ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE) (61 page)

But something was wrong…

I could sense the tension behind me as I lifted my
gaze toward the doorway. With Mr. Hale’s cock still throbbing inside me, I
stared into the eyes of the young blonde who had let herself in, her slutty
police officer uniform clinging to her large fake breasts, the blue shorts cut
off high and showing off miles of legs. For a moment, nobody said a word, but
the leggy blonde smiled and broke the silence.

“Honey, I don’t do couples. If that’s what you’re
looking for, it’s going to be triple my rate.”

Mr. Hale seemed to stutter, his cock pulling free
as he reached down and pulled me upright from the table. I couldn’t look him in
the eye as he spun me around, his hand brushing up against my chest, grasping
at the shining badge still pinned to my uniform…

“Well, what’s it gonna be sweetie?” the blonde
asked, but Mr. Hale had lost all of the color in his face. Leaving me standing
there, he reached down to pull up his slacks, stumbling across the room and
managing to sputter the words ‘leave’ and ‘now’ at the girl before slamming the
study door in her face. He returned to me without saying anything more, fishing
my keys from my pocket and delicately uncuffing my hands before collapsing into
one of his chairs.

“I… I’m sorry… There’s been a misunderstanding. I
need to speak with my lawyer,” he began even as I pulled my panties back up
over my hips, working to get my uniform straightened out. My pussy ached,
partly from the sex we’d just had, and partly because it wanted more. I had to
get out of here now. If anyone back at the district found out about this I’d be
off the force before I’d even gotten started. There was no turning back now.
I’d let this happen, and now, there was only one thing left to do…

“What’s this?” Mr. Hale asked as I thrust the small
slip of paper into his hands. He glanced up, but still avoided my eyes.

“A ticket for the noise complaint, Mr. Hale.”

Now he caught my eyes full-on, the crystalline jade
pools eroding what little strength I’d managed to muster up. My knees were
going weak.

“But… What just happened here… I…”

“You know what happened,” I replied, trying to calm
myself. I could still feel the heat between us, my heart beating out of my
chest. “I gave you a ticket, and I went on my way…”

“Will I see you again?” he asked, his voice almost
desperate.

I stared at him in disbelief, trying desperately to
hide the feelings of desperation and desire that were still boiling beneath my
skin. He’d mistaken me for some kind of prostitute! He’d taken my innocence and
now he wanted to see me again? My mind battled itself as I tried to make the
right choice.

“Maybe…” I replied.

That ‘Maybe’ turned into a definitely.
Once or twice a month there would be a call into the
station, and I’d be taking the drive out to the mansion like Nathaniel’s own
personal police officer. Usually it was something innocuous. A theft on the
property that Mr. Hale needed to report… A dispute with a neighbor that needed
resolution… And of course, there was the possibly a little fun on the side.

But
that was then, and this is now. The girl he’d deflowered on his big beautiful
desk had grown up, and Nathaniel Hale stayed exactly the same. He didn’t
understand what it was like to have the responsibilities I was saddled with.
Everything was just given to him, and I started to realize that I was just
another of his little toys. What we had… It wasn’t even exclusive. When I broke
things off he didn’t have an argument for me. There was no declaration of love
or boom box held aloft at my shitty apartment window.

For
whatever it was worth, I’d have been happy to
never
see him again.

I
closed my eyes and felt a hot trickle of summer sweat roll down the back of my
neck. I wasn’t that girl anymore. I didn’t need some rich and dominant asshole
to validate me. I am a detective now, and I should be dealing with
real
police work. How had this man-child
become my responsibility?

All I
could do was knock again, louder this time.

I knew
the answer, of course. Nathan had unwittingly engaged in some business dealings
with the Irish mob and was our only chance at cutting off the head of the
snake, Peter Wallace. Wallace was a ruthless son of a bitch, even as far as the
mob went. He had no problem trafficking young women and girls to all corners of
the globe, and we had reason to believe he’d even moved a few shipments through
our very own bay. When the Coast Guard tried to intercept one of the
containers, they pushed it overboard and straight into the Pacific Ocean. It
wasn’t airtight. Sank like a stone, and took all those poor girls with it.

That
was where Nathan Hale came in. His testimony would put Wallace behind bars for
good this time. There was just one problem: Nathan Hale wasn’t so keen on testifying
against a known killer. Especially not one with a history of beating the
system, one dead witness at a time.

How do
you convince a self-important yuppie that there’s a bigger picture to think
about? How do you make a man like that care about something other than himself?

I
opened my eyes and pressed hard on the doorbell. Self-preservation—that was my
angle. That was the way I’d convince Nathan to put himself on the line in order
to save dozens, if not hundreds of people. Rich men felt very strongly about
their belongings. If I could convince him that everything he held dear,
including his own life, was at stake, surely he’d come around.

But as
I jammed my thumb into the button a second time, I wondered if I was just
fooling myself. After all, it wouldn’t be the first case I’d wasted my time on,
and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time I thought I could change Nathaniel
Hale.

You can lead a horse to water…

I was
just about to drift into that dark place where all my failures lived when I
heard the sound of steel bolts unlatching from the other side of the massive
double doors. I took a deep breath, composing myself before Nathan Hale opened
the door, inflicting another one of his cocky grins on me.

“Officer
Williams,” he said, his eyes scanning every curve of my body. He leaned on the
doorframe. “Fancy seeing you here again.”

I
stared at him for a long moment, chewing on what I would say next. His gilt
hair glistened in the blinding sunlight streaming through the old trees riddled
with Spanish moss. It was that time of year when the heat became unbearable
around here, when even ducking into the shade meant enduring matted hair and
clingy, sweat-stained clothes. I had only been out of my car a few minutes, yet
my skin was already prickling with the late summer swelter.

But the
longer I looked at him, the more I wondered if it was really the sun making me
hot. Objectively, the guy was gorgeous.

His
shoulders were broad and his chest was vast, hard, and unyielding beneath his
surprisingly low-key t-shirt. It was loose near his stomach, the fabric pooling
above his belt and jeans, but I was sure the parts of his body hidden beneath
it were just as taut as the rest of him. Clearly, he’d been working out quite a
bit since the last time I’d torn his clothes off…

Nathan
Hale would have been quite the catch if not for his selfishness.

Then
again, that kind of thing seemed standard for rich boys with too much time on
their hands. He’d never known a day of hard work in his life—I was pretty sure
the title of CEO at his father’s old company was just for show—which meant that
he had no empathy for anyone who had to do their jobs to keep food on the
table. He was a spoiled brat, and all the good looks and money in the world
couldn’t make up for that. Standing here now, I wondered what I ever saw in
him…

He had
no idea what it was like to be a cop, and a female cop at that. He had no idea
what failing to convince him to testify would do to my career. It was no
coincidence that I’d been chosen for this task. The Chief knew I had some bad
blood with Nathaniel Hale, and setting me up to fail meant that I’d be easier
to write off in the future.

And
that wasn’t fair.

I’d clawed
my way into this detective position, but the Chief seemed determined to keep me
from going any higher. For all the talk of equality, the upper echelons of the
force were as much of a good old boys club as they ever were… Everything I’d
earned up until now hinged on Nathan seeing the light. It made me sick to my
stomach to think that he might be holding the future of my career in his hands.

“It’s
detective
now
,
” I said,
pulling myself out of the doomsday spiral I’d sent myself into. “May I come
in?”

Nathan
shrugged. He opened the door wider, gesturing into the atrium. “I thought you’d
never ask.”

I tried
not to roll my eyes as I stepped past him and into his mansion. Sunlight
glinted off the crystal chandelier above us, spraying fragments of light across
the dark wood paneling of the walls. I caught a few Technicolor prisms dancing
on Nathan’s skin as he closed and locked the door.

“It’s
certainly been awhile,” he said, his voice a thick, honeyed purr that, despite
my best efforts to resist, made my skin ripple with goosebumps. “If I’d known
you were coming, I would’ve prepared the good stuff.”

“I’m
here on business, Mr. Hale,” I corrected him as gently as I could. There was no
use ruining my chances by bruising his ego. “And I think you know exactly what
kind of business I’m talking about.”

I
looked around, taking in the vastness of our surroundings. I didn’t like being
out in the open like this, even within the relative safety of Nathan’s house.

“Is there someplace we can sit and talk?” I asked him.

Nathan
nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets. His grin was gone, and the light in
his eyes had faded like the setting sun giving way to twilight. He gestured up
the flight of wooden stairs run through with a strip of plush red carpet.

“Come
up to my office,” he said, though he let me mount the stairs first. I glanced
up as I began to climb, remembering my first trip up these stairs. Fitting that
we would talk there… Knowing Nathan, he was just doing this to make me
uncomfortable.

But it
wouldn’t be the only thing making me feel uncomfortable right now.

Nathan’s
home was big, but it felt hollow. Every step I took on the hardwood floors
echoed throughout each chamber like an errant round ricocheting in the dark. It
was empty, cavernous, and though from the outside it was truly an enviable
estate, traversing its innards like this made me shiver.

Most
houses had some kind of life built right into them, the product of the people
who lived there spilling their energy and warmth right into the walls. Hell,
even in the worst cases, you could still feel something below the surface, some
vibrating remnant of what the house had seen.

Nathan’s
mansion was barren, devoid of life.

Despite
all those parties I’d had to interrupt, and all the times I’d let myself get
lured inside, there was not a single spark to be found. It was like I was
walking a museum for a relationship that never was, and never would be.

I
turned over my shoulder to him, only to find his gaze glued firmly to the
steady sway of my ass. I rolled my eyes. No wonder he’d let me go up first.

We
reached the landing, and I felt him lay his hand every so lightly on the small
of my back. A chill shot up my spine, then a rush of heat as he guided me
toward a door at the end of the hall.

It’s not
a big deal,
I told myself as
Nathan’s fingers sent little electric arcs to play across the flesh beneath my
blouse.
Stay focused. I have a job to do.

I
waited as Nathan opened the door for me, ushering me into his private study. I
raised my eyebrows as I looked around. I’d expected the cold, sleek and
heartless room where Mr. Hale had taken my virginity, but what I found instead was
the only room in the whole house that seemed to have a pulse.

He must
have hired an interior decorator… Or maybe it was some small sign that Mr. Hale
was finally starting to act his age.

We were
surrounded by bookshelves. They ran from floor to ceiling, each one brimming
with the colorful spines of dozens of books. There were too many of them to
count, their subjects so varied that this one room could have doubled as a
public library.