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“Good thing you didn’t,” she told him softly, staring back at him regretfully. “I don’t think you’d have much fun. ”
“Really?” he drawled.
“Yeah. I hear virgins are a bore to men of your advanced years, Alex. Go find your girlfriend. She’ll give you better sport. ”
Alex stared back at her. Years of training kept his expression from slackening in total shock. And a superhuman effort kept his hands from reaching out for her and jerking her against him.
“A virgin?”
“See? I’m not even fair game,” she told him as she collected her purse and keys. “Are you ready to leave now? Because I’m kind of tired. ”
She opened the door, forcing herself not to shiver as the cold February air whipped around her stocking-clad legs.
“I’ll walk you up. ”
He looked determined, implacable.
“Alex, I don’t need another guard dog. ” She sighed as he stepped out.
She set the alarm and closed the door, locking it quickly behind her before moving up the wide, wood steps to the small balcony and apartment door upstairs.
“There’s no inside entrance?” Alex asked behind her.
“Only in my dreams. ” She felt like groaning. She hated walking these stairs every night.
Alex watched her walk, watched her cute, tight little ass bunch and her hips sway. He was rock hard; images of taking her, seeing the innocence in her eyes as he filled her, were torturing him.
She was right; he should have been turned off. The thought of a virgin should have him running for the hills. The hell if he should be following her to her apartment like an obedient hound.
He could hav
e sat in his truck and watched her to the door.
But, he told himself, that wouldn’t mean she was safe. Someone could have gotten into the apartment.
Yeah right. Sitting in the truck wasn’t going to get him under that skirt of hers. And knowing she was a virgin wasn’t helping things.
It sent a shaft of possessiveness burning through him. And that, he didn’t want to feel. He didn’t feel possessive about women. It wasn’t allowed and it wasn’t part of his life.
So why the hell was he standing on her balcony now, watching as she unlocked the door and stepped inside? She disabled the security, closed the door behind them, and flipped on the lights.
He watched as she kicked off her shoes; spiky black heels, they made her legs look sexier than hell. She dropped her purse on the little table just beside the door and moved into the wide living room before turning on a lamp and turning to face him.
“See, I’m safe. ” She lifted her arms out to indicate the room, the apartment.
Alex shook his head slowly. Safe from everything but him. “You know what I want, don’t you, Janey?”
Her arms dropped to her side. For a second, just a second, she lost that unemotional, cool expression she had worn every time she had seen him in the past month since he had returned home. He saw her eyes flare with interest, with need, a hint of fear. Then, just as quickly, they were gone.
“No, I don’t know what you want, Alex. ” There was a thread of anger there now. “Do I owe you something? Is there something here that belongs to you?” Her lips quirked mockingly. “I don’t think there is. I don’t think there’s anything here that you want to do more than play with. ”
And she wasn’t a toy. The implication was there, and he knew, son of a bitch, fury searing his guts, he knew what Nadine had done to her. How she had asked Dayle to let her just “play” with Janey for a while.
The doctor’s report, Janey’s recollection of it—it had all been in Chaya’s report to Timothy Cranston, the agent in charge of that investigation last year.
Alex had read it. He had forced himself to read it. To look at the pictures the hospital had taken of the bite marks on her breasts. Janey wouldn’t tell them if the bitch had touched her anywhere else. For months Alex had dreamed he had killed Nadine slowly, slow and painfully, rather than the quick death he had given her.
“There’s many different kinds of play, Janey,” he told her softly. “There’s nothing vindictive or painful in what I want. You know that. ”
