Chapter 12
“Ethan?” What was he doing up here? He’d followed her again? Of all the nerve! Olivia shifted, but her body hugged his, chest to chest. “Wh—”
He gently put his fingers to her lips. “Listen.”
She heard a woman’s seductive voice coaxing a man, then he must have grabbed her because she let out a yelp. A fun, sexy yelp.
Oh, mercy, had the couple she’d overheard teasing each other earlier escaped into this bedroom for a quickie? Could she hope it was only an intended quickie?
And what luck that the very closet she’d hidden in was the one Ethan had picked. What had he been doing in the bedroom, anyway?
“Did you follow me?” she whispered against his ear.
Ethan tilted his head against hers. His stubble rubbed her cheek, sending a scintillating tingle directly to her nipples. He smelled faintly of leather and wood, and his warmth was palpable. Her nipples hardened against his ridiculously seductive tuxedo, and she cursed that involuntary reaction to his closeness.
“No, and yes,” he whispered. “Must we discuss this now?”
No, they need not. Olivia sucked in a breath, but then realized she’d have to let it out. An exhale pressed her breasts tighter against his chest. Of all the undignified situations…
The woman in the room gasped and said something about keeping her panties on so she wouldn’t have to retrieve them in a hurry. The man obliged, and his next words indicated he was going to do the deed.
Olivia bowed her head against Ethan’s shoulder. Having to listen to some horny duo have sex while she stood breast-to-chest with a man who confused her sense of propriety would undo her. It had been bad enough to realize she actually had a type when they’d teasingly discussed the handsome artists from the past, but realizing that Ethan neatly fit into that category had surprised her.
She sensed he was trying very quietly to adjust his position in the cramped little closet, but there was literally no place to go. Except forward. And that would place her on the other side of him for their proximity.
Just going to let things happen as they should, remember? Oh, the things she wished for. She really should have finished the champagne earlier. It might have softened the embarrassment.
“Cross your fingers he’s a quick study,” he whispered against her ear.
The woman’s exaggerated moans made Olivia roll her eyes. Really? Just get on with it already.
Ethan’s hand snaked about her waist and slid down to her hip. “Apologies,” he murmured. “A necessary move. Hanger in my shoulder.”
“Oh, Marcy!”
Olivia tensed, wondering—and hoping—if that was the orgasmic cry of success. But then she heard bodies slapping and skin connecting in a frenzied race. She could easily imagine the twosome on the bed, or even pressed up against the end of it, the woman’s legs tight because she’d kept on her knickers.
Ethan tilted his head, his nose nudging under her jaw. A dangerously titillating move. She closed her eyes, taking in the solidness of him against her body, his heat…oh, but something was getting very hard on him. Mercy, she was not made of steel. But he was!
“Really?” she whispered.
He smirked against her cheek. “Difficult to prevent. You are…” His cheek brushed hers as he pressed closer. “…exquisite.”
He talked a good game, but Olivia knew it was because the couple currently huffing and puffing not six feet away from them could get anyone’s blood stirred. And in that moment she realized she was breathing deeply and her breasts were rising and falling against Ethan’s chest.
Yes, she’d love to twist her head a few inches to the side and catch his mouth on hers. To dance her tongue with his and exchange sighs and lusty gropes. The moment absolutely demanded it.
Could a girl get a break? Because what kind of torture was it standing crushed against the hottest man she’d been near in years? She imagined he would taste like champagne and the outdoors. A weekend holiday in some remote cabin snuggled up to this man sounded so…so…
She parted her lips and sighed. Ethan reacted with a tilt of his hip, which pressed his erection firmly against her hip. Damn, she wasn’t strong enough to resist such temptations.
“Yes!” cried out from the bed.
Olivia exhaled heavily and fell against Ethan’s chest, but she put a palm against his pec to keep from completely melting into him.
“We must hurry back,” Marcy said to her panting lover. “Did you see the Renoir?”
“Small, as you said. But there were two guards.”
Ethan’s whole body suddenly stiffened; all of him, not just his hard-on. Olivia tilted her head to better take in the conversation.
“There are too many people here tonight,” the woman said. “You’d never get it out of here.”
“A crowd is more desirable than a few, my dear. And I do owe that bastard for the time he won the Monet at auction by only two thousand pounds. The bastard.” A zipper fastened, and the man let out a long and pleasure-filled sigh. “But not tonight, as you’ve said.”
“Oh, you’ve mussed my hair.”
“Get over it, darling.”
“I’m not your darling or your dear.”
Ethan’s chuckle made no sound, but the rumble in his chest vibrated against Olivia’s thundering heart.
“Darling, we must do this again,” the man said.
“Absolutely not. I came here with my husband, and he is a very jealous man. If he knew what we did every Friday during lunch break…”
“I do love the quickies in the back of the newspaper truck.”
“I hate that. I always have ink smeared all over my arse when I get home. But listen. If you value your life, do not look at me out in the ballroom.”
The door creaked closed, and the voices echoed away. Olivia let out her breath and pushed the closet door open, taking one step to the side and inhaling the air from the bedroom, which felt about twenty degrees cooler than the closet.
“That was a situation, eh?” Ethan offered. “You think they have plans to steal the Renoir?”
“I think I should have gotten a better look at them when I first heard them out in the ballroom. But, yes, we’ll have to keep an eye on them. Sounds like a rivalry thing.”
“Yes, but it could be something more.”
“You just going to stand in there all night?”
He hadn’t left the closet, and she couldn’t be sure he wasn’t pinned inside by a rogue hanger or two. “I’d apologize for my, er…”
“Hard-on?” she supplied.
“Ahem. But I sensed you were feeling it, too.” He eyes lowered to take in her hard nipples, which formed mutinous ridges beneath the red silk.
“You think I want to jump your bones now like those two just did?”
“I wouldn’t suggest such a thing. We are only just getting to know one another. But you are, as I’ve said, exquisite.”
“Keep it in your pants, Ethan.”
He splayed out his hand. “I would never presume to not keep it in my pants.”
She chuckled. He knew she was teasing him. And he’d taken it so well. Truly, he was one of a kind. And, bollocks, but she could still feel parts of him pressed against her body, and that feeling wasn’t going to dissipate until she got as far away from his charming smile as possible.
“I have to get back out to the party and mingle,” she said. “And to keep an eye on that couple. I don’t even want to know why you followed me—”
“I didn’t follow you. Very well, I did follow you up the stairs. I am a curious man, remember? But as for the party, I secured an invite through my employer.”
“The elite crimes crew?”
“We refer to ourselves as a unit, actually. But I will admit after speaking with you before the Renoir, I was upset at your quick escape. Was it something I’d said? When I spied you across the ballroom, in this stunning red dress, I couldn’t resist checking on you after I’d seen you walk upstairs. Whew!” He slid a hand over his crotch and made an adjustment. “I might stay behind for a moment or two after you leave. Just to let things quiet down a bit.”
“You do that. And I’ll…”
She’d what? Walk away from an opportunity to satisfy her niggling curiosity? Her lust levels weren’t going to plunge the moment she left this room unless….
Olivia stepped up to Ethan and found herself doing something she didn’t know she wanted to do until right then. She pulled him by his bow tie and planted her mouth on his, kissing him firmly, soundly. Every tingling bit in her body answered back with a “Hell, yeah.”
Taken by surprise, he didn’t immediately wrap an arm around her, but after a few seconds, he moved into the sensual attack with equal gusto. He slid a hand up her back, drawing her tightly against him, and swept his other hand over her hair. Mmm, he did taste like champagne. And pleasure. And something that wasn’t quite forbidden but stood just out of her easy reach.
His hand strayed down to her neck, where his thumb stroked softly below her earlobe. The surprising touch coaxed Olivia forward, crushing her breasts against him, wanting to feel him inside her. To claim him, then step back and look over her prize with satisfaction.
“I’ve been waiting for this to happen,” he said against her mouth. “Needed it.”
And it was then—when she knew she’d achieved the claiming—that Olivia ended the kiss and stepped back. “See you out in the ballroom.”
She strolled out of the room, leaving the door open behind her.
She touched her mouth, wondering if she should have checked her lipstick before exiting, but then caught her reflection in the shiny chrome frame around a modern piece on the wall. No, all was good.
Smiling at her own boldness, she passed a couple murmuring in low tones just around the corner before the staircase. She was worried her husband was looking for her. That had to be Marcy and her simpering lover.
She walked past them, and halfway down the staircase, but paused and made a show of looking over the ballroom below. She intended to keep an eye on both of them.
* * * *
Ethan wiped his face and stepped out into the bedroom. Walking to the open doorway and pausing, he caught a hand up high on the frame. His temperature had risen a few degrees while crushed against Olivia’s luscious curves, and he’d yet to cool down.
That kiss! It had taken him by surprise. As had landing in a closet with Olivia already in there. What sort of chance had allowed that to happen? After seeing her walk up the stairs, he’d lost her, but had decided to investigate anyway. The first room he’d looked into—this one—had appeared empty. And then the sex-crazed couple had pushed open the door and he’d dashed for the closest cover.
And then to have to suffer through the sounds of horny gyrations and moans while his penis had quickly hardened against Olivia’s body? Embarrassing, and yet, also an undeniable turn-on. Trapped in tight confines with the redheaded sex bomb? Whew!
What had the kiss meant? Had it merely been the heat of the moment? An unavoidable means to release the steamy sexual desire that had obviously built up in both of them? Did she want another kiss? Christ, he was still hard. And if he saw Olivia again tonight, the situation would not soften. Nor would the situation in his trousers.
He’d come here to keep an eye on her and see her in a different milieu. How she interacted when not out on assignment. He could leave now, knowing he’d done his part.
Or had she done her part? To him?
He’d never felt so out-of-sorts in his life. And that was saying something, because he’d found himself in some wild situations.
He glanced over at the bed, noticing the mussed velvet spread. The couple had an eye for the Renoir? Perhaps it wasn’t time to leave just yet.
Strolling down the hallway, he arrowed back toward the ballroom, keeping his sights set for red, and hoping he wouldn’t see it. Purely to preserve his sense of sexual sanity.
* * * *
Standing in the parking lot beside the mansion, Olivia contemplated calling a cab or walking a few blocks south and hopping on the Tube. She’d followed Marcy and a different man out from the ballroom. She and her lover hadn’t returned to the Renoir. The lover had gone directly to coat-check and had rubbed shoulders with the man the woman now walked alongside. Her husband? Interesting.
But Olivia didn’t expect a heist from either of them tonight. Besides, it had seemed her lover was the one most concerned about taking the Renoir to show up the mansion owner.
Crickets chirped in the shrubbery behind her, and the lush scent of jasmine carried from a nearby garden. It was a warm evening, perfect for a walk, if she hadn’t been wearing high heels. She’d cabbed it over.
A few car rows away, the couple burst into a loud argument before a black sedan. The man must be her husband. And judging by the foul language he was using, he must have smelled sex on her. Marcy’s voice was shrill, and Olivia almost wanted to yell at her to be quieter. Everyone could hear her; didn’t she know that?
“Olivia!”
Just as she turned to see Ethan walking toward her, the sound of a gunshot cracked the air. Olivia felt something whisk by her neck and tug her hair.
She slapped a hand over her neck. It was wet and her skin stung.
She’d been…shot?