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He pulled his hand back quickly, trying to ignore how right her smaller hand had felt in his. What was he thinking? He helped all manner of women around the world, but if they were married, even if their husbands were despicable scum balls, he was very careful not to cross any boundaries or have untoward thoughts. He’d controlled himself even around the gorgeous Malory Grange when she was married to that loser Senator Ted Malouf. After she’d been divorced Gray had made his play, and been shot down by a woman for the first time in his life. But if he could control himself around the likes of Malory, he could definitely keep himself from feeling attracted to Scarlett.
Scarlett Lily Quinn was one of the top A-list actresses in the world. He’d known her for years, hosted the Grammy awards with her, and ran into her at numerous events and parties. Her husband, Griff, was a tough ex-Navy SEAL who Gray had been impressed with, the farthest thing from a scum ball. Gray knew Scarlett was expecting their second child. He thought she was due soon. He looked and her stomach was far too flat to be almost through a pregnancy. She looked fit in tight black clothing that outlined her lean frame and all of her curves. Very, very fit. And he shouldn’t be looking at her like that. He scrubbed at his beard with his fingertips.
“Close but no cigar,” Scarlett drawled out. “Sara Sanderson. I’m Scarlett’s stunt double.”
“Oh. That’s right.” Relief filled him. He wasn’t attracted to a married woman.Thank you heaven above.But Scarlett’s stunt double … interesting, very interesting.
He still had no clue why she was here or why Tim or one of his other security people weren’t rushing out here to intercept her. He stared at Sara’s beautiful face with startling blue eyes and smooth dark hair. It was incredible how much she and Scarlett looked alike with the exception of the eye and hair color. Did Sara dye her hair, or wear a wig for her stunts? Colored contacts, or did they not really get close enough to show a stunt doubles’ eye color?
“We met in …” He was grappling. He remembered meeting her. Very well. But he traveled so often, most of the locations blended together. It had been tropical. An incredibly lush jungle. The cloud forest. A high-profile wedding. A benefit concert.
“Costa Rica,” she supplied. “Colt Quinn and Kim Heathrow’s wedding, and you did a benefit concert for Jex and Pearl Steele’s extreme sports camp for the refugees’ children.”
He nodded. All the pieces clicking. It sounded like she remembered their first meeting too. He liked that. She’d been beautiful, sassy, and grinning then as well. He’d felt an instant attraction to her, but hadn’t seen her since and finding her phone number had proven tougher than he’d imagined it would be. That had been a couple of years ago and he’d been busy composing songs, playing on his saxophone or the keyboard, recording songs, and exhausting traveling tours like the one he just finished, and the one he was set to start in a couple of weeks. At least the Caribbean was a short tour.
“It’s good to see you,” he said.
“It’s good to be seen.” She winked and looked over him. “You’re lookingfabulousas always.”
“Thank you.” He was pretty sure she was teasing him not flirting with him. He resisted flexing to make sure she knew how hard he worked to look ‘fabulous’. He stayed extremely fit with both his own personal trainer and a world-renowned chef who cooked healthy and delicious food traveling with him.
“You’re not going to return the compliment?” She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder and winked.
He laughed. She was irresistible. It was the same impression he’d had last time he’d met her. No wonder he’d tried so hard to track down her number. But Scarlett had insisted she couldn’t give Sara’s number out to any of the many men who asked, he’d hated that response, and even his impressive assistant Janie had struck out. But Janie was always jealous of any woman he was interested in so he suspected she hadn’t tried as hard as she should.
“You look even more gorgeous than last time I saw you. Your beautiful face is more exquisite and mind-blowing than the sunrise over the Jungfrau.”
“Ah.” She patted his cheek and said almost condescendingly. “That smooth tongue of yours. Maybe if you wrote a song about me I’d believe you were sincere.”
He chuckled. “All right. Challenge accepted.” He shivered, the cold wind brushing over his half-clothed and wet body. His temperature was dropping and quick. The water still dripping from his suit had gone from warm to freezing. He’d probably gotten her wet from pinning her down, but she didn’t shiver or act cold.
“Let’s get you inside,” she said, tilting her head toward the glass doors.
He gestured for her to go first. Sara smiled and shook her head. “Gentlemen,” she said in a scoffing tone.
His eyebrows rose. What was that about? He had a lot of questions for her. But first … “How did you get past my security guy?”
“Oh, Tim?” She looked back at Gray. “He’s fine, but he is duct-taped and zip-tied next to the garage.”
“Excuse me?” He stared at her, pretty certain she was joking but admittedly not a hundred percent. His security guys were top notch and he couldn’t imagine Russ not coming himself with an intruder penetrating Russ’s intricately-woven security web. No matter how gorgeous and welcome this intruder was.
“I’d tell you to go look, but you need to get dressed and wading through that snow might give you frostbite. It’s freezing out here.” She did the cutest all-over body shiver he’d ever seen. Maybe cute was the wrong word. He could write an entire song about how appealing she looked right now. “I know, I’m gorgeous. I can read it in your eyes, and yes you did get me wet pinning me down.” Shaking her head and laughing at him, she said, “Come on, my irresistible saxophone player and singer extraordinaire. Let’s go.” She bounced to the patio door and flung it wide, slipping inside.
Gray grabbed a towel and hurried after her, squeezing some of the water out of his suit before securing the towel around his waist. He shut the door behind him, appreciating the warm house, the in-floor heating making even the wood floor warm. She walked over to the fireplace, picked up the remote, and clicked it on.
“Nice place,” she said, giving a cursory glance around at the three-story open area with the massive three-story stone fireplace on the wall next to the double doors to the master suite, the wall perpendicular to that was three levels of windows overlooking the valley almost two thousand feet below, the huge living room and the state of the art kitchen and dining area on the opposite side of the windows. The ‘nice place’ was a twenty million dollar mansion perched on an exclusive mountainside a short walk from the high-dollar resort village of Wengen and one of the most gorgeous settings in the world, but it didn’t seem to impress this lady too much.
“Thanks,” he murmured, so confused right now. Why was Scarlett Lily’s stunt double in his living room, teasing and flirting with him, and had she truly bested his highly-trained security guards? If that was true, why had she let Gray pin her down? He thought himself a great fighter but he hadn’t bested even Kaden yet, despite the tips Tim always gave him when they sparred, and Russ and Cameron were ten times tougher than Kaden. Russ was a decorated and accomplished former marine who Gray thought would win a battle against any man, or woman, in the world.
“Come over here and get warm,” she said again. “I’ve got a bit to tell you and then you can shower while I get settled and we’ll chat more as I’m sure the questions will keep coming.”
“Did you really tie Tim up?” he asked in disbelief, walking to the fireplace and getting in her space, staring down at her beautiful and seemingly-innocent looking face. He could see that her exquisite blue eyes that seemed so lit up and friendly were actually guarded. He’d met and helped many, many woman over the years and could usually read what they needed and the anguish they’d been through. This woman had a shield up that he doubted anyone could get through.
“Zip-tied and duct taped,” she corrected in a sing-song tune. “Of course I did. The rest of your security men are equally incapacitated. You’re right. We should actually go say hello to them quick and let them go. They can go free Tim. He might be getting chilled out there. Though I needed to prove a point, and I checked the surrounding area thoroughly and put up extra perimeter security when I disabled yours. I’ll know if anyone but me tries to infiltrate your beautiful rental home, but it’s probably not smart to leave your guys out of commission with all the people you have after you at the moment. Plus, if I’m going to be working with your security I shouldn’t make enemies out of them. I might get my hand slapped for that one.” She grinned.
Sara was equal parts gorgeous, appealing, cute, baffling, and possibly unstable. Hand slapped? Did she ever get in trouble for her sassy tongue and antics? Who could get upset at a woman with a smile that friendly and seemingly-sweet? If she’d truly bested his security, she was light years from sweet.
He had so many questions but he started with. “All the people after me?” He scrubbed his fingers through his beard. “The Russian mafia?”
