No Control

Lana gathered her wits and shrugged. “I don’t think that. I was just guessing.”



“Uh-huh. Just guessing. What aren’t you teling me?”



“Nothing.”



Caleb’s mouth flattened, losing that fulness that had been so soft and warm against her lips. She found herself hoping that they’d be forced to pretend to be lovers again. It was the only way she could see a man like him kissing her.



“I can’t help you if you lie to me.”



“You can’t help me at al. I’m fine.”



“Bulshit. You’re scared to death, but not about the news that someone’s been in your apartment while you were sleeping. I’d think something like that would creep you out more than it has. Why is that, Lana?”



“I am scared.”



“Yes, but no more than you have been since I came to town. You’ve been living in fear, and I’l be damned if I know why you won’t let me help.”



“You can’t help.”



“Only because you won’t be honest with me. At least not about this.”



“What’s that supposed to mean?”



“It means that the only honesty you’ve given me since I showed up was in your shower tonight. You weren’t lying then, by God.”



“No, but you were.” Her voice was quiet, barely audible over the hum of traffic.



Caleb’s hands tightened on the wheel. “I let things go too far. I’m sorry about that.”



“Forget it. I have.”



“Another lie for the pile?”



Lana turned away and looked out the window, watching buildings slide by in the darkness. Maybe she should just disappear. Someone else could take over the foundation, and she could just go away where no one would find her. Not even Caleb. Who knows, maybe she’d start some new life and find a little happiness. She didn’t need much to be happy. A decent job, a few friends, a place to go home where she’d feel safe. It wasn’t much to ask for.



Caleb puled the car into a hotel and parked. “I know that you have no reason to trust me, but I promise you that I can help. Whatever it is you’re dealing with, you’re not alone.”



And that was the problem. If she’d been alone, it would have been easy. It was al those people she cared about that chained her to her lies, her secrets. She couldn’t let them get hurt. But rather than explain that to him, Lana just nodded and got out of the car.



Kara wiped a drop of blood from the video screen, so she could see Caleb’s image clearly. The smal office at the back of the drugstore was cramped and hot, but it was the only place where she could view the security-camera footage. It showed her al too clearly how easily Caleb had thwarted her.



He’d stripped al of Kara’s toys from Lana and left them sitting next to a bottle of cheap perfume. Not fair. If she hadn’t already been planning to kil him, this stunt would have been enough to convince her.



Marcus was right. Caleb’s presence was going to make getting to Lana much harder. Kara had promised Marcus she’d finish this tonight, but she didn’t even have a clue where Lana was. Not in her apartment, certainly. Al of those cameras and microphones were stil in place, and no one was home.



Kara kicked the corpse of the security guard in frustration. He fel from the chair onto the floor in a squishy heap, with his pants stil around his ankles. His wife was going to be pissed when they found him like this, but that was his fault for being so easy to seduce.



With her rubber gloves carefuly in place, Kara removed the VCR tape from the outdated surveilance equipment, making sure her entrance into the store wouldn’t be found by the police. She was going to have to face Marcus with her failure to kil Lana tonight, but there was no way she was going to do it from behind bars. That’s what Dennis was for.



Caleb went into the bathroom of their hotel room and stripped out of his wet jeans. He needed a few minutes away from Lana to gather his thoughts. Ever since the fiasco in the shower, he hadn’t been able to think straight. How could he think about anything else but the way she’d tasted, the sweet little sounds she’d made when he’d kissed her?



The scent of her need rising up with the steam of the shower? Five years from now, he’d probably stil be thinking about it, wishing he’d gone farther while cursing himself for having gone too far as it was. Her taste was in his memory now—the scent of her hunger for him.



Caleb tossed his jeans over the shower curtain rod to dry. This shower was bigger than Lana’s. They’d fit in here a lot easier. He’d have lots of room to maneuver when he braced her against the wal to thrust up inside her, and the endless supply of hot water would give him plenty of time to make her come over and over.



Lana would let him. He knew it without a doubt. Her reaction to him had been honest—maybe the only honest thing about her. It was almost as if she needed the connection to another human, as if she was starved for affection. Or maybe just pleasure. There had been dark times in his life when he’d sought out female company just to drive away the guilt and fear and loneliness. Maybe this was one of those dark times for Lana. Maybe he could ease her pain, if only for a little while.



Caleb gritted his teeth and pushed away the temptation. He was trying to justify seducing her, and there was simply no justification. She was his assignment. He had to keep his dick out of it.



Like that was going to happen.



His wet boxers did nothing to stave off his erection, but getting the clammy material off was a considerable chore with the added obstacle. He took his time, trying to think about something else, something completely unsexy—anything else to ease his lust.



It took a while, but he finaly got himself under control.



Caleb stormed out of the bathroom ready to do whatever it took to get her to tel him what was going on. He would use coercion or scare tactics or whatever he had to to get her to talk. He wasn’t going to let his guilt or sympathy for her get in the way of his job.



But she had falen asleep while he’d been working himself up to interrogating her, and al those good intentions went out the window. She hadn’t even taken off her shoes.



She was just lying there across the blankets on one of the beds, her chest rising and faling in the rhythm of sleep.



Caleb sighed and tried to fight back al the softness that seeing her like that brought up in him. There was no place in his life for softness right now, but despite his best efforts, he failed to feel anything else.



He slipped her shoes off her feet, but she didn’t stir. He puled the blankets down on one side of the double bed and slid her under them. She made sleepy sounds of protest but didn’t wake. She must have just been at the end of her strength. It had been a long day and he was glad she was getting some rest. Maybe it would make her more reasonable—make her see that she could trust him.



Maybe it would just make her that much more stubborn and silent.



Caleb went back into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and dialed Monroe. “Yes,” he answered.



“You were right.”



Smug satisfaction hung in Monroe’s voice. “Is that so? What am I right about this time?”



Caleb bit back an insult he would have flung at anyone but a superior officer. “She’s hiding something.”



“What?”



“I don’t know. She just let something slip tonight. Her house was bugged, and so was her purse. Her first thought was that they’d been planted by someone she knew.”



“Interesting.”



“Exactly. I caled her on it and she clammed up.”



“What are your plans for getting her to talk?”



“Push her until she breaks.” He hated the idea, but he had to protect her.



“Sorry, son, but playing bad cop isn’t going to work for you. Not with her. We tried that approach for hours. Just made her more stubborn. I suggest a more . . . subtle approach.”



Caleb did not like the sound of this. “Subtle?”



“Gentle. Coaxing.”



“You mean seduce her.”



“Seduce her. Fuck her. Whatever gets the job done.”



“You’re a bastard, sir.”



Monroe laughed. “I remember David saying the same thing to me a few months ago. He’s expecting his first child, by the way. Did you know?”



Caleb had found out just before he came here. David had offered him a job with his new security company. He’d never seen David happier, and it was about damn time.



The man had suffered long enough. “I did.”



“Maybe you and Lana—”



“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, sir.”



Monroe just chuckled and moved on. “I’l send Grant out to clear the bugs from her apartment, car, and office. It sounds like you could use some help, and Grant’s good with the ladies.”



Caleb wasn’t sure whether to thank Monroe for the help or try to reach through and slug him for sending the biggest womanizer on the face of the planet. Then again, maybe that was a good thing, too. Grant had a way with women that boggled the mind. If anyone could convince Lana to talk, it’d be Grant.



Of course, Caleb would have to kil Grant if he touched her, but that couldn’t be helped.



“If Grant was available, why didn’t you send him here in the first place?” So Caleb would never have had to know what it was like to kiss Lana.



“To piss you off. Obviously. At least that’s what you’l tel yourself anyway, so it works for me.”



Caleb stayed silent. Barely.



“Let me know what you find out,” ordered Monroe. “Grant wil be there tomorrow. I’l enjoy puling him out of whoever’s bed he’s in.”



Monroe hung up, and Caleb stood there in the bathroom a long time. He didn’t want Grant to come. He loved Grant like a brother and had spent more time with him in the past few years than he had alone, but that didn’t change the way he felt. Once Grant was here, any chance he had with Lana was gone. Grant would toss her a wink and a smile, and they’d be naked together within an hour. And when Grant left her, she wouldn’t even frown. He had the magic touch, and he’d used it on countless women, leaving al of them smiling.



Lana would just be one more, but at least she’d be safe. That’s what realy mattered.



“I have another job for you,” said the metalic voice Denny had grown to hate.



He grabbed a pen in his shaking hand. “I’m ready.”



“I’ve left directions in your mailbox. I want you to go to the address listed and pick up a package for me.”



“What’s in it?”



“Do you realy want to know?” asked the robot.



No. No he did not. This shit was way deeper than he’d signed up for. “I can’t—”



“You can and wil. Bruce is coming for a visit tomorrow. I made sure of it.”



Denny felt his beer coming back up into his throat, and he swalowed hard to keep it down. “I’l find another way to get the money.”



“In time for Bruce’s visit?”



Shit. Denny saw the image of his father’s body flare in his mind. The bastard had looked like hamburger—al that blood against fish-bely white skin. No way was Denny gonna let that happen to him. What the hel did he care what his boss wanted him to do? There wasn’t a damn person in the whole world he cared about enough to let Bruce take that bat to him.

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