“Gwen, I don’t think…”
“I feel safer with you,” she blurted. Well, so much for playing that one close to the vest.
His face softened. She’d never actually seen it do that before. Cute.
“Then you stay with me,” he agreed.
Right. Good plan. Another step in that good plan would be…to call the cops!
“While Lex was at your place, he picked up some clothes for you. They’re in his office. I’ll get them sent in here, you can change, and then we’ll make plans to hit Wicked.”
He turned and headed for the door.
She didn’t move. “Are we going to talk about it?”
His hand was reaching for the doorknob, but Chance paused and glanced back at her.
“What almost happened between us,” Gwen clarified. The best orgasm I’ve had in ages. And she’d had some fairly good ones over the years. “If it hadn’t been for the fire—”
“I’d still be fucking you right now.”
Some men would have made a fake boast like that. They would have acted like they could truly fuck that long. All night.
But one look in his eyes, and she knew he wasn’t lying.
Oh, wow.
“I am going to have you, Gwen. I’m going to have you long and hard, but it won’t be here.” His lips thinned. “My partners won’t be down the hallway, able to hear every sweet sound you make. You and I will be alone, and I’ll have you just the way I’ve fantasized about for far too long.”
Her skin was definitely overheating.
He opened the door.
“And I’ll have you,” she said, her words soft, but she knew he heard them. She saw the sudden tenseness of his shoulders. “The way I’ve fantasized about for so long. I guess we’ll see…we’ll see which of us had the better fantasies.”
Swearing, he left the room.
Gwen smiled.
But her smile faded a few moments later when she realized…hell, I have to call my father. Because if he found out about these attacks before she spoke with him, her dad would freak the hell out. And when Will Hawthorne freaked out, it wasn’t a good situation for anyone.
She strode toward Chance’s desk. She picked up his phone, and Gwen made the phone call that she dreaded. The line rang once, twice. She glanced at the clock and winced. At this hour, her father would—
“Chance, what the hell is happening?” Her father’s voice thundered over the line. “Is my daughter safe?”
She swallowed. “Dad, it’s Gwen. And, yes, I’m safe. But there are a few things you need to know.”
***
When Chance headed back to his office—with Gwen’s change of clothes in tow—he heard the sound of her voice. He’d left the door ajar and he pushed it open. Gwen stood near his desk, and she had the phone to her ear. Her back was turned to Chance as she said, “No, you don’t need to worry about me. Dad, look, I told you, Chance is helping me out…”
Fuck me. Her father. He hurried across the room. He hoped Will hadn’t done something stupid…like tell Gwen that Chance had been hired to protect her. That would really screw all of his plans.
“Look, Chance is right here,” Gwen said quickly. “He can assure you that I am perfectly safe. I’ve hired him to protect me, so you don’t have to worry.”
With those words, Chance knew that Will hadn’t told Gwen the truth. At least, not yet. He took the phone from Gwen and almost smiled as she mouthed Thank You! to him. Obviously, she wasn’t enjoying her little chat with her dad. But then, most folks didn’t enjoy chats with Will Hawthorne.
Then Gwen took the clothes from him and headed toward his attached bathroom. He didn’t speak until the door closed behind her, and then Chance chose his words very carefully, just in case she happened to overhear him. “Gwen is safe. You know her protection is my top priority.”
“A fire?” Will nearly yelled in his ear. “Gwen was in a fire? Shit, you should have called me right away! You should have—”
“I was kind of busy getting out of the fire, with Gwen.” He kept his gaze on the closed bathroom door. “My partners have been doing recon work. Right now, we think we’ve got evidence that points to Ethan Barclay.”
“I told you it was him! I’ll destroy that upstart bastard. I’ll—”
“I’ll be paying him a visit in the next hour. Gwen wants the police brought in, so I’ll get in touch with my contact at the department before I head over to Ethan’s club. Be assured, I am handling this situation.”
“You’d better be,” Will snapped right back. “Because if anything happens to Gwen, you’re done in this town. Hell, you’re done in the whole country.”
The guy was confused. His threats had never worked on Chance before, so why would he think they’d work now? Chance didn’t speak, and he knew that Will would understand his silence for the I-don’t-give-a-shit that it was.
“She’s all I have,” Will mumbled. Those words surprised Chance. “After her mother’s death…it was just Gwen. I know half the time she hates me, but I need her. You keep her safe. Keep. Her. Safe.”
The guy hung up on him. Big surprise.
But then the bathroom door opened. Gwen stood there, looking so gorgeous she made him ache. Sure, she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and her hair was loose around her shoulders, but Gwen wore those clothes better than other women wore expensive gowns. They fit her body perfectly, showing off her curves and making him itch to touch her.
He put the phone back down on his desk. Chance cleared his throat. “I’ll change too, then we’ll have that chat with Ethan.” He sure wasn’t looking forward to seeing that bastard. Putting him in jail? Oh, yeah, that part he anticipated.
Gwen nodded.
“I’ve got some spare clothes, too.” He turned away from her. “Just give me a minute…” He was grateful her father hadn’t blown his cover, but Chance felt like shit because he was misleading Gwen. He needed to tell her the truth, but he was afraid that if he did, she’d doubt him.
He wanted Gwen’s trust. He needed it.
He looked back at her. Tell her. But he couldn’t. Because she was staring at him with trust filling her bright green eyes, and the last thing he wanted to do was wreck that trust.
She doesn’t need to know. But they did need to be clear on one thing. “You told your father you’d hired me to keep you safe.”