Outspoken Angel (16 page)

Once on solid ground and left to her own
devices, she gave him a lazy smile and swayed treacherously to the
left. Her freefall halted when he closed his hand around her upper
arm.

“You can’t hold your liquor, can you?”

Her eyes widened with false innocence. “I’m
not drunk, I just don’t usually drink, and if I do, one is my
limit. I deserved more today.”

He twisted his mouth in exasperation as he
punched in the alarm code and guided her into the house.

She was using every last drop of her bravery
to ignore her fear, but he felt it. She was scared to death and he
was helpless to comfort her. Helpless was not in his vocabulary. He
would find Stone and Thomas and when he did, nothing would stop him
from obliterating both of them.

She marched past him into the living room.
“That was a total waste of time.”

He bit the insides of his cheeks and demanded
his cool facade stay put. He’d acted like a cocky son-of-a-bitch at
the house earlier, but teasing her seemed to keep her panic at bay.
She probably had no idea she provided as much information as she
had; she had been too busy insulting him. Acid burnt his gut. He
should’ve never taken her there in the first place and leaving her
alone was almost a fatal error. What was it about her that made him
battle his own instinct?

She kicked her two red light specials against
the couch. “Do I even want to know what you’re thinking?”

He felt a familiar twitch between his legs.
Damn shoes. Damn Cameron
. “I’m not thinking.”

She regarded him skeptically as he
fidgeted.

“I’m gonna go shower and change. Would you
feed Maxwell for me?”

More like sober up
. “This time. But
you owe me. I’m not here to feed your cat.”

She waggled her eyebrows. “I’ll make it worth
your while.”

Before he could protest, she gave one last
goofy giggle and ran up the stairs.

* * *

Brett Steele tucked himself between two
branches high in the massive oak tree in the backyard next to
Cameron’s and settled back to enjoy the scenery. He focused on the
perimeter around Cameron’s two-story colonial. Sterling’s truck was
parked in the driveway. A dog barked from somewhere down the block.
Nothing unusual.

Confident no one was watching Cameron’s
house, Steele shifted to scan the rest of the neighborhood. Other
than a few neighbors coming and going, there was little activity in
the area. The warm, dry Arizona afternoon promised to be a lazy one
until a squeak from below captured his attention.

Lifting his binoculars, he focused in on the
doorway of a sliding glass door and the most captivating,
golden-haired goddess he’d ever seen. He shook his head to clear
his vision. Was she naked?

The sexy siren spread a towel over her lounge
chair, sprawled out on top, and sighed softly as the bright
afternoon sunlight caressed her bare skin. She misted her creamy
breasts with her water bottle, her nipples tightening at the touch
of the water.

Oh yeah, she’s naked
. From the tips of
her pink-polished toenails to the tousle of sunkissed hair piled
high on her head.

Thank You, Cpt. Sterling.

He focused the binoculars again, perusing her
body from top to bottom and back again and appreciated every inch
of her bronzed curves. His erection nudged him at the same time his
conscience kicked in.

Shifting to make an adjustment, he stilled as
he felt the sensation of being watched. He squeezed his eyes
closed.
Please, not a snake
. Very slowly, he opened his eyes
and turned to see Cameron standing in her upstairs window, her
angry eyes shooting laser beams at him.

* * *

Max swallowed tightly as he went into the
kitchen, unable to ignore Cameron’s last comment.
I’ll make it
worth your while
. Yeah, she would, if he’d let her. His
erection jumped at the visual of her naked and soaking wet with her
soft, smooth hands smearing bubble gum scented body wash over the
length of her body.

Cat food, cat food.
Digging through
the cabinets, he finally found a can of Seafood Delight, snapped it
onto the can opener and concentrated on its circular motion. He
frowned as the can smacked the countertop. The whirring noise
usually brought the fat cat running to the kitchen.

He listened carefully, expecting to hear a
familiar howl at any moment. Instead, his supersonic hearing tuned
in on the sound of running water and all he could think about were
the droplets sliding across Cameron’s shoulders, down her neck, and
racing to the finish between her legs. He didn’t have to look to
see he had the mother of all hard-ons. Hell, the grandmother of all
hard-ons. He should just put himself out of his misery. Two minutes
tops, that’s all it would take. He’d bend her over the...

“Max!” Cameron bounded down the stairs and
headed for the front door.

“What?” he hissed, shaking his wet dream to
follow her. The minuscule piece of red fabric looped over her
shoulders and across her midsection paralyzed his thoughts and
slowed his footsteps.

“How long has the doorbell been ringing?”

He peeled his eyes from her body. “I didn’t
hear it.”

“Oh, never mind.” She waved her hand at him
and opened the door.

Max felt the air chill when he saw that
Steele stood on the welcome mat with Maxwell tucked under one
arm.

“Maxwell!” Cameron took the purring furball
from Steele and motioned him inside. “Where’d you find him?”

Steele glanced at Max. “He was watching the
fish in the Koi pond next door.”

“And how exactly do you know about the Koi
pond next door?”

Max felt his stomach drop to his knees. He
rubbed his hand across his jaw and backed up against the stairway
railing.
Way to go, Steele
.

Steele shifted from foot to foot. “I was
canvassing the neighborhood.”

In the several seconds of silence that
followed, Maxwell’s green eyes glowed an eerie warning as Cameron
stroked his back.

Cameron tilted her head to the side and eyed
Steele with the same warning. “You know I saw you in the tree.”

Steele cut his eyes at Max as if he expected
to be bailed out. Max cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. Steele
was on his own.

Cameron pursed her lips and lowered the cat
to the floor. Maxwell swished his tail to dismiss all three of them
and pranced away.

“Come on in the kitchen, Brett. Let’s chat
over coffee.”

Max caught the tone of her voice and it
wasn’t a friendly invitation. She was on a head-hunting mission.
Cursing Steele again, he followed.

Motioning for both men to sit, Cameron fed
the cat and filled the coffee maker with coffee.

“Besides the fact my neighbor sunbathes
naked, why are you interested in my neighborhood?” She grabbed
three coffee mugs from the cabinet.

Steele stretched his legs under the table and
propped his hands behind his head. “Captain Sterling asked me to
make sure your house wasn’t under surveillance.”

Max winced. Of course Steele would blame
him.

Cameron jerked and dropped one of the mugs on
the counter. “And,” she said, chasing the mug as it slid down the
length of the marble surface, “he suggested you conduct your
investigation in the middle of the afternoon.”

“Uh, not exactly.”

Steele dropped his hands and cleared his
throat as the coffee maker began to perk. “Captain Sterling called
me to help, Cameron, that’s all.”

Max watched in silence while Cameron
processed Steele’s explanation. Finally, she raised her eyes and
sent him a telepathic message. One he received. Loud and clear.

“I guess telling me you were here slipped
Captain Sterling’s mind.”

“Enough.” Max grabbed a mug and sat next to
Steele. “There’s a lunatic on the loose. Do I need to remind you
that he even left you a gift?”

“Gift?” Steele asked.

Max nodded. “Lingerie.”

“What color?”

Max frowned. “The color is not important,
Steele.”

Cameron gave a smug smile. “Blue.”

Ignoring her input, Max tightened his hold on
his mug. “My point is that he’s getting brave and I need all the
help I can get to catch him.” He glanced at Steele. “He’s desperate
for her attention. He trashed her office yesterday.”

“How’d he get in?” Steele asked.

“Somehow he managed to swipe a maintenance
uniform, complete with ID. Waltzed right passed security.”

“Any tapes?”

“Yeah, but nothing obvious. Just a picture of
a maintenance man who knew exactly how to avoid the camera.”

Max gave Cameron a quick glance before he
continued. She tapped her nails against her mug as if demanding he
get on with his briefing.

He gave Steele a run-down of the morning’s
events. “And someone attempted to nab her while we were there.”

Steele unfolded his arms and braced his
elbows on the table. “Someone? It wasn’t Stone?”

Cameron stopped tapping.

Max scrubbed a hand across his jaw.
“Probably, but something just doesn’t make sense. The owner of the
house is Calvin Thomas. Huntington claims he met him at the gym and
gave him Cameron’s name. How would Stone know that?”

Steele shrugged. “He probably didn’t. He
followed you to the house.”

Max tossed Steele’s explanation through his
brain. Coincidence. Maybe. Was it coincidence that Stone knew about
the attic crawl space in the closet?

Cameron’s dry tone interrupted his analysis.
“Is there anyone else lurking around the neighborhood I need to
know about?”

Max lifted one side of his mouth. “No.”

“I’ll call Holly.”

“No.”

“Yes,” Cameron insisted. “Ogling my neighbor
is not part of the bargain.”

“First of all, this is not a bargain. Some
maniac wants you and he won’t stop until he has you.” He gave
Steele a pointed stare. “Holly is not part of the investigation,
naked or not.” He peered back at Cameron, angry as hell. “No one,
and I mean no one, can know about me or Steele. What part of that
do you not understand?”

The smugness left her expression and her face
paled. “I get it, Big Guy.”

Max clenched his teeth as his anger turned to
lust. As angry as she made him, he wanted her. Bad.

Cameron took a deep breath and squared her
shoulders. “Besides, you said Holly might have seen you in the
window.”

Max tossed a sideways glance at Steele. “I
wasn’t watching her. I just noticed her as I walked by. Hell, it’s
just like she knew I was there.”

Steele shook his head as he stood and placed
his mug in the sink. “I’ll be in touch, Sterling.”

Max nodded as he and Cameron stood to follow
Steele to the door.

“Thanks for bringing Maxwell home,” Cameron
told Steele. “We should have coffee more often.”

Steele gave a slight grin and left the
house.

Cameron shut the door and twisted the lock.
She spun around with fire in her eyes and poked Max’s chest with
her index finger. “So, Brett is doing surveillance in the
neighborhood. From Holly’s tree.”

Max captured her finger and squeezed it in
his fist. He paused at the warmth of skin on skin, tempted to wrap
his lips around her finger and pull it into his mouth. He knew from
experience that would shut her up. That, and make himself miserable
in the process.

He quickly redirected his thoughts. “Put your
weapon away, Annie Oakley. I needed reinforcement.”

Pulling her finger free of his hold, she
wrapped her hand around his clutched fist. “And you just happened
to mention the view was better from Holly’s tree.”

“I didn’t tell him to climb her tree. Steele
made that decision on his own.”

“I’ll bet.”

He prepared to blast her with an elaborate
defense when her fingers began a seductive massage of his knuckles.
His brain fought to formulate a complete sentence as he looked from
his hand into her eyes. She lifted her eyebrows. With no other
choice, he took off his armor and laid his sword at her feet.

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“How come you never call me Cameron,
Maxie?”

Cameron’s bright eyes twinkled with curiosity
as Max studied her for a moment and debated how much to tell her.
Common sense dictated he keep his big mouth shut.

Easier said than done.

She tempted him worse than the devil himself,
and his pitchfork had nothing on hers. The way she taunted and
teased, the pet names she called him, and her kick-ass attitude -
hell, he loved it all.

He loved her.

“Too personal,” he replied evenly. “I can’t
protect you if I’m too close. Names are personal.”

She captured his gaze with hers and the
clear, blue pools drowned him.

“You don’t want to get personal with me?”

Damn. Yes.
“I explained that to you,”
he answered, trying to convince himself.

“So, what happens,” She walked her fingers up
his biceps, “if I decide to get personal with you?”

“I’d have to run.”

She braced her arms on his chest and molded
her soft curves to his hard body.

“You’d better run, Max,” she whispered,
“before you miss the chance.”

Standing on her bare tiptoes, she planted a
soft, wistful kiss on his lips and her mouth nibbled the edge of
his before she stepped back. He hesitated and hoped the split
second time out would restrain his response. His whole body blazed
like an inferno and screamed from the blistering hot pain inflicted
by her touch. Despite his determination, he felt his harnessed
control break free of his ironclad grip. The fight was over. He
couldn’t deny himself any longer.

“Cameron. Michelle. Tremaine.” His voice
scraped his throat like sandpaper. “Don’t tease me.”