Burning Hunger (4 page)

A laugh burst from him. “Proactive? Hell,
you sound more like a lawyer than a woman expecting an intimate
tryst.”

Damn him, he was right! Val decided to
ignore his comment. Her gaze moved to the antique grandfather clock
against the wall. It was only eight o’clock, too early for bed, but
she could drag her bath out and watch a little TV in bed before
turning in. That would show Chaz Evans that she was immune to his
charisma.

“Let me get you some bedding for the sofa.”
Val turned toward her bedroom. The corners of her mouth turned up
when she thought about the pink, satin sheets she would give him.
Then another thought entered her head. “Do you have something to
wear to bed?” She had a pretty, feminine robe hanging on the back
of the bathroom door.

“I usually sleep in the nude.”

Even better. His response didn’t surprise
her, though. Once again Chaz was right behind her, so close that
she had no doubt he’d run right over if she were to stop short. “I
can take care of that, too. Just in case you have to go to the
bathroom in the middle of the night.”

She decided that the only way she was going
to be able to put up with his arrogant presence was to avoid him as
much as possible. In fact, she had a good mind to sneak out in the
middle of the night and show him and her father that she was her
own woman.
I can take care of myself, and always have.

For some reason, Hal Cramer came to mind.
Val was thankful that he didn’t know what she looked like. She’d
known the importance of remaining out of sight when she’d seen the
hit go down, sticking around to tell the responding officers what
she’d seen, and then later picking Hal out of a line-up. The other
woman had done the same thing. The most Hal would be told was that
there’d been witnesses. Of course, she knew with his father’s
connections and his uncle being the mayor, he would be able to find
out who they were easily enough. Val could only pray the officers
kept her identity a secret.

She flipped on the light switch right inside
her bedroom doorway and gritted her teeth. This lighting was even
cozier than the living room. The warm mood screamed intimacy and
seemed to emphasize the large bed. It was too much to hope that
Chaz wouldn’t comment about it.

“I see you’re prepared in here, too.”

“I leave nothing to chance,” Val responded,
heading for her walk-in closet. She reached for a stack of linen
and an extra pillow from the top shelf. When she turned back, Chaz
was in the threshold, his arms crossed and his brow arched. “Here.”
She practically threw it at him.

He accepted the pink linen with a cocky
grin. “My favorite color.”

Yeah right! She bit her tongue to keep from
giving in to his somewhat playful, unexpected mood. What’s he up
to? “I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you to wear to bed, but
if you need a robe there’s one behind the bathroom door.”

“Is it pink satin, too?” His tone was laced
with humor, and the glimmer in his eyes caught Val’s attention.

It suddenly occurred to her that it wouldn’t
take much for him to get her into bed. He was too damned sexy. She
knew the importance of keeping that thought to herself.
Ex-womanizer or not, if Chaz guessed what she was thinking he
wouldn’t hesitate to put the moves on her, and she was too weak to
resist him.

Since he was blocking the doorway Vas was
forced to raise her gaze to his. Big mistake. A sense of humor in a
man had always appealed to her, and he wore his as if it was an
Olympic Medal. Proudly, standing there as big as Texas itself, so
sure of himself... and her.

Why am I so captivated by him? Silly
question, Val. Be honest, the man gets my juices going. I’ve been
thinking about him for a month, wondering what it would be like
being possessed by him, even knowing what he was. Dang it! How much
more complicated can my life get?

“It has pretty flowers all over it,” she
finally said, realizing he was still waiting for a response.

He slowly shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t do
flowers.”

“You do pink satin but you don’t do
flowers?” Val couldn’t believe they were having such an inane
conversation. But then, she’d started it. Her gaze ran over his
six-foot plus solid frame. “Funny, I can see you in flowers.”

“Funny, I can see you naked.”

Val frowned, trying but failing to ignore
how he made her feel. His gaze dropped lazily down her body,
pausing at all the places that even now were melting in response to
him. Her nipples were tingling, but it was nothing compared to the
pulsing fire between her legs. The dampness she felt soaking her
thong almost caused her to moan. She thought about the vibrator
under her pillow again.
I just might burn it up tonight.

She was determined not to give in to his
charisma. “Are you going to be this annoying the whole time?”

“I must be losing my touch,” he said. Only
it didn’t sound as if he was worried.

Not hardly. Val swallowed nervously, their
gazes locked, and she was about to demand he move before she made a
fool of herself. The ringing of the phone from the other room saved
her, and forced Chaz to move. She scooted past him and dashed for
her purse.

She snatched her purse up from the chair,
opened it, and reached for her phone in the bottom. The illuminated
face showed her that it was her father. “Hi, Dad.”

“Where are you?” he asked in his usual
short, getting-straight-to-the-point-tone.

Val smiled, detecting the fatherly concern
in his voice. “We went out to dinner and just got home.”

“Oh.” He swore under his breath. “I’m
driving home now and I just went through a red light.”

Val could just imagine him looking around
wildly to see if there were any police in the vicinity. “You worked
late.”

“Had to do some last minute preparation for
the Jenkins trial tomorrow. You’re not alone are you?”

Val rolled her eyes. “You know I’m not.” She
reached down and removed her heels. “Is everything okay?” A
movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to turn. Chaz had
set his bed linen down on the sofa and was standing there, just
watching her.

“Yeah, I haven’t heard anymore about Cramer.
When are you and Evans leaving for vacation?”

“First thing in the morning, why?”

“Just curious.”

She could visualize his shoulders lifting in
a shrug. “Dad, I thought you hired Evans Security so that you
wouldn’t have to worry about me.” Val watched Chaz pick up the TV
remote and aim it toward the TV.

“When you have children some day you’ll
understand.”

Val was so tired of hearing that. She
decided to change the subject. “Hey, speaking of cases, I don’t
think Bartow is qualified to handle the Sony divorce case.” Jasmine
Sony was a barracuda, and out to milk her soon to be ex-husband for
all he was worth. She would take one look at Bartow, and have him
eating out of her hand in a minute.

“That’s why I gave the file to Samson. Don’t
worry about your active cases. I’ll be closely supervising them.
Now, what should I tell Craig?”

Noticing Chaz was occupied with something on
TV, Val walked back to her bedroom. “What do you mean? Don’t tell
him anything. We’re no longer involved.” As she was speaking she
unsnapped and unzipped her jeans.

“Well, he’s going to ask about you. We have
a golf game tomorrow afternoon. I still think—

“Dad…” Val shot in a warning tone. She
shimmied out of her jeans and tossed them to a chair. “I’m not
going to talk to you about Craig. He’s off limits.” Why couldn’t he
get that through his stubborn head? She went to a dresser and
opened a drawer, pulling out a black satin nightgown.

He sighed as if he were annoyed.

“And whatever you do, don’t tell him about
Hal Cramer.” The last thing Val wanted was Craig’s interference.
They might not be engaged anymore, but they were still friends, and
he would be worried sick about her. “I mean it, Dad. I don’t want
Craig involved.” She expertly squirmed out of her blouse and bra
and added it to the jeans.

“Well, if you’re sure.”

“I am. Now, I’m going to take a nice long
bath, and then turn in early for a change.” Val turned toward the
door to exit her room, coming face to face with Chaz. Her eyes grew
round.
How could I have forgotten he was here?

“I love you, dear.”

“I love you, too, Dad.” She heard the click
that indicated her dad had disconnected. She closed her phone.

A fiery flush engulfed Val’s body when she
realized the only thing she had on was a lacy thong. Seeing the way
Chaz’s gaze moved over her, slowly, like a predator sizing up his
quarry, it was amazing she didn’t go up in flames. She quickly
brought her arm up with the nightgown draped over it, shielding her
breasts from his view.

“Too late. I already got an eyeful,” he said
with a satisfied smirk. And it didn’t appear he was done looking.
His gaze moved past her.

Val turned her head, seeing her naked
backside in the mirror over her dresser. “You’re supposed to be
watching TV,” she said in her defense. Having his gaze on her was
almost like a physical caress. It certainly produced the same
results.

“Why?” His gaze moved over her again, with
lazy slowness. “When I can be watching you.”

Val’s whole body began vibrating with
desire. “Well, I hope you like what you see.” If she weren’t
shielding her nudity with her nightgown she would have slapped her
hands on her hips.

There was that smirk again. “You’ll do.”

Instant anger infused Val. She’ll do?
Why
that arrogant ass!
He’d said it like he’d seen better, and was
willing to lower his standards if he had to. She wasn’t vain, but
she knew she had a nice shape, having been told on more than one
occasion that she had a sexy body. Maybe her breasts were a little
on the large side, but her tall, slender height carried them
well.

His expression indicated that Chaz was aware
that he’d angered her, but there was something else in his eyes, a
dark, smoldering emotion dueling with the fading glimmer of humor.
Women’s intuition told Val that he wasn’t as immune to her as he’d
like her to believe. Instead of slapping his face, as she itched to
do, she decided to test him.

“Well, then,” She lowered her arm and
watched with satisfaction when his gaze returned to her breasts. “I
guess I’m safe.” Her nipples were already hard, and a tremor of
deep responsiveness traveled from the crowned peaks of her breasts
to her tingling pussy. Shooting for nonchalance, she took a step
around him to continue to the bathroom.

Without warning, a powerful arm wrapped
around her waist and Val found herself being pulled up against his
strong body. She caught her breath, aware of the large erection
throbbing against her butt. The arousal inside her belly popped,
spreading a current of pleasant sensation throughout the rest of
her body. She moaned before she could stop herself.

“Guess again, baby,” Chaz said against the
back of her ear. “You might be safe from Cramer, but you’re far
from safe from me.” With that he took the lobe of her ear inside
his mouth, gently savaging it with his teeth. He seemed to know
exactly how much pain to inflict before it turned into
pleasure.

A wild shiver went through Val, releasing
the floodgates of warm desire to pool between her legs. She moaned
low in her weakened state. There was no way he could have missed
it. His cock hadn’t missed it, reacting strongly against her
bottom. Before she realized it she was thrusting back.

Chaz groaned low, and his breathing picked
up. His arm slid from around Val’s waist, and then his hands were
smoothing up her body until they were beneath her breasts. She
strained against him, yearning for him to take the tingling mounds
in his hands. Finally he was doing just that, weighing her breasts
in his palms, and tweaking her nipples with just enough roughness
that she felt her thong get soaked all over again.

She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from
crying out. The nightgown slipped to the floor. One of Chaz’s hands
abandoned a breast to glide down her body in a sensuous path that
took him to the top of her thong. Val’s breathing turned harsh as
she willed him to complete his journey and put her out of her
misery. When he slipped his hand beneath her thong she was
unprepared for the intense feeling of pleasure having his hand cup
her pussy produced.

She hissed.

He sucked in his breath, his cock pushing
hard against her.

Val’s head went back against Chaz’s chest as
weakness invaded her limbs, and she was certain she was going to
slip to the floor. His fingers toyed with the coarse hair covering
her mound, twirling and tugging until finally he slipped a long,
thick digit inside her pussy.

“Yes!”
God, did I say that out
loud?

“Fuck, Val, you’re already wet for me.” Chaz
murmured into her ear, sliding his finger in and out of her pussy
in slow motion.

More than once he paused to explore her
labia, and when he discovered her clit Val cried out with ecstasy,
bringing her arms up, and wrapping them around his neck. It was
either that or slink to the floor. He wrapped a hand around her
breast, caressing it with rough desire, while his other hand
continued to probe her aching loins. As his movements picked up
speed, her body bowed sharply, as if an electrical current were
holding her captive.

As Val strained toward an orgasm, she moved
her hips against Chaz’s finger with wild abandon, and with one
thought on her mind-she wanted to come.
Please don’t let him
talk!
She couldn’t help wishing, as she moved closer to
climaxing. Talking while she was nearing release always ruined it
for Val. It tore into her concentration like a hot knife slicing
through butter.
Please don’t let him talk!