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

It was probably a good job those cleaners had come in when they did, because if she'd woken up and he'd seen anything close to the smallest sign from her that she wanted his hands where they were, he'd have become like a beast unleashed.

 

Finally, once thinking about those early morning minutes on the sofa, and the fact that Charlie was at that moment also showering, had driven his body to its limits, Luke was forced to jump out of the shower, get changed and focus on the task ahead of him.

 

Luckily, Charlie had kept a shovel in that shed of hers. Luke drove back to the clearing that Charlie had directed him to the day before. He drove deeper into the woodland, found a remote spot and got out of the car.

 

Looking at the body, the face now white, the lips blue, he almost felt guilty, as though he had been the murderer himself. He had to remind himself of the atrocities he had discovered at the hands of the Borelli brothers to continue with what he knew must be done.

 

He searched the pockets of the thick, padded coat Roberto was wearing, pulling out an aeroplane ticket, which Luke folded and slipped into his pocket to examine later, a passport, and a wallet. There was nothing else there that Luke needed. He sure as hell didn't want the wedge of bank notes; Roberto could be buried with his own blood money.

 

Before Luke closed the trunk door, in order to begin the grim task of digging a hole, he noticed a tear in the coat at Roberto's side. Unzipping the coat, he revealed a bullet injury in Robertos abdomen. Why hadn't he thought of checking the body better before? Okay, so he was shot twice; it looked like some sort of struggle. It proved one thing however, Roberto wasn't killed at point -blank range. Luke was even more convinced now that there must have been someone from the club involved. He slammed the trunk door shut, and the disturbing sight of Roberto's body disappeared. Now he had some serious physical work ahead of him.

 

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Luke screeched to a halt on Charlie's front drive and bolted out of the car, rushing to the front door and searching for a doorbell. He was seriously late and anticipated a furious looking Charlie waiting for him. To his surprise though, he heard no sign of life at the other side of the door. He banged again. Still no answer. Hmm.

 

Making his way around the side of her house, he headed for the back door he'd noticed whilst raiding her garden shed. It didn't look too difficult to break into. Charlie should really fix that. The door opened after not very much coaxing and Luke cautiously entered. Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't broken into Charlie's house before.

 

"Charlie?" he called out, searching the downstairs rooms for her.

 

No reply.

 

Luke headed up the stairs, wondering if she'd finally lost all patience with him and gone out somewhere. He was to be proved wrong however, the first sign being Charlie's white dress, which she had stepped out of and left discarded on the landing. He came to an abrupt halt in front of it, a sudden wave of excitement hitting him at seeing that dress now off her body…the dress that he'd imagined slipping off her so many times the previous night. Wow, she really had been desperate to get out of that dress; it was quite unlike Charlie to be so slapdash. He smiled at the thought of a private Charlie, a little careless, without the need to put on airs and graces for the people around her… uninhibited. It was hard for him to imagine a Charlie like that. Then he lifted his eyes from the dress and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

 

For a moment, until he realized better, he thought he was actually seeing Charlie completely naked! The door of the room almost directly in front of him was ajar and, through the crack, he had a clear view of a bath, a frosted glass shower screen and Charlie's head and shoulders. Her head was leaning on her hand, her elbow resting on the edge of the shower screen, her eyes closed and a gentle smile on her face as she let the steamy water tumble down her back. Luke became aroused just by observing the look on Charlie's face; it was a picture of pure bliss. She really did love bathing, showers or baths, she seemed to enjoy taking just as long for both to enjoy them. The thought of that appealed to him. He wasn't entirely sure why; maybe it was because it involved Charlie being naked for long periods of time… she always did say that given half the chance, she could bathe for hours. And speaking of Charlie being completely naked… his eyes lowered.

 

He knew beforehand, from his peripheral vision and the initial glance he'd got, that he wasn't going to be able to see her clearly, but the thought that the pink, fleshy, blurry outline of her body indicated that a naked Charlie was behind there, just feet away… with just a sheet of glass between his eyes and her body, was enough to tip Luke into 'beast' mode. The ache was turning into a furious throb.

 

He blinked his eyes a few times, in the vain hope that it would enable him to see more. Despite this failing to bring any more clarity to the shower screen, which was probably obscuring Charlie even further from the coating of steam it had collected, Luke was more than happy to stand there all day watching her, with the added excitement that he might get at least a quick peek of something at any point. Besides, it was quite fascinating getting this rare glimpse into the private world of Charlie… not to mention the excitement Luke felt from doing something that he really shouldn't be doing. He should look away. Would he? Like hell he would! All's fair in love and war… and that must also include raging frustration too. If she wasn't going to go to bed with him, it was only fair that take advantage of this unexpected pleasure. Anyway, it wasn't his fault that she'd left the door ajar; how could he help but see? So okay, it also wasn't her fault that he'd broken into her house through the back and she'd thought she was alone, but… small details.

 

She tilted her head from side to side, her eyes still closed, stretching her aching muscles and allowing the hot water to ease them. Luke ran his eyes over the skin that he could see clearly above the glass screen: tanned shoulders and arms, shining and glossy with a sheen of water. She had gorgeous skin.

 

Then she suddenly moved forward out of the stream of water, and Luke's heart lurched nervously. Her eyes were open now. She had picked up a bottle of shower gel; he could see the bright yellow contents of it shining through the frosted glass as she poured some into her hand. She turned then and his heart thundered, with both nervousness for the possibility of being caught out, but even more so for the fact the spray from the shower had hit the glass when she'd moved, clearing some of the steam and giving him a more defined view. Now he was as hot as she looked, his temperature shooting up at the sight of Charlie's body in profile. Still he could not see a completely unobstructed view, the frosted glass denied that, however, from that angle, he could see the way her body curved and boy was that sight stimulating! The length of her legs… the slight curve of her back… her flat stomach… then soft roundedness... Damn it, his eyes couldn't take enough in! It was a good job she couldn't see the look in his eyes though as they trailed paths all over the frosted outline of her body, drinking in the sight of her; pure, uninhibited, mischievous lust twinkled there.

 

That ache had gone way beyond an ache at that moment. It was almost unbearable. He just wanted to storm in there, feast his greedy eyes on her properly, scoop that fantastic body into his arms and carry her into the bedroom, where he'd make her want him and lock them in there for days, so he could show her just how much he wanted her! Why the hell had his hunger for her become so damn intense since he'd seen her again? It was a real struggle to concentrate on anything else. This sight in front of him wasn't helping either…not that he would, or could, stop looking.

 

She was soaping herself now with a sponge which she had covered with shower gel and worked into a lather. Stepping back under the stream of water, she pressed the sponge to her neck and squeezed, allowing the soap suds to side down her body. As they slid down her neck, past her collar bone, and disappeared beneath the screen, he pictured them caressing her intimately as they fell… like his hands would. Well, he was as randy as could possibly be already; he may as well just give into it.

 

She was so sensual; why had he not realized that fully until now? The way she luxuriated in the steamy water, the perfumed soap suds, the slow pleasure she took out of the feel of both on her body. How could he have ever thought she was cold and uptight? She was creating her very own steam in there! Besides, for him to feel the way he did about her, she had to be sensual for there to be a spark there in the first place... and there always had been that spark. Weird, he'd never figured all of this out before. Maybe because she did such a good job of hiding this side of herself so well.

 

Then she shifted again and a foot appeared on the side of the bath from behind the glass. With one leg resting there, she continued to use the sponge to soap her leg, beginning at her ankle and slowly working her way upwards.

 

Wooah! That's it; keep doing that. Higher, higher…

 

Luke was waiting with bated breath to see how high up her leg she would sponge, when suddenly he realized that she had stopped in mid sponging, her hand stilled on her upper leg. His attention rose to her face that was just visible above the screen. For some reason, she now had her eyes closed again. Weird, why had she just stopped like that? Then he heard her groan. To his ears, the sound was a strange mixture between annoyance and pleasure, he couldn't work out which. She moved again and she must have dropped the sponge because, with her back now pressed against the tiles, she ran both hands through her wet hair and held them there. She almost looked in distress. What the hell was she thinking about now? No time to worry about that though; she had abruptly decided to end her shower and was reaching for a towel. He backed, as quietly as he could, down the stairs again until he reached the bottom.

 

"Charlie!" he called out again.

 

She appeared at the top of the stairs, descending, wrapped in a towelling dressing gown.

 

"Adams!" she replied, "you're absolutely filthy!"

 

Oh hell, he'd been caught out!

 

"Hey, it weren't my fault; the door was open," he came back defensively.

 

"What?" she frowned in confusion. "Adams, why are you covered in mud, what door was open, and why are you in my house?"

 

Oh, she meant that he was dirty from digging! Phew!

 

"Yeah, that's what I was sayin'," he replied quickly, "The door round the back of ya house was open."

 

"Open?" she said with concern.

 

"Well, as good as. You really gotta take better care of security in here," he chastised.