Take a Chance (7 page)

When she nodded, he touched two numbers and
asked her to put in her numbers. “If you want to add or change the
numbers, the instructions are in the box.”

“
Wow. High tech locks. I’ve
moved uptown.”

Steve chuckled and told her, “You’ve always
been uptown, doll. He’s putting the same type lock on the other two
doors.”

“
Thanks.”

“
You’ll be safe
tonight.”

She hoped that meant he was staying the
night, but she couldn’t be sure. Steve Gladston wasn’t an easy man
to read.

The locksmith stepped back and gathered his
tools. “Where’s the back door?”

Steve shut and locked the front entrance and
Dena headed for the door into the backyard. Half of it was glass,
and she could only imagine Steve’s reaction at the lack of
security. He must have realized she was at her wit’s end because he
let it go, dragging her back to the kitchen.

She dropped into a chair and he put water in
the kettle on the stove. “Where do you keep your teabags?” When she
leaned forward, he added, “No, don’t get up, Dena, just point.”

Who was this man and where had he been all
her life?

She pointed to the pantry and propped an
elbow on the little round table in her kitchen. Fascinated by the
man in her kitchen, she watched the muscles move under his clothes
while he reached for the mug and added the bag of tea. So not what
she’d imagined for the after dinner portion of this date.

What if she’d been home when the break in
happened? A shiver ran down her spine and his voice stopped it.
“Don’t go there, Dena. What ifs won’t do any good. Trust me.”

Steve put the cup in her hand and wrapped his
warmth around her fingers for a minute. “Drink.”

“
Mr. Gladston, all three
locks are set and ready for her to code in her number.”

* * * *

Steve got to his feet and shook the man’s
hand. “Thanks, Donny. Come by my office in the morning and I’ll
have some cash for you.” He walked the man to the front door and
handed him a fifty for coming out so quickly. Then he went back to
Dena and asked for her code, instructing her to keep drinking her
tea while he set the locks.

She looked sweet and needy at the kitchen
table, holding the mug like a lifeline. The night had been a rough
one for her. His just-the-facts conversation about sex, his
hands-off policy at dinner, and now a break in and ransack. Damn
fine date night he’d given her.

He fought the urge to pick her up and carry
her to her bed. To hell with training, she needed a good fuck to
take her mind off the B & E.

Or not.

He cursed under his breath, glad he’d had her
out on the town. If she’d been home alone, the night might’ve had a
much different ending.

The new locks would help, and he’d continue
with the self-defense lessons. No one would touch her, with one
very clear exception.

He’d have his hands all over her.

Steve wiped down the counters while she
sipped her tea, then took the cup and set it in the sink. With a
tug, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped his body heat around
her.

“
I’m going to take care of
you tonight, and I’ll be gone in the morning before you
wake.”

“
You can stay for
breakfast,” she whispered, barely a breath across his chest, but
this wasn’t a night he’d take advantage of.

With one arm tight around her waist, he
walked her into her bedroom and turned down the bedcovers. “Do you
want a bath before bed?”

Eyes slumberous, she shook her head. The
night’s shot of adrenaline was seeping out of her and the tea was
enhancing the effect. With one more push, she’d sleep soundly and
wake up refreshed and thinking of him.

He turned her around in his arms and eased
the zipper down her back, revealing satin skin in a long glide past
her skimpy lingerie. Damn, what a beauty. Letting the dress fall to
the floor, he took her hand and backed her to the bed. Her eyes
bored into his, a window into her thoughts, and he would give her
what she needed in one respect. More would come later, but for
tonight, he’d help her sleep.

She sat, and he went to one knee and removed
her shoes.

“
Go brush your teeth, doll.
I’ll be right here.”

Surprise flashed in her eyes for a second,
then she stood in her flimsy pink panty and bra and walked past
him, her knees a little wobbly but head held high.

* * * *

Ethan squatted under a tree in a darkened
front yard a few houses down from pretty little Dena Lindsay and
her new best buddy. Fuck buddy, from what he knew about Steve
Gladston. The man was a legend in the BDSM community, a rap Ethan
wanted to shred. Nobody could be that good with the women.

Now the man was a full blown thorn in Ethan’s
side. Two of his friends were in lockup after a short stint in the
hospital and they still didn’t have the information he needed.

Those passcodes had to be somewhere in Dena’s
house or office. They were too important to leave lying around, but
he hadn’t found any kind of safe in the house. And now he’d have to
wait another day to search again. He’d been in the back bedroom
when Gladston’s truck pulled into the drive, barely managing to get
out through the window. Thank fuck the housing code required escape
windows for fire safety. From the looks of it, getting back in
would be harder tomorrow.

A persistent vibration in his pocket had him
pulling out his cell. Lloyd with good news, he hoped. “Speak.”

“
Got in. Got out. No
problem.”

“
Tell me you found what we
need.”

“
Can’t be sure. Did a search
and downloaded all her files to a zip. On the way home now to go
through them.”

“
I’ll meet you there in a
bit. Want to see how long Gladston stays tonight.”

“
Who?”

“
That fucker that beat up
our guys. He took her out tonight and almost walked in on
me.”

“
Shit. Guess that means you
didn’t find anything.”

Her house went dark. “Fuck it. He’s staying
the night.” Ethan stood and checked the neighborhood before moving
out of the shadows. “I’ll meet you in half an hour.” Without
waiting for a reply, he stepped out onto the sidewalk. Arms loose
and carefree, he ambled down the block like joe-shmo neighbor out
for a late-night stroll. Two blocks over, he ducked behind a quiet
church. Best place in the world to hide a vehicle. Nobody thought
to look behind a church.

It took him half an hour to drive across town
to Lloyd’s shabby apartment. Damn, if this was all he could manage
with a law degree, he should’ve gone into the trades like his dad.
Plumbers ran in his family and they all had nice houses, from what
Ethan had seen during high school.

For Ethan, growing up meant sit down dinners
with family and listening to his parents talk politics. Mainly,
they rehashed what his uncle was doing in the State Senate. Boring
shit that Ethan had no need of. Sooner or later, Gramps would croak
and he’d come into a nice little fortune. Until then, he played
games of chance. Trouble was, he didn’t always win.

He tapped on Lloyd’s door and it popped
open.

“
I’m into her system, but
can’t find any reference for the accounts.”

Ethan handed him the laptop he’d grabbed on
his way out of Dena’s house. “Keep looking. If I don’t get those
numbers, I’m shit out of luck.”

“
We. We need the
info.”

Right. Lloyd wasn’t completely gullible. “Of
course, that’s what I meant.” He leaned over the old desktop and
watched the pages flip with every click. “And you got
everything?”

“
Copied every last bit of
info from her workstation onto this hard drive. Maybe the info we
need is somewhere else in the building.”

“
Maybe. John and Bill had
their hands on some stuff, but it stayed in the building. Besides,
the info we need isn’t likely to be hardcopy. Maybe it’s on her
personal laptop.” Ethan tapped on the folder now sitting next to
Lloyd’s machine. “What we really need is the master password for
all their major accounts.”

“
Oh.”

The long silence while his tech guy stared at
the screen had the hair on the back of Ethan’s neck standing on
end.

“
Well. I, uh, didn’t know we
were going in for the big money. I thought we were going after the
Lindsays.”

Suddenly Lloyd was looking a little green
around the gills, and Ethan couldn’t afford to lose him. “Don’t
worry about where the money’s coming from. We’re looking at a few
really big accounts that could use a little thinning. Once you get
your part done and we all make our exit, there’ll be nothing to
worry about.”

Chapter 7

Steve picked up her discarded clothes and put
them on a chair in the corner, then sat on the edge of the bed and
pulled off his boots. That was as far as he’d go tonight. Sure,
he’d had major plans for their first interlude, but Dena wasn’t in
a good mental place for what he had in mind.

Instead, he’d help her calm her nerves and
relax, give her a nice little orgasm to help her sleep, and lock up
on his way out. Tomorrow would be soon enough to test the waters of
bondage and submission with her. He had no doubt he’d convince her
to give his lifestyle a try.

The bathroom door opened and she slipped out,
her hair brushed to a shine to match that of her eyes. Still in her
undies, signs of nervous energy from the break-in combined with the
unknown of their relationship gave her the look of a frightened
deer. From his seat on the bed, he opened his arms and she moved
smoothly into them.

“
Hold on to me, doll. I’ll
make everything right for you tonight, and by tomorrow, you’ll be
safe and happy.”

Covering her mouth with his, he teased and
warmed her until she pulled back, breathless and aroused instead of
fearful. “Why don’t you lose the rest of those clothes and get into
bed?” A request, but voiced as a soft demand, and she obeyed
without much hesitation. He reminded himself that it was her first
time to get naked for him and let it slip.

He stood and pulled the covers back while she
tossed the panty and bra in the direction of the corner chair.
Dammit to hell, she was a beautiful woman. Curves in all the right
places, skin like satin and a fringe of natural lace hiding her
sex. Steve hummed a bit of approval at the sight. He’d never been
one of those men who expected their lovers to be completely waxed.
He preferred his woman to look like a woman instead of a child.
Dena’s body was perfect in that respect, neatly groomed but with
enough fluff to give a man something to play with.

When she scooted into the middle of the bed,
he smiled. The clasp of his watch snapped open and he set it on the
bedside table, avoiding a possible scratch to her smooth skin when
he slipped an arm under her shoulders.

Touching her was an imperative. Already, his
dick throbbed with only the sight of her, but he’d known from the
moment they’d walked up to an open door that he wouldn’t fuck her
tonight.

No. Not tonight, but soon. There was only so
much a man could stand when a beauty like Dena was ready and
willing.

He stood and resettled on the bed, cuddling
into her body while she stayed on her back. Soft and delicate when
his arm fit under her shoulders, he stroked her brow with his rough
fingertips and then cupped her jaw and kissed tender lips. She
quivered beneath him, her body begging for more, but he kept it
slow and sensual even as her hand tugged at the hem of his
shirt.

Not tonight.

“
Be still, Dena,” he
whispered against her open mouth. “Let me take care of
you.”

“
But—”

He silenced her with another deep kiss, one
designed to make her forget where she was and what she’d dealt with
this evening. Her response was exactly as he’d predicted, turning
her into a steamy mass of aroused woman.

He lingered at her mouth for another minute,
confirmed her state of continued arousal, and moved to her
breasts.

Luscious.

Only word for them, full and round and
begging him to taste. His index finger led the way, tracing her
clavicle from left to right, then slipping down the center of her
chest and coming to rest between her full breasts. Both were peaked
and waiting for his touch. His mouth.

He palmed the far nipple and took the closest
between his teeth. Dena’s gasp echoed in the room before it was
absorbed by thick drapes. He licked the sting away and when her
soft sigh floated across his forehead, he responded with his
tongue, pushing her arousal higher. This time, he roughened the tip
of her other breast with his fingers while he sucked hard on the
tight bud, and her moan sent urgent messages to his dick, begging
for the freedom to play.

Not happening, and convincing his body to
comply wasn’t easy. She was close. From the writhing of her body,
damn close. But his pleasure would come with watching her climax
and then slide into a deep, cleansing sleep.

To that end, he reluctantly lifted his head
and blew across the straining peak. Dena’s ragged moan filled the
room, ensuring the pattern of his zipper would be permanently
imbedded on his dick.

He swept his palm down her belly, fingers
splayed on the velvety skin between breasts and a wet dream in
waiting. A little lower and he reached the dark dusting of pubic
hair. Her gasp when fingers met fluff made him smile. She was
beyond refusal, the rapid pant and squirm confirmed her need. When
his name floated out among the whimpers and moans, he knew she was
ready to fly.