Authors: Marianne Stephens
Control.
Serena had to stay focused and stay in command of
her senses.
Her “second sight” didn’t work for her with Dan.
Just like with
Alan, she’d made a terrible mistake.
Reality had to overcome fantasy.
Wanting Dan to be someone
else, someone honest and wonderful, was a whimsical daydream her heart craved.
The cold hard facts before her, filling her head, told her otherwise.
He frowned, but took her hand and briefly shook it.
She got
into her car, never turning back to look at him.
Eyeing Dan in her rearview
mirror, she watched as he stood perfectly still, his figure growing smaller and
smaller the further away she drove.
Dan Reese needed to be taught a lesson.
And she was just the
woman to do it.
Chapter Twelve
“Have a good time?”
Serena cringed, body frozen in place at the sound of her
brother’s voice.
Damn.
Caught in the act.
She’d tiptoed into her apartment,
silently creeping across the floor and praying to manage a hasty retreat into
her bedroom without waking him.
She’d hoped Michael would sleep soundly, never
hearing her early morning arrival.
“No.
Goodnight.
I’m going to bed now.” She pulled herself up
vertically, straightening her back in an effort to appear totally in control.
It was then that her thigh-high stockings slipped from her hand and wafted to
the floor.
No sound accompanied their free flow movement to the ground, but the
visual image spoke volumes.
Michael eyed them, then glared at her.
“You’re out until
early morning and come home half-undressed.
So, what?
Did he force you?
‘Cause
if he did, just say the word and I’ll kill him.”
The night’s pleasantries at the restaurant, overwhelming
expenditure of passion in her office and Dan’s turning cold, threatened to
explode Serena’s already pounding head.
Now, to add to her misery, here stood
her brother, fists clenching at his sides, both chastising her and ready to do
battle with mystery man, Dan.
In one unladylike and definite lack of grace movement, she
flopped down onto her sofa, letting out a whoosh of air from her lungs.
Serena
dropped her purse onto the cushion next to her, making a mental note to be
careful and not open it in front of her brother.
Her underpants and bra still
remained crumpled up inside it.
“Michael, calm down.
No.
He didn’t force me to do anything.
If you must know, I’m the one out of control.
See?
You don’t know everything
there is to know about your horny sister.
I’m the one who jumped him.”
Michael’s stance drooped and a confused look covered his
face.
“Oh.
I thought you wanted to wrangle information out of him.” He shook
his head from side to side.
“I’ve been telling you to get out and date.
See
what happens when you’re love-starved?
You grab the first guy you’re attracted
to, warts and all and go at it.”
“All the more reason I should get to know him.”
Serena shook her head no.
“While I’m happy to have you here
for support, I need to work on this myself a little longer.
If I get bogged
down, I’ll let you do whatever you think needs to be done.”
Her brother remained silent for a minute, then said, “Let’s
get some sleep.
We can talk more about this in the morning.
Deal?”
“Deal.
Now, leave me alone.
Please.” Her plea came out in a
whisper as she tried to hold back the tears building up and near falling.
* * * * *
The next morning and with stomach clenching, Dan stomped
into work and threw both folders on his desk, disgusted with himself and the
whole operation.
He’d screwed up and allowed his body to overrule sanity and
logic, spurred on by one beautiful, sexy woman.
After an hour in Steve’s office, anger at himself burned in
his brain.
Rightfully so, his boss/friend had nailed him, chewed him up and
down with one blowout bomb of a reprimand.
Warning Dan to end the case one way
or another, Steve had slapped him on the back and called him a horny womanizing
bastard.
He’d then softened his tone, stating Dan had let Serena get to him and
maybe that fact had some other meaning in his life, especially if she proved
innocent.
Yep, she’d wrangled her way under his skin, in his dreams,
toyed with his common sense, but any scenario including her other than
job-related would have to take a long-distance hike.
Serena had to be kept in
her place…that of a suspect, not a love interest triggering his body’s
reaction, minus brain cells functioning in full gear.
He slapped open Gino’s folder, reading and rereading every
line.
At one point, he unconsciously read out loud.
Raising his head around the
office, Dan noted quizzical stares aimed in his direction from other detectives
and realized what he’d done.
Embarrassed, he forced his lips closed and made a
point not to open them again while engrossed in his file perusal.
Staring off into space after the words began to blur before
him, Dan weighed the misinformation Gino Conti had written against what he knew
to be the truth.
He puzzled over a comment Serena had written on the inside
cover in big letters.
“Client removed”.
What the hell did that mean?
Dan knew for sure it was her
handwriting.
Was it some type of code?
Removed?
To where?
Did it mean the real
Gino had been moved to another level?
Maybe from her business-front façade to a
more sinister, lucrative venture?
He swung back in his seat and let out an audible rush of air
from his lungs, frustration mounting with each passing minute.
Flinging that
folder aside, Dan decided to tackle the next mystery from Second Sight Dating,
the other folder he’d snatched from her desk.
Who the hell was Mr.
“A”?
He began reading the file’s
contents, realizing this one sounded like Serena had been more personally
involved in this case.
This character received more attention from Serena than
she’d indicated anyone else received.
Hell, she’d made a point of mentioning
how she hadn’t dated clients before.
She wrote of misgivings in keeping this guy interested.
Reading further, Dan examined Mr.
“A’s” wants and desires, all mapped out in
front of him in black and white.
She couldn’t keep him happy?
With what?
Who
was she?
Had Serena passed him on to another, more eager-to-please female in
her files?
He slammed the folder shut.
This client might not be around
her agency anymore, but Gino seemed to still be a player.
Dan knew full well
that the Gino he’d met was a phony.
Nothing about him came close to resembling
Gino Conti’s actual description.
The file for the “real” Gino left too many
unanswered questions.
And now this other file pointed to some possible shady
dealings.
Dan rubbed his face, hoping to make some sense out of all of
this.
His case-related phone rang, shaking him out of his miserable thoughts.
He attached the phone to a taping device and answered.
Serena’s voice resonated and she quietly asked to rearrange
his next date.
Miss “E” wondered if he wouldn’t mind going to a dinner related
to her job instead of the restaurant they’d selected.
Serena would also attend
and she mentioned the moderate price for each ticket since Dan would pay his
own way.
He’d assured her it would be fine with him and waited an
agonizing few seconds for her to say something else, maybe make a personal
comment.
In a complete businesslike voice, she gave the time and
directions, no hint of wanting to see him before or offer to help train him for
the upcoming date.
Dan figured he’d played the “I need your help” card already
and Serena wouldn’t fall for that again.
After assuring her he’d arrive on time for their next
double-date, he’d hung up and reluctantly focused his attention back to the two
folders on his desk, the mystery men from her files.
Somewhere in those files had to be the answer, the true
story behind Second Sight Dating.
Serena snuck out of her apartment before Michael had gotten
up, avoiding a confrontation she wasn’t ready for.
No way did she want to
relive the events from the previous night, at least not until she could do so
without pain.
She’d taken the coward’s way out, the only way to regroup and
hope to stay sane.
She’d done a background check on Dan, reviewing the county’s
online criminal records.
His name didn’t appear.
Next, she’d called the number
for his insurance agency, a well-known business.
The personnel director assured
her Dan was employed there.
Michael could look into that part of Dan’s life a
little further.
Letting out a heavy sigh, she figured nothing could lead her
to believe he wasn’t as he appeared…except for the sneaking around in her
files.
She’d have to avoid having him in her office.
Mentally cringing at the
connotation “having him in her office” held, Serena’s face warmed with memories
of their heated lovemaking session.
Trust was important and she didn’t,
couldn’t, trust him.
She called Mr.
“Four” and rearranged their meeting location
for dinner, praying for a better night.
How bad could the evening get?
A dinner
titled “Awesome Pawsome Friends” sounded relatively harmless.
It would probably
turn out to be some type of fundraiser for a local pet charity.
Mentally
perusing the outfits stuffed in her closet, Serena wondered what type of dress
code she needed to follow for a dog-related evening of whatever.
Jason, her date-to-be for the gala event, sounded sincerely
enthused, causing her to wince with a smattering of guilt at using him for an
escort/chaperone.
She didn’t need any complications with him trying to involve
himself in her life.
She calmed down after her instincts assured her they
wouldn’t possibly find enough in common to convince him to attempt a second
date.
Soon she’d be shuffling through another first and only date
with no future.
Although these were business-only ventures from her standpoint,
it still made her wonder at her appeal.
Serena wanted to stick close to Dan and watch his every move
so these dates were vital.
But, why hadn’t Sean even tried to call her for
another romp out on the town?
Great dating record.
How many other men will run
screaming from me as fast as they can?
Alan had.
And so has Dan.
If his sudden coldness after hours of wondrous foreplay and
lovemaking were any indication, something was definitely wrong with her.
She
just didn’t have what it took to keep a man interested.
Tears welled in her
eyes, but she refused to allow them to fall.
Channeling her resolve once again, Serena banished her love
life, or, lack of one, to the back of her mind.
She had the here and now to
contend with so she concentrated her energy into getting through the day.
Nothing else could be done but to sit on the sofa and stare out the window
while she braced herself for an evening of uncertainties.
At noon, her brother marched into her office, startling her
out of a daydream of days gone by.
He held up two bags of fast food, the kind
he knew she liked.
Plastered on his face was the unmistakable “now we’ll talk”
look she’d encountered a few times before.
There’d be no wiggling her way out
of postponing their inevitable discussion.
“Eat first, then talk.
I’m not leaving here until you do,”
he commanded.
He dropped one bag of food onto her lap then planted his bottom
on her desk and opened his bag.
Short, sweet and to the point, but she wouldn’t
have expected anything different from the brother she knew so well.
Resigned to get something solid in her stomach while she had
time to formulate a brief summary of her night’s folly, Serena answered, “Works
for me.” In a move to gain more time, she asked, “By the way.
How did your
night go?”
Getting her brother to talk about a safer topic would
prolong Serena’s rendition of her night with Dan.
Michael stopped chewing his
burger, narrowed his eyes and frowned.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.
But, to satisfy
your curiosity, I’ll tell you.” He gave her a no-nonsense stare.
“Then we’ll
talk about you.”
“How’s Annemarie?”