Page 67 of Close Pursuit

Alex scowled into his champagne glass as if he was contemplating murdering someone sooner rather than later.

She pressed against his side, rubbing her silk-clad breast lightly against biceps, forcing him to acknowledge her. “What was that all about?”

“You tell me.”

Danger rolled off of him, wave after wave of it. He was seriously pissed off about something. As much as she wanted to break through his emotional walls, and as much as she wanted to try the brand of sex he preferred, she wasn’t sure she wanted to do either with him this furious.

“I’ve seen enough,” Alex announced.

Crud. She was hoping to get him to stick around a little longer, get a little more champagne in him, smooth the rough edges of his temper a little.

“You look disappointed,” he murmured. “Is the lamb suddenly scared to be alone with lion in his den?”

“A little. I was hoping to get some more booze into you.”

“Why?”

“To mellow you out a little.”

“For what I have in mind, nothing will mellow me out. Last chance to back out. You can go with Uncle Charlie or you can leave with me, now, and face the consequences.”

She looked him square in eye. “I’m with you. How do they say it in poker? I’m all in.”

“We’ll see about that.”

11

Katie’s heart fluttered as Alex handed her into the town car. What fate had she just damned herself to? As the vehicle pulled out smoothly into the night, she felt like she was on a one-way ride to some dark place from which she would never return. It didn’t help matters that Alex was sitting back in the shadows across from her looking positively demonic.

“What was all that stuff with Uncle Charlie about?” she tried. “I heard one conversation, but it seemed like the two of you were having an entirely separate one.”

Nothing.No answer at all. Alex merely stared at her broodingly.

Her trepidation climbed. The car pulled up in front of his condo and Alex told her quietly her to wait in the car. He got out and looked up and down the street carefully before gesturing her to join him. The car pulled away, and they were alone.

He gripped her arm tightly as he guided her inside. Was he afraid she would bolt, or was he already asserting the dominance she expected from him tonight?

The elevator ride was silent. Tense. He entered a lengthy number sequence on the keypad outside his front door and passed a magnetic card through the slot. A red light illuminated.

“Come into my den, little lamb,” he muttered darkly.

They stepped into the foyer, and there was no sign of Sister Mary Harris. Katie followed Alex to Dawn’s bedroom and the nun was asleep in the bed beside Dawn’s crib. The woman had a hand stretched out through the bars and resting on Dawn’s mattress.

Alex explained, “She’s as deaf as a post with her hearing aids out. She’ll feel Dawn cry with her hand.”

As he backed out of the bedroom, he scooped the twin hearing aids off the dresser top and pocketed them.

“Alex!” she exclaimed softly.

“You’ll thank me later when you need to scream.”

He pulled the door shut behind them.

Her knees quivering a little, she followed him back into the dark living room. As he moved to the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey, she asked, “Are you going to hurt me?”

“Do you want me to?”

“We already established that I don’t have any idea what I’m getting myself into. I have no clue what’s going to happen, tonight. I only know I want to give you the same kind of pleasure you’ve given me.”

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