Laura's Big Break (25 page)

“Are you okay?”

She was barely inches from him. Close enough to see the scar that wound round his chin and down to his neck. Close enough to see how wide his pupils were and how flushed his cheeks had become. Close enough to feel his breath on her skin as he spoke.

“You need to get the phone fast,” he said through clenched teeth, “or I won’t be responsible for my behaviour. You’re driving me a little nuts here.”

She moved back slightly to look at him. She was driving him a little nuts? Her eyes widened. He arched an eyebrow at her.

“It’s never been my fantasy to be tied up by a beautiful woman, but it’s growing on me.” His voice was like gravel underfoot.

“Oh,” was all Davina could think to say.

“Don’t let all that power go to your head,” he said. “Now, get the phone so we can call my friend.”

Power? Davina sat back on her heels without the phone.

“Hey, what are you doing? Get the phone.”

She’d lost her mind. She knew it. In the back of her head little alarm bells tinkled. She knew the signs. She was about to get into trouble again. It was the same feeling she’d gotten her whole life, right before she did something else to embarrass her family. And, as she’d done her whole life, she ignored the bells. Power, he’d said. Power? Her blood was thumping loudly in her ears. Her senses were on high alert. Her skin tingled. She felt sexy. A slow and wicked smile curled her lips. She felt powerful. She looked down at the gorilla. Now that was interesting. She ran her eyes slowly down the length of him. Six foot of muscle and bad boy attitude - but she was in charge.

“Hey, you’re scaring me,” he said. “Why are you smiling like that?”

Really, when would she ever be in a situation like this again? And it wasn’t like he was a reprobate - the man used to be with the police. If that didn’t make him trustworthy then she didn’t know what did. It was a completely unique situation. Actually, it was more like a gift. A chance to be in control. For once. Usually she was the one who felt vulnerable. Not this time. What little common sense she had left disappeared. Suddenly she was giddy with power. She slowly licked her lips as she looked down at Jack. Yep, she was giddy with power and lust.

“What are you thinking?” He looked worried.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She leaned over him again. “Just getting the phone.”

“You’re scaring me here. You aren’t going to do anything to the crown jewels are you?”

She rolled her eyes as she grabbed hold of the phone. Slowly, she slid the phone out of his pocket as she looked him in the eye. She felt more courageous than she had in her life. No, she felt brazen.

There was a moment where electricity zapped between them like lightning. Davina found it hard to breath.

“Andy Harper.” Jack’s eyes seemed to have her transfixed. “Don’t call the home number, call the department number.”

Davina tore her gaze away. She flicked open the phone, scrolled through the contact list and dialled.

“Brighton Police, how can I direct your call?” a voice said.

“Andy Harper, please.”

There was a pause. She could see Jack’s pulse beat along his jaw line. Davina had an overwhelming urge to lick the skin where it beat.

“Detective Harper here,” the voice in her ear said.

“Hello, this is Davina Davenport. A man tried to break into my home and he says he’s a friend of yours.”

“Give me that phone,” Jack ordered.

“He also said that he owns the house,” Davina said. “Is this true?”

“What is that idiot doing now?” Andy said. “Are you in Millie’s old place?”

“Yep,” Davina said, as her heart sank.

“Did he just try and barge in? I told him that was a mistake. Let me talk to Jack.”

“Okay,” Davina said slowly, her eyes on Jack. “But there are a couple of things I need to tell you first. I thought he was breaking in so I knocked him out and tied him up and now I don’t want to free him without a witness.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“He looks pretty mad,” she said.

The laughter was so loud she had to move the phone away from her ear. Once it had quietened down she listened again.

“Put the idiot on the phone,” Andy said, sounding really cheery.

Davina held the phone to Jack’s head while he grunted a couple of times. There was more laughter from his friend Andy. She took the phone back.

“I’ll be there in half an hour,” Andy told her.

She clicked the phone shut.

They stared at each other.

“Isn’t this the part where you apologise?” Jack said as he lay there looking up at her.

“Am I going to get charged with assault?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Well in that case you should know that I’m sorry.” She shuffled towards him. “Very, very sorry.”

He looked slightly panicked.

“What are you doing, Davina?” he said evenly. “Davy?” His voice had a hint of panic.

Davina ignored the fact he’d shortened her name. Her mind was elsewhere. Her brain had been stolen by aliens. Horny aliens. She tried to look wide-eyed and innocent, which was a breeze, because she was after all an actress. She ran a hand up the front of his old Smiths T-shirt, bringing it to rest in the centre of his chest.

“I’ve never tied a man up before,” she said.

Don’t do it. You don’t know this man. This is stupid.

She waved a hand in front of herself to clear away the pesky thoughts.

“You said it yourself.” She inched towards him. “I have the power.”

She looked him in the eye.

“That sort of thing can make a girl crazy.”

“So I see,” he said quietly.

“Do you have a wife? A girlfriend?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Do you?”

He sighed heavily.

“No, crazy lady, I don’t.”

She grinned. It was one thing behaving badly, another hurting someone. Davy stood up, straddled Jack and slowly sat back down. Her tight knit skirt bunched up around her thighs as she sat in place. In his lap.

“Davina?” He voice sounded strained and confused. “Davy?”

“We’ve got half an hour before you’re freed. I might never be in this position again. I want to experiment.”

He gulped.

“On me?”

Her eyes roamed from his deep set eyes, to his wide jaw to his even wider shoulders. A low guttural sigh escaped her.

“Yes please,” she said, before leaning into kiss him.

As soon as her lips touched his, she was certain that this was the craziest, and the sexiest, thing she had ever done.

The top blew off Jack’s head. Literally. He knew because he couldn’t feel the throbbing pain in it anymore. There was no way he should let his crazy tenant kiss him, but then there was no way he could stop her.

His gut twisted inside as her lips hit his. She smelled of cinnamon and lemon. She tasted of vanilla and chocolate cake. It was like falling, head first, into a bakery. His senses were in overdrive. And that body of hers! She wriggled against him, driving him crazy, making him strain against the scarves, desperate to get his hands on her. Frustration made his blood boil over, so he concentrated all of his efforts on the kiss.

She slipped away from his mouth to whisper in his ears.

“I know this is stupid,” she said before she bit his earlobe. “But you’re like a Christmas present, waiting to be unwrapped.”

This was a scene from a movie. A really, really good movie. One you get on pay-per-view.

Her tongue worked slowly round his ear. From the sound of her breathing she was as far gone as he was.

“I like feeling powerful. What do you think Jack? Do you like it?”

She bit him again, he groaned. He felt her grin against his cheek.

“Are you wondering what I’m going to do? How far I’ll go?” She kissed his neck under his ear. “Is it driving you crazy?”

She bit the muscle in his shoulder, and he clenched his teeth as his jeans became painfully tight. He arched up towards her and was unreasonably proud when he heard her gasp.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said as sat up.

“I believe you,” he said solemnly, because he didn’t know what he was supposed to say. That seemed to appease her.

She slipped her hands under the hem of his t-shirt and ran them up his chest. Her fingers wide, curving over his muscles. He couldn’t see the colour of her eyes now, they were black with wanting him.

“Hairy,” she murmured.

“Manly,” he corrected.

“I like.” She smiled slightly as she leaned in towards him.

Her kiss was deeper, more urgent than the last one. She gripped his chest, her long nails digging into him as she shifted in his lap to get closer. He wanted to roar. He needed to break free of his bonds. In his mind he’d ripped the ties off, flipped her onto her back and was ten seconds away from getting that dress off her.

“This is seriously sexy, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled against her lips.

Although the rational part of his brain also told him that it was off the charts insane.

“If I was really courageous, I would do a lot more than kiss you,” she said.

“Go ahead.”
Please, go ahead.

“Your friend is coming.”

“I’m hoping he isn’t the only one.”

That made her smile against his mouth. Then she started the kisses all over again.

“I can see that I shouldn’t have bothered rushing over to rescue you.” Andy’s voice jerked the two of them apart.

Davina flushed deep red, jumped up and pulled her dress down around her calves, covering those killer legs.

“Come back in an hour,” Jack ordered.

There was absolutely no point in pretending this wasn’t happening. Truth be told, he would rather the rescue was postponed.

“Hi.” Davina went into polite mode and stuck out her hand. “I’m Davina.”

Andy was highly amused. Davina waved in Jack’s direction.

“I don’t usually do this sort of thing.” Jack wished she would stop saying that. It didn’t help his mood any.

“Tie someone up?” Andy said, still grinning like an idiot.

“No, jump them when they’re helpless.”

Andy’s shoulders started to shake as he struggled to contain his laughter. Jack glared at him. Davina looked between the two of them.

“I mean, I don’t tie people up either,” she said helpfully.

“Is anyone going to cut me loose?” Jack was fed up being helpless and wanted to be freed before Andy remembered that there was a camera on his phone.

“I’ll do it,” Davina said helpfully.

She unpicked the knots in the scarves.

“Just cut it,” Jack told her in frustration.

“I will not. I like these scarves.”

He gritted his teeth as Andy sat on the stairs beside him.

“Aren’t you going to help?” Jack asked him.

“Uh uh, this is the most entertainment I’ve had since you left the force.”

“Glad to be of service.”

“Seems I’m not the only one you’re servicing.”

That sent his friend off into hysterical laughter again. At last Davina removed all of his ties. Jack struggled to his feet, rubbing the blood back into his wrists. She took a few steps away from him, to make sure that Andy was between them. That grated. She was the one who’d attacked him, not the other way around.

“Sorry about all that.” Davina pointed to the spot where he’d been held.

He wasn’t quite sure what ‘all that’ she was talking about. The assault, the bondage or the make out session.

“Um, you won’t let it affect our relationship?” she said as she shuffled on the spot. “You know, the tenancy.”

His eyes narrowed. He’d forgotten about the house.

“I came to inspect the place,” he told her.

That made her move. She practically ran to stand in front of the door.

“I need two weeks’ notice in writing,” she said.

If her cheeks weren’t still flushed he would have wondered if the past half hour had been a hallucination.

“Notice?” He took a step towards her. “It’s my damn house and I want to inspect it.”

“She’s right,” Andy said. “It’s the law. If you hadn’t had your head stuck in drug crimes for years you’d know a thing or two about other stuff.”

“Two weeks Mr Miller,” Davina said.

“So now we’re formal?” He leaned towards her and whispered so only she could hear. “We weren’t so formal when you had your tongue down my throat and were wriggling against Mr Big.”

Her eyes popped.

“You have a name for your…” She looked down at him.

“That’s not the point. The point is, this is my house now. I want to inspect it and I don’t want a tenant.”

She puffed up her ample chest making him lose focus for a second.