim that she had gotten him out of her system to be nothing more than a blatant lie. If anything, she wanted him more than ever. Or at least her body did, as evidenced by the way it writhed insistently against his of its own accord as he lifted her from her chair and laid her across her desk. The inappropriateness of allowing herself to be ravished in her office registered somewhere in the back of Kira's fevered mind. The sheer foolishness of re-entangling herself with the likes of Ethan Chance should have been enough to propel her off of that desk. Instead, hands that should have been pushing him off of her were clutching him closer, caressing his taut buttocks through the soft material of his trousers, urging him on as if they had a mind of their own.