Page 31 of Dangerous Secret

“Since you said please.” The kiss was electrifying. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her body flush against his as their lips moved in perfect harmony, as if they were meant to be doing this. He tasted her sweetness, and it was like nothing he had ever known before. It was as if every part of his soul was coming alive for the first time in years.

They broke the kiss, both gasping for air. Harlow’s eyes were wide with surprise, but desire burned in their depths. “Wow,” she whispered.

“Yeah, wow. I better go before I forget that’s the right thing to do.” He dropped his arms away, letting go of her.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure, but we’ll definitely talk on the phone if not in person.” The cat sitting on the other side of the sliding door caught his attention. Although the glass kept them from hearing Einstein, he could see the cat was talking a mile a minute. “I don’t think Einstein’s happy we shut him in and has a few choice words to say about that.”

“He loves sitting out on the balcony, so yeah, he’s not happy.”

She opened the door, and he rushed out. From the tone of his chattering, he was cat-cursing them. Grayson squatted and said, “I’m thinking we need to wash your mouth out with soap, Einstein.” The cat narrowed his eyes and let fly what Grayson was sure were more choice words. “Yep, you have a dirty mouth, buddy.”

“He’s never been shy about expressing his feelings,” Harlow said.

Grayson stood. “I’ve never been cursed out by a cat before.” He grinned. “I feel special.”

She laughed. “Bet that wasn’t on your bingo card.”

“Not even close. Lock up behind me.”

“I will.”

He left before the temptation to kiss her again became too strong to resist. He waited to hear the click of the door lock before going to his car, except it wasn’t until he couldn’t find the Jag that he remembered he’d traded with Liam. Grayson had learned early on in his time on a SEAL team to trust his instincts, and instead of leaving, he moved the car to an empty space where he could see the stairs leading up to Harlow’s apartment.

While he sat, keeping an eye on the apartment, he thought about Harlow and that kiss, how her lips felt against his. How soft and warm and responsive her mouth was. How he wanted to kiss her again and more. So much more.

He’d never had a long-term relationship, actually any relationship to speak of. Before he’d gone to spring break, like most teenage boys, he’d been girl crazy. After his kidnapping and before he joined the military, he’d been too traumatized to think of girls and wanting one in his life.

As for relationships, he’d seen his SEAL friends try and fail to make a go of having a girlfriend or wife. It rarely lasted. His life and that of his teammates meant that they could be and were deployed at a moment’s notice, unable to even tell their significant others where they were going or for how long. Much of the time, they couldn’t even call home to let their loved ones know they were still alive. He’d decided early on that he wouldn’t put a woman through that kind of stress and, invariably, hurt.

Lately though…

Lately a certain woman was in his thoughts a lot. Although he’d always wanted a family someday, he’d decided when he became a SEAL that he wouldn’t pursue a relationship until he was out of the military. Well, he was out now, and Harlow definitely had his attention.

A car turned into the complex and caught his attention as it slowly came toward him. It stopped behind Harlow’s car for a moment, and then moved on, parking in a visitor’s space. The driver got out and tossed a cigar to the ground as he walked toward Harlow’s building. When he walked under the streetlight, Grayson recognized the man from the diner, Don Delgado.

Grayson slid down in his seat until his face was mostly hidden by the dash. Delgado went to the back of her car and looked around. Then he took something from his pocket, squatted and pressed the object inside the wheel well.

So, Pressley wanted to be able to track her car. The question was, why? He had a tracking app on her phone. Was he suspicious that she’d figured that out and was leaving her phone behind when she left her apartment?

Grayson was tempted to remove the tracker after Delgado left, but that would only alert Pressley to the fact that Harlow had someone watching out for her. What he needed to do was end this, and to do that, he needed to get into that safe. Deciding that nothing else was going to happen tonight, he went home.

Later, as sleep eluded him, and he stared at the turning blades of his ceiling fan, he made a list in his head of possible ways to get into Pressley’s safe. He needed to talk to Harlow, learn all he could about Pressley, his house, his employees and his schedule.

When he exhausted all the possibilities he could think of, his thoughts turned to the woman herself. He finallyfell asleep imagining his mouth on hers again as his hands learned her body and what she liked. That was probably why he had the most erotic dream he’d ever had with Harlow in the starring role.

Chapter 14

Harlow chewed on her bottom lip as she listened to the ringtone. She half hoped Lena would answer and half hoped she wouldn’t. It was silly to be so nervous about calling someone who used to be her best friend.

“Hello?”

She answered! Harlow squeezed her eyes shut at hearing Lena’s voice for the first time in what? Four years? Oh, how she’d missed her best friend.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Right, she needed to speak. “It’s Harlow.”

---