Danger Calls (10 page)

She responded with a broad welcoming smile of her own. “That's good. Melissa could use more friends.” She leaned toward him until she could see over the top of the nurses' station. Pointing down the hall, she said, “Right at the end of that hallway. It's the first door to your left.”

“Thanks.”

He arrived at Melissa's office to find she wasn't alone. She was sitting on the sofa with an older man, having some kind of discussion. They failed to notice his arrival, so he tapped softly on the open door to announce himself.

There was a moment of confusion on Melissa's face, followed by a smile so warm and inviting, it sent a blast of heat through him.

“Sebastian.” Melissa rose and motioned for him to enter.

The older man slowly got up from the low-lying couch. When the gentleman was standing, he held out his hand to Sebastian. “Dr. Edward Sloan. And you are?”

Ah, Sloan. The one with the missing time in his life. If that wasn't enough to give Sebastian pause, there was the man's restrained air, which bordered on hostile. He shook the doctor's hand. “Sebastian Reyes. I'm Melissa's friend.”

“A friend?” Sloan questioned. He raised one gray and rather bushy eyebrow and glanced at Melissa. “This is something new, isn't it?”

Definitely hostile. Sebastian waited, almost expectantly, for Melissa's reaction.

She didn't fail him. Slipping her hand into his, she smiled at the older man. “Yes, Edward. It is. We've known each other for several months now.” Melissa glanced up at Sebastian and continued, “Edward is an old friend of my father's.”

He strove for the right tone. Respectful. Courteous. Even though the look the man was giving him was anything but either of those. “It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm sorry I never got to know Melissa's dad.”

“So young man. What do you do?” The question was accompanied by another dose of the hairy eyeball.

“Edward,” Melissa warned, but failed to dissuade the older man.

“My dear. With your parents no longer with us, I somehow feel as if—”

“It's okay, Melissa,” Sebastian said and gently squeezed her hand. “I'm in computers. Security and programming, to be exact.”

“Hmm. My stockbroker tells me that's a rather volatile sector right now.”

Melissa stepped between the two men and motioned Edward to the door. “If you don't mind, Edward. I didn't realize how late it is. Sebastian and I need to go, and I have a few things to finish up before I leave.”

With a polite incline of his head, Edward left and Melissa quickly closed the office door behind him. She faced Sebastian, a pained look on her face. “I'm sorry.”

Sebastian waved off her apology. “It's okay. In a way, the old guy is right.”

Melissa strode to her desk, where she shuffled a few files. “He's got no say in my personal life.”

Her personal life, huh? Sebastian stood behind her, watching over her shoulder while she nervously made her piles of papers and files. “Is it personal now?”

She whirled to face him. “Don't you think? Considering how we left it.”

Sebastian tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “How
did
we leave it?”

“Unfinished?” She brought her hands up to nervously grip the edges of his leather jacket.

“Really? And why would you say that?” He took a step closer, forcing her to lean against the edge of her desk.

“Because as I recall, the pleasure was all mine.” There was a strong stain of color on her cheeks, and he rubbed the back of his hand against that flush.

His skin was cold against her cheek, which was a good thing considering how hot she felt from his nearness. When he took yet another step closer, she was forced to sit on the edge of the desk with her legs straddling his hips. “Sebastian?”

“What do you suppose we should do about last night?” He rested both his hands along the outer slope of her thighs.

Locking her gaze with his, she said, “We take the next most logical step.”

Sebastian laughed, but there was a tinge of hardness to it. “The next most logical step being sex, right? Because for good girls like you, a romp with a guy like me—”

“That's not the way it is,” she said quickly.

He arched one dark brow and forced himself even tighter into the gap between her legs. For good measure, he grasped her buttocks and drew her close.

“Isn't it?” he asked at her sharp gasp of pleasure.

T
his was truly getting interesting.

From the way this man had his hands all over her, he was quite a friend.

Or at least that's the way it appeared from the camera in the picture—the one of Melissa and her parents snapped during a hospital gala—which sat in the middle of her desk. It was in a frame like dozens of others the hospital had purchased and given out to the various attendees. Those pictures sat scattered throughout the building, gathering dust, unlike Melissa's photo, which rested in a place of honor. It was one of the few pictures of the Danvers family all together.

Swiping one of the other less-cherished photos had been easy. Inserting a fiber optic camera and then switching the frames had been a little harder. Monitoring her for nearly two months had been unbearably boring, until finally he'd stolen another journal.

And now this very fascinating development.

Melissa's friend shifted his hands back and forth along the edges of her skirt. He slipped one hand beneath its hem and moved inward while his other hand shot upward, out of camera range. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the destination of that hand.

Surprising. Melissa hadn't seemed like the kind of girl to engage in a quick nooner at her desk. Or was it better to say on her desk?

Either way, this new friendship might present either fresh opportunities or additional problems.

Only time would tell. For the moment, it was time to observe. And enjoy.

 

Melissa clasped her legs together as Sebastian shifted his hand upward. “Please, Sebastian. Don't do this.”

He stopped and cupped the side of her face with his free hand. “Why? So you can be the good girl? Say you didn't really know what you wanted?”

“Because I care, damn it. Because I want to be right with you.” She pulled away from him, skirting back on the desktop.

“Right with me.” Sebastian ground out the words and turned away from her, every line of his body tight with anger, but not at her. At himself. He hadn't meant it to go this way.

Facing her once more, fists clenched at his side, he said, “Would your parents have approved of me?”

“It doesn't matter what anyone thinks besides me.”

She caressed his cheek. “I'm as afraid as you are, maybe more. I don't know about having a normal life. I don't know if I even can.”

Covering her hand with his, he asked, “What if
I
can't?”

“Can't try?”

“Can't give you whatever you need,” he answered honestly.

“Afraid I can't handle it? Well, I can,” Melissa responded, even though in her heart, she wasn't sure she really could. Still, she wanted to try.

Sebastian met her gaze. Her eyes blazed bright blue with determination. Her chin tilted upward in stubborn defiance. He remembered that look well. He'd seen it the night she'd found out that her parents might have been murdered. It was her Girl Power look—the one that said, I don't need you to save me.

But he suspected that she did need him as much as he maybe needed her.

“Well?” Melissa prompted at his prolonged silence.

He liked the spunk that seemed to flare to life only around him. She needed more of that, so he said, “I can deal,” and kissed her.

 

Sebastian picked up the picture of Melissa and her parents. Melissa had been called out of her office for a last-minute consultation, and he'd been intrigued by the photo since he'd sat down in her chair to wait for her return. He examined it carefully, wondering about the people the photographer had captured.

There was no doubting the connection between the three individuals. Frederick Danvers was in the center, with the two petite women standing before him. Most would have said Danvers looked distinguished. But there was a hint of strain evident in the furrow along his brow and in the tight set of his mouth.

Not so with the two women, who wore nearly identical smiles.

It was obvious where Melissa had gotten her good looks. Even with the stamp of illness on her persona, Elizabeth Danvers had been a beautiful woman. If not for the pallor and the frailty visible in the nearly birdlike bones of her shoulders, she would have been as stunning as her daughter.

Melissa.

Her name slipped from his mouth on a sigh, confirming to him just how bad he had it.

She was gorgeous in the photo, in a gown whose blue was as deep as a midnight sky. It matched the jewel-like gleam of her eyes and clung lovingly to her curves. Curves more ample than she had now.

She'd lost weight in the year since the picture had been taken. The photo just confirmed the toll her parents' deaths had inflicted on her. A surge of protectiveness welled up in him again, only this time he didn't battle it. He'd made his decision to give it a go with her, in spite of his misgivings, and he wasn't going to hold back on whatever he was feeling.

As he went to return the photo, something glinted from the edge of the frame, grabbing his attention and dragging something loose from his memory. Using guarded motions so as not to tip anyone off in the event his guess was on the money, he pretended to examine the picture once more. He ran his fingers across the surface of the glass as if in a caress while tilting the frame to catch the light.

Again there came the telltale glint from one corner where the carved black wood met a chrome accent piece surrounding the inner edge. Faking a smile, he placed the frame back on the desk and rose from the chair as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Walking out into the hallway to wait for Melissa, he closed the door behind him. He glanced at his watch. Only ten minutes had gone by.

Leaning against the smooth wall, he slipped his hands into his pockets. Was he just being paranoid, or was there a fiber-optic camera worked into the frame? If he was right, what had he and Melissa mentioned during their talk? What had Melissa discussed with Diana or Ryder from her office?

He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't realize Melissa had returned until she stood directly in front of him, waving a hand in his face.

“Hello! Thinking much?” she teased. She was about to enter her office when he took hold of her arm and gently eased her close to him.

“I think you're being bugged,” he whispered. “Just get your things so we can go home.”

Melissa narrowed her eyes, silently questioning him. When she realized it was no joke, she nodded. “I'll be right back.”

True to her word, she was in and out of the office in less than a minute.

Once they were on the street, Melissa asked, “What makes you think someone was spying on me?”

“I thought I saw something in the frame on your desk. The one holding the picture of you and your parents.”

Melissa made a face. “I've had that frame for nearly a year. Do you mean to tell me—”

“He could have broken into your office. Or—it's a common type of frame—it would be easy to swap it out without you noticing.” Sebastian realized that his long-legged stride was making Melissa have to nearly run to keep up with him so he slowed his pace.

“It would explain how they knew about the journal. Is there any way of making sure?”

Sebastian nodded and paused at the corner as traffic moved past them on First Avenue. “I can bring in my laptop and try to tap into the wireless signal.”

“Why is this happening?” Shaking her head, Melissa let out a resigned, tired sigh. “What next, I wonder? Could something I'm carrying be bugged?”

He wanted to call himself a fool a thousand times over for not thinking beyond the frame in her office. “Yes. Anything new? Anything someone gave you?”

Melissa slung her knapsack from her shoulder and gave its exterior a cursory once-over. Nothing appeared to be on its surface or in the straps. Quickly rifling through it, she confirmed that it held only those things she had placed inside. “Nothing.”

“Good.” The light turned and they resumed their walk. “We'll talk to Diana and Ryder about this later tonight. Hungry?”

“Not really. I ate a big lunch with a friend. Mexican.”

“Your friend's Mexican?” Sebastian teased.

Melissa laughed as he'd intended and playfully jabbed him in the arm. “No, the food. But of course, you knew that.”

He grinned. “
Sí
, but I like seeing you smile.”

“So are
you
hungry?” Melissa asked and slipped her hand into his as they ambled back to her apartment.

Sebastian glanced down at their intertwined hands and his grin broadened. “Always, but I can wait until later. Maybe you'll be hungry by then and we can grab a bite.”

“It sounds like a plan.”

“It definitely does.”