Love Thy Enemy (Red Stone Security #13)(26)

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “That sounds a little bit like an order.”

He lifted a shoulder. “I’m having someone watch the place whether you like it or not.” Yeah, he knew that was high-handed but he didn’t care. “I could lie and tell you I wasn’t, but I’m not going to lie to you.”

“You are…frustrating.”

“I’ve been called worse,” he said dryly.

She snorted, the sound adorable. “Fine.”

Consumed with the need to touch her, he slid his hands down to her hips, pulling her close to him. There was no way to hide his erection from her and he didn’t want to. She should have no doubt how she affected him. “I want to kiss you right now,” he murmured.

Her eyes were dilated and her breathing grew erratic at his words. She set her hands on his chest. “Why don’t you?” Her voice was a whisper.

“Because when I do, I don’t want an audience.” His employee was waiting at the end of the hallway, watching Dominique’s place. Not to mention Dimitri was a few doors down and there were any number of nosy neighbors potentially watching.

She hitched in a breath at his words, her gaze falling to his mouth.

“Can I take you to lunch tomorrow?” He kept his voice low, somehow resisting the urge to lean down and claim her mouth.

She nodded, that almost dazed look back as she met his gaze. “I’d like that.”

Yeah, he would too. Way too much. Pushing against his own self-control, he reached up and cupped her cheek, slowly slid his thumb over her full bottom lip. What he wouldn’t give to kiss her right now.

Just the thought was tempting, but he hadn’t been lying. He didn’t want anyone to see him kissing her. Didn’t want anyone to hear her moans of pleasure, no matter how small. She made him feel ridiculously possessive and those sounds were just for him.

He was moving into unknown territory with her but he knew that once they crossed the line into a physical relationship he was going to consider her his.





Chapter 9





“You staying in the building for lunch, or heading out?” At the sound of Lizzy’s voice, Dominique looked up from her computer.

“Ah…” She glanced at her cell phone, surprised it was lunch already. She’d been working nonstop all morning. “I’ve got to grab a new phone at lunch. I’m just going to walk down to the store.”

Lizzy frowned as she sat on the edge of Dominique’s desk—as per usual for her. Today she had on flip-flops, jeans and a T-shirt that said ‘Unicorns love bad girls’ with a picture of a unicorn wearing a biker jacket under the text. “What happened to your phone?”

Dominique didn’t want to lie to her friend, even if she still felt weird about not calling the police. “It was stolen. I was actually mugged last night. My purse was taken and my phone was in it.”

Lizzy’s eyes widened. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, annoyed but fine.”

“Still, that sucks. Where did it happen?”

“Outside a restaurant. I was with…Viktor when this guy just snatched it.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t kill the guy. What did the cops say?”

Dominique bit her bottom lip. “He didn’t call them. Said they couldn’t do anything about it and then he got someone to change my locks since my license and keys were in my purse.”

Lizzy’s expression morphed to one of something that looked a lot like respect. “Good for Ivanov.”

“You don’t think it’s weird he didn’t want to call the cops?”

Her friend lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. I don’t know. It depends on a lot of things and I don’t know how he feels about cops in general. But I can guess. If you tell me what restaurant it happened at I might be able to find out more information for you. I could hack into some CCTVs if you want.” She rubbed her hands together, looking way too excited and a little scary.

“If you start cackling like some sort of evil villain, I’m out of here. And I’m not going to tell you where it was. I’m not supporting your hacking habit.”

“I’ll find out on my own, you know.”

Dominique lifted a shoulder, fighting a smile. “If you have extra time to figure it out, go for it. It was just a stupid mugging and everything is thankfully replaceable.” She was really glad Viktor’d had her locks changed though. She’d been able to sleep easier last night.

Lizzy just grinned. “Fine… So, have you talked to Raegan this morning?”

“Yeah, she texted me that she and the sexy cop are a thing again.” Dominique wasn’t sure what to think about that, considering the guy had ghosted on Raegan for a few days. But if the man made Raegan happy, that was what mattered.

“He’s a good guy. Relationship challenged, that’s for sure.”

Dominique laughed. “What guy isn’t?” Not that she really had a leg to stand on—she’d never even been in a serious relationship either. “Listen, I’ve gotta head out if I want to beat the rush. Your man should just be getting off his conference call.” She glanced at the phone, saw Porter’s light still on. “Or he will be in a minute or two.”