Take a Chance

by Lavender Daye

  Steve Gladston was the man to show her how.

  Her backup alarm buzzed across the room and she gave up the fight, pushing the covers away and turning off both alarms. Turning on the television to the morning show that kept her on schedule, she showered and put together a healthy breakfast. From the workout Steve had provided last night, she knew she’d need her vitamins. A snapshot in her head of his lean body and the things he’d done to hers, the way he made her feel, had her body buzzing in pleasure.

  She grinned when she found his note taped to the inside of the front door.

  1438 Westchester, 7 pm tonight. No underwear.

  Her chest caught at the demand and the directions. The most amazing man she’d ever met wanted her bare-assed at his place. She couldn’t wait.

  Morning traffic was light, the beautiful sun-filled sky matching her mood. She caught a light just as her phone beeped and she leaned over the console to grab her purse from the passenger-side. A sudden impact from behind caused her foot to slip off the brake and sent her body bouncing as the seatbelt tried to compensate for her offset position.

  Another bump sent her into the intersection. A pickup skidded around her but the car following him didn’t manage the change and plowed into the side of her car. Horns blared and most of the traffic around the intersection stopped.

  Crap. So much for her good mood.

  Dena stared out the front windshield, thankful to be alive and hoping no one else was hurt. A man appeared at her door and tapped on the window. Tall, heavy like a football player, with light brown hair, he made a motion through the glass and she realized her engine was still running. She nodded and stared at the controls in front of her for a minute before reaching for the ignition.

  Her brain was on auto delay and focus wasn’t happening any too soon. She fumbled at the seatbelt release a couple of times before the man tapped at the window again. This time he pointed at the lock.

  Her arm hurt. Wait, everything hurt, but her left elbow particularly stung. She reached across her body to unlock the door and the man beside her pulled it open.

  “Are you hurt?”

  He had a nice voice, maybe nicer if he wasn’t agitated, and she wondered if he was the driver who hit her. She hadn’t seen the car behind her at all. Damn cell call shouldn’t have been answered, but she’d stopped at the light and she’d hoped it was Steve.

  “Don’t think so. Maybe.” She looked around at all the people trying to clear the road and then back at him. “Were you the driver who hit me?”

  He shook his head and tipped his head to the SUV behind her. An older man was being assisted out of the car, his head bleeding. ”Let me help you out and we’ll get you to the hospital,” he told her. “The EMTs are pretty busy with him, but my car’s just at the corner.”

  He leaned into the car and released the seatbelt, lifting it over her. His arm brushed across her chest and she felt a wave of nausea. Blinking hard, she took a few deep breaths and tried to find her center.

  “Come on, let’s get you to the hospital,” the man next to her said.

  He helped her to her feet and put a steadying arm around her, but a voice several feet away stopped them both.

  “Don’t leave until you’ve been cleared, Miss.” The fireman was standing beside the car behind her, holding something for the EMT. “I’ll be with you in just a minute.” He turned away from her and the man beside her encouraged her to move with him to his car.

  She hesitated, turning to reach for her purse and heard the firemen talking. When she looked up again, the man who’d helped her was gone. Nowhere to be seen, and a police officer approached her.

  “Ma’am, are you okay?”

  It was a reasonable question, since she was swaying. He helped her sink back onto the seat of her car and asked for her name. “Is there someone I can call for you?”

  Feeling better about a uniformed officer next to her, she fished out her phone and stared at it for a few minutes. She should call Simon, but he’d smother her for a year or two or three. Instead, she found Steve’s number.

  “Hey, doll. On your way to work?”

  “I had a wreck.” Not a wise choice of words. Maybe she should’ve gotten to that part a little easier, because his voice went from smooth to hard as a rock in a flat second.

  “Where are you? Are you hurt?”

  She tried to look up at the patrolman standing next to her, but her head hurt and her hands were twitching like she’d had an entire pot of coffee in less than ten minutes. “Where are we?” she asked the cop.

  He took the phone before she dropped it, and she let her hand fall into her lap, thankful for his help. The man’s directions were more concise than hers would’ve been and when he finished, he slipped the phone into her purse for her.

  “Thank you,” she told him, trying to smile. “What happened to the other man that was helping me?”

  The officer squatted in front of her to answer and she relaxed a little. It was damned frustrating to have a conversation with a man’s knees. Unless they were Steve’s knees, but he wasn’t here. Yet. Her eyes kept shutting and she pried them open and repeated the question.

  “What other man?” he asked. “I didn’t see anyone else with you.” He turned his head to the right and shouted to someone. Her head pounded a little harder, and then someone else was in front of her, wearing a different uniform and shining a light into her brain. Not fun.

  Steve’s voice penetrated the random noise around her and then he was there, in place of the uniforms and touching her face. “Dena, tell me what hurts, baby.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Damn. That was her brother behind Steve’s shoulder. He’d start weaving that stupid cocoon any minute now and she’d never see the light of day again. He’d even take away Steve.

  “I’m fine. Just a little headache.”

  One of the uniforms started talking and she stopped listening to the discussion, happy to have Steve’s hands on hers. The various male voices blended around her, mostly calm except for Simon’s, but she heard Steve override his suggestions. Then she was in his arms and he was putting her in his truck and buckling her in place.

  The hospital rapidly turned into an adventure she didn’t want to have. Steve and Simon hovered while a nurse took her information and then her blood pressure. When the nurse put her in a wheelchair, the two men followed, bickering about which should stay with her.

  Simon’s subdued but strident demand to take charge of her care grated on her nerves more than the pain in her head while Steve’s calm, collected tone and failure to participate in an argument with her brother was a godsend.

  The nurse let her lay down on the table but she wasn’t allowed to sleep.

  “How could anyone sleep with all the noise?”

  Probably not wise, talking to herself, since she had a head injury. At least, a padded cell would keep Simon out of her love life. Eventually, both men were allowed into the exam room, but they’d come to some kind of truce. Simon observed with a firm face while Steve kept a hand on her every second. It was comforting that after a couple dates and one amazing night of sex he’d be so touchy-feely.

  The doctor finally pronounced her banged up but not dangerously so. She had a mild concussion and several bruises, but she could go home.

  Simon disagreed. “She keeps asking about a man that helped her, but the paramedics didn’t see anyone with her. Are you sure it’s just a mild concussion?”

  “Oh, shut up, Simon,” she said, glad the medicine was finally taking the edge off her headache. “I’m not crazy. The man was real, whether you believe me or not.”

  “Walk me through the meeting with this mystery man,” Steve said, shooting a sharp glance at Simon.

  Not sure if she was being patronized or if Steve was working points against her brother, she opened her mouth. “He showed up at my window once the cars stopped moving and asked me to turn off the engine. He helped me out of the
car and said he could take me to the hospital since the paramedics were helping the man who hit me.”

  “He offered to take you to the hospital? You didn’t say that earlier.” Simon’s face shifted into worry mode.

  “I just remembered. He was helping me to his car when the officer came over to ask me questions. When I turned around again, he was gone.”

  Steve stepped close, blocking her view of the room and everyone in it. “I believe you, Dena. Can you tell me anything about what he looked like or what kind of car he was driving?”

  She focused on the emblem on his shirt and tried to picture the man. “I remember thinking he looked like a football player, tall, with big shoulders and muscles. His hair was light brown or maybe dark blond, and he had on sunglasses, I think.”

  “Good girl, baby. Were you standing next to him?” She nodded and he continued. “When you were next to him, was he taller than me or shorter?”

  “Shorter.”

  “Do you remember anything else about him?”

  “Just that he kept telling me he would help me, and wanting me to go with him.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  She hadn’t heard that phrase out of her brother in years and the surprise had her turning in his direction. But Simon was looking at Steve. “Do you think this is about the burglary? Why am I asking? It has to be.”

  “You want to call the officer from the scene?” Steve asked. “Might be better to call the detective working the break in at the office and her home. It’s beginning to look like they’re connected.”

  “She’s not going back to her house or to the office, Simon. I’m taking her home with me.”

  “No. She’ll be safer at my parents’ house. There’s a staff that will look after her.” Simon took her hand in his. “Dena, you should come with me. I’ll hire a nurse to help you until you’re safe and on your feet.”

  “Simon, you’re a wonderful brother and I love you, but I have a concussion. I don’t need a nurse and I don’t want to move in with Mom and Dad. I’d rather be sent to a convent.”

  “That can be arranged,” Simon replied with a smile. “I guess she’ll stay with you, Gladston. Be nice to her.”

  “Oh, he is,” she whispered into his shoulder and Steve laughed when her brother’s face turned red.

  “I don’t want to hear it, not any of it.” Simon made for the door and asked Steve to join him in the hall.

  Hell. He knew exactly what Simon wanted to discuss and he wasn’t having any of it. Dena was a grown woman and she was his. To hell with her brother’s puritanical ideas. He had a wife and three kids at home, so he sure wasn’t a virgin.

  Before he could start talking, Simon had moved him into a quiet corner and said, “I don’t know what your financial status is, but I’m sure your company is sound, so don’t take this the wrong way. If you need extra guards, a place to hide her, anything, just ask. She’s my only sister, and while I don’t like your lifestyle, I respect her right to choose.”

  The man just about knocked him to his ass. “Thank you, Simon. I care about her, and I won’t let her get hurt.”

  “I know you’ll do the best you can, but I’ll still worry.”

  “Let me put your mind at ease. You know I went into the Navy out of high school. Between you and me, I did five years as a SEAL. I can handle whatever comes along.”

  “No shit? Why didn’t I know that before?”

  Steve put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It’s not something I advertise. Sometimes surprise works better than a weapon.”

  Simon shook his hand. “When all of this is over, I’d like to sit down with you for an hour or two. I’d like a chance to get to know you again. Apparently, you’re not the kid I knew in high school.”

  Chapter 11

  Ethan moseyed into the diner and spotted Lloyd in a booth, his back to the door. The jackass didn’t have a clue about keeping a low profile and watching his own back. He had a laptop open in front of him and was aware of nothing but the screen. Easing through the aisles, Ethan stayed out of Lloyd’s line of sight until he could drop into the seat opposite him. Lloyd, of course, flinched and cursed like a sailor.

  “What the hell? You scared the shit out of me.”

  Ethan grinned and tapped the laptop. “Your fault, not mine. Find anything useful?”

  If the man had a clue about who they’d almost had their hands on, he’d have a conniption fit. She’d been so close to coming with him, and it hadn’t even been planned. Sure, he’d been following her ass, but the wreck was a freak of nature, the scenario falling into his lap like manna from heaven.

  Test time. “Almost had her just a few minutes ago.”

  “What?”

  Okay, that was too loud and squeaky for comfort, even for Ethan. “Calm down, will you? She was in a car wreck and I tried to help her.”

  “You tried to kidnap her again, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but it didn’t work out.”

  “Were you seen?” Lloyd shut down the laptop and closed the lid. “Well? Were you?”

  “Yes, she saw me. I was trying to help her.”

  “Right. Help her do what? Roll over and give you the passwords?”

  “Hey, she had a bump on her head. I could’ve talked her into anything.”

  “You have a death wish, Ethan.” Lloyd grabbed the laptop. “Later.”

  Damn. No codes and no help from his one remaining conspirator. This plan was unraveling much too fast for his liking. Tomorrow, he’d work on Sara, see what kind of info he could pull out of her.

  As for tonight, he had hot plans, with or without a girl in tow. A new club was opening and dear ole uncle big shot was a member. And it was a family membership.

  * * * *

  Steve pulled into his garage and put the door down before letting her touch the seatbelt release. Reminding her to stay in the truck until he came for her, he got out and accessed the recessed panel next to the trash cans. It might look like a plastic bag holder, but when it opened, a flat screen panel showed every part of his home’s interior. Forget dogs, gadgets were a man’s best friend.

  He helped Dena out of the truck and grabbed the one bag he’d allowed her to bring. The stop at her place was quick and silent and he’d taken the long way home, making sure they weren’t followed. Leading her into the kitchen, he paused and adjusted the settings on the security system.

  “Paranoid, are we?” she asked with a lopsided grin.

  “No, ma’am. Security is my business and I take it seriously. With you in the house, more so.” The sight of her standing in his kitchen, her hair a mess of brown silk floating around her shoulders and her eyes half glazed, made him itch to lift her in his arms and carry her to his bed.

  Not a good idea.

  A concussion and his kind of sex, done right, didn’t make good bedfellows.

  She needed tenderness and a sense of safety. Without proper preparation, her first sight of his toys could put her on edge.

  “I’m going to settle you on the sofa and you can watch a movie.” Taking her bag and putting it on the kitchen island, he steered her into the main living area, appreciating the fact that his housekeeper had been through the place just yesterday. Newspapers had been corralled and all the incidental clutter had disappeared.

  “I’m fine, really. I just need a nap,” Dena said when she sat down on the definitely sleep worthy couch. He’d had many a productive nap in that spot but he didn’t want her dozing too soon.

  “I’d rather you stay awake for a little while. I want to watch for signs of concussion issues.”

  “I have a little headache, that’s all.” Her shoes dropped to the floor and she curled her feet up on the sofa. “This okay, with my feet up here?”

  Damn straight. With her knees bent and her feet next to her hips, the little blue skirt she wore rode up her thighs and gave him a sweet peek of soft skin. His body responded of its own accord and he reminded himself to back off. She’d been in a wreck. She’d been
traumatized and almost kidnapped. She’d been naked with him just last night and after everything he’d done to her, she was most likely sore.

  Didn’t keep his dick from rising to the occasion.

  “No problem.” Clearing his throat to keep the tone casual, he said, “Tell me the names of your brothers.”

  Her head tilted to one side and a thin wrinkle formed above her nose. “Why? You already know my brothers.”

  “It’s a test. Tell me their names.”

  A soft sigh twisted his buttons a little tighter, and she replied. “Simon’s the bossy one, Grant is the quiet one but follows Simon’s orders most of the time, and Brent is my sweetie. He always brings me treats and helps me get away with things.” Her lips curled in and her eyes popped in his direction. “I shouldn’t have said that last part. Brent’s a good brother. The end.”

  Despite the headache, she was playing with him. Touching him without lifting a hand. Damn, he was going to fall so hard for this little speck of a woman. He just hoped she appreciated his lifestyle. “What has Brent helped you get away with?”

  “Promise you won’t tell Simon?”

  “That bad?”

  She wiggled in her spot, rearranging her position and he could feel a bead of sweat forming on his temple. “Not really, but Simon wouldn’t approve.”

  A laugh escaped and a bit of the tension in his body eased. “I have a feeling Simon doesn’t approve of much.”

  “I’ve often wondered how Simon had three kids, since he’s fairly straight-laced about sex.”

  “What did you do, Dena?”

  “You know, I think you’re right. What kind of movies do you have?”

  “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” Damn, she was a sassy little thing, even when banged up and fragile. “Not a good way to go, Dena.”

  “I don’t know what you mean. I thought we were going to watch a movie.”

  “And I thought you were going to tell me what Brent helped you get away with.”

  She stretched and yawned, and then stretched out on his sofa. “Oh, Brent, yes. He’s always coming up with ways to get me in trouble. He’s a sweet brother.”