Hot Secrets (4 page)

She hesitated and nodded, then
touched her dress and smelled her fingers. “Champagne. I think
someone threw champagne at us. Either that or I spilled it on
myself and I’m more tipsy than I remember. But then, drunks don’t
remember, now do they?”

“You’re not a drunk, and don’t
put yourself down for relaxing a little. And yes, what was thrown
on us was champagne, which is far better than getting hit with an
egg.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I guess
there’s that to cling to.” She hesitated, then, “Maybe it’s the
tipsy part of this equation for me, but that scene back there
rattled me way more than it normally would.” She shivered and
hugged herself. “I’ve been around my share of creepy bad guys and I
got that same feeling of malice rolling off the crowd.”

“It’s called a typical Friday
night in Manhattan,” he said lightly, not about to tell her he’d
felt it too, and because he wasn’t supposed to know where she
lived, he added, “I need your address for the GPS.” She murmured a
reply and he punched the information into the program. “Why don’t
you rest your eyes until we get there?”

She nodded and slid down into
the seat, a little too willing to do as he suggested from what he
knew of her personality. She was rattled all right. She knew she
was in trouble.

Chapter Three

Fifteen minutes later, Royce had
paid the doorman a hefty tip to park his truck without hassle. Now
on the fifth floor of the twenty-story Upper West Side residential
building Lauren lived in, he waited while she fished a key out of
the small beaded purse she’d gotten from the coat clerk back at the
hotel. She produced a silver keychain which she proceeded to drop
to the ground.

Royce scooped it up. “Let me,”
he offered, and when she nodded, crossing her arms in front of her,
he couldn’t help but notice how adorably nervous and vulnerable she
appeared. He was being allowed
to see
what he doubted many had before him. This was
a glimpse of what l
ay
beneath the confident Assistant DA’s public persona, and it was so
much more than what he gambled on. Lauren wasn’t a spoiled
senator’s daughter, or even an arrogant public servant with too
much power, as he imagined she might be. She was so much deeper, so
much more than her beauty, and she didn’t even seem to recognize
it.

He slipped the key into the lock
and shoved open the door, flipping on a light and illuminating a
marbled floor. He stepped back into the hallway to let Lauren
enter, then followed her inside, shutting the door and locking it
behind them. He took a step forward, noting the kitchen to his
left, at the same time that Lauren said, “Royce,” and whirled
around and right into him.

He closed his arms around her,
righting her footing. “Easy, sweetheart. Big guys like me take up a
lot of space.” He swiped a strand of hair from her eyes, fighting
the rush of desire. “What were you going to say?”

“Kiss me,” she said, and pressed
to her toes and melted her mouth against his.

His will to resist this woman,
to make sure she was inside her apartment safely, and then leave,
faded with the touch of their lips, damn near crumbling into ash
when he felt her tongue press pas
t
his teeth. A low growl escaped his lips as he
deepened the kiss, his hands sliding around her back to mold her
closer. There was innocence in the kiss, sexuality undiscovered, a
trait so rare, so raw, so intimately just for him, that he knew
nothing but need possessive, hot need.

Before Royce knew what he was
doing, he had her pinned against the wall, his legs trapping hers,
his body molding her close. He deepened the kiss, drinking her in,
craving more of her, wanting more of her. And when she whimpered,
there was no right or wrong. There was only the moment, the woman,
the… cold gust of air coming from his right. He stilled, his ears
registering the too evident sound of car horns coming from the
street level.

Royce tore his mouth from hers,
his breathing ragged, hers as well. “Is your window open,
Lauren?”

Another loud horn sounded and
she stiffened, her eyes going wide. “I never leave my window open.”
Her brows dipped. “Is it broken?”

He pulled her into the kitchen.
“Stay right here to be safe and let me check it out.”

She nodded. “Yes. Okay.” He
started to turn and she grabbed his arm. “Be careful. I have a fire
escape. It would be easy to crawl into my window.” She let him go
and reached for her purse. “I’ll have my phone in hand in case
there’s trouble.”

Royce was already rounding the
corner by the time she finished the statement, making sure he was
out of her sight when he pulled the gun from under his pant leg.
He e
as
ed
into the darkness of what appeared to be
a living
room
, with a
fireplace in the center of the wall directly in front of him which
was framed by windows, one of which was open, a curtain fluttering
wildly around it. No obvious sign of forced entry, but that didn’t
mean anything.

He flipped on a light, taking in
the huge, overstuffed blue couch and matching chairs with plush
cushions that would be far too easy to turn into a bed. The image
of slipping Lauren’s naked body beneath his on that very couch sent
a wave of pure heat through his loins, his cock thickening
uncomfortably against his zipper. Royce scrubbed his face and
loosened his tie. Holy hell, he was in big trouble when he was
holding a gun, and thinking of turning a living room into a
bedroom, instead of who he might need to shoot with
that gun
.

With the dining room to his
left, Royce could see Lauren staring at him over the bar from the
kitchen.

She’d seen his gun so he stopped
trying to hide it. He motioned to the only other room, which had to
be her bedroom, warning her he was headed to her private space.

He entered the room and flipped
on the lights, illuminating the elegant antique furnishings that
included a large, too suggestive, sleigh bed. The now familiar
scent of vanilla and honey flared in his nostrils, taunting
him.

Quickly, he surveyed for an
intruder, checking the closet, bathroom, and yes, under that
damnable taunting bed. When he returned to the living area, he
called out, “All clear,” and went to the window, using the curtain
to shove it closed, intending to get finger prints later, if he
decided the situation merited it.

She appeared at the end of the
hallway, her lipstick smudged, her gorgeous green eyes wide with
worry. Her gaze lowered to his weapon, then shifted to the curtain
he’d pulled shut, dismissing his gun as if it were expectedbut
then, she worked around law enforcement, so maybe it was to her.
“Was my window open?”

“It was,” he confirmed and
shoved his gun back into the holster at his calf. “But nothing’s
out of order that I can see. Why don’t you take a look and be
certain?”

She was already scanning and
heading to the other roomher bedroomwhere he wanted to follow her,
but would not. He stayed by the window and waited until she
returned, her shoes gone, and somehow that little detail made his
cock twitch. It was as erotic as if she had taken off much more.
This woman got to him
;
she got to him in a bad way.

“Did maintenance have a reason
to be in here?” he asked, stopping near the doorway to the bedroom
in case she needed him, or so he told himself.

“No,” she said returning to the
living area, stopping just in front of him. “Well, sometimes they
do fire alarm inspections. Maybe it was something like that. But
they shouldn’t have left it open. I’m calling them tomorrow to tell
them so, too.”

He smiled. She was such a
contradiction. All sweet and shy, but also feisty as hell.

She cleared her throat. “Um
well. So. I guess we are… safe.” She hesitated. “Can I get you
something? A drink? Something to eat?”

You
. I
want
you
. “I should go,” he said. “Before
we both do something you’ll regret tomorrow.”

She stared at him a moment, then
crossed her arms in front of herself protectively, as he’d seen her
do before, withdrawing into herself. “I understand,” she said.
“Thank you for… everything. And I’m sorry for your truck. And the
fact that your picture will probably be in tomorrow’s paper.”

He knew right then that she
thought he didn’t want her. If he let her believe that, she’d never
let him inside these walls, or hers, ever again. And for reasons he
didn’t try to understand, that had nothing to do with why he’d
sought her out tonight, he couldn’t live with that.

“I want you, Lauren,” he said,
not allowing himself to think about what he was doing, about how
she might read his actions when he confessed all to her. There were
only the consequences of doing nothing, and those, he simply
couldn’t live with. He stepped forward, closed the distance between
them. He slid a ha
n
d to
her cheek. “You have to know that by now.” He bent his head,
brushed his lips with hers, a soft caress meant to seal his
message, meant to be brief. Her arms uncurled, her hands settling
on his chest, the touch searing him with the promise of more. She
swayed toward him, her body seeming to melt into his. Suddenly, the
brush of his mouth over hers turned to something more passionate,
something he’d vowed to leash.

He started to pull back, he
meant to pull back, but she moaned, soft and sexy, and he had to
have another taste of herjust one last taste and then he’d
leave
.
H
e’d leave but she’d know he wanted
her.

Somehow, he ended that one last
kiss several kisses later, and before she could protest, he bent
down and scooped her into his arms. This woman wasn’t just any
woman. She was his duty and… more. She was more. He didn’t know
why. He didn’t need to know why. He simply needed to do what was
right. And though stripping her naked and burying himself deep
inside her might sound pretty darn rightit wasn’t, not now, not
tonight. But later. Oh yeah, later, he was going to do that and so
much more.

He crossed the room and sat down
on the couchthe same one he’d imagined her naked and beneath him
onsettling her back against the arm and backside across his lap.
Over the thick ridge of his cock he had no hope of hiding.

“We need to talk,” he said,
brushing ringlets of long auburn brown hair out of her eyes.

She blinked and shifted just
enough to press her soft, round bottom a bit more directly against
his erection. “Don’t do this,” she pleaded. “Don’t make me think.
Don’t make me analyze or worry. For once, I just want to escape it
all.”

He knew that feeling, knew it
all too well. And he also knew it was dangerous
;
it drove exactly what he didn’t
wantregret. “Why tonight, Lauren? Why me?”

“I don’t want a politician, or
someone my father would approve of, or someone who”

“I get it,” he said, cutting her
off, stopping the rest of an answer that had come too fast, too
easily, when he was tormented by this woman, by what he was
feeling, by why her ‘be careful’ had tightened his chest.

“I’m your rebellion sex, the guy
who isn’t good enough for you except when you want to get back at
your father? Is that the deal here, Lauren?”

He
r
eyes went wide. “Oh, God, no. That’s not what I
was saying.” She brushed her lips over his. “But that doesn’t mean
I don’t love that you’re everything I never allow myself to
experience. You’re… ”

“What?” he asked, feeling a
gnawing in his gut. “I’m what?”

“Everything I want to be and I’m
afraid I might never be,” she whispered softly, her lashes lowering
with the confession. Her emotion, and more of that delicate
vulnerability she’d shown him earlier, washed over him, softening
him. It hit Royce then just how much trust she’d given him by
showing him this side of herself, by declaring her reasons for
doing so. Trust he didn’t deserve, trust he was certain she would
regret. Resolve formed inside him. He was destined to fail her, but
that failure wasn’t going to be now. He wasn’t going to leave her
believing she wasn’t gorgeous and desirable.

He scooted her off his lap and
settled down on the floor in front of her, his hands sliding up
Lauren’s calves, to her knees that she’d primly pressed together.
The heady scent of her perfume, her home, her very feminine
presence, seeped into his senses.

She stared down at him, a soft
‘doe in headlights’ look on her face. “Royce?” His name was a soft
plea on her lips, filled with uncertainty. He’d confused her, sent
her mixed messages, in his effort to do what was right.

He felt like a wolf, a hungry
wolf who wanted to devour this woman, and there was no way that
didn’t show in his eyes, no way the energy, the need he felt for
her, didn’t radiate off of him.

“You’re beautiful,” he said,
softly, calmly, when the rage of hormones inside him was anything
but. He kissed her knees, one and then the other, reaffirming his
decision to let her pleasure be his tonight. “And I’m going to show
you how much I mean that.”

She swallowed hard, her
delicate, kissable throat bobbing with the action. “I’m not sure I
know what that means.”

He brushed her dress up her
thighs. “You will,” he promised and kissed her delicate little knee
again.

She laugheda nervously feminine
sound. “I’m not sure I know what that means either.”

“You don’t need to know what it
means,” he said, his fingers tracing the lace of her thigh high
pantyhose, the sexy lingerie choice confirming what he’d always
suspected. Lauren might be prim and proper on the outside, but
there was a sensual woman beneath the exterior who wanted to come
out and playand he wanted to be the man who she played with. He
wanted to be that man tonight, but no matter how tempting that
might be, tonight wasn’t the night. But he’d be damned if he’d
allow her to doubt his desire for her, his absolute, complete
attraction to her. “You just need to know how it feels.” His hands
slipped inside her thighs, easing her legs apart, his lips trailing
a path up one of them.