Secret Obsession (romantic suspense) (Red Stone Security Series Book 12) (2 page)

“Yeah, of course. Why don’t you come over for dinner Sunday? Her mom gave us a couple casseroles,” he tacked on when she would have automatically asked if he was cooking or Belle was.

“I’ll be there.” After giving her two cousins another quick hug, she nodded once at Ford, who’d been quiet as usual. “Nice to see you again, Ford.”

He just watched her with that brooding stare he seemed to have down pat, and made a sort of grunting sound that could have meant any number of things. And damn it, she kinda liked it. Which was ridiculous. She was no one to him. Just Grant, Porter and Harrison’s younger cousin.

Just as she reached the door, Porter said, “Hey, are you going to the Celebration of Chefs event tomorrow night? Harrison said something about you and Athena maybe going. If you are, you can catch a ride with me and Lizzy.”

Thanks to Porter’s generosity she was renting a one-bedroom condo in the same high rise he lived in with his wife. Many, many floors below them, and her place was a lot smaller, but it was a great home. She knew they’d bought it as an investment and had been planning to rent it out, and when they’d offered to let her rent it, it had been impossible to say no. Partially because of the way they’d guilt-tripped her into it but also because it was a safe place and they’d given her such a great deal.

“I won’t need a ride, but thanks. I’m going with someone.” When her phone started ringing she used it as an excuse to race out of there before they could question her about her ‘date’ that wasn’t actually a date. They wouldn’t see it that way though.

She actually had gone on one date with him back in Vegas but since then she’d made it clear she just wanted to be friends and he was okay with it.

She’d dated other guys in Miami since, but nothing ever went past the first date. And she knew it was because she was so incredibly attracted to Ford “too sexy for his own good” Burke.

* * *

“What’s that look?” Ford asked as Grant and Porter exchanged an annoyed glance between them. Now that Raegan was out of the room he could finally breathe again. The woman made him crazy. She was a combination of sweetness and jaw-dropping sexiness. Impossible to resist.

“Nothing,” Grant muttered, turning back to the desk. But he looked at his brother again. “You see the way she ran out of here?”

Porter went back to his standard stoic mode now that Raegan was gone, and nodded once. “I bet she’s going out with that dick again and didn’t want to tell us.”

Ford didn’t like the sound of that. At all. Sweet Raegan had had him twisted up for damn near eleven months. He’d met her at a few of the Caldwell family functions and each time it was like he forgot to act like a human. He couldn’t even talk to her, and he’d never been nervous around women. Hell, he’d done undercover work for a year back when he’d been on the drug task force. He was comfortable around people as a rule.

But around Raegan? He was a moron.

She was a decade younger than him, or at least close to it. He didn’t think she was older than twenty-three. And that made him feel ancient and a little bit like a perv. But he couldn’t help it.

She had that girl-next-door thing going on and it pushed all his buttons. If she’d been anyone but Grant and Porter’s cousin he’d have asked her out by now. Or at least tried to. Because God knew talking didn’t come easy when she was around.

He cleared his throat. “What dick?”

Grant crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the front of the desk, looking every bit the intimidating detective he’d once been. He’d nearly died in an explosion almost two years ago, and half his face and upper body had been burned, scarred because of it. Right now he looked ready to take someone’s head off. “Some British guy she met in Vegas. They’re just friends, supposedly, but…why would a guy keep taking her out when he’s in town if they’re just friends?”

“Especially one like that,” Porter muttered, starting to put one of the rifles back into its case.

“Like what?” He’d never asked about Raegan, had basically forced himself not to ask Grant about her, but screw that if this British guy was bad news.

“Some rich prick,” Grant practically snarled.

“Harrison said he was inquiring about using our services,” Porter tacked on, using a terrible British accent.

It was like the two men had devolved to adolescents, but he understood the sentiment. Raegan was beautiful, no doubt, but she was sweet and way too kind for her own good from what he’d seen. The kind of woman assholes would like to prey on.

Ford rubbed the back of his neck, forcing himself not to ask any more questions. No good would come of it. He didn’t need to know who she was or wasn’t dating. Even if he hadn’t been able to fuck anyone else since meeting her. His dick knew what it wanted: Raegan. He had good taste, that was for sure.

When she’d walked into Porter’s office wearing that slim pencil skirt, pretty pink top and high heels, all his naughty librarian fantasies had flared to life. She was lean, with a runner’s build, and had long, thick dark hair he’d fantasized about running his hands through as he claimed her mouth.

Then her body.

He always had the urge to mess up her perfect hair, to get a rise out of her just to see her cheeks flush pink. And he always froze like a teenager around her.

As the two brothers continued to talk about the merits of Raegan’s date and how they’d like to kick his ass, Ford started packing up the rest of the rifles. Grant had found them at a yard sale, of all places, and snatched them up for a steal. Now he wanted Ford’s help to restore them. Some wouldn’t be worth much more than the money they put into refurbishing them, but a couple Grant would be able to sell to collectors if he didn’t keep them himself. It was a solid investment.

“…and BDSM. What the hell?”

Ford snapped back to reality at the last few words snarled by Grant. “BDSM?” They couldn’t still be talking about Raegan. Could they?

Grant slid the last rusted rifle into the long, padded case. His expression was disgusted. “I ran the guy Raegan’s ‘not dating’ and yeah, turns out he’s into that shit. Owns a couple clubs. But she’s a grown woman. We can’t tell her what to do.”

“She’s really not dating him. At least that’s what Lizzy says.” Porter lifted a shoulder but Ford could see the tension humming in the man’s body.

Ford gritted his teeth and turned away from them, making himself look busy. He wanted to ask what the guy’s name was, do a run on the guy himself. Only that was insane behavior. He rolled his shoulders once. He had no claim on Raegan. She barely looked at him.

“You guys mind if I head out? I promised a buddy I’d do some light recon tonight. We’re trying to track down some guy they suspect of a bunch of jewelry store burglaries.” At some downtown club that wasn’t remotely his style, but it was overtime and he owed the detective a favor.

“I’ll walk down with you,” Grant said. “You want to take these now?”

He nodded, picking up two of the cases. Anything to get his mind off Raegan and why he could never have her.

Chapter 2

He kept his hood pulled up over his head as he watched Raegan on the dance floor of the loud, obnoxious club. In a place like this the hood didn’t stand out and it kept his face blocked from any security cameras. He’d seen enough guys wearing hoodies, sunglasses and ridiculous bling that he wasn’t even a blip on anyone’s radar tonight. Just another club-goer.

He wasn’t even sure if he’d make a move tonight, but he liked to think two steps ahead of everyone. So if an opportunity presented itself, he’d take it.

It was how he’d come to be where he was.

She was such a fucking tease. It would be easy to write her off as another Miami whore, but he knew she wasn’t like that. But she constantly teased him, made him crazy. She was so nice to him, always smiling at him, asking him how his day was, what his weekend plans were. He wondered if she knew what she was doing, if that big-eyed farm-girl thing was all an act designed to make him sweat.

Right now she sure as hell didn’t appear as if she’d stepped off any farm. The dance floor was outside and looked out over the white sand beach. Strings of colored lights were the only roof for everyone out there.

But he stayed back at the main bar, his seat giving him the perfect view of her and her friends. Unfortunately she’d come with three other girls and three men. He’d seen them before too. Well, all except one of the men. A guy with a messed-up face who looked like he might be related to the other Hispanic man.

The big blond guy with them looked like a damn Viking and he rarely left the table where the women’s drinks were. The guy with the ugly face didn’t leave often either, but he was watching one of the blonde women who was friends with Raegan on the dance floor. He never seemed to take his eyes off the curvy woman.

Raegan was a lot leaner than her friends. Slim, but with enough curves that she was smoking hot. As the music shifted to a slower, more sensual song, he watched as the Hispanic guy at the table stood, moved closer to the dance floor. As if he couldn’t keep away from the blonde.

The Viking stayed at the table, unfortunately. Still…he might be able to make this work. If he could get her loose, pliant, he could get her the hell out of here. Then she’d be his to do what he wanted with. He tossed a bill on the bar and stood, drink in hand. As soon as he’d taken three steps his seat was already occupied, no surprise.

The Latin beat of the music vibrated through him, pumped up his adrenaline as he reached into the pocket of his pants. Just having the small container was a schedule-one felony but it was easily disposable. He was going to use it now anyway.

Always be prepared. His motto.

Tonight he’d just planned to follow Raegan like usual, but given this opportunity, he had to take advantage. He was always ready for an opening because he knew one day, he’d get one. Normally she was surrounded by people, even at work. And her condo building was difficult to get into. Not impossible, but they had more security than a place like this did.

It would be easier to lead her away once he got this drug in her system. He’d have to break her away from her pack of friends. That would be the difficult part. Getting her dosed was also difficult, but he was up for the challenge. And if he failed, no harm, no foul. She’d never know he’d done a damn thing. That was the most important part. She couldn’t know he’d been here, what he’d done.

He was going to spend time with Raegan alone. Naked. With no other distractions. Then she’d see how good they could be together. She was always so nice to him, but…she didn’t seem to see the real him. That was all he wanted. He wanted her to see him, to touch him, to tell him how much she wanted him.

Winding his way through the throng of half-dressed people, he felt secure enough that he blended in with everyone else. Standing out was the one thing he couldn’t do.

As he passed the table where the blond giant was sitting, watching the cadre of women he’d come with, he didn’t bother trying to move up behind him out of his line of sight. Instead, he acted as if he’d go around him, then tripped, spilling his drink on the guy’s pants.

He grabbed onto the man’s shoulder as he weaved on his feet. “Shit, man, I’m sorry.” He intentionally slurred, using sleight of hand to dump the liquid into Raegan’s glass on the table.

The guy shrugged off his hold, his expression hard as he stared at him. “It’s fine. Move along.”

“Yeah, yeah, really sorry.” Keeping his head low, he held up his hands as he hurried off, blending into the crowd of people and high top tables behind him. He didn’t turn around even though he wanted to. He wouldn’t look to see if the Viking had noticed what he’d done. Maybe the guy would remember his face, maybe not. It wouldn’t matter. No one could pin anything on him anyway.

Adrenaline humming through him, he kept his pace steady. He needed to find another spot so he could watch Raegan unobtrusively. If his move had worked, he’d get Raegan alone a lot sooner than he’d planned.

And then he’d do all the things he’d been fantasizing about.

* * *

Raegan pressed a hand to her stomach as a wave of nausea swept through her. Blinking, she shook herself. She’d only had two drinks, but it had started to get hot. Even with the huge fans and chilly breeze kicking up from the Atlantic it was getting sticky. Summer in Miami wasn’t remotely cold anyway, but the place kept huge misting fans blowing to cool everyone off. That wasn’t working right now.

She’d worn a brightly colored halter wraparound dress but that didn’t seem to matter now. She needed fresher air, ASAP. There was a live DJ tonight and he’d been playing mostly Latin dance. The beat of the music seemed suddenly too loud, pounding in her head, everything too stifling. There were too many people. She felt suffocated.

She started to tell Ruby she needed some water, but she noticed that Montez had finally worked up the courage to do more than just stare at the blonde bombshell. They weren’t exactly dancing, but they were talking near the dance floor. That was progress. Sandro and Dominique were still tearing it up. Though Sandro didn’t have a chance with Dominique, that much Raegan knew. And Julieta and Ivan might be at the same table as her, but they were in their own world.

She started to tell them that she was going to grab a bottle of water, but slid off her chair instead when Ivan leaned down to his fiancée’s ear and started whispering something that made Julieta laugh and blush.