Deadly Desire (6 page)

I raised my eyebrows. “Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you the story sometime,” she said with a sigh.

Something on the television screen caught my eye, and I turned to watch the news. Flashing lights played in rapid repeat as the footage showed a gurney being carried out of a stylish apartment building downtown.

“What’s going on?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Some rich guy was found dead in his apartment tonight.” Cynthia wrinkled her nose. “Apparently he’d been in there for two whole days before anyone found him.”

A photo flashed onto the screen, and I sucked in a sharp breath. It was the man Pierce had hired me to follow. I’d snapped photos of the guy with that woman from the club, and I’d given them to Pierce…only two days before. Unease settled across me as I considered the implications. The coincidences were almost too much to ignore.

I’d snapped shots of the guy with a woman Pierce Donovan had clearly not wanted him to be with. And then the next day, he’d ended up dead.

I couldn’t get Pierce Donovan off my mind. Tapping my pencil against my notepad at work, my mind wandered back to his handsome face for the millionth time that day. I’d known what I’d been getting myself into when I went out to dinner with him, but it didn’t stop the strange mixture of regret and desire for more from going through me. I’d submitted to him, fully and completely, and then he’d just tossed me aside like I was a used piece of tissue.

But, that wasn’t even the biggest problem. The man he’d hired me to follow was dead, and I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if he’d had something to do with it. I shivered at the thought. For all I knew, I could have slept with a murderer. A murderer who had used me to get to his mark.

Anger, confusion, and fear rushed through me. I had to find out the truth. It was the only way I’d ever be able to sleep peacefully again.

When my lunch break finally came around, I gathered up my purse and headed out onto the bustling city streets of Manhattan. Dozens of other working professionals rushed down the sidewalks to quickly grab a meal to eat at their desks while they worked through lunch. Normally, that’s what I did myself. But not today.

My heart began to hammer hard when I reached Pierce’s building and got into the elevator to go up to his top floor office space. Suddenly, coming here seemed like a terrible idea. Even if he were involved in the man’s murder, it’s not like Pierce would just come right out and tell me when I showed up in his office. Not to mention how he’d coldly dismissed me the other night after we’d had sex. It was obvious he had absolutely no interest in seeing me ever again.

All those thoughts crowding my brain didn’t stop me from stepping out of the elevator though. I was determined to look him in the eye and ask for the truth. There was a lot you could tell by someone’s body language, and even if he lied to me, I was certain I’d be able to tell what he thought.

When I stepped into the lobby, I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and stepped up to the receptionist desk. The same blonde who had been manning the desk the last time I visited looked up and gave me a cheerful smile. “Emma Berry, right? How can I help you today?”

“I need to see Pierce, er, Mr. Donovan.”

Her smile remained steady, but I could tell she was uncomfortable with something I’d said. “I don’t believe he’s expecting you today, and there’s nothing on his appointment sheet.”

“Just tell him I’m here to see him about the photos.” I pressed my slick palms against my shirt and hoped she didn’t notice my nervousness. “He’ll want to talk to me about this.”

“Wait here.” She stood from the desk and waved a hand at one of the chairs in the lobby. “I’ll check if he’s available.”

She disappeared down the hallway, her sharply pointed heels clacking hard against the floor. I didn’t bother to sit in the chair. I was way too wired for that. A part of me still couldn’t believe I’d come down here. It was so not-Emma, confronting a potentially dangerous billionaire about a murder. A billionaire I’d slept with. I swallowed hard. No, this was a terrible idea. If he actually
had
been involved in the murder, he could come after me next if he thought I was suspicious of him. I sucked in a sharp breath. That thought hadn’t occurred to me until now.

Crap
, I thought, and my face began to warm. I had to get out of there. I needed to go back to work, sit by that telephone, and just forget I’d ever become involved with Pierce Donovan. I’d erase that blip from my memory and go on with my boring life, answering phones all day and watching TV all night, as if nothing had ever happened.

I twisted on my feet and turned toward the elevator.

“Emma,” a deep voice said from behind me. My heart stopped in my chest, and a heaviness settled over my head. It was Pierce. Half of me screamed to run while the other half begged for me to turn around and meet his eyes. I was torn in two, and all I could do was stand frozen in his office lobby like an idiot.

“Emma?” he said again, this time with an amused tone in his voice. “My receptionist is under the impression you wanted to see me.”

Taking a big breath, I turned around. He looked better than he ever had. His suit was dark gray, crisp, and smooth across his broad shoulders. The stubble on his chin surrounded a perfect mouth, a mouth that had kissed me like I’d never been kissed before.

“Hi,” I said. And then mentally kicked myself.
What kind of introduction was that?
Clearing my throat, I tried again. “There’s something I need to talk to you about, Pierce. It’s important.”

“It certainly must be.” His lips quirked as his eyes raked across me. “I have about fifteen minutes before my next meeting.”

“Okay.” I gave a nod. That sounded perfect to me. Fifteen minutes would be plenty of time for me to ask him about the photos, but it wasn’t long enough for him to do anything I needed to worry about. Probably.

Pierce motioned for me to follow him down the hallway, and we walked in uneasy silence until we reached his office. Once inside, he shut the door behind us, and I was struck by being alone with this man once again. It had been only twelve hours since I’d been inside his playroom, but my skin felt as hot as the first time I’d met him. Maybe even more so. I clasped my hands together and perched on the edge of the chair while he settled in behind his desk.

Pierce looked at me expectantly, steepling his hands under his chin. “Tell me what I can do for you, Emma.”

My mind began to spin as I tried to figure out how to form my words. I couldn’t just blurt out my accusation. He might throw me out of the office before I had a chance to get any answers. Plus, his eyes were staring so deeply into mine that I couldn’t think straight enough to form much of a thought.

“Did you see the news story last night?” I asked.

“There are a lot of news stories every night,” he said. “You’ll need to be more specific.”

Frustrated, I clenched my hands. Even if he wasn’t involved, he had to know which story I was talking about. “The man who was found in his apartment murdered. I believe his name was Michael Astor.”

His face betrayed none of his thoughts as he nodded. “Yes, I did catch that one.”

He just continued to stare at me, giving up no other words on the subject. His blank expression stayed steady, his eyes didn’t budge, and not a single bead of sweat hit his brow. Either Pierce Donovan had nothing to do with Michael Astor’s murder or he had the best poker face on the planet. Unfortunately for me, it was probably the latter.

“You know why I came here,” I said finally with an irritated sigh. Time to just get to the point. “You hired me to follow him and take photos of him with that woman. I need to know why.”

His face clouded over then. “Careful Emma. It almost sounds as if you’re suggesting I had something to do with his death.”

Sweet Emma Berry, showing up in my office looking sexy as hell in that tight little skirt and practically accusing me of murder. I’d known she had a bit of spunk in her, but I hadn’t expected she’d have this much fire running through her veins. I thought she might wonder about Astor’s death when she saw it on the news, but I didn’t think she had it in her to actually come to my office and ask me point-blank.

And I sure as hell liked her fire more than I should.

I gave her an appraising glance. She was wearing that too-tight blouse again, and the memory of her full breast in my mouth made my cock twitch in my pants. She’d been so sweet and submissive in my playroom. I’d had the urge to spend the whole night with her in there, pleasuring her every way I knew how.

Which is why I’d had to put a stop to things and cut them off before they could go as far as that. I wanted her too much, and I couldn’t let anything complicated into my life. We’d had our fun, but looking at her flushed face and fire-lit eyes…maybe one more time wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Her face turned a darker shade of red, and she shifted uncomfortably on the chair where she perched like a cat ready to take flight. “I’m not suggesting. I just want to understand what you wanted with those pictures of him. You didn’t give them to anyone or anything?”

I knew what she was getting at. She was worried she’d be complicit in the murder if the photos she took had anything to do with his death. Smart girl.

Of course, I couldn’t tell her why I’d hired her to take those photos. It was a secret I’d take with me to my grave, especially now that Astor had shown up dead. No one could know why I’d needed those shots, not even Emma, and I had to be sure she wouldn’t tell anyone I’d hired her to take them. I knew Weathers would keep his mouth shut. He was good about things like this, but Emma obviously didn’t know the drill. And that could cause us a lot of problems.

“I still have them in my desk drawer if you’d like to see them.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my chair, a smirk donning my lips. “Why don’t you come over here and take a look?”

I didn’t think she’d call my bluff, but I knew what I’d do if she did. That sweet ass of hers was just begging to be spanked. Reminding her of the sex we’d had would be the perfect distraction from why she’d come here. She’d forget all about those photos when I showed her something much more interesting than that.

Oh shit
, I thought. He was staring at me with that wolfish smile again. The one that liked to knock every logical thought out of my mind. I swallowed hard and tried to make my brain focus on the important thing. Whatever that was…

I hadn’t been expecting this at all. He’d practically thrown me out of his apartment last night. We’d had our fun, and it was over. It had been clear he was done with me. So, why did he look like he wanted to tie me up all over again?

“Well?” He continued to smile. “I’m waiting for your answer, Emma.”

“Yes, I will see those photos, thanks.” I stood and fought the urge to smooth down the front of my shirt in an effort to impress him with my cleavage. I wasn’t here to impress him, and I didn’t know why I was having such a problem remembering that. The whole point of my trip had been to get answers, not to get his hands on me…

Slowly, I took small steps around the edge of his desk until I was standing right next to Pierce’s chair. He swivelled to face me and cocked back his head to meet my gaze. For a moment, all we did was stare at each other, and every second seemed to tick by in agonizingly slow motion. My lips parted as my eyes grew distracted by the way he reached up and slowly straightened his tie, the material shifting against his neck.