Taking Control

by Nina Croft

  “My father was running the UK side of things. He collapsed last year. At first they thought it was a heart attack.”

  “Really? I didn’t think he had a heart.”

  He ignored the comment and continued. He was quite aware there had been no love lost between his father and Jess. But then it had been a difficult time. His father had blamed himself for Declan’s brother, Logan, being in prison and was determined the same wouldn’t happen to his other son.

  Jess listened but didn’t speak again until he came to the part where they’d brought in the police. She obviously picked up some vibes.

  “I can understand why your father doesn’t like the police, but why you?”

  He shrugged. “I grew up believing they weren’t my friends. And they weren’t. They were after my father and would have loved something on me. Even as a kid.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “They didn’t make a secret of it. They harassed him, even coming to our home. My brother was put away when he was twenty-one on some trumped-up assault charge that anyone else would have walked away from with a warning.”

  “I didn’t know you had a brother.”

  “Logan is my half brother. He came from my father’s first marriage. But my dad had custody from when Logan was ten, so we’re close.”

  “Then why did we never meet?”

  “I told you, he was in prison when we had our…thing. But he’s out now. You’ll probably get to meet him if you stick around. He manages the nightclubs.”

  She stood up, picked up her coffee, and turned away to stare out of the window for a minute. When she turned back, her lips were pursed. “Is that why you were so upset the night I stole that car?”

  “Partly. I’m also a law-abiding citizen, and I don’t actually think stealing cars is something you do for kicks. But yeah. They would have thrown the book at me and smiled the whole time they were doing it.”

  She gave a small nod, came back, and sat down. “Okay, finish the story.”

  He told her everything he could think of, then sat back while she considered it.

  “So,” she said eventually, “you’re a witness for the case?”

  “Yes, though they have enough other witnesses to seal it without me.”

  “Then this is more in the way of retribution than saving their asses.”

  “Maybe. To be honest, I have no clue. This has never happened to me before.”

  “What? You mean no one’s ever tried to kill you?” She frowned. “Hey, you’re not married are you?”

  He didn’t like how she made the connection between someone wanting to kill him and his being married. “No.”

  “Fiancée?”

  “No.”

  “Girlfriend?”

  “No.”

  “Friendly neighborhood prostitute who pops over and relieves the pressure every now and then?”

  “No.” He’d been over here for just under a year now and hadn’t been laid in all that time. Well until Jess. He hadn’t even been on a date. And he hadn’t noticed. Before that there had been Penny. “I was engaged. We broke up before I moved over here.”

  “Why? What was wrong with her? Didn’t Rory like her?”

  “Nothing was wrong with her. She was perfect, and my father loved her. She was my mother’s best friend’s daughter, and my mother loved her as well.”

  “Wow. So what went wrong between you and little Ms. Perfect?”

  That was why he’d gone out with her. He’d tried the not so perfect and that had gotten him nothing but a whole load of grief. So why not try the opposite? Penny was beautiful, clever—she was a corporate lawyer—smart, sophisticated. The perfect wife. And he’d been bored out of his mind with her. The relationship had lacked any spark, but wasn’t that what he’d wanted? No danger of falling for her, and no danger of crashing at the end of that fall.

  “Nothing went wrong. It just didn’t work out.” Penny had actually ended the engagement. From the outset, she’d told him she was happy with a marriage that had more to do with convenience than with love, but in the end she had broken it off. She’d told him he wasn’t the man she had first thought. That she didn’t believe he would be happy with their loveless marriage. But he wasn’t expecting “happy.” In the end, breaking up with Penny hadn’t bothered him and he supposed that proved her point. “We’re still friends.”

  “How sweet.”

  “So why the interest in my love life?”

  She grinned. “Or lack of it. Just considering options.”

  “You think you want the position?” Why the hell had he said that? “You want to be my girlfriend, Jess?”

  She allowed her gaze to wander down over him. Her tongue poked out, small and pointed, swiping over her plump lower lip, and heat pooled in his belly.

  “Bloody hell, no,” she replied. “I have absolutely no aspirations to be your girlfriend, Declan. Been there. Done that. Have no wish to repeat the…mistake.” She gave him a smile that didn’t reach her midnight-blue eyes. “The sex is great, and I’ve no problem with a little extracurricular activity providing it doesn’t interfere with the job. But be your girlfriend? I’d rather strip naked, roll myself in honey, and sit on an anthill.”

  “Nice visual. At least the stripping naked bit.”

  She ignored the comment. “But the girlfriend thing would be an ideal cover, so it’s best if the position is open. It will allow me to stay close without being too obvious. And it will have the added benefit of stopping your dad’s matchmaking habit. If that’s what you really want.”

  “I want.”

  “But be very clear, this relationship is not real and it’s totally temporary. Once the job is over, we’re done. Finished. We walk away.”

  “Of course.” Just under three weeks. Would it be enough to get her out of his system?

  “Okay, I’ll run it past Jake.”

  “Jake?”

  “Jake Knight. He owns the company.”

  He didn’t like that she was on such familiar terms with the guy. “How about you?”

  She’d gotten up and placed her mug in the dishwasher. Now she turned back to him, leaning against the machine, hands in her pockets. “How about me what?”

  He pushed himself to his feet and took the couple of steps that brought him directly in front of her. “Do you have a man in your life, Jess?” From this position, he could look down to the swell of her breasts beneath the white cotton shirt. Not that there was a lot to see, no cleavage on show.

  “And why is that any of your business?”

  “Well, I’d hate to get one lot of bad guys off my back only to piss off someone else.”

  “There’s no one you need worry your head about.”

  “I thought you and that Steve guy were an item.”

  “Well, you thought wrong. There’s nobody right now.”

  He liked that. But he didn’t like that he liked it. God, he was fucked-up. At least where Jess was concerned. On a good note, she had said she wasn’t averse to sex with him. Hardly a romantic comment, but then he didn’t want romance. But he did want her. Quite desperately. In fact he couldn’t remember wanting a woman quite so much since… Since more than ten years ago when he’d last slept with Jess.

  But then she hadn’t been a woman back then. She’d been a seventeen–year-old girl, who’d been crazy for him. He’d known that. Just as he’d known there would be nothing long-term between them. But every time he’d tried to walk away she’d pulled him back. Until the last time. When he’d succeeded in staying away by the simple action of putting an ocean between them.

  He’d been supposed to study at the London School of Economics. At the last minute his father had talked to his mother, who’d pulled some strings and got him the chance of a place in Harvard. He’d known it was the right thing to do but it had broken something inside him.

  Christ, he was a mess. He hadn’t realized quite how much until she had walked back into his life. Maybe he was an idiot to go along wit
h this. Maybe he should just walk away before he got in too deep. Because he suspected that he might never get enough of her.

  He studied the purity of her features, her beauty only enhanced by the scar. Her face was a perfect oval, with high cheekbones, a narrow straight nose, and full, sculpted lips. He was almost overcome by an urge to lower his head and take those lips with his own. Slide his hands around that perfect ass and lift her onto the counter. The blood pooled in his groin, and his balls ached.

  He stepped back. Just to prove he still could.

  “Okay, so we do this then?” he asked.

  “I told you, I’ll talk to Jake and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, stick to the schedule you gave us. If you need to change anything let us know…and play nice with your babysitters. They’re here for your protection.”

  “You’re leaving?” He didn’t want her to go. Not yet.

  “I’m heading back to the office.”

  He wasn’t going to let her go without a kiss, but as he leaned in, she slipped out from in front of him.

  “I’ll call you tonight,” he said as she reached the door.

  “I won’t be there.” And she was gone.

  Chapter Eight

  She’d stayed away for two whole days. Just to prove to herself that she could. But there was no avoiding Declan tonight. It was the first of his “business dinners” and her first go at being his “non-confrontational girlfriend.”

  She’d arranged to meet him here, wanting to make an entrance. To help with that, she’d borrowed a dress from Kim. She did own a long black dress that she used when she was on duty at parties and the like, but that dress, while elegant, was intended to make her merge into the background as much as possible. Tonight she needed to make a statement. She wanted people to notice her, so when she turned up on other occasions, she would already be imprinted on people’s minds as Declan’s girlfriend.

  The dress was red. Apparently, Jake had a thing about red. Strapless, it left her shoulders bare, hugged her breasts, waist, and hips and then flared out in a fishtail. On her feet, she wore four-inch scarlet stilettoes—again borrowed from Kim—she didn’t want to think about what Kim had gotten up to in those shoes. But in them, Jess would tower over most of the other women there. She would be hard to forget.

  She was also wearing makeup for the first time in…she couldn’t actually remember how long. While she didn’t dislike makeup, most of the time she just didn’t see the point. But tonight, she wanted to look like something she wasn’t, and the makeup was a mask. She’d used a cover stick to hide the scar, then foundation. It was weird seeing her face perfect. She missed the scar. It was part of her now. She’d smudged black under her lower lids, blue on her upper, lots of mascara to darken her lashes, and bright red lipstick that the packet promised was kiss-proof and would last twenty-four hours.

  After handing her coat to the girl behind the counter, she headed into the main room and loitered just inside the door. She spotted Declan straightaway and her breath hitched in her throat. He stood across the room, talking with another man. Even with his back to her, he was stunning in a black tux that fitted his broad shoulders.

  As if drawn by her stare, he turned slowly. His eyes widened when he saw her, and a slow smile curled his lips. He left the man he’d been speaking to without another word, strolled over, and came to a halt in front of her. His gaze wandered over her, leaving a trail of heat.

  “You look…hot, sexy…stunning.” He took a step closer, then his hand reached out to stroke down the line of her cheek. “You also look different without this.”

  “Like the old Jess?” Did she want him to say yes?

  He shook his head slowly, still studying her. “No, not like the old Jess. She was a young girl. You’re all woman.” His hand dropped to his side. “Have you been avoiding me?”

  “Yes.”

  A smile flickered across his face. “Scared?”

  That was spot-on. But she bit back her inclination to snap something sarcastic and just bestowed him a gracious smile. “Not at all. We were just getting everything organized, going through the intel, and setting things up.”

  His eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged and glanced around the room. “Is there anything I should be doing?”

  “Having fun? Mingling with the rich and influential?”

  “I mean different than normal.”

  “No, just act as you normally do. There are a couple of high-level politicians here this evening, so security is huge. No one is going to try anything. Tonight is really in the way of a trial run, sort of see how you behave.” In her new nice persona she gave a bright smile. “But I’m sure you’ll do great.”

  Declan’s brows drew together. “Are you being nice again?”

  So much for being subtle. “Yes. But for real. I’ve decided it’s time to put the past behind us. After all, ten years ago, you were young, immature, an asshole, a…”

  He grinned. “You were doing so well…for about two seconds.”

  She took a deep breath and refixed her smile. “What I meant to say was we were both young and I can’t blame you forever for breaking my immature heart. So, just to let you know, no hard feelings.”

  His eyelids drooped, and he watched her out of half-closed eyes. “Hmm. I’m thinking there’s going to be lots of…hard feelings.”

  Why did her gaze drop straight to his groin?

  …

  Declan shoved his hands in his pockets, mainly to hide the fact that his dick was hard. Had been since she’d walked into the room in that red dress and once again rocked his world. He’d come alive as though a light switched on in his mind.

  His gaze wandered down to where her scarlet-tipped toes peeped out from under the dress. In her four-inch heels, she was only a couple of inches shorter than he was. And she was quite the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

  He wanted to strip her out of that dress, though maybe she could keep the heels, and fuck her until he stopped thinking about the past. He didn’t want her to be “nice.” He wanted bad, filthy-dirty, no-holds-barred sex with her.

  “Come on,” she said, “time to mingle.”

  Looked like the sex was going to have to wait. It was going to be a long hard night.

  The dinner was arranged by an organization McCabe Industries donated a lot of money to, a high-profile charity that he actually believed in. But he hated these events. He cast a sideways glance at Jess. At least he had no worry about being bored with Jess in tow. He could just imagine her without the dress, those long legs wrapped around him…

  “Get your mind out of the gutter, Declan.”

  He grinned. “Just getting into the part. You are supposed to be my girlfriend after all.”

  The dinner was as bad as expected. Over the last few years, he’d felt increasingly alienated at these affairs. Like he was somehow in the wrong body and wanted to tear at his skin, get beneath it, find someone he could feel comfortable with, not continually irritated, rubbed up the wrong way, or even worse, bored out of his mind. But with Jess at his side, he could take it.

  She stuck close beside him during the predinner mingling, playing the part of his girlfriend with a smooth ease. Her hand rested on his arm or his shoulder, and she didn’t move away when he wrapped one arm around her waist to pull her close. Each touch stoked the heat inside him, but he welcomed the slow buildup because he was going to have her tonight. In every way he could think of. And then a few more.

  At the dinner, he was seated opposite her. He hardly noticed the food, and as the speeches started, he sat back, kept his attention on Jess, and allowed his mind to wander.

  He’d done everything his family had required of him; the company was now eminently respectable and worth about ten times more than when he’d taken control at twenty-five.

  But he didn’t give a crap. Some sort of premature midlife crisis? His dad obviously thought all he needed was the love of a good woman. Or even a bad one. His dad was crazy. Declan’s gaze drifted ac
ross the table to where Jess was seated. She was leaning in close to the man on her right, smiling at something he said, and a flash of rage stabbed him in the gut.

  Across the table she must have sensed his focus because she glanced up and met his stare. For long minutes he held her gaze. She licked her lips with a pointed pink tongue, leaving her full mouth glistening, moist scarlet, and heat pooled in his belly.

  Without giving himself time to think, he pushed back his chair and got to his feet, ignoring the looks his neighbors cast his way.

  He strode around the table to where she sat, her gaze never leaving him. Leaning down close, he whispered in her ear. “Time for us to show each other just how nice we can be.”

  She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t move. “Aren’t you supposed to be giving a speech later?”

  “I don’t care. Come on. I’m bored. Let’s go have some fun.” He rested his hands on her shoulders and blew gently in her ear, felt a shiver run through her. “We’re making a scene here.”

  “You’re making a scene,” she murmured. “Most unlike you.”

  “And it’s only going to get worse. My dick is so hard I thought it was going to spontaneously combust, probably taking the table with it.

  Amusement flashed in her eyes, and then she swiped her tongue across her lower lip again and he groaned. But she gave a small nod and finally she pushed herself to her feet.

  Before she could change her mind, he took her arm and hustled her toward the door. “This is good, though,” he said. “Obviously I can’t keep my hands off you so that helps the cover story.”

  He needed to kiss her, suck her plump lower lip into his mouth, push his tongue inside her. Unfortunately as they exited the room, they picked up his babysitters and he groaned in frustration.

  The car was waiting out in front. Jess had a quiet word with the guards; one peeled away and the other opened the back door for them. Declan waited for Jess to get in, then climbed in beside her. The guard got in beside the driver, and they pulled away.

  Declan leaned forward and pushed the button that brought the tinted glass divider up between the front and the rear seats, and then he sat back and hauled Jess into his arms.