Page 3 of Taming the Bear
I wait for him to take a seat and his jeans stretch to fit over his fit thighs. My eyes stare shamelessly at the stretch over his crotch by the jeans. Joe sticks his left foot out and rests it on his right knee and he gets comfortable.
The presence of Joe is larger than life. Hell, I’ve known him for two minutes and I already like him in my space like this.
“Whatever your payment is, I will cover it. Here’s the thing though…”
My mind begins to wonder what this thing is that he’s thinking of. Is he going to say I have to sleep with him? I’m not going to lie, it’s a good possibility that I might just throw myself at him if I were given the chance to do that. “What is it?” I ask. I instantly berate myself for sounding so breathy as I asked that. All I need is for this cocky man to think I’m attracted to him.
“While you are working for me, you are exclusively my employee. I can’t have you working with others.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I blurt out and then slap my hand over my mouth. I can’t believe I was so unprofessional right there.
Joe begins to laugh at me and it's a husky, deep laugh. He reaches over the desk and takes my hand off of my mouth and touches my lips with his fingertips. A tidal wave of heat flows through me. He sets my hand down on the desk and takes his hand back into his lap. This man is so big that he’s literally making my chair seem like a highchair or something.
He’s big enough to ride like a bull.
“Let’s just say that I could probably be taken out just by talking to you about this.”
I roll my eyes to show that I’m unaffected by his crypticness. “Quit beating around the bush and tell me right now what you’re talking about.”
“I like a woman that tells me how it is,” he winks at me.
Unfortunately, my face blushes and I feel as if I’m three shades of red. “My fee is a hundred an hour. I require that you pay a retainer for my work and then cover mileage that is needed to go where I need to.”
I’m an asshole because I totally raised my price by fifty an hour but I’m wanting him to drop this act and tell me what he wants. Little does he know that I would probably take less than a hundred for an hour.
Joe looks at me and purses his lips for a moment and all I could think about was those lips on me. All over my skin and tasting me. “Not a problem.” Before I could blink, he’s digging into his vest pocket and pulls out a wad of money then drops it on the table. “Here’s twenty-five hundred. This is just a deposit. Now that you see I have the funds, are you willing to listen to what I need?”
I gulp as my eyes count the bills in the stack. Shit! That’s real legit money and I don’t even care if it’s dirty. I’m a private investigator after all. All of my money is dirty. Dirtier the better. “Yeah, I’m willing to listen.”
“Good. I need you to pay attention to everything I say because nothing can be written down or recorded. You get me?”
My eyes roll and it’s my turn to shrug. “Yeah, I got it. Now, tell me what you need and why you have twenty-five hundred dollars in your vest.” My curious mind is going to get me in trouble one of these days.
Immediately, Joe starts laughing at me and the sound is enough to jump start my heart. “You called it a vest! Oh god! That’s great.”
I jump a little in my seat and then I gawk at him as he rubs his hands over the sewed on patches. “What else would you call it? It’s a vest.”
“Oh, baby. You kill me. It’s a cut.”
I squint my eyes and then flick my pink hair behind my ear. “No, it’s a vest.”
Joe leans on his elbows so he’s leaning over the desk to look me in the eyes and I can see the dark green of his irises. He’s got amazing eyes and even more beautiful skin. I can feel my eyes expand to take him all in. “I’m president of Lucifer’s Lair. It’s a motorcycle club on the outside of town. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
Of course I’ve heard of it. I haven’t been living under a rock for the past twenty plus years of my life. “You guys are said to be responsible for spreading meth through the city and guns.”
What I don’t mention is the constant murders that have been linked to them and the spreading of cocaine. I also don’t mention that their reputation is so large that everyone talks about them like they’re a celebrity.
That cocky smile of his that only shows a glimpse of his teeth is proudly on his face. “That’s all speculation. Surely you don’t believe everything that you’ve heard on the television?”
His wording showed me that he’s a well educated guy which is something that I had a hard time believing. Joe is like an anomaly. Something about him is totally off and he seems to be an actual normal guy- nothing like the fire breathing dragons people make them out to be.
“What is it that you need my help with?” I ask in a bored tone of voice. There is no way in hell that I’m allowing Joe to know that I’m attracted to him because it’s too much of a risk. A man like him would totally a ruin a woman like me. He’s light years out of my league and I’m just the new moth attracted to his light.
“Chantal, I’m about to tell you something that needs to be kept off the record. No one knows my thoughts about this and I want to keep it that way. Do we have an understanding?”
Hypnotized, I nod my head and wait for him to continue. Truthfully, I love the sound of my name coming from his lips.
Jesus. I need help.
