Page 46 of Take the Bait

She made another sound against his chest. This time it sounded negative.

“Kay. Me, neither,” he sighed in relief.

They drifted toward sleep together this time, as simpatico in this as they had been in making love.

* * *

A distant electronic jangle jolted them both to full consciousness.

“Crap. My work phone,” Dani groaned.

He sat up in bed and glanced over at the clock on his bed stand. It was nearly two a.m. Who was calling her at this ungodly hour? A surge of jealousy ripped through him. It had better not be some guy. She was his.

Whoa. Since when had he gone all, Me, Tarzan. You, Jane. You my woman.

He groaned under his breath as she rolled off him and padded out of his room gloriously nude. Her pale skin practically glowed against the dark walls in here, and he silently thanked his decorator for choosing this color scheme for this bedroom.

Dani returned a minute later holding two cell phones and her shopping bag, which she deposited just inside the bedroom door. She handed his phone to him, saying, “Yours has a voicemail notification on it. I missed the call on my phone by the time I found my purse, but I have to return the call right away. It came from the county jail. Something’s up with Alex.”

“Like what?” he asked in concern as he took his phone from her. He snagged her free hand and tugged hard, toppling her over.

Laughing, she fell across him.

Her pert, juicy tush stuck up across his lap, and he stroked his hand across it suggestively. “Mmm. I like this arrangement.”

She shot him a flirtatious grin over her shoulder as she hit redial and stuck her phone to her ear. “Hi. This is Dani Wellford. I’m Alexei Koronov’s attorney. You called me?”

She listened for a moment and then lurched, rolling off Cam’s lap and sitting upright, frowning. She bit out, “Is he okay?”

Cam frowned, alarmed, and sat up as well.

Another pause while she listened. Then she asked, “Is he conscious? Can I talk with him? Yeah. I’ll come right over. Thanks.”

Cam’s trouble radar beeped an urgent red alert. “What’s up, Dani?”

“Alex is in the hospital. Rather, the infirmary at the jail. That was the jail’s doctor on the phone. He said Alex should be in a proper hospital but he’s refusing to be transported to one.”

Cam swung his feet to the floor to sit beside her. “That’s weird. Most prisoners would give their eye teeth to go to a nice civilian hospital with pretty nurses, good food, and no bars.”

“Yeah, well, everything’s weird about my client.”

“So I’ve noticed. What’s the deal with him, anyway?”

“I wish I knew,” she grumbled. Dani headed for the shopping bag and pulled out a rumpled wool suit. She gave it a shake and sighed but commenced dressing in it.

He strode across the huge room and into his walk-in closet, where he grabbed slacks and a casual shirt. As he dressed, he called out, “What happened?”

“The doctor didn’t give me any details. Just said he’s seriously injured and refusing hospitalization. Asked me to come talk some sense into my client.”

He yanked on socks and stepped into loafers, then rejoined her in the bedroom. She was just pulling a wool skirt over boring panty hose and tucking in a boring, high-necked blouse. As she shrugged on a suit coat, she transformed into a corporate attorney before his eyes.

Moving to her swiftly, he gathered her in his arms. “Do you have any idea how hot it is to see you in that suit and to know what a smoking hot woman is hidden beneath that boring gray pinstripe?”

“Next time I see you in gray pinstripe, I’ll let you know,” she retorted.

He grinned. “That can be arranged, counselor.”

She hurried downstairs and he followed behind her, enjoying the view of her posterior assets. She paused in the foyer, stabbing at her phone.

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