WRECKER (3 page)

She yanked the cover back up and tip-toed to the walk-in closet. Slowly she opened the door and flipped on the switch. Light flooded the closet, a closet bigger than her bedroom. She shouldn’t snoop in a man’s closet, but he had forced her to come to his house, so, if she was behaving badly, well, it was his own damn fault.

Grey coats hung beside slacks and button down shirts in a long row, on polished wooden hangers. Tall, imposing, handsome Theo, dressed in suit… she’d never seen him in a suit, but she could picture it. Further along the clothing rod, the suits were navy blue. Theo in uniform might actually be an even hotter concept. She ran her hand down the sleeve and studied the gold brocade on the cuff.

On the far side hung his casual clothing. Khakis, blue jeans, polo shirts. Below were a line of cowboy boots. This was the Theo she knew, always neatly dressed. The only evidence of his blue collar work was the occasional smear of oil on his pants or shirt. He wasn’t crazy, she reassured herself. She’d go out there and talk to him in a reasonable way. Surely she could persuade him to take her home tonight, or at least in the morning.

She retraced her steps through the living room. A fire blazed in a huge fireplace and with the lights off, the room was cast in a warm glow. She found him in the kitchen, standing at the counter, leaning against it, eating a sandwich. A bottle of water sat on the counter beside him.

He eyed her. “C’mere.”

She obeyed. As she stood in front of him, she fought a slew of paralyzing emotions. Fear. Shame. Inadequacy. Her hips were too narrow. Breasts on the small side, especially compared to most of the girls at the Cabaret. Her legs were good, though. Years of ballet and running track in high school, plus good genes from her mom, had given her good thighs and calves and a firm, round ass, her best physical attribute and the main reason the men at the Cabaret wanted to see her naked.

“Your hair looks nice down.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Sometimes.” She lifted her chin, waited for some sort of negative comment, but he surprised her when the barest hint of a smile ghosted his lips.

“They look nice too,” he said. “Bite?” he offered, holding out a thick roast beef sandwich.

The sandwich looked wonderful and she hadn’t eaten dinner. Suddenly and embarrassingly, her stomach rumbled. She took a bite. He wiped mustard from the corner of her mouth, and licked it off his thumb.

His touch surprised her. When they’d spent time together at the handful of meals at his father’s house or the few times they had coffee, he’d never touched her. The feel of his thumb on her lips sent an erotic shiver down her spine. With some difficulty she swallowed, took his water and washed the lump of sandwich the rest of the way down.

“You need to take me home,” she said, hoping she sounded confident, reasonable, or maybe a lets-just-forget-this happened sort of approach.

“I don’t need to do anything.”

“This is kidnapping, Theo. You can’t just grab someone and make them come home with you.”

Frowning he continued eating his sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully, as if waiting for her to continue.

“I’m not doing that… that thing,” she said.

He arched his brow in disbelief. “You mean the lap dance?”

“Right. I’m not doing that. I’m spending the night here, because obviously I have no choice. In the morning I’m leaving.”

“Really?” His tone held a note of amusement. “How are you planning on doing that?”

“I’ll walk if I have to.”

“Do you know where you are?”

He made a good point. She had no idea where she was, and as she considered how to answer, he took another bite of his sandwich. He held it out to her, but she shook her head.

He was feeding her, sharing his sandwich with her, wiping mustard from her lips and all of that made it difficult to keep in mind that he was holding her against her will. She should turn and run right now. Race out the door and scream. But his scent was seductive, strong and masculine and what she really wanted to do was lift up on her tip-toes, bury her face against his neck, inhale, and feel the abrasive burr of his short beard.

She folded her arms. “I don’t know where I am, exactly, but I’m pretty sure I can find out. I just need to charge my phone…”

“I’m charging it for you.”

“You have my phone?”

“You left in the truck. I knew the battery died.” He shrugged. “I run a full-service kidnapping.”

“Are you going to give it back to me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He was toying with her. His posture, leaning against the counter, was casual, but he was amusing himself at her expense and something inside her shifted. She wasn’t going to let him torment her anymore.

“In the morning I want to see if my car will start.”

He shook his head. “It won’t. All the oil ran out through a tiny hole in the oil pan. The engine overheated and the pistons froze up. Your car’s fucked.”

“Shit. None of my dashboard lights came on.”

“No? Oh, that’s probably because I disabled them.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I removed a few fuses, right after I drilled that tiny little hole in the pan.”

She stared at him for a long moment as her thoughts spun in utter turmoil. “You vandalized my car?”

He said nothing, but took a drink of his water.

“You
messed
with my car?” Her tone was fast approaching hysterical, but he didn’t seem at all bothered.

He gave a dismissive shrug. “That car was on its last legs. I did you a favor and put it out of its misery. You’re welcome.”

He paused to give her a chance to explode, or maybe to say thank you, but she did neither.

“I’ve been watching over you for a long time. I talked to Trey and paid him back, and told him he’d be serving French fries with broken fingers if he ever touches you again. I made sure Jim, the bouncer at the club, walks you to your car every evening. Did you even notice that your piece of shit car had brand new tires two weeks ago? That day when I hot-wired it and took it to the tire shop was about the time I decided I didn’t like the car. Not at all. No brakes. The clutch sticks. The radio only gets AM.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“I didn’t like the car. That’s one reason I ended its life. Secondly, I wanted to spend Valentines with you, that’s why I killed it this weekend.”

He’d hotwired her car and stolen it, but he’d done that to put new tires on. Somehow that didn’t seem all that odd. Theo operated on a set of rules that was all his own. She was beginning to see that. What surprised her most was that he wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with her. A warmth enveloped her, one that suggested chocolates and roses.

“You wanted to spend Valentines with me?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“You and me, we’re going to have a fun weekend. Get this thing out of our system.”

“This thing?”

“Yeah, this thing between us.”

His words felt like ice water. So much for chocolates and roses. A fun weekend? Did he think just because she roomed with Ashley and Olivia, she was like them?”

“You’ve been working over at the club almost a month. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”

She undid her belt and yanked her robe open, like a flasher in a trench coat. “See this, Theo,” she fumed. “This is
not
the body of a stripper. It will
never
be the body of stripper. Women in my family don’t get curves or boobs. Even if I wanted to offer myself to you like that, I wouldn’t, and even if I stooped to stripping off my clothes for you, my
stepbrother
, and grinding against your lap, you’d probably want a refund.”

His smile broadened and he let out a low rumbling growl. He ran his finger down the plunging neckline of her shirt, brushing against the swell of her breast.

“Sage,” he murmured. “You’re something.”

She swatted his hand away. “I’m not going through with this ridiculous idea. If I need money to pay for my car, I’ll work more hours. Christmas is coming up and I’ll be out of school. I’ll have plenty of time to pick up some extra shifts.”

He took his phone from his pocket, flipped through some screens and pressed a button. The sound of call connecting and someone picking up filled the kitchen.

“
Theo
?” came the man’s voice. “
How’s it going?”

“Hey, Darryl.”

“
Everything okay
?”

Theo took a drink of his water. “Fine. You know that blonde who works the bar at the club? Her name’s Sage.”

The man on the other end of the line snorted. “
I think so… is she a nursing student or something?”

“That’s the one.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about her. The managers tell me all sorts of guys are asking about her.”

Sage shook her head, silently imploring. Darryl was one of the partners at the club. She didn’t know him, but his name was on her paycheck. Theo was slowly pulling the rug out from under every one of her plans.

He winked at her. “She doesn’t work for you anymore.”

“
What?
Did she piss you off? Or catch your eye?”

He took her glasses off, folded them and set them on the counter. Somewhere down the length of her windpipe, her breath stalled. His eyes held a sensuous light as he kept her gaze. “Both.”

The man on the other end drew a deep sigh. “
All right. She’s gone
.”

Sage shot her middle finger at Theo, an angry, road-rage sort of gesture.

“Good deal,” Theo said and disconnected the call. He scowled at her and tugged the lapel of the robe pulling her a few inches closer to him. His eyes flared. “Did you just flip me off?”

She gave a huff of outrage. “Did you just get me
fired
?”

His eyes blazed and a low, feral growl rumbled from his chest. “I did. I should have done it when I first heard about you working there.”

He stalked her across the kitchen and when her retreat was halted, he jerked her to him and looped his arm around her waist. Any outrage or complaint vanished from her mouth. This was what it must feel like to be tackled by some football player in a grudge match.

Pressing a hard kiss to her lips, he gathered her hair in his fist to keep her where he wanted her. The shock of his fierce kiss made her moan softly. Stroking her with his tongue, he teased her lips until she submitted and parted them.

When she yielded, he growled his approval. His arm around her felt like steel and he held her so tightly, she was lifted almost off her feet. His grip was crushing and made her senses spin.

His kiss. She’d been kissed before, but never like this. His kiss was masterful. Hot. He angled to deepen the kiss. Everything about it demanded complete submission. Each stroke made her arousal climb. He knew. She was sure he knew. Her breasts ached with need. His hand pressed against the small of her back and held her against him. His body was hard but what she noticed more than anything was his erection pressing into her stomach.

He wanted her. Her mind spun. Theo
wanted
her.

“Time for a practice run,” he whispered. Lifting her off her feet, he walked her to his den, kissing her neck and cupping her ass through the terry robe. He set her down and the look of lust in his eyes made her feel sexy, desirable.

He sank down to the couch and tugged her hand. “Come sit down.”

Her heart quaked but there was no thought of resisting or arguing. “Beside you?”

In the firelight, she could see his lips tug into a smile. “It’s called a
lap
dance for a reason.”

She let him pull her down, his hands on her hips guiding her so that she straddled him.

“I don’t want you to pay me five thousand dollars, Theo.”

His kiss silenced her. He delved his tongue past her lips, taking possession of her mouth while he pulled her robe off. When his hands drifted from her waist to her bottom, all her doubts vanished. Heat suffused her skin, making it taut with awareness.

She moaned and he answered her with a low rumble, and clasping her thighs he pulled her closer. His hard cock pressed against her. Desire hummed through her body. Her senses felt raw. She wanted to wriggle against him, to feel more of his desire for her. The feel of him heated her core, making her slick. Her breathing came in short, tight breaths.

“See how hard you make me,” he murmured. Before she could answer, he slipped her shirt from her shoulders. When he’d unbuttoned it, she didn’t recall.

He nuzzled her neck, caressed her bare back with the lightest touch of his fingertips. His hands were warm and rough and she needed to feel them everywhere.

“I get hard every time I see you. And your pussy gets wet for me.”

She drew a sharp breath. “That’s not-”

His hand landed on her bottom with a sharp smack. “Little liar.”