by Jill Shalvis
What she wasn’t gratified by was the sick pit in her stomach. How many times had her big brother tried to teach her self-defense? How many times had she ended up on the mat laughing with Rafe shaking his head in disgust. She wasn’t laughing now, and with all her might she wished he was here.
Tiptoeing to the door, she cracked it open and peeked out. Nothing. She stepped out of the bathroom, brandishing the candlestick out in front of her as if she knew what she was doing.
Up ahead, she could see the vast living room, and beyond that, the kitchen. Then she caught a flash of movement in there and plastered herself against the wall, nearly hyperventilating.
With her pulse at a full marathon rate, she scooted her way down the hallway to the opening of the living room. No one. She moved toward the sliding glass door.
On the other side, in the kitchen before the island, facing away from her, Reilly suddenly appeared. Then he bent down, momentarily disappearing from her view, and when he came up again, there was a gun in his hand.
An involuntary gasp escaped her, and gun out, he whirled. For one dizzy moment all she could see was the muzzle pointed right at her. Before she could blink, he’d uncocked it, or whatever one did when one didn’t intend to shoot after all, and was standing before her, jerking her out of the living room, into the kitchen and around the corner. His laser beam eyes demanded answers but when she opened her mouth he put a hand to it, just as her thug came around the corner, still wearing his jeans and dirty thermal shirt.
When he saw them he raised an arm with a knife.
Reilly shoved her down and kicked the knife out of the guy’s hands with chilling ease, adding another well-placed kick to his stomach.
The guy doubled over, then fell to his knees, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water before he flopped all the way to the floor.
Reilly stood over him. “What are you after?”
The guy offered a snide but interesting suggestion on what Reilly could do to himself. Reilly grabbed him by the hair and calmly lifted, then let his head hit the floor.
Given the squeal of pain this invoked, it was a hard hit.
“What are you after?” Reilly asked again.
“We were just going to mess up the place, that’s all.”
“Why?”
The guy apparently hesitated too long for the impatient Reilly, and got another head bump on the floor.
“Ouch! Stop!”
“Then talk.”
“Okay, look, we were hired to steal his stuff and mess the place up, that’s all.”
Reilly looked unimpressed. “Keep talking.”
“But we just thought since he was going to be gone, we’d camp out and live here for a few days. You know, really trash it in style.”
“Who’s paying you?”
He closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
Reilly stood up. The guy on the floor kicked out to trip him.
Tessa cried out a warning and huddled back against the wall, but Reilly didn’t need her help. He did some sort of karate chop to the guy’s throat and out he went like a light.
There was a coil of rope on the counter and a knife. “Where did those come from?” she whispered.
“From our captors.” Reilly efficiently and quickly tied him up, and when he was done, he nodded curtly to Tessa. “Nice to know you can follow directions.”
“I…” Stunned by what she’d just seen, she just stared at him.
He gave her that long-suffering sigh she seemed to cause. “Call it in.”
“What?”
“I got all four of them,” he said with that eerie calm knack for understating. “Call 9-1-1.”
She started to stand but her knees were knocking together. From her perch on the cold tile floor she could see the other side of the island now, where two men lay bound and gagged.
“The fourth is in the foyer, also prone.” He moved back into the kitchen and picked up the phone on the wall, then shook his head with disgust. “They cut the lines. Come on—”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. For a moment, one very weak moment, she let her hands come to rest on his bare pecs but she resisted the urge to put her head down and beg for comfort because she’d just realized something more than a little unsettling.
Reilly Ledger was not hiding himself behind his tough, rough, dangerously edgy exterior. He was that tough, rough, dangerously edgy exterior.
Standing there, with the bad guys at his feet, he glanced around. Coolly. “Need my cell phone,” he said. “Stay.” He left for a moment, and came back with an armful of clothes that he dropped and started to pull on. A black T-shirt. Black jeans, from which he took out a cell phone and called 9-1-1 while he slid his feet into black athletic shoes.
As he talked to dispatch, he shoved his gun—the one he’d retrieved from one of the men on the floor—into his waistband. She tried not to think about that, that he carried a weapon on him, but she could do little else. She heard a half-hysterical giggle and was surprised to find it had come from her.
“Hey.” He clicked off the phone and looked at her, now fully dressed.
How was it he looked even more devastatingly dangerous fully dressed?
“You okay?”
A question from the man so miserly with words. She started to nod her head, then slowly shook it instead. Overwhelmed by the entire night’s events, by his utter calmness, by everything, she did as she’d wanted to moments ago. She set her head on his chest and hung on for all she was worth.
“Tess—”
She lifted her head. “I’m sorry. I just need…” Their mouths were a fraction of an inch apart. God, he was gorgeous. She was sure he’d hate that, but—“I really need a hug.”
His arms encircled her.
“Thank you,” she whispered, something warm and gushy happening to her insides at his touch. He did that for her, made her feel so secure that she could move on from the fright.
And move on she did. What was it that made her so suddenly, ridiculously turned-on? The danger? The shocking violence Reilly had just displayed? There had to be something sick in that, she decided, but it didn’t take away from the fact that her nipples had hardened and her thighs tightened.
Maybe it was the embrace itself. Or maybe it was simply Reilly’s presence, or the fact that she already knew how good he kissed, how delicious his touch was, but being with him made her feel…she glanced at the restrained bad guys…safe.
It was true. Reilly, for all his brooding intensity, made her feel safe, so she had no idea, no idea at all, why she shivered.
His arms tightened around her. Mouth still so close to hers she could feel his warm breath, he said, “Don’t go into shock now.”
“No.”
His eyes roamed her face, settling on her lips. His arms were banded tightly around her. “You’re still shaking.”
“I think…I think the adrenaline is getting to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think…I want you. I want you a lot.”
With a groan, his eyes became slumberous and…hot, definitely hot. “Tess—” One large hand palmed the back of her head and he slowly changed the angle of his head. Their noses brushed, but not their lips, not quite. Feeling a little desperate, a little like this was her last shot because the police were coming and then it’d be over, she closed the slight gap between them and laid one on him.
She expected to have to coax him out of his contained, tight control, as she had last time, but his mouth opened to hers immediately, and he fed her a hot kiss, holding her to him as if she was the very air he required. He was certainly hers. She lost herself in the sounds of their ravaging kiss, in the feel of his hands running up and down her back, squeezing her bottom, gliding her against the enticing bulge now firmly behind the buttons on his Levi’s.
Don’t stop, was her only coherent thought, and as if he’d heard her, he turned, pressing her against the wall, protecting her from view of any of the men bound on t
he floor. He slid his hand over her breast. His fingers teased her nipple and the sensation dissolved her bones. But then he pulled his mouth back slightly, breathing harder than when he’d fought the bad guys.
She’d done that to him, and the power that knowledge infused her with was shocking. “That…that was some adrenaline rush.”
Another pass of his thumb over her nipple. “Yeah.”
She would have slid to the floor if he hadn’t been holding her up. She needed a bucket of ice water, something to bring back her temporarily vacationing sanity—
The sound of a siren coming closer did just the trick.
* * *
THE SUN FULLY ROSE as they all stood on Eddie’s driveway. In the bright L.A. sunshine, surrounded by officers, Reilly answered all the questions he could. Yes, he was Eddie Ledger’s son. Yes, Eddie had known he’d be coming by, because he’d left Reilly a note—one of many in the past ten years since he’d decided he wanted back in his son’s life. No, the note hadn’t specifically said to come by last night, just that he’d wanted to talk.
Eddie always wanted to talk these days. The man had grown up, just ask him and he’d be happy to tell you. He’d also be happy to tell you that Reilly needed to accept that they were a family, father and son. To prove it, he was constantly barging into his son’s world with a wide smile and a full wallet, because he wasn’t picky—he’d buy his way into Reilly’s affections if he had to. He wanted Reilly to come to watch the Lakers with him, he wanted Reilly to hop on a plane to Barbados with him, he wanted…so much Reilly had no idea how to take it.
He’d compromised, accepting temp office workers from Eddie’s vast and surprisingly talented working pool when his office manager needed the extra help, which she usually did. But up until now, that had been about the extent of it.
So, no, he told the officer, he didn’t know Eddie’s regular habits enough to know if the burglars had been watching him. He didn’t know Eddie’s enemies—only that given his various corporations and their successes, he was sure to have them. And, no, he didn’t know why Eddie had sent him a note if he was going to be out of town. As he said, when it came to his father’s life, he knew very little.
The police hauled the four perps out of the house and into the backs of two different squad cars.
Tessa was being questioned, too, by a woman cop, and was nodding vigorously. Then she pointed at Reilly, and followed it with a look that changed considerably when she saw him looking right back at her. She went from cool and calm to flustered and blushing.
She could have been thinking any number of things, but he figured there were two things in particular that might put that look on her face.
Two kisses.
He’d lost it with her, and if he was being honest, which he nearly always was, it had been more than just the lip-locking. Somewhere in the dark of the night he’d shown her a little something of himself, something he liked to keep hidden.
One thing his work had always shown him, first in the military and then in the CIA, was how important it was to keep the real Reilly deep within where no one could touch him; not a commanding officer, not the enemy, no one.
Tessa, whether she knew it or not, had seen glimpses of the man he hadn’t shown anyone in years. If ever. Sure, he’d hugged and kissed and touched more than his share of women, but none as innocently as he just had with her. And none had left him in the morning with this vague uneasy knowledge that he’d like more.
Wrong place, wrong time, wrong woman.
Well, maybe wrong place, wrong time, but he couldn’t help feeling she was right. Which is why he needed the hell out.
She was looking at him again and still talking. What the hell did the woman have to say that it could possibly take so long? Her eyes were shuttered a bit as she spoke now, watching him watch her. Shuttered and a bit wary.
Maybe she was no more thrilled than he was to have this face-to-face in-the-light-of-day thing. In fact, she looked downright embarrassed.
Because of what they’d done? Because of what, for one night, they’d been to each other? They could just go their own separate ways, and forget all about this last long night from hell. He’d go to his office, and she’d go to…wherever she belonged.
And that was a good thing, a very good thing.
* * *
WHEN REILLY FINALLY got home, to the house on the top of the bluff in South Pasadena where he could see for miles and miles and no one could see him, he stripped—all the way to the skin this time. He took a long, hot shower, ate, and then headed for bed, hitting play on his message machine as he did.
“Reilly.”
Naked, Reilly stopped in the middle of his bedroom and looked at the machine.
“Just had a call from the cops.”
His father, of course. How like him not to bother to identify himself.
“Christ, did they really wreck the place? I hope you managed to save my Beemer, and that they didn’t take her out for any joyrides,” Eddie said, laughing softly.
That was Eddie. Everything was all one big joke, including life.
“Anyway…I hear you took care of Tessa. She’s special, isn’t she? Such a sweet kid.”
Reilly would give her the sweet part. Sweet and…hot. He was still scorching from their last connection.
But kid? He had no idea how he’d ever thought it.
“I’m glad you were there for her.”
Would Eddie still be so glad if he’d seen how Reilly had nearly devoured her in the servant’s bed? Or how about in the kitchen, pressed there against the wall with his hand up her shirt? Just the thought of that little scene revved his exhausted engines all over again. If the police hadn’t come when they had—
“She’s the best temp I have,” Eddie continued. “Anyway, I’m coming home early, tomorrow morning.”
Well, wonders never cease, Eddie was actually going to take this seriously enough to cut short something fun. Amazing.
“Anyway, son, I just wanted to thank you.”
Reilly didn’t want to be thanked. He wanted to be left alone.
“Means a lot, that you took care of me like that,” Eddie said into the room.
Yeah, like you always took care of me? Reilly lay on his bed and studied his open-beamed ceiling, wishing he’d turned the volume off on the machine. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said to the phone, as if Eddie could hear him.
“I’m just glad you were there. She’s one of my favorite employees.”
If that wasn’t a load of crap. They both knew damn well that as long as the employees were female, they were all Eddie’s favorites.
“Call me. You know my cell.”
Reilly closed his eyes. He meant to drift off, he’d long ago taught himself to clear his mind and sleep at will.
Only today his mind wouldn’t clear and sleep evaded him.
Instead, he pictured mossy wet eyes and lips that tasted like heaven—when they were kissing him, that is, and not talking.
CHAPTER 6
TESSA WENT HOME to her little apartment, trying not to think. She didn’t want to remember facing those burglars and she didn’t want to remember meeting Reilly. And she really didn’t want to remember what she’d done with him, because to have lusted like that so quickly, so…fiery, was just damn uncomfortable in the light of day.
Being just outside downtown Los Angeles, she had a lovely view of the city line, complete with smog to the south and the Angeles Crest Mountains to the north.
She parked beneath the carport and felt smug about getting a covered spot—normally she was forced to park in the blazing hot sun. But normally she wasn’t coming home at ten in the morning on a Saturday either.
She got out of her VW but instead of seeing her place, she saw Eddie’s. She remembered how Reilly had looked standing outside the house, his dark hair gleaming beneath the sunrise, his face not giving away much of anything. He’d stood there with easy confidence and a relaxed air, even though she knew damn well he wasn’t
relaxed.
They hadn’t said goodbye.
Her building was red brick with white trim, and being mid-spring, the small yard was out in full bloom. Since her sister, Carolyn, who was in charge of the landscaping for the place, hadn’t yet mowed, Tessa sank in up to her ankles as she crossed the small lawn to her front door. Two-B, home sweet home, where there were no nasty-tempered burglars, no guns, no small gray cots and no tall, dark and wildly magnificent strangers who kissed so well she lost brain cells every time she thought about it.
She sighed and fished through her purse for her keys. Everything seemed so normal here, so quiet, it was hard to believe what the last twenty-four hours had held.
Her sister popped out of apartment One-B so fast Tessa dropped her keys.
“So did you forget my phone number?” Carolyn asked very politely, tossing back her long, dark-blond hair.
Oh boy, the queen of the Delacantro household was ticked. “No, I didn’t forget your phone number.”
Eyes that matched her own flashed at her and Tessa sighed. Carolyn thought of Tessa as her little chick, and she really hated it when her little chick didn’t toe the line. “Then maybe you got swept off your feet by a wild hunk of a man who held you prisoner all night long,” she suggested. “Maybe that’s why you didn’t call me to join you at your boss’s fancy house.”
A half-hysterical laugh bubbled out of Tessa. “You know, that’s just close enough to the truth to be scary. Except—” She opened her apartment door, not surprised when her sister followed her inside.
Her sister always came in uninvited, ate her ice cream uninvited, felt obligated to tell Tessa she was wrong on a regular basis uninvited…and Tessa loved her anyway.
She tossed her purse and keys into the wicker basket on the floor where she put everything she didn’t want to lose, sank to her couch, and sighed in pleasure. God, it felt like it’d been a year since she’d been home.
“Except…what?” her sister asked.
“Well, while he was a rather wild hunk, he didn’t hold me prisoner all night long. Four other guys did that.”
Carolyn laughed.
Tessa didn’t.