The Dare Collection January 2020. Lauren Hawkeye

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СКАЧАТЬ this morning, but a grey T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans that had holes in the knees. Simple clothes that fitted him like a second skin, highlighting a muscular chest and shoulders, lean hips and powerful thighs. His black hair had been spiked up, the ring in his eyebrow shining, his silver eyes burning with an intensity that stole my breath.

      He’d been so damned hot all I could do was stand there and stare at him as he’d sauntered over to where I’d stood, pulling aside the painting and accessing his safe. He’d watched me all the while, electricity crackling in the space between us, twice as intense as it had been last night.

      And then he’d brought out the Red Queen and held it up.

      But it hadn’t been the necklace that had held my attention. It had been him and his gaze and the heat blazing in it.

      I’d expected him to act there and then, put me in a room and lock the door, keep me safely contained until the police arrived. Because of course he would have called the police. I was a thief come to steal his precious jewels, after all.

      Except he hadn’t done any of those things.

      He’d taken the necklace out and draped it around my neck, stripped me bare and pulled me against him, kissing me as if he wanted more.

      And of course asking me questions. I hadn’t forgotten that.

       If you don’t answer my questions, you don’t get to come.

      His large, warm palms burned against my skin, his mouth an ember against my shoulder. I closed my eyes, unable to help leaning back into him. He was so much bigger than I was, so much stronger, and I could feel that strength in the hard muscle I was leaning against.

      He could hurt me if he wanted and there would be nothing I could do about it. I’d learned some rudimentary self-defence moves from Mr Chen but nothing that would help me against this man.

      It should have scared me, but it didn’t. He’d been nothing but gentle with me the night before, and he was nothing but gentle now, and I didn’t feel afraid.

      It was almost as if he was a wall at my back, standing between me and the rest of the world, and instead of feeling afraid I felt almost...protected, somehow.

      A dangerous thing to feel. I could never let my guard down, not now Mr Chen was gone. It was his legacy I was protecting and that was something I took very seriously. I couldn’t let anyone threaten it, most especially not the powerful, sexy man standing behind me.

      ‘The rubies are pretty on you,’ he murmured, one hand sliding up from my bare hip to touch the jewels hanging between my breasts. ‘But I’d love to see you in pearls.’

      My mouth had gone dry. I knew I should be doing something to save myself, but all I could think of was seducing him the way I had last night. And I couldn’t tell if that was something I wanted for myself or so I could get out of the situation.

      ‘P-pearls?’ I stuttered, trying to grab my flailing thoughts.

      ‘Yeah, you’d look perfect in them. I love sparkle; don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I’m in the mood for showy and that means a diamond.’ His finger slid off the ruby and onto my skin, tracing the underside of my left breast, making another delicious shiver move over my skin. ‘But other times I’m in the mood for subtle and mysterious, in which case it’s pearls.’

      I swallowed, trying to breathe properly. ‘Are you saying I’m subtle and mysterious?’

      ‘You’re definitely mysterious.’ His mouth brushed behind my ear once more, heat washing over me. ‘Thea.’ It sounded as if he was tasting my name, turning it into something sensual rather than just the first name the nun who’d found me on her doorstep had given me.

      My head fell back against his shoulder, my eyelids feeling heavy. They wanted to close, and my body wanted to lean into his heat and strength, let him touch me any way he wanted. Take as much pleasure from him before the hard slap of reality came again—because it did; it always did.

       You’ll go back to being a ghost in the walls again.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ Damian’s fingers spread out, cupping my breast gently in his palm. His thumb teased my already hard nipple, making me gasp. ‘Who are you?’

       Why not tell him?

      So many reasons, not the least being Mr Chen’s business. He’d treated me like a daughter and that required that I protect what he’d built. Even though he’d decided against formally adopting me in the end.

      ‘You’re not my blood, Thea,’ he’d told me. ‘And, anyway, you’re too unstable. Too wild.’

      It had been hard to hear that, to know that no matter how hard I’d tried to force my feelings down to take on the lessons of calm and silence that he’d taught me, I still hadn’t been good enough for him. But that was okay.

      He’d left me his business and that was a pretty major gesture of trust all on its own. And if looking after that legacy meant I remained alone, well, so be it.

      I’d always thought I was okay with it, but now, with Damian’s arms around me, I wasn’t so sure. Would it be so bad to share a few things about myself with another person? I’d already given him my name, after all.

      His thumb brushed steadily back and forth over my aching nipple and I shut my eyes. ‘I’m Thea Smith.’ My surname another name the English nuns had given me. ‘And, yes, I’m here to steal the Red Queen. But it’s not for me. It’s for someone else.’

      ‘Who?’

      That teasing thumb brushed over me again, pleasure an electric shock through my system. I sighed and leaned back into him. ‘I don’t know. Everything is done through a middle man. I never know who I’m reacquiring for.’

      ‘Reacquiring?’

      Another electric touch, firmer. A soft pinch that made my breath catch. ‘That’s what I do. I reacquire items that have been stolen.’

       Are you sure telling him this is a good idea? You don’t know what he might do with the information.

      No, of course it wasn’t a good idea. But I was sick of being in the shadows, sick of not being seen. Sick of not being known.

      Sick of not existing.

      The sun was against my closed lids and Damian’s fingers on my breast were light, teasing. ‘Reacquisition,’ he echoed. ‘Interesting thing to call it. But there’s no record of the Red Queen being stolen.’

      ‘It must have been at some stage in its history otherwise I wouldn’t have been asked to reacquire it.’

      ‘Hmm.’ His hand spread out, cupping me, while his other hand slid down over my stomach, his fingers tangling in the curls between my thighs. ‘I guess I need to look into that.’ He pulled on the curls very gently, then his finger moved, finding my clit and grazing it lightly. I stiffened, pleasure lancing through me sharp and bright. ‘You need to tell me more about this reacquisition business.’

      ‘Do I...have to do it now?’ My hips lifted against his touch, restlessness and need filling me.

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