Dangerous Secrets (7 page)

“I like pancakes,” he said. “But really, anything
would be fine.”

Somehow she wasn’t buying that, given his reaction
to the cereal idea.

Shifting around, he cupped her cheek, and with his
thumb under her chin, tipped her face up gently. “You don’t have to cook for
me, Mallory,” he said in a very intimate tone. “It was never part of the
arrangement. I’m more than capable of fending for myself. But that means
letting me in your kitchen.” He grinned slowly.

What? Let him into her kitchen?
Her
baby?
“Ah, no, that’s fine, I’ll do the cooking,” she assured him.
Patting his chest, she nodded with a smile.

“Thought you’d say something like that.
Though the look of absolute terror on your face was kind of cute,” he
teased.

Oh! “You rat,” she smacked his chest. “That is
mean.”

He was laughing too hard to answer her, so she went
to smack him again. But he caught her hand instead and brought it up to press a
kiss to her palm.

Shock whipped through her at the feel of his warm,
firm lips pressing to her skin. Her belly clenched and a wave of need slid
through her, ending at her pussy. Licking her lips, she nearly whimpered when
he moved her hand and brought his mouth closer to hers.

“I think you should get up, Mallory.”

Well, that certainly was a mood killer.

“Because, if you don’t,” he added, leaning in
closer until she could feel the warmth of his breath. “I won’t let you up for a
very, very long time.”

And, just like that, her body was on fire again.
She did whimper this time.

She needed a very cold shower and a lot of projects
to keep her mind off his words and the underlying promise. “I think I’ll get
up,” she said, breathless despite her best efforts.

For a moment, Trent actually looked disappointed.
Then it was gone and he nodded. “Probably best,” he said, not sounding like he
believed it.

Licking her lips, Mallory pushed upright and
scraped her hair back from her face. Making a face as her fingers found the
tangles, she groaned.

Trent was climbing off the bed and stretching when
she looked over. Holy shit, the man was seriously built.
Hard,
hard and even more hard.

Not good thoughts to be having. Tossing the
blankets off
she
slid out of bed, holding the bottom
of the shirt down so he hopefully didn’t get more of a view than he was already
getting.

“I’ll grab a quick shower and then you can get one
in there while I get something cooking,” she told him as she went to her
armoire. Digging around she found a pair of yoga pants, a bra, underwear and a
shirt.

“Sounds good,” he said, right behind her.

Spinning around, she jumped a little. He was right
there. “Okay,” she nodded and moved to go around him.

But he caught her around the waist and drew her
back until she was pinned between him and the big piece of furniture. Staring
up at him, she licked her lips again and tried, desperately, to slow her
breathing down.

“Mallory,” he said, his head lowering. “Are you
running away from me?”

Was she? Shaking her head, she shivered as he got
closer. “No. Why would I run from you?” she asked. Damn, that was so not her
voice.

Chuckling, Trent brushed a kiss to her cheek.
“Well, it sure seems like you’re running away from me, sweetheart.”

“Nope, not running.
Couldn’t really, as I have this very large, hot and
sexy male holding me hostage currently.”
Holy shit! Did she really just
say that?

He stilled and then lifted his head, a huge smile
curling his lips. “Did you just call me sexy?”

“No. That was my evil twin that took over for a few
minutes.”

Trent burst out laughing at that and gave her a
hug. “Go and have your shower. I’m going into your kitchen and starting coffee.
So be quick or I might start poking around in drawers and shit.”

“Don’t you dare,” she said in horror. “Trent,
please,
be
good.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugged.

As soon as he let her go she bolted for the
bathroom. Five minutes. She would be in and out in five minutes, come hell or
high water. Stripping, she jerked on the water and then tapped her foot as she
waited to get past the blast of ice water.

“What does this shiny thing with the knobs do?” she
heard him call out.

Argh! She barely resisted the urge to race out
there to see what he was up to.

Ice water hit her hand and then warmed back up and
then she jumped in the shower.

Chapter Eight

Chuckling as he listened to Mallory scramble around
in the bathroom, Trent shook his head.
“Silly woman.”
He’d make the coffee and maybe move one thing. That way, she’d be kept guessing
about what he had been up to.

It was a great plan really. Whistling under his
breath, he got her top of the line coffee maker up and running and then looked
around.

“What to move? What to move?” He grinned.

He loved the idea of messing with her. It was just
too much damn fun.

“Oh, you’ll do just fine,” he said. Moving to a
drawer he pulled it open ever so slightly and then adjusted the alignment of
the crockpot just a smidge. It would have her going insane as she put
everything back and checked everything else.

The water shut off. “Wow, that has to be a new
record for a woman in the shower,” he muttered, with a glance to the clock.

Five minutes.
Absolutely had to
be a record.

Going into his room, he collected a pair of jeans
and a shirt before lounging outside the bathroom.

Mere seconds later, Mallory emerged with a gust of
warm air and eyed him up and down suspiciously. Grinning, he leaned in and
kissed her cheek. “Coffee’s on,” he told her before slipping around her and
shutting the bathroom door.

He couldn’t hear her but he knew she bolted for the
kitchen as soon as he got out of sight. That was fine. He expected nothing less,
given he’d pretty much provoked her into it.

It was fun messing with her, he thought, as he
stepped under the water.

Especially since she was messing with
him.
He didn’t know if she realized it yet, but she would by the end of the
day.

Grabbing her bottle of shampoo, he took a sniff and
with a shrug, squeezed a bit into his hand. It was a little fruity for his
taste, but beggars could not be choosers. He really needed to move some of his
stuff into the bathroom so he wouldn’t use up all her supplies.

After doing a quick wash, thankfully with unscented
soap, he climbed out. Drying off, he pressed an ear to the door but didn’t hear
anything.
At all.

That could be a very bad sign. Dressing quickly, he
eased the door open. She wasn’t out there, but he still didn’t hear anything.
Frowning now, he dumped his laundry in his room and moved to the kitchen
quickly. He didn’t like not knowing where she was. His gut clenched at the idea
she might be in trouble and he’d let it happen. Peeking around the wall, he saw
she was stirring something at the counter.

The crockpot was back in place and the drawer was
tightly closed again. Smiling, he moved over to the coffee pot as he forced his
body to relax and poured some into one of the mugs sitting out. Turning, he
propped a hip to the counter and watched her.

“What are you making?”

“Pancakes,” she said, shooting him a bland look.

“Nice. Need any help?”

That earned him another look. “Nope, I’ve got this”
she said with a smile.

The smile worried him.
A lot.
“Okay. I’ll just check in with the boss and see if anything’s come up on the
case from the additional information I sent them yesterday.”

Mallory just nodded and kept smiling. Oh, hell. He
was in serious trouble.

Sometimes retreat was the only option available, so
he got out of there.

When she finally called him in for breakfast, he
approached with caution. His momma didn’t raise
no
fool.
A prankster, absolutely, a fool, definitely not.

She was at the stove flipping some pancakes when he
walked in. Setting his cup by the very full plate he went over to her.
“Mal?”

“Mm-
hm
?” she hummed.

Okay, this wasn’t going well. Slipping his arms
around her waist, he put his chin on her shoulder.
A feat and
a half really given how short she was.
“Mal?” he said.

He could feel her laughing as she set the spatula
aside.
“Yes, Trent?”

“How much trouble am I in?” he asked.

She was really laughing now and began to turn.
Lifting his head out of the way, he looked down at her as she faced him.

“You’re not in trouble, you goofball. But don’t
mess with my kitchen again,” she said, poking his chest lightly.

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded.

Huffing out a breath, she squeezed his arm. “Go and
eat before it gets cold.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said again. Leaning in, he pressed
a kiss to her cheek. “Thank you for not killing me.”

“Go, before I change my mind,” she said with
another laugh. Giving him a push, she grinned at him before turning back to the
stove.

****

“Do you have an update?” the man asked as he
settled behind his desk.

“Unfortunately not, sir,” the other man in the
office told him. “We can’t get into the building at the moment. They have a
maintenance team in there doing some work on the old pipes as well as their
security provider replacing cameras and stuff. Until they are gone, we’re not
getting near the place.”

Slamming his hand down on the desk, he glared at
the man. “We only have three weeks before the announcement is made. I need that
drive in my possession by then.”

“We know that, sir. But you insisted on a low
profile after the fiasco Ulrich created.”

“I know that!” he yelled. Forcing himself to calm,
he rubbed his fingers to his temples. “When are the crews to be done with their
work?”

“The security guys said two days, but the
maintenance guys are scheduled for a week. Given the age of the building and
the pipes in there, they seem quite hopeful,” the man reported.

“Fine, fine.
That still gives us two weeks to get the drive back. Don’t miss the
window,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

“And, so we’re clear,” he said as the other man
went to leave. “If she doesn’t give it up, use whatever means necessary to get
the information from her. Just make it clean. No more mistakes like Ulrich’s.”
Who, because of his mistake, was now swimming with the fish, as the mob used to
like to
say.

“Understood, sir.”

****

“Can we get out of here for a bit?” Mallory asked Trent.

Looking to her, he glanced around at the C&M
crew that had invaded her apartment and then back. “Yeah, we can,” he said.
“Grab a jacket and shoes. We’ll go for a walk.”

She looked so
relieved,
he
winced when her back was turned. He really should have been the one to think of
getting out of the team’s way earlier. Sighing, he went over to Vincent, the
head tech-guy, and let him know he was getting Mallory out of the way while
they finished up.

“I’ll stick around if we’re done before you get back,”
Vincent said. “I’ll have to go over everything with her and get her to pick the
code she wants to use.”

“We shouldn’t be long. But she’s going stir crazy
and
isn’t liking
having so many people poking around
her place while she can see it.”

“I totally get that,” Vincent chuckled. “Go, I’ll
see you when you get back.”

Trent paused as he looked around. “Vincent,
whatever you do, don’t touch anything in her kitchen. She’s like a mama bear
protecting her cubs when it comes to that room.”

The look on Vincent’s face had Trent readying for
the coming Apocalypse. Relief poured through him when the other man punched
Trent on the shoulder. “I won’t mess with the lady’s stuff. Go, have some fun,
get her to relax before her head explodes.”

Thanking him Trent grabbed his jacket, a weapon and
his phone. Snagging his wallet, he smiled at Mallory as she came back out of
her room to join him. Taking her hand in his, he led her out of the apartment.

Down on the street, he looked around before leading
her away from her building.

He chose to go the opposite direction of the park.
No sense prodding an open wound.

For a time they just walked in silence, but he knew
she was thinking. Hell, he could practically hear the wheels turning. Spotting
a cafe, he tugged her gently across the street.