Take a Risk (Risk #1) (6 page)

‘Could be,’ Colt said, he wouldn’t confess Lyssa’s work here at Risqué thus revealing her study.

‘She’s pretty?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ he said, the corner of his mouth edged upward.

‘Sexy?’

‘As hell.’

‘Can you talk to her? Do you trust her?

‘She trusts me,’ Colt said. ‘She’s savvy and audacious. She’s confident and bold, but humble too. She’s curious and smart, and enticing—‘

‘Colt, man, you’ve got to marry this girl.’

Ruger was known for telling it like it was and he was remarkably perceptive, but Colt had to laugh. His brother’s finesse sent Colt slouching back in his chair with a flood of relief or maybe it was reassurance.

‘She makes me think about sex, hardly a basis for marriage.’

‘So screw her.’

‘She’s a client…’

‘Solve the case, then ask her out,’ Ruger said. ‘Stop struggling with it, bro. Go with it. You’ve got to give yourself a break… it’s about time.’

‘You think this is about Emma? That I’m worried about getting my feet wet—‘

‘I think you need to dive in head first, Colt. Trust your instincts, remember those?’

‘Always so sure about everything, aren’t you?’ Colt said.

‘Ever known me to be wrong? Don’t think so. If you don’t trust yourself, trust me. Go with it. Let it happen… trust this gal because if she’s caught your eye, she’s worth it.’

‘Ok, kid, let mom feed you then get her to bed. You know she gets cranky when she’s up past midnight.’

‘Take it easy,’ Ruger said and hung up.

Colt was used to confiding in Ruger, or rather having Ruger confide in him. Certainly, his baby brother was right about one thing, he was never wrong. Colt wouldn’t consider acting on an attraction to a client, at least he thought he wouldn’t. That was until he saw Lyssa Cutler.

Ruger could be right, maybe he should cut himself some slack but he wasn’t in the habit of doing that. Lyssa might have come into his life at the right time, if not socially then professionally, because right now he felt like sitting with a shrink might be long overdue. But a shrink with a body that good led a man to think with an organ not located in his skull.

For the moment his role was to solve her stalker problem and that was one area in which he had plenty of practice and so for now that’s where his focus would stay.

All through med school she had worked crazy shifts and long hours. Her fellowship hadn’t required as many night shifts, so during that time she quickly got out of the habit of going without sleep. Except as Colt had pointed out, these days she did struggle to sleep through the night because of what was going on in her life. After completing her first full shift at Risqué she was exhausted and hoped this was an indicator she might get a decent rest tonight.

But after locking her front door she retrieved her pepper spray and started to go through her routine of checking each room. Nothing sinister awaited her in the lower hall, office, or waiting room, and then she reached the back porch. In the glass of the rear door she saw the flared shadow of an inverted bouquet in the pane. Usually the stems were left on the external stairs, but this time they’d been hung up.

Lyssa’s heart hammered making her reluctant to open the door. A chance existed that he was still out there. But the worst he would be doing was watching. She had never been approached or attacked, and he’d never attempted to cause any harm, physical or otherwise.

Her curious nature wouldn’t let her leave it alone and the cops, as usual, would do nothing. So with a shaking hand she selected the back door key from the ring still looped on her thumb – keys could be a great weapon too – and unlocked the door with the pepper spray aloft.

Snatching the bouquet, she brought it in and slammed the door, locking it as fast as she could. Taking the time to slow her breathing and soothe her thumping heart, Lyssa removed the card and dropped the stems.

‘Where were you when I needed you?’

The typed words on a rectangle of white card made her shiver. On autopilot, she checked that the door was definitely locked then ran up the stairs, flicking on every light switch on the route. Grabbing the phone from the wall, she speed dialled Suzette. It rang and rang, Lyssa almost thought her friend might not pick up, and then there was a click and a grumble.

‘Lys?’ came Suzette’s sleepy response.

‘He left flowers.’

‘What?’ Suzette yawned through the ruffle of bed clothes. ‘What time is it?’

‘Early,’ Lyssa said, pushing a hand into her hair. ‘Or late… I don’t know. I’m sorry, but… he left flowers.’

‘At this time of night?’ Suzette asked, more alert. ‘Did you see him?’

‘No. I… I was checking the house and they were hanging in the window of the back door. He wanted me to find them.’

‘Oh my god, do you want me to come over?’

‘No, I…’

‘I can come over if you don’t want to be alone. If I wake Pete I can—‘

‘No,’ Lyssa exhaled and sank down into one of the kitchen chairs. ‘There’s no point. He’s obviously gone, it’s not like he ever comes inside. I just had to tell someone.’

‘You know that you can call me anytime. Maybe I should come and stay with you for a while to keep you company.’

‘There’s no need for that,’ Lyssa said, feeling pathetic because the idea of company was a good one. At times like this living along was a burden because leaning on someone was what she needed to do, except there was no one here.

‘This has gone on long enough, Lys. We have to end it. We have that bridesmaids dress fitting tomorrow. My sisters will be there, we won’t get a proper chance to talk. Do you want me to cancel so we can go to the cops? Maybe if we talk to Chavez—‘

‘What can he do? What can any of them do?’

‘I hate to hear you like this, so dejected.’

‘Maybe I should move, change my name, and go into hiding.’

‘Others might believe you’re joking but I can tell from your tone that you’ve considered it,’ Suzette said.

‘At this point, I’ve considered everything.’

The card, which still hung in her hand, dropped to the floor. She’d take the flowers to the dumpster tomorrow, she wasn’t going out into the night again.

‘You could go and stay with your parents. They’re only an hour away.’

‘I’d have to come back to the office every day and get every message he left, so it’s not worth it.’

‘Ok, I’m going to keep thinking about this. Let’s do dinner tomorrow night and we’ll put our heads together.’

Suzette had said this so many times that Lyssa wondered why her best friend had put up with this mess for so long. They made plans to have an early meal and after some more reassurances they hung up.

A brief notion to call Colt flitted through her, but he’d told her not to. She didn’t actually have a number for him and she doubted that he’d be listed. She could try calling the club and leaving a message but he wouldn’t like her to leave a physical trail that connected them.

He wouldn’t appreciate her whining to him either, they weren’t friends or romantically involved, she had to adhere to rule number three. Flowers weren’t dangerous in and of themselves. The bouquet wasn’t even wrapped in plastic, the flowers were tied together with standard twine, meaning no evidence could be gathered from them.

Knowing that sleep would be eluding her didn’t give her an excuse to not at least make an attempt at it. Resolving to tell Colt when she saw him at the club tomorrow night, during her last shift of the week, Lyssa went through to her bedroom. She wanted to shower but was too jumpy to put herself in that vulnerable position. Reminding herself that there was a shower in the locker room at Risqué, she vowed to shower and change at Risqué after every shift so that she wouldn’t have to do it at home.

Planning her life around the actions of an unhinged individual in need of help frustrated her, but until Colt came up with the goods it was what she had to do.

Most of her shift at Risqué that Sunday night was uneventful. She was making mental notes and beginning to ask the girls some leading questions now that they were warming up to her. Time was ticking on, her feet were aching and she’d held off all night from taking her break because she was waiting for Colt to come in, but it was one thirty and there was still no sign of him.

‘Heard anything from your brother tonight?’ Lyssa asked Blaser who was cleaning up behind the bar when she slipped around and put her tray away then took a sip of her water from beneath the bar.

‘Which one?’ Blaser asked, tossing his cloth aside to take an order from Destiny, another waitress, who was leaning over the bar.

‘Either of them,’ Lyssa said. Blaser smirked, he had to know that she meant Colt, but she also found herself curious about the youngest Warner brother.

‘Ruge called, but I was too busy to talk much. He’s just back in town.’

‘That’s nice, where has he been?’

‘Beats me,’ Blaser shrugged, filling the order. ‘If you want to know that then you’ve got to ask Colt. Chances are he won’t know either.’

‘Ruger is secretive?’

‘He’s always on the move. Always up to something. You kind of lose track.’

Tracing a fingernail around the edge of the beer tap, she asked what she really wanted to know. ‘Is Colt coming in tonight?’

‘Haven’t heard,’ Blaser said.

Lyssa wasn’t going to push the issue, so when she saw some rowdy patrons on the edge of her zone with almost empty glasses she went to encourage them to buy more liquor. These men were close to drunk; they sang and flirted with her. One touched the back of her thigh and she kept her smile in place but shook a finger at the fondler.

‘You know that’s not allowed,’ Lyssa said with her Cherry charm.

‘Oh, you love it,’ the fondler said and the others cheered.

A hand came from nowhere and touched her waist, someone squeezed her ass, and she tried to back away when the men on either side of her rose.

‘Dance with me, darling,’ the fondler said.

His hand came toward her hip but was intercepted by another hand that came from behind her. Lyssa was tugged backwards and the fondler yelped when Lyssa’s protector twisted his arm around to his back and yanked it upward.

‘These guys have had enough,’ the protector snarled and Lyssa recognised the voice as Colt’s.

Security men, dressed in black Risqué emblazoned outfits, took the fondler from Colt to cart him and his protesting buddies out of the club. Colt turned to watch over the top of her head, but she was more interested in the scowl on Colt’s face, trained to the men who had harassed her.

‘You know how to make an entrance, babe,’ she said, threading her fingers through his which drew his eyes down to hers. She had always been the tactile sort, and often forgot that others were not so touchy feely. ‘I hoped to see you tonight. I need to fill you in and I’m due a break.’

Colt glanced at the bar and tightened his hold on her hand. ‘Then let’s get out of here.’

Keeping her close behind him, Colt led her off the main floor to backstage and up the stairs into his office.

‘Are you ok?’ he asked, flicking on the light and nudging her to seat her on the couch. ‘Maybe you’ll reconsider working in a place like this now?’

‘Oh, I’m not worried about men like that,’ she said, unfastening the buckles on her shoes and tucking them up under her. ‘But thanks for jumping in, that was very hot.’

‘Hot?’ he said, pausing on his way to a fridge in the corner to look at her.

‘Sure. A big macho man coming to my rescue, that’s sexy. You can protect me and my primitive brain values that… though so much for you not being security.’

‘Like I said, I am when Blaser needs me.’

Security wasn’t stretched and Colt hadn’t been around tonight to be working for Blaser, but Lyssa wasn’t going to needle him about that… just yet.

‘Do you want a drink?’ he asked, retrieving a soda from the fridge.

‘Water would be good.’

He took a bottle to her and opened his can, then dropped onto the couch beside her, glugging down half of his drink.

‘What did you want to tell me?’ he asked, setting his can on the table in front of them.

‘He left flowers,’ she said and he slowly turned to her.

‘What?’ he asked. ‘When?’

‘I don’t know exactly when, they were hanging on my back door when I got home last night.’

‘Last night?’

She nodded. ‘I have a ritual I go through every time I return home in the dark.’

‘Yeah, I’ve seen all the lights go on and off. Do you carry a weapon while you check the place out?’

‘Keys and pepper spray,’ she said. ‘I’ve never found evidence that he’s violated my property, I’m paranoid I guess.’

‘He left the flowers while you were here?’ Colt asked and she nodded. ‘He’s never followed you here, so he can’t know you’re working here, that’s good.’

‘There was a note on the flowers,’ she said and his eyes narrowed. ‘He wanted to know where I was, it said he needed me.’

‘For what?’

She shrugged. ‘He didn’t say.’

‘So my guess would be that he went to your place looking for you last night, he probably waited around and got mad or anxious when you didn’t come back.’

‘It’s kind of creepy to think of him watching my house when I’m not there.’

‘Would you rather have been there?’

She let the rhetorical question hang in the air and scrutinised his face as it hardened in intense thought. Scooting closer, the length of her thigh met his and she propped her elbow on his shoulder to rub the pad of her thumb down his forehead.

‘Do you try to get into their minds?’

‘Hmm?’ Their eyes met but his frown remained in place.

‘I’m curious about how you do what you do.’

‘You’re curious about every damn thing. How is your research coming along?’

‘For my book?’ she asked, lighting up with the chance to talk about what she’d had to keep secret. Suzette didn’t know that she was working at Risqué and gathering material, so Lyssa was left pondering her work alone.

‘Yeah, tell me what it’s about.’

‘Sexual objectification,’ she said. ‘It’s a very relevant topic in today’s world. It’s a fascinating subject.’

‘Just to be straight, are you in favour or against?’

Facing him, she interlinked her fingers and draped them across his shoulder to prop her chin on them. ‘It’s not as straight forward as that. I’m exploring how pressures on each gender affect the sex lives and sexual behaviours of individuals and sections of society depending upon the angle and weight of sexual objectification.’

‘I see now why Risqué was a good bet.’

‘The women here are great, but their attitude and behaviour differs greatly between back and front stage. They know how to objectify themselves and they’re so critical of their appearance and ability. Yet, out there, on the floor they have all this confidence. And the men watching them raises so many more questions.’

‘You really love what you do, don’t you?’

‘There are so many facets to human nature and sexuality is surrounded with deception and revelation, vulnerability, and arrogance. So many of these women dislike themselves and have low self-esteem but they walk tall in public. They have power over these men who think they’re the ones with the power because they have the money… And then there’s you.’