Flirting with Danger by Bev Hardy (digital e reader TXT) 📖

took my shoes off Luke; my feet were hurting."

 

Hmm, well, his body was still buzzing from the memory of it. She'd been playing him; that was for sure.

 

He stared at her, leaning nonchalantly back against that desk, smiling triumphantly at him. Silence fell upon the room, apart from the sound of raindrops on the window panes and the soft sound of background music. He stood slowly and she watched with growing curiosity the closer he got to her. What was he going to do? He only hesitated a second when he reached her however, and stepped to her right. She turned with surprise to see him flicking through the songs on the CD. He had found one that he apparently liked, nodding his approval. Then his head turned to her. His eyes began to mould to hers in the silence that had fallen between them, and she wondered what on earth was going through his head.

 

Then, without warning, his hand shot out, grasping her by the wrist, and before she knew what was happening, he'd pulled her with a sharp tug, into the hard wall of his chest. She gasped and looked up at him in shock.

 

"I like this song; let's dance," he smiled challengingly.

 

It looked like she hadn't got much choice; he clearly wasn't taking no for an answer.

 

His hand moved from her wrist then to clasp hers, whilst his other hand slid onto her bare back. That touch felt so intimate; she found herself struggling to catch her breath at the feel of it. The only thing she could do to distract herself from the sensations she was feeling was to talk.

 

"Rainy Night In Georgia," she nodded, "fitting choice." Her voice didn't sound as steady as she would have liked, but that was the least of her worries at that moment. She had the distinct feeling that this dance was going to be her punishment for putting him off his game. He wasn't going to win though. There was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction.

 

"I thought so," he answered.

 

As they began to sway to the music, Luke took full advantage of having access to her bare skin. He'd been fascinated by it all day, and now he had an excuse to feel the long expanse of soft, silkiness against the palm of his hand.

 

When Luke's hand began to wander, trailing his fingers up and down her spine, up and down, up and down… Charlie's head became slightly fuzzy. She had a vague thought: she might now have some understanding of why Luke hadn't been able to concentrate on his game.

 

"You been to Georgia Charlie?" he whispered into her ear, his warm breath caressing her senses.

 

It was an odd question, but she answered automatically, her head stuck in a drowsy haze. "No." Then, forcing the word out, she asked, "You?"

 

"No," he replied, his breath leaving a tingling trail from her earlobe upwards to her temple, where his lips then hovered. "Wanna go some day?" he sighed, his lips brushing her temple with the slightest of touches. It was a crazy conversation, but there they were, having it.

 

"Why not?" she laughed.

 

She could feel his smile from the movement of his lips at the side of her face.

 

Slowly then, she began to register that his hand on her back had lowered, tracing circular paths, over a wider area than just her spine. He was exploring, but how far would he go? His fingers had reached the material of one side at the back of her dress now, they hesitated there. She seemed to have stopped breathing. Then his fingers crept past the material to the even softer skin beneath it, skin that he had never even seen before, let alone touched. It felt thrilling and dangerous to him, and for a few seconds, both daring and exhilarating to her. His palm was now on her naked hip, and it ran boldly, and so very sensually, upwards over her waist, up, up… He was now also holding his breath, on tender hooks, wondering if she would let him move his hand to where it had burned to be.

 

He spoke to her then, praying that his comment would distract her for long enough.

 

"I miss the MI5 days, don't you?" he asked softly.

 

He'd made a fatal mistake. The mention of MI5 was like a bucket of cold water over her as realisation of what she was doing suddenly hit her. She had been letting him seduce her for God sake, what was she thinking?

 

Abruptly stepping back away from him, she left his arms outstretched, empty and confused.

 

"Don't think you can just come back after all these years and everything will be the same Adams, because it isn't," she said, turning and striding to the other side of the room.

Chapter 7

He couldn't believe she was suggesting that she never wanted to see him again! What never? Ever?

Finally, he put an end to the silence. "Just 'cause I was in New York, it don't mean I didn't want to see you…or wasn't thinkin' 'bout you...

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the hell had she been thinking? To dance with him like that, let him touch her…when she was with Richie…when she hadn't seen him for seven years… and he turns up out of the blue… and on the first evening, only hours after she'd seen him again, she behaves like that! Was she out of her mind? He'd swan off back to New York again and she'd be left there with her relationship with Richie in tatters. Okay, so she wasn't ready to marry Richie yet but there was something there between them. He made her feel good. She hadn't really been looking for a relationship at the time either, but he'd made her feel so good and they had laughed and talked…that night at the Montgomery charity function… there had been some kind of spark between them. Hadn't there?

 

What had happened? One minute everything was just…just…so damn good! They were melting together. Him and Charlie. They were even going to Georgia together…and then, bam! What did she mean, is wasn't the same? Well, okay, it wasn't exactly the same, cause they weren't working for MI5, but in a way, it was just the same… no correction, it was even better! Or so he'd thought.

 

"What's wrong?" he asked, holding his hands out to her, his face filled with uncertainty and confusion.

 

Seeing him like that, looking so at a loss, just made her more anxious. She couldn't handle it when he made her feel like that. She had moved her life on from all this…or so she had thought.

 

"It's been seven years Luke, but you're acting as if nothing is different!" she exclaimed, in a panic, edging back from him.

 

Where had all this suddenly come from?

 

"So are you," he came back instinctively defending himself. He changed his tack however when he saw her expression. "Look, I know stuff is different, but we are the same, you and me; we're the same people," he reasoned.

 

"No we're not!" she argued, her voice rising in pitch.

 

"Well, who are we then?" he snapped back.

 

She groaned, forced to answer, "We are two people playing this game until we get out of here tomorrow morning and find the surveillance discs. Then I go back to my charity work, and you go back to," she hesitated, "I don't know Adams, finding more criminals to put away I suppose. We live completely different lives now," she stressed.

 

A frown played about his brow as though her words had stung him. He studied her face, searching for something. The moments passed until he finally blurted out in frustration,

 

"Okay, I made a mistake! Aint you ever made a mistake Charlie? So what you gonna do, punish me forever for it?"

 

She put her hand to her head. "It's not about that. I'm not trying to punish you. I've just moved on," she insisted.

 

She had to be strong, she just had to be, because there was no future between them, and just him being there then was making her unhappy. God, she needed to get out of there.

 

"What, so that's it then?" he said, his eyes boring into hers.

 

The room seemed to hold its breath suddenly. As though something had just been said that couldn't be taken back. He was waiting for an answer and she had the feeling that her response would make or break everything between them. The finality of the situation hit her then, leaving a churning feeling in her stomach. But why? She had already made the decision that she didn't want to see him again seven years ago after he'd left. "But he left you then, so you had no control. Now you do," a voice in her head whispered. She hadn't had to face him then either. Time had just passed; it had been easier. Now he was there asking the question, forcing her to answer.

 

What was she going to say? She stood, her eyes clinging to his, eyes she might not ever look into again if she chose to push her point. Moments passed. The song came to an end and the disc stopped, throwing the room into a tense silence.

 

He couldn't believe she was suggesting that she never wanted to see him again! What never? Ever?

 

Finally, he put an end to the silence. "Just 'cause I was in New York, it don't mean I didn't want to see you…or wasn't thinking 'bout you," he added, unsure of what else to say.

 

After seven years, she'd assumed that she had faded from his thoughts. She wasn't sure why or how the next question had slipped out, but it had. "Were you?" she asked.

 

"Yeah," he replied, grasping at hope, "all the time. You were my partner; I always missed that. Every time I was on a case, it wasn't the same."

 

Luke was relieved that he seemed to be getting somewhere with Charlie at last… that was until her expression hardened very abruptly after his last comment.

 

"Well, you'll find other partners no doubt," she said, turning from him.

 

What was she thinking of? She should have known the answer! The only way to stop this madness was to put some space between them, like she had before. She paced to the door but stopped in front of it with nowhere else to go.

 

He stared at her back, his heart sinking. He just didn't understand what was going through her head. But he had to try to get through to her. It didn't make any difference if he had new partners or not; he'd missed her.

 

"But we had some good times, didn't we?" he pushed with an uncertainty that simply tore at her further. "You and me, Charlie? Eh, Charlie? C'mon."

 

Yes they'd had good times… and bad too. But more than anything, they'd been some of the most intense moments of her life. She hated having to acknowledge to herself though that yes, she wanted those times back again. Damn it, she did! If she had a choice, she would swap her life now for the life she had then…before she used to get cold sweats at the thought of finding Luke dead one day, or standing and watching him being shot to death in front of her…before he'd disappeared and she'd convinced herself