by Nikki Duncan
An aberration. Just what every woman wants to be told the morning after multiple orgasms. But he’d walked out right after saying it. They hadn’t spoken more than three words at one time since. Until today. And today, just like their morning after, his attitude left her feeling battered and bruised.
Kieralyn was going to pay. She knew what had happened between them. She’d have known Aidan was the last person Lana wanted to deal with. Kieralyn could have sent Tyler, or even Liam. He was Aidan’s brother, but he was consistently kind and open-minded.
“What can I get you two lovebirds?” A red-haired, pale-skinned pixie of a woman sat two glasses of water on the table and then stood with a sweet smile.
“We are not lovebirds,” Lana corrected. “And I’ll have a mushroom Swiss cheeseburger. Medium well. All the toppings, but with the mayo and mustard on the side. Oh, and garlic fries.”
Aidan laughed. “I hope you don’t want anyone to kiss you after that meal.”
“You worried about who’s kissing me?”
“Hell no.” He turned to the waitress and ordered a cheeseburger and regular fries.
His jaw twitched just a tiny bit, like maybe he had it clenched against frustration. Did he think about who was kissing her? Did he wish he were? The idea held appeal. More appealing was the desire to use it against him.
The waitress left and Aidan shifted his attention back to Lana. His deep brown eyes bored into her. Arousal buzzed at a low wattage in her belly and spread through the rest of her. She lifted her glass and took a drink of the cold water. If she didn’t cool off, her entire body would be as red as a fire engine.
“Okay, Lana.” Aidan’s voice dropped to an almost whisper on her name while his other words stayed at a conversational tone. “Tell me why you want the team’s help and what else you know about the doctor.”
“It’s my job to write stories. It’s yours to stop killers. I’d rather not do yours even if mine leads me to one.”
“Fair enough.”
She took another drink and set the glass down. He almost sounded as if he respected her response. “As for the doctor, he’s local. After suffering with allergies most of his life, almost to the point he couldn’t leave his home, he decided to find a cure. Part of his approach is that he gets his products from a local organic farm.”
“So, as an altruistic humanitarian, the good doctor set out to rid the world of allergies. To cure the suffering masses.” Aidan spoke as if he doubted that anyone could truly be motivated by a need to help others. Wasn’t that why most people in law enforcement were there? To make a difference?
“Wow.” She sat back and shook her head. “I knew you could be harsh, but you’re just plain jaded.”
“Realistic.”
He shrugged out of his jacket and laid it gingerly between him and the wall as if it were a precious commodity. Hell, he showed that jacket more affection than her. No. Not affection. Courtesy. Affection was the last thing she needed from Aidan Burgess, but she wouldn’t mind some civil courtesy.
“Come on, Lana. You’re keeping secrets.”
“Actually, I’m not. I tried calling the doctor for an interview, but he’s…unresponsive.”
“Can’t say I blame him.”
Again, she ground her back teeth to stop herself from launching into another argument. “I think he’s hiding something.”
“Other than his privacy?”
It was as if Aidan thrived on baiting her into a fight. “This is never going to work if you can’t stop lumping me in with every morally deficient journalist only out for a story. Many of us do have ethics.”
“Until they get in the way of your story.”
“Forget it.” She pulled a twenty out of her wallet and tossed it on the table. After shoving his feet to the floor, she grabbed her bag and slid out of the booth. “I’m not doing this with you.”
She pivoted on the ball of her shoe and headed to the front door. Aidan caught up with her three strides later, grabbed her wrist and spun her back to face him.
“You only willing to play with me if you can call the shots, Lana?” He pinned her in place with his gaze, moved in close, got in her face. So close his hot butterscotch and coffee scented breath rushed over her lips. Sex oozed along the seductive syllables of his words and her body was ready to listen.
“I’m not playing games here.” She refuted his question and the suggestion in his tone, but her body wanted whatever he wanted. Her panties grew wet. Her thighs trembled. “You’re not going to admit you’re wrong about me. I have no desire to continue defending myself.”
“Fine. I will try to stop giving you a hard time.”
The time he gave her wasn’t the only thing hard at the moment. His erection pressed against her hip and awakened memories best forgotten. Memories of him in her hand. In her mouth. In her.
The things they’d done that night went far beyond casual sex. At least for her. “Does that include admitting I might have some useful information? And that I’m not as bad as the slimy scum on the bottom of a boat?”
“I never said that about you.”
She wanted to push him back. They were drawing attention from the other patrons and the waitress was headed toward their table with the burgers. Lana wouldn’t give him the pleasure of knowing how profoundly he impacted her.
She schooled her voice to her practiced professionalism. “Maybe not verbally.”
“I never thought it.”
“I have no way of knowing that. And our lunch is ready.” She would endure his company a little longer if it meant enlisting his team’s help. If the deaths were freak occurrences she would write it that way. Every journalistic instinct in her body told her differently.
The deaths were connected, and they were not accidental. A murderer needed to be found.
Chapter Two
Aidan pulled his cell phone from his pocket and watched Lana’s swaying curves seduce men as she walked away. Her suit was elegant and business-like with the skirt hitting just above her knees. The slit reaching to her mid-thigh revealed her powerful legs, which revived mental images too persistent to remain buried. Images of those legs wrapped around his waist or thrown over his shoulders or, God help him, locked behind her head as he buried himself in her.
She’d been as flexible as she was adventurous in bed. He’d told himself they were falling prey to the need to reaffirm something good after facing a killer. Every time he considered reaching out or trying to go back for seconds he’d repeated the excuse to himself. Every time he saw her with Kieralyn or Ava, the newest member of their team and another person to love Lana instantly, he found it increasingly difficult to suppress his yearnings.
He was hard on her. Maybe harder than some thought necessary, but the woman was a detriment to a man’s mental stability, not to mention his libido. She also attracted trouble, and as sure as her blonde hair was genuine, he knew she was heading for trouble. He just had to figure out what she would do next and stop her.
Turning toward his car, he dialed Kieralyn. It went straight to voicemail, which meant one of three things. She was out of range, which was doubtful given their service area, or she was in an interview. Or she was ignoring him.
He’d guess the last one.
She wouldn’t succeed long though.
Within five minutes he was back at the Bureau building. Lana promised to hold off on her investigation, yet if he knew her like he thought he did, the promise would expire in a couple of hours. He didn’t have much time to pinpoint her next move.
Jogging up the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator, he headed to their floor and his desk. Kieralyn stepped out of Breck’s office, met Aidan’s gaze and turned in the opposite direction.
“Freeze.” He didn’t have to work to infuse frustration into his command and she didn’t pretend he was talking to someone else.
She stumbled to a stop, but took a moment before turning. When she did, her back was straight and she met his gaze dead on with her c
harming smile in place. “Hey! How was lunch? Thank you for filling in for me.”
“Cut the sweet-as-innocence rambling.” He closed the remaining distance, took her elbow and led her into the closest conference room. “Just because you’re blissfully happy with Ian, just because he lets you browbeat him into submission, and just because you’ve gotten used to the couple-type outings with Breck and Kami and Ava and Dr. H, do not fool yourself into thinking you’re going to make another match that includes me.”
“As if you’d be worth my matchmaking effort.” She dropped into a chair and crossed her legs casually. “You know I had to go do those interviews.”
“Especially don’t think you’ll make a match for me with Lana Quinn. Find some other sucker for your gal pal.” He braced his hands on the arms of the chair and leaned into her face. “I am not interested.”
“That was never my intention, Aidan.” Her mouth lifted in her sassy grin and she patted his cheek gently. It was the kind of touch Lana demonstrated. Tender and caring. Without planning it, Kieralyn was substantiating her friend’s claim. “But be careful,” she warned seriously. “Your protestations are very adamant, which would typically suggest denial.”
She ducked beneath his arms to stand. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have some interviews to type up.”
She turned back at the door with her head cocked at a curious tilt. “You coming anytime soon?”
“I’m warning you, Kieralyn.” He stepped toward her, shaking his finger. “Don’t mess with me on this.”
“You’ll have no interference from me.”
She raised her hands in surrender. He didn’t believe for a second that she would back off of trying to get him and Lana together. What she didn’t understand was that while he saw the merits of the idea, and he had tasted how good he and Lana could be together, they would never work.
“So tell me about lunch,” Kieralyn said as they headed toward their workspace. “Did Lana have anything substantial?”
“Possibly.” He went to his desk in the center of their space, passing Ava who spoke quietly into her phone, and sat on the edge while Kieralyn went to her desk and reclined in her chair. “She’s convinced people are being killed by allergies and are somehow all connected to a holistic allergist who did an independent study.”
“Listen, Aidan. I know you question Lana’s…” She trailed off and bounced her head back and forth as if she sought the right word. “Motivations.”
It was more where she allowed her motivations to drive her. He didn’t argue or clarify the difference.
“Do me a favor. Give her a shot. She’s got impeccable instincts. If she thinks there’s something to the deaths, it at least garners a look.”
“Murder by an herbal allergy cure?”
“Are you talking about Dr. Grayson’s cure?” Ava asked as she dropped her phone onto her desk.
“You’ve heard of it?” Aidan asked.
“I read his article. My brother Alexei doubts it’s a permanent cure. Says that more likely the herbs have halted or masked the allergies.”
It wasn’t easy keeping up with Ava’s large Greek family, but Aidan was pretty sure Alexei was the med student. Or maybe he was the doctor and her cousin Alex was the med student. Or Alexei could be the farmer and Alexis was the med student. Or doctor. Ava swore they got easier to remember after meeting them in person, which would happen at her wedding. Whenever that would be.
Shaking off the befuddling thoughts, Aidan refocused on the possibilities. “Eased allergies could be enough for some people depending on their level of misery.”
“True. What’s the murder angle?”
Aidan gave Ava the thumbnail version of Lana’s suspicions.
“If the doctor is really on to something, or if something went really wrong and one of his patients is threatening to sue or go to the press, he might want them silenced. Then again, if something went really wrong it could be a patient out for revenge.”
“In which case you’d think the doctor would have been the first victim.”
“Unless the patient wants the doctor to worry, to stress and grow more afraid each day.” A contradiction to her words, Ava’s voice softened like a caress and her mouth curved in a sweet smile. It was creepy at times to realize how much she loved her job. “The daily pressure would amp up and weigh on the doctor until he trusted no one and turned his life upside down trying to protect himself. Then it would be his turn.”
“You’re sort of scary, Ava.” Aidan coughed a little nervously. Kieralyn half smiled to herself as she typed in her interview notes.
“How do you mean?” Ava blinked, but there was no innocence in the gesture. She knew exactly how he meant. Whitestone turned her into an operative capable of killing. They’d also taught her how to needle her way into a mark’s mind if it netted them greater results. Her fiancé, Dr. H, a former captive of Whitestone, seemed to know that trick well too.
Aidan shook his head and ran a search for Dr. Grayson, starting with the easily accessed public information. He wanted to argue that Lana’s story lacked substance. He wanted to refuse just so he didn’t have to deal with her. But damn it, he trusted Kieralyn. Her instincts were laser accurate. He trusted Ava. Her musings were entirely likely.
Sure Lana was their friend and that may color things, but both his teammates had proven their ability to not allow a personal connection to interfere in their need to do a job. Now he had to do the same.
“Kieralyn.”
“Yeah?” She didn’t look up from her computer and sounded a little distracted.
“How blind to danger will Lana become in her pursuit of this story?”
Kieralyn looked at him with a how-much-do-you-think look stamped on her face.
“Shit.”
He called the ME’s offices to get the names of the possibly related deaths. By the time the clerk had found the two names he needed and he’d read up on Dr. Grayson, three hours had passed. The rest of the team was gone or somewhere else in the building.
He was typing in the first name to run a background search when the top of his neck, just at his hairline, began tingling. He glanced around, but their shared space was empty. He checked his phone, but no new messages waited. It was a little after four. Almost quitting time for the nine-to-five world.
The tingling spread lower.
How blind to danger will Lana become in her pursuit of this story?
Shit. Lana.
Aidan grabbed his jacket and called Dr. Grayson’s office as he headed for the stairs. A pre-recorded message reciting their address and hours let him know he had little time to head Lana off, because suddenly he knew she was heading that way.
How he’d allowed himself to get tangled in this mess of promised trouble he didn’t know, but he had. He would see it through until he got Lana to back off because he couldn’t afford to be chasing her around town to save her ass, and he wasn’t willing to deal with Kieralyn’s fallout if something happened to her friend.
Twenty minutes later, Aidan parked in the underground parking and took the stairs to the doctor’s office on the fifth floor. Double glass doors provided a clear view of the waiting area. He looked for signs of Lana, but she wasn’t there. In fact, few patients were. Whatever tale she spun the doctor wouldn’t likely make patients wait while he talked with Lana.
Knowing he risked missing her in passing, he headed back down the stairs to the lobby where he approached the security desk.
“Hi,” he addressed the bone-skinny guard on duty. Maybe a year out of high school and probably still hoping he’d develop some muscle, the guard looked bored. “Have you seen a gorgeous blonde go by here in the past ten minutes?”
Brendan, according to his name badge, shook his head. “Can’t say I remember one.”
“You’d remember this one. Business suit with a satin blouse and short skirt. Stiletto heels showing off her mile-long legs. Sea-green eyes you would willingly drown in.”
Brendan’s eyes lit up
, he sat a little straighter, his head shake turned sad as if he suddenly wished he had seen her.
“If she shows up and heads for the elevators, could you let me know?” Aidan asked as he pulled out a business card. “I’ll be waiting out front for her.”
“You want me to stop her?”
“No.” Kid wouldn’t last a minute in a dream about Lana. No way would he be able to handle talking to her. Or trying to derail her. “Just let me know if she comes in without me.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks.”
Aidan headed out the front door, scoping the area for the best vantage point. He chose a concrete ledge surrounding a section of elaborate landscaping. Sitting at one corner he could see the lobby, the elevators, the parking garage entrance and the walk up area. He had Brendan on lookout, but Aidan wouldn’t miss her.
Not five minutes later, a cab pulled up to the curb. The back door opened. One strawberry-red, strappy stiletto followed by another and leading up to a set of evenly tanned legs extended. A delicate, pristinely manicured hand grabbed the side of the door and Lana stood from the back seat.
One man dropped his briefcase. Another man tripped over it.
She caused a stir without trying. God help a man if she decided to pour on the charm.
Checking his watch, Aidan saw she’d timed her visit for just before the end of office hours. Dr. Grayson and his staff would want to be wrapping up and heading home. They’d be distracted and likely have their guards dropped. Unless Ava’s scenario of the doctor’s fear was true. Whatever Lana’s plan was, she intended to use their haste to her favor.
Lana shook her hair back and as cool as Lana Turner in her prime she strode with confidence toward the ornate glass doors. She didn’t bother looking around because she cared only about her targeted destination. She’d walk right past Aidan if he didn’t speak up.
“Lana.”
The ball of her foot scraped across the concrete, tripped her up. She recovered before he had to step in to catch her, though he wouldn’t have minded feeling her in his arms again. At least on a public sidewalk he knew he’d be able to stop touching her.