Overheated

DIG Security

LAINA KENNEY

Copyright © 2010

Chapter 1

“Come on, Sara, don’t give up.”

Dash looked up from his computer to see his general manager coming down the hall with the newest employee of DIG Security.

Walking beside his friend and manager was the sweet-faced, curvy little blonde who didn’t seem to realize she had caused havoc with the single men in the company. He had never noticed before what dogs his two partners could be, but all of them were reacting to Sara in ways he hadn’t seen from them since their wild days in the Army Rangers together. They had been young and crazy and had occasionally shared a woman, giving her as much pleasure as she could stand, but there would be no sharing with Sara.

Dash almost growled at the thought. If Sara James wanted a new man, it would be Dash alone. His cock twitched at the thought, ready and willing.

He had never run such intensive security checks on one of his employees before Sara. It amused him to see she had never had so much as a speeding ticket. He had never obsessed about a female before, either, but the past four months had changed his outlook. Usually, the women were coming on to him, and he didn’t have to do anything but nod for his bed to be occupied. But little Sara hardly spoke to him. And whenever he spoke to her, she answered politely and precisely and then sidled away at the first chance. With anyone else he might have tried to force the issue, making her acknowledge him as a man, but the truth was Sara was different from the women he had known in the past.

He had tried to respect her choice and keep his distance until he could figure out how to approach her, but found himself taking lunch at Morrisey’s down the block almost daily because Sara was there with some of his staff. Hell, he left on time every day now just so he could walk behind her all the way to the parking lot. She had the sweetest, roundest ass he had ever seen, and the thought of squeezing those smooth globes while he took her from behind had him in a sweat and battling a raging hard-on. He always watched her drive away and had once even followed at a discrete distance to see where she was living.

Gotta stop that shit, he thought, even as he jumped up and moved out into the hall to follow the ladies to lunch.

“I think you should find someone who will actually be nice to you,” Carolyn, his manager, was saying. “Not all men are creeps.”

Sara shrugged, obviously uncomfortable.

Dash’s heart sped up. Was Sara having trouble with a boyfriend? He could give the guy a little attitude adjustment, free of charge. Or get rid of him and take his place. Yeah, that was more like it.

“I’m completely serious, Sara. Look, if your ex is coming on too strong, why don’t you speak to Dash? He’ll understand. Security is his business, after all.”

Sara looked flustered. “I can’t tell my new boss that I’m scared of my own shadow. It’s nothing.”

Ah, not a current boyfriend but an ex. Even better. Dash wanted to jump in and tell Sara that he would be more than happy to fix her problem. He would be particularly happy if it involved punching this asshole of an ex. He was already itching to do just that. He pushed his hands into his pockets to keep from grabbing Sara and hauling her into his arms where she would never have to be afraid again. His finely honed sense of timing said it wasn’t the right moment.

“It’s not nothing. Instincts are important, Sara. You’re not sleeping and you hardly eat. You can’t deny that. When you spoke to me, it was because you knew something was wrong.” Carolyn was speaking softly now, but firmly, clearly in full protective mode.

Carolyn had been one of his top agents for several years, until a bad break suffered in a ground chase with an attacker had nearly destroyed her ankle. Four surgeries had made it usable, but nothing would give her the speed she had once enjoyed. She had voluntarily moved into the administrative side of the business, and she was the best damned business manager Dash could imagine. Nothing escaped her notice.

“Last week, you said some of your stuff was missing. That means he was in your apartment, Sara. And now the dead sparrow? He’s trying to terrorize you into taking him back. Talk to Dash.”

“No, I can’t tell Dash.” Sara’s voice was thin and too high. Her whole body was tense. She acted like it would be unthinkable to speak to her boss about a personal problem.

It was all Dash could do to keep from roaring in anger. Some psycho was after sweet Sara? No damned wonder she was so skittish around him. He had thought she just wasn’t ready to acknowledge the sizzling chemistry between them, but it was much more complicated than that.

“You damn well just did tell me,” he bit out, moving up between the women. Sara visibly started, shocked to see him behind them. Carolyn just looked smug.

“You can fill in all the sick details over lunch, and don’t bother trying to tell me it’s nothing,” he continued in a harsh tone when he saw Sara’s mouth open. She edged away from him, trying to put Carolyn between them. Dash snagged her arm, keeping her right beside him. With his other hand, he flipped open his cell phone.

“Isaac, we have a situation. Sara’s ex is a stalker, might have already broken into her place.”

There was a pause as Dash listened, his eyes fixed firmly on Sara, almost daring her to pull away from him.

* * * *

Sara glanced at Carolyn, who was listening avidly to the conversation. Sara felt weak at the thought of her gorgeous boss knowing of her humiliating problem. Dash Williams was so competent, so incredibly in control of his company and his life. How could he understand her inability to deal with one persistent ex-boyfriend? No, she couldn’t involve him in this. He would feel obligated to help her, making it impossible to keep a professional distance from him.

It would be too tempting to just curl up in those strong arms and hide from the whole world. Sara had enough trouble keeping her inexplicable attraction to her boss hidden as it was. His vivid masculinity brought out all her previously dormant feminine instincts. She felt so magnetically drawn to him she had to coach herself every day not to let it show in the office.

“Yeah, the son of a bitch left a dead bird for her to find.”

The memory of that poor little sparrow, neck obviously broken, lying on her bed when she got home, was enough to make Sara queasy. She hadn’t slept last night, hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, her stomach too anxious to settle. Now she was feeling the effects of exhaustion and shock, her thoughts whirling with this new humiliation, the conversation fading in and out as she concentrated on staying upright.

“...full investigation on this jerk.” Carolyn’s voice was rock steady.

Dash was nodding in agreement, his ear still to the phone. “Yes, tell Grange, and pull him off his case. I don’t care. One of the others can handle it. Sara needs round the clock until we can get a handle on this thing.”

Some of the words penetrated the gathering fog in Sara’s mind. She needed round the clock men? She almost laughed. Round the clock men would be the last thing she needed, especially of the huge variety, like Dash and his partners. No man really needed to be that big, that gorgeous, but the three founders of DIG Security, Dash, Isaac and Grange, were tall, broad, and dangerous former Army Rangers. Except wasn’t there some saying about “once a Ranger, always a Ranger”?

The bodies these men guarded were the safest people on earth, Sara thought muzzily, because who would dare to cross them? The team of three men was so good that the Army still called them in from retirement to do special training exercises with new recruits. The list of their specialties was long and downright frightening.

She tugged at her arm still firmly in Dash’s grip. He only pulled her closer until she was almost in his arms. Although her head was spinning, she knew she was exactly where she had most wanted to be. The sensation was too much.

Really, she needed to sit down for just a minute. There was no air in this hallway. Her eyes rolled back and she drifted out.

* * * *

Dash felt another strong tug on his arm and turned to speak sharply, but Sara was ash white and sagging. He swore, quickly tossing the phone to Carolyn, and swung Sara up into his arms.

He started back to his office with his precious bundle, cursing luridly in the gentlest voice he could manage. Carolyn put the phone to her ear and joined the conversation with Isaac without missing a beat, just as he knew she would. She understood security, knew what to expect, and would be pleased that her new friend would finally be getting the help she so desperately needed.