Imminent Danger (Adrenaline Highs)

by Unknown

  Kim must have thought he meant to commit suicide. Bubbles inadvertently escaped as he let out a harsh laugh. He couldn’t kill himself. He had to think about Megan first and foremost, but Kim didn’t know that. Instead of fighting her, he let her drag him to the surface for air then to the shallow end.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. He hadn’t intended to put panic in her pretty green eyes. “What were you thinking?” Her brows slanted in a pissed-off line. He didn’t blame her. She’d just doused her new clothes with pool water. New clothes that now plastered to the soft, perfect curves of her body. It wasn’t that he’d overlooked this detail, but having all that bounty right in his face reminded him of what he’d been missing. So did the way her nipples poked out of the thin wet material clinging to her chest. She smacked his chest and his gaze returned to her face. “I’m serious! You can’t just give up because life gets tough. You have to stick it out and get to the other side.” She was serious with this. Almost yelling at him. “You are a very lucky man. Yes, you’re in some trouble, but you’ll pull out of it. You’ll keep working, you’ll pay off your debt and you’ll be fine. So what if you have to downsize or relocate or sell your car. So what if—”

  “My car?” Had she lost her mind? “Stella? There’s no way in hell I’m selling Stella.”

  After a tiny shake of her head, droplets fell from her lashes. A cool breeze whispered through the trees and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re not going to have a choice, Leo.” She pulled her shoulders in, her anger evaporating along with her body heat. “I’m sorry.” That look of pity crept back into her eyes. “But it’s no time to throw in the towel. It’s time to pick yourself up and fight.”

  “You really thought I meant to kill myself?” True, they didn’t know each other well at all, but did he really strike her as a coward or someone with mental instability? He’d have to work on changing that.

  She gestured to the deep end, her exasperation clear in her wide eyes. “You dove in with your clothes on and went straight to the bottom. And you stayed there! For almost a minute. You totally freaked me out!” She shook in earnest now and guilt grabbed a hold of Leo’s balls and hung on tight. Or maybe that was his jeans plastered to his legs. He took Kim’s arm and helped her out of the pool. At least she’d taken off her shoes before diving in. Smart lady.

  The night breeze chilled their clothes to uncomfortably wet degrees. Leo grabbed two fresh towels from the small storage space under the outside ottoman and wrapped the first one around her shoulders. He smoothed some wet strands off her cheek and stared down at her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. I’m a bit freaked out myself.”

  “I know.” Her voice softened. “It’s a lot to take in.”

  “I’m just so fucking mad. I just…” He wanted Nathan to explain, to look him in the eye and tell him why. He wanted the douche bag to come back and make it right, but he had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen. “I need to figure this out.”

  “Maybe I can help you with that.”

  “Why?” No reason to dance around the subject. “If I’m in the hole for as much as you say, then I don’t even have enough money to pay you for what you’ve done much less for what you might do in the future.”

  She started rubbing the towel over her arms. “Maybe because I know how it feels. How’s that? Maybe because if I can help you, I’ll, I’ll—”

  “Get your wings when you get into heaven?”

  That got a smile out of her and he liked the smiling Kim better than the panicked or angry Kim. She rolled her eyes and that made him smile.

  He liked her. Genuinely. How could he not? The woman just jumped in the pool to save his sorry broke ass without thinking about herself. That was another thing…how many women would’ve hung around after learning he’d lost everything?

  Christ. He’d lost everything.

  The weight of it hit hard, like a double whammy to the nuts.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she told him softly.

  “I’ll be honest.” He met her gaze. “I seriously doubt it.” He rubbed the towel over her arms. “You should get out of those wet clothes before you get sick.”

  “Fine, we’ll both get on dry clothes and we’ll have dinner. Then we come up with a game plan.”

  Sixty minutes later, they were back poolside, relaxing on their individual chaise lounges with their drinks of choice next to them. Clouds covered the stars and the still air seemed freakishly quiet. Kim sipped her Jack and Leo gulped his whiskey. She’d changed into a pair of his sweat pants that engulfed her completely. She’d had to roll up the sleeves on a matching sweatshirt a few times to see her hands, but her sweet curves rounded out the soft lightweight cotton.

  Kim chuckled and Leo glanced over at her.

  “What?” he asked.

  “I keep thinking about the pizza delivery guy. He’s never delivered here before, has he?”

  “No one’s delivered here before. I’m not supposed to have pizza. It’s a gut maker.”

  “A gut maker? Are you kidding me? It’s the next best thing to an orgasm. Especially if you haven’t had any in a long time.”

  “Any pizza or any orgasms?”

  She laughed again and her shining eyes gave him a ray of hope that made no sense. “Pizza is good brain food,” she explained.

  “I’ll let you duke it out with Hans, my trainer. He’s got a different take on it. By the way, if you tell him I ate pizza, you’re fired.”

  Another laugh sent a ribbon of warmth through Leo’s chest. “Your trainer’s name is Hans? That’s priceless.” The Jack was definitely loosening her up. “By the way, you can’t fire me since I’m working pro bono now, but you will need to fire Hans.”

  Dammit. Hans had been with him for more than twelve years.

  A loud rumble sounded and their chairs bounced. The water in the pool sloshed against the sides and Kim shot to her feet, every muscle tense, looking around as if she might find the culprit. “What was that?”

  Leo’s adrenaline slowed as he waited for more and after a few seconds he motioned her back to the chaise. “Just a little earthquake. We’re fine. Relax.”

  “Relax?” Her freaked-out eyes were anything but relaxed. “Are you kidding me? The earth just moved.”

  “You’re forgetting who you’re with,” Leo said. “I happen to be pretty good at making the earth move.” When his joke didn’t fly, he stood up and rubbed his hands down her arms. “That was just a little earthquake. We’re fine. It was so little that I’m not even going to bother checking the house for damage.”

  “Will there be another one?” she asked, scanning his face. Probably gauging if he meant to lie to her or not.

  “You never know, but I doubt it.”

  “You doubt it?”

  He pulled her closer. “I have an earthquake kit to beat all earthquake kits. You’re as safe with me as you’d be with the fire department.”

  She relaxed in his arms and just stared up at him. “Okay,” she said softly. The moment between them stretched out and the air seemed to crackle with new energy. Time to get down to business. He’d sworn off blondes over a year ago after Carrie Ann had gone postal.

  “So…” He took his spot on his chaise and she did the same. “You think if I sell all my properties, I might be able to pay off the debt?”

  She looked around, finished off her second Jack and water like she needed the fortification then faced him. “Once we connect with your lawyer and form a game plan, we can work out a deal with the IRS and the other creditors once they realize you’ve been swindled. I think you’re going to be okay. It’s just going to hurt a little.”

  “You mean hurt a lot.”

  She nodded, her face serious again.

  Leo swallowed and that nauseous feeling returned. He rested his head in his hands again and heard Kim shift over to his chaise, felt her hip resting against his. She put her arms around him and just held him. Goddammit. He felt the sting behind his eyes and would
not go there. He was fucking Leo Frost. He didn’t fucking cry. He took an unsteady breath to get control and she ducked her head near his.

  “It’s going to be okay. It really is. I was in a very similar situation with my business partner when we lost our main account. Do you remember years ago when Timothy Sandstrom died?”

  “Sure. It was big news.” The CEO of Battle Sportswear had made his mark as a world famous philanthropist. Among his many accomplishments, he’d set up scholarship funds for underprivileged kids and fed starving people in third world nations. “He had a massive coronary, right?”

  Kim nodded. “Yeah. Well, you probably aren’t aware of this, but it was my partner, Chelsea, who came up with the Break the Rules in Battle slogan. Problem was, when Tim died, the new CEO decided to go back to the old ad agency. Once we lost the Battle account, most of our other clients bailed. By that time, we had a huge space in a high price building in Chicago and a whole staff who expected paychecks. I had just purchased a gorgeous new condo and I was spending money like a fool. Then, because the PI Chelsea had hired finally found her sister—”

  “Trace,” Leo supplied.

  “Yes. Once he found Trace, we spent the last of what we had on the trip to the Arrow 500 to meet her. When we got home, I had to sell my new condo and we moved to Indiana to be near Trace. FYI, I lost my shirt in the sale.”

  Leo had a quick vision of Kim without a shirt and nodded. Not a bad thing to envision. Okay, so maybe she did have a clue how he felt when it came to losing everything. But she hadn’t been betrayed by a lifelong friend. That kind of pain hurt from the inside out.

  “I’ll be here if you need me,” Kim continued. “I know I have to go back to Indiana, but we’ll keep in touch and you can call me day or night.”

  Leo lifted his head, met her gaze. Her eyes softened because she saw his pain, saw what this was doing to him. She stroked her fingers over his ear in a gentle caress. Her hair fell in pretty waves after the unexpected dip in the pool. She smelled like chlorine and summertime. He nodded subtly as he watched her, as his gaze drifted to her full lips…lips given to her by Mother Nature and not a doctor with a needle full of collagen in Beverly Hills.

  Her eyes moved to his mouth and she shook her head the slightest bit. “I’m not going to kiss you,” she whispered. “I really have no desire to kiss you at all.”

  Neither one of them budged.

  “Good. Me either.” The words barely came out and somehow they got a fraction closer to each other. Leo smelled the faint scent of her cinnamon perfume under the chlorine in her hair. He slanted his head a fraction, just to take in another whiff of her as the breeze picked up, and now they were barely an inch apart, her breath warm on his lips.

  “I’m serious.” Her lips almost moved against his mouth. “We’re not kissing.”

  “Right,” he agreed a hundred percent. “This is us…not kissing.”

  Then she had to go and lick her lips. Just the tip of her tongue, a quick sweep across the seam.

  Screw it. What the hell. His life had gone to shit today. He may as well kiss her. He leaned in that whisper of an inch and their mouths connected in the softest of caresses. Only a brush back and forth, barely a touch. Her breath caught and the sound did something to Leo. He pulled back, waiting for her to get angry or stomp inside, but she didn’t move.

  “That was kind of sexy,” she murmured. “You know, considering we didn’t kiss.”

  Leo agreed. So did the body part that suddenly had all his blood pumping in it. “I think we shouldn’t kiss again.”

  “I think it would be a big mistake. Seriously Leo. You are a man I intend to steer clear of. Like a thousand feet clear.”

  Because he was broke, or because she believed everything she’d ever read about him?

  “And yet, you haven’t moved,” he whispered.

  “I know.” Her brows angled down in a perplexed slant. “You’re like a piece of forbidden candy. You’re not good for me, but I know how great you’ll taste if I have you.”

  His dick responded to her words with a full on salute. “Speaking of taste, I want some of your Jack.” Before she pulled away, he took her lips again in another kiss. This one a little more involved than the last. This kiss had his hand moving through her hair to cup her head. It had her opening to his questing tongue. It had her moaning her approval.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kim hadn’t been kidding. The last thing she needed was Leo Frost. The only person with a worse track record for love than her was this guy. The gorgeous movie star with personality issues, woman issues and not a dime to his name.

  So why couldn’t she separate her lips from his? Why did she keep running her fingers through the thick softness of his dark hair and why had she practically climbed in his lap?

  Jack. That’s why. This was the reason she’d quit drinking. Jack always made her want things. Solace. Comfort. Companionship. Jack made her loose and foggy and unable to think straight.

  Stupid Jack Daniels. Stupid earthquake too. She couldn’t forget that. Nothing like the earth moving to make a girl reach out and grab life. Or the gorgeous man at her fingertips.

  Leo’s hands stroked down her back and she pressed harder into his chest. Sank into his kiss a little bit more. Their tongues dueled in a wicked game of slide and seek. She detected the sharp bite of his whiskey and went in for another taste.

  He pulled away, his breathing as ragged as hers. “Okay. We really need to stop. I don’t want this to happen right now. We’ve been drinking and God knows it’s not a smart move. Especially after the day I had.”

  She held him tight, her head pressed into his neck, and she breathed in the spicy scent of him. “Exactly. I agree. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” She kissed the spot just under his ear that had his dick pulsing against her hot spot. When had she straddled him? Didn’t matter. What mattered was the sexy stubble along his jaw, so she kissed that spot too. And the spot that led to the corner of his mouth, because it was right there when he turned toward her.

  His hand stroked through her hair again and his eyes searched hers. “Screw it. I like this page,” he murmured. This time when their lips met, the kiss exploded into something hot and fiery. As out of control as kisses got.

  God, the man knew how to kiss. Knew how to set her senses on fire as his hands snuck under the sweatshirt and glided over her skin. Of course, he would know how to kiss since he’d allegedly fucked nearly every starlet in Hollywood. That reminder alone should have her pulling away from him, but she couldn’t seem to do it.

  She blamed Jack for that too. For her inability to say no when someone as fabulously sexy as Leo Frost came her way and showed interest.

  Another one night stand. Even as she went in for another long, deep kiss, she recognized what this meant. She wasn’t looking for a lifetime commitment. She would’ve laughed at the thought but her mouth was otherwise engaged—and oh so perfectly—with Leo’s.

  Besides, Leo was also not on the market for a long-term commitment. Every interview he’d ever done had warned the female population of that fact. It all seemed very adult. Very clear-cut. For lack of a better term, this was simply a fuck and run.

  Kim rubbed herself against the straining erection in Leo’s loose cotton sweats. The growl deep in his throat gave her fulfillment on so many levels, it was as if her heart took flight.

  It had been five long years since she’d had sex and she’d picked a hell of man to break her streak with. But as long as she was going down, she’d go big. Leo Frost big.

  Making this very seasoned man growl satisfied her immensely. She loved the sound so much she wanted to hear it again, so she wrapped her legs tighter around his hips and moved against him again.

  “That did it,” he panted, breaking away for air. But he returned in a flash with a mind-altering kiss as he shifted and stood with her still wrapped around him. One hand dove into her hair and cruised down her back as the other cupped her ass and kept her against him. He
touched her everywhere and sent electric streaks of tingles racing across her skin. She had no clue where they were going, didn’t care. All that mattered was Leo’s mouth on hers. His tongue stroking along hers, his hard body pressing against her.

  The world got tipsy as he bent her backward. She landed on something very cushy and soft, the outside sofa in his little cabana off the pool. They took a few seconds and slowed things down. Really looked at each other. Recklessness made her horny and giddy. So did Jack. But she sensed his hesitation.

  “This is crazy. I can’t do this,” he said, touching his forehead to hers. He had her pinned beneath him with her legs wrapped snuggly around his hips and her arms draped over his shoulders.

  “I know. I know. You’re right.” This was crazy. Beyond crazy. She hugged him, fit her face into the curve of his neck and breathed him in. He smelled like his pool and like Leo. Sex on a stick. Not the first time she’d had that thought when it came to him.

  That low rumble in his throat vibrated as he took a small nip from her ear lobe. A fiery bolt of heat blazed to her hoo-ha and she fought fire with fire when she rubbed against him one more time.

  “You’re making this really hard for me,” he warned her.

  She looked at his crotch then slapped a muzzle on her unintentional giggle. “I see that.”

  “I’m just trying to do the right thing.” He looked so serious. And so damn sexy.

  She stroked a finger along his jaw and stared into his striking blue eyes. “I know you are.” This man had one of the worst reputations in Hollywood. He’d been plastered on as many tabloids as the Kennedys or Kardashians. He’d been center court on some gnarly lawsuits. And he was doing his damnedest to keep from screwing her because they were tipsy. “Get up and I’ll go away.” She smiled and tried to soften the harshness of her words.

  He didn’t move. He just brushed his thumb across her lower lip, his eyes taking in the movement. Then he leaned in slowly and pressed her lip down as he opened her mouth for his kiss.