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

was smiling, Charlie was smiling, Luke was smiling, great, everyone was being so polite!

"Well, there must be something here you like that keeps bringing you back," Sue commented.

Luke thought about that for a second. "Yeah, there must be."

"So," Sue went on, "have you caught many bad villains?" she asked, gazing sideways at Luke.

Could Sue be any more obvious with her flirting?

"Sure, keep puttin' them behind bars so you ladies can sleep safe in your beds at night," Luke replied with a grin.

Oh please!

Sue looked delighted with Luke's answer, and was quite probably contemplating dragging Luke into her bed with her.

"Well then, I guess I should be eternally grateful," she replied, her eyes dancing about his face.

"I guess you should," he answered.

For goodness sake!

"I for one am glad that Charlie is no longer working in that field," Richie cut in.

Charlie turned to him with a frown.

"Or else we wouldn't have met," he smiled.

Hmm, at least he hadn't said because it was too dangerous for her. She hated being mollycoddled.

"What made you leave the field Charlie?" Sue piped up.

"Yeah," Luke added, "I always wondered that."

Charlie's heart sank suddenly; she felt as if the four walls, if there had been any, were closing in on her.

"I'd just had enough of dealing with criminals," she answered vaguely, fiddling with the stem of her champagne glass.

"But you..." Sue began. She never did know when to leave something alone.

Doug interrupted her, his deep, authoritative voice cutting in, "Charlotte wanted to pursue more charity work Susanna. Here," he said, picking up a champagne bottle, "your glass needs refilling."

As Doug filled Sue's glass with champagne, he glanced briefly at Charlie, a look of concern on his face.

Oh, so it was Doug to the rescue then, Luke noted.

"What do you do for work?" Luke asked, turning his attention to Sue.

"I'm an artist…painter and sculptor," she informed him.

"Really?" Luke appeared to be impressed.

"Yes. I should paint you; you have great bone structure," she said, assessing his face.

"Luke, sit still for any more than two seconds," Charlie laughed, "I can't imagine it."

"I dunno; I might give it a shot… long as you get my best side," he said, turning his face for her to view his profile.

Right, this was actually making Charlie feel nauseous! When would the food be served she wondered, anything for a distraction from this unbearable situation she had found herself in!

Chapter 18

The foot was persistent though and determined to push its mischievous luck as it found the sensitive inside of her thigh, stroking the soft skin.

 

Luke and Sue flirted their way through the first two courses of the meal, and by desert, they were deep in conversation. Richie had gone somewhere to answer a phone call, leaving Charlie contemplating if Luke was doing all this flirting to get into Sue's bed. He needed those discs, so he did need to get back to her house, but how was he going to not sleep with her if she wanted to do it? It would seem strange if he turned her down, particularly after all the flirting he'd been doing that evening. Then again, being completely realistic, if Sue did offer herself on a plate, like she had to Dennis, to a man with a sex drive like Luke's, it would be highly unlikely that he would want to turn her down.

She didn't care anyway.

He needed to get those discs to clear himself of the murder. She wanted him to do that, of course, so what did it matter if he slept with Sue?

But… what if it turned out to be more than a one night stand?

She noticed their animated faces, the way they were laughing together.

They were quite similar. Sue was carefree and enjoyed the good things in life. She disliked rules and constraints…so did Luke.

Then she'd see them all the time in the club. She could do without that.

One thing was for sure; it was a bloody good job she hadn't given into Luke earlier, because he would still be there, flirting with Sue to get those discs, and she would still be there, wondering how far Luke would go to get them.

Suddenly her spirits fell as she tried to enjoy her chocolate desert, only to find herself swallowing it in uncomfortable lumps.

Why had she been feeling so down over the last couple of days? Ok, so it was in the back of her head that she and Richie were not working out and she would probably have to go through the heart wrenching process of splitting with him. But also, this was making her feel a little lost. Where was she going with her life? All the focus, whilst she had been with Richie, had been on the club and charity events. Was she really satisfied with that anyway though? And if not, where would she go from there?

Okay, so Luke was getting a little bit tired now with all this flirting; besides, this woman was coming on pretty strong. After having seen what she was like upstairs, he'd end up having to fight her off. He needed those discs, yes, but he hadn't planned on having to control a nympho, nutty woman into the bargain.

Finally, Sue had shut up for a moment then to eat her desert. Luke took the opportunity to glance up at Charlie and Richie to see what they were doing, only to realize that Richie had disappeared somewhere and Charlie was sitting alone, apparently lost in thought… her desert left half-finished as she played with the stem of her champagne glass.

With her eyes lowered, her mind elsewhere, Luke watched her for a moment. Some kind of light was reflecting off the glasses on the tables or something, because her face and shoulders were dancing with shimmering lights. It was weird because, watching her sitting there, all glamorous and so damn composed, he would never have thought he'd be attracted to that kind of woman. But then how dumb; she was gorgeous, so why wouldn't he be? It was more to do with the type of women he always went for before. They were the opposite of Charlie… usually loud, completely open with all their passions and wants, and not afraid of asking for them. They always indulged. A bit like Sue actually…

Charlie often frustrated him intensely with the way she held everything back, following the rules verbatim. But despite this being so exasperating, to the same extent, it also attracted him… weird. The fact that she never let him get away with anything, and that she could stand her ground so adamantly, was actually very hot. Plus, on the rare occasion that she did relax, boy was that exciting! It was kind of a challenge to get her to do it more often.

With his mind wandering as much as hers, he had found himself focusing on the champagne glass in her hand. When it suddenly stopped moving, however, he realized that she had come out of her reverie and her eyes were lifting. Her gaze collided with his immediately. She frowned slightly. He smiled though and gave her a wink.

She stared at him for a moment, her face almost void of expression, and he thought for a split second that she was angry with him. Then a small smile crept over her face and his smile grew in response, but the moment was then abruptly lost as quick as it came when she swiftly lifted her glass, emptied it and then stood, turning to head for the bar.

"You want another drink?" Luke asked Sue.

Sue glanced at the bottles on the table which had now been emptied.

"Yes, that would be nice," she replied.

"More champagne?"

"What else?" she answered with a smile.

He nodded and rose to walk to the bar.

When he reached Charlie, he just caught the tail end of something that Eddie had said to her, finishing with,

"I know what will cheer you up…"

Charlie looked a little startled to see Luke there suddenly beside her and she glanced at Eddie with an expression of something like mild panic. Eddie seemed unperturbed however and simply said to Luke,

"You have to like tequila; it makes you happy. You're having one too," he insisted.

Luke nodded a vague approval. "Tequila aint bad. Can you get someone to send some more champagne over to our table also?"

So, what was wrong with Charlie then? Maybe he'd gone a bit over the top with all the flirting with Sue. Considering that he'd been trying to seduce Charlie earlier, he supposed that it made him look a bit fickle.

"Eddie," Charlie called out, "leave the drink for me; I'm going to find Richie."

Eddie turned with a frown. "Come on Charlie, I've poured it now." He approached her again, saying in a whisper, "Please have just one with me…pretty please, just for me," he pouted.

She sighed, and seemed to begrudgingly toy with the idea.

"Please Charlie," Eddie repeated, "if you don't, I'll cry."

She tutted and her hand shot out then decisively to finally take hold of the glass. Eddie raised his to hers and then Luke's; they all chinked and drank.

Luke put his shot glass down with a smile and turned to Charlie, leaning towards her to say,

"Sleep with me Charlie, or I'll cry."

Eddie's eyes widened with surprised delight.

Charlie came back snootily with, "Thought you were going to sleep with Sue tonight."

Luke countered, "Thought you were going to sleep with Richie."

Charlie ignored his comment and went on, "You could use that line on her… although, knowing Sue, you probably won't need to."

"Oooh! Meow. Go tiger!" Eddie commented, crossing his arms and observing Charlie with a grin.

"Anyway," she said, standing from her stool, "I'm going to see what happened to Richie."

Luke turned to watch her stroll away. She didn't have to go far to find Richie though, as he was returning to the table, so they simply exchanged a few words before taking their seats once more.

"You want another one of these?" Eddie asked Luke, holding up his shot glass.

"Nah," he replied, rising to join his table again until a thought hit him and he changed his mind. "Okay then, I will have another. You want one also?" he asked, pointing to Eddie.

"I'd love to, but…" he glanced around him "… the boss won't approve if he catches me."

Luke glanced around too. "Well, I don't see no sign of the boss. I won't tell no one if ya have another."

Eddie's eyes lit up. "Go on then. Ooh, you're such a bad influence; I love it."

As Eddie poured the drinks on the bar for them, Luke asked, "So this Doug guy, your boss, what's he like?"

Eddie looked up with surprise. "Oh he's alright; he's just hot on rules and order, that sort of thing. I can't say anything bad about him though; he's helped me out a lot in my time here."

Hmm, that wasn't the answer Luke had wanted to hear.

"How long you been here?" Luke asked.

"Five years now."

"And how long has Doug been here?" Luke went on.

"A lot longer than I have. I think Charlie was only a teenager when she first came here with her father, and Doug was here then," Eddie informed him.

So, Charlie has known him since she was a teenager. Luke wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

Eddie finally handed Luke the tequila shot, they