|
An Excerpt From: GROUNDED
Copyright © ROSE MIDDLETON, 2007
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
“I hear the boss got it on,” Lenny crooned. “Did you get
your kicks then?”
Rocket shook his head and pretended to sift through a
pile of reports. The words on the pages became a jumble of symbols since
Lenny’s question brought to mind the woman from last night.
“It wasn’t like that Lenny.” Rocket’s voice cracked. He
did a lousy job of covering his elation.
“Oh.” Lenny sucked in a breath and wolf-whistled. “So
you got your socks knocked off then?”
Lifting his head, Rocket laughed. “You know, you don’t
talk like any cop I’ve met.”
“That’s ‘cause I’m not a cop and don’t change the subject,
lover boy.”
At that, Rocket threw down the pile of paper he was
holding, simultaneously lowering his guard. Lenny wanted details and while
Rocket had never before had the kind of friendship with a man where kiss
and tell was the rule, he needed to share this with someone.
“You’re wrong.” He shook his head, glad they were the
only two in the room. “My socks didn’t get blown off. They, along with the
rest of my attire, were ripped from my body by a goddess.”
Lenny slapped his thigh and laughed hard. “I knew it.
Who was she?”
“Some black-haired beauty who
blew into my life for one night. I didn’t even get her name.”
“Damn.” Lenny shook his head. “I need to teach you a few
things about getting laid, man.”
It was Rocket’s turn to laugh. He learned his lesson all
right, but not from any bloke. No, he’d been thoroughly taught how to get laid, as Lenny put it. Trouble was, one night wasn’t enough.
“You know, if she’s on tape, I could find her for you…”
Lenny offered.
“Nah.” Rocket shook his head, not wanting to abuse the
surveillance system for personal reasons. “If she’s the right one, she’ll
come back.”
Not that he believed his words. Heck no. He believed the
complete opposite but he wasn’t about to tell his chief of security that.
The sad reality for Rocket was that last night would have to suffice.
“If you don’t know who she is,” Lenny persisted, “then
how do you know you didn’t get sucked into a trap? She could be some crazed
psycho after you or your money.”
Rocket’s head snapped to attention. He’d learned that
lesson the hard way shortly after his twenty-first birthday and he wasn’t
about to repeat it. It probably paid to pursue the possibility but every
time her face entered his thoughts, all sense of responsibility exploded.
“No.” Rocket shook his head. “She didn’t come across
that way at all.”
“No?” Lenny’s eyebrows arched incredibly high. Those
silk black brush strokes almost reached his hairline. “Exactly how did she
come, then?”
Opening his mouth to respond, Rocket snapped it shut
when he saw the mischievous twinkle in the ex-cop’s eyes. “Damn you,” he muttered.
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you about her.”
Lenny laughed. “Okay, I’ll lay
off for now. But in my professional opinion, I’d let me take a look at the
tapes if I were you.”
“Your professional opinion?” Rocket asked, dropping into
a nearby chair.
Lenny nodded, his expression
one of exasperation. “You hired me to look after the club, yes, but you
also hired me to look after your safety. Remember?”
Rocket frowned. He remembered no such thing. “I did?”
Nodding, Lenny reached across the desk and picked up the
remote control. With it, he could control all the footage from every camera
in the club and right now, he aimed it at the bank of television screens on
the far wall.
“You didn’t say it in so many words but a man of your
repute needs some protection. I’m your man.”
Taking a deep breath, a wave of fatigue washed over him.
Rocket relented and gave Lenny a nod. “Sure, I’ll buy it. Run the tapes.”
Lenny grinned and hit the play button. Immediately the
wall of television screens came to life, showing last night’s crowd. The
center screen, some seventy or so inches across, came alive with a sea of
bodies dancing to the muted music.
He saw her right away, moments after she entered when
she danced erotically with the men around her. It wouldn’t take long for
him to enter the frame and while he wanted to see how they looked together,
Rocket didn’t want Lenny seeing him get up close and personal the way he’d
done.
“That’s her,” Rocket said. Lenny paused
the tape. “The one in the center, long black hair.”
“Jesus,” Lenny gasped. “You can see right through that
shirt of hers.” His head spun to look at Rocket. “She’s not wearing
anything under it.”
Rocket couldn’t stop the grin forming on his face. No,
she wasn’t. He saw that now, though how he missed it last night was anyone’s
guess. On the screen before him, he got a closer look at that tattoo on her
shoulder. Nothing was familiar about it but he could tell it belonged to a
band, or a gang, or something of that nature. Lenny had one that he wore
proudly, but his tattoo came from his days on the police force and all the
members in his division had the same one.
From the camera angle, only the top of her head showed.
Lenny sifted through the various angles but couldn’t get a clear shot of
her face. She couldn’t have hidden from the cameras any better if she
tried, but the frustration it caused Lenny amused Rocket.
“Don’t worry,” Rocket said easily. “She’ll look right up
into the camera in a minute.”
“Say again?”
Rocket shrugged under Lenny’s scrutiny. “She looked
right up at me.”
“See? I told you she’s after you. How else would she
have known you were there?”
“Luck, Lenny, woman’s intuition. Don’t read too much
into it.”
Together, Lenny and Rocket watched the scene unfold as
the woman used her incredible feminine power to charm every man around her.
Lenny commented that if he’d seen her first, Rocket wouldn’t have stood a
chance. Rocket believed him.
At the moment she looked up, Lenny paused
the tape. The room fell quiet and they both stared at the screen. Rocket
felt her eyes all over him again. His groin ached in remembrance of her
tightness and he was suddenly glad for the cover of the table. How could a
simple image of her make him hard again?
“Jesus H. Christ,” Lenny cursed.
Rocket expected Lenny to comment about her gorgeous face
but instead he remained tight-lipped. He said nothing, just shook his head
and stopped the tape. His face paled and he looked like he might throw up.
Everything about him said he recognized her, but when Rocket asked, Lenny
denied it. What Lenny couldn’t hide was the ghostly look of acknowledgment
in his eyes, the one that told Rocket the truth.
Lenny knew her identity, which meant Rocket could get in
contact with her. But Lenny wasn’t telling and
that had Rocket more than worried.
CLOSE WINDOW
|