Unlawful Attraction: The Complete Box Set: Alpha Billionaire Romance (23 page)

She jerked as if I’d slapped her, but I kept going.

“I’d like you to pack a few things. I’m taking you to a hotel.”

Lower lip trembling, she tore away from me. “I don’t want to go.”

“You should follow my advice.” As she started to pace again, I tucked my hands into my pockets so she couldn't reach for them again. “I can’t make you go, Ms. Mance, but it’s not safe here for you. They’ve already proven they can get in without leaving any sign.”

***

She ended up going to the hotel, but she was still upset with me.

Once I had her settled, I headed for a bar a block away from my apartment. I wanted a drink, and I wanted some hard, fast sex.

Dena’s face flitted through my mind, but she was out of the question.

Had she known who I was?

It was hard to believe that Bethany was unaware of
anything
having to do with this case, and that manipulative she-devil would do anything, use anybody to get ahead. Even if it meant sending one of her underlings to fuck with me.

Or, more accurately, fuck me.

But Dena hadn’t seemed liked that.

Not at all.

But maybe that was the whole point.

My gut twisted as I settled at the bar I usually went to when I wasn't in the mood for a club scene. I flagged down the bartender.

“Your usual?”

I nodded and a moment later, a glass of Glenlivet 18 Year was placed in front of me. As the rich taste slid down my throat, a woman settled on the stool next to me. I glanced over. After a second drink, I took another look.

She was pretty.

Long black hair swept into an elegant chignon, sleek red dress. Her dusky olive skin made me think she was Latina. She was beautiful, that was certain.

“Hi.” She gave me a smile, her Cupid’s bow mouth curving up invitingly.

I nodded at her.

She stroked a finger along the low neckline of her dress, purposefully drawing attention to her generous cleavage. “Would you like some company?”

“Sure. Want a drink?”

She touched her finger to the tip of my glass. “What’s that you’re drinking?”

I offered it to her and she took a slow sip. When she put the glass down, she smiled at me again.

“I love it. I’ll take one.”

I ordered another scotch, watching her dark eyes. She slid her tongue over her lips, slicked the same red as her dress. She was definitely here looking for a good time.

When she settled her hand on my thigh, her fingers just a few inches from my crotch, my cock twitched, but I knew it was just a normal male reaction to an attractive woman. It wasn't anything special. Not like when I thought about Dena.

That was all it took to make my cock harden.

My companion thought it was her, and that was fine with me.

She also thought it was her when we left a few minutes later. She invited me to her apartment, and I found myself thinking about the safety precautions Dena had taken the first time we'd been together. Carmen hadn't taken any such precautions, and it made me think a little less of her.

She was all over me in the cab, and it didn't stop when we reached her apartment. It wasn't in the best neighborhood, but it was far from the worst. I had a vague recollection of her saying that she worked as a pharmaceutical rep. Her apartment seemed nice, but I wasn't really paying attention to much of anything. Fortunately, judging by the way she was rubbing herself all over me, she wasn't interested in anything else either.

She peeled off the dress in record time, revealing a strapless bra that barely managed to contain everything, and a pair of panties that were little more than a strip of lace and silk that covered nothing. I barely had time to kick off my shoes and remove my shirt before she was on her knees and reaching for my belt.

When I pulled out a condom, Carmen pouted a little. I didn't doubt that she normally had men begging for that mouth, but I wasn't even tempted.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s this or I leave.”

Presented with that, she took the condom from me and yanked down my pants and underwear. With a glance up at me through her lashes, she tore open the wrapper and proceeded to roll the condom on with her mouth. It was an erotic sight and, finally, some real interest in her stirred.

It couldn't compare to the image in my head though. Someone petite, with very little curves. But a mouth that could get me off in seconds. Eyes that I couldn't forget.

I was a class-act bastard, I knew, thinking of another woman while I had this beautiful one in front of me, but I couldn’t banish the thoughts of Dena, no matter what I did.

Carmen stood and reached for me, intending to draw me closer, but I didn't want that, didn't want to have to look her in the eyes and lie to her even more than I already was. I grabbed her hips and spun her around, pulling her ass back against my cock for a moment. She giggled a little as I bent her over the couch, then gasped as I nudged her ankles apart, not bothering to be gentle about it. She didn't seem to want gentle, and I definitely didn't want to be it.

Keeping one hand on the small of Carmen's back, I wrapped my hand around my cock and slid the head between her legs. I hooked a finger around the essentially non-existent crotch of her panties and pulled them aside. A moment later, I found her entrance and, without any finesse, pushed inside.

She was tight and hot, which is all I cared about. Blocking out the squeals she made as I began to thrust, I thought of Dena.

The throaty way she moaned, the way I had to drag each bit of submission from her. The way she curled against me after I made her come.

Perfection.

This...this was just release.

Still, I was enough of a gentleman to make sure Carmen got hers. When I felt my balls start to tighten, I slid my hand under her and found her clit. She was panting as she pushed back against me and I knew she was close.

“Come,” I growled as I rubbed her clit.

“More,” she begged. “More, baby. Please, more.”

I gritted my teeth and tried not to think about how Dena would've reacted to a command to come. I moved my other hand to one of Carmen's breasts, pulling down the cup of her bra so I could get my fingers on her nipple. When I pinched it, her pussy clenched around me and I knew I'd found her sweet spot.

Less than a minute later, she was coming, her muscles clamping tight around me. I squeezed my eyes closed and allowed myself to picture Dena bent over in front of me. Allowed myself to imagine that it was her gripping me.

The release was brief, and as soon as it was over, I pulled out. I was done.

I pulled off the condom and disposed of it down the toilet in the small bathroom off the hall, grabbing up my pants as I passed.

Carmen was stretching and smiling as I drew up my trousers. She'd adjusted her panties and bra, but made no attempt to cover herself.

I gave her a nod as I headed toward the door. Fortunately, it wasn't far, and I was able to get it closed before whatever she'd thrown at me hit it. She called me something in Spanish that I was sure wasn't complimentary, but I didn't bother to attempt to translate it. Whatever it was, I was sure she wasn’t off base. I really was an asshole. This was just further proof.

Chapter 4

Dena

“What is this?”

Bethany’s eyes were as cold as her voice. She was clearly trying to pull out all the intimidation stops. I could've told her not to bother. I wasn't someone easily bullied on a good day. And this was definitely not a good day.

I had a brutal headache, like an icepick was slowly rotating into my skull right at the base of my neck.

Still, I’d rather deal with the icepick than my boss.

Sadly, I didn’t have the luxury of choice. I had to put up with both, and the acknowledgement stretched my patience to the breaking point.

Glancing at the paper she held, I pursed my lips for a moment, and then looked back at her. “It appears to be the report you asked for.” I somehow managed to keep my tone polite.

“This is bullshit,” Bethany snapped. “It’s whitewashed bullshit. You basically have nothing to report. What the
fuck
, Dena? Do you want to be a prosecutor or not?”

I made myself take a slow breath before I responded. It wouldn't do to lose my temper. I did, however, ask sweetly, “Would you like me to fabricate something?”

Her lids flickered, and I wondered if I'd gone too far.

When she didn’t answer, I continued, my head pulsing. I figured I might as well say it all. “Shall I expand the report to include something along the lines of
the defendant’s home was surrounded by numerous mafia types and I observed her whispering into the ear of her lawyer
?”

A dark flush was creeping its way up Bethany's neck.

“Perhaps I should include something about how I saw her passing money to the officers who’d shown up to take the report.”

“Did you?” She bit off the words.

“No.” I rubbed my forehead. “And you should know that I've filed several copies of this report, so if one happens to...go missing, we have backups.”

“That was hardly necessary.” Bethany’s voice was stiff now, but she clutched her pen so tightly, it was a wonder it didn’t snap in two. “It’s not like I would
ask
you to falsify a report. I just wish you'd been more observant.”

I took a slow breath. I'd already pushed things too far. I needed to dial back some, or I was going to be looking for a new job.

“I noted, to the number, how many paintings were in the house, how many items had been destroyed, and the value. I noted when Ms. Mance believed she’d left, and when she’d returned. I gathered as much information as I could from the cops without having an official report. I even made a few calls to get the value of the damage. I have no idea what else you want me to provide.”

Her jaw was set, expression livid. For several seconds, she said nothing, and then she took the report, closed it up inside a folder and set it aside.

Flicking a hand at Pierce who'd been watching the exchange without a word, she said, “You’ll be working with Pierce. We need to keep this from being introduced at trial. Unless we can prove that she did this herself to gain sympathy, it has nothing to do with her killing her husband.”

I frowned. “What if someone is trying to threaten her?”

“Threaten her why?” Bethany rolled her eyes. “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck.”

I glanced at Pierce, but his face was impassive.

“It was a random B&E, Dena. That's all. Don't let the defense turn it into something it isn't.”

“You don't know that it was random. The police have barely begun investigating,” I protested.

“Yes, Dena, I do know.” She turned back to her computer. “You two, get to work.”

We’d been dismissed. Glancing over at Pierce, I bit back a sigh and turned to go.

I was almost at the door when she spoke again, “Dena, it was very...thorough of you to copy the DA on the report, but it was hardly necessary. I keep very good records.”

I looked back at her and gave her a wide, empty smile. “It’s habit, I’m afraid. We always copied all parties at the old firm. After all, we didn’t want to take a chance of a report being...lost. More than once, having multiple back-ups saved my ass.”

***

We’d spent nearly two hours working and not speaking outside what was necessary for the case, but there was enough to do that I didn't mind the silence.

We had a fairly expansive history to draw on, building a motion in which to have the break-in kept from being introduced at trial, but I knew any decent defense attorney would have an equally compelling argument to say the break-in was evidence supporting an alternate theory of the crime.

And Arik was far from just a “decent” lawyer.

Arik.

I hadn’t told Bethany that I'd met him before.

I probably should have, but it wasn’t like we actually had a personal relationship. Sex wasn’t personal. Sex could be terribly intimate, but what we’d had hadn't been part of a relationship. It'd been an arrangement that fulfilled a basic need. It wasn’t much different than...

You’re fooling yourself. It was personal. You’re not involved, but it
was
personal
.

That little voice would be the death of me.

“You know, you’re not doing yourself any favors, jabbing at Bethany like that,” Pierce said, his voice low.

Jerking my head up, I stared at him, but he wasn’t looking at me.

“You said she was a man-eater and you’re not wrong.” He hesitated, and then kept going, “But you’re not really right, either. She doesn't limit it to men. She's an eater. A shark, through and through, and you’re probably looking really tasty to her right now.” Finally, he lifted his head and met my eyes.

For the first time since I met him, he looked real. The slime and sleaze that he'd worn like a second skin was gone. Something in his eyes looked heavy. Like he felt almost the same way I did, that the career he’d been reaching for was slowly slipping out of his hands.