Operative Attraction (4 page)

“I know some tail I’d like to chase,” Hal said, pushing off the car’s hood. “But let’s get to the point. A group of criminals came here to protect a serial rapist. Terrance Brown was chased through the center of town not two weeks ago by a woman in Wonder Woman boots, and he escaped. According to Marcus, Terrance didn’t get far. A group of criminals hid him amongst the very women and in the place he had tried to escape from.”

“Yes, but the question is why?” she asked. “Mr. Grabby was going to tell me until Mr. White Knight came crashing in.”

Hal grinned, a soft, rosy tint on his cheeks. “You want me to apologize for doing my duty. It ain’t going to happen, sugah.”

She pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest, forcing Hal’s attention to move back up to her face. “I almost had it.”

“You fit the menu, princess, nothing more. You looked like what the rapist wanted to taste. Now that Mr. Grabby knows you work with the police, you can’t go back to that role anymore. You’re done with that. I did you a favor.”

Jay-Z’s rap song lit up the silence around them, and Avery slipped his cell phone out of his pocket. He put it to his ear before turning his back on both her and his partner. With the flick of his wrist, the call ended, and he looked back at Hal. “Hal, the greasy dude feeling up Ms. O here was snagged by the locals. He’s been read the riot act about some missing ATVs and vandalism.”

“We gonna go talk to him?” Olivia asked, tossing her now cold coffee into the trash.

“Uh, nah,” Avery said, giving her the briefest of glances. “The lieutenant said she’ll call after her crew softens him up. The bad news is, Ms. O’s cover’s blown.”

“What? We’re supposed to just sit and wait?” Olivia put both her hands on her luscious hips. “Thanks to you two morons, my cover’s in pieces.”

“We have to meet after the lieutenant leaves the compound and returns to the jail. Nothing we can do till the forces that united to bring the ring down decide the next step,” Hal said and leaned back against the hood. “I’m going to get some food and a nap. You comin’, Avery?”

“Hell yeah. I ain’t hanging around here.”

Avery opened the door to the car and slipped into the driver’s seat. He kept staring up at the rooftops as if he was searching for something.

“Come on, princess,” Hal said, turning those wonderful, delightful eyes to her.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she snapped.

“Yeah, you are, princess.”

“In your sorry-ass dreams, Stevens,” she said, turning on her stiletto heels. She strutted away, kissing off the idea of riding him like her inner cowgirl wanted and bucking her ass against those firm-ass thighs, when he coughed.

“Uh, remember that your cover is blown, which means a group of hardened criminals is gunning for you. You’re under my protection, civilian.”

She stiffened and swore. He had a point.

And to be honest, sitting in the car with Hal back to
Asheville
wouldn’t be so terrible. He smelled good—real good.

“There ain’t no place around here. So you might as well come on back with me,” Hal said softly, inching closer to her. At the same time he crossed the chasm between them physically, he was bridging the gap between them emotionally.

“Where?” she croaked out, adjusting her purse over her shoulder.

“Biltmore.”

“Nice,” she said, tossing her head back and strutting by Hal to the backseat of the car.

“I agree,” he said, and as she glanced over her shoulder to figure out his tone, he added, “and I don’t mean the hotel.”

Chapter
Three

Hal passed the drive to
Asheville
in silence. Avery spent most of the ride in puzzlement. He didn’t say or do anything that spoke to his confusion, but Hal had known his partner long enough to know his quirks—and judging by his solemn look, something was bugging his friend. What, he didn’t know, but he let the other man ride it out in his musings. Avery would share his thoughts with him later. Meanwhile Avery drove as if on autopilot.

Besides, Olivia kept drawing him in. Seated beside him, Olivia perched with her legs crossed at the ankles and the hem of her sundress brushing the tops of her knees. Hal had convinced her to sit beside him. Brave and beautiful, she had spunk, and it called to him. Like a moth to a ravaging but enticing flame, Hal was drawn. Protecting her would not only be his pleasure, but his paradise as well. He wanted her beneath him—feeling her smooth, caramel skin grow stickier under his kisses, and the triangle between those luscious thighs gush. Damn her for forcing him off kilter. All he could think about was pushing the bulbous head of his cock just inside her sweet nether lips.

“Hal?” his tormenter and temptress called.

“Yeah?” he asked, startled by the huskiness of her voice as it scraped across his ears. It made chills race down his arms and forced his stomach to ball in on itself. His cock already lay thick in his pants, making them tight.

“I said how did the locals get a hold of Mr. Grabby?”

Avery’s eyes met his via the rearview mirror.

Hal looked back at her and noted the soft blush staining her cheeks. Her gaze was fixated on his crotch.

He adjusted his position in the seat, trying to alleviate his swelling phallus and hide it at the same time. Assuming she wanted to see his horniness wouldn’t do. His assumptions had already failed him once today.

“Dunno, Avery took the call,” he said and glanced over to him.

“Oh, right,” she said, smiling.

Hal waited for her to ask about the perp and the call, but she didn’t want to talk to Avery. Sharp and observant, Olivia knew he didn’t know about the situation—she had only wanted to start a conversation with Hal. Instead of conversing with Avery, she sighed and leaned back into the soft leather seat, stretching her legs out. Her gorgeous hair brushed her nude shoulders, and the spaghetti straps clung to her flesh the way his hands wanted to. A few times he reached out to run his finger across her shoulder, like one did to taste something delicious and exotic, and caught himself.

The swell of her breasts against the flimsy fabric told him she didn’t wear a bra. She slowly opened her eyes as they pulled into valet parking, and her eyes met his. When they connected, a jolt shot through him, and his rod jumped at the look in those eyes. She blinked, and the expression vanished.

“We’re here, princess,” he said, putting emphasis on her title. The valet got the door for her, and as she got out, the sliver of well-formed thigh and the sleek outline of her leg came into view. Without warning, he touched her calf, making her gasp.

“Hal!” she said, and froze.

“Is everything all right, ma’am?” the valet asked politely, albeit slightly nasally.

“Yes, uh, of course,” she said, though his touch had clearly rattled her—whether in a good way or not, he didn’t know. She frowned at him. “I’m just fine.”

“Amen to that,” Hal added with a smirk.

They made their way through the luxury hotel in silence. Hal made sure to stay behind Olivia—to keep the gentle swish of her ass in his direct line of vision. Sure, he meant to protect her; no one followed them, except for that crazy person on a bike who popped a wheelie and flirted with their car, but hell, Avery looked menacing enough. The rider scrammed.

“Avery will get the rooms,” Hal said to her, pulling his gaze away from the round swell of her ass to scan the faces streaming through the hotel. No one stood out, although a bunch of men kept turning to check out Olivia. Bastards.

“Okay,” she said and stood out of his arm’s reach. “I actually already have a room here.”

“You don’t now,” Hal said, sternly, frowning at bit.

“I’m not sharing a room with you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself and staying in the room I rented. My belongings are there.”

Hal stepped closer to her and again fought down the urge to kiss her hard on the mouth.

“No. I said no, and that ain’t up for argument, princess,” Hal grunted.

“Here are the keys,” Avery said, his deep voice rumbling through the space between them like a low riding storm. “I…I gotta go check something out.”

He slapped the keycards into Hal’s open palm and made a beeline to the rear of the hotel, toward a woman dressed in a pair of lightweight linen pants and a pink chemise, trying to reach her before the crowd overtook her. But once it cleared, she was gone, and so was Avery.

“This one is yours,” Hal said, making his voice light. Frightening her off, or even better, pissing her off would only keep her at bay. And he didn’t want her at all far away. He wanted all that luscious body wrapped up inside his arms, rubbing against his abs and making all the parts of his body warm. “Come on.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m fine. Your attempts to make me slink back to a hotel room with you aren’t going to work,” she said. She reached into her large Coach satchel and pulled out a keycard. “I’m going to my room.”

Hal didn’t argue but followed behind her again, seduced by the sway of her ass beneath the flimsy fabric. The bustling screams, laughter, and yells of alcohol-induced happiness crammed down the narrow hallway to the rear elevators. In the grand ballroom, several groups of red and pink hats milled about the area. Women dressed in shades of red, pink and fuchsia drifted about, laughing and drinking.

The
Inn
at Biltmore boasted two hundred and four rooms, and the only one he wanted to get into was hers. To be honest, he didn’t give a damn where she slept as long as it was next to him. Patience had never been Hal’s strong suit, and Olivia had worn it down to the threads. Holding on to it had become very slippery.

The doors of the elevator slipped to a hush, and he released a breath he hadn’t even known he’d held.

Olivia stood opposite him, holding the railing inside the car as if she expected to plummet to the depths of the shaft any minute now. Her almond-shaped eyes met his, and she swallowed hard. The glossy mahogany panels and lush carpet made the inside of the elevator car look like an elegant sitting room.

Hal could smell her desire beneath the floral scent of jasmines being pumped into the car with the lazy piano music. He pressed the stop button, and the car came to a jolting halt. Without waiting, he stalked over to her and pinned her between the wall, the railing, and his fucking hormones. He leaned down and inhaled the sweetness of her perfume, dipping his head further into the cradle of her neck. She swallowed so hard he heard her, but it was the rapid beating of her heart, pressed against his chest, that told him her desire had revved up to a steady gallop.

She hadn’t told him to move, to get or to back the fuck up.

He placed a single kiss at the base of her neck, right at the beginning of her collarbone.

“Ah,” she cried, relaxing into him. He felt her hands clutch his jacket.

Encouraged, he dropped a few more light, soft kisses across her collarbone, tasting the salty sweetness of her skin, licking it up like he would an ice cream cone, smiling briefly as her nipples pebbled. Her nails raked over his jacket, up into his hair, seconds before she clutched it into her fists. She yanked his hair, forcing him to grunt as she lifted her face to his.

“You manipulative bastard.” She sighed and spread her legs wide, allowing his narrow hips to slip in between them.

He smirked at her before kissing her, pulling her full bottom lip into his mouth and tugging on it with his teeth. She groaned, melting even more into him and rotating her hips against his swollen cock. Growing more eager, she pushed her lips against his, and he gently pried them apart. His tongue darted into her mouth like a bee dipping down for pollen again and again, as he tasted her. Moaning as he softly sucked her tongue, Olivia wrapped her arms around his neck and held him fast. Her smooth, creamy mocha legs slipped around his calves.