Temptation Rising (9 page)

“I’ll get the information. Just get me into that party.”

“Right,” he said, turning away from her as if she were the one who disgusted him.

Over chicken quesadillas and diet Cokes she and Mel had talked about Mel’s family, her time at the firm, and how the woman enjoyed working for Rome. Kalina had been careful not to ask too many questions about the man. She didn’t want to give Mel the wrong idea, even though she thought it was probably too late for that. While she didn’t want Mel to think she was trying to snag the boss, she certainly didn’t want her to know she was investigating him.

As soon as the device was activated, she’d switched on the transmitter and hidden it behind the monitor on her desk until the workday was over. When he’d been there as she’d packed up to leave at five, she’d almost been afraid he’d found out. Being busted by Rome again was going to wreak holy hell on her confidence as a cop.

But as he’d stood there staring at her as if he could literally eat her up on the spot, she suspected he’d stopped by for another reason entirely. Walking her to her car had been a shock. She hadn’t pegged Reynolds for the chivalrous type, and yet the kind gesture seemed to suit him. The dominant aura that pushed his hard body against hers had also seemed like second nature to him. Roman Reynolds was definitely a man who got what he wanted. Kalina just had to make sure that what he really wanted wasn’t her.

Even though she’d pulled out of the garage before him, she’d waited until his car had come out, then followed him to what she assumed was his home. It was a large estate in one of the district’s high-end neighborhoods near the Virginia state line. She only knew the neighborhood from glimpses in the society pages but now figured the newspapers didn’t do the palatial estates in this area justice. The house itself was huge, the grounds seeming to go on forever, with the plushest, greenest grass she’d ever seen. He’d stopped at a black iron gate, punched in a code, and waited while the gates opened for him. Of course they’d closed and she wasn’t able to drive up the winding driveway behind him. But that was just as well. She didn’t want to get too close.

Her body reacted strangely when in close proximity to this man. Well, not exactly strangely … Kalina knew sexual attraction when she felt it. She just didn’t want to feel it for Roman Reynolds. Still, as she’d watched him walk to his car, briefcase and suit jacket in one hand while the material of his dress shirt molded his absolutely kick-ass upper body, her mouth had watered. Even now, just sitting in her car thinking about him had her nipples hardening, her center pulsating with need. A need that hadn’t plagued her in years.

She tensed at the thought, heat moving in slow rivulets throughout her veins. Heat she hadn’t felt in … heat she had never felt before in her life. That’s what this attraction to him was, it was new and unwanted and she detested it. He was a criminal and deserved to be treated as such. How dare she want on her body the same hands that exchanged money with the cartels, which in turn shipped drugs to the streets that were killing kids? How could she sit here and wonder how it would feel to walk into that big house with him, to spend the night in his bed, beneath his muscled body, letting him do whatever he wanted to bring her pleasure? It was deplorable and ridiculously inappropriate to think of him that way.

And yet she couldn’t stop.

So tonight she was at Ralph Kensington’s first political banquet to support his run for the Senate. She didn’t support him or the crooked people he had working for him—whom she couldn’t actually connect him to. Kensington was in the drug game up to the crisp white collar of his expensive dress shirt, but he was good at covering up his less savory deals. Tonight, however, she couldn’t afford to worry about all the corruption going on in the government. She was here to watch Rome and there was no turning back. Stepping out of her car, she handed the keys over to the valet, who looked young enough to still be in high school. He smiled at her as she walked by, that
I wanna get with you. Give me your number?
kind of smile. Kalina was flattered but not at all moved to try her hand as a cougar. Younger men were definitely not her style. As a matter of fact, no man—at least for the last couple of years—was her style. Funny she would think about that now—the fact that she didn’t have and hadn’t had a man in a long time.

Those thoughts cluttered her mind as she walked into the hotel, down the foyer, and right in the line of sight of one very sexy and angry-looking Roman Reynolds.

Thinking fast, she turned on her heels and moved in the opposite direction. Not out of the ballroom completely but toward the other side of the room. She didn’t want Rome to see her, even though he had no idea she was following him. The quick glimpse of him had her heart thumping against her chest and some other vibration moving toward her center. Cursing as she moved through the ballroom, she hated the fact that he could arouse her on sight. Hated that her body felt drawn to him, like he sang a song for only her to dance to. It was crazy, she knew, but that’s how she felt. Even now, as she moved farther away from him, that tug was still there, that urging inside her to go to him, to be with him in any way possible.

She ignored it, snagging a glass of champagne from a tray carried by a woman dressed in slacks, shirt, and jacket that made her look more like a man. She barely sipped, wanting to blend in but not sacrifice her good judgment. Champagne or any alcoholic beverage for that matter put her right over the top, and it didn’t take much. So she’d learned long ago to keep her sips short and shallow.

She couldn’t see Rome but she felt his presence, knew he was there and he was close. And wasn’t it crazy that she was supposed to be here watching him, yet she was running in the opposite direction?

Get a grip, Harper
. Her own words echoed in her head and she took another sip of champagne. Clutching her purse, she thought about her job at the MPD and how much she wanted the position with the DEA. She wasn’t going to get it by running from Roman Reynolds. Whatever this physical thing was between them, she could handle it. She’d handled killers and drug-dealing scum for the last six years of her life; surely one sexy-ass man couldn’t be that big a deal.

When her glass was empty she looked at it in surprise, then figured she was ready to face him. She turned and scanned the room but didn’t see Rome.

But someone saw her. A trio of someones she noticed as her head turned in the opposite direction. Three men, all dressed in tuxedos, all looking as if their minds were on something other than this function. Something rolled beneath her skin—a warning, traipsing along the length of her arms.

Her gaze locked with the man in the middle, the biggest, meanest-looking one. He was dark, his skin like polished onyx, his lips thick, nose wide and flat. But it was his eyes that drew her, the eerie slant to them that made him seem more inhuman than he should. The other two beside him shared that different type of look—or she should probably say glare. And each of them was glaring at her.

Not even with all her training was Kalina prepared for the rush of anxiety pouring through her. They began to walk toward her, and everything around her seemed to slow so that only those three men moved. The wild thumping of her heart echoed in her ears, her skin itching with an awareness she’d never experienced before. Who were they and why were they coming for her?

When answers didn’t come soon enough she turned, opting to get the hell out of Dodge, saving the analysis for later. But when she turned it wasn’t toward an easy escape. Instead she rammed into an immovable strength, a force that might prove harder to deal with than the three strangers behind her.

“Don’t move.” His voice was deep and more sinister than any she’d ever heard.

It was also familiar.

Chapter 5

“What—” she started, but the hands that gripped her shoulders slid down her arms to stop at her waist. Heat speared through her body, halting her words.

He turned her so that she was at his side, his arms tightening around her, holding her there.

The party seemed to come back to life. She could hear the voices of those around her, the clinking of heels across the floor, the sound of murmured conversations. Searching the crowd, she quickly spotted the three men, who had stopped their approach but still glared at her menacingly.

“Making friends?” Rome asked from beside her.

“I don’t know them,” she answered trying desperately to hide how nervous she really was. Why three strange men scared her she had no idea. No, that was wrong. She knew exactly why they scared her, and the knowledge pissed her off. No matter how much time had passed or how many visits to the shrink she’d made, the events of that night still haunted her. On the streets she was a tough undercover narcotics detective, with her badge and her gun always nearby. She’d been trained to kill if need be, to bring justice at all costs. But one night none of that could help. She’d been alone, vulnerable, and afraid. And she’d hated it. Hated it even more when those emotions crept up, taking hold of her.

“You can let me go now,” she said, bravado trying to win out.

“What if I said I like holding on to you?”

“I’d say I don’t care. Let me go,” she insisted, pushing against his side. He was a lot stronger than he looked garbed in his perfectly cut tuxedo—a tuxedo that just made him all the more attractive. Just one more reason she needed to get away.

“Not just yet,” he whispered, but he wasn’t looking at her this time. He was looking across the room.

Following his gaze, she wasn’t surprised to see he was staring at the three stooges who had been taunting her with their eerie eyes and fullback builds.

“I don’t know who they are.” Why she admitted that, Kalina had no idea. It could be that she was still trying to figure out why they were watching her. This was so not the way her investigation was supposed to go. But suddenly she wasn’t in the mood to investigate. He wasn’t supposed to know she was here and now he did. Those men creeped her out—that wasn’t supposed to happen, either, but it had. And now she’d rather go home and curse herself for being so stupid and so weak. How did she expect to get into the DEA if she couldn’t handle following this one man and getting the goods on him?

His jaw clenched and she thought she heard a low growling sound. But Kalina was tired, her emotions were all out of whack, and she just wanted to go home. Coming here tonight had obviously been a bad idea. “Look, can I go now?”

He turned to her then, his expression quizzical. “I’ll take you home.”

She shook her head. “Don’t bother, I drove.”

“I’ll have your car brought to your house,” he said, turning away from the three goons and pulling her along as he stalked through the crowded ballroom.

“I don’t need a ride,” she said, finally yanking her arm free of his grasp. The action startled even her and she stumbled back a bit, only to feel another steel hardness behind her.

“We meet again, Ms. Harper.”

His voice was smoother, his face just a touch softer than Rome’s. She turned to stare up at Nick Delgado, his laughing hazel eyes looking back at her. He was a handsome man, there was no doubt. From the silky ink-black hair to the thick eyebrows and firm jaw. He had a great build, not bulky but toned. Sex appeal just about oozed from every one of his pores. And Kalina suspected he knew all his attributes without her running down a mental list. But he wasn’t Rome.

And why the hell did she care anyway?

“Hello,” she said tightly. “And good night,” she finished, turning to look at a none-too-pleased Roman.

“Call Ezra.” Rome looked over her shoulder to Nick. “Tell him to bring the car around back. We’re leaving.”

“Five minutes,” she heard Nick say from behind.

“Let’s go,” he said as if just now remembering she was there.

“When hell freezes over,” she snapped and moved from between them with a quickness she didn’t know she possessed.

*   *   *

He followed behind her, giving Eli a nod as he did. The guard moved past him, getting closer to Kalina. Directly beside the huge open bar was a door, and through that door was a hallway and stairs that would take them to the lower-level parking garage and out into the hotel’s side alley. It was Eli and Ezra’s job to inspect any premises he went into beforehand. Knowing all entrances and the exits was imperative, especially in times like these.

They were shifters, the ones that had been coming for Kalina, just as he’d scented when he first came in. Rogues that carried the telltale stench of evil and corruption. It was a bitter tinge against the normal feline scent that enveloped the shifters, making them able to identify one another in this world of humans. All night Rome had wondered where they were and what they were up to. Even after he’d met with Bingham the sense that someone who didn’t belong and was creeping about assailed him. He’d wanted to find out who, so instead of leaving right away he’d had Nick and Ezra cover one half of the ballroom while he and Eli took the other.

Rome had spotted them first. Or rather, he’d spotted their prey.

In the midst of a couple hundred of DC’s most influential and attractive females, she stood out like a ripe apple in a barrel of rotten ones. For a minute he thought it was the smoky gray dress she wore that hugged her hips, thighs, and ass. Or was it the way that dress bared her back, cupping her breasts in the front so enticingly that his palms itched to touch her?