Take a Chance Read online

Steve grabbed her hand and hurried her back to his SUV while she argued.

  “What are you doing? I need to see what’s been taken and call the police.”

  Steve jerked open the passenger door and put her inside with ease. “Stay here. Do not get out of this vehicle or unlock the door until I come back. Promise me.”

  Dammit. When he used that tone of voice she couldn’t argue. “Okay.”

  The door slammed and he used the key fob to activate the alarm. She watched him jog back up the walk and disappear into her home. Her breath rushed out when she realized she still had her purse. Quickly locating her cell, she called the police and gave them her address. The local police were wonderful to work with, and a patrol car pulled up to her curb just as Steve came out her front door.

  The two men met on her front walk while she watched. Steve’s order to stay put rankled, and when he didn’t acknowledge her in any way, she hit the lock release and joined them. His irritation was obvious, but she made sure he saw hers, too.

  “You were supposed to stay in the truck, doll.”

  He didn’t sound angry, just irritated. “It’s my house. Besides, between you and the officer, I’m sure it’s safe.”

  The officer shook his head and grinned at Steve, some private joke she’d missed, and it didn’t sit well. She was too wound up with frustration to deal calmly with them.

  “What did you find in my house?” she asked Steve. “Is it a mess? Was the lock broken? I know I locked it before we left.”

  Steve’s hand settled on the back of her neck and he gave her a little squeeze. “Take a deep breath, Dena. I’ve got this.”

  She opened her mouth to reply and he leaned close, whispering in her ear. “Shush, doll. Let me do this for you.”

  Her heart stopped for a second, then restarted at a slower pace, a definite reaction to his words and the warm breath across her throat. How did he manage to do so much to her with so little effort?

  The police officer was talking about break-ins in the neighborhood, and Steve told him nothing was missing that he could see. “I have a locksmith on the way to replace the broken lock,” he told the officer.

  “Good idea. I’ll give this report to the detective investigating the office burglary, in case they’re linked.” He turned to her and asked, “Ms. Lindsay, do you ever bring work home?”

  “No. Everything stays at the office.”

  He nodded, wrote a few things on his clipboard that she didn’t get to read, and shook hands with both of them. He climbed into his patrol car just as another car pulled into her drive.

  “Here’s my locksmith. He’s going to fix you up tight. I don’t want anything to happen to you, doll.”

  “Thank you, but I can take care of myself,” she told him.

  “Dena, as long as I’m around, you don’t have to. Might as well get used to it, ‘cause I’m not going to change my ways.”

  The young man walked up the drive with three boxes in his hands and a tool belt cinched around his hips. He didn’t even glance her way, just showed Steve the locks he’d brought and waited for approval.

  “Exactly what I asked for. Thanks. Go ahead with the front door while we walk the house.”

  “I don’t know you well enough to let you run my life, Steve.” She didn’t need another overprotective male in her life. She wanted a lover, but not full time. She liked being self-sufficient.

  He led her into the house without comment. “Tell me if you see anything missing.”

  Papers were scattered across the coffee table and the sofa, but they were junk mail from the morning delivery. The television and DVD system were right where they belonged, untouched.

  The calendar in the kitchen had been pulled off its hook and was askew on the floor but not torn. “What were they looking for?” she said under her breath, not expecting an answer.

  The jars on her counter were emptied on the table, a huge pile of flour, sugar, and coffee waiting for a trashcan. When she reached for one, Steve stopped her.

  “Let’s finish the house before we clean.”

  But there wasn’t much to find. The light was on in both her bedroom and her office. All her purses were on the floor and her bed, some with zippers pulled out, some just opened and discarded. The office space that she only used at Christmastime had taken the brunt of the robber’s attention. All the drawers were pulled out and dumped.

  “Well,” she sighed, “I’ve been thinking about a new laptop. I just wish I’d backed up my address book before they took the old one.”

  “This was definitely connected to the office burglary. I saw jewelry on the dresser, but they didn’t take it. What do you think they were looking for, Dena?”

  “I don’t honestly know. If it’s something from the office, they wouldn’t find it here. I don’t work from home. Ever.”

  They returned to the kitchen and Steve helped her put things to rights. It was a little disconcerting since she’d never seen the men in her family do anything domestic in all the years she’d lived at home. She started

  to say something about it, but decided not to rock the boat.

  Halfway through the kitchen cleanup, the locksmith asked for their approval and assistance. Dena looked at the new lock in surprise. “There’s no key?”

  The locksmith smiled. “You’ll need a four or five digit code to open the lock. Do you have one in mind?”

  When she nodded, he touched two numbers and asked her to put in her numbers. “If you want to add or change the numbers, the instructions are in the box.”

  “Wow. High tech locks. I’ve moved uptown.”

  Steve chuckled and told her, “You’ve always been uptown, doll. He’s putting the same type lock on the other two doors.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’ll be safe tonight.”

  She hoped that meant he was staying the night, but she couldn’t be sure. Steve Gladston wasn’t an easy man to read.

  The locksmith stepped back and gathered his tools. “Where’s the back door?”

  Steve shut and locked the front entrance and Dena headed for the door into the backyard. Half of it was glass, and she could only imagine Steve’s reaction at the lack of security. He must have realized she was at her wit’s end because he let it go, dragging her back to the kitchen.

  She dropped into a chair and he put water in the kettle on the stove. “Where do you keep your teabags?” When she leaned forward, he added, “No, don’t get up, Dena, just point.”

  Who was this man and where had he been all her life?

  She pointed to the pantry and propped an elbow on the little round table in her kitchen. Fascinated by the man in her kitchen, she watched the muscles move under his clothes while he reached for the mug and added the bag of tea. So not what she’d imagined for the after dinner portion of this date.

  What if she’d been home when the break in happened? A shiver ran down her spine and his voice stopped it. “Don’t go there, Dena. What ifs won’t do any good. Trust me.”

  Steve put the cup in her hand and wrapped his warmth around her fingers for a minute. “Drink.”

  “Mr. Gladston, all three locks are set and ready for her to code in her number.”

  * * * *

  Steve got to his feet and shook the man’s hand. “Thanks, Donny. Come by my office in the morning and I’ll have some cash for you.” He walked the man to the front door and handed him a fifty for coming out so quickly. Then he went back to Dena and asked for her code, instructing her to keep drinking her tea while he set the locks.

  She looked sweet and needy at the kitchen table, holding the mug like a lifeline. The night had been a rough one for her. His just-the-facts conversation about sex, his hands-off policy at dinner, and now a break in and ransack. Damn fine date night he’d given her.

  He fought the urge to pick her up and carry her to her bed. To hell with training, she needed a good fuck to take her mind off the B & E.

  Or not.

  He cursed under his breath, g
lad he’d had her out on the town. If she’d been home alone, the night might’ve had a much different ending.

  The new locks would help, and he’d continue with the self-defense lessons. No one would touch her, with one very clear exception.

  He’d have his hands all over her.

  Steve wiped down the counters while she sipped her tea, then took the cup and set it in the sink. With a tug, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped his body heat around her.

  “I’m going to take care of you tonight, and I’ll be gone in the morning before you wake.”

  “You can stay for breakfast,” she whispered, barely a breath across his chest, but this wasn’t a night he’d take advantage of.

  With one arm tight around her waist, he walked her into her bedroom and turned down the bedcovers. “Do you want a bath before bed?”

  Eyes slumberous, she shook her head. The night’s shot of adrenaline was seeping out of her and the tea was enhancing the effect. With one more push, she’d sleep soundly and wake up refreshed and thinking of him.

  He turned her around in his arms and eased the zipper down her back, revealing satin skin in a long glide past her skimpy lingerie. Damn, what a beauty. Letting the dress fall to the floor, he took her hand and backed her to the bed. Her eyes bored into his, a window into her thoughts, and he would give her what she needed in one respect. More would come later, but for tonight, he’d help her sleep.

  She sat, and he went to one knee and removed her shoes.

  “Go brush your teeth, doll. I’ll be right here.”

  Surprise flashed in her eyes for a second, then she stood in her flimsy pink panty and bra and walked past him, her knees a little wobbly but head held high.

  * * * *

  Ethan squatted under a tree in a darkened front yard a few houses down from pretty little Dena Lindsay and her new best buddy. Fuck buddy, from what he knew about Steve Gladston. The man was a legend in the BDSM community, a rap Ethan wanted to shred. Nobody could be that good with the women.

  Now the man was a full blown thorn in Ethan’s side. Two of his friends were in lockup after a short stint in the hospital and they still didn’t have the information he needed.

  Those passcodes had to be somewhere in Dena’s house or office. They were too important to leave lying around, but he hadn’t found any kind of safe in the house. And now he’d have to wait another day to search again. He’d been in the back bedroom when Gladston’s truck pulled into the drive, barely managing to get out through the window. Thank fuck the housing code required escape windows for fire safety. From the looks of it, getting back in would be harder tomorrow.

  A persistent vibration in his pocket had him pulling out his cell. Lloyd with good news, he hoped. “Speak.”

  “Got in. Got out. No problem.”

  “Tell me you found what we need.”

  “Can’t be sure. Did a search and downloaded all her files to a zip. On the way home now to go through them.”

  “I’ll meet you there in a bit. Want to see how long Gladston stays tonight.”

  “Who?”

  “That fucker that beat up our guys. He took her out tonight and almost walked in on me.”

  “Shit. Guess that means you didn’t find anything.”

  Her house went dark. “Fuck it. He’s staying the night.” Ethan stood and checked the neighborhood before moving out of the shadows. “I’ll meet you in half an hour.” Without waiting for a reply, he stepped out onto the sidewalk. Arms loose and carefree, he ambled down the block like joe-shmo neighbor out for a late-night stroll. Two blocks over, he ducked behind a quiet church. Best place in the world to hide a vehicle. Nobody thought to look behind a church.

  It took him half an hour to drive across town to Lloyd’s shabby apartment. Damn, if this was all he could manage with a law degree, he should’ve gone into the trades like his dad. Plumbers ran in his family and they all had nice houses, from what Ethan had seen during high school.

  For Ethan, growing up meant sit down dinners with family and listening to his parents talk politics. Mainly, they rehashed what his uncle was doing in the State Senate. Boring shit that Ethan had no need of. Sooner or later, Gramps would croak and he’d come into a nice little fortune. Until then, he played games of chance. Trouble was, he didn’t always win.

  He tapped on Lloyd’s door and it popped open.

  “I’m into her system, but can’t find any reference for the accounts.”

  Ethan handed him the laptop he’d grabbed on his way out of Dena’s house. “Keep looking. If I don’t get those numbers, I’m shit out of luck.”

  “We. We need the info.”

  Right. Lloyd wasn’t completely gullible. “Of course, that’s what I meant.” He leaned over the old desktop and watched the pages flip with every click. “And you got everything?”

  “Copied every last bit of info from her workstation onto this hard drive. Maybe the info we need is somewhere else in the building.”

  “Maybe. John and Bill had their hands on some stuff, but it stayed in the building. Besides, the info we need isn’t likely to be hardcopy. Maybe it’s on her personal laptop.” Ethan tapped on the folder now sitting next to Lloyd’s machine. “What we really need is the master password for all their major accounts.”

  “Oh.”

  The long silence while his tech guy stared at the screen had the hair on the back of Ethan’s neck standing on end.

  “Well. I, uh, didn’t know we were going in for the big money. I thought we were going after the Lindsays.”

  Suddenly Lloyd was looking a little green around the gills, and Ethan couldn’t afford to lose him. “Don’t worry about where the money’s coming from. We’re looking at a few really big accounts that could use a little thinning. Once you get your part done and we all make our exit, there’ll be nothing to worry about.”

  Chapter 7

  Steve picked up her discarded clothes and put them on a chair in the corner, then sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boots. That was as far as he’d go tonight. Sure, he’d had major plans for their first interlude, but Dena wasn’t in a good mental place for what he had in mind.

  Instead, he’d help her calm her nerves and relax, give her a nice little orgasm to help her sleep, and lock up on his way out. Tomorrow would be soon enough to test the waters of bondage and submission with her. He had no doubt he’d convince her to give his lifestyle a try.

  The bathroom door opened and she slipped out, her hair brushed to a shine to match that of her eyes. Still in her undies, signs of nervous energy from the break-in combined with the unknown of their relationship gave her the look of a frightened deer. From his seat on the bed, he opened his arms and she moved smoothly into them.

  “Hold on to me, doll. I’ll make everything right for you tonight, and by tomorrow, you’ll be safe and happy.”

  Covering her mouth with his, he teased and warmed her until she pulled back, breathless and aroused instead of fearful. “Why don’t you lose the rest of those clothes and get into bed?” A request, but voiced as a soft demand, and she obeyed without much hesitation. He reminded himself that it was her first time to get naked for him and let it slip.

  He stood and pulled the covers back while she tossed the panty and bra in the direction of the corner chair. Dammit to hell, she was a beautiful woman. Curves in all the right places, skin like satin and a fringe of natural lace hiding her sex. Steve hummed a bit of approval at the sight. He’d never been one of those men who expected their lovers to be completely waxed. He preferred his woman to look like a woman instead of a child. Dena’s body was perfect in that respect, neatly groomed but with enough fluff to give a man something to play with.

  When she scooted into the middle of the bed, he smiled. The clasp of his watch snapped open and he set it on the bedside table, avoiding a possible scratch to her smooth skin when he slipped an arm under her shoulders.

  Touching her was an imperative. Already, his dick throbbed with only the sight of
her, but he’d known from the moment they’d walked up to an open door that he wouldn’t fuck her tonight.

  No. Not tonight, but soon. There was only so much a man could stand when a beauty like Dena was ready and willing.

  He stood and resettled on the bed, cuddling into her body while she stayed on her back. Soft and delicate when his arm fit under her shoulders, he stroked her brow with his rough fingertips and then cupped her jaw and kissed tender lips. She quivered beneath him, her body begging for more, but he kept it slow and sensual even as her hand tugged at the hem of his shirt.

  Not tonight.

  “Be still, Dena,” he whispered against her open mouth. “Let me take care of you.”

  “But—”

  He silenced her with another deep kiss, one designed to make her forget where she was and what she’d dealt with this evening. Her response was exactly as he’d predicted, turning her into a steamy mass of aroused woman.

  He lingered at her mouth for another minute, confirmed her state of continued arousal, and moved to her breasts.

  Luscious.

  Only word for them, full and round and begging him to taste. His index finger led the way, tracing her clavicle from left to right, then slipping down the center of her chest and coming to rest between her full breasts. Both were peaked and waiting for his touch. His mouth.

  He palmed the far nipple and took the closest between his teeth. Dena’s gasp echoed in the room before it was absorbed by thick drapes. He licked the sting away and when her soft sigh floated across his forehead, he responded with his tongue, pushing her arousal higher. This time, he roughened the tip of her other breast with his fingers while he sucked hard on the tight bud, and her moan sent urgent messages to his dick, begging for the freedom to play.

  Not happening, and convincing his body to comply wasn’t easy. She was close. From the writhing of her body, damn close. But his pleasure would come with watching her climax and then slide into a deep, cleansing sleep.

  To that end, he reluctantly lifted his head and blew across the straining peak. Dena’s ragged moan filled the room, ensuring the pattern of his zipper would be permanently imbedded on his dick.