Sinful Seduction (3 page)

Frowning, she shook her head and stood. “It’s not
nothing
. You’re coming back to my place so I can patch you up.” When it seemed like he might argue, she continued. “It’s not up for discussion.” She couldn’t explain it, even to herself, but she wanted to take care of this man after everything he’d done for her. Fighting off all those men, and for a stranger, it was incredible.

His dark eyes widened as he stood next to her—towering over her. Men never towered over her, never made her feel small and petite, but this guy did. It was jarring. Exciting. “Fine. But you’re telling me more about those men,” he said as they headed down the sidewalk.

“What’s to tell? I don’t know them.” As music and the sounds of happy, drunk people reached her ears, a sense of calm slid through her.

“But you know why they wanted to take you.” He wasn’t asking. “Because those guys didn’t have mugging or rape in mind.” His blunt words made her stumble as they reached the end of the sidewalk. As if realizing what he’d said he cursed under his breath. “Sorry.”

She shook her head, fighting off a shiver as she pointed left. “This way. And I really don’t know what they wanted.” But she had a small idea. Maybe. She needed to call her father as soon as she had some privacy. Then she would take action and hire security if necessary—which she was ninety-nine percent sure it would be. Involving the cops would be pointless and while she was very appreciative of this stranger’s help she wasn’t going to tell him everything. Especially not since he had a gun. The guy had saved her so she wasn’t worried about him hurting her. Well that and her internal radar wasn’t pinging out of control. She’d learned at a young age to figure out who was an asshole and who wasn’t. Blue definitely wasn’t.

“Hmm.” The sound he made indicated he didn’t believe her. But he didn’t say anything else, just stayed close to her as they headed down the sidewalk. When they neared a cluster of drinking college-aged kids laughing and clogging up the sidewalk, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered around them. “Stay close.”

A delicious shiver raced down her spine as she slid an arm around his taut waist. It felt weird to snuggle up to a stranger but after what had just happened she didn’t mind in the least. His warmth and strength were reassuring. Her nerves felt frayed the more she thought about what could have happened and all she wanted to do was get to the safety of her apartment.

He was silent as they walked, which was fine with her. When she was working on a project she would sometimes go for days without talking to anyone and this was a comfortable silence. But there was something she didn’t understand about this Blue.

“Why are you helping me?” she finally asked as they crossed the second-to-last street before her building.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he asked almost absently as he continued scanning, so vigilant she had to wonder at what kind of training he had.

Because this man was trained. She’d had her fair share of bodyguards over the years and had no doubt Blue had a similar background. In that moment, she wanted to know a lot more about this tall, sexy man who’d gone out of his way to help a complete stranger—and didn’t even want her to look at his injury, because he was more concerned about her.

Chapter 3

Blue watched as Mina slid out a key card and put it into the slot on the silver pad next to the elevator. Tall, leggy, slender, with long dark hair that fell around her shoulders and breasts in soft waves, she was a fantasy come to life. When she looked up at him he realized she also needed to type in a code in the keypad next to it. Of course she wouldn’t want him to see it. He turned away so she could do it with privacy.

He couldn’t believe that she didn’t want to call the police after what had happened. He could have pushed, but it wasn’t his business. That didn’t mean he was letting this go though. Not when she could still be in danger.

Those guys had been professionals. Not as trained as him and clearly stupid since they hadn’t been wearing masks—or maybe they hadn’t cared about her seeing their faces, which was even more concerning. Though the fact that they’d hit him with a bean bag gun instead of using real bullets had been surprising. And telling about some of their intent. He’d been busy grappling with two of them when another man from the interior of that SUV had pumped a round at him. It had taken him off guard but luckily they’d run instead of continuing to open fire. He hadn’t wanted to use his weapon in a semi-public place unless absolutely necessary, though he would have done it without pause if they’d shot at him again.

Once they were in the interior of the small elevator, Mina’s sweet tropical scent wrapped around him. He felt tongue-tied around her, and it was more than just his adjustment to the civilian world. He had no problem talking with female friends. But he didn’t want to sleep with his friends. Mina, however, made his entire body come to life. And after finding those condoms in her purse, all he could think about was using them with her. Which wasn’t like him. He hadn’t been with a woman since he’d returned to the civilian world. Hell, he hadn’t been with anyone during his last deployment either. Mainly because it was too fucking hard to give anyone that level of trust.

He still had occasional nightmares and didn’t want anyone to see that. Especially not a woman. Of course he didn’t have to stay the night with anyone, but he wasn’t in to one-night stands. Not since his early twenties. Even though he was thirty-three, going on thirty-four, some days he felt like he was a hundred.

“What are you thinking about? You seem very deep in thought right now.” Mina’s soft voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Dragging his gaze back down to her, he found himself ensnared by her deep green eyes. They were like a forest green, so dark they almost appeared brown. And he could feel himself drowning in them. Tearing his gaze away wasn’t any better. He drank in the sight of her like a starved man and she was the only thing that could quench him. God, what the hell was wrong with him? The ankle length dress she wore was thin and clung to her in all the right places, not hiding a single delectable curve. He didn’t know much about women’s fashion but he was pretty sure the style was called Bohemian. Whatever it was, it was fucking hot. Covered in a multicolored pattern of greens and browns the top of the dress was a halter style, with two rope-looking things that tied around the back of her neck. And right now all he could think about was pulling that tie free so he could find out what color her nipples were, because he was certain she wasn’t wearing a bra. Scrubbing his hand over his face, he looked away. “Just wondering if you always invite strange men up to your place.”

She stiffened next to him. “I don’t, but even if I did it wouldn’t be any of your damn business.”

God, he was such a jackass. Realizing how that had sounded, he turned to her as the elevator stopped on the third floor. “I didn’t mean it like that.” He’d meant it from a security perspective. “I…I’m shit with people. I was thinking of something I shouldn’t and didn’t want to say it out loud. I’m sorry.” What the fuck had gotten in to him? He couldn’t believe the shit just rolling out of his mouth right now. He sounded like the biggest moron on the planet. Yeah, she was going to tell him to get the hell out of here right now. He stayed in the elevator, waiting for her to change her mind.

To his surprise, her green eyes lit up as she smiled and motioned to the open doors. “I’m shit with people too. Come on.”

Pushing out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he followed her out—and tried to ignore the soft sway of her ass as she headed for one of the two doors along the tiled hallway. She was slender and lean, but her curves were perfect. “This is me.”

Shit, this place was more than just
nice
. The fairly non-descript pastel blue four-story building located on a side street right off Duval had to be prime real estate. The location was close to the water, in a safe area and quiet enough that he couldn’t hear any music or other noises coming from the restaurants and clubs he knew were nearby.

“Wait,” he demanded as she put her key in the door.

She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide. “What?”

“Do you have an alarm system?”

She nodded. “Of course. And it’s always armed.”

“Okay.” Those men hadn’t targeted her randomly, something he was fairly sure she was aware of. So it stood to reason that her own home might be a target. Yeah, he didn’t like this one bit. He wanted to insist on going in first, but didn’t want to push his luck.

Once inside the beeping of her alarm sounded. After she turned it off, she immediately re-armed it to stay mode, which eased some of his tension. Barely. He wanted to see how good this system was. “So, what do you do?” he asked as she headed down a short, tiled hallway, unable to help but notice the extra number of security sensors along the tops of the walls. That was good—and interesting.

“I’m an artist. I sell my paintings and occasionally sculptures through a couple local shops, but recently—very recently—I did my first commissioned job. I’m hoping it’s not the last…” She trailed off as they reached the end of the hallway. Directly to their left was a small kitchen and that opened up into a living room and what he was certain was supposed to be a dining room area, but she’d turned it into a mini-library. It was filled with colorful paintings of ocean life and books, some on shelves and others stacked on the floor. It should appear cluttered, but it wasn’t. It was bright and full of life. A stark difference to his own condo in Miami. “Sit in there, I’ll be right back,” she said, pointing to one of the couches in the living room. Without glancing at him she disappeared to the right down a short hallway to what he assumed was her bedroom.

He heard her talking to someone and wondered if someone else lived here, but by the brief conversation he realized she was on the phone. Or at least leaving a message.

Looking at his bruised knuckles, he made his way to the living room and did as she said. The furniture was simple and mostly a light brown, but she had colorful throw pillows, blankets and art dotting the room making it seem alive. Minutes later she returned with a first aid kit in her long, elegant fingers. Her care was unnecessary, but he wanted to feel her hands on him again so he didn’t say anything.

She sat on the solid-looking wood coffee table in front of him and held out her hand. “So tell me about yourself, Blue,” she said as she gently turned his hand over, inspecting the slight abrasions on his knuckles. “Are you in town for work or pleasure?”

“Both.” One word was all he could manage with her touching him. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had touched him so gently.

At that, she looked up, eyebrows raised as she set his hand on his leg. “Want to expand a little?”

He cleared his throat. After leaving the military he’d gone straight to work for Red Stone Security and wasn’t used to talking to anyone other than the men and women he worked with. Mainly about work stuff. The people they guarded didn’t converse with them much and vice versa. Which was the way it had to be. He couldn’t be doing his job if he was interacting with the clients. He was there to protect them, not be their friends. “I was here for work, then my boss told me to take a few days’ downtime, so I am.”

“What do you do for a living?” She opened the small kit and pulled out a foam disinfectant, leaning in close again.

Her scent taunted him, making his brain short-circuit like a teenager who’d never talked to a girl before. Except he’d never been an awkward kid. Back then girls had fallen into his lap. Just like in college. Things had been different after, but he didn’t want to think about any of that now. He needed to answer her. When she took his hand in hers again, he fought to speak, much less think. It was damn hard when all he wanted was to feel her soft hands stroking every inch of him. “Personal security.”

Her eyebrows pulled slightly together as she squeezed the disinfectant on his knuckles. “Like a bodyguard?”

“Yeah, for the most part.”

She paused but didn’t comment. “Does this sting?” Concern filled her voice as she met his gaze again.

He fought a smile and shook his head. “It tickles.”

She immediately relaxed and pulled out a tube of antibiotic cream.

“That’s not—”

“Let me do this please.” Her voice and hands shook slightly as she twisted the top off. “You literally fought off three men to save my life and I know this doesn’t make up for it but I need to do something.”

That was when he realized she was still upset. Not that he blamed her. Reaching out, he stilled her fingers with his own, forcing her to look at him. “How are you doing? It’s still not too late to call the police.”

“I know, I just…it’s not the best thing for me. I’m not going to do nothing though, so don’t worry about that. And I’m not sure how I’m doing. Freaked out pretty much sums it up.” She shook her head before returning to her task.

When she smoothed the ointment on his knuckles he was struck by how gentle she was. She had little calluses on the pads of her fingers, likely from painting or sculpting. Nothing like the big ones he had. It jarred him how much he enjoyed the feel of her touching him, especially when he imagined what it would feel like to have her wrapping those fingers around a much lower part of his anatomy. Shit, he couldn’t think of that. He was already half-hard just sitting there.

“Were you in the military?” Her sudden question threw him, but he nodded.