Keeping Gemma (Holiday Cove 2)

“Seriously,” I added, turning in my office chair to focus back on my computer screen where I had the monthly budget projections pulled up.

“Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. I just…”

“Lana.”

“Goodnight, Aaron.”

“Goodnight.”

I waited until I could no longer hear the sound of her clunky shoes on the cement floor and released the breath I’d been holding all day. I muttered under my breath about finally getting some peace and quiet when a new sound pricked my ears.

Footsteps.

But not the chunky, rubber-soled variety.

No, if my fine-tuned ears were to be trusted, those were stiletto heels walking across my floor.

My heart plummeted into the pit of my stomach as I stood up to see who it was. There was only one person who walked like that, and not a second later—after her face appeared in my mind—her curvy body was draped across the frame of my open office door.

“Talia,” I said, my tone a mix of surprise and irritation.

Irritated or not, I couldn’t stop my eyes from taking a tour of every lush curve, reacquainting myself with what was arguably one of the sexiest women I’d ever had the pleasure of…pleasing.

She was wrapped tight in a black skirt that stretched across her hips in a way that made me want to moan. Her pink top was tucked into the skirt and pulled snug across her perfect breasts. The top two buttons had been left open to reveal just enough to get me uncomfortable in my jeans. Her long, dark hair was down, falling over her shoulders in loose waves and her even darker eyes were trained on me with an intensity that both unnerved me—and turned me on.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, barely keeping the husky desire out of my tone.

Talia was the type of woman who knew exactly how fuckin’ sexy she was. Every move, glance, and inflection was a tool she could use to bend men to her will—or, in the case of our meeting—to the will of her master.

“I know I’m the last person you want to see, but Aaron, I need your help.”

I folded my arms and leaned up against my desk. “Actually, you’re the second to last person I want to see. Your boyfriend—oh, I’m sorry,” I sneered, “—your ex-boyfriend, would be the last, last person I’d want to see.”

She took a beat and then pushed back her long waves, tossing them over her shoulders. “Okay, I deserved that.”

Her lack of arguing riled me further. If she didn’t argue and snipe back, it just made me feel like an asshole.

I sighed. “What do you need?”

“I need to escape. I need to go somewhere.” She licked her lips. “Somewhere far…away from here.”

“What’s going on? Why?” I could feel myself getting pulled back into her web, but I was powerless to stop it. Regardless of what had happened between us, and the way she’d used me, I still wanted her.

“Henry’s having me followed.”

“Followed?” My eyebrows shot up. “What for?”

“Like I told you at the bar last night, I left him a couple of weeks ago. Well, as you can imagine, that didn’t go over so well with him. At first, he threatened me with taking me to court, accusing me of breaching our contract.” She stopped and sucked in a deep breath. “He called me last night, screaming and yelling at me to get back over to his office where I, quote, unquote, belong. I told him, no, and that’s when he really lost it.”

She crossed my office and sat on the couch along the opposite wall. Only when she was sitting, did I realize that her hands were shaking. She braced them on her knees and continued, “I told him that if he dragged me to court, that I’d testify against him.”

“Oh shit…” I didn’t know everything O’Keefe had his hands in but threatening a power player like him wasn’t a smart move. Sure, I’d told him to go fuck himself, but I had the proper leverage. Talia—without help—would be a sitting duck. A problem. The kind of problem that usually ended up on the six o’clock news as a missing person case.

She nodded and sucked in another long breath, steeling herself. “I don’t know everything, but I know enough to be dangerous. But, God, I don’t know what I was thinking…it was stupid.”

“Ya think?”

She shot me a dirty look.

I held up my hands. “Sorry, but Talia, you, of all people, know who he is and what he’s capable of. He’s not the kind of guy you fuck with.”

“I know.” She nodded frantically. Her beautiful face crumpled under the strain of keeping it together for so long and she folded forward, burying her face in her hands. “It was stupid. I know that. Aaron…he’s going to kill me. There’s been a dark town car following me around ever since last night. I’ve been keeping to public places all day, but now…I have nowhere to go where he won’t be able to find me.”