Trust Me on This

  “That’s just great, Brian,” Alec was saying. Dennie slid her hands around his waist to the button on his waistband and then slowly slid his zipper down. Alec caught her hand before she could do more, pressing her to him, and he was so hard that she was breathless herself for a moment, stunned at the thought of him that hard inside her. She bit his shoulder, and then licked the bite, and then moved up his neck to his ear.

  “You’ve got the contract ready now?” Alec said. “With the house guarantee?” He turned to look at her, running his hand up her side to her breast. She closed her eyes as his thumb stroked across the lace, and his palm pressed hard against her. “Dennie’s thrilled,” Alec told Bond. “You should see her face. Of course, I’ll meet you in the bar. Fifteen minutes? You got it.”

  He hung up the phone and then before Dennie had even registered what he’d done, he’d rolled to pin her underneath him again on the bed. “God, you feel good,” he said against her neck as his hands scooped under her and pulled her hips against his. “I’m never answering the phone without you again.”

  “Fifteen minutes?” Dennie wrapped her legs around him, trying to pull that lovely hardness as close as possible. “Fifteen minutes?” She dug her fingernails into his shoulders as he pulsed against her in response. “You’re going to leave me like this?”

  “No,” Alec said. “He’s going to wait.” He slid her bra straps down over her shoulders, and when her swollen breasts were free, he caught his breath and drew his finger lightly over the slope of one, and then looked into her eyes. “You are so beautiful,” he told her, and moved his hand gently to cup the naked fullness of her breast.

  She was so hot, his hand felt cool against her and that made her even crazier. Her breath quickened as he brushed his fingers across her. “Please,” she whispered, and then he bent to ease the heat by taking her breast in his mouth.

  Dennie closed her eyes and moaned and gave up sanity, moving against him while they both shoved clothing from each other with shaking hands until they were naked and slick with each other’s sweat, tasting each other with heat and need, drunk on the salty sweetness of their bodies. Dennie raked her nails down his back, and moaned, “Now,” and Alec yanked the drawer out of the bedside table, trying to find his condoms before they both lost their minds completely.

  And then he was inside her, and the shock of him in her, the fullness of him, suddenly kicked her craving to a fever pitch and made her rock into him, jerking against him so hard that her hips lifted him as she pressed her head back into the pillows.

  “Easy,” he breathed. “Take it easy, love.” He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back, and Dennie felt herself slide down farther, harder onto him, felt the scream in her blood as every nerve she had expanded to meet him and everything inside her tightened and glowed hotter while he rocked and rocked into her over and over, until she didn’t know what was pulse and what was Alec. Then it was too much, and she writhed and cried out and clawed at him but he only held her tighter, his hands holding her hips to him relentlessly while he licked inside her mouth, and then it all slammed into her, all the heat and the pressure and the tightness, and she screamed. Alec rolled her beneath him and kicked off the slam again, and Dennie let go and shuddered under him, over and over again, feeling every cell in her body empty into him in glorious response. In the aftershock of her climax, she felt him jerk against her, too, the way she had shuddered against him, and then he was beside her on the bed, holding her, and she felt empty without him.

  He kissed her gently, and the kiss grew, neither of them willing to break it. When it did end, he let his lips roam her face, caressing her eyelids, her cheeks, and finally taking her mouth again, stroking his tongue gently into her. “I knew it would be like this for us,” he whispered to her finally, and she said, “I know. I knew it too.”

  Half an hour later, when they were both drowsy and calm and achingly satisfied, Alec let go of her with more reluctance than he’d thought he was capable of. “I have to go,” he said, and rolled out of bed and began to get dressed.

  “What are you going to tell Bond?” Dennie asked sleepily. “About being late?”

  “The truth.” Alec grinned at her as he buttoned his shirt. She was tangled in the sheets, and her curls tumbled into her eyes, and she looked warm and satisfied and his. He wanted her again, and had to tell himself sternly, Later. “I’ll tell him you were so grateful about the house that you grabbed me and ravished me before I could leave.”

  “That’s not the truth,” Dennie said, sinking deeper into the bed as she stretched and yawned. “You grabbed me.”

  Later, dammit, Alec told his body and said, “Close enough.” He watched her for a minute, planning later, and then he said, “You’re not thinking about doing anything dumb like leaving that bed, are you?”

  “Nope.” Dennie yawned again. “If I’m asleep when you get back, wake me up.” She rolled onto her side and curled up, and her body was outlined by the sheet as it stretched over her curves.

  “Count on it,” Alec said, and went down to finish off Bond.

  Half an hour later, he was back. Dennie heard him undress and then he crawled into bed beside her and wrapped himself around her from behind.

  “That was quick,” Dennie murmured, spooning herself into him.

  “He said, ‘Tomorrow,’ ” Alec said in her ear, and his breath made her shiver a little. “He wants you to be there when he signs the contract. You overdid it, dummy. He thinks you’re going to be so grateful, he’s going to get laid.”

  Dennie rolled a little so she was half on her back, her shoulder pressed against Alec’s chest. “He told you this?”

  “No, he told me the contract was so important to you that you’d want to see it signed.” Alec kissed her shoulder. “You really sold him, I’ll give you that.”

  “Thanks.” Dennie nestled closer, loving his body even more now that she knew what it could do. “Got anything else you’d like to give me?”

  “It’s going to be like this from now on, isn’t it?” Alec said sadly, as his hand moved up her body. “You’re always going to be wanting something from me. All I’m going to hear is, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Life will be hell.”

  “That’s not what I said.” Dennie rolled into him and let her own hand roam. “I’m pretty sure what I said was, ‘Why aren’t you in me?’ At least, I think—”

  Then Alec stopped her mouth with his, and they both forgot about Bond for the rest of the night.

  The next morning, they had to remember him.

  Dennie had slipped out of Alec’s room at eight, wearing the red dress Alec was never going to forget and carrying the purple underwear that he was really never going to forget. “We’re meeting Bond at ten,” he’d called after her, and she’d waved the purple lace at him and closed the door behind her.

  The room was a lot colder once she’d gone. What had been his plan? To talk her out of a life of crime, to talk her into moving to Chicago, and to talk her into bed with him. Only one to go. Not bad. Alec got up and headed for the shower, feeling very cheerful.

  Two and a half hours later, he wasn’t nearly as upbeat.

  “I know they’ll be here any minute,” he told Bond.

  Bond looked uneasy, clutching the contracts as if Alec were going to rip them from his hands, which Lord knew, Alec wanted to do. Bond had showed him the new clauses while they were waiting, and it was all there. Once they both signed it, he could arrest Bond and go back to seducing Dennie into moving to Chicago.

  But first Dennie had to show up, dammit. Donald and Victoria would also be nice, and he didn’t know where the hell Harry was, which was unusual to say the least, but Alec wasn’t being greedy. All he really needed was Dennie. If Dennie were there, Bond would sign anything. “We were up late last night,” he told Bond. “You have no idea how much Dennie wanted that house. That little girl can be very grateful.”

  Bond looked interested enough to loosen his grip on the contracts a little
. Alec remembered Dennie the night before. She hadn’t been grateful but she had been amazing. The thought must have showed on his face because Bond leaned forward.

  “She’s probably still asleep,” Alec said, getting up. “I’ll just phone upstairs and check. Don’t go away. She’s bound to want to thank you personally.”

  “I’ll be right here,” Bond said. “You tell her I’m waiting for her,” and Alec thought, In your dreams, buddy, and went to call Dennie and find out what the hell was going on.

  Dennie had her own problems.

  She’d hit the lobby a little past ten, knowing she was a few minutes behind and hurrying because of it. She’d showered and changed into a purple jersey dress that could be left unbuttoned at the top, a good idea since Bond was a sucker for cleavage and they wanted him as happy and as distracted as possible. After experimenting with three buttons undone, which made her look like a tramp, and two buttons, which made her look only trampish, she’d decided on three and then realized she was late. Self-conscious about her cleavage and guilty about being tardy, she’d almost run Baxter down when he came to stand in her path.

  “Uh, Miss Banks?” he said, recovering and trotting beside her.

  “Not now, Baxter,” Dennie said. “I’m late for a meeting. Not with Janice Meredith. Go away.”

  “This is about Miss Meredith,” Baxter said, breaking into a trot. “She seems to have called the police.”

  Dennie stopped in her tracks, and he overshot her and came back. “The police?” she said. “Why? I didn’t go near her.”

  “Evidently you talked to a friend of hers and the friend called and there was an argument and she blames you.” Baxter spit it all out in one breathless sentence, and Dennie thought, Victoria, you were supposed to be tactful.

  “Okay,” Dennie said. “We can handle this.”

  “I would really prefer you just left the hotel,” Baxter said. “If you leave, I’m sure she won’t pursue this.”

  “I can’t leave.” Dennie turned to go toward the bar. “I’m late for—”

  She bumped into a guy in a dark suit, standing next to a really beautiful brunette.

  “That’s her,” the brunette said. “She’s in it with him.”

  “In what? With who?” Dennie looked from one to the other. “I have to meet somebody. Can this wait?”

  “Who do you have to meet?” the guy in the suit asked, and Dennie said, “That is none of your business.” She detoured around them and headed for the bar, but before she could get there, the man caught up with her and put his hand on her arm.

  “I just need to ask you a few questions,” he said. “I’m with the Riverbend police.” He showed her his badge, and Dennie’s heart clutched, but since the brunette wasn’t Janice and the suit wasn’t reading her the Miranda spiel, she told herself to calm down.

  Dennie craned her neck to see inside the bar. Alec was sitting with Bond, checking his watch. “I tell you what,” she said to the suit. “I have to go in there and talk to somebody, and you can stay out here and watch. Then I’ll come back out here and answer any questions you want. I really do have to go. I’m late. It’s only going to be about fifteen minutes.” She smiled at him as winningly as she could, but he seemed unimpressed.

  “What somebody?” the suit said.

  “See the blond guy sitting in there at the table?” she said, and then realized that could be either Alec or Bond.

  “I told you,” the brunette said with a great deal of satisfaction.

  “I think we’ll go in there with you,” the suit said.

  Dennie could just imagine how Bond would feel if she showed up with two extra people, one of whom was a cop. She was pretty sure Bond would spot a cop. She was also pretty sure that Alec wouldn’t be happy either.

  “Look,” she said. “I can explain—”

  “Miss Banks?” someone said from behind her.

  Dennie turned, and there was another suit. He bore a vague similarity to the other suit with her, and even more telling, he had Janice Meredith with him.

  “This is going to be bad, isn’t it?” Dennie said.

  Chapter 9

  “That’s her,” Janice said, and Dennie said, “Wait a minute.”

  “Dennie Banks, you are under arrest for stalking,” the second suit said, and the first suit said, “That too?”

  “Tom?” The first suit squinted at the second one. “What are you doing here?”

  “Arresting her for fraud,” Tom said. “Stalking, too, huh?”

  They seemed to be bonding, so Dennie tried to sidle away and signal Alec. If she’d ever needed to be rescued it was now. Unfortunately, the second suit took the sidle badly and handcuffed her.

  “Hey!” Dennie said.

  “You have the right to remain silent,” the second suit said while Janice and the brunette smiled their satisfaction and Tom shook his head. “Stalking too. You really take risks, lady.”

  Dennie closed her eyes and thought fast.

  “Isn’t that Dennie?” Donald asked Victoria as they walked through the lobby on their way to the bar and Bond.

  “What?” Victoria was irritated. They were half an hour late because Donald had insisted on proposing in the elevator. In a rare moment of flair, he’d punched the emergency stop button and refused to punch it again until she’d said yes. Only after thirty minutes of tactful refusal followed by blunt refusal followed by invective had Donald given up and let the elevator descend. Even now he seemed hopeful. There was probably something to being that dumb, Victoria decided. Anything that let you ignore reality with that much persistence had to be helpful.

  “Do we know those people?” Donald said, the first signs of his own irritation showing.

  Victoria followed his eyes. Dennie was with two men in suits and two women, and she didn’t look good. Then one of the women turned, and Victoria said, “Oh, hell.” It was Janice. And the last time Victoria had spoken to her, Janice had not been a happy woman.

  One of the suits put handcuffs on Dennie, and Victoria took Donald’s arm and swung him around before he could see. Dennie in handcuffs would definitely be something he would discuss with Bond.

  “Why don’t we go talk to Bond about the land?” she said smoothly, steering him toward the bar. “Then I’ll go see about Dennie.”

  “I don’t know, Victoria,” Donald said. “Why would I want to buy the land if you’re not going to be with me?”

  Victoria hated herself for what she had to say next. “You give up too easily, Donald.” He brightened, and she picked up their pace. “Now get in there and buy that land.”

  * * *

  “Okay, hold it,” Dennie said before the second suit had finished his recitation of all of the things she had a right to. She turned to Tom and the brunette. “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’ll get to you in a minute.” Then she turned back to Janice. “But your deal I know, and you should be ashamed.”

  “I should be ashamed.” Janice’s brows snapped together. “You have been pursuing me—”

  “I have left you alone and done everything in my power to reassure you,” Dennie snapped back. “But that’s not the point. The point is, talk is cheap, lady. You make big speeches about risking, and then you turn tail and run the minute the most important risk of your life is in front of you.” Dennie shook her head. “I really admired you. One of the reasons I wanted that interview was because I wanted everybody to know how smart you were, about life and relationships, and how the end of a marriage doesn’t mean it was a failure, and about everything else you know that I don’t and that nobody else does, either, and I wanted to be the one to help you tell them. And then you pull this.”

  Janice didn’t look convinced. “I’m not the one in trouble here,” she told Dennie. “You’re not going to fast-talk your way out of this.”

  “I’m talking truth.” Dennie leaned forward. “And you are the one in trouble here. I’m the one who could help you out if you weren’t shoving your head so far into the sa
nd.”

  “Just get her out of here,” Janice said to the second suit tiredly. “I just want her away from me.”

  Dennie’s temper spurted. “Oh, and for the record, you remember that crack you hit me with in the elevator about reputable journalists not eavesdropping?”

  Janice tried to level her with a glare. “I remember nothing about you.”

  “Well, you’re a hypocrite on top of everything else,” Dennie said, her voice rising as the second suit tried to tug her away. “Because I read about your first scoop, and you got it by overhearing two diplomats on a commuter train. You must have been something back then.”

  Suit Two tugged on her arm, and then someone caught her other arm and she swung around to face the new problem.

  “Handcuffs,” Alec said. “This is a good look for you, but more about that later.” He smiled at the two suits. “Gentlemen, I sympathize with your impulses, but you’re going to have to uncuff her. She’s working for me, and you’re screwing up a very nice party here.”

  Dennie craned to look over his shoulder. Victoria and Donald were talking to Bond, Victoria all but bending over the table to distract him. With Alec between her and Bond, there was a fair hope he hadn’t noticed the handcuffs and the cops. But only a fair one unless they moved fast.