by Lucy Monroe
“Beau’s project? Yes, I heard that. That’s why they hired my sister to beef up security.”
Shock coursed through her. “Ms. Gray is your sister?”
“It’s Elle, and yes. She can be a pain in the butt, but she’s going to adore you too.”
Ignoring the last comment, Chantal said, “I guess I can kind of see the family resemblance. You two have the same eyes. She’s tall too. Like you.”
“You’re getting sidetracked, sweetheart.”
“Sorry. It’s just I don’t want to think about it.”
“About what? You still haven’t told me exactly what’s scaring you.”
“They called me.”
“The people Eddie was working with?”
“I think so. They want the antigrav plans and they want me to get the schematics for them.”
Mat looked confused. “But you aren’t on the project.”
“They don’t care. They said that they could make trouble for me. That if I told anyone about them contacting me they would make it look like I was dirty even if I’m not, and they said…”
“They said?”
“That I could disappear just like Gil Bigsley if I didn’t cooperate.”
“They took Gil?”
“I don’t know. I think so. That’s what they implied, but maybe he just ran away, like I’ve been thinking about. I’m so scared, Mat. I don’t know what to do.” She grabbed his shirt and tried to shake him.
Of course, he was as solid as a rock and didn’t move a centimeter. “You are not running away.”
He stood up and made sure she was steady on her own feet before he let her go. “Is everything you need in that suitcase?”
“Everything but my laptop. And Gervaise.”
“Gervaise?”
“My pet betta fish. I named him after my father.” Her eyes got all watery again and she had to blink the moisture away. “I didn’t want to leave him, but you can’t take a fish on the run with you. I was going to call you, ask you to feed him and talk to him. He likes that.”
“You talk to your pet fish?”
“If I didn’t, he would be lonely. He can’t have little Betta friends because they would eat each other.”
“Okay. Get it.”
“Gervaise?” Was Matej going to take care of her pet for her? “You’re going to take me to the airport?” That didn’t make any sense. He’d told her that she wasn’t going to run away, which really was her decision, but still, he’d said it.
“I’m taking you to my place.”
“You can’t.” No, no, no. He really couldn’t. “What if they’re watching? What if they go after you next?”
“Bring it on.” He smiled, and this one made her shiver, glad she wasn’t the one that scary expression in his eyes was for. “Besides, tomorrow morning, I’m taking you to an expert.”
“Expert?”
“My sister.”
“Your sister?”
“She’ll figure this mess out. It’s her job.”
“As a security consultant?”
“Listen, Elle is better with weapons than a marine with a hard-on for his rifle, and she can kill with her bare hands. With both of us watching out for you, you aren’t going to disappear.”
“She can kill with her bare hands? That sounds scary. She looks so chic, like a supermodel who knows how to dress like one all the time.”
“Yeah, well, appearances can be deceiving.”
“I suppose.” But still…that gorgeous security consultant was deadly? Wow. Matej’s offer sounded so good, but she didn’t want to bring danger to him and his family. “I don’t know. Maybe I should go with my plan of just disappearing. I feel like I’m putting more and more people at risk. I don’t like it.”
“We can’t stop the people threatening you if all you do is run away.”
He was right, and if they were responsible for Gil’s disappearance, they needed to be stopped. “I’m still not sure this is the right route to take. Maybe I should risk them trying to make me look like a thief and go to the authorities. I don’t like putting you or your sister at risk.”
“It is my choice and Elle’s job is already high risk. She’s used to it.”
“I didn’t realize security consultants had dangerous jobs.”
“If only you knew.”
“I—”
Mat put his finger against Chantal’s lips to stop her words. “It is no use arguing. We won’t rule out talking to the authorities, but first we will get Elle’s opinion on what is happening. I will not allow you to be hurt. In any way.”
Chantal knew that last promise regarded her emotions and she wanted to believe him. So much. But could she trust her own judgment where Mat was concerned? She didn’t know.
She did trust him to protect her person and that meant talking to his sister and getting this mess straightened out. For right now, that was what she was going to focus on.
“What happens tonight?” He’d said he wanted to take her to Elle tomorrow morning.
“You come home with me.”
“It would probably be better if I stayed here.” Less risk to him. She could stay with Gervaise.
“That’s not happening. Now, you can get your pet fish and your laptop and walk out to the car, or I can carry you. Your choice.”
“You have changed in the last decade,” Chantal grumbled even as she headed to her bedroom to change out of her pajamas.
“How?”
“You’ve gotten bossier.”
Elle watched lights flash by in the dark. Beau wasn’t going so fast that he had her adrenaline pumping, but he sure wasn’t sticking to the speed limit either.
“So, what do you drive?” she asked.
“A Suzuki Hayabusa.”
“That’s a sports cycle.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised you know your motorcycles.”
“My mother would kill me if I bought one, but they fascinate me.”
“D.C. isn’t exactly practical weatherwise for a rider either.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“On the other hand, Southern California practically begs for that type of transportation.”
“Do you race?”
“Officially?”
“At all.”
“Sometimes. I’m in a cycle club. We do road trips into the desert, and sometimes that leads to a race or two.”
“I bet your bike kicks ass.”
Beau laughed, the sound rich and warm, filling the small interior of the car. “That it does.”
“You can take the cowboy out of Texas, but you can’t take the need to ride out of the cowboy. Is that the way of it?”
“I don’t know. My dad was a banker, not a rancher. I never did ride a horse, but I sure do love my cycle. This little baby isn’t bad either.” He patted the dash of her Lamborghini.
“I think you owe me a ride on the Hayabusa since I let you drive.”
“Sure, princess. Anytime.”
“What is it with the ‘princess’ thing? I’m hardly a girly-girl.”
“You are so kidding, right?”
Was he joking? “No.”
“Elle, you dress in designer labels, keep your nails manicured and your hair sleek and gorgeous, and wear your makeup just right. You are not exactly butch.”
“Hey, I can kill a man with my bare hands.”
“And while that’s a serious turn-on, it doesn’t make you any less of a princess.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Hey, not all princesses are whimpering damsels in distress. Haven’t you ever watched Xena?”
Elle laughed, “Xena’s got a serious wardrobe problem.”
“She doesn’t have your style, but she knows how to fight.”
“And that excites you? Really?” She had a hard time believing he found her training a turn-on.
“In you? Oh, yeah.” He flicked her a sensual grin. “But then pretty much everything about you turns me on.”
“I don’t know if this is a good idea.”
“What?”
“This whole being attracted to each other and working together thing.”
“So, you admit the attraction is mutual.”
“I haven’t made a secret of how sexy I find you.”
“You could have just been flirting.”
“I was, but I meant it too.”
“So, what’s the problem? We don’t actually work together.”
“I’m working for your company.”
“You’re consulting for Mr. Smith. That hardly places us in a position of needing to keep our libidos under control.”
“You’re very blunt, you know that?”
“Would you prefer I wasted time dancing around this thing between us?”
“This ‘thing’?”
“I want you, Elle and I know you want me too. We can pretend it’s not there, but it is. Some kind of connection that neither of us was expecting.”
“Of all people, you know I’m not completely over what happened with my husband.”
“You probably never will be.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“I want sex with you, Elle, not happily ever after. Hell, you’ll only be in California for a couple of months. On the outside. So, I don’t see what point there would be in getting serious.”
He was right. She wasn’t going to be here forever and trying to start anything lasting with their divergent careers and home-base locations would be useless. It could never work. When she was younger, that knowledge would have prevented her from pursuing the mutual attraction. Before loving and losing Kyle.
But tonight? She wanted, maybe even needed, the physical connection sans emotional entanglements. Her desire for Beau was intense and uncomplicated. She wasn’t contemplating intimacy with him for the job. She wasn’t looking to create a long-term bond. She was seeking catharsis for pain and loss she was maybe finally coming to terms with.
“You just want sex?”
“Exceptionally good sex. Probably even great sex. Maybe even mind-blowing sex. Yes.”
“Mind-blowing? Your arrogance is showing again,” she said, with a laugh.
“We get within a foot of each other and sparks shoot between us. I get hard as a rock and if you aren’t getting wet enough to drown my dick, I’ll give up the pink slip on my cycle.”
“You’ve got a dirty mouth for a PhD.”
“You like it?”
“I…” For the first time in her memory, she was speechless. But then honesty won over confusion. “You know? I think I do.”
He laughed and the car accelerated. “Yeah, I thought so. You’re perfect for me, Elle.”
“For your bed, you mean.”
“My bed, my body…it all works.”
“I guess it does.” He wasn’t asking her for anything she couldn’t give and he was offering her pleasure that sounded darn enticing. “My place or yours?”
“Yours. Frank’s been known to show up unexpectedly at mine on the weekends.”
“And you don’t want him to catch me naked in your bed?” she teased.
“It wouldn’t bother me, but I was thinking to protect your sensibilities.”
“Thanks.” And she meant it. She wasn’t used to anyone looking out for her. She was the trained professional, after all.
It was more than a little pleasant having Beau thinking about how to protect her feelings. Most people in her life these days assumed she didn’t have any. And while she might have worked to cultivate that belief, it still felt nice to have someone not buy into the total tough-girl image.
She really didn’t care if that made any sense, or not.
Beau drove straight to Elle’s, enjoying the way her car handled in town as much as he had driving it on the freeway. He couldn’t wait to take her for a ride on his bike. He knew she wanted to drive it too.
He’d have to borrow another cycle from someone in the club so they could go on a nice, long, fast ride together. As opposed to the long, slow, pounding ride he planned for her tonight.
After pulling the powerful sports car into a spot outside the temporary corporate housing apartments ETRD had put Elle up in for the duration of her stay, he cut the engine. “Sweet ride, princess.”
“Thanks. It was worth taking a week to drive out here so I’d have it with me.”
“I buy that.”
Neither of them said another word until they were inside Elle’s furnished apartment. It looked like an upscale hotel suite, but Beau wasn’t here to study the décor. His attention was firmly fixed elsewhere, like on her derriere, where her slacks clung tightly.
“Nice,” he said, letting his appreciation color his voice in vibrant hues.
She shrugged out of her short jacket and dropped it along with her purse on the white leather sofa, leaving her in a clingy tank top and the sinfully formfitting pants. “It is a nice place.”
“I wasn’t talking about the apartment, sugar.”
She went still and then turned slowly to face him. The look she gave him was pure enticement, her eyes glittering silver. “Is that right?”
Chapter 7
“Oh, yeah.” Beau leaned back against the door, crossing his arms over his chest. No doubt, he looked a hell of a lot more relaxed than he felt. But it was that, or charge across the room and take Elle down in a tackle worthy of a defensive lineman. “Do you know how good your pert little ass looks in those slacks?”
She made a show of trying to look at her own backside. “You think my bottom is pert?”
“I do. Of course, I could give a more educated opinion if I saw it without covering.”
She tapped her chin, like she was thinking. “Uncovered?” She turned around. “You mean like this?”
Then she shimmied out of her slacks, letting them fall to the floor and stepping out of them.
“She-yit,” he whispered.
She had struck a classic pose, her elbows up, fingertips touching at her nape under her silky black hair. The pose brought the hem of her top just above the small of her back, leaving the succulent globes of her ass framed by the thin straps of a blood-red thong. The shadowed apex of her thighs teased him, drawing his gaze downward along legs that would make a showgirl proud. She was still wearing her shiny ankle boots with four-inch spiked heels.
He groaned. “Sugar, you are a wet dream come to life.”
She looked back over her shoulder and gave him a sexy wink. “I’m glad you think so.” The husky tone of her voice told him she was as turned on by showing off for him as he was by the sight.
Elle spread her legs just a little and bent from the waist until her hands clasped her ankles and her hair brushed the carpet. The tiny triangle of blood-red silk barely covered her labia. Damp, it clung to the swollen folds, revealing their lush shape to his heated gaze.
Beau’s knees tried to buckle and he figured he’d have fallen on his ass if he hadn’t been leaning on the door. “Gah…” was all that came out of his mouth.
Throaty laughter trickled from her. “You like?”
“I want.”
Her thighs visibly tightened at his guttural tone. “Yes?”
“Yes.” He wasn’t sure how he got there, but the next thing he knew, his hands were holding her hips in an unbreakable grip and he was thrusting his denim-covered erection against her backside, rubbing right up against that damp triangle of silk. He’d never been with a woman as tall as Elle, and in her heels, he barely had to bend his knees for perfect alignment.
Maintaining that amazing pose, she pressed back against him. “You sure you want?”
“You know it.” He was surprised his mouth could form words. He was heading toward that place where single syllables and grunts had to do for his attempt at communication.
“Have.”
The single-word invitation sent pre-come spurting out of his rock-hard cock. He thrust against her, grateful he still had jeans on. If he didn’t, he wasn’t totally sure he wouldn’t al
ready be buried inside her, and he didn’t even know if she had condoms.
“Gloves?” he asked in a graveled voice.
“Bed…” She moaned and shimmied against him. “Room.”
Beau tucked his arm into the crease of her body, pressing it against her pelvis and lifting. She was surprisingly light and easy to carry. As he headed toward the door he hoped led to the bedroom, she straightened with the strength of a gymnast and looped her arms around his neck.
The temptation to touch her now accessible breasts too much for him, he stopped. Keeping her body slightly off the floor and flush against his, he used his free hand to slide under her top. The skin of her stomach was silky smooth and hot. He got sidetracked exploring it, tracing the indent of her belly button and measuring his big hand against the flat expanse of skin.
Elle turned her head and kissed the side of his neck and his jaw, nipping him gently between each tender caress of her lips. Her hair caressed his skin with each movement of her head, adding extra sensual stimulation to their embrace.
Damn…everything about this woman was designed to make his libido explode. He’d never been so turned on. Never wanted so many different things at the same time. To strip her naked. To touch every inch of her skin. To be inside her. To leave love bites and mark her as his, for now at least. To taste—both her skin and her feminine nectar. And, man…he wanted her to taste him. He wanted her hands on him. He wanted her legs wrapped around his waist, her body under his or on top of his, riding him and bringing them both pleasure.
It was going to take every night of the weeks she would be in Southern California to do everything he wanted.
But right now, he was going to get his first feel of her breast.
Beau slid his hand higher until he felt the bottom of her unfettered mound. “No bra, princess?”
“Don’t…like…them,” Elle said between nibbles along his jaw.
Her tongue flicked out to taste him, rasping along his five o’clock shadow. She didn’t seem to mind and that heightened his arousal. He’d never been with a woman so earthy and in touch with her own sexuality, so accepting of every aspect of his maleness. She didn’t play coy, but met him desire for desire.
“’M glad,” he said as his fingertips skimmed the curve of her breast. She wasn’t huge, but he wasn’t disappointed. Not a bit. He gently squeezed the resilient flesh. She was maybe a B cup and deliciously firm with nipples just the right size for her understated curves. “You don’t need one.”