Caught on Camera

Reece smirked, waiting.

Sierra gave a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’m sorry I called you a pervy jerk out to get in my pants, okay? I realize you’re many steps above the creep that’s pulling this stunt.”

Enjoying himself, Reece just continued to stare.

Sierra’s lips quirked but she didn’t say anything. Just crossed her arms, which was a shame since they covered her breasts, and leaned back in the chair.

Power play? Reece’s smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. No wonder he couldn’t get Sierra out of his head. He loved nothing more than a challenge. At least, until he’d conquered it.

With that in mind, he let his gaze turn slumberous. All it took was the thought of her lips under his. He recalled their encounter in Mitch’s hall a few days back. The delicious taste of her, the feel of her breath as it warmed his skin. He mentally traced those lips with his gaze, watching their glossy fullness press together in irritation.

The phone at his hip rang, but Reece didn’t take his eyes from Sierra’s. Her gaze was molten now, a deep blue filled with sexual heat and awareness. Her lashes fluttered, as if she wanted to pull away but couldn’t bring herself to.

“Mr. Carter?”

He didn’t release Sierra’s gaze to look at the woman in the doorway, but did answer her. “Yeah?”

“Mr. Driscol on line one. He’d like to discuss expanding his offer.” Her voice hesitated as she apparently picked up on the tension in the room, then she cleared her throat and continued, “He said the timing is crucial and he needs an answer ASAP.”

Driscol was a client who liked Reece’s way of doing security. He liked it so much he wanted Reece to move RC Security out here to Southern California to be on a permanent retainer.

No doing, though. Reece had already told the guy twice. Nothing could entice him to move his base here to L.A. Crowds, crime and crazies. None of which appealed more than the wide open spaces of his home in Kentucky. His family was there, his grandma and his dad. Travel was all well and good, but he needed to know he could drop in for Sunday dinner anytime he wanted. After all, that sense of family was his touchstone, his reminder of everything that mattered to him.

Mitch had been begging him to relocate here, too. But if he wasn’t going to do it for a cousin he loved, he sure wasn’t about to move for a job he didn’t need.

“I’ll call him back.”

“But…”

“I’ll call him back,” Reece repeated.

“Yes, sir,” she murmured as she left, closing the door.

“Shall we discuss terms?” Reece asked, refocusing his attention on Sierra.

“Don’t you have a contract for that?” she asked, her tone deliberately breezy. She must have used the interruption to think. And her conclusion was to ignore the heated sexual tension sparking between them.

He’d have to see how quickly he could change that.

“I realize you’re exactly the kind of client I generally turn away,” he pointed out.

“You mean the kind that doesn’t worship you?”

Reece laughed. “A little worship wouldn’t hurt. But no, I mean the kind that doesn’t listen. If I’m going to protect you, you have to agree that I’m in charge. I can’t do my job unless you’re willing to give me your complete cooperation.”

“You never struck me as the have-to-be-on-top kind of guy, cowboy.”

Reece gave her a slow grin and waited. It didn’t take more than two seconds for her to realize that she knew firsthand that he was all about equal opportunities when it came to sexual positions.

“You’ll do exactly as I say?” was all he said, though.

Her jaw tensed in a sharp line and he watched her delicate fingers tighten into fists. She stared at him, then dropped her gaze to the package of pictures on the desk. Her brow furrowed and a tiny shudder shook her shoulders. Then, as if to shrug it off, she lifted one shoulder and tilted her head toward him.

“I’ll do exactly what you say,” she agreed. Reece let the pleasure of those words wash over him. “But…”

“Of course there’s a but.”

“But,” she continued, sliding her feet back into those killer heels and standing, “only as it applies to this picture perv, Family and the necessary protection required so Eventfully Yours doesn’t lose the account.”

Once she was in her high heels again, her game face firmly in place, all of the vulnerability that had scared Reece was gone. Sierra was back in control.

Just the way he liked her.

“Works for me,” he agreed, stepping forward and holding out his hand.

She shook her head. Apparently she had other caveats. “This account is crucial. My work, my focus right now has to be one hundred percent.”

He waited.

She frowned, and for the first time since he’d met her, she looked as if she was trying to find an inoffensive way to word her request.

Then she shrugged and rolled her eyes. “I can’t waste time deflecting your attempts at sexual games. I need to work. I don’t have time to worry about you hitting on me.”

He couldn’t help it. He laughed.

Sierra hissed.

“Sweetheart, I won’t have to hit. I promise.” He reached across her to put his hand on the door handle. “A week, maybe less, and you’ll be the one hitting.”

“You think pretty damned highly of yourself,” she said with a strained laugh.

“We’re about to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding since we first met six years ago.” He paused, watching her eyes turn smoky blue.

He could see exactly what was going through her pretty head and grinned down at her in appreciation. She was thinking sex, pure and simple. Or not so simple, in their case. He loved that about her. Not only was she a deeply sensual being, but she didn’t try to hide it. There was nothing coy or demure about Sierra Donovan. She was all woman and embraced her sexuality with both hands. Even if she didn’t want to share it with him.

That was okay. She hadn’t wanted to share before, either. That hadn’t stopped them from doing it against a wall. The sexual pull between them was more intense than anything he’d ever felt. He had complete faith it would overwhelm her again.

Eventually. He just had to push the right buttons.

“What’s that?” she finally asked in a husky tone.

“We’re going to spend a whole lot of time together, sweetheart. I promise, time is all I need to chip away at that milehigh wall of resistance you like to hide behind.”

He turned the handle and pulled the door open.

She stared for a second longer, then stepped toward the door, her breast brushing his forearm as she turned away and said, “You wouldn’t like what’s on the other side.”

Chapter Four

“SO TELL ME everything you know about Sierra Donovan.”

Reece straddled the chair in his cousin’s kitchen as he made the demand, a bottle of beer dangling between two fingers. Seeing as it was just him and Mitch this afternoon, he didn’t bother removing his Stetson.

“I thought you were protecting her, not investigating her,” Mitch teased.

“Same difference,” he defended, looking at the tips of his black boots instead of at his cousin’s all-too-knowing face as he lied. “I need to know everything I can about my client if I’m going to figure out who’s pulling this shit on her.”

“Like what kind of guy she dates? How long her relationships tend to be?” Mitch gave him a searching look before slapping a hunk of ham, along with a fat slice of cheddar, on the bread he was grilling at the stove. “Her favorite flower?”

“Stargazer lily,” Reece muttered into his bottle as he took a swig of the beer.

Mitch’s snort was loud and clear, even over the sizzling butter. Reece had never been able to keep a secret from his favorite cousin. And Mitch had never been able to keep from teasing him about it.

“Just admit it, cuz. You’ve got it bad for Sierra.”

Reece frowned, then shrugged. “It’s just lust. She’s hot. But like anything that incendiary, it’ll burn out if we spend time together.”

“Time in bed, you mean.”

Reece sneered at the innuendo that all he wanted from Sierra was sex. Damn, it was one thing to get that from her. She had no reason to trust him. Yet. And he’d noticed she had a miledeep cynicism that lent itself to thinking the worst of men. But his own cousin?

Mitch should realize there was more to Reece’s interest than just sex. Yeah, maybe it’d been lust at first sight when he’d seen Sierra six years ago. When he’d hit on her, then spent his entire leave trying to convince her that one date with him wouldn’t betray her friend, who’d just left his cousin at the altar. But lust alone would have burned out after six years apart. Not been kept alive all those nights when he’d bunked down in the desert.

It wouldn’t have been secretly nurtured during his illfated marriage.

Even obsessive lust would have been slaked a couple months ago when she’d kissed him and he’d lost all control. He’d like to claim it was shock that had sent his libido into overdrive and his finesse out the window. But that’d be a lie and he never lied. At least, not to himself.

Nope, it’d been idiot lust that had him taking her up against the wall like a horny teenager chasing his first glimpse of heaven.

Just sex? Hell, no. This was bigger than just wanting to get laid.

But he realized how it would sound if he tried to defend himself. Lovesick and pitiful. Wincing, he sucked down another swallow of beer. Nope. Innuendo was better.

“Not saying I don’t want to get her in my bed,” he admitted as Mitch slid two overflowing plates onto the small kitchen table and sat opposite him. “But I hardly need to resort to grade-school games to get her there. I’m asking for the case.”

Mitch rolled his eyes before he bit into his own sandwich. Then, after a swig of beer, he shrugged. “Sierra doesn’t really date. I mean, sure, she’ll do dinner or the theater with a guy here or there. But in the month Belle and I have been living together, I’ve never met a guy Sierra’s been out with.”

“Maybe she just keeps them to herself?”

“She doesn’t keep anything from Belle.”

“And Belle doesn’t keep anything from you?” Reece was the one smirking this time. Women, in his experience, weren’t known for their forthcoming honesty or willingness to share. Even if he did think Belle was the sweetest thing since melted chocolate, she was still female.

“Belle’s not Shawna,” Mitch said tonelessly.

Reece grimaced. Whether at the mention of his ex-wife or at the fact that he’d just pissed off his cousin, he wasn’t sure. Didn’t matter.

“Look, I’m not saying Belle hides things from you,” Reece said, biting into his sandwich. He chewed and swallowed before clarifying. “I’m just wondering if she’d waste your lovey-dovey couple time talking about her business partner’s love life.”

“Hey, she told me Sierra did you up against a wall,” Mitch said with a snicker as he polished off his lunch.

Nonplussed, Reece dropped his sandwich and stared. God, did women really share everything? He blamed the heat warming his cheeks on the beer and forced himself not to take the bait and ask for details. He would ask Sierra himself if she’d liked it, thank you. No way was he fishing for that info via his smirking cousin.

“Whoever is stalking her has a personal vendetta and the pictures are definitely a sexual message.”

Changing the subject before Mitch could rib him, Reece thought of the file in his briefcase. He’d copied all the photos and threatening messages. He forced himself to think unemotionally. “If you’re right and the only sex she’s been talking about is with me, then we need to look at a different motive,” he decided.

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