Seduction in Session (The Perfect Gentlemen 2)

out of the shadows and he tipped his head up, making sure she could see him.

Shit, she mouthed and started to walk toward him.

He shook his head slightly and held up two fingers. She nodded, signaling that she was aware they weren’t alone.

Lara hit the bottom step and he turned. She took one look at him, and a scream broke through the air.

Unfortunately so did a bullet. Connor tackled her just as one hit his arm.

ELEVEN

Lara hit the ground with a hard thud, but that didn’t stop her from kicking out at her attacker. His big body covered hers, and then they were rolling to her right. “Get off me. Do you know what my boyfriend will do to you?”

She heard sirens in the distance. He stopped and pulled back his hood. “Do you know what your boyfriend is going to do to you?”

Connor stared down at her, his expression ferocious.

Lara couldn’t breathe. Her heart nearly stopped. “I can explain.”

There was a pinging sound and Connor cursed as something rained down on them. “Get behind the wall, damn it. They’re shooting.”

She scrambled to her knees and he shoved her into the shrubbery that lined the steps on the road level of the monument. The leaves raked against her skin, but her palms were already wet. In the dim light she could see it was blood. Connor’s blood.

“You’re hit.”

He crouched in front of her, a gun in his hand. “It’s nothing. And it’s definitely nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you. You lied to me.”

“Not exactly. You never asked me if I was going to a meeting.” And why did it matter when he’d been shot? “You need to go to the hospital. Who’s shooting at you?”

“Not me. You, princess. As with all things in my life lately, this has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you. The Russian mob sent a welcome party. They probably have had a man or two casing your apartment building just waiting for you to do something idiotic. You don’t like to disappoint people, do you?”

She ignored his harsh words. He had every right to be testy. And she hated that she’d had more than one occasion to see how Connor handled nearly being killed. She gasped as she remembered her partner in crime. “Everly’s out there. Oh, god, Connor. I brought Everly into this.”

“Yes, I’m sure we’ll talk about that later, but Everly can handle herself. In fact, it looks like she handled at least one of them.” He stood up. “Where’s the other?”

“He took off.” Lara could hear Everly shouting.

“Tell me she’s alive.” Connor nodded at something Lara couldn’t see.

“I would love to but I’m probably done with lying this evening. It was clear self-defense so don’t worry about me. You should get her out of here.”

Lara peeked above the line of bushes and saw the body of a woman lying at Everly’s feet. She gasped and started to dash toward her friend.

Connor hooked an arm around her middle. “Not on your life.”

“Put me down.” Despite the fact that he’d been shot, he easily carried her along. “We have to stay and talk to the police. You don’t know what they’ll do to Everly. They might think she’s a murderer.”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a survivor, princess. You better hope you are, too. Put this on.” He stopped and set her down, handing her a helmet.

She looked down at it. He was climbing on the back of a Harley. Had he been the one following her earlier? Had he been trailing her the whole time? “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

He turned to her as he started the bike. “Right now, you don’t need to understand. You need to obey. I’m not kidding, Lara. If you don’t get on the back of this bike and hold on, I’m going to lose my shit. You don’t want me to do that.”

People tend to die around Connor Sparks. She stared at him, blinking, unnerved.

“Lara, if the police get here before we leave, they will take whatever evidence that man gave you into custody and you won’t see it again.”

She was being ridiculous. Connor wouldn’t hurt her. Oh, he was going to lecture the hell out of her and she had a lot of explaining to do, but she couldn’t believe he would truly harm her. And he was making a lot of sense. Since she hadn’t even looked at the list, she couldn’t afford to let it go. On the other hand, she’d dragged Everly into danger. Lara looked back in her friend’s direction.

“Gabe is on his way. She’s fine. Now get on the bike or we’ll do this the hard way.”

She believed him. She shoved the too-big helmet on her head and scrambled on behind him. The minute her arms went around his waist, he took off. It probably wasn’t the time to fret that he wasn’t wearing a helmet or remind him that was dangerous. He’d already been shot, so he probably wasn’t thinking about possible concussions.

She held onto his solid frame as he roared into the night. When they got back to her place, Lara had no doubt he intended to fire off a bunch of questions. But she had a few of her own.

Her confidential informant sounded like he knew Connor very well. And the CI had called him Sparks. Had Connor really been in the Crawford Building when all hell had broken loose? Not according to him. Supposedly he’d been on the West Coast for months.

Lara leaned against him. She’d never been on a motorcycle before. They weren’t the most environmentally friendly vehicles, but she liked how close she felt to him. When he stopped at a light, he balanced the bike before running his hand over her right knee as though assuring himself she was really there.

She pressed her chest against his back and dragged her hands up the ridges of his abdomen and his pectorals, stopping to feel his heart beating.

“That won’t save you,” he growled. “But it might put me in a better mood. It might encourage me to take my payback in a different way.” His hand drifted from her knee, up to her thigh.

She cuddled closer to him. Maybe she wanted a little payback of her own. After all, he’d given her the fright of a lifetime. He could have told her he was there. He’d deliberately hidden from her. He’d been sitting there, looking homeless as she walked by.

But he’d also risked his life to save hers. Someone had been waiting to steal the information the CI had given her, maybe even mow her down with bullets. Connor hadn’t thought twice, just shielded her with his big body as he’d led her to safety. Yes, he’d first come home with her as her bodyguard, but he hadn’t merely saved her because she was a job. The way he touched her told Lara that.

The light changed and he took off again. She should be thinking about how her informant knew Connor, but all her brain seemed capable of was thinking about Connor and the enormity of what he’d done for her. It touched her heart . . . and parts farther south. Adrenaline pumped through her system and fed a need that seemed to flow straight to her sex.

She wanted him.

Lara always thought things through, but what she felt for him didn’t have anything to do with her intellect. It was a primal thing that wouldn’t be denied. What she felt now didn’t care about questions. It didn’t stop to second guess. And her libido didn’t give a crap what someone else said or thought. She’d latched onto Connor with her heart and now she only cared about him.

When he drove right by her place, she didn’t question him. She simply followed his lead.

It was time to tell Connor everything, to truly trust him.

As he drove through the night, Lara held tight. She wasn’t sure how much time passed, but after a while, he pulled off the freeway. He’d twisted and turned a path through the city. She’d finally figured out he was trying to make sure they hadn’t been tailed.

He pulled into a nondescript motel parking lot, stopped the bike, and eased off. “Come on.”

“Connor?”

He turned, his jaw a tight line. “No questions right now. I need you to walk in and get us a room. I’ve got blood on my jacket. They won’t rent to me. In fact if they get a good look at me, they’ll likely call the police an

d then you lose whatever it was that was far more important than our relationship.”

She managed to hold in a crushed gasp. “Connor . . .”

He shook his head sharply. “Not now. Pay cash. They will want a credit card. You can’t give them one. This should work instead.”

She took the bill he handed her. One hundred dollars. “You expect me to bribe the clerk?”

“If you want us both to survive this situation, yes. If he won’t take it, we’ll find another motel. Understand I’ll be watching your every move. You don’t want to make me come after you.”

If he thought she couldn’t pull this off, he was wrong. She could bribe people. She could get motel rooms on the down low. Hell, she was wanted by the Russian mob. If that didn’t say something about her toughness, she wasn’t sure what did.

And if he thought he was going to intimidate her, he was wrong.