Twisted Desire (The Twisted Series) (14 page)

Aliah nods her head, but she’s not completely satisfied with
his answer.  What kind of job can he possibly work that requires an
assistant?  She only wishes that was her main concern.

“Any other questions?” he asks, almost goading her.

“Yeah.  One,” Aliah admits, unafraid to stir the
pot.  “Did you fuck her?”

His head snaps up to look at her again.  His words remain
on his lips for a few seconds before he shares them with her.  “We have a
very good
working
relationship.”

“You fucked her.”  Aliah turns away, with an unfriendly
snarl on her face.  Why is she suddenly so angry?

“I didn’t fuck her.”

“You want to.”

Harley sighs, not liking where this conversation is
going.  “No.  But there was a time when she wanted me to.  That
was quite a few years ago now.  We’ve had a good laugh about it since
then, and everyone’s moved on.”

“You think so.”

Harley’s voice turns harsh and convincing.  “I know
so.”

“You’re saying you’ve never thought about sleeping with
her?”

He tilts his head, bringing his face closer to hers. 
“She’s cute.  If you like the leggy, blonde type.”

“And you don’t?”  Aliah can’t help but smirk, as she
hunches over and rests her elbows on her lap, happy to take any disruption from
that gorgeous gaze.

“She came to work for me when she was eighteen.  She
was a misguided youth.  I’m not attracted to her that way.  She’s
more like a daughter to me.”

“Skanky daughter you have there.”

“Says the girl downing shots with a random college kid at
the bar.”

Aliah can’t stop smiling.  “For the record, you downed
those shots.  I only wanted to.”

“Why?”

“Why?”  She looks like she’s stunned that he doesn’t
know.

He nods.

“I don’t know.”

“You know,” he presses.  “You’re just too embarrassed
to admit it out loud.”

Aliah lays flat out across the picnic table and closes her
eyes, stretching her arms above her head.  “Maybe I am.”

Harley leans backward and props himself above her. 
“You don’t seem like the type who embarrasses too easily.”

“You think you know me.”

“Am I right?” he persists, maintaining eye contact.

“Yes,” she admits, smiling.

“Thank you… for saying that.  It’s the first step
toward admitting that you’ve already fallen madly in love with me.”

“What?”  Her voice screeches once, but it seems to echo
infinitely into the endless night.

“It’s okay.  You’re not ready to say it yet.  I
can be patient.”

She turns her head to smirk at him, and he flashes her a
mouthful of pearly white teeth.  “Smart ass.”

“You love it.”

She puckers her lips to feign a pout, but he can see her
aversion to love unravelling between them.  Harley pulls himself away, to
lay down on the tabletop next to her.  He curls his arm around her and
pulls her close to his side.

He’s so warm.  She only wishes that she can enjoy
it.  But he doesn’t give her another second to settle down, getting right
back to the nit picking.

“You sounded pretty upset when you thought I was fucking the
blonde.  Why is that?”

Aliah snuggles back against him and she can feel him
stirring beneath her thigh, now hooked over top of him.  “Is it really
that hard for you to figure it out?”  Aliah rolls her eyes, but she won’t
say it.

“Why won’t you just tell me?”

After a thoughtful pause, Aliah blurts it.  “Because I
want to be the only one fucking with you, okay?”

He rests his head back against the table and his smile
disappears.  “Not really the answer I was looking for, but it’ll have to
do.”

“You don’t like me?”  Aliah hates that she is turning
into
that
girl.

She reaches for the end of the table to pull herself away
from him, but he catches onto her hand.

“Oh, I like you alright.”

Aliah scowls at him.  “Then why won’t you have sex with
me?”

Harley returns her hand to the table next to her and
retrieves his own.  “Let’s see.  You stand me up.  You want to
be the only one
fucking with
me.  You won’t let me kiss you… on the
lips.  Should I go on?”

Even with him verbally prodding at her, she can’t stop her insides
from quivering at the memory of just how good of a kisser he is, both on her
mouth and between her thighs.

“Please,” she breathes, as if his words might be enough to
send her sailing into an abyss of pleasure.

He turns his head to share his disbelief with her eye to
eye, then he brushes a strand of hair away from her face.  “I’d be good to
you.”

His statement strikes her from her high horse.  They
lay there quietly for a long while, gazing into each other’s eyes, too afraid
to face the emotions stirring between them.  She hides behind their
rainbow of physical chemistry and slides a hand up his muscular middle.

“Tell me again why you won’t sex me up.”  She refuses
to admit there’s more to it than raw, unguarded desire.

It sounds like he thinks about it before speaking.  “I
don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

Aliah steals her hand away.  “You can’t hurt my
feelings.  I’ve little left.”

He leans into her, with his nose very near hers.  His
eyes are swimming, but he’s gazing right into her.  Harley licks his lips
and his eyes turn down to hers, looking like he wants to taste her mouth. 
But when his eyes slide closed and his lips descend on hers, she rolls out from
under him like a ninja, acting like she hasn’t just dodged his kiss.

She retreats to his bike before he does something to make
her regret ever getting involved with him. 
Shit.
  She is
already involved, which is exactly what she was trying to avoid.

“Come on.”  Her voice rings sharp, as a stab of guilt
claws at her insides.

He remains facing the picnic table, with his eyes squeezed
shut.  Then he slams a closed fist on the tabletop, and it looks like he
very nearly pummels a hole into it.  He growls angrily, and it actually
makes her feel bad.  She’s frustrated too, but she can’t let her heart all
in.  She knows what happens when she opens herself to a man, and one
broken heart in this lifetime is all this girl can handle.

Harley doesn’t understand what’s going through his
mind.  He wants to be the man to fit her life, whatever life she may
lead.  This idea would not please her.  Hell, he’s not particularly pleased
with himself at the moment.  This was not the plan.  No woman has
ever wiggled her way into his empty chest cavity, the way Aliah has, but
suddenly he’s feeling a little less vacant.

He chases after Aliah and tugs onto her shoulder until
they’re standing nose to nose.  He gazes into her eyes and considers
telling her everything.  The truth about him.  The truth about how
they came to meet.  But as he moves to kiss her, she bolts again from his
arms.  Any progress he thought they’d made seems tarnished and she’s just
as guilty as he is, if not more so.  Telling himself this gives him a
second wind.

“You lied to me,” he growls.  “Why did you have to
lie?  A two second phone call.”

Aliah flips her hair over her shoulder.  “I told
you.  I had to work late.  That wasn’t a lie.”

“You told me you were going to work.  Then you turned
around and went to see your lawyer.  If you’re in some kind of trouble,
maybe I can help.”

Aliah’s eyes blink wide, as she stifles a laugh.  “You
truly are stalking me!  That is so not cool.  If we’re going to try
this dating thing, then that’s got to be one of the boundaries.”

Even as she says it, he can see she’s cringing on the
inside.  But damn, he cares about her.

“I think you should just tell me what you’re charged
with.  The receptionist told me you were with Joshua Bailey.  He’s
the top defence lawyer in the City, Aliah.  Admit it.  You must be in
deep.”

“Not exactly.”  She smiles.  And he can tell from
the look in her eyes that he’s not done very good detective work.

“Why else would you go see a lawyer then?”

She raises her eyebrows.  “You really don’t
know?”  She still can’t seem to get over the fact that he’d followed her.

“Tell me you aren’t dating the man, Aliah.  He has to
be double your age.”

She breaks out in laughter.  “Some detective you are.”

He freezes in place.  She’s got him now.  His
cover is blown.  The world starts spinning around him, as he tries to
catch his balance.  No one finds out David H. Gates.  No one.

Aliah stomps toward him as he crumbles to one knee. 
She pushes him, until he falls backward landing on his ass.  She mounts
his waist and presses him into the grass, dirtying the knees of her expensive
pants.

“Easy, boy.  I’m not dating Bailey.  He’s my
boss.”

He squints up at her, through lazy, drunken eyes.  “I’m
confused.”  He stares at her for a long few seconds.  “Bailey owns
Riley’s?  I thought Mitchell Cavanagh was the owner.”

Aliah sighs out of frustration.  “Yes, Mitchell owns
Riley’s.  I don’t actually work there.  I was only helping a friend
out.  He was in a bind, okay?”

He closes his eyes and scratches his head, as a gentle
finger skims over his lips.  His eyes pop open to find Aliah with her
tongue wetting her thumb.  He swallows, as she smears the dry blood from
the corner of his mouth.  That touch right there shows him that there’s
more to her than the desirous sex fiend she tries to act like.

“I’m not a bartender.  I’m sorry if that disappoints
you.”  The way she says it has him thinking that it should.

“Then, what are you?” he asks.

As she sighs, she rolls off of him.  Then she curls up
in the crook of his arm and rests her head on his chest.  “A girl,” she
whispers.

The night is quiet and so are they.  He’s surprised to
learn that she isn’t the slutty bartender that disrupts his sweet dreams with
wild fantasies.  Was he so blinded by her beauty that he’d overlooked the
basics of this investigation?  Harley never drops the ball on research.

Jillian had suggested that Aliah is an educated woman with a
real job and a large bank account, but he told himself that it couldn’t
possibly be true.  He was so sure she was a daddy’s girl, soaking him for
money and working a petty part-time job for kicks.  He hates to learn that
she works in criminal law.  He knows the kind of clients Bailey rides
with.  Just one more thing for him to worry about.

After a spell of silence, while he tries to process the new
information she’s shared, they both find sleep.  Aliah sleeps much lighter
than Harley.

She awakes to a spot light being shone in her eyes. 
“Shit!  Harley.  You have to wake up.  Harley!”

He doesn’t move a muscle.  She thinks he’s out
cold.  In truth, he’s just not in the mood to deal with it right now.

Aliah scurries to her knees, wipes the dead grass from her
pant legs and struts toward the unmarked police car.  The cop’s window
eases down and a handsome officer stares back at her.

“Is it even possible for you to stay out of trouble?” 
His accent is the only thing that indicates he is from England. 
Everything else about the man screams American athlete.

“Hey, Spence.  Long time no see.”

She knows Spencer Caldwell personally?  Maybe she is in
deeper than he knows.  Harley listens in on their conversation to figure
them out.

“I seem to recall seeing you a couple days ago, speeding
through a stop sign.”

“Oh!”  Aliah snickers.  “I thought that was you.”

Who snickers at a cop detailing their crime?

“You’re lucky that was me, or you’d be stuck with a sizeable
ticket and a court date.”

“Do you want me to thank you?”

Oh, so she is smart like that with everyone.
 
Harley can’t believe this girl.

“No.  I want you to stay out of trouble.  Speaking
of…  Who’s that guy you’re with?”

Harley resists clenching his fists, as he’s flooded again by
the white hot spot light.

“He looks real lively tonight.”

Knowing Spencer all too well, Harley figures his motorcycle
plate is good as run.  Not that he needs a computer to tell him that it’s
Harley’s bike.  Spencer has been popping up a lot lately.  Harley
suddenly feels like
he’s
the one under investigation.

“Are you telling me you don’t know him?” Aliah asks,
noticing the way Spencer smirks at her.

With Spencer’s attention surely focused on Aliah, Harley
dares a glance in their direction.  Spencer is smiling at her.  Harley
doesn’t like the way he smiles at her.

“I just wondered if you got his name before getting on his
bike.  That’s dangerous for a girl like you.”

“A girl like me?”  Now she’s playing coy.

“Or any other girl, for that matter.  Downright
stupid.”

“His name is Harley – er, David, maybe,” she blurts, then
pauses.