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; When she emerged she pointed one finger at him. “I worked it out while I was stuck under there, I know who it is you reminded me of.”
“What?” He’d been hoping she’d slip readily back into his arms, filled with awe after witnessing the reveal on the case she’d been so fascinated with.
She shook her head, hauling her skirt into place as she did so. “It kept bugging me who you look like, right from when I first saw you. Then, when you said you were an investigator, I clicked. You’re related to that TV investigator bloke, that Benjamin O’ Neil, aren’t you?”
Man, that was the last thing he expected her to say. “Yes, but I am an official, I work for a reputable company. Ben’s a…well, he’s a loose canon.” Baby bro Ben seemed hell-bent on making a name for himself by breaking and entering, all in the name of uncovering the truth for some cutting-edge TV show. It wasn’t going down well with the rest of the family. They were all worried about his safety when he stepped outside of the law.
“I knew it.” Just then she glanced at the scene outside the window, where the police were involved in a scuffle with Theresa. Just for a moment, Liam caught a flash of dismay in her eyes. She was gutted, but she’d been pals with Theresa and obviously hadn’t suspected her. A moment later she returned her attention to him, folding her arms over her chest and giving him a terse glance. “You’ve made a fool out of me.”
What? “Chrissie! I have not. It was my job.” He pulled her against him, annoyance biting into him at her accusation, his hands locked around her shoulders. Resistance poured out of her, that stubborn streak of hers rising rapidly to the surface again.
“I knew the thief had to be an insider,” she declared, and she was plenty annoyed herself.
Liam tried to get a handle on her—which he was discovering was a pretty hard task. He never would have predicted this particular departure in her mood. What the hell was a man supposed to do? “Of course you did. You’re a very intelligent woman.”
“Apparently not.” Color flared in her cheeks. “You should have told me you were a security person, instead of letting me make a fool of myself.”
“Oh, come on, I couldn’t take a risk like that. You might have let it slip, given her a chance to cover up and get away.”
Her lips tightened, and her eyes shone with fury in the gloom. She wrestled herself free of his grasp. “You bastard. You used me tonight, to…to stay in here, and to keep yourself amused.”
Oh boy, she really was mad. He reached for her. “You didn’t complain at the time, besides, you didn’t make a fool of yourself.”
She backed away, hands up. “Don’t you dare touch me!”
She’d gone loopy, but for some ludicrous reason it made him want her all the more. He made a move, but she was already headed out the door. He began to go after her and then forced himself to stop. Something was really bugging her, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She needed time to cool her heels, get used to what had gone on here this evening, in every way. But he wasn’t going to let her get away that easy. Not after what had gone on between them, back there on the desk. No way.
A week later, Liam finally came to the conclusion Chrissie needed longer to cool her heels than he’d originally thought, but he was a tenacious sort. He wanted it resolved. In his line of work—late hours, moving from post to post quickly—he didn’t often get the chance to spend quality time with the women he met. It was a family trait; he and his brothers had displeased their mother royally by not securing good women for her to take under her wing. Displeasing an Irish mother was a bad move, resulting in long, woeful speeches over family dinners; speeches about how hard done by she was not having daughters-in-law to nurture. It didn’t bother him, or in fact any of the three of the O’ Neil brothers, but Chrissie had caught his attention more than anyone he’d met in years. He wanted to see her again.
However, when he’d turned up at her workplace he found she’d taken unplanned leave. The staff there wouldn’t hand over her home address. He couldn’t blame them for that. She didn’t respond to his voicemail, or return his e-mail, even though he knew she’d be checking them both from home. The desire to speak with her was becoming an unrelenting need. Thoughts of her filled his mind, his libido easily triggered as he thought back over what had happened between them. It didn’t help that he had to prepare the closed-circuit footage for evidence. He delivered the hard drives for each of the nights that showed Theresa’s nocturnal visits to the police. Problem was, the camera in Theresa’s office had also caught the whole of his interlude with Chrissie. As far as Liam was concerned, it was the hottest porn he had ever seen.
He made an executive decision not to include that drive, since it wasn’t strictly needed. Instead, he would wipe it before he returned it to supplies.
First, he had to watch it a few more times.
The images were hampered by the angle and the gloominess of the room, but he was able to enhance it and zoom in. He was fascinated by the way Chrissie looked, her abandonment. The raunchy way she wrapped her legs around his hips made him painfully erect. He jerked off as he watched her pulling him in, whispering his name and letting down her barriers. The noises she made during the lovemaking made his balls ache. His fist moved faster. He wanted to be inside her again, now, right now.
At the moment of climax, she turned her face away from his, and it caused him to swear under his breath as he watched her mouth opening, her fingers meshing in his hair. At the base of his spine pressure built, thudding hard as he jacked his load, cursing the fact it was a lonely emission instead of a shared pleasure. Afterwards, he noticed that her arms closed around him and she kissed the side of his head. That surprised him most of all. At the time he’d been so caught up in his own release he hadn’t realized she had shown any affection toward him.
He spent longer than was good for him rerunning the footage, and eventually burned it onto his own hard drive before wiping the company drive. He couldn’t help himself, he wanted the memento. He also wanted proof she had been that way, she’d wanted that level of intimacy with him and she’d enjoyed it.
At the same time he knew that if he confronted her at work, she would make a run for it, just like she had that night. That’s why he came up with a plan, a plan that involved enlisting his older brother’s help to convince her to listen long enough that he could point out some home truths to her. Liam was a practical sort of a man, and he came up with a practical plan, albeit a bit aggressive.
Whatever it took, Liam was going to make her listen to what he had to say. There was a deeply sensual woman underlying that stubborn and headstrong exterior. If it took sex to bring it out in her, it was his duty to hunt her down and shag her senseless.
Chrissie drove her car onto the driveway in front of her small, suburban house, parked and sighed with relief. Well, she convinced herself it was relief. Maybe it was resignation. The important thing was she’d survived day one back at work. It was hard. Theresa had been the only other woman in the office, and Theresa had turned out to be the weak point. That made her feel bad, even though she knew she herself was a strong link. Meanwhile, Liam had filled her e-mail box and her voicemail, but hadn’t, thank god, turned up to bug her in person. She’d been ready for that—expecting it, almost.
Now she was safely home and it was her haven. It had felt a bit lonely over the past few days, while she was off work, but Liam didn’t know where she lived, which meant he couldn’t hassle her here. He’d give up soon. Maybe he had already. Her head dropped back against the headrest. Just thinking about what had happened between them and how misguided she’d been made her feel uncomfortable, even now, a week later. She’d meant to confront him over his devious behavior around the office and get to the bottom of it. Somehow he’d got her on her back instead. She sighed as the physical memories flooded her, her pulse tripping when her body flared into life at the mere thought of him.
“Snap out of it,” she told herself, and reached for the door handle. It was then she noticed t
he blue lights flashing in her rearview mirror. There was a police car parked up behind hers. “What the hell?”
She grabbed her keys and got out of the car, watching as a tall, uniformed police officer walked up her driveway. Stern but attractive, he was built like the side of a house, and he looked vaguely familiar. There was another man in the car, and the way the vehicle was parked, it was completely blocking the driveway, hedging her in like a criminal. What would the neighbors think?
The officer flashed a badge. “Good evening, Madam. Are you aware of any traffic violations you might have made in the last ten minutes of your journey home?”
“No!” Chrissie was shocked; she was a very careful driver. She was mortified to think she’d done something wrong. Then she realized she’d snapped at the policeman and tried to soften it with a non-offensive smile. “I’m sorry, officer, I know it’s no excuse, but I’ve had a lot on my mind recently.”
