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

knew she was in trouble when the gentle tingles began to develop into a slowly simmering heat. She lay completely still, waiting for it to pass. It only got worse when his other hand joined in, causing shivers of pleasure to spread all over her.
He smiled to himself.
"You wanna know where my sensitive spots are?" he asked.
Hmm, she could imagine. "No thank you, Luke."
He chuckled. "Chicken," he taunted, his hand leaving her back and heading suddenly downwards to find the hem of her nightdress. His fingertips made contact with the skin of the back of her leg, just below the material. She panicked and immediately went to move away.
"Hey, what ya doin'? I told ya I wouldn't do nothing last night, didn't I? Just relax," he urged her.
Fine, if he says he won't do anything, then he won't…or if he does, she'll make sure he knows it. But deep down, she knew that it made no difference if he went no further than what he was doing right then because that was enough to take away most of her control. All she could do was will herself not to move or speak as his fingers traced circles around and around on her thigh. She was aching unbearably and found herself gritting her teeth in an effort hold herself in check. When his touch reached the soft skin of her inner thigh though, she was lost and a small groan of frustration escaped her lips. The sound was so erotic to him that it was as frustrating as his fingers were to her. Suddenly he knew he had to stop or else his hands would venture past the hem of her nightdress before he could control them. At the exact moment when his desire got too much for him, he forced his fingers away from her skin and simply wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his throbbing body.
She lifted her head to look at him. She had no idea why; surely that was tempting fate? Both of them were too aroused to speak, they simply watched each other for a while in a silent acknowledgement of the feelings between them. He could clearly see the emotions running through her head: the shock of not knowing what to do about the physical desire she was forced to realize. He could see her struggling with the dilemma. He simply kept his eyes on her, waiting for…he wasn't sure what, but waiting and wanting all the same.
Finally, all she could do was rest her had back on his chest and wait for her senses to return to some sort of normality.
After a while, their breathing calmed and she found her thoughts returning, not for the first time since he had come back into her life, to his future there in the UK.
"Luke," she began.
"Hmm?" he responded lazily.
"When this whole mess is cleared up, what will you do? I mean, for a job?" she asked.
"I have some money put aside," he replied vaguely.
"Yes, but that won't last forever," she pointed out.
"I'll figure somethin' out," he assured her.
"Do you have a visa?" she asked.
"Don't need one," he came back.
"You do if you plan on staying," she answered.
"Charlie, do you ever relax for longer than a few minutes?" he replied.
"Never mind," she finished defensively.
There was a short silence then before he started the next conversation.
"Charlie," he said.
"What?"
"You gonna marry this Richie guy?"
She went silent for a second. "I'm not ready for marriage."
"Yeah, but if you're still with him, you must be thinkin' 'bout it," he said.
She didn't know how to answer that but luckily he went on. "I don't think you should if you aint sure."
"No?"
"Nah, you gotta care a lot about someone if you're gonna spend the rest of ya life with them," he said.
"I do care about him Luke," she replied.
"Yeah, but I mean, you gotta really care, a lot, about them," he explained.
She laughed and rolled away from him onto her side to face him. "Do you mean that I have to 'love' him?" she asked. "You can use the word you know Luke." She watched him thoughtfully for a reaction.
His eyes flitted from hers. "Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean," he said, moving onto his side also, leaning his elbow into the pillow and resting his head on his hand.
"You've loved people before, surely?" she went on. "Your father and mother, and Danny, the person who you regarded as your brother…the person you've risked your life for over the last seven years," she stressed.
He stilled, his eyes searching hers, wondering where she was going with this. "Yeah," he replied.
"So say it then," she pushed.
He frowned with confusion. "Say what?"
"Say that you love him, your brother, Danny."
"Why?" he asked.
"Why not?" she countered. "That's clearly how you feel…unless you're incapable of using the word," she added.
"I aint incapable. You wanna hear me say the word, eh?" he observed.
Now it was she who avoided his disturbing gaze. "Well yes, just because you have a problem with uttering it. It can't be good for you."
She returned her eyes to his, waiting for him to speak.
He laughed.
"Go on then, say it," she urged.
"Alright, alright, I… loved Danny. There, I said it."
She smiled in triumph.
"Now it's your turn," he continued with a grin.
She frowned. "My turn for what?"
"To say somethin' that makes you feel uncomfortable," he said.
She laughed. "No, no…"
"Yes, I think it is."
Dare she ask. "What then?"
"I want you to say," he paused, enjoying the moment, "this exactly, 'I enjoy sex.'"
She laughed again, shaking her head. "That's not the same."
"Yeah it is," he replied adamantly. "Now were bein' honest. Everyone likes sex, right, so you gotta say it."
She smiled before rolling away from him. "I'm getting up now."
"No, no you're not," he replied, moving over her to stop her path. He placed both of his hands either side of her, barring her way.
She stared up at him, her eyes widening as she glanced down at their compromising position.
"Just say it," he urged, "an' then I'll go check the electrics."
"Come on Luke," she appealed.
"You come on Charlie, you got a problem utterin' the words? It can't be good for you," he said, reflecting what she had said earlier.
"Oh, very funny," she replied.
"Who's laughin? Come on Charlie, say it."
Damn it, he was serious.
She groaned, glancing away from him. "I enjoy…"
"Nah, you gotta look at me," he interrupted.
"What? Why do I have to do that?" she asked.
"Why d'ya not want to?" he came back with a grin.
"Touché," she replied. She was caught, well and truly, in a trap of her own making.
"So?" he went on.
She growled, making a point of staring into his eyes, despite her glowing cheeks.
"I … I enjoy sex. There, I said it."
A smile grew across his face and he waited for a moment, just enjoying the victory and the sparks that were flying between them.
"What?" she said, when he refused to take his excited gaze away from hers.
"Nothin'," he replied, "…apart from the fact that I wanna do unspeakably erotic things to you right now."
And with that, he rolled off her, got out of the bed and left the room.
She watched him go, laughing.
"Unspeakably erotic, eh? The mind boggles!" she said to herself.

 

Chapter 26

 

Charlie!" The shout of fear and panic echoed throughout the house.

Charlie froze, registering Luke's distress and trying to decide if she had time enough to pull on her clothes, or if she should just grab her nightgown and remain undressed underneath. She was still wet from her attempts to freshen up at the bathroom sink, rather than face a full blown freezing cold shower.

Sounds of panic stricken crashing through the downstairs rooms soon followed and she decided upon the nightgown, opening the bathroom door just as Luke was thundering up the stairs.

"Luke, what on earth…"

He ignored her, storming through the upstairs rooms as she followed him, demanding answers. At least he wasn't being followed by a gang of Mafia!

Finally, after checking every room in the house, he came to a halt on the upstairs landing.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on? And what's more, where the bloody hell did you get that from?" she said, eyeing the gun in his hand with suspicion. The look of distress on his face made her prickle with anxiety.

"Someone broke in here last night. They cut the power," he informed her, holding a hand to his head as he glanced about himself nervously.

"What? Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course I'm sure!" he yelled back, beginning to pace as he tried to gather his thoughts.

She watched his restless movements. "Calm down Luke. If someone had meant to harm us, don't you think they'd have done it last night?" she pointed out, before a thought hit her, causing her to jump into action, turn abruptly and bolt down the stairs.

This did nothing to calm Luke's already tumultuous mind. He raced after her.

Charlie was certain before she even reached the kitchen that her evening bag, which she had left on the kitchen table, would not be there.

"Damn it!" she cursed. "My bag is gone."

"Would you like to tell me next time before you go runnin' off like that?" Luke reprimanded her, seemingly not as concerned about the bag as she was.

"Did you hear what I said? Someone took my bag… with the discs in it," she stressed.

This made him hesitate for a moment, but still he didn't seem overly troubled about the bag. "Aint nothing incriminatin' enough on them anyway. Listen, it aint safe here now; they know where you live," he said, moving towards the kitchen window and taking a quick glance out before lowering the blind.

She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated with herself for not having taken the evidence upstairs with her the night before. "Well, it's obviously Jackson," she concluded. "That must have been why she was at the Club; she wanted the discs."

"Who cares!" Luke snapped suddenly, swinging around and announcing adamantly. "You aint stayin' here until Tony's found. You gotta find somewhere else to stay."

She laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."

Luke's instincts had told him already that she might react with resistance, and this made him all the more frustrated and determined.

He strode towards her, grabbing both of her arms in an attempt at forcing her to hear what he was saying. She felt the hard metal of the gun in his hand against the back of her arm. "Do you understand what I said? Have ya any concept of what this means? The mafia know you are here; you aint safe!"

"Luke," she began in a soft and overly reasonable voice, "it's like I said; it was Jackson. And besides, we were sitting targets last night; if they had wanted to harm us, they would have done it then."

He growled, shaking her slightly as if this would instil some common sense into her.

"It don't matter if it was Jackson last night or not. Fact is, Jackson is working for Tony, so if Jackson knows where you live now, so does Tony!"

She shook her head with a frown. "It doesn't make sense; Tony wants you dead, right? So they had the perfect opportunity to take the evidence and finish you off last night," she pointed out.

Luke's face became distorted with barely concealed rage. "What? What