“Lexa, a little help here,” Christopher said pointedly looking at the gun that was still near the now flailing woman’s hand. I pushed it away with my foot.
Marcos looked at Christopher and me with gratitude “Thanks. The family owes you.”
I didn’t know what to say exactly besides, “Does that mean you’ll give me my camera and the pictures back?”
“No.”
“Well, I thought at least I’d try.” I responded and Marcos fought a smile.
Authorities didn’t arrive, but Tony did. I hadn’t been expecting that and he shook his head at the ridiculous figure his wife made seated between the stocky figures of Christopher and Marcos on the park bench, crying softly to herself.
The gun had disappeared and I assumed Marcos had it. Christopher immediately got up when he saw Tony approaching and signaled for us to leave.
I didn’t waste any time following behind Christopher to the parking lot. I turned to look behind me one last time, expecting to see Mrs. Palazzo clawing at her husband’s face. Instead, I saw him squat in front of her, speak softly to her, and suddenly she was in his arms and he was holding her gently, stroking her hair as her entire body shook with sobs. She clung to him and my heart went out to her. I couldn’t see his face, but he held on to her tightly, possessively even, as he whispered into her ear. Marcos walked away awkwardly, giving them a private moment. Love is complicated, I thought to myself as I turned away not sure who to feel sympathy for anymore.
Chapter 3
“Cooper, I’m sorry. Truly, I am.” I said repeatedly as I attempted to parallel park my car with one hand and my phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder.
“Listen, can I call you back?” I knew he had a right to be upset. I hadn’t delivered on the pictures, but as I tried to reassure him, I sincerely doubted he would have to worry about his wife cheating on him again. Well, at least not with Tony Palazzo again.
My simple request was met by more yelling and I grimaced when he used one particular word. I knew he was upset, but he didn’t have to be insulting.
I was about to tell him when I heard a thump and looked up instantly in the rear view mirror.
A man stood there rubbing his hip and I instantly hung up on Cooper and jumped out of my car.
“Oh my God, I am so sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” I said rounding the car. I didn’t even look at his face as I began dusting him off instead. “Are you okay? God, I need to stop driving and talking at the same time.”
“Yes, it seems you are better at taking care of one task at a time.”
His voice was melodic and deep. He had a slight accent, which made me wonder if he were from Russia as I looked up at him about to reply.
I stopped automatically when my eyes finally settled on his face. He smiled at me. It was the stranger from yesterday.
“It’s you,” I breathed.
“Yes. And apparently instead of thanking me, you’re trying to kill me with your car,” his lips tilted up at the end and I knew he was joking with me.
I smiled back, feeling myself lean in towards him as if drawn there by something I couldn’t see. In the sunlight, I could clearly see his face. He had an olive-complexion and a narrow nose. His eyes that I had dreams about the other night were just as luminous and beautiful as I remembered; lined with long thick eyelashes. He had a beard that served to emphasize how masculine he looked. It was carefully sculpted and unbelievably sexy.
When I finished taking in his face, I let my eyes roam across his body as he had done to me. At 5’10, I was tall for a woman, but he seemed to dwarf me, making me think he had to be about 6’4”. He was lean muscled. I didn’t see an ounce of body fat on the man. The way his jeans fit around his legs and crotch made my imagination come up with some interesting things. The t-shirt he was wearing highlighted his well-defined upper body and as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at me with amusement, his biceps flexed and bulged against the sleeves.
I stared, wanting to run my hands up his arms. Whom was I kidding? I didn’t just want to run my hands up his arms. I wanted to devour this man. I was so fiercely attracted to him that if he asked me to go home with him, I wouldn’t have said no. I would have left my car haphazardly parked and hopped in the car with him, that’s how strong my desire was for him. For some reason, that scared me. I didn’t even know this man’s name. I figured I would start with his name, instead of tearing off his clothes.
“I’m Lexa. Lexa Charles.”
“Lexa,” he said my name softly, letting the syllables roll off his tongue in such a way that I felt he caressed my name with his tongue just by saying it. “My name’s Nico. It’s truly a pleasure to meet you, officially.”
He extended his hand and I took it. Stupid mistake. As soon as my hand touched his, I felt it. That charge. That jolt. This man with just a touch of his hand had electrified all the nerve endings in my body. I didn’t know how to deal with that. I was instantly conflicted and then confused. I snatched my hand back, unable to think with him touching me.
“Nico. Well thank you for the other night. You saved my life.”
He nodded acknowledgment of my gratitude and reached towards me, touching my chin with startlingly familiarity. His hand didn’t stop there as he allowed his palm to go up the side of my face, gently stroking my cheek and for some reason I kissed the palm of his hand and sighed against it. I looked up at him abruptly, shocked at my own behavior. Was I going crazy? What did I just do? I went to apologize, but he was already there, bending down lowering his lips to mine. My brain said, “Move!” and my body said, “Don’t you dare.” My body won as I let Nico’s lips close over mine. His lips were soft and warm and they moved skillfully over mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood up on my tippy toes, trying to reach more of him as I buried my hands in his hair. His arms came around me too and he began to trace his hands slowly up and down my body. I turned my body so that my front was nestled against his. He settled back against my car and pulled me even closer to him, now deepening the kiss as his hands flirted with the edge of my shirt, not going under it, but coming so close that I groaned against his lips in frustration when I didn’t feel his fingers on my skin.
Then slowly, he pulled back, breathing my name and placing his hands on either side of my face.
“Now that was quite an introduction,” he said with a boyish grin.
I was about to smile as well when I saw the other shopkeepers near my office staring out the windows at us. Immediately embarrassed, I mumbled, “I have to go” and I practically ran away from him. I didn’t turn around to see if he were following me. I just disappeared into the little office building where my office was located on the first floor, then through the door, closing it sharply behind me, and leaning against it to take in a few breaths. Maybe, I had overreacted, but I didn’t make out with strangers in the middle of day in front of my office. In fact, I didn’t make out with strangers at all, no matter the time of day. I had to think hard to even come up with the last time I had even been on a date.
I changed the closed sign to open while admonishing myself for my behavior. Nico was an attractive man, but I had been the one to start putting lips in places they shouldn’t have been. I gave myself a second to calm down, but my skin still felt hot. I marched to the little bathroom in the hallway, nervously tucking a little pen behind my ear. I splashed water on my face and saw that my hands were shaking just a little. I didn’t understand the new emotional roller coaster I was on and it showed.
Feeling as if I was finally back to normal after a few minutes of deep breathing and continuously splashing cold water on my face, I walked to my office and sat at the front desk. I’m sure it was supposed to be a receptionist’s desk, but I couldn’t afford a receptionist. Normally when clients came in, they asked to speak to the owner and I tried to pretend that it wasn’t awkward when I told them I was the owner and then led them to my real office in the back.
I was busy trying to
make changes to my website, hoping to drive more traffic to it and increase my business when I heard the little bell dingle and I looked up. Nico walked into my office and I immediately dropped my hands from the keyboard.
“Are you following me or something?” I said instantly and then felt I came across rude. That hadn’t been my intention. I needn’t have worried though because he looked unfazed by my unfriendly greeting.
“I stopped by earlier but you weren’t here. I’m actually here to hire you. Strangely enough, I have a stalker problem.”
I wasn’t expecting that and assumed he was joking. I wasn’t going to take the bait.
“Is this a ploy to get me to go out with you?”
“It’s funny that you can seriously ask me that question given that you were practically glued to me less than ten minutes ago. If I wanted to ask you out, I obviously wouldn’t need a ploy if the way you kissed me was any indication of your attraction for me.” He said all of this with a small smile on his face.
I blushed, knowing he was right. Our exchange was heated and I had wanted to do a lot more than go out with him. That much had been very clear.
I ignored his words and instead decided to treat him like any other potential client.
“Come back to my office. Let’s talk.” I led him to my recently organized office and took out a notepad and pen.
“No iPad or tablet?”
“I’m a little old-fashioned.” I said with a shrug.
“I like old-fashioned.”
I tried to ignore the way his smile made me melt a little and served to distract me completely. I shook my head as if to clear my thoughts and was about to speak again when he sat down and handed me a piece of paper with a name on it.
“So this person is stalking you?”
He nodded.
“So you know exactly who’s stalking you. Why do you need me? Why didn’t you take this to the police?”
Something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what. I wanted additional information. “Furthermore, why would a guy like you need a private investigator to stalk a stalker? I felt your body. You obviously could handle yourself in a fight.” I couldn’t help adding, “You could just bash him a few good times and he would leave you alone.”
“I wish it were that easy,” he sighed sitting back in his chair across the desk from me. I couldn’t help but stare at him again. Besides his eyes, his features were unremarkable individually, but together he was a very attractive man. I wanted to taste him again.
I tried to get my mind back to the subject at hand and said, “Clearly, something more is going on here. What do you need a private investigator for?”
“I know who he is, but I can’t get close to him. It’s too dangerous for me. I need you to track him down for me. I need to know where he lives, what he does for a living. That type of thing.”
“Why?”
“I think he means to kill me.”
Chapter 4
I didn’t know why I said yes to him. I should have just said no. I was going to add that to my list of New Years’ Resolutions: Say no to sexy strangers who want you to do something ridiculous and dangerous. No matter how sexy they are.
Speaking of which, the sexy stranger, currently sitting in front of me, was no longer a stranger at all. I saw him at least twice a week when we met up in random places so that I could report my findings. His stalker seemed uninteresting---just an average Joe with an average job, but Nico was unconvinced.
Nico had asked me to join him for dinner that evening, I assumed for another debriefing, and although I thought it wouldn’t be the smartest idea given his stalker, not to mention not wanting to blow my cover, I had given in. Unfortunately, I wasn’t having a good time. Nico’s mind was clearly elsewhere.
“How’s your food?” He asked when the silence had stretched to an uncomfortable level.
“Good. How’s yours?”
“Delicious.” For some reason our conversation was stilted. I didn’t know why. It could have been because he seemed distant tonight. We had gotten to know each other somewhat over the past two weeks. Normally when I get a new client, I don’t just spend time finding out all I needed to know about the target, but also everything that I needed to know about the client. It made my job easier. I hadn’t learned intimate details about Nico and the Internet hadn’t been much help. I knew he was originally from a small country in Eastern Europe. I knew that he had never been married and he was an antiques dealer. He maintained a shop in the city, but mostly dealt with high-profile buyers over the phone. He travelled a lot for work, constantly collecting rare pieces to sell at extremely high prices, but besides his career highlights, I knew barely anything else.
I had wanted to impress him tonight, even though it wasn’t a date so I had slid on a deep V-neck dress in a dark candy apple red. I also wore heels and I never wore heels. They made my shapely legs look great though, so I sacrificed comfort for beauty. It was only one night. Nico had looked impressed when I showed up, but after a few soft words in greeting, he had gotten quiet and I sat there playing with my hands.
“So tell me about yourself Lexa? You know so much about me already and I know nothing about you.”
“You don’t need to know anything about me. I just work for you.”
He shook his head, “I would like to know more about you. I apologize for being so distracted tonight. I have a lot on my mind.”
I nodded in understanding, “What do you want to know, Nico?”
“Everything.”
I laughed and then saw that he was serious. I was immediately nervous again, “This isn’t a date.”
“Oh really? I couldn’t tell. Do you always show up to business meetings outside your office scantily clad?”
I blushed.
“I love your complexion. I especially love the way it tells on you whenever I say something that turns you on.”
I sputtered, “What makes you think you turn me on?”
“Your nipples are hard right now.”
I looked down at my dress and cursed myself for not wearing a bra. I moved to cover my nipples now pushing against the thin fabric, by bringing my arms up and close together. That didn’t work. Not that it mattered because he moved my arm away instantly and said, “Don’t cover up. I like to look at you. Truthfully, I spent some time tonight just thinking about how they would look. And of course, I want to know how they would feel inside my mouth.”
I sucked in a breath and he leaned forward and trained his beguiling eyes on mine. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about us together.”
“You’re my client.” I managed to whisper, my mouth felt dry and I could barely get out the words.
“I would rather be your lover.” He said darkly and I felt my pulse quicken.
My body suddenly yearned for his touch and he looked at the little vein on my neck and reached across the table to trace it with his fingers. I shivered.
“How about it, Lexa? Can I taste you again?” He said seductively.
Nico didn’t give me a chance to answer instead he stood up and tossed a few hundreds on the table as if they were ones and stretched his hand out to me. I took it and he led me out of the restaurant.
The valet brought our cars around and I followed him in my car to a high-rise right outside the city. It was a gorgeous building. It was modern and minimalist with clean lines and the decor on the inside made me want to take it all home to decorate my own house.
I got into the elevator with him and leaned my body against his. As he pressed the button to the penthouse floor, he trailed his hands up my skirt and closed his fingers around the waistband of my panties, clearly not interested in waiting until we actually got into his apartment before taking me. I let him slide my panties down my legs and when he kneeled down and pressed his face into my mound, I had to steady myself against the walls of the elevator as the pleasure of his tongue licking my sex and his mouth kissing my clit made my entire body shake.
At one point, I g
rabbed his head and began to grind my sex against his face, loving the roughness of his beard against my own delicate skin and then he did something completely unexpected. He picked me up, still while kneeling, and spread my thighs wide apart. My thighs hung over his shoulders, my back was against the wall of the elevator and he moved my hips up and down on his face, easily supporting my weight as he brought my sex down on his face over and over, curling his tongue inside of me, stroking my g-spot, pressing his fingers into my thighs. I writhed against him, growing wetter by the second, just a lick or two away from orgasm.
I heard the bell of the elevator and instantly went to pull away, afraid someone would see us, but Nico wasn’t having that.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled against my skin. He didn’t get up off his knees. He didn’t let me down.
He held me there and continued to lick, suck, and kiss my sex with the elevator door wide open as I shuddered in ecstasy and shouted his name. When I found myself falling a bit to the side, unable to sit up after the force of my orgasm, he finally lowered my legs to the floor.
He then looked up at me and said, “I knew you would taste good.”
I shivered and knew by the wetness between my upper thighs that I was more aroused than I’d ever been.
“Come with me,” he said standing up finally and taking me by my hand. It was then that I noticed he had his own floor. No wonder he hadn’t felt the need to pause our shenanigans in the elevator.
He opened his door and I looked around. Even in the dark, I could see the plush carpeting in certain areas and then dark hard wood floors in others. One side of the room was wall-to-wall windows and there was a Jacuzzi and swimming pool just opposite of the windows. I spun around and looked at the rest of the penthouse. It was a study in old world meets modern luxury. It was tasteful, elegant, and clearly expensive. Maybe I should have raised my rates, I thought to myself with a smile on my face.
Kane (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 1) Page 98