She wanted to tell him to go to hell, that he didn’t have the right to tell her what to do, but the police were there and she didn’t want to cause him any further trouble. She was sure her decision to remain silent had nothing to do with his hand touching her neck or the way his breath caressing the side of her face was making her panties wet.
Reluctantly she turned and walked to the back wall of the office. James pushed the wheelie chair back toward her. After the two police officers followed him into the way-too-tiny office, James spun the only other chair around to face the door and straddled it, effectively blocking her in. She was suffering from claustrophobia. The damned office was manageable if you were the only person in it. Two people and things were decidedly cramped. With three grown men sucking up all the available air, she was starting to panic.
James reached toward her with his right arm. She watched in a mixture of curiosity and horror as he moved his hand between her legs. He grabbed her chair and pulled her closer to him. When their seats were touching, he shackled her wrist in his hand.
There was a strange roaring in her ears. She had no idea what the officers were saying and she prayed they weren’t speaking to her.
Oh, God
. He couldn’t touch her without her losing the tenuous grasp she had on her emotions. If he made her cry, she vowed to kick his ass all the way to the parking lot.
Slowly, he began to rub back and forth across her pulse. It was hypnotic and soothing. Her breathing synced with his lazy strokes—in and out with each glide along her wrist. Every nerve ending in her body rushed to that square inch of skin and begged for his attention.
Every time she was in his company, her brain turned to mush and her body went into meltdown. Yet now, with her emotions completely frazzled, she found his touch calming. She had no idea how to cope with this change of events. It was easier when it had only been sexual tension. Drawing comfort from Mr Bad Boy was unacceptable. It made him approachable when she wanted a huge, stone wall to separate them always.
She knew she should push her chair away from him and break their physical connection. Maybe then she’d recognize his ‘I care about you’ ruse for what it really was.
He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t even know you. Get a frickin’ grip!
Nope…
even talking to herself didn’t help. She couldn’t muster the strength to pull away from him.
“Amanda Barrett. She’s the receptionist for the club, but she wasn’t working the lobby this evening. André had her working back here tonight.” James’ tone was sharper than she was used to.
Hearing him speak her name shifted her focus to the conversation between the three men. She had no idea why they were discussing her. Amanda looked up at both officers. She offered a tentative smile and nothing else. If they had asked her a question, she was sure they would repeat it.
“Ma’am, do you have anything to add?” the officer closest to James asked her.
She shook her head no, wishing she could fade into the background.
The officer pulled a flip wallet out of his breast pocket. He removed a business card and gave it to her. “If you think of anything that might be helpful, please give me a call.”
Amanda noticed James sat a little taller and shifted subtly to block more of her body. His thumb had also paused in mid-stroke. As if on cue, her breathing stopped too. The air was stuck in her lungs, unable to be expelled. Once more, she started to panic.
The moment the officer stepped back, James began his slow rub again. Like a switch was flipped, the air rushed from her body. What the hell was he doing to her? She’d never been this attuned to a man. It was very disconcerting.
As soon as the police had left the room, James released her wrist, then stood and faced her. She instantly missed his touch, but the weird spell he’d cast over her was broken and she could breathe of her own accord. James reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. He swiped his finger a few times across the screen then put his phone back in his pocket.
James shoved his chair under the counter. “Now we can get out of here. Did you bring your car?”
Amanda nodded then pulled her purse strap over her shoulder.
“Please get into the habit of answering me verbally.”
“Sorry.” She wasn’t really, but since he had said ‘please’ she needed to at least sound polite. Honestly, she was so nervous around him she had a hard time finding her voice. “Yes, I drove.”
James was taking her the back way out of the club. Obviously, he was familiar with the inner workings of DiscipliNation. Then again, he’d been a member longer than she’d worked there.
“Give me your keys.” James paused by the back exit with his hand extended.
“Why?”
“I’m going to drive you to your apartment and get the other picture. When I open the door we’re going to walk quickly to your car. Entering and exiting a building, you are very exposed. We’re going to move fast to limit the chances of a problem. Ready?”
She’d pulled the keys from her purse while he had explained the plan, but she didn’t give them to him. “It’s my car. I’ll drive. You ride shotgun.” She met his gaze to let him know she meant business.
Amanda began a slow melt as she watched a grin break across his face.
“Sorry, sweetheart, that ain’t happenin’.” He shook his head as his smile touched his eyes.
Definitely a bad boy! And he frickin’ well knew the effect he was having on her.
Dang it
. Since the ability to speak was suddenly out of her reach, she handed him her keys. Like a lamb to slaughter, she placed her hand in his and followed him to the passenger side of her car.
Amanda sat quietly as James got in the driver’s seat and buckled up. After starting the car he reached over and yanked hard on her seat belt, presumably to make sure she was safe. They hadn’t driven far before the silence got to her.
“Is that woman okay?” Amanda knew Laura had been taken away via an ambulance.
“She’s going to be fine. We got lucky and found her before he’d had a chance to really hurt her.”
Amanda noticed the knuckles on his right hand were abraded. “He had a gun, didn’t he?” She had to know. Her stomach was in knots just thinking about James taking on an armed assailant.
“I don’t think he planned to use it on her. I’m pretty sure he only fired it because he was trapped. We were lucky the bullet hit a stud in the wall and didn’t travel any farther.”
“You were lucky it didn’t hit you! Do you have a death wish? Why else would you take on a man with a gun?” She wished she could take the words back as soon as she’d said them. It was too late, she’d just have to bluff her way through it. She raised her chin and shot him her best haughty look.
His sexier-than-hell chuckle sent her stomach bottoming out.
“Are you scolding me, Amanda? While it’s a very cute look on you, I’m not really into that.”
Sex. Geez. That was all he ever thought about.
With her nose prominently in the air she turned away from him and looked out of the window.
It wasn’t long before they pulled up to her apartment. He even parked in her assigned space.
What the eff?
“How do you know where I live and which parking spot is mine?”
Shit.
He’d better get his head in the game. Telling her he’d followed her home more nights than he could count wouldn’t gain her trust. She wasn’t likely to believe he was just concerned for her safety. “If I’m going to protect you, I need to know everything about you.”
Amanda looked like she was going to say something, but she let it go.
“Wait for me to come around and open your door. We’re going to walk quickly to your apartment. Stay just a little behind me. Any questions?”
She shook her head no.
James rested his index finger under her chin and rubbed Amanda’s bottom lip with his thumb. “What did I tell you about answering me?”
Amanda’s eyes flashed wide for only a moment or two then she dropped her gaze to the floorboard. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and drew a ragged breath. He waited a few more seconds, willing her to speak to him.
“Yes, I understand.”
“If I have to remind you again, I’m going to kiss you. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to disobey me.” James grinned as her eyes flashed wide again. It would be interesting to see how she responded to his ‘threat’.
One last swipe across her full, kissable bottom lip and he pulled himself away. He took a deep breath—well, as deep as he could with three cracked ribs—and gave the parking lot a long, careful look. He couldn’t afford to have his attention divided. AJ, his boss, would hand him his ass for lunch if AJ knew he’d taken a security detail injured. And AJ was bound to find out.
Fuck it.
It didn’t matter if it was unprofessional, James wasn’t handing this one over to
anyone
else.
James exhaled the pain away as he got out of the car. He took another slow sweep of the area before he opened Amanda’s door. He offered his hand to help her out. She was wearing an indecently short skirt and leather bustier. Since she hadn’t intended to play tonight, he assumed fetwear was probably a requirement for working at the club.
He caught her looking at his hand like it was a snake or something.
What the hell is that about?
Finally, she accepted his help. He guided her behind him as he led the way to her apartment. Normally when he escorted a client, he kept both hands free, but he couldn’t make his hand let go of Amanda. He needed the contact to make sure she was with him. He knew from the many times he’d followed her home and waited until she was safely inside that she lived on the second floor. At the top of the stairway, he reluctantly let go of her arm and transferred the keys to his right hand so he could quickly unlock her door.
James took a glance inside then allowed her to enter. He kept his hand on her arm. “Stay right here.” He spun the deadbolt then, with his hand on the grip of the pistol he kept secured at the small of his back, he looked around her place. What little there was of it…
Besides the front door, there were only three others, the coat closet, the utility closet and the bathroom. No way could he stay in this apartment alone with her. There was barely room to turn around. If he had a prayer of being a gentleman, he needed more space. Somewhere he could go and not breathe in her perfume every time he drew a breath. The only place he could escape her here was the balcony and that wasn’t going to work. A glass arcadia door that looked onto her ‘bedroom’ wasn’t much of a reprieve. It didn’t matter that it was also her living room, kitchen and dining room all rolled into a pint-size space.
“Where is the picture?” he grumbled. He hadn’t planned on taking anyone home with him. Honestly, he didn’t know if she’d be any safer there. He’d spent so many nights in his bed fantasizing about Amanda that to actually see her lying there would be a hell of its own.
Her right shoulder was touching the coat closet and her left was leaning on the front door. She stepped to the side so she had room to swing the closet door open, but hit the back wall of the pantry. Carefully, she walked around the bar stool tucked near the island that she was using as a dining room table. She had to lean in to pull the door open.
How the hell did she live here? The walls were closing in on him.
Once the door was open, she had room to step in front of the closet. James stood in the ‘kitchen’ area and watched her. He’d never seen a closet so jam-packed in his life. It couldn’t be more than three feet wide and she was using it for
all
of her clothes, shoes, books and miscellaneous storage.
Amanda bent down and started rummaging through the bookcase she had squeezed into the small space.
“I see you like to read,” James commented, hoping to ease the tension between them.
“I love books and these are my favorites.” She turned around and gave him a carefree smile. “Nowadays I download most of the books I buy, but each of these mean something to me. Even though space is limited, I just can’t get rid of them.”
He couldn’t help smiling back at her. Knowing he’d found a subject she was willing to talk about, he planned to use that to his advantage.
“Here it is.” She pulled out a large hardbound book.
“What’s that about?” He’d expected her to have sappy romances or maybe mystery stories, not non-fiction.
“It’s about fashion trends throughout history and the current events that influenced them.” She gave him a tentative smile signaling to him she was about to share something important. “I figured if the women this book was written about could survive herringbone corsets, they were strong enough to keep me safe from a stalker.” She turned a beautiful shade of pink. “I guess that sounds pretty screwy, but it makes sense to me.”
James had no idea what to say so he gave what he hoped was a polite chuckle. In truth, her logic made no sense to him, but he found her adorable and was afraid to say anything that might ruin their burgeoning friendship.
He watched as she opened the back cover and pulled out the plastic protector sheet with the evidence. Carefully, she slid the book back then stood and handed the photo to him.
“It’s all yours. I don’t ever want it back.”
“Great idea—putting it in plastic.” He took a moment to look at the picture. His radar was shrieking at him. She’d described the photo as a torture scene. Except for the ‘
Die Slowly, Bitch’
scrawled across the bottom, there wasn’t anything to make this picture threatening. It was pretty clear to him the photo had been taken from the camera monitoring the hot-wax play area. Hadn’t she mentioned acid? He turned the picture over to make sure he wasn’t missing something. Nope, it was blank except for the logo for the photo paper.
Interesting…
“Okay, I’ll take care of it. Pack whatever you’ll be needing for the next few days and let’s get out of here.” He needed some air and a few minutes to think about the photos.
“What do you mean?” She was standing with her arms crossed at the wrists.
It was a unique pose and he wasn’t sure what her body language was telling him. “You can’t stay here. Since the stalker knows your car, it’s safe to assume he knows where you live. It would be easy enough to follow you home. You can stay with me until we sort this out.”