by Paula Cox
“Where are we going?” Liana asked. She thought maybe he’d head back to his house now. Perhaps she’d take a nap before work.
“To see Julian’s friend at the police station,” Cliff replied. “We’re going to get that bottle tested to make sure it’s poisoned.”
Liana frowned. “If it is, can I go home?”
Cliff shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Then you should have done that first,” she muttered. “Saved me the torment.”
His lip curled. “Darling, you’ve never seen torment.”
His words sent a shiver racing down her spine. They weren’t even threatening. Something about the way he said them made it clear he wasn’t talking about pain. It wasn’t that sort of torture his tone invoked. And it made her want to learn what he had to teach about torment.
No! Liana mentally shook herself. He was hot, but he was an asshole. And he only cared about her as far as he could throw her for information. Which likely wasn’t far. Cliff had made it clear that whether she lived or died was only his concern while she was useful. He was no savior.
“We just can’t be too late.” It was time for a topic change; Liana had decided. “I’ve got a shift tonight, starting at eight.”
Without looking away from the road, Cliff shook his head. “If there’s poison in that bottle,” he said, “you’re not going back to work until we catch Lando.”
Liana whirled on him so fast that the seat belt bit into her neck. “What?” she cried. “You can't make me miss work! How the hell am I going to pay my bills?”
He shrugged. “I’ll pay you for your time. How much do you make there? A couple hundred bucks a night?”
Liana was about to yell at him a little more, but then realized he’d just named a figure that was double what she made. “Two-fifty,” she corrected. “And I need every cent.”
“Then I’ll cover it.”
“But what if I lose my job?” she asked. “I can’t just say I’m not coming in for a while when we don’t know whether it will be a few hours until we find the killer or a few months.”
Cliff let out an amused burst of air. “It won’t be a few months. I can guarantee you that.”
“No, you can’t,” Liana argued. “Crimes go unsolved all the time. We might never figure out who killed Michael.”
Cliff turned just long enough to give her a deadly smile. “Liana, darling,” he purred. “The crime itself might go unsolved, but I doubt I’ll be able to make it a few weeks without killing you myself.”
Liana scowled at him. “You must be an absolute Don Juan with the ladies,” she replied. “What’s the expression? Threaten to kill your darlings?”
He chuckled. She hated how much she loved to hear him laugh. It was so rough and husky that it sent warm tingles through her.
***
Julian had given Cliff the name of a Detective Ellis with the NYPD. He wasn’t sure why the old man would still have a detective on his payroll, but he supposed it was always helpful to have an in with the police. He carried the bottle up in its tea towel and plastic bag, still unwilling to touch it with his bare hands. Who was to say the killer hadn’t poisoned the outside this time? He would have had to know that Liana wouldn't drink it after what happened yesterday.
Ellis, a short man in his early fifties who looked like he was gearing up for retirement, greeted him and Liana at the front desk. His brown eyes had drooping bags underneath, and his hair was a shock of messy white fuzz.
“Julian called ahead and told me to expect you,” Ellis greeted. “I can only assume from the description he gave me that you’re Cliff and your companion is Liana.”
“How did you know?” Cliff asked, setting the bag down on the counter.
Ellis smiled. “He told me he was sending over an angry statue and a sassy young woman who constantly glares at you.”
Standing beside Cliff, Liana smiled. As soon as she saw him looking, she flattened her lips. Cliff found himself amused by the description too.
Cliff went into a hasty explanation of the events so far. Ellis had heard about the ongoing investigation through the grapevine but was shocked to hear a bottle of champagne had been left on Liana’s doorstep.
“Seems odd,” he said, slipping on a pair of latex gloves. “I’ll take it to the lab for testing. Come back in a few hours.”
Liana groaned. “Why does everything take so long?” She poked Cliff on the arm. “You’re a big, tough guy. Just take a drink of it. If it kills you, we know it’s poison.”
He glared down at her, which of course did nothing to wipe the smug expression off her face. “Maybe we should get you to drink it,” he retorted. “That would solve two of my problems.”
“Why don’t you two kids drink it together,” Ellis interjected. “Then this whole Romeo and Juliet thing you’ve got going on will finally reach its conclusion.”
Cliff and Liana both redirected their glares to Ellis.
“Romeo and Juliet loved each other at first sight,” Liana pointed out. “We’re no love story. And we definitely don’t have any parallels to Romeo and Juliet.”
Cliff wanted to add a biting remark, but he suddenly remembered how he had felt the first time he saw Liana. Definitely no Shakespearean love at first sight, but he’d been fascinated by her. He had lusted after her. He wondered if she knew that. She must have. She had clearly felt something too, whether she was going to admit it or not.
“Whatever,” Ellis said. “I’ll call ya when it’s done.” He picked up the bag off the counter and disappeared through a set of double doors.
Liana sighed. “Can you show me where I’m going to be sleeping so I can take a nap?” She began walking toward the exit, not waiting to see if Cliff would follow. His long strides caught up with her in no time.
“How can you think about napping right now?” he asked. “What are you, a child?”
She scoffed. “Napping is the best. And I didn’t get much sleep last night. Funny how watching a man die can hamper your triple zees.”
If only she knew.
***
Liana woke with a start, flying up into a seated position and wrenching her knees toward her chest. Cliff was seated at the end of her bed, a hand extended toward her.
“Relax,” he said. “It’s just me.”
Liana pulled up the blankets to her neck and relaxed against the pillows, keeping a watchful eye on him. “That’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one.”
She’d been even more on guard around Cliff since the moment she walked into his house. It was nice. Too nice. Immaculately clean and three stories on the Upper East Side. It was well-decorated, well-furnished, and spacious as hell. In other words, it would probably cost more to rent this place than she would ever make in her life. And he undoubtedly owned it. Cliff was rich, and he had shady connections, and people wanted to kill him. Definitely mob. The only thing that remained to be seen was what position in the mob he held. Obviously, it was a high up one, though she didn’t know enough about mob structure to place him. Whether he was Don or just a lackey, though, he was dangerous. Very dangerous. And yet she could not for the life of her stop poking the bear. What was wrong with her?
“Ellis called with the results,” Cliff said. “You shouldn’t have touched the bottle.”
“I didn’t touch it,” Liana said tartly.
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You shouldn’t have moved it. The outside was poisoned, just as I thought.”
“With what?” Liana’s throat went dry. She had come so close to picking the bottle up when she first saw it.
“A nasty toxin that would have done some pretty nasty things to you. Most of it had rubbed off onto the tea towel by the time we got it to the station, but they were able to pick up enough off the bottle to confirm that handling it would have been lethal.”
“And the champagne inside?”
Cliff nodded. “Also poisoned. I guess the killer was hedging his bets.”
A knot formed in Liana�
�s stomach. She’d been so close to death. So close. But she was glad she moved the bottle. What if somebody else had touched it while she waited for Cliff to get there?
“This is the part where you apologize for disobeying me,” Cliff prompted.
Liana looked at him like he’d just turned into a fish. “Are you serious?”
The look on his face made it clear he was dead serious.
“I’m not going to apologize for moving the bottle,” she said. “Somebody could have gotten hurt.”
“Yes,” Cliff intoned. “You.”
There was intensity in his gaze that Liana found herself backing away from. She scooted back into the plush pillows, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself. She wasn’t afraid of Cliff. No, she was afraid of the reaction her body was having to the way he was looking at her right now. She had to remind herself that he wasn’t trying to protect her because he liked her. He was trying to protect her because she was important for his revenge fantasy. That was all.
But damn. That boy could melt some panties with that stare.
“I didn’t get hurt. Nobody else got hurt,” Liana reminded. “I think we should just take that as a win and move on. Don’t you?”
A muscle in Cliff’s jaw ticked. He seemed to be deliberating in his head. Liana wasn’t sure she wanted to know what about.
She broke eye contact first, pretending to get bored and looked around the room while she waited. The wall behind the bed was a dusty maroon, but the rest of the walls were painted a muted cream. The cherry wood floors were so shiny that Liana had only been able to resist sliding across them on her socked feet for less than a minute once she’d been left alone. Once that got old, she rolled around on the midnight navy sheets for a while, luxuriating in their impossibly high thread count. Not that she’d ever mention to Cliff or anyone else how nice they felt.
Cliff rose and stood next to the bed. “Get up.”
Liana frowned. “What? No. Why?”
“No questions. Get up.” His command sent pulses of electricity places it shouldn’t have gone. Why did he have to have such a sexy voice? And why did she have to want to give into him so badly? She would never live it down if she did, but the wild and wanton side of her begged Liana to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
She would fight that side of her until the end.
“I’m not getting out of bed just because you tell me to.” She just hoped he couldn’t see how her fists were bunched under the blankets to stop her from giving in. There was something dark and fiery in his eyes right now that she needed to stay far away from—for both of their sakes.
“Liana.” He said her voice like it was a sin. And he was a champion sinner. “Do you know what an enforcer is?”
Liana gulped. So her Mafia hunch had been right. And Cliff, with his wickedly handsome features and powerful, muscled body, was one of the worst of them.
“Yes,” she answered quietly. She met his eyes, though, continuing the challenge there.
“So you know that I’m the one who gets called in when people are being... difficult.” A cruel smile played on his lips. He was trying to scare her into doing what he said. It wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t hurt her, and Liana knew that. She had no doubts that he was tough, but she felt safe with him. It struck her now how odd that was. She had called him when she found the bottle instead of the police. She had agreed to go with him and, even though she’d made it difficult because he demanded her to come with him rather than asking, she knew she was better off with him than without him.
He wouldn’t hurt her. If he had been going to hurt her, he would have done it already. He needed her alive to identify the killer, but there was no reason he needed her unhurt.
So Liana stood her ground. “I’m familiar with the role, yes.”
“You’re being very difficult right now. It’s pissing me off.”
“Just tell me why you want me to get up and I will,” Liana replied.
She should have just gotten out of bed. But she couldn’t. Not when she was wearing cartoon elephant pajama shorts and wooly socks. He would never let her live it down.
“I’m telling you to get up because I want you to. The reason isn’t important.” He crossed his arms over his chest. Liana watched the material of his shirt stretch over his bulging biceps and bit her lip subconsciously.
His eyes turned dark. Shit. She shouldn’t have done that.
“The reason is important,” Liana defended. Though she was seriously considering just hauling her ass out of bed and dealing with the consequences. This fight wasn’t going anywhere good. He was bad news. She should not have been wondering if he’d come get her if she continued to refuse him. She should not have been wondering if he would think her pajamas were sexy. She had to stop this. But damn, did it feel good to have a man as sexy as Cliff look at her the way he was.
“Liana,” Cliff said. “This is your last warning. If you don’t get up right now, I’ll make you get up.”
Liana’s eyes turned as big as dinner plates. Her face flushed with heat like he’d started an inferno in her belly. She stared at him a moment longer, mouth too dry to speak. And then he uncrossed his arm and took a step toward her.
Liana flung herself out of bed on the other side, collapsing onto the floor in her haste to get away from him. Red-faced with shame, she picked herself up off the ground and crossed her arms over her chest, not meeting Cliff’s eyes.
“Happy?” she spat.
His only response was an amused snort.
“What do you want, Cliff?”
Creaking steps across the floor jerked her gaze up at the man approaching her. His eyes twinkled with amusement; his lips curled to form what Liana supposed was his version of a smile. Just that bit of emotion was enough to make her feel lightheaded. And he just kept getting closer.
She stepped back before he could reach her, her leg bumping into the wooden bedside table. She hissed in pain and Cliff stopped.
“Just proving a point,” Cliff said. “Think about how much effort you just wasted being so stubborn. And I got you to do what I wanted in the end.”
Liana decided not to point out that he’d only gotten what he wanted because she was worried she’d jump his bones if he got any closer. Well, it was either punch him or jump his bones. More likely than not, punching him would only lead to jumping his bones.
“Can I get back to bed now?” Liana asked bitterly. She wasn’t even sleepy anymore; she just wanted some time to cool down. Away from him.
Cliff shook his head. “I want to talk business. Meet me downstairs in five minutes.” He turned on a dime and headed toward the door. When he got to it, he paused before taking his leave. “You can leave your pajamas on if you want,” he purred. “I like them.”
After he left, Liana all but melted into a puddle on the floor.
Chapter 7
It was a small miracle Cliff had made it out of Liana’s bedroom without touching her. She infuriated him in a way nobody else ever had, but she also brought out a fiery lust in him. The longer he spent with her, the more lust replaced his irritation. He’d been almost grateful she put up so much of a fight about getting out of bed. He liked seeing the fire in her eyes. He was, however, glad she hadn’t let him physically pull her out of bed. He’d made a mistake in that. He should have never made a threat he couldn’t uphold. If he Cliff had actually gotten his hands on her in that bed, they would still be up there now. He could see she wanted it too. But it was a horrible decision for both of them.
Liana wasn’t part of this life. And she never could be. Cliff needed to keep his mind clear while he found Michael’s killer, and giving in to his lust would only further complicate things. He had to suppress whatever foolish emotions she was dragging up in him.
She stomped down the stairs six minutes later. He chose to let it go, even though he was frustrated to see she had changed out of the delicious pair of pajama shorts she’d been sporting earlier. He got a zing of electricity in his c
ock just thinking about it.
“What do you mean you want to talk business?” Liana asked, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
Cliff was lounging on one of the living room sofas, staring out the window at the traffic passing by. He turned to her lazily, having collected himself since coming downstairs. “Sit,” he said.
For once, Liana did as she was told. Sort of. She walked over to the couch across from him and leaned against the arm. Good enough.
Cliff sat up straight, smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt. Liana watched. Cliff pretended he didn’t notice. “You want to be a singer. I want to own a nightclub.”
“I don’t think that automatically means we should go into business together,” Liana said skeptically. “Especially since being involved in the mob isn’t exactly the direction I pictured my career going.”