Tempting Calm Waters

by Samantha Wolfe

  CHAPTER

  FIVE

  ____________________

  Lu

  My first impression as I slipped into Calder Rennen's masculinely decorated office was that he was an intimidating man. Even sitting behind a massive mahogany desk, he had a commanding presence that dominated the space around him. He was a very attractive man too, in his late thirties and sharply dressed in a dark-gray designer suit stretched over broad muscular shoulders. His almost black wavy hair was cut short and his goatee carefully trimmed. His piercing blue eyes took me in with a keen and penetrating gaze that saw everything and missed nothing. It was obvious that he was not a man to be trifled with, and I suspected that I might be in over my head here.

  "What can I do for you, Detective?" he asked in a deep sonorous voice edged with suspicion that only reinforced my first impression. It was rich and powerful, the kind of voice that drew attention and respect with its weight and resonance.

  "I'm here looking into a murder investigation," I replied, wording it so I didn't have to lie about my actual involvement, or lack there of, in the real investigation. I had a gut feeling that Rennen would see right through my bullshit if I straight out lied to him. I tried to ignore the niggling voice that said I was still being dishonest.

  He leaned back in his chair, a wary expression briefly ghosting across his face. "Of who?" he asked carefully.

  "Four young women," I replied.

  His eyes widened in surprise as I continued.

  "There's evidence that their deaths may have involved BDSM, and since you own the only BDSM club in town, I was hoping you might have some insight-"

  "Stop," he snapped out as his face hardened angrily and his eyes crackled with bright blue fire. "If you're about to imply that my involvement in the BDSM lifestyle gives me some sort of insight into a murderer's mind or motivations, then you can stop right now, and I'll call my lawyer. Just because we enjoy bondage and elements of pain in our consensual interactions, doesn't make those of us in this lifestyle capable of murder or whatever other sick thing narrow-minded and ignorant people like you come up with."

  I stiffened and held my temper as I continued speaking. "I was hoping to get your insight as to whether BDSM really was involved in their deaths." My voice laced with tension now. "I wasn't implying anything else," I added firmly.

  He blinked as he took in a breath and let out harshly, his anger dissipating as quickly as it appeared. "I apologize then," he said sincerely. "I'm afraid I'm a bit jaded since that's usually the case when the police show up here with questions or accusations about something like this."

  "I understand." I nodded, mollified by his apology. "And I'll admit there are narrow-minded and ignorant people on the force, but I'm not one of them."

  "Good to know," he said in satisfaction as he leaned back into his chair again with a relaxed posture. "So why do you think BDSM might be involved?" he asked as he cocked his head.

  "The bodies all had whip marks and restraint marks of differing ages," I replied, feeling ill inside.

  Looking at Warren's case files had been bad enough, but what I was doing now was worse. It would probably get me fired or charged with a crime if anyone on the force ever found out I was divulging details to a civilian about an active homicide investigation that I wasn't even involved with.

  "I also thought that if BDSM was involved, then maybe there was a remote chance that the girls might have been to your club or at the very least someone here might have some information about Tash...um...the victims." Shit. I cringed inwardly at almost saying Tasha's name.

  His face turned grim and thoughtful as he reached up to rub his thumb absently over his mouth, not seeming to notice my near slip up. Good. "While I agree that sounds as if BDSM may have been involved, those are quite a few ifs and maybes there too, Detective Tavarez. This is a large city, and though Désir Dangereux may be the only BDSM nightclub in town, that certainly doesn't preclude anyone else outside my club from being involved in the lifestyle."

  "I know that," I replied with a pained expression, "but if I could just rule this place out, that would be helpful."

  He rested his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers together. "My members value the discretion that my club offers them when they come to Désir Dangereux. They trust me to protect their privacy. You can understand how giving you access to them or any information about them could adversely affect their trust in me and therefore, my business. We have nondisclosure agreements here for a reason, Detective. It protects them from narrow-minded and ignorant people." His eyes were hard, his tone firm and unwavering. "I'm not going to risk my members or my club for ifs and maybes."

  Fuck. I slumped back into my chair as I realized this might be a wasted trip. I sighed in disappointment, but steeled myself to try again. At the very least, maybe I could find out whether or not any of the victims actually visited the club. I couldn't give up. I needed to do something to help Tasha and the other victims find justice.

  I opened my mouth once again to try to convince him to help me when his eyes suddenly flashed up behind me with a surprised and curious expression. I turned in my chair to follow his line of sight and froze in wide-eyed shock. There standing in the now open doorway was Scott, the infuriating pendejo from the night of Tasha's murder. What the?

  "Are you going to tell him the truth, or am I?" he asked sharply before my brain could even process a reason for him to be here.

  There was no smirk on his face this time, his vivid and penetrating blue eyes grimly focused on me with a hard stare. I whirled back to Rennen to see a now similar expression on his face, his stare even harder than Scott's and narrowed in wary suspicion. Shit. I turned back to Scott.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" I bit out angrily. He was ruining everything.

  "I work here," he answered, that infuriating smirk pulling at a corner of his full lips.

  He stepped closer and that utterly masculine scent of his hit me. Damn he smelled good. My body responded instantly with a surge of lust just like the other night. It pissed me off this time too.

  "What?" I asked sharply, disconcerted by his presence here and my physical reaction to him.

  "Allow me to introduce myself," he replied as his smirk grew. "I'm Scott Conrad, Calder's business partner and the 'C' in R&C LTD."

  What the fuck? I stared at him in stunned shock with my mouth hanging open.

  "What truth?" Calder snarled out behind me a moment later.

  I turned to see his suspicion had morphed into fierce anger that was intimidating as hell. Fuck. I looked back at Scott to see him cocking his head expectantly at me. Bastard. He'd thrown me under the bus. Now the only way I could see out of it was to be honest and hope Rennen didn't call to report me and get me fired like he had every right to do at this point. I sighed in resignation and did what I had to do, what I should have done all along.

  "This isn't my case," I told Rennen. "I'm...I'm on the vice squad, not a homicide detective."

  His eyes widened, and his jaw clenched. "So is this some sort of sting to trick me into letting you have access to my club and its members?" he growled out threateningly as his hands tightened into fists on his desk. "You people can come sniffing around here all you want, but this club has always been aboveboard. No laws are being broken here."

  "What?" I blurted out incredulously. "No," I continued vehemently.

  "Really?" He made a scoffing noise as he glared at me. "Then why do I suddenly feel the need to call my lawyer?"

  "No, I'm not here to trick you," I reiterated desperately. "My sister's best friend is one of the victims." I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall. "She...she found the body. Homicide isn't getting anywhere with the case, and I...I had to do something to help." Rennen's hard gaze finally softened at my sincere words.

  "Now was that so hard?" Scott asked from behind me in an unmistakably self-satisfied tone. "You should have led with that in the first place."

  I whirled to glare at Scott, who
was standing there in calm nonchalance with a subtle hint of sympathy in his still smug gorgeous blue eyes. However, it wasn't enough to make up for the fact that he'd clearly been eavesdropping on my conversation, had been manipulating me since he walked in the goddamn door, and was fucking with me right now.

  "You...you..." I began as I stood to face him in indignation, so furious that I couldn't even utter another word.

  "Gilipollas?" he suggested with that goddamn smirk of his that made me want to slap it off his face. "Pendejo?" His smirk grew as he leaned in closer to me over the chair, and my God, he smelled like heaven. "Or do you have some other Spanish insult you want to throw at me this time?"

  His nostrils flared, and his eyes darkened and flashed down to my lips for a second before meeting mine again. I suddenly found myself wondering if his lips were as soft as they looked or how rough his beard stubble would feel against my cheek. The thought of him kissing me had instant lust throbbing between my thighs, and my nipples pebbling in my bra, which pissed me off even more.

  "Vete a la chingada," I snarled out viciously, telling him to go fuck himself.

  I swear to God, he growled at me, his eyes fixing on my mouth yet again. He leaned even closer to me as his teeth sunk into his lower lip. It was hot as hell. Did I mention he smelled like heaven? It looked like he was going to kiss me. I stood there transfixed, trapped between the urge to let him or punch the ever-loving shit out of his smug goddamn face. My lips parted against my will, my body feeling hot all over since it knew exactly which option it wanted, no matter how much this man infuriated me.

  The sound of a throat clearing abruptly broke the spell I seemed to be under. Scott and I both startled and looked at Rennen, who was still sitting behind his desk and now glancing back and forth between us with a curious and clearly amused expression. Shit, I'd forgotten he was even here. What the hell was wrong with me?

  "While I appreciate your candor, Detective Tavarez," he said, the amusement replaced by a grave expression now, "and I sympathize with your situation, it doesn't change the fact that I still have to protect my business." He shook his head. "We can't let an outsider, and especially one who's a police officer, have access to Désir Dangereux or its members. I'm sorry, but the risk is much too high," he added with a pained and apologetic look.

  My heart sank in disappointment. "I understand," I replied dejectedly, unable to stop Tasha's crime scene photos from popping into my head.

  My stomach roiled, and my eyes stung with helpless despair as I wondered what the hell I was going to do next, or if there was anything I could do at all.

  "Thank you for your time," I told them both then turned to leave through the still open door.

  I glanced at Scott one more time as I walked past him, expecting to see another smirk, but saw something else instead. He was watching me with what looked like sincere and honest sympathy. It completely threw me off and made me wonder if maybe he wasn't a total douchebag, but it didn't change anything. This had still been a waste of time

  "Wait," Scott blurted out and gently grabbed my upper arm as I reached the doorway.

  I stopped as a jolt of electricity fired up my arm from his touch, startling a tiny gasp from me. I met his eyes to see them fixed on me intently. I wondered if he felt it too and what the hell it meant, until his next words stunned those thoughts right out of my head.

  "What if I'm with her the whole time?" he asked Calder, even though his eyes were still locked on mine as that smirk played across his luscious looking mouth. "What if we're undercover, and no one knows that she's not a member?"

  Wait...what?

  CHAPTER

  SIX

  ____________________

  Scott

  What the fuck am I doing?

  Lu's big gorgeous brown eyes blinked at me in confusion as my mind scrambled to catch up with the words that just came out of my mouth. Apparently, the lust coursing through me was short circuiting my brain. Go to the club with her? Undercover? What the hell was I thinking? But damn, that dejected look in her eyes, the hopelessness, had wrecked me. An overwhelming need to make it go away, to fix things for her, had fallen over me. I'd never felt anything like it. The words had just spilled out of me before I could even think to stop them.

  I felt Calder's eyes on me and glanced over to see him staring at me like I'd sprouted a second head with his eyebrows raised practically to his hairline in surprised shock. Yeah, me too brother. I hadn't done much more than just walk through the back hall of Désir Dangereux to get to Calder's office there in the last three years. I certainly hadn't played with or even set foot near a submissive since then either. It was official. I'd lost my damn mind.

  "What are you talking about?" Lu asked in a hushed and bewildered tone.

  I fixated on her mouth again when she spoke. Fuck, her low voice fell soft and silky smooth on my ears. I wondered if her full luscious lips would feel the same on mine, or my dick. The dick in question twitched and grew harder than it already was behind the zipper of my jeans. Shit, focus Conrad. I needed to put a stop to this stupidity, but my mouth took off without my brain again.

  "I'll take you into the club as my submissive, and see if we can dig up any information without compromising the club's reputation or anyone's privacy."

  "What?" she cried in indignation, that silky-smooth voice now fierce and fiery, and not helping my raging libido at all. Her warm brown eyes blazed angrily at me, and an adorable furrow appearing on her pretty brow. "Oh, hell no!"

  She turned and headed for the door. Without thinking, I grabbed her arm with a firm grip to keep her from trying to leave again. The next thing I knew she'd whirled and dug her thumb into the pressure point I knew was just above the inside of my elbow and sent a bolt of white-hot pain shooting up my arm. Fuck. My grip immediately released as she got in my face with a baleful glare. Damn, the girl must know how to fight, and the thought made me hard as fucking granite.

  "Don't touch me," she growled out through clenched teeth in a low threatening tone. "I am not having sex or anything else with you," she added vehemently under her breath so only I could hear her.

  I lifted my hands in a gesture of surrender, even as my libido raged out of control at the mere mention of the word sex from those gorgeous lips of hers. Her eyes flashed, and her cheeks were flushed a pretty red that was sexy as fuck. I hoped to God that she didn't look down, or she'd see the throbbing erection straining my jeans and really be pissed at me. She'd probably knee me in the balls.

  "Surely you've gone undercover on the vice squad before," I said with the wry smile that I couldn't seem to stop using every time I was around her. I leaned in closer to her ear, briefly breathing in the sweet scent of magnolias before I whispered, "Somehow I don't think you actually used drugs or fucked the johns you busted. Right?" For some reason, I couldn't stop trying to get a rise out of her either.

  Her eyes flew wide before she let out an infuriated snarl and started for the door again, mumbling fiercely under her breath in Spanish. Fuck, I didn't want her to leave, but didn't know what else to do to stop her. Clearly, she didn't want anything to do with me, even if the sexual tension between us was palpable, and the sheer disappointment that fell over me at that realization was inexplicable and completely unexpected.

  "What were their names?" Calder suddenly called out behind me.

  Lu stopped in her tracks in the doorway and turned an incredulous expression on my best friend. "What?" she asked softly.

  "The victims, your sister's best friend and the others," Calder replied gravely. "I can find out if they've been here."

  "Um...uh...Tasha. Tasha Lewis," she answered in stunned confusion.

  Frankly, I was dumbfounded by Calder's concession too. She gave him the other names as well. He nodded then turned toward the laptop in front of him and began typing. Lu came back into the room, and I reached behind her to close the door, for privacy as much as not wanting her to try to take off again. Though I suspected she wasn't going anywh
ere now that her attention was riveted on my best friend and the information he'd unexpectedly offered her.

  Calder's face was unreadable as he stared at the screen, which wasn't unusual. Calder was one hell of a business man for a reason. He was shrewd, knew how to hold his cards close to his chest, and had one hell of a poker face. After what felt like an interminable amount of time, he finally raised his eyes back to Lu. Anger crackled through his piercing blue eyes, making them burn brighter.

  "Tasha's been here," he growled out. "They've all been here."

  "They were members?" Lu asked sharply, her face hard and focused now. She had her cop face on, and like everything else about this woman, it turned me on.

  "Guests," he replied.

  "Of who?" I asked harshly. Was some fucker using our club to find his victims? If so, I wanted to hunt his ass down and take him out.

  Calder narrowed his eyes at the screen and typed some more before speaking again. "Four different members have visited with each of the victims at least once."

  He motioned me toward him, and I rounded the desk to look at the screen. I wasn't familiar with any of their names, but I wasn't surprised since I hadn't been an active member for over three years. I did know that each one would have been carefully vetted and background checked before being allowed to join. Of course, I was well acquainted with the fact that whack jobs could still get into the club even with all those precautions. They also had to be fairly wealthy to afford our club's membership dues that weren't anywhere close to cheap. If one of them was the killer, we'd have to tread carefully with an investigation to protect the club and not violate an innocent member's privacy. Shit, I was already thinking like we were really going to do this, and Lu hadn't even agreed to it yet.

  "What are their names?" Lu asked in an impatient and tense voice.

  Calder met my eyes. He and I had always had a knack for communicating without words, and now was no exception. His questioning expression told me he was going to trust me to decide whether we helped Lu or not.