Her eyes were even larger now, huge and luminous and filled with shock and disbelief. When the man slowly backed into the center of the floor, slid the zipper down on his leather jacket. He saw her gasp.
Her intent expression, of innocence mixed with curious wonder, annoyed him, making him feel …. He wasn’t even sure what this feeling was. That he could feel his face heat angered him. He was too old, too cynical now, and oh, too professional to actually get jealous over a client. Damn her.
Bonnie Rimmer was no longer a picture, but a real breathing woman. The lights in the bar illuminated her face and David let himself stare at her for a while. The pictures he had seen were clearly a shoddy portrayal of the woman because the real life version was so much better.
The man on the stage seemed to notice her staring and focused his gaze on her, obviously enjoying the attention he was getting. David decided he didn’t have the time to watch her flirt with some stripper guy, so he held her jaw and forced her to look at him.
“Hey!” he said, “There is no time for all that eye batting at that guy. You and I have business”
Bonnie forced his hand away. “What business?” she asked. “You literally kidnapped me and forced me to sit here with you”
“I saved you from those guys”
“And then forced me to come with you so you are even worse than they are. What do you want from me? Money? You better say something reasonable because I am going to walk out of here right now and if you try to stop me I will fight back”
He smiled, his eyes narrowing only the slightest bit. “You mean that kick thing you did with that drunk guy at the back? Yeah I’m not sure it’s going to work on me”
Mark brought their drinks and David took a sip of his but Bonnie didn’t touch hers. He might have saved her from those men but she didn’t trust the guy one bit. For the first time since she met him, Bonnie let herself look at him…really look at him. His eyes…They were a fierce green and reflected the lights. He stared directly at her, then moved so close she could smell the clean male fragrance of him, could feel his body heat. And God, he was hot.
The audience screamed at the stripper who was still performing… loving it, loving him. He laughed, his expression filled with satisfaction, then went back to his dancing. Women begged for his attention, but he didn’t comply.
Not that it mattered, because Bonnie’s attention wasn’t on him any more, but on the stranger who had saved her. His long dark hair was damp with sweat and beginning to curl. His face was beautiful, almost too beautiful. It was the kind of face that should make innocent women wary of losing their virtue. Green eyes, framed by deliciously long dark lashes and thick eyebrows, held cynical humor and were painfully direct and probing when he chose to use them that way. His nose was straight and narrow, his jaw firm.
Bonnie realized she was being fanciful, and silently gathered her thoughts. She needed to concentrate on finding out what he wanted with her. The show finally ended, the music fading with the lighting until the floor was in darkness. The applause that followed was deafening. And seconds later, the guy left the stage, his leather jacket slung over his shoulder, his pants and boots in his hand. He moved closer to where they were seated, said something to the bartender, then smiled and winked at Bonnie. David simply rolled his eyes, finished his drink in one gulp, paid, then he took Bonnie’s arm without any explanation, and rapidly pulled her toward an inside door. They narrowly missed a mob of advancing women.
Bonnie wanted to run, but he was much stronger and had a tight grip on her arm. He pulled her into a back room, shut the door, then flipped on a light switch. Bonnie found herself in a storage closet of sorts, lined with shelves where cleaning supplies sat and a smelly mop tainted the air. A leather satchel rested in the corner. He let go of her arm and went to stand a hairbreadth away from her.
“You know, as someone who almost got grabbed by a bunch of low lives minutes ago, you are way too calm around strangers”
Bonnie blinked. His words were nowhere near what she’d expected to hear. She tucked in her chin. “I beg your pardon? You are the one who grabbed me and pulled me out here. Okay, screw this…Who are you and what do you want from me.”
“David Stewart. Private Investigator. Your father sent me to find you.” He said.
The answer was straightforward, but definitely not what Bonnie expected to hear. She had known that her parents would look for her, but after two weeks, nothing had happened and she just assumed that they had decided to let her be. Ridiculous to think that, but at least she had hoped that was the case.
Bonnie blinked. “What?” she managed to say since no other words would come out.
“Your father wants you back home. You have to come with me”
Shrugging, she forced her eyes away from his and stared at the dingy mop. “Well, you can go tell him that I’m not coming home…and I’m definitely not going anywhere with you. And since you’re obviously not a law enforcement officer, you have no right to make me go anywhere with you.”
He snorted, and Bonnie was relieved that he wasn’t some kind of kidnapper or serial killer, but she wasn’t sure yet. He gave her a look that curled her toes, then said, “I can make you do anything dear, and just what do you think you are doing out here, lady? You don’t belong here. Do you have any idea what those guys would have done to you if I hadn’t shown up when I did?”
He was right, but it was unbelievably difficult to talk with him so near. He smelled delicious, of warm male flesh, though she tried her best not to notice. But his body was too fine to ignore for long, despite her resolve not to give in to unladylike tendencies-such as overwhelming lust.
She licked her dry lips, then met his eyes. His gaze lingered on her mouth, then slowly coasted over the rest of her body. She knew she wasn’t particularly attractive.