Wilde Thing (10 page)

“What do we do from here?” she asked, trusting him to guide her through the next phase of his investigation.

He placed his palm on her jean-clad thigh and squeezed gently. “We follow through on our original plan with The Ultimate Fantasy.”

She found his touch not only reassuring but sensual as well, since he didn’t remove his hand after branding her with that warm and comforting gesture. The heat of his fingers seeped through her jeans, singeing her skin and senses. Her pulse fluttered in her throat as she vividly remembered the exquisite feel of those fingers stroking over her body, petting her. The way they’d slipped deep inside her sex and set her on fire.

“Nothing’s changed if you want more in-depth information about your cousin’s whereabouts,” he went on, oblivious to her aroused thoughts. “Other than what I’ve told you, I’m at a dead end with Valerie, which means the rest of this case, and finding your cousin, hinges on the man she’s supposedly with. And all we have to go on is The Ultimate Fantasy and getting invited to one of those parties so we can at least find out a last name for Rob, so I can investigate who he is and put a trace on him, which will, hopefully, lead to your cousin.”

She nodded, knowing he was right.

“Ohmigosh, is that you, Steve?” A light, feminine voice drifted toward them, her tone full of bubbly surprise. “I’ll be damned; it
is
you.”

The sudden appearance of a regular Daily Grind customer coming to a stop beside Steve jolted through Liz, making her excruciatingly aware of the intimacy of their position, and the familiarity evident in those possessive fingers of his curling around her thigh. She attempted to shift casually away, to give him the opportunity to remove his hand just as nonchalantly, but the pressure he exerted with his palm forced her to remain just where she was.

“Hello, Jill,” Steve said with an affable smile as he glanced up at the other woman. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Since Jill was a frequent patron, Liz knew her first name, too, and had grown to like the other woman who was always so friendly when she came into the café. She wondered what Jill’s connection to Steve was, since they appeared to know each other quite well.

“I should say the same for you.” Jill lifted an inquiring brow at Steve, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. “I didn’t think froufrou drinks were your style. What are you doing here?”

He took no offense to her teasing his manhood. “I’m enjoying the drinks and the atmosphere,” he drawled, his words easily infused with double meaning, depending on how the recipient chose to analyze the situation.

Jill glanced from his drink on the table to Liz and grinned. “Hmm, so I see,” she said, obviously drawing her own conclusions about what the atmosphere had to offer.

Steve’s thumb absently stroked back and forth along Liz’s thigh, but his gaze remained on Jill. “And what are you doing here?”

Jill adjusted the thin strap of her designer purse over her shoulder. “Eric and I went out for dinner to celebrate
a big advertising account I finished that’s kept me tied up for the past month, and we both thought coffee sounded good before we headed home.”

Liz took that as her cue to make a smooth getaway. “I guess I should get those drinks for you.”

“Stay put.” Jill held out a manicured hand to stop Liz before she could stand up, her expression firm. “You look like you’re enjoying your break, and that’s what you have extra employees here for, isn’t it?” Without waiting for a reply, she motioned Katie over with a smile.

“She’s a take-charge kind of woman,” Steve said out of the corner of his mouth, though he didn’t bother to keep his comment from Jill’s listening ears.

“Only when I need to be.” Jill tossed back her sleek auburn hair and winked conspiratorially at Liz. “I’ve learned with these Wilde men that I have to take charge when the opportunity presents itself.”

Boy, could Liz ever relate to that with Steve, who seemed to hold tight to the reins of control when it came to the two of them. Obviously, the dominating trait ran in the family.

While Jill placed her order with Katie, Steve stood up and dragged two nearby chairs over to their corner spot, as if he was resigned to the fact that their guest would remain, invited or not. Once Jill was seated and Steve slid back into his spot next to Liz, he glanced from Liz to the woman sitting across from them.

“I take it the two of you already know one another?” he guessed.

“We’re on a first-name basis,” Liz said, and rubbed the tingly spot on her thigh now that Steve’s hand was no longer there. “She’s a fairly frequent customer in the mornings, though I had no idea that the two of you knew one another.” A shameless throwaway comment that begged for more information, which Jill was only too happy to supply.

“I’m dating his brother, Eric.”

One of the brothers Liz had been so curious about earlier. What a small world it was. She recalled seeing Jill with a dark-haired, good-looking guy a time or two, and had always assumed it was her boyfriend by the way the other man had doted on her, their affection for one another tangible.

Katie arrived with two chilled lattes, and when Jill went to pull her wallet from her purse to pay for her order, Liz waved away her attempt. “Your drinks are on the house tonight.”

Appreciation brightened Jill’s eyes. “How kind. Thank you.”

Steve stretched his arm across the back of the sofa, his fingers grazing the back of Liz’s neck and causing a smattering of goose bumps to rise on her skin. Was he deliberately throwing her off balance? If so, he was doing a darn good job of keeping her very aware of him, and not bothering to hide his attraction to her.

“So, where is my brother?” he asked Jill.

“He dropped me off out front, and since all the parking spaces were taken, he had to drive around back and find one there. He should be here any second.” Jill glanced toward the front of the café, and her expression lit up when a tall, well-built man strolled in. Unlike Steve, who seemed to live in jeans, his brother wore a neatly pressed shirt, khakis, and loafers.

Searching blue eyes, just as striking as Steve’s, swept over the customers in the establishment, and Jill waved to get his attention. Just as Steve had walked through the café with single-minded purpose earlier and hadn’t seemed to notice the other women ogling him, Eric did the same, his gaze locked on his girlfriend as he approached—until he caught sight of Steve sitting on the couch across from Jill.

“Well, what do we have here?” Eric assessed his brother with interest and a flash of humor as he sat in the
chair next to Jill’s. “I didn’t know they allowed riffraff in this place.”

“If they allow you in, they’ll obviously allow anyone in,” Steve countered smoothly, though it was obvious their ribbing was based in mutual masculine comradery.

Jill rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Knock it off, you two,” she chastised lightly, then laid a hand on Eric’s arm and launched into introductions. “Eric, you remember Liz, the owner of the café.”

“Sure do.” He grinned, his gorgeous features reflecting those superior, sexy Wilde genes that apparently ran in the family. And just like his older brother, Eric oozed charm and plenty of sex appeal. “It’s nice to see you off your feet for a change, instead of always working so hard.”

His comment was sincere, and it earned him a smile from her in return. “Steve and I were discussing business,” she said in an attempt to keep everyone’s speculation about them to a minimum.

Except by their skeptical expressions, neither Jill nor Eric appeared to believe her, and Steve didn’t bother to back up her claim.

Jill stirred her straw through her blended latte and addressed Steve. “Eric was just mentioning at dinner tonight that the two of you and Adrian need to go and buy that set of Callaway golf clubs your father wants for his sixtieth birthday, before the big party on Saturday.”

Steve reopened his binder and skimmed through the calendar section. “How about tomorrow afternoon, about one?” he suggested to his brother.

“Only if lunch is on you,” Eric replied.

“Cheapskate,” Steve muttered.

Eric shrugged unapologetically. “Meals are a write-off for you, so why not take advantage?”

“Fine.” Steve jotted down the date in the appointment book. “Lunch at McDonald’s it is.”

Eric chuckled. “Now who’s the cheapskate?”

Listening to everyone’s lighthearted banter, Liz suddenly felt awkward and out of place sitting there in her work uniform, being a part of this cozy social gathering when she’d never intended to let her brief affair with Steve extend to getting to know his family.

And then there was Steve himself, who was throwing her off kilter with his own behavior and the mixed signals she couldn’t fully decipher. He’d openly stated that he’d been married before and wasn’t looking for anything complicated or committed, but he obviously had no qualms about his brother meeting the woman he was seeing on a short-term basis. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Wasn’t sure she liked everyone knowing that their relationship was nothing more than a casual fling, because that was Steve’s standard method of operation when it came to women.

Refusing to analyze her conflicting emotions when they had no business being a part of her relationship with Steve, she decided it was time for her to get back to work and not let Jill waylay her this time.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have some things I need to get done before I leave for the evening.” She stood, straightened her apron, and smiled at the couple sitting across from her. “It was nice talking to both of you.”

“Likewise,” Jill said, and tipped her head thoughtfully. “Maybe we can all do this again another time, but when you don’t have to rush back to work.”

“Unfortunately, if I’m here, I’m bound to work,” Liz said, infusing her tone with a believable amount of regret. Not giving Jill the chance to make a different suggestion—like the four of them going on a double date somewhere away from the café—Liz turned toward Steve. “I’ll talk to you later?”

His dark blue eyes were unreadable, giving none of his own thoughts away, which only added to her confusion. He gave her a nod, telling her with that quick,
simple gesture that he understood the underlying meaning behind her question. “You can count on it.”

Yes, she could count on him, she knew. To be the man who offered her his protection and advice while they searched for her cousin, and to give her the kind of pleasure and passion she’d only dreamed of.

Nothing more.

As she walked away, she heard Jill tell Steve that he ought to invite her to his father’s birthday party on Saturday, that everyone would enjoy meeting her. Luckily, Liz didn’t hear his response. She didn’t want to hear him say no, didn’t think she could bear to hear what kind of handy excuse he’d come up with as to why she might not be able to go with him. Not that she could blame him. She didn’t belong at a celebratory gathering with his friends and relatives, no matter how much she ached to be a part of the kind of fun-loving closeness and acceptance Steve shared with his family.

Bypassing the coffee bar, she headed to the storage room in the back part of the café, which doubled as her office. Halfway there, she pressed a hand to her stomach to calm the unexpected rush of upheaval in her belly that told a tale of its own. She was getting in too deep with Steve, in over her head in a way she’d never anticipated. Involved more than they’d agreed upon.

And if she wasn’t careful to keep pleasure and her emotions separated, this particular bad boy was going to steal his way into her heart. If he hadn’t already.

Liz desperately needed a reprieve from the hot and heavy phone conversations she’d been fielding for the past hour and a half. Taking off her headset, she headed out of the small, stifling room at The Ultimate Fantasy and signed out for a ten-minute break. Instead of hanging out in the employee lounge that smelled of stale cigarette smoke and sharing war stories with other operators
who seemed to perceive other women in the company as their direct competition, Liz opted for a breath of crisp, fresh evening air to clear her mind and lungs.

With her bottled water in hand, and the bag of sugar cookies she’d pilfered from her stock at the café to munch on, she rode the elevator down to the lobby. She pushed through the double glass doors to the well-lit sitting area just outside the building and was surprised to find Roxanne already sitting at one of the round tables, taking a break of her own.

She’d briefly seen the younger woman in passing when Liz had started her shift at nine, but they’d only had time for a quick hello before they’d both enclosed themselves in their assigned rooms and started taking calls. Liz knew she’d take advantage of the current opportunity that had presented itself, hopeful they could strike up a conversation now.

The night watchman was out strolling through the parking lot, giving them a semblance of safety, yet allowing them privacy, too. A full moon hung in the clear night sky, but it was the splash of flourescent light from a nearby overhead light that threaded through Roxanne’s brunette hair and lent her an ethereal, peaceful appearance that contradicted what she did for a living.

The illusion of tranquility shattered when the younger woman glanced up at her, her gaze troubled and shadowed with a sadness that Liz automatically responded to on an emotional level. The day of Liz’s interview, Roxanne had been the only woman to befriend her, even going so far as to offer her, a “virgin” of the business, a few tips about phone sex.

It occurred to Liz that she might be intruding, when Roxanne possibly wanted to be left alone. “Mind if I join you out here?”

“I’d love your company.” The honest smile that appeared on Roxanne’s lips validated her reply.

Liz sat down across from Roxanne. In the two days since first meeting the other woman, Liz had come to the conclusion that her kind was rare in this business, as was the friendship she’d extended. Unlike most of the women in the building, who came across as jaded, cutthroat, and blatantly sexual in dress, mannerism, and speech, Roxanne seemed the polar opposite—quiet, unpretentious, and pretty much keeping to herself. She came to work, put in her hours, and didn’t seem to fraternize with anyone beyond that. And she was one of the few women who didn’t look at Liz with suspicion and didn’t eye her as if she were a threat of some sort.