Читать книгу Close To The Edge - Zara Cox - Страница 12

CHAPTER FOUR

Caleb

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

I stared at her, torn straight down the middle between fury and pleading. Between shoving her ass out of my plane and begging her to stroke my cock again. Harder. Between admitting that yes, she and her case intrigued me, and the urge to say to hell with it.

Back in her seat, she stared at me, a saucy smile lifting her delicious mouth. A smile I promised to wipe clean the first opportunity I got.

Shit.

Women with mouths like hers shouldn’t be allowed to swear unless there was immediate, no-holds-barred fucking involved. Because between that, the almost-kiss and tortuous stroking of my dick, I was now guaranteed to walk around with a hard-on strong enough to shatter glass.

Even my fury at her invading my privacy wasn’t enough to calm the fire raging in my crotch. The knowledge burned, though, along with a need to know what else she found when she went... What did she call it? Skimming?

Did she know about my mother’s suicide? About the desperate but ultimately fruitless measures I’d used to try to save her? About that one session with the child psychologist after my meltdown? Thankfully, the nightmares that had dogged me since her death weren’t on record anywhere.

Still...she’d crossed the line.

Why?

“That was a dangerous little play you staged there, Lily. Is control really that important to you?”

The answer blazed in her eyes before she lowered them. “Isn’t it to everybody?” she fired back.

Okay. Control, or giving it up, was an issue for her. I tucked away that piece of info.

But despite her spine of steel, I didn’t need to look hard to spot her apprehension. Plus, she was on edge. Clients in that state tended to knee-jerk the hell out of situations.

I took a breath as the plane taxied to the hangar. “You went to a lot of trouble to hire me. Don’t fuck it up by digging into my life again. Trust me, I’ll know. And I won’t give you a pass next time. In return, I’ll loop you in as much as I can. Deal?”

She stared at me, the fire raging in her eyes for another second before she offered a curt nod. “Deal.”

I rose from my seat, uncaring that my erection still throbbed stiff and eager in my pants.

She’d stoked the fire. She deserved to burn a little. And from the pink staining her cheeks as her beautiful eyes dropped to my crotch, she was burning all right. Still twisting with fury and lust, I leaned down and whispered, “As for your assessment about how many ways I want to fuck you, try a few dozen times north of your calculation. And, guess what?”

Defiant eyes met mine. “What?”

“I know you want me, too, so I guess I won’t be the only one suffering, huh?”

She didn’t answer, not that I was expecting one.

We both retreated into our thoughts as we exited the plane.

The ride Maggie had organized was a sturdy SUV with darkened windows, which I appreciated. Sadly, there were a million ways for stalkers to spy on their victim these days, and a million ways for victims to respond if they felt powerless.

The thought triggered a question that helped to drag my attention off Lily’s small but perfect body and thoughts of what I wanted to do to her. “Do you own a gun?” I asked after stashing our bag and hopping into the driver’s seat.

Her eyes widened as she shut her door. “A gun? Why would I own a gun?”

“Don’t look so surprised. You’d be shocked by how many people exercise their right to carry a firearm. I don’t want to be surprised down the road.” I rolled my shoulder as unwelcome thoughts of Kirsten, my ex, and phantom pain from my bullet wound registered.

Lily caught the movement, questions filling her eyes as she replied, “No, I don’t own a gun. And I don’t intend to arm myself, regardless of this situation.”

“Good.”

She kept quiet, until curiosity got the better of her. “Were you—?”

“You’ve pried enough for one night, Lily. Let’s focus on why I’m here, okay?” The snap in my voice made her flinch, but I didn’t regret it.

I stuck to a quieter, longer route from the airport to Lily’s address in Menlo Park. She started to fidget when we turned into the tree-lined road that housed a row of impressive mansions.

“Will your guys still be there?”

I checked the time on the dashboard. “No. Maggie texted me when they left. They’ll come back tomorrow to take care of the security inside the house.”

Surprise widened her eyes. “Oh. Thanks.”

I glanced over to see her worrying the inside of her lip again. “You’re welcome. Wanna tell me why having them inside the house makes you so nervous?”

She averted her gaze. “I’m not comfortable with strangers invading my space,” she muttered.

I sensed she wasn’t being entirely truthful but let the matter drop. “Okay.”

She looked relieved as I checked out our surroundings.

Half of the properties were displayed in all their sprawling glory, but the other half were hidden behind palm and fir trees. Many places for a stalker to hide.

Lily pulled out her phone and hit a button on the screen, nodding at the property coming into view. “It opens the gates.”

The electronic gates were swinging open much too slowly. “They need to open faster. You don’t want to be a sitting duck out here while the gate takes its sweet time to let you in. I’ll get it fixed.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

When the gap widened, I drove through. Compared to the other houses on the street, hers was on a smaller scale but still impressive enough to blend comfortably into the neighborhood.

Built on two levels with a tapered roof, the tiered white European-style mansion took up several thousand square feet, with tall rectangular paned windows that drew an inward grimace. All her stalker needed was a decent set of binoculars and he could follow her every move when she was home. And that second floor tier was also a problem especially if my suspicion that one or all of the bedrooms came with a terrace overlooking the backyard was confirmed.

The front door looked solid enough, though. I couldn’t do anything about the Roman pillars framing the front porch, but the seven-foot potted plants on either side of the door needed to be relocated.

She opened her door and jumped out. I stopped myself from growling my annoyance and got out, reaching her just as she climbed the last step onto the stone-laid porch.

I touched her upper arm. “Wait.”

Apprehension flickered across her face. “Your security people were just here. Surely you—?”

“Can’t be too careful. Keys?”

She dug through her satchel and handed the keys over. I unlocked the door and saw a large foyer.

“There’s a light switch on your left,” she said.

I flicked it on, bathing the large space in a warm golden glow. An alarm beeped from a panel next to the switch. I entered the code.

Silence settled in as I took in the layout of the first floor. Two short corridors forked from the entrance foyer on either side of a grand staircase made of wood and trellised iron. At the end of the left hallway, I saw shadowy frames of sofas and a coffee table, which meant the right hallway probably led to the kitchen.