Pass Interference (24 page)

Yes, but it was a daily struggle. She had such a mountain of insecurities to climb. And his next words did nothing to dispel them.

“We have to forget about last night, Tyler. I overstepped my bounds. It’s a given you’re off-limits to me and it’s going to stay that way. I’m here for one reason and one reason only.”

“Bodyguard, right?” She twisted her hands together. “And finding out who’s trying to scare the crap out of me.”

“I’m going to do just that,” he assured her in a tight voice. “But that’s all I’m going to do.”

Tyler wet her lips and tried again. “You didn’t feel that way last night.”

“I told you. Last night is last night,” he shot back. “Last night was—”

“If you tell me it was a mistake, I’m going to shove you out of this car and run you over.” Anger bubbled up inside her. “Do not diminish what last night was.”

“It was sex. Just sex.” Each word stabbed at her.

“It was a hell of a lot more than that and you know it.” She couldn’t believe he could dismiss what happened so easily. “I don’t care what you say or how you try to blow it off.”

That said, she crossed her arms and turned as far away from him as she could get with the seatbelt latched in place. Neither of them said another word on the way home but Tyler did a lot of thinking.

When they pulled into the driveway, lights immediately went on from small spotlights on the little bit of lawn and from the roof of the town house, startling her.

“The new sensors,” he reminded her.

“I don’t guess we’ll have anyone sneaking up the driveway again.”

“Or anywhere else around the house.” Rafe pressed a button on the extra remote she’d given him, and the garage door slid up smoothly.

She was so wrapped up in the aftermath of their hostile conversation the dark sedan gliding down the street with its lights off only pricked the edge of her consciousness.

As soon as they came in from the garage, Tyler headed for the stairs. She wanted nothing more than to get to her room and clear her brain. So he wanted to insist what they had was just sex? Screw him. She knew the difference and the difference had been there last night. Tonight she was going to remind him of that, with words and actions. First, she had to get her temper under control, or she wouldn’t get past the first quarter. Maybe not even get to the first. She’d fumble the kickoff and that would be that.

Oh, God! Am I really using football speak? How do I even know it?

She started up the stairs but Rafe put his hand on his arm and stopped her.

“Where’s your cell?” he asked.

She stopped and turned. “My cell?”

“I know you turned it off before we left the house,” he reminded her, “but turn it on now. Let’s see if there’s been any activity tonight.”

She yanked the phone out of her purse and handed it to him without looking at it. She was beginning to hate the thing. “Well?” she asked as he scrolled through it.

But the familiar twitch of muscle at his jawline told her what she needed to know.

“Calls and texts.” He delivered the information in a controlled voice, but she saw anger spark in his eyes.

“What do they say?” She held her hand out. “Give it here.”

“You don’t want to see these,” Rafe told her. “And I haven’t listened to the voice mails yet but there are four of them.”

Tyler held out a shaky hand. “Yes, I do. And I can listen to the messages myself. Rafe, I need to know how bad this is getting.”

She could tell he was battling with himself over it. Finally, he showed her the texts. Her stomach roiled as she read them. The worst one was,
“U shld be with me. Make it hppn. If I can’t have u no one else wil, ether. Btch.”

“Oh my God.” She felt as if her whole body was shaking. She looked up at Rafe. “Was he there tonight? Was he watching me?”

“That’s what I have to try and figure out. He could have been an invited guest, or somebody’s plus one. But the only person we recognized was Chad.”

“Does that pinpoint him by process of elimination?” Chad Sinclair. God. She thought of his parting remarks as they walked out of the club.

“Not necessarily. Whoever this is could simply have watched you tonight, just followed us to the Conquistador.”

“Oh my God.” Tyler sank down to the stairs, her fingertips pressed to her mouth. She was determined not to fall apart but every bit of her self-discipline was being taxed to achieve it.

Rafe pulled out his cell and punched in a speed dial, she assumed to Lone Star, and quietly gave whoever answered some instructions. Then he turned to Tyler and held out his hand.

“I’ll keep this tonight.”

She stared up at him. “I should get another one tomorrow.”

“Tyler, you can’t just keep getting a new phone. This guy, whoever he is, keeps finding your new phone number.”

“Then what can I do?” She trembled as the magnitude of the situation washed over her again.

“I asked the agency on-call to see if he can find out where our three top suspects were tonight. Well, two. We know where Chad was. And check the cell towers to see where your call was pinged from.”

Her stomach clenched. “What if it isn’t anyone we’ve focused on? Not Chad, or Nate or Ed?”

“I sent that list we put together to Lone Star. They’re working on it.” He took her icy hands in his warm ones. “We’ll get him, Tyler. I promise.”

The contact between them was charged. When his gaze met hers, she saw that he recognized it, too. But she also could tell the damn man was pushing it down deep and choosing to ignore it. Well, not her. With all this crap happening to her she needed that connection, and she needed to make him admit the depth of what was happening between them.

“I’m going upstairs,” she said, pushing herself to her feet.

“Ditto,” he said. “Busy day tomorrow. We both need to get some rest.”

“Speaking of tomorrow.” She turned and looked at him. “What arrangements have you made for me for tomorrow? You know I hate going to the game to begin with. Surely you don’t expect me to sit in the damn owner’s suite.”

“I’ve got it covered. Now let’s get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned off the light in the hall and followed her up the stairs.

Before, she had just been mad at Rafe’s attitude. Mad and hurt. But now she needed the feel of his body, the heat of their physical connection. She badly wanted the emotional link that he insisted wasn’t there, even as she knew he was lying and so did he. He wanted to see the real Tyler? Well, okay, he was going to get her.

She stripped off her clothes, draping the dress over the little upholstered chair, kicking her heels into the closet, and stashing everything in the hamper. In the bathroom, she turned on the shower while she took off her jewelry and scrubbed off the minimal amount of makeup she’d used. Then she climbed into the steaming shower and lathered herself with her favorite creamy floral soap.

She would show him. She’d make him see what they
could
have. What they
did
have after last night. She would not let him dismiss something so easily that was about to impact the way she looked at everything. Maybe she was overdue for a change in course, and this stalker thing was the catalyst. But the real reason she wanted that change was Rafael Ortiz and she wasn’t about to let him go that easily.

Out of the shower, she dried herself thoroughly and smoothed cream into every inch of her skin. She was so nervous about this—shocking for her—that she dropped the bottle of lotion twice. Her hands were shaking again as she brushed her hair, then dabbed a dash of cologne at all her pulse points and took one last look at herself in the mirror.

Okay, she was ready.

After pulling on the silk shorty robe she had hanging in the bathroom, she opened her bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. There was no light coming from beneath the guest-room door, and when she pressed her ear to it, she didn’t hear a sound. Okay, if she was lucky, he was in bed but not asleep. No one could fall asleep that fast.

She cracked the door just enough to slip in and walked over to the bed. The blinds on the window were open and a wide shaft of moonlight shone on Rafe, lying on his back with his hands behind his head. If he was asleep, she’d just have to wake him up. And she knew exactly how to do it. She stood still for a moment and took a calming breath, inhaling the pure male essence of him. God, just his scent made every part of her body sit up and beg.

She had to do this carefully. She knew he’d resist her, even try to force her to go back to her room.
Not happening
, she told herself.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

His deep voice pierced the darkness and startled her.

“I came in to say good night.” His eyes were open, gleaming in the moonlight.

“Good night, Tyler.” He kept his hands in place and his body still. “I think you need to get to your own room.”

“I wanted to give you a proper good night,” she told him.

Before he could stop her, she had dropped her robe and slipped beneath the covers. Wow! He slept commando. She should have known. She tried to lie down but before she could manage it, Rafe shifted positions and clasped her upper arms.

“Don’t do this, Tyler. This is a very bad idea. You’ll be making a big mistake.”

She locked her gaze with his. “The mistake will be if I just get up from this bed and walk out.”

“This can’t go anywhere,” he reminded her. “I told you. Just pretend last night didn’t happen. Go back to your room. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“What are you afraid of, Rafe?” She wished she could see his face better in the moonlight, or read the expression on it. Of course, Rafe was famous for being unreadable. “Are you worried all those feelings you keep locked down will come bubbling up like before?”

“Damn it, Tyler.” He growled the words and dropped back down onto his pillow. “Don’t make last night into something it wasn’t. Go ahead. You’ll see it means nothing and you can go back to bed and wipe this from your mind.”

“Not happening,” she whispered. “I need you, Rafe. Tonight I really need you.”

She had to peel back those layers tonight. Get to the heart of him. She might never have another chance. She placed her hand on his body, so warm it was giving off enough heat for a furnace. The warmth wrapped around her as she eased down beside him. Except for a slight jerk when her skin touched his, he hadn’t moved at all, not even his hands.

“Do you think if you don’t touch me, don’t react, I’ll just walk out of here?” she asked. “I’m not giving up that easily.”

“Neither am I.”

She slid her own hand across his chest coasting it over the crisp curls of chest hair, every muscle in his body tensed. She wondered if he could feel how much she was shaking.

He wrapped his fingers around her wrist.

“What is it, Tyler? What’s going on tonight?”

She wet her bottom lip. “I don’t just want you, Rafe. I really need you. I need to be with you, like we were last night. Please.”

God how she hated begging, but she spoke the truth.

“Tyler.” His chest rose and fell as he exhaled. “We cannot do this. There’s nothing between us, no matter how much you want there to be, and there can’t be. That’s the plain truth.”

“Go on, keep telling yourself that, as if you really believe it.” She continued to sift her fingers through his chest hair, still trembling. She looked directly into his eyes, hoping he could read hers. “We both know you’d be lying. Damn you anyway, Rafe.”

She waited, watched the severity of his masculine face in the moonlight. She knew he was fighting an inner battle. He was trying to reconcile all the things he disliked about her with all the things he wanted from her. And with that unexpected emotion connecting them.

Finally he let out another long sigh.

“I’m going to hell for this,” he said between clenched teeth, as he grabbed her and dragged her mouth to his.

The kiss scorched her, seared every nerve in her body. His tongue probed, touched, tasted, until she lost all sense of self and still he held her. When he finally broke the kiss, she was dizzy from the intense feeling of arousal.

“Fuck.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Goddamn it to hell.” He started to say something else then just shook his head.

“Nobody kisses like that when it’s just sex,” she whispered. “I can tell the difference. So can you if you’d quit being so stubborn. Please, Rafe.”

She had to make him believe. Sliding her hand over his hard abs and the flat plane of his stomach, she tangled her fingers lightly in the nest of curls surrounding his cock.

His nostrils flared and fire blazed in his eyes, caught by the soft moonlight. She threw back the covers, exposing him, and wrapped her slim fingers around his very hot and engorged cock and gently squeezed. When she placed the flat of her other hand on his stomach the muscles beneath her touch tightened like a drum.

He grabbed her wrist again. “Yes, goddamn it. All right. So I—have feelings for you. Damn it. Feelings I don’t know what the fuck to do with. Feelings it would be better for both of us to ignore.” He looked at her as if he were trying in the pale silvery moonlight to see beneath her skin. “Like I said, I’ll go to hell for this, but I have to have you.”

He released her wrist and hissed a loud breath between his teeth.

Fisting his hot erection, she leaned forward and touched her lips to his. The contact was so electric she felt as if lightning zapped through both of them. This was way more sexy than a hot, sensuous kiss.

He didn’t move and they stayed that way for a long moment, lips connected in the lightest of contacts. The now familiar scent of his leathery aftershave invaded her nostrils and actually made her sex tighten in response. Then she let the tip of her tongue peep out and lick along the seam of his mouth, light and feathery as an angel’s wing. Back and forth, both of them barely breathing. She swiped her tongue lazily over the surface of his lips, teasing him.

When his tongue inched out to meet hers with the faintest of contacts, Tyler felt shivery all over, her nipples tingled and in the heart of her pussy, her inner walls vibrated with an aching need. Without breaking the kiss, she pressed her hands to his chest again, sliding them over the hard wall of muscle. When she found his flat male nipples, she lightly scored her fingernails over them and still he never broke that soft, erotic, sensuous kiss. It was more arousing, more erotic than the hungriest, most voracious kiss she could imagine.