Possession (The Plus One Chronicles) (8 page)

Chapter Five

It took Sloane a second to recover when Kellen answered the condo door. He’d been expecting Kat. Swallowing his sharp impatience, he strode in. “She ready?”

Kellen lifted an eyebrow. “Flew in here late and hit the shower. She’s been taping nonstop and—”

“Taping what?” His words came out harsh and cold. He had to force himself to stay calm. Was Kat talking to the media? She’d said she wouldn’t. Goddammit. He glanced at the hallway. He’d go ask the little baker himself.

Kellen blocked him. “What crawled up your ass?”

Sloane checked himself. Kellen had been stabbed just weeks ago. But damn, that move surprised him. The other man was in good shape, but Sloane knew how to kill. “Is Kat talking to the media?” They were done if she was. Two reasons—first he couldn’t trust her, second…

A cold chill dripped down his spine.

He didn’t want Kat to draw Lee Foster’s attention. The man had brutally raped and killed Sara. Even worse, Sloane had kept tabs on Foster while he’d been in prison. The bastard had trained to fight and kill, and he had a grudge against Sloane for putting him in prison. The idea of him getting his hands on Kat made his blood freeze.

Kellen’s hazel eyes lit with understanding. “No, and the media hasn’t bothered her. Ana, one of her employees, is using Kat and Sugar Dancer as the subject of a marketing project.”

Relief eased through him. Eyeing Kellen—his stance as he stood up to him—Sloane said, “You and Diego are still staying here, right? For how long?” Kat had assured him that the two men insisted on staying at the condo after David pulled the stunt at her bakery.

“Three more weeks until our house is ready.” Kellen dropped down on a barstool at the granite island. “Kat’s refusing to get another roommate. I’m worried about her living alone.”

Hell, now Sloane was worried too. The best thing he could do for her was to walk out of her life.

Not happening. He wanted her, needed her.

Fucking craved her.

Glancing over at her keypad for her alarm, he thought about the options. “I’ll get her security system upgraded to top of the line.” What else? Damn it, Kat’s leg made her too damn vulnerable. She couldn’t run fast and far enough. “Would she consider a gun?”

“Not a chance.”

“Dog?”

“She says she’s gone too much. She can’t take a dog to the bakery due to health codes.”

Frustration clawed at him. “I’ll get her a dog sitter.”

“She can’t afford that kind of thing, Sloane. Don’t even suggest it. She’ll be paying the mortgage without my rental income as it is.”

“She wouldn’t have to pay for it.” That was ridiculous. If Kat had any idea how much money he spent seeing to his bitch of a mother’s protection, she’d realize he didn’t care about the expense of something like a dog sitter. But of course, then he’d have to tell her why his mother needed protection and then their deal would end.

“Suggest it and you’ll be glad she doesn’t have a gun. But more to the point, you two are only temporary. She’d have to assume the costs once you move on.”

Move on.
Sloane didn’t like hearing it. Didn’t want to lose her. He’d known Kat was trouble when he’d laid eyes on her in that ballroom. “I—”

The bedroom door opened, and Sloane forgot Kellen.

Forgot everything but the woman coming down the hallway. A champagne-colored dress slashed across her body in a way that had to be illegal. It rode over her left shoulder, leaving her creamy right side exposed. The dress greedily hugged her curves and had an uneven hem, with the right side longer, covering her to mid calf. Clever way to hide the scars that bothered her. She’d paired the dress with some kind of satiny ballet slippers that had ties that wrapped around her slim ankles.

He had to touch her. Unable to stand it, he lifted a lock of her silky hair off her bared shoulder. She’d done her eyes up so they looked more blue and sexy as hell. All he wanted was to get her alone and peel that dress from her by inches. “Kitten, you look sensational.”

“Thanks.”

Her breathless voice clued him in to her nerves. He stroked his thumb over the fluttering pulse at her throat. She had done this for him. For years she hadn’t worn a dress, and tonight she’d put one on for him. Her bravery humbled him.

“Kat,” Kellen broke in. “That dress is incredible. You look hot and elegant. It totally works on you.”

She smiled at her friend. “Thanks, Kel. But I’m still not showing you the cake design.”

Her mouth tempted Sloane too damn much, her full lips glistening with some kind of gloss. Forcing his gaze up, he asked, “What design?”

Kellen grunted. “Kat’s doing a cake for our housewarming party. But she won’t show us what she’s planning. That’s just wrong. It’s our party.”

Sloane had the feeling this was an ongoing argument between the two of them. Especially since Kat’s eyes twinkled.

“Kellen is an incurable snoop. He tried to figure out how to open the box to see my dress when it was delivered.”

“Did not,” Kellen announced primly. “Because Diego was here when it came and he’d totally rat me out to score Kat’s cookies.”

Kat laughed, a full-bodied sound that trembled in Sloane’s stomach. Kellen was purposely teasing her so she’d relax.

Fingering the slice of pink in her hair, he asked, “Are you going to ask me to be your plus-one for the housewarming party?”

She tilted her chin up. “Oh, no. You don’t have to do that.”

With other women, he’d suspect them of playing coy. Not Kat. She didn’t play those games. He stroked a finger lightly over her cheek. “I want to. Ask me.”

She leaned her face into his touch. “We’re blurring the lines.”

“Yes.”

“Dangerous territory.”

“Treacherous.” And full of emotional land mines he didn’t know how to navigate.

Her breath hitched. “You could say no.”

Did she think so? Slipping his fingers to her nape, he tugged her close enough to drown in the pool of her blue-green eyes. “Not to you. Ask me.”

“Would you like to be my plus-one for Kellen and Diego’s housewarming party?”

“Very much.” Blurring lines? More like blowing the fuck out of his boundaries. But the need to see her, be with her—and inside her—was becoming a compulsion second only to his need to avenge his sister.

Kellen cleared his throat. “You two planning on going to the winery thing, or do I need to drag in the garden hose and spray you down?”

Sloane wanted to sweep Kat into his arms, take her in the bedroom and lose himself in her. But tonight was important. “You ready to leave?”

“Yep.”

Kel put his hand on her arm. “I’m going to assume you won’t be here alone tonight, so we’re staying at Diego’s. If that changes, you text or call me. Swear?”

Kat rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Swear.” Then she grinned. “But I’m onto your scheme. Trying to get rid of us so you can snoop around for the cake plans.”

Once they said their goodbyes, Sloane got her settled in the limo, and they were on their way. “Tell me about this project you and Ana are doing.” He wanted to keep her distracted from thinking about wearing the dress. And himself from what was under that dress.

“Kellen.” She sighed. “He has a big mouth.”

“Is it a secret?” He poured her some of the sparkling water she tended to favor.

“No, not really. It’s just all happening so fast. Anyway, it’s a project for Ana’s marketing class.”

Sloane stared at her mouth. Again. “Keep talking. Or I’m going to kiss you. And we both know how that will end.” He looked at her hemline, where it rode up her left thigh. Did she even have panties on?

A thong?

What color? It’d have to be a white or maybe blush-colored not to show through.

Sloane pulled his black tie away from his throat. Heat warmed his veins, and his cock ached. He took a gulp of water.

“Ana has a video crew from college following me around to get working footage. They went with me to set up a wedding cake today. Next week, we’ll start the straight bio shots of me. From that, Ana and her team will do two videos. One will be like a commercial for Sugar Dancer Bakery, and the second will be a longer biography piece of me as the owner of Sugar Dancer. She has a whole marketing plan to go with it.” Warm color made her face glow with excited.

“All for her class?”

“Yes and no.”

Okay, now she had his full attention. He set his glass in a holder then stretched his arm around her shoulders. “Spill it, baker girl.”

“If I like the final product, the plan is to follow through on Ana’s marketing plan and submit the videos to three cooking shows that feature bakers.”

Her fingers were white around the glass she cradled. “I remember Ana mentioning that she wanted to get you on one of those shows when I first met her. Is that what you want, Kat?”

She took a deep breath. “If I can do it.”

Ah. Now he knew why tension was eating into her excitement. “Your panic attacks.”

“I’m fine doing the tapings in my bakery, and I did okay when they followed me to set up at the wedding. But I’d be under real pressure in a studio.” She shrugged beneath his arm and lifted her face to his. “But if I can do it, the exposure would be great. And then maybe I can think about expanding.”

“Expanding your existing store or opening more bakeries?”

“More Sugar Dancer Bakeries.” She tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Not for awhile, though. But it’s what I want to do someday.”

Damn, she just got hotter to him. A woman with ambition meant she wasn’t looking for a man to rescue her. Kat didn’t need a Prince Charming to take care of her. She was taking care of herself.

“I also want to develop a product line of prepackaged items that people can bake at home. My thought is that I’d do instructional videos walking them through the process of making the items. The videos would be accessible for free on my website.”

“Hmmm.” She had been putting some real thought into this.

“Ana and I are going to shoot a few instructional videos for things like cake-decorating tips for home, load those on Sugar Dancer’s site and see if they get some interest.” She scrunched up her face. “I’m rambling.” Leaning forward, she set her glass of water in the holder.

Sloane tugged her back against his arm. “You’re excited, and I’d like to hear more. Tell me the locations you’re thinking of for more bakeries.”

Uncertainty flashed in her eyes.

“Careful, baby. You don’t want to retreat, thinking I’ll treat you like your family.” He hated that shit. Kat was sexy as hell when she stood up to him. But when she retreated, it snapped his hold on his temper, and he got into her face, challenging her.

Her doubt cleared. “That’s right, you’re a bully.”

“You love it. No lies, Kat. It makes you hot when you can fight back.” He linked their fingers. “You don’t have to be careful with me.”

“Like telling you my spanking fantasy? That wasn’t careful.”

Her soft voice plowed right to his groin. After tugging their joined hands to rest on his thigh, he took a breath to calm his lust. “What was it then?”

“Revealing. Showing you something about me I’m not entirely comfortable with yet.”

“What’s that?” He wanted to know, even more than he wanted to explore her spanking desire.

Her shoulders rose gracefully. “The part of me that wants to let go of the tight control I’ve had on myself.”

Damn it. Sharp lust rivaled with a slew of emotions he didn’t want to examine. “All you have to do is ask. You do that, and I’ll assume control and take care of you. But only when you’re ready.” God, he would take care of her, take her to heights she’d never imagined.

He had to stop. Now. Before he forgot how damned important this night was.

“But right now…” he struggled to keep his voice controlled, “…we have to go back to talking about your work. Or I’m going to pull you into my arms.” And he wouldn’t stop there. Think. What were they talking about specifically? Oh, right. “Tell me about the locations you’re thinking about.”

For a few seconds, her eyes filled with shifting emotions. Then she relaxed. “To start I’d go with Los Angeles or San Francisco to open a second Sugar Dancer Bakery.”

“Why?” He wanted to know her reasoning. “Wouldn’t smaller areas give you a better chance to get noticed?”

“Yes, on a small scale. But if I want to garner larger notice to create a brand, I need high-profile locations. The trendiness of L.A. and San Francisco can work for me. And they are foodie areas, another plus. But a strong reason is also traveling—I can drive to L.A. in a couple hours, and San Francisco is an hour flight. That would give me a lot more access to get staff trained, etc. Once I get better at the start-up, then I can expand outward. I have a lot to learn before I get there though.”

“Overhead will be higher in metropolitan areas. Competition fiercer.” Sloane wasn’t going to sugarcoat this. He handled challenges head-on. But if Kat wanted to do it, he could help her.

Her eyes took on the same glow she got when they were sparring and he pushed her to work harder. “True, the risks are higher, but so are the rewards. If Ana and I can create a good buzz with the trailers, get on a baking show, then I can build on that. By the time I expand, I’ll have that going for me.”