Risk It All (Risqué #2)

by Scarlett Finn

‘After three days they’ve picked up on that?’ he teased. ‘They’re smart girls.’

  ‘Don’t tease me, Blase,’ she said, turning away.

  From the way she moved he thought that she was going to get up and leave, so he was ready to reach for her, but he was in two minds about whether grabbing her would upset her. Except, instead of going away, she rested her back on his torso and closed her eyes.

  ‘I’ve missed lying in your arms,’ she confessed, bringing his arms tighter around her. His dick had reacted to the words before his ears heard them. Knowing that they were about to have company and that now wasn’t the time to push her, he changed the subject. ‘Gus is as suspicious as I was.’

  ‘Suspicious of what?’ she asked, twisting around enough to look up at him.

  ‘Mattie asked you out because he wants to seduce you.’

  ‘No, I told him I wasn’t interested in romance with him.’

  ‘Did you tell him you had romantic interest in me?’

  ‘I sort of skirted the issue,’ she said, laying her temple on his arm.

  The peek of those eyes beneath those long lashes sent more of his blood south until he was solid in his jeans.

  ‘No skirting next time,’ he said, pleased that her chest was against him again. ‘Your actions tonight told Gus that you’re my girl. Did you mean to do that?’

  ‘He’s family,’ she said. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t flaunt it at the club.’

  ‘I have a rule against dating employees.’

  ‘What about tenants?’

  ‘Our tenants have always been male,’ he said, taking the liberty of touching her knee when she crossed her legs toward him. ‘It’s never been an issue until now.’

  ‘I hope it won’t cause you any problems.’

  ‘We’ll work through it. But once Mattie knows, all the club employees will know. Word gets around.’

  ‘I’m not ashamed to be with you,’ she said. ‘I’m happy for them to know. But I don’t think we should change our behaviour and parade our relationship in front of the Risqué girls.’

  ‘Ok.’

  ‘Though once we start sleeping together I might not be able to keep my hands off,’ she said, toying with a button on his shirt.

  ‘I’ll schedule extra break time for both of us.’

  ‘Dating my boss might come with perks,’ she said.

  ‘You ever done it before?’ She shook her head. ‘Then this is new territory for both of us. I’ve never dated an employee.’

  ‘Is Mattie going to cause trouble for you about this?’

  ‘Let him try.’

  ‘He’s the money in the family, isn’t he? How much sway does he have?’

  ‘Mattie needs me running this block or the place would go to shit. Gus is great at doing what he’s told, but not so great at taking initiative.’

  ‘But you have the garage and the club. So even if he takes this place away from you…’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Blaser said. ‘I can take care of you now, legitimately.’

  ‘That’s not what I’m worried about,’ she said. ‘I can pay my own way and shoulder some of the responsibility, but… I don’t want to cause more rifts in the family. We’re going to have to deal with a lot of grief from Gary. I would hate to disrupt your family too, and if Mattie kicks you out of here, then all of the family will know why.’

  ‘Don’t worry about my family,’ Blaser said. ‘The only one that we need on our side is Ruge, everyone listens to him, don’t ask me why but they do, and Ruge is going to be fine with this.’

  Now she did sit up and edge away from him. ‘There’s something… something that you should probably know about before you talk to Ruger about us.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Blaser asked, shifting to the front of the couch and resting a hand on her knee. ‘Doll?’

  ‘He might not… I know something about…’

  ‘About what?’ Blaser asked. Stroking her pinkie finger, the contact didn’t prompt her to lift her head which caused apprehension to tickle his instincts. ‘The Warners will accept our relationship, no one is going to cast me out. You don’t have to worry about me, babe. Is that it? Is that what you’re worried about?’

  ‘Blaser’s the business brains in our family,’ Gus said, pushing open the door and nodding out. ‘Come on, let’s get moving.’

  Gus’ interruption meant she didn’t finish what she was saying and when she shot up to her feet with determination in her spine, he knew that the mood of the moment needed for this particular confession was gone. As he stood up, he linked his fingers through hers and she let him take her out to the truck. Gus got into the back giving Bri her place at shotgun.

  The restaurant was located in a nicer part of town, in the direction of Lyssa’s townhouse where she ran her practice from. Colt had refused his invitation, just like Blaser had said he would. As long as Mattie’s associations were illegal Colt wouldn’t give him the time of day and he wouldn’t want Lyssa associating with their cousin either.

  Mattie would be inside the restaurant, no doubt ready for the seduction and Blaser was pleased Bri had been confident enough to ask for his and Gus’ company. Mattie was either trying to be funny or sinister. Either way Blaser wouldn’t have Bri deal with it alone.

  Inviting Blaser to this dinner with Mattie may have been a mistake that she would live to regret. From the minute she caught sight of Mattie in Marco’s, she could tell that he was angry. The private table lit by candlelight was another clue that he had intended for this to be more romantic than he'd admitted to her. But it was because a part of her suspected that his motives weren't entirely familial that she'd asked Blaser to come with her in the first place.

  Asking Gus to join them had been a smart move. Having only Blaser here would have put Mattie on the defensive and it would have seemed predatory. Now, with Gus here, the misunderstanding seemed more innocent.

  ‘I should've called ahead and changed the reservation,’ she mumbled to Blaser who placed a soothing hand at the small of her back to guide her through the tables at Marco’s.

  ‘Let him fume,’ Blaser growled from the corner of his mouth. ‘Look at this setup. I'm going to skin the bastard.’

  ‘Don't even think about causing a scene,’ she said just before they reached the table.

  Gus had got there before them and was already talking to the maître d’ about a second table.

  ‘I didn't realise this was a communal affair,’ Mattie said when they reached him.

  ‘When you said family, I just assumed...’ The innocent tone was an act, but she hoped that he bought it. ‘Is it a problem?’

  ‘No problem,’ Blaser said before Mattie could reply. He swept her around and into a seat that was already at the table while the staff got the second table set up beside it.

  ‘Easy,’ Gus said when the staff went away and Blaser took a seat next to Bri.

  ‘I'm surprised you're here,’ Mattie said to Blaser. ‘Your precious club will survive without you for a whole night?’

  ‘Every man deserves a night off once in a while.’

  ‘Once in a while is right. When was the last time you took a vacation? Prison, was it? You weren’t sentenced to hard labour in there, were you?’

  Bri knew what Mattie was trying to do, he was trying to paint Blaser as a workaholic who wouldn't have time for her.

  ‘I love a man with a sense of responsibility,’ she said and leaned over to kiss Blaser's cheek, much to his surprise, and probably the surprise of everyone else around the table. But she didn't see them, she only saw Blaser and the grateful, wondrous glow in his eyes that he didn't display in his smile.

  ‘I thought you two weren't together,’ Mattie said. ‘You look enraptured.’

  ‘We weren't flaunting it,’ Blaser said, bowing to kiss her hairline.

  ‘You're sleeping together?’

  Maybe it was the disgusted incredulity he failed to disguise, or maybe it was the worry she had that Mattie might try it on with her at another
time. But the response she gave was a total lie.

  ‘Yes,’ she declared.

  The water that he’d been drinking might have come out of Blaser's nose, but she was too busy watching Gus laugh. ‘Classy restaurant and gutter talk,’ Gus said. ‘This is a great night already, Matt. How about you tell us about the last woman you fucked?’

  Oh, Bri regretted getting riled. Tension brought her shoulders high and she hid herself behind her menu. A hand on her knee brought her attention to the right where she met Blaser's gaze. With that look, he reassured her, telling her that he accepted the lie and understood it. She appreciated his understanding, but that didn't remove the embarrassment. It might be a different story if she knew she could go home with him and ride him senseless, then it wouldn't be a lie anymore. But she couldn't, she just wasn't there yet.

  And it was as the men discussed the menu then made their selections that she made her decision, she really needed to embrace help, and there was only one qualified person she knew who could offer that.

  Chapter Nine

  ‘Just relax,’ Lyssa said, but it didn't make Bri feel much better.

  After making the decision to work hard to get herself into a place that she could be intimate with Blaser, it had been all that she could think about. Her appointment with Lyssa had been scheduled for today anyway, although it wasn’t until the afternoon.

  Bri had been ready for the meeting far ahead of time and had fidgeted around the apartment, then began her walk over here early, just because she was anticipating getting here and getting to work. Now that her heart was in it, she felt different about therapy and she had Blaser to thank for that. Not only was she grateful to him for connecting her with a professional who could help, she was also grateful that their new “relationship” had provided the impetus she needed to face the horror from her past.

  As it turned out, Colt was out on a job and so she didn’t have the threat of him looming nearby. Bri wondered if Lyssa had set it up that way for her patient’s comfort. Lyssa greeted her and took her into the office. Bri was ushered into the neat, professional office and seated on the leather couch opposite Lyssa’s armchair that was angled toward the couch. After she was sitting with her hands folded in her lap, Lyssa sat in her chair beside the clipboard and pen as she had before.

  ‘I don’t really know what to do here,’ Bri said. ‘I mean… I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘Just think of this as a time for us to get to know each other,’ Lyssa said. ‘I understand that you grew up around here?’

  ‘Yes,’ Brianna said, trying not to squirm, she kept her eyes fixed on a spot on the rug. ‘Gary and I came from what I guess you’d say was the wrong side of the tracks.’

  ‘Is that your description of your childhood home? Or someone else’s?’

  ‘It was no secret that we weren’t from a great family, my dad used to drink and then when I was a bit older my mom started taking drugs. I don’t remember when exactly.’

  ‘That must have been very difficult for you and Gary.’

  And it was when Lyssa said her brother’s name that she looked up. There was no judgement in the doctor’s eyes, but Bri shook her head. ‘This is stupid.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘You’re going to marry Colt, who is, in all likelihood, going to stand up against my brother in court. I can’t reveal my life to you.’

  ‘You don’t have to say a single thing that you’re uncomfortable with,’ Lyssa said. ‘But what you say in here will always be confidential.’

  ‘How can I believe that? I’ve seen you and Colt together.’

  ‘I love him, nothing you can say in our sessions will change that. But he respects what I do, and the day he asks me to divulge personal patient information is the day I tell him to stop meeting beautiful women in dark alleyways.’

  That made Bri think and her intrigue made her frown. ‘What is it Colt does now? He left the police force at the same time he got divorced, right?’

  Lyssa nodded. ‘Now he does what he did then, but without the rules.’

  ‘So he meets clients and investigates their problems?’

  ‘He’s a little more niche than that,’ Lyssa said, picking up her clipboard. ‘You decided to keep your appointment with me today. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure that you would.’

  ‘It’s Blaser, I… he really trusts you,’ she said though her answer was only half true.

  ‘Blaser is a great guy, I think he struggles to believe that himself,’ Lyssa said.

  ‘That’s true. He always thinks the worst of himself, he’s always been the same. I think that’s part of the reason he got sucked into crime, he didn’t believe he was worth fighting for anything better.’

  ‘But he had you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Bri said, reaching for a cushion on the couch beside her, she began to pick at the corner. ‘He tried to protect me from it. But he… I think I was part of the problem, he wanted money to take care of me. Blaser hated to see Gary and me struggle so he sort of moved in with us for a while. I know he begged his parents to let me move in there, but they wouldn’t have it.’

  ‘His parents were concerned about youth pregnancy I imagine.’

  ‘That was no less likely to happen,’ she said. ‘We had sex anyway, lots of it.’

  ‘Ruger was in the house too, and he is the youngest, they wouldn’t want to set precedent.’

  ‘God forbid that Ruger be inconvenienced,’ she said, trying not to grind her teeth. Just the mention of his name made her want to scream and that was something that she had to get over if she wanted to be any part of the Warner family.

  ‘Ruger has upset you? Did you two have an argument? He hasn’t mentioned—‘

  ‘No, he wouldn’t mention it. You don’t know what he does, none of you do. I know that you’re clueless because I was too, completely clueless until they took me.’

  ‘They?’

  ‘The Sniveller and some guy called John…’

  ‘They’re the ones who assaulted you?’

  ‘The Sniveller did,’ she said, closing her fingers around the edge of the cushion. ‘I should never have been there.’

  ‘With them?’

  ‘I blamed Blase at first, you know?’ she said, closing her eyes on the memory. ‘I sat chained up in that cell cursing his name because if he’d just gotten to the restaurant sooner, if I hadn’t gone outside… But it wasn’t his fault that I was there. I know that now.’

  ‘It wasn’t your fault either.’

  ‘No, it was Ruger’s fault that I was taken,’ she snapped. ‘I was there because he walked away. They wanted him to work for them and he refused, he walked away, and that’s when they took me. I was supposed to be an example for him of what they could do, what they were capable of. He didn’t have a girl of his own, so they took his brother’s, neat for me, huh?’

  Lyssa put the clipboard aside and slid to the edge of her seat. ‘Are you saying that you were kidnapped and held prisoner in order to encourage Ruger to do something that they wanted him to do?’

  ‘Yes,’ Bri said, angry with herself when moisture slid out of her eyes.

  ‘I can’t believe that he would know something like that and not do anything about it. Did you see him in—‘

  ‘No,’ Bri said, sniffing and brushing a nostril with her fingertip. ‘I didn’t see him. As far as I know, Ruger never knew that I was there, he had already left their crew by then. They were human traffickers, they were going to sell me to the highest bidder to scare him into coming back. They were going to show Ruger what they’d done, prove that they were serious and he had no choice except to work for them.’

  ‘How on earth did you free yourself from that if Ruger didn’t—‘

  ‘A cop saved us,’ Bri said. ‘There was a group of women and we were being transported, the cop ran us off the road, he was looking for his own girlfriend. Apparently this group made a habit of abducting the women of those they wanted working for them, it greased the skid
s and ensured their compliance.’

  ‘Brianna,’ Lyssa exhaled. ‘I am so sorry that you went through that experience. It must have been terrible for you. Did you go to the police or—‘

  ‘There were investigations and I talked to cops, I told them my story. But by then all the men involved were dead.’

  ‘So no one was prosecuted?’

  ‘No one that I had contact with. I know the feds went after those higher up in the chain, but that was nothing to do with me.’

  ‘You told the police about Ruger’s involvement in—‘

  ‘No,’ she said, releasing a laugh. ‘Is that your main concern, doctor? No, I didn’t get Ruger into any trouble. I played dumb about why they took me. I only know because John told me, him and his buddies really delighted in letting me know that I’d been kidnapped because of my boyfriend’s brother.’

  ‘Blaser, they believed that you were in a relationship with Blaser?’

  ‘That night was our first official date,’ Bri said. ‘I was so excited about the idea of dating Blaser in a grown up way, as opposed to how we were when we were kids, just showing up to fall into bed with each other, you know?’ Lyssa nodded. ‘I sat in the restaurant waiting and he didn’t show, so I went outside to call him and that’s when they took me.’

  ‘So you blamed him for being late and allowing you to be taken?’ Lyssa said.

  ‘Except now I know that he didn’t know anything about it.’

  ‘How long did they have you?’

  ‘Just over a week,’ Brianna said. ‘The first couple of days were terrifying, there was no food and it was so dark and there were others… no one knew what was happening.’

  ‘I can’t imagine how scared you must have been.’

  ‘I kept thinking about Blaser, about how he’d think I stood him up. I just… I couldn’t decide if I should hate him or feel sorry for him… and then… one night I… they took me out and fed me, and I was so grateful, but this…’ Her lip curled in disgust. ‘I told him to stop, I begged, and I…’

  ‘It’s ok,’ Lyssa said. ‘Just take your time.’

  ‘It was just that once, but it was… I just switched off, I tried to kick and fight, but it was useless. My hands were tied and he hit me so hard I passed out. When I came to he was… I just had to block it out.’