Captured (Devil's Blaze MC #1)(82)

Stopping half way up the sidewalk leading to her front door they both took another look around, making note of cars parked in driveways, people walking up and down the streets, dogs barking in yards. Satisfied with their perusal they continued the walk to Emily’s front door. Knocking on it loudly, they waited a minute before hearing noise coming from inside. “She’s not trying to hide herself it seems.” Coop mused. Hearing a clatter and a muted “motherf*cker” come from inside had them both chuckling.

Waiting another minute without her answering, Dane knocked this time, harder, rattling the door and the porch light. “Hold your damn horses, geez.” was yelled from somewhere inside. A moment later, “Who are you and what do you want?” was said from the other side of the door.

“Open the door, Emily,” Dane replied exasperated. “It’s Dane Johnston and Cooper Sheppard from Maxwell Secures.”

“Not a chance, buster. For all I know you’re here to steal my designs,” she said followed by a muttered, “Or murder me.”

“Woman, open the f*cking door. You hired us, not the other way around,” Coop said losing his patience. Hearing her unlock the locks, he thought they were finally going to meet her, only for the door to be opened about an inch from the frame, being stopped by the chain and for her to stick her hand out demanding their ID.

Shaking his head and mumbling about a stubborn woman, they handed their Maxwell Secures passes over to her, just to have the door slam shut again. A minute later she opened it with a warning. “If you’re here to murder or defile me, know that I’ve got both your IDs stashed somewhere you’ll never find and the police will come looking for you.” As an afterthought, she added, “If they even f*cking investigate.”

“Watch your mouth, baby girl,” Dane said to her seriously.

Finally looking up at them, Coop watched in fascination as her startling green eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped opened. “Sweet baby, Jesus,” she whispered taking Dane in first. He was not a small man, standing nearly seven feet tall. He loomed over almost everyone he encountered. Coop knew it sometimes made him self-conscious and leery around new people. He watched as Dane’s lips twitched in amusement at her stunned expression.

Looking at her again, Coop noted how gorgeous she really was. Soft and curvy in all the right places and no more than five feet tall. Hourglass figure; he could see them worshipping her repeatedly. Long, wavy blonde hair and if he had to guess, it was natural and not bought from a bottle. Full, pouty lips made to take a man’s cock deep. Eyes so green they looked like the rolling Irish hills.

Clearing his throat, she swung her gaze to him and slowly moved her eyes up his body. He was nothing to scoff at either, standing at six feet four inches, he was in no way small. Watching her pupils dilate while slowly crawling up his body had Coop happy he wasn’t the only one caught in this lust haze. When she finally met his eyes, she shivered before turning around and walking back into her house. Standing there stunned at this spitfire of a woman, Coop looked to Dane to see the same expression on his face. “Well then, I think that’s an invitation to go in, no?” He mused.

At Dane’s shrug, they walked into her house, closing and locking the door behind them. Standing there looking around, Coop took everything in, in a quick glance. Her house was modest, impersonal, and empty. It made him kind of sad that this was what she had probably become used to. “Emily!” He called out, hoping she hadn’t just ditched them, which if he thought about it made no sense since she hired them.

“I’m coming.” She called from the direction of what he assumed was the kitchen. Following her voice, they watched as she bustled about, almost stiffly, pulling something out of the oven. Really paying attention to her now, he noticed she had a slight limp and her left ankle was a little swollen and bruised. She favored her left side with her arm, and there was more bruising showing from under the sleeves of her long sleeved shirt and collar. His normally laid back attitude took a nose dive seeing her like that. “What the f*ck happened to you?” Startled by his outburst, she spun around landing on her swollen ankle and nearly dropped to the floor if it wasn’t for his and Dane’s lightning fast reflex’s and catching her arms. “Shit, shit, shit.” She wailed out in pain. Dane scooped down to pick her up and carried her to the couch in the living room while he dug around in the freezer for ice or peas. Seeing a bag of frozen corn, he grabbed that and made his way into the living room. Sitting down on the table in front of them, he gently placed the frozen corn on her ankle before grabbing her chin and repeating Dane’s question. “What happened to you, baby girl?”

Shrugging, she explained. “I was hit by a car last night after getting off the bus, coming home.” At her nonchalant answer, Coop was furious again.

“Why didn’t you call us?” He nearly exploded.

“Why would I call you? I didn’t know you existed until you started pounding on my door like an ape ten minutes ago, let alone your name or number,” she said it so logically that he was even more pissed now.

“You could have called the company; someone would have helped you for Christ sake.” He fumed. Looking to Dane he saw he was just as angry as Coop.

Shaking his head at the futile argument that was about to happen, he moved on to the real problem. “Did the police come? What happened?”