Chapter Two #3
“And what style is that?” Liam asked, a thrill of anticipation shooting down the back of his neck as he realized there was potentially a lot more going on here than the average babysitting job.
Devon stopped and looked at him. She suddenly kneeled before him in a graceful sweep of silk, her knees settling between the toes of his boots and her hands resting lightly on his bent legs.
Their eyes locked with an instant sense of intimacy and he held himself very still as he tried to decide how to react.
“You dislike my being this close. It makes you uncomfortable. If I close the distance, the discomfort increases …” She demonstrated her point by sliding her hands up his thighs and leaning her body in toward his.
For Liam, it was as if he’d forgotten how to breathe.
Or move. It was as good as having her kneeling naked in front of him, an image he had no trouble conjuring in his active mind.
She’d been hot-wiring his senses from the minute she’d entered the room, and now she was about to drive the car right off the showroom floor.
He felt her ribs sliding against his inner thighs, the soft weight of her breasts a torturous brush over the material of his blacks.
Devon’s scent flooded up and over him with a hint of orange citrus and some unidentifiable spice that blended deliciously with the smell of warm, sexy woman.
On the back of that scent came heat. It was a body warmth that, as she leaned even closer, swept in fast and furious waves over his thighs, groin, and belly, methodically seeking its way up his chest. Completely out of his control, Nash’s body responded to her lure, hot blood pulsing low into his hips until he was hardening in answer.
Discomfited, Liam reacted by dropping the folder on the floor and grabbing her shoulders tightly.
“Defense,” she said quickly to make her point.
“You’ve stopped me from doing what you don’t want me to do.
But this is basic physics. You have to continually expend effort to keep me where I am.
The threat stays, your energy is uselessly spent keeping me constantly at bay, and this doesn’t change.
Not until one day when you weaken, or when you aren’t paying attention …
” She marked her line of reasoning by sliding her unimpeded hands all the way up the insides of his thighs until her fingertips flirted just shy of discovering her effect on him.
“One day something gets by you and you’re victimized.
There’s only one thing you can do to stop it.
Only one thing, or you must face the inevitable.
” Her hands twitched and he felt the brush of stroking fingers along the rigid length of his fly.
Liam exploded off the couch, hauling her up and shoving her backward. All he wanted in that instant was to get her as far away from himself as he could reasonably manage before … well, before. He wasn’t expecting her to stumble back awkwardly, landing hard on her bottom on the floor.
“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” he bellowed as he marched to tower over her, knowing that at his height and in the peak of fury he was beyond imposing.
He told himself he didn’t give a damn as his hands rolled into mighty fists.
He fought not only his temper but an agonizing pulse of blatant sexual arousal. What in hell was she thinking?
“Offense,” she gasped out, her expression folding into a taut tension. “Don’t you see?” she panted softly. “Offense is the only true defense, otherwise you’ll always be fighting to protect yourself.”
Liam stilled, his anger bleeding out of him so swiftly he was left a bit at loose ends, his body swirling with directionless urges and emotions.
He suddenly and sharply comprehended the point she was making.
He looked down at her, his entire body vibrating with tension and a keen awareness he didn’t want to feel.
Devon was flushed so deeply that he could trace the coloring along her skin beneath her sheer dress.
She was breathing hard, with strain tightening every part of her body.
Her lips had become less mobile, pressed firmly together, and he realized it was because she was in pain.
Liam remembered the bloody sheets in the photo and the scar on her leg.
“Christ! Devon, that was a stupid thing to do!” he spat out as he bent to scoop her off of the floor.
“Touching a strange man like that! When he could take it for a damn invitation and overpower you easily? Especially after showing him your vulnerability? I didn’t mean to, yet I still re-injured your leg!
” He swept her over to the couch he’d abandoned and settled her onto it.
He went to one knee beside her and pulled up the silk skirt of her dress so he could gently probe the angry wound.
She sucked in a fast breath and he frowned darkly.
“I just didn’t want you to tell me no,” she said tightly through her teeth. “I wanted to make sure you understood exactly how I feel.”
Liam looked up and met the penetrating jade of her eyes, his big hands resting around her warm thigh. “I do understand. But you could try asking first, straight out, and then attempt shock tactics after someone says no. It’s a sounder plan of action.”
“I don’t like being told no and then having someone change their mind later. It raises too many doubts. At least now you know what I’m capable of. I’m no precious damn porcelain princess who will stand idly by while someone tries to shoot me to shreds.”
Liam actually couldn’t help grinning at that. She also refused to play the ignorant wilting flower, and that was going to be a key factor in saving her life one day. She faced her dangers proactively. Nash was the last person who’d condemn proactive behavior.
Provided it didn’t get her killed or raped along the way. Liam’s smile disappeared and his anger fumed up around him again when he thought about what she could have opened herself up to.
“Yeah, well, you’re damn lucky I’m not a closet rapist. Going around and …
” Nash wasn’t shy, but he’d be damned if he was going to start talking about it out loud when he wasn’t exactly over the memory of that ghostly erotic touch in the first place.
“Talk about handing the mouse a big ass wheel of cheese,” he grumbled as he turned his attention back to her leg.
He slid his hand between her thighs, drawing out her knee so he could see the healing exit wound.
He ignored the eddy of incredible heat she gave off as it bathed his fingers and his aching palm.
He was trying to keep the craving twitches in his fingertips down to a minimum as he rasped out, “Especially after showing up in a dress like this.”
“You don’t like my dress?” She sounded genuinely upset as she studied the chic garment for flaws.
“Oh, I like it,” he muttered gruffly. “It’s just a little overt.”
“Is it?”
Liam watched her frown and nibble on a corner of her bottom lip thoughtfully.
The pensive expression told him she was honestly debating his opinion.
Nash quickly began to regret his remarks.
Who was he to judge her? He’d stepped into her world barely ten minutes ago.
Why should his opinion even matter to her?
The dress was no different from hundreds he’d seen before on other fashionable women.
Why did it rattle him in this situation when it was forgettable window dressing everywhere else?
Then he recalled the enormity of the task she wanted to hire NHK for and the daunting responsibility that came with it.
She didn’t just want protection from her enemies; she wanted her enemies eliminated.
It was a cold and ruthless decision, but as she had so aptly demonstrated, it might well be the only option to save her life.
Liam ran gentle, thoughtful fingers over the wound along her inner thigh and asked matter-of-factly, “Devon, who is it that you’ve made enemies with? Who would go through all this trouble to try to kill you, and why?”
She opened her mouth, hesitated, then said, “I hold the key to the lives and deaths of a lot of people. Those who hunt me also hope to remove the hold I have over them.” She took a deep, unsteady breath.
“I can’t be more specific, I’m sorry. But you don’t need to know the finer details.
What you do need to know is that, besides those in search of a huge bounty, my main enemy is a Morphate. ”