Red Light Green Light: Are You Game?, Book 3

by Rhian Cahill

  “You don’t know them?”

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  “Wow. That takes balls.”

  Kelsey laughed. “I think it was balls they were after.”

  “Jeez.” He let go of her waist and cupped one elbow. “C’mon, let’s get back to the table to warn everyone.”

  “Why warn them? They’re big boys, I’m sure they can take care of themselves.” Kelsey tugged her arm from his grasp and moved a step in front before they entered the main room of the bar.

  “A couple have had a few too many, and with vultures like that hanging around, someone’s bound to get themselves in trouble.”

  West placed his hand on her lower back and steered her through the crowd. The place had gotten busier while she’d been hiding in the bathroom. It didn’t help that their group had taken up residence all the way in the back of the room.

  “Hey, we’re heading out now. Anyone want a lift?” West asked when they reached the table. After a no from everyone, he scanned the area, spotted the two women from the bathroom and nodded his head in their general direction. “Blonde and blonder in the far corner are on the prowl. Don’t anyone be stupid.”

  Zac glanced over and paled. “Shit. Again?”

  “You know them?” Kelsey asked.

  Zac let out a gush of air and slouched down in his seat. “Yeah, worst luck. Blonder—I think her name is something stupid like Lolli—is the younger sister of that footballer who was in the papers a few months ago. You know the one up on assault charges.”

  Kelsey laughed. “It’s Candy, but I guess Lolli is close.”

  “What?” Zac asked.

  “She introduced herself in the bathroom when she recognised me as someone who’d been talking to you.”

  Zac’s mouth hung open.

  “How the hell do you know her?” West asked Zac.

  “She came into the office with her brother every damn time he met with his lawyers. Barely legal and on the hunt for a sugar daddy that one.”

  By now, all the guys had craned their necks for a better look, and Kelsey wasn’t surprised when Blonder—Candy—headed in their direction, her friend trailing behind.

  “Shit,” West muttered when he saw what Kelsey was looking at. “We’re outta here. Catch you all later.”

  Kelsey barely managed a goodbye over her shoulder when West spun around and towed her across the room.

  Chapter Two

  West pulled into Kelsey’s driveway and killed the engine. The drive had been filled with mundane chatter about work and of course her usual nagging about his need for an office manager. He’d been fighting her on that for months now, but truth be told, she was right. He needed someone in the office fulltime because the hours he put in on paperwork around everything else he did weren’t cutting it anymore. But if he had to have anyone poking around the innards of Weston’s, he wanted Kelsey. And she refused to take the job.

  He slipped the key from the ignition and opened his door. He had one foot on the ground when Kels grabbed his arm and stopped him from getting out.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice a little high—a little tight.

  “Getting out.”

  “Why?” She dug her fingers into his forearm.

  Okay. This was interesting. “Um, because we’re at your house?”

  “Yes, but you don’t have to come in.”

  West arched an eyebrow at her obvious horror at the thought of him coming inside. “I wasn’t planning to come in, Kels. But I don’t plan on sitting in your car all night either.”

  “Oh. Right.” She licked her lips and West was hit with the urge to lean over and follow her tongue with his. “Okay. I’ll see you later then.”

  Before he could make sense of the conversation, or her fear, she was out of the car and hurrying along the footpath. “What the hell?” he mumbled as he climbed out of the car and, shaking his head, shut the door behind him. Unlike Kels, West took his time walking to her door.

  She’d stopped on the path, her hand stretched out in his direction, her gaze directed at the ground. “I need my house key.”

  He’d figured as much, but she’d jumped out of the car before he could hand over her key ring. West wasn’t sure what had her so flustered, but she was as twitchy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

  He held out her keys.

  She snatched them from him before she turned on her heel and launched herself up the step. Except her shoe clipped the edge and she tipped forward, quickly on her way to meeting the floor with her face. West lunged for her and managed to grab her shirt. In a split second, he realised he couldn’t stop her fall with his limited hold. With a hard yank, he pulled her towards him. The action spun her around and brought her close enough for him to wrap his other arm around her waist.

  He pulled her against him. Bracketing her torso with his arms, West hauled her up until her chest was flush with his and her feet dangled above the ground. Her body went taut as air rushed from her lungs like a punctured balloon. In this position, they were eye to eye, and he took in her expression. Fear and shock filled her gaze before another emotion overtook them. She sucked in a deep breath and her breasts rose to press against him. West didn’t miss the hard points of her nipples digging in to him.

  “Kels.” Her name was no more than a breath, and in the next second, he ditched all common sense and slanted his mouth over hers.

  She didn’t fight him like he expected. Instead, she melted into him. She thrust her tongue out to stroke over his and he took the unspoken invitation to explore. Memories bombarded him. Images of her naked beneath him. Of his mouth and hands searching out every sensitive spot on her lithe body. Except she wasn’t the same as before. There were new curves, new slopes, and West struggled to control the need to rip her clothes off and discover every one of them.

  West moaned when she slid her hands over his shoulders and up his neck until her fingertips tangled in his hair. It was a little long, in need of a trim, but right now, with Kels tugging on the ends, West vowed to never cut it again if she just kept up the sexy pull. His groin throbbed as blood rushed to fill his cock with heat. The sweet ache he always felt around Kels exploded into a blinding flash of pain that singed his insides.

  He had to have her.

  Had to bury himself so deep nobody could tell them apart.

  A growl rumbled in his chest as he gripped her arse and pressed his hard length into her. The way he held her meant they were lined up perfectly, and he took the single step to her porch without looking. He kept going until he had her trapped between his body and her front door.

  Timber rattled and Kels tore her mouth from his. He saw the second the lust haze cleared. The second she realised what they were doing and where they were doing it. He’d never forced himself on a woman, and he wouldn’t be starting with this one no matter how much he craved her. So when she shoved her hands against his shoulders and wiggled in his arms, he slipped his hands to her hips, took a step back and lowered her to the floor. It took strength he didn’t know he had to let go of her completely.

  Her mouth worked. Opened. Closed. Only nothing came out, and West couldn’t think of one damn word to say either. Well, none that weren’t about getting naked and continuing inside. It took him a moment of dragging in deep breaths to clear his head, but once he did, he knew there was no way they were going to finish what they’d started. He could see the big red light she’d turned on. Kels didn’t need to say a word, it was written all over her face, blazed in her sky-blue eyes.

  That one taste was all he was getting tonight, and unless he wanted to start an argument and push her farther away, he had to suck it up and keep his raging lust in check. Glancing at her hands, he saw she no longer held her keys. He turned around and spotted them lying on the path. She must have dropped them while they were locked at the lips. With a grimace o
f pain, West leapt off the single step and bent to scoop up her key ring. The tight fit of his jeans wasn’t kind to the full-blown hard-on he sported.

  Hiding his discomfort behind a smile, he turned and headed back to her door. He made quick work of sliding the key into the lock and swinging the door wide before pressing the keys into her hand. If he was going to do the right thing and leave, he had to do it now.

  “I’ll catch you later.” He gripped her elbow and urged her inside. West tried not to laugh at the shell-shocked look on her face, but he couldn’t hold back the smile curling his lips. “See you Monday.”

  “M-monday?”

  “Yep. Tax time, remember?” The look of horror that passed over her face made him chuckle. “Does that look mean I’m in for a bill other than yours?”

  “What? Oh no. I’d forgotten all about our meeting, that’s all.”

  He’d just bet she had. After that kiss, West was lucky to remember his name. He smiled and leaned into the house, making her jump back a step. But she needn’t worry, he wasn’t about to touch her again. Not tonight. “Lock the door.”

  West pulled the door closed and waited for the deadlock to click into place before he left. Good thing it was a ten-minute walk home. He thought about running the distance to disperse some of the energy buzzing in his veins. But a walk in the cold night air would help cool him off. Plus, he had a lot of thinking and planning to do. She may have been on board with their kiss, but the second sanity had returned, she’d backed right away without moving a step. They’d been building up to that kiss for months. Every time he’d gotten close, she’d managed to pull away.

  But tonight she’d given him a green light. The first. She’d opened up and let him in, and he’d be damned if he let her throw up that red light permanently. West had no doubt he was in for a bumpy trip in his pursuit of Kelsey, but as long as he got to the destination he was aiming for, he’d put up with a few stop-starts.

  Kelsey took a deep breath and got out of the car, lugging her briefcase over the console behind her. She’d been dreading this meeting since Friday night when West had left her breathless and confused with her door closed between them. And frustrated. God. He’d left her so sexually wound up that she’d resorted to taking care of things herself every night since. Three times and she still walked on the jagged edge of arousal.

  She’d barely made it through the weekend without tearing her hair out. Or driving over to West’s place to demand he finish what he started. The smoldering desire she’d lived with for years had turned into a blaze with only a kiss. Then again, her body knew what he could do when he set his mind to it, and surely he’d improved his skills over the last ten years. She shivered. Lord, just the thought of what he’d learned had her pulse skipping and her insides melting.

  He’d had serious talent as a novice, and he hadn’t been afraid to try something new or push for more all those years ago either, so he was bound to have gotten better. Another shiver skipped over her skin, pulling a wave of goose bumps behind it. Her stride faltered as the door to West’s building opened and the man himself stepped out.

  “Hey, I’ve been waiting for you.” He came towards her, his hand outstretched. “Let me take that for you.”

  She let him take her bag more because she didn’t have the brain power to protest than anything else.

  “Tough day?” he asked as he placed a hand on her lower back and guided her towards the door.

  “What? Oh, no, not really. But it’s been a full one.” Kelsey wasn’t about to tell him she hadn’t slept well since their kiss. He already had enough power over her without giving him that piece of information.

  “Have you eaten?” West reached out to open the door. “I can make you a snack if you’re hungry.”

  “No. I’m good. I grabbed a burger for lunch.” As soon as the words left her mouth she knew she was in trouble.

  “A burger?” He pulled her to a stop. “Please tell me you are not referring to one of those things they serve at the Golden Arches.”

  Kelsey ducked her head. “Then I won’t.”

  “Jeez, Kels, you can’t live on that crap.”

  “I don’t. I eat other stuff.”

  “Frozen diet meals don’t count in the not-crap column either.”

  Damn. He knew her so well. “Fine. I promise to eat better if you promise to take my advice and hire a fulltime office manager.” Kelsey wasn’t above using her capitulation to get something she wanted. It didn’t matter that it was something West needed desperately.

  “Deal. When do you start?”

  “I’ll start by making a healthy chicken salad for dinner tonight.”

  “I’m talking about work.”

  “What?”

  “I’m happy for you to continue seeing your regular clients out of here if that makes things easier.” West steered her into the small windowless room he used as an office.

  “Wait. What?” Had she missed something he said? She must have, because she was completely lost in this conversation.

  “Sit. I’ll get you a drink.” He pushed her into the chair behind his desk and left the room before she could blink.

  What the hell had just happened? Kelsey ran back over every word they’d spoken, and even though she thought she had a handle on it, the outcome didn’t make any sense. West was talking as if she’d agreed to be his new office manager. It wasn’t the first time he’d suggested it, but she’d never believed he meant it as a real possibility. He couldn’t be serious. Could he?

  She mulled over the idea while pulling files out of her briefcase. Spying a folder overflowing with invoices, Kelsey tried not to panic at the thought of all those numbers not being entered into the relevant spreadsheets she’d set up for West’s business. With a sinking feeling, she began leafing through the paperwork on his desk. She’d just booted up his computer when he came back in.

  “Here. This will go a long way to repairing the damage that processed burger is doing to your system.” He placed a bright-green drink in front of her.

  “What the hell is that?” Kelsey leaned over and took a sniff. “Banana?”

  “Yep, with some extra nutrients thrown in.”

  Oh God. He was feeding her one of those super smoothie things his sister made. Kelsey scrunched up her nose as she took another sniff.

  “Just drink it. It won’t kill you.” He flopped into the chair on the other side of his desk.

  “But it’s green.”

  “It’s only kale and spinach. Nothing sinister, I promise.”

  Kelsey eyed the glass as she picked it up and brought it to her lips. She took a tentative sip and was surprised by the sweet banana flavour that burst across her tongue. Taking a bigger drink, she tried to determine what else he’d added to it.

  “Good?” West watched her with a grin on his face.

  “It’s okay.” Kelsey wasn’t about to admit the damn thing tasted yummy. She took another drink before she put the glass down and opened the file that held West’s tax documents. “Now if you’ll pull up the spreadsheets for me, I’ll get started.”

  “Ah, yeah, about that…”

  She glanced up, eyebrows raised.

  “I kinda, sorta haven’t gotten to those.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the overflowing folder.

  “Dammit, West.” This was going to take so much longer than she’d thought—hoped. With a sigh, she leaned back in the chair. “You promised me this year would be different.”

  “I know. And it would have been. But time got away from me, and today I got caught up in the kitchen.”

  Kelsey held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear excuses. This is why you need an office manager.”

  “I know.”

  “Then hire one.”

  “I want you.”

  The words hung in the air between them. He’d said those exact wor
ds numerous times before when they’d talked about his need for a fulltime manager, but after Friday night’s kiss, those three simple words took on a whole new meaning.

  From head to toes, everything tightened, warmed and tingled, and a full-body shiver rolled over her. His eyes went dark, his gaze laser-like in its intensity, and Kelsey’s breath hitched. She licked her lips, her tongue sticking on the dry surface. West’s hands fisted on his thighs and her eyes were drawn to the bulge in his pants. He didn’t hide from her, and if she was reading him right, he wanted her to know exactly what he wanted her for.

  “West.” His name was a plea on her lips, but Kelsey had no clue what she was asking for.

  “Take the job, Kels.” The words came through clenched teeth.

  “I have a job. A business.”

  West sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. As she watched, his shoulders relaxed and his hands opened. “Yes, and we both know that things are going to get slow now that tax season is coming to an end.”

  “I still have clients,” she argued.

  He nodded. “And I’ll bet you next year’s profits that you can manage those as well as Weston’s. With your hands tied behind your back.”

  Kelsey opened her mouth to argue further, but she couldn’t come up with another excuse to refuse the job. Not without revealing her feelings, and she wasn’t ready for West to know how deep those went. Besides, her business was about to shrink, and with it her income. Not that she was in any danger of going broke. Tax time might be exhaustingly busy, but it was also extremely lucrative. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the chair.

  Leather creaked, but she kept her eyes shut, not wanting to see him just now for fear one look into those storm-cloud eyes would seal her fate. His feet brushed over the concrete floor as he moved around, and it only took a moment to work out he was walking around the desk towards her. She heard him crouch down beside her, felt the light brush of his hand over her denim covered knee.