by Marie Harte
“Honey, the way you drive, I’m doing the world a favor.”
She glanced around before giving him the finger.
“Promises, promises.”
She flushed and laughed. “You are such an ass.”
“Yep.” He decided to push her. “That’s why you love me.”
She didn’t sputter her protest or deny it but gave him an odd glance and blinked hard. Then a broad grin lit her like the Fourth of July. It was a smile full of arrogance, pleasure, and satisfaction. And he didn’t trust it a bit.
“What?” he barked.
“Not a thing, hotshot.” She practically skipped out of the theater.
“Women,” he muttered and followed her after a moment, taking care not to trip over the buckets of popcorn left in the aisle. Footsteps sounded close, surprising him. He hadn’t thought anyone else was in the theater. He turned to see who’d lingered behind.
KITTY WAITED FOR Dane with stunned excitement, not sure she’d actually felt what she thought she had. A band of emotion, an actual hit of feeling, had strummed from Dane and filled her with joy, passion, and love.
When the man had said it, he’d felt it. She’d swear that was him, an indefinable masculine presence that could only be Dane Hanson, the man who called her little sub and referred to her as his girlfriend when he didn’t think she’d overheard.
Good Lord. Now what did she do? She still hadn’t gotten over the fact she trusted him enough to play master games in the bedroom. Master. She’d confided in him about her life growing up, thought about him all the time, and loved the fact that her friends all liked him. Even Keegan had grunted his approval, and he’d always been protective about her.
And now to learn that Dane loved her? She’d felt it.
She used the restroom and waited in the hall for him while others exited the theater. It was the last movie of the night, and just about everyone had cleared out of the multiplex. When another few minutes passed by and he didn’t show, a frisson of unease snaked through her.
Kitty returned to the theater and walked inside, looking for Dane. She cast out an empathic probe, wondering if she could somehow detect him. No way would Dane be gone this long unless something bad had happened.
And then she felt it. A hum she recognized. She spun around. “Keegan?”
Her friend didn’t smile. “James is here.”
“Okay.”
“Not my James. Morley James.”
Her breath locked in her throat, and it took a moment to respond. “But he’s in jail. He’s locked up, awaiting trial.”
“Linda Cavendish paid for his bail, and now they’re both missing. We got a tip Morley was here, looking for you and Dane.”
“A tip?” She grabbed Keegan by the arm. “I don’t feel anyone here. Nothing.”
Keegan glanced around and in a lower voice confided, “I brought James with me. We have backup. We just need to find—”
The lights went out completely, and Kitty couldn’t see a thing. She felt Keegan next to her, his aura anticipatory, excited, and dangerous.
She sank with him into a crouch and tried to get her night vision back.
A gun went off, and she heard what sounded like a fight by the front, but the pitch-black theater made it hard to see anything. She reached out with her senses and felt Morley’s rage. Hell.
Keegan grabbed her arm. “James is coming in through the rear door.”
She sent out an empathic probe and touched on James, right where Keegan had said he might be. Taking a chance, she yelled out, “Give us some light, James.”
A small fireball shot high into the air and illuminated two figures pounding the crap out of each another. Dane and Morley James.
She didn’t see a gun, but she’d heard one.
“Damn. Morley can fight.” Keegan sounded impressed.
“Get the gun. I’m getting Dane.”
“We have you covered.” Keegan ran to the front while Kitty skirted the main seats to run down the side aisle, near the fight.
She reached the pair when a thread of satisfaction came from Morley. She had no idea what the bastard had planned, but it couldn’t be good. Then she caught the sense of danger coming from behind James.
“James, behind you! Dane, get clear.”
Dane shoved Morley away from him and rolled off the stage just as bullets impacted where he’d been. James turned to route the trouble, and Keegan joined him. While Dane raced toward her, Kitty saw Morley reach behind his back. As if in slow motion, he pulled out a gun and aimed at her.
“Down,” Dane roared.
Dane knocked her off her feet like a bulldozer. The blow stole her breath. By the time she’d recovered, she noted Morley on the stage crumpled like a rag doll. In the corner near James, two men slumped on top of each other.
“We’re okay.” Keegan gave her a thumbs-up. “Anyone else here?”
She pushed out her senses but felt nothing. “No. We’re good.” She groaned and tried to rise to her feet when Dane yanked her up.
“What the hell was that?” he snarled. “I say down, you get down. Shit.” He crushed her to him in a hug before she could argue. “I thought he had you. Bastard came out of nowhere and nearly tagged me. Took me a while to disarm him. Then you and the moron twins came crashing in. Don’t do that again.” He squeezed her so tight she couldn’t breathe.
“Let…go.”
“Hey, null, you’re killing your girlfriend,” Keegan drawled. “And you’re welcome for breaking dickhead’s neck. Boy tried to hurt Kitty.” Keegan scoffed. “Idiot.”
“Nice.” James put an arm around Keegan’s waist. “What should we do with these two?
“They still breathing?” Dane asked.
“Yeah. Unfortunately,” James answered.
“Call the police,” Kitty instructed. “Attempted murder. We’ll let the law have this one.” As she said it, she heard sirens in the distance. “I think someone beat us to it.”
“Good. Now we need to have a talk, kitten.” Dane sounded on the verge of losing his composure, and Kitty remembered how loving he’d been earlier.
“Did he just call her kitten?” James asked, his mouth falling open.
Keegan gave her a toothy grin. “He did. Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun. Kitten and the Null. I love it.”
“Shut up, cowboy.” Dane flipped him the bird, but Keegan and James only laughed.
“I love you too, Dane,” Kitty said, taking control of the situation.
He opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “You do?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yep. But you don’t need to say it. I felt it from you earlier.” She felt vindicated, powerful, loved.
“You… I thought you couldn’t read me?”
“I couldn’t. And then it was there at the end of the movie. You love me.” She smiled, loving the shock and joy she could feel pulsing through him. “Ha! Who’s in charge now, big man?”
His sly grin told her she’d gone a step too far, but she didn’t care. “You want to play games, kitten?” He whispered a few plans she’d have been mortified for Keegan or James to hear, even as they turned her on. “Now apologize to the man who loves you.”
“Sorry.” She smiled as she said it. “Tricky way to tell me what you feel.”
“I don’t have to tell you,” he said with typical arrogance. “You already know.”
“I do.”
Keegan interrupted. “Hate to cut in on the lovefest, but you know, I get the feeling we’re missing something.”
Kitty knew he had a point. Stick to the mission…Kitten. She worked hard not to smile and zoned in on Dane’s sudden frown.
“Yeah,” Dane agreed. “Like who dimed Morley out? And if he’s here, and Linda bailed him out, where do you suppose she is?”
Kitty and he looked at each other, and Kitty remembered everything they’d talked about during their debrief with Owen. “I wonder… Keegan? I need to borrow your phone.”
He tossed it to her, and she punch
ed in an emergency number Jack had given her—Owen’s number.
“Owen answering?” Dane asked, thinking on the same lines as her.
She shook her head. “We need to get over there.”
He grimaced. “Yeah. I have a bad feeling about this.”
* * * *
Ian Ryder watched through the crack in the door, unable to believe he’d penetrated Owen Stallbridge’s sanctuary. The big man’s precious study sat like a prize to be won and picked over. Just as soon as Mr. Studly left. Ian wondered if the vibes he’d gotten from their big boss rang true. Was Owen gay? Bi? Or did the guy only like women?
Hard to believe a man as sexy and commanding as Owen would ever have dated a schemer like Linda Cavendish. Truth be told, despite Ian’s pride in being homosexual, he could clearly see beauty in either gender. Women like those he worked with, the petite but bossy Chloe and the sexily strong Kitty, had looks and a genuine attractiveness. Linda seemed plastic. A once pretty woman reduced to plastic surgery and the fake polish of Hollywood glamour.
Yet none of the sexy women and men he’d ever seen compared to his Millionaire Hotness. Man, Ian wouldn’t mind some of that.
Owen stood by his desk, sighed, and sat in a leather chair behind the oak monstrosity.
Damn. Ian did his best not to fidget in the closet. Owen had looked over at the door a few times but hadn’t made a move toward him. Ian was itching to see The Little Death up close, and since Kitty had forbidden him from bugging Owen about it, he’d taken matters into his own hands.
Who knew breaking into Owen’s big house on top of the hill would be so easy?
“I know you’re there,” Owen said quietly.
Ian froze.
“You might as well show yourself.”
Ian debated what to do. Make a break for the door and hope the green-eyed stud wasn’t as fast as he appeared, or stay still and try to wait him out?
And then Linda Cavendish took the choice out of his hands. She pushed the door on the far side of the room open and entered with a gun in hand. “Owen. How lovely to see you again.”
Owen didn’t blink. The man didn’t seem to breathe. “Linda.” He nodded. King to peasant.
Nice. Ian liked the subtle insult.
Linda didn’t. She fired and shot over Owen’s shoulder.
To give the man credit, he didn’t flinch. Ian nearly shot so high he hit the ceiling.
“I want what’s mine. Bring me The Little Death.”
Oh boy. Ian tried to decide what to do. With Owen behind the desk, he couldn’t easily attack the woman. She’d kill Owen before he could move. But if Ian did nothing, she’d shoot him, and Ian couldn’t have that on his conscience. Not until he’d gotten a good look at Owen naked, at least.
Owen sighed. “Really, Linda? We’ve been through this. The statue is mine.”
“It belongs to me. It called to me,” she said in a voice just shy of sane.
Owen looked startled. He stood slowly, his hands in the air in acknowledgement of her gun. “Did it really? It only calls to those in true love.”
She blinked at him, and her gun wavered. “I was in love.” She sounded sad, lost. “Morley and I were fated to be. But he turned on me.” She glared at him. “Just like you did.” She sneered. “Your fucking vanity wouldn’t let us grow close. You just had to be the center of attention all the time.”
Funny, Ian recalled hearing that about her.
“But now Morley’s taken care of. He’s either killed Dane and Kitty, or he’s dead himself. Either way, I’ll clean up their mess once I’m done with you.” She laughed. “I turned him in, let your psychic freaks know he was coming for them. I wonder how good Morley really is? Could he have beaten your men, I wonder?”
Silence drifted between them, and Ian wanted away from this crazy bitch like yesterday.
“Linda, I made mistakes with you, I admit.” Owen shrugged, those broad shoulders looking massive beneath his button-down work shirt. Ian wondered if the man had a trainer or if he worked out on his own. Then he wondered why the hell he cared, and if he should be on meds. Danger and sex—not a good mix.
“Just give me what’s mine. I deserve it.” Ian could hear the crazy in her demands. He had a bad feeling no matter what Owen did, the woman would kill him.
With a prayer that whatever Linda decided to do, she wouldn’t hurt his fine face, Ian moved deeper into the closet, away from the door, and picked up a ream of paper. He deliberately dropped it, hoping it would make enough noise against the hardwood floor to distract her.
The paper sounded like a mini explosion in the tense silence.
“What…?” Linda started to say. Then nothing.
A loud thump, the sound of a body falling.
Owen.
Ian ran out of the closet, prepared to rush Linda and defend Owen to the best of his limited ability, and stopped short.
Owen knelt over her crumpled body, his fingers at her neck. He glanced up at Ian, and he looked pale, his eyes glassy. “Call 911. Report this as attempted murder. With her recent history, they’ll swallow it. You were here because I called you about a job.”
The man swayed, and Ian hurried to his side. “Owen?”
“You’re not as stealthy as you think you are, thief,” Owen muttered before passing out.
Ian called the police and sat with Owen, not sure what the hell to do. The man’s pulse seemed slow but steady. Linda lay dead on the ground, of what looked like a heart attack or stroke. But definitely dead…somehow by Owen’s hands.
While Ian waited, he pondered all he’d seen and heard…and not seen. “You’re not as stealthy as you think you are, thief.” What the fuck did that mean? Did Owen have some kind of sixth sense too? Why had he passed out? He wasn’t sporting any bullet wounds. Ian glanced at Linda, positive Owen had killed her. He couldn’t have said why; he just knew.
He sighed and reached for his cell phone to let Kitty and the others know they had a situation. He had no luck with Kitty, but Keegan answered on the first ring. After learning about Kitty’s situation, Ian tucked his phone away with a trembling hand. Man, he hated to admit it, but he’d feel a lot better when Jack returned. The boss might be an ass, but he was a scary ass. Another week and he promised to return. That was what he’d said last week.
He sat stroking Owen’s hair and waited.
Chapter Sixteen
Kitty sat with Dane in her house, still shaken by all that had happened. “We almost lost you and Owen in the same day.”
He smirked, trying to shake her bad mood. He didn’t like seeing her down. “I’m too powerful to be taken down by a shithead like Morley James.”
“Oh, but Owen’s not?”
“He was almost downed by a woman.” Dane sneered, knowing his comments would upset her. “A crazy woman, but please. Even you kicked her ass.”
Except instead of yelling at him or laughing at his stupid comments, she started crying.
Dane’s sneer immediately cleared. “Oh hell, Kitty. Don’t cry.” He held her hand and drew it to his lips for a kiss.
She scowled and wiped her eyes. “I’m not crying.”
He took a tear that had escaped down her cheek. “Good. Because I’d hate for my woman to cry. You should be happy I’m alive and hung like a horse, don’t forget.”
She hiccupped around a laugh. “Horse? Try a small puppy.”
“Liar.” He let out a breath of relief.
“And what’s this ‘my woman’ shit?”
“Language,” he murmured as she talked over him. Ah, there was his fiery kitten. God, he loved her.
“I knew we’d get to this point. All the posturing and chest beating.” She sighed, but he saw the laughter she tried to hide. “Your woman, huh?”
“I’m just trying to fit into your mold, Katherine.” He loved the faces she made when he called her by the names she hated. “You said you loved me. I figured we’d take it slow. You’ll eventually move in, we’ll finally have that heart-to-heart, wher
e you’ll admit your team needs my special skills because they fight like Linda. Then we’ll never be apart, sharing secrets like best girlfriends.”
“Christ.”
He wasn’t finished. “We’ll be equally annoyed by your PWP buddies. Because, well, one word for you—Ian.”
She shook her head and chuckled. “Oh man, did you hear him making such a spectacle of himself at the police station?”
“All I can say is I’m glad he’s your employee and not mine.”
She choked on laughter. “Thanks, I think.” She sighed. “Dane, you’re crazy.”
“Am I?” He pulled her onto his lap, and they stared at each other, each waiting for the other to give in. Like that would happen.
She cupped his cheek, rubbing her finger against his stubble. “You love me. And you still need a shave.”
He grinned so big he feared he’d split his face wide open. “What do you feel from me right now?”
“You mean, besides that log between your legs?”
“Besides that.”
She chuckled. “Nothing but a big fat ball of love.”
“Yep.”
She blinked and waited. Then she scowled. “Well? Say it again.”
“Say what?”
The mean woman poked him in the gut. She had a bony finger.
“Shit. All right. I love you, you bully. Happy now?” He brought her close for another kiss, one that turned carnal in a heartbeat. “I want to fuck you right here, right now, to show you how much. But I’m wondering if I should put a ring on your finger first. Show you I mean business.”
Her breath hitched. “Are you serious? We barely know each other.”
“I know you just fine, little sub.” He brought her firmly over him and rubbed his aching erection against her. “And you know me. But I’m a patient man. I can wait. You might want to jump on my love wagon fast, though, before some other lucky woman snaps me up.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Think about it, kitten. If you can feel me with that freaky brain, and I’m not running scared after meeting all your psycho friends, I’d say we’re a match made in heaven.”
He felt her pulse race even as she said, “You know, for a null, you have your own silver tongue.”