Leather, Lace and Rock-n-Roll (15 page)

Cameron whipped around so hard she almost
tumbled into Greg and Monica. Max gripped her waist to keep her
upright.

Greg laughed. “Guess we’ve all had a little
much to drink.”

Cameron all but shouted at him. “I’m not
drunk, you lush, just—”

This time Max gave her curls a serious yank.
“Yeah, she just needs to sleep it off.”

Greg gave a goofy grin. “We’re going to call
it a night. Do you need anything before I go?”

“As a matter of fact,” Cameron said, “I do.
Could you please tell Sean I’m leaving with Rachel?”

Greg gripped the back of a chair. “Actually,
he—”

“Huntington will deliver the message.” Max
put a hand to the small of her back and pushed her to move.

“Where are Hawke and Rachel?” Monica
asked.

Max nudged Cameron further from the table.
“Waiting for us in the hallway.”

Hawke had managed to get Rachel upright and
into a chair outside the door, but she was still limp and
incoherent when they reached her. Her eyes were open but not
focused.

“Get the car, Max.” Hawke lifted Rachel into
his arms.

“Done. It’s parked at the side entrance.”

Max opened the limo door and motioned Hawke
through. Cameron felt two very large hands on her backside as she
bent to make sure Rachel rested comfortably in Hawke’s lap.

She scowled at the owner over her shoulder.
“Watch the hands, Mr. Big.”

Max didn’t offer an apology and shoved her
inside just before he crawled in beside her and barked orders at
the driver.

As they sped through town, Hawke held Rachel
on his lap, tenderly sweeping her hair out of her face and
whispering to her. Max punched numbers on his cell phone, spoke in
some sort of bodyguard language, then dialed again.

Cameron dropped her head into her hands. What
on Earth happened tonight? She knew for a fact Rachel didn’t drink
anything other than one glass of wine. She racked her brain for
answers, interrupted when someone shook her shoulder.

“Hey, did you hear me?”

She lifted her head to address the hey man.
“No, Frankenstein, I’m kinda freaked out right now. Listening to
you isn’t my first priority.”

He pursed his lips. “Did you eat or drink
anything that she did? Does she have some kind of medical condition
that could have caused this?”

Cameron prayed for patience. “No medical
condition. I didn’t eat off her plate and she didn’t eat off
mine.”

“How do you feel?”

She gave him an over-exaggerated smile.
“Peachy. And you?”

He totally ignored her sarcasm and kept
firing questions. “What about alcohol?”

“She only drank the wine I offered you to
taste.”

“Did you ever leave the table
unattended?”

“Yes, Daddy, we went to the ladies’
room.”

Max paused and his chest rose and fell with
several deep breaths. He peered over the top of his sunglasses and
she caught the dim sparkle in his eyes. She cursed her smart mouth.
Apparently, he read more into the daddy comment than she
intended.

“When we came back, she drank some water and
the glass of wine. I only sipped mine.”

Max didn’t answer and the questions stopped.
Cameron breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the
seat.

Once at the hospital, Max opened the door,
stepped out, and scooped Rachel from Hawke’s lap. “I’ll be back for
you two.”

Cameron shook her head. “We’re right behind
you.”

“I said I’ll be back.”

Cameron glanced at Hawke then back at Max.
“I’m not letting her go in alone.”

All of a sudden, Joe Cool blew his cool all
over her. “So help me God, you come out of that car and I’ll turn
you over my knee and paddle your ass here and now.”

Hawke inhaled a sharp breath. Cameron sat
motionless, her eyes wide. Max slammed the door.

Before she could formulate an appropriate
response to his threat, other than paddle me, please, he returned
and flung open the door.

“Out.”

Cameron left the car with Hawke behind her.
Max shuffled them through the Emergency Room and then into a
private waiting room in one corner.

“As soon as the doctor takes a look at her,
we can go in.”

Cameron crossed her knees and swung one leg
as she listened to Hawke and Max and tried not to panic.

“What do you think, Max?” Hawke’s normally
smooth, husky tone held a slight quiver.

“I’m thinking drugs.”

Hawke released a rough breath. “What the
hell?”

Max shrugged. “She can’t even stand straight.
Either that or she’s allergic to something.”

Cameron’s leg stilled. She glanced down at
her knees and noticed her earlier movement had inched the hem of
her dress to her upper thigh. She stole a quick glance at both men.
Hawke’s head was now lowered in his hands. Max, however, appeared
to be staring straight at her. Those sexy dark lenses prevented her
from knowing for sure. With no other choice, she wiggled the fabric
back to its rightful place at mid-thigh.

She cleared her throat. “All those people
know and respect Rachel. Why would one of them drug her?”

Hawke raised his head. “The drug might not
have been meant for her, Cameron.”

Cameron felt her eyes widen to at least
quarter size. “You?”

Hawke nodded.

She looked at Max. “Really?”

Max echoed Hawke’s nod. “There’s some sick
fu-, uh people, in the world.”

Cameron’s body began to tremble. She stood
and stepped to the door. “I’m going to check on her.”

The door snapped shut behind her. Max waited
three full seconds then stood and cracked the door, just to be sure
the pint sized firecracker was out of earshot. When he couldn’t
spot her, he eased the door closed.

“Rachel’s the target, no question in my
mind.”

Hawke scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Diego
doesn’t have the decoy yet.”

“True, but he may already suspect
something.”

“I don’t think she realizes what’s going on.
She’s a pawn, that’s all.”

“You’re supposed to have evidence to back
that up.”

“Working on it.” Hawke leaned his head back
against the top of the chair. “What happens when Diego finds out
the package is empty? He won’t hesitate to kill her, Max.”

“You know what you have to do.”

Hawk lifted his head and glared. “No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“She finally trusts me.”

“Try again.”

“She’ll never understand.”

“This is a mission. You knew the
repercussions going in.”

Hawke released a hard breath. “There has to
be another way.”

“There’s not. I suggest you do it now before
someone else makes the decision for you.”

“I will soon.” Hawke scrubbed a hand down his
jaw. “Should I go after Cameron? She’s about to fall apart.”

“Give her some space, Hawke. It won’t be long
until she’s back to normal.” Max released a heavy sigh. “God help
us all.”

The annoying buzz of the alarm clock forced
Rachel to unglue her eyelids and open her eyes enough to realize
she was pinned to the mattress by a pile of blankets that weighed
at least a ton. Puzzled, she attempted to roll to one side without
success. Why on Earth was she wrapped like a mummy? Last time she
checked, it was July and at least ninety degrees on a cool night.
Desperate for silence, she finally laid a hand across her stomach
and then maneuvered it up and out the top of the blankets. Luckily,
the alarm was only an arm’s length away. She gave it a quick slap
and immediately the room was quiet again.

Now wide awake and beginning to feel
suffocated, Rachel attempted to stick out one leg and found it
impossible. For one foggy moment she wondered if this was some sort
of feeble attempt to prevent her escape from the bedroom. She took
a deep breath and tried again, this time shoving her leg with brute
force. Five pink toenails shone in the early morning sunlight.

In an attempt to figure out how she ended up
somewhat of a prisoner in her own bed, Rachel gave her brain a
mental shake. Immediately, fragments of memory assaulted her. The
gala. Hawke’s challenge. The wine. She frowned. Too much wine? She
shook her head. She only drank one glass. The hospital. Rachel’s
eyes widened. Yes, she went to the hospital last night. Something
about the wine. She forced herself to focus. Alcohol poisoning? And
then she remembered. Her drink had been laced. With what, she
didn’t know. In fact, it was quite possible no one said.

One person had information she needed. She
gave the alarm clock a nasty stare while she reached for the phone
beside it. A couple of more hours of sleep would’ve been nice,
especially since no one expected her to work this week. The plastic
handset slid across her palm and Rachel realized the blankets had
to go. She tapped out Hawke’s number on the keypad, tucked the
phone between her ear and shoulder, and then rolled the blankets
down past her stomach like a set of blueprints while she waited for
him to answer.

Static and what sounded like angry mumbling
greeted her after the third ring.

“Good morning,” she said sweetly.

“Rachel?” Sleep only made the rasp in his
voice sexier. “It’s 6:00 in the morning.”

“Sorry, my alarm was set. I usually have to
get up to work.”

“Oh, I’m up.” Hawke snickered. “It might just
take me a few minutes to work.”

Despite herself, she couldn’t help but wonder
just exactly how long it would take him to work. She imagined him
propped up in bed, the pillows plumped behind him, one leg bent at
the knee and the other extended. One arm bent behind his head, the
other resting across his hip. Relaxed, sexy, and waiting. For
her.

“How do you feel this morning?”

Rachel bit her lip to prevent a brutally
naughty answer from slipping out. “Not so bad,” she answered
instead, “except I don’t remember much.”

“Do you remember anything?”

“Some, but I’d hoped you could fill me
in.”

“Really? I figured since Cameron was there,
she took care of that.”

“Cameron’s here?”

She stayed to make sure you slept.”

Rachel suddenly understood the blanket
prison. “What else do I need to know?”

A pregnant pause resonated between them and
for a minute she thought he’d hung up. And then a rustling sound
echoed over the line. Her libido went on full alert. The thought of
crisp linens slithering over the hard lines of Hawke’s body made
her breasts swell and her body burn.

She squeezed her eyes closed. “Hawke, are you
naked?”

“Yes, aren’t you?”

“No!” She smashed her legs together in an
effort to ward off a now very pesky tingle up and down the inside
of her thighs.

“Why not?”

“I don’t sleep naked.”

“Too bad.”

“Why? It’s not like you’d see me or
anything.”

“No?”

She sighed. That was a rhetorical question
and he knew it but she surrendered anyway. “Okay, maybe.”

“You’re still in bed?”

“Yes.” Mostly because she was trapped.

“How much longer are you gonna be there?”

“I was just about to get out.”

“So...you wearing the slinky white
nightie?”

She hesitated, not quite sure how to
interpret his question. Hoping her assumption was correct, she
grinned and glanced down at her nightgown, this time white cotton
and quite modest. “A red, lace teddy,” she lied.

“How many buttons?”

Oh...phone sex. Why not? “No buttons,” she
taunted, “hooks.”

She heard his breath hitch.

“Hooks?”

“Yes, four, right down the center.”

His voice took on a whole new husky tone.
“Unhook them.”

“I’ll fall out.”

“I know.”

Rachel exhaled in defeat. This whole
seduction routine was just making matters worse. “Okay, I give. I’m
not wearing a red, lace teddy.”

“Nuh-huh. You started this, now we’re going
to finish.”

She switched the phone to her other ear. “I
can’t ad lib, Hawke,” she huffed.

“Yes you can.” His voice grew heavy.

“Cameron is in the other room.”

“So?”

“You’re—”

”Hard as a rock, sweetheart. The least you
can do is give me something to think about in the shower.”

Shudders of pleasure raced through her body
as she imagined running her hands up and down the length of his
erection. Stroking and squeezing while he encouraged her with
naughty words whispered in her ear. She scrubbed a hand across her
forehead. This wasn’t exactly what she planned.

“The hooks, Rachel,” he prompted.

“Fine,” she relented, “there. I unhooked
them.”

“Sorry, babe, you can do better than
that.”

Rachel shook her head at his persistence.
Okay, wiseguy, you asked for it.

She gave a breathy whimper. “I’ve unhooked
them now, Hawke. My breasts are exposed, screaming for your
touch.”

“Do you want me to touch?”

Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times, yes
.
“I’ll die if you don’t.”

“With my hands,” he countered, “or with my
mouth?”

The phone slid from her hold and banged the
floor. With a pure adrenaline rush, Rachel tossed the blankets from
her legs, threw herself on her stomach, and looked over the side of
the bed. Luckily, it lay within her reach and she could retrieve it
with little effort. Hopefully she didn’t wake Cameron with all the
commotion, but at least she’d have a few seconds to recover.

Rachel pressed the phone back to her ear.
“First your hands.”

“I remember what happens when I use my
mouth.”

She let desire guide her. “Oh yes,” she said
over an exhaled sigh, “and while you touch me, I’ll touch you.”

She heard a muffled curse cross the line.
“And I won’t use my hands.”

He released a tortured groan. “You
can’t.”

“Oh, yes I can. I want to return the
favor.”