The Tycoon's Captured Heart (15 page)

“For assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, obstructing an official police investigation.  Should I continue?” he challenged.

“Trumped up charges!” she came right back, but he saw the wariness in her eyes.  Finally! 

Daniel leaned in, moving his hands closer on either side of her head.  “Tell me your name,” he growled. 

“Ella.” 

“Ella what?”

“Ella none-of-your business.”

Daniel sighed.  A change of tactics was needed now.  Obviously intimidation only fired up her temper.  Cute, but stupid. 

“Want to play games?” he asked, his voice changing from demanding to something completely different.  He was relieved when her beautiful, blue eyes turned wary.  “I love playing games, Ella.  But when I play,” his hand moved down her cheek, “I win.”

Ella couldn’t believe how warm her cheek felt.  It had been just a simple caress.  Nothing to it, really.  But the fire!  The heat!  It was still there and his hand was gone. 

His dark blue eyes reminded her that they were in a dim alley.  Alone.  And he was a huge man with too many muscles.  Darn it, her hands were still cuffed behind her back. 

“Stop it,” she said, trying to order him again, to show him that he didn’t scare her.  But her voice was a whisper, and there was a pleading quality to it. 

“Stop what, Ella?”  He moved closer, blocking out the sunshine.  “Stop this?” he asked as he leaned down to gently kiss her cheek.  His lips weren’t soft.  Not in any way.  They were hard but her cheek felt on fire again.

“Or do you want me to not do this?” he asked, his lips moving over to her neck, kissing and sending shivers of desire racing through her body. 

Ella wasn’t sure what to say.  She bit her lip, trying to keep herself from asking this man to continue.  Continuing would be bad!  Oh, but his lips felt so very, very good! 

“This isn’t right,” she whispered, but bent her head, trying to feel more, wanting his mouth to tease that sensitive area once again. 

Daniel pulled back, looking down at Ella.  Her eyes were closed and her lips open, as if begging him to kiss her.  “Tell me you’re not going to charge into dangerous situations, Ella,” he said as his calloused fingers trailed down her neck. 

“I will if I want to,” she told him and took a deep breath.  Opening her eyes, she wished he would go back to doing that thing against her neck.  But with her rejection of his command, he’d lost that sensuous look and she knew it was over.  “Are you going to uncuff me?” she asked, trying very hard to focus her mind again. 

“I haven’t decided.”

She shifted slightly, her eyes moving to his shoulders, not wanting to look at his eyes any longer.  Dangerous eyes.  Sexy eyes!  “I’m thoroughly chastised, officer.  You can release me.”

“Detective,” he corrected, knowing that the fool-woman was completely unrepentant.

Ella looked up at him, not sure she understood. 

“I’m a detective.  Not an officer,” Daniel explained as calmly s his fury and fear for this woman would allow.  “And I seriously doubt that you’re chastised in any way.”

Ella shrugged, defiant once again.  “Well, then arrest me for lying.”

He laughed softly and his fingers trailed down her neck, resting against the pulse beating at the base of her throat.  “I might just have to do that if it is going to keep you safe.”

She glance dup at him, hearing that strange tone.  “My safety isn’t your concern,” she argued.

He pulled back.  “I’m a member of the police force, Ella.  It’s my job to protect you.”

“You’re being a bully,” she came right back, her eyes flashing defiance.  “I don’t like bullies.”

Daniel was at a loss for how to deal with the slender beauty.  He could arrest her for assaulting a police officer, but if he did that, he would be laughed out of the police station once the other guys caught sight of her. 

He might just do it though.  It would keep her in jail, safe from the Dan Morgans of this world. 

In the end, he couldn’t do it and she knew it.  He wouldn’t arrest her and subject her to the dangers of jail any more than he was going to allow her to confront any of the mob characters trying to intimidate the neighborhood. 

He grabbed her arm and turned her around.  “Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid like this again.”  Why he was demanding that promise was anyone’s guess.  He knew from the look in her eyes that she was going to do it again and again.  He’d just have to step in and figure out how to keep her safe. 

The idea appealed to him. 

She glanced over her shoulder at him as he pulled a set of keys out of the pocket of his jeans.  “I promise.”

Thankfully, he unlocked the cuffs and she pulled her arms forward, rubbing her wrists.  “Thank you,” she said and moved towards the door of Murray’s shop. 

He grabbed her arm.  “I mean it, Ella.  We’re working this case.  I don’t want you getting hurt because you charged in without any experience.”

She looked up at him, still rubbing her wrists.  He really was a handsome man, she thought.  But still too tall.  “Fine.  I’ll be good.”  And without another word, she jerked the door open.

Daniel knew that the woman was lying through her pretty, white teeth.  But he enjoyed watching her walk away.  Her butt really was a work of art. 

They reached the front of the store and Daniel looked up, realizing that he’d been caught staring at the adorable body part of the neighborhood’s dragon lady. 

Murray glared at him furiously, almost like a papa bear protecting his young.  And Jim…well, Daniel would have groaned at Jim’s knowing expression but he didn’t want to alert the feisty blond woman to his transgressions. 

“We’ll talk to you later, Murray,” he told the bulky man and followed the blond out the door.  He stood on the sidewalk as Ella almost ran across the street, obviously trying to get away from him.

Not likely, he thought as he saw her enter the store across from Murray’s. 

He noticed that there were several beautiful necklaces on display in the bead shop.  He’d have to come back, he told himself.  He was fairly sure that his sister and niece needed a pretty bauble for Christmas.  He now knew just the place to find something!

Daniel grinned with anticipation as he took the wooden stairs two at a time. 

Knocking on the surprisingly brightly colored door, he waited, his hand moving over his pressed shirt.  He remembered Sierra telling him to look nice for the ladies so he’d dug out his iron and pressed a shirt. 

He heard scrambling inside her apartment and wondered if maybe he was interrupting a date.  He hoped so.  He wasn’t so altruistic.  If some guy was in there…

The door opened and he looked down into the surprised eyes of Ella, startled again by how beautiful she looked.  She was still wearing the fluffy sweater and the jeans, but her shoes were off and her pink-tipped toes poked out, tempting him even further. 

“Officer Daniel?” she gasped and looked behind her nervously. 

Daniel was instantly alert.  “What are you doing Ella?” he demanded.  He pushed his way into her apartment, dumping the bag of Chinese food on a table as he moved deeper into her apartment.  All the furniture was pushed to the walls and she had her laptop on the floor.  Immediately, he knew what she was doing. 

Turning around, he glared down at her, furious that she was ignoring his warnings.  “Ella…”

He’d been about to give her a lecture on charging into dangerous situations, but his eyes caught on a white and black ball of fluff.  “What’s that?” he asked, distracted. 

Ella closed the door and moved towards him but keeping enough room so that he couldn’t grab her.  Smart woman, he thought. 

“Those are my cats,” she told him, crossing her arms and looking up at him as if she were daring him to comment further. 

All he saw was what looked like a lump of black and white.  “There are two of them?” he asked, amazed and not sure he believed her. 

“Yes.  Rocket and Tummy.”

“Tommy?”

She shook her head, causing those wisps of hair to float around her cheeks.  “No, Tummy.”

He looked from her enticing pink lips to the fluff again.  “Are you pulling my leg?” he asked, thinking she was teasing him in some way.

She huffed a bit.  “Are you making fun of my cats?” she asked, shifting her weight to one leg. 

He glanced back at her and remembered why he was here.  But the cats…he looked at the cats again.  “Yeah.  I think I am.”

Ella stared up at the man who had been occupying her thoughts all day.  When he smiled like that, something strange happened inside of her.  She wanted to walk over to him and press her body against his, to feel those muscles she remembered from the morning.

Instead, she jerked her chin higher, trying to ignore the way she was feeling.  It was inappropriate to feel that towards this particular man.  And she didn’t like him.  So she’d just…ignore those feelings. 

“They are sweet, gentle creatures.”

Daniel laughed, unaware of how that sound sent more strange tingles throughout her body.  “First, it looks as if there is only one cat.  A big cat, maybe, but if you say there are two, then…” he shrugged.  “But Rocket?  And Tummy?”

Ella looked at the animals that were twisted up together.  Releasing her resentment at his teasing, she sighed.  “You have to…well, they are appropriately named.  Trust me,” she told him.  “Why are you here?”

He looked down at her and had to think fast.  He couldn’t remember why he’d come by.  Those pink toes were distracting him.  He knew exactly what he wanted, but…

“Dinner,” he told her, finally remembering why he’d come by.  “I brought dinner.  Have you eaten?”

She looked surprised for a half second, even pleased, but then she hid her reaction and shook her head.  Defiance back in place.  “I’m not hungry.”

He shrugged off his jacket.  “That’s fine.  I’ll eat by myself and I’ll watch you try and teach yourself self-defense.”  He ignored the widening of her pretty, blue eyes, almost laughing at how transparent she was. 

A moment later, he retrieved the bag of delicious smelling food and started opening and closing drawers in her kitchen. 

“Hey!” she called out to him, irritated that he was invading her home.  But he found the forks and grabbed one, then walked over to the sofa, sat down and opened the first box of food.  “Proceed,” he said, gesturing with his fork. 

Ella stood there nervously, watching as he stabbed a piece of chicken drenched in savory sauce onto the fork. 

“You’re supposed to use chopsticks,” she told him.

He shrugged.  “I didn’t know there were rules about eating Chinese food.”

She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.  “Of course there are.”

He smiled up at her.  “And of course, you’re such a rule follower,” he teased.

She huffed a bit, her hands on her narrow hips.  “When the rules make sense, of course I follow them.”

“Eating Chinese food with chopsticks is a rule you think makes sense, but allowing a trained, armed police detective to handle investigating a dangerous crime ring doesn’t?”

She shrugged her shoulders slightly.  “The police aren’t doing anything about the issues in our neighborhood.  Someone had to step in and do something.”

Daniel resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  It was easy enough to do when she walked over to inspect the bag of food.  Her sweater gaped open slightly but he was denied a view.  Only a dark shadow greeted him.  Darn! 

“Try the next box,” he suggested, moving his eyes to her denim clad bottom.  Nice enough view, he told himself. 

A moment later, she straightened up and he had to pull his eyes away quickly.  She had a box in her hands and a pair of chopsticks.  Instead of joining him on the sofa, she simply sat down on the coffee table, curling her legs underneath her.  “So what is the police force doing to help the shop owners?” she asked.

He wasn’t going to reveal anything to her.  He suspected she would take that information and run her own investigation, possibly put herself in worse danger.  “We’re handling it,” he told her.  “What move are you trying to learn,” he asked, referring to the laptop on the floor, the screen frozen with some idiot-looking dude in a karate uniform.  He doubted that the guy was a black belt, especially since the guy’s belt wasn’t even tied correctly.  There was a very specific way to tie one’s belt in martial arts.  He knew.  He studied several of the martial arts himself, practiced them to hone both his skills and his mind. 

“I didn’t do the flipping correctly earlier today.  I’m going to get it right.”

Daniel smiled but covered it up by popping a juicy piece of chicken in his mouth.  She was cute and sexy.  And determined.  “Okay, I’ll show you how once we’re done.”

Ella looked over at the enormous man taking up so much space on her sofa.  “You’re going to what?”

“I’ll teach you,” he announced and put the box down, selecting another.  This one had shrimp. 

Ella immediately shook her head, unaware of how her blond hair touched her neck and cheeks.  “No.  I’m fine learning online.”  She’d experienced his touch earlier today.  She didn’t dare touch him again.  Danger, danger! 

“Eat up,” he encouraged.  “If you’re going to learn this stuff, it’s going to take more than what you’re eating to keep you going.” 

Ella stared at him, then down at her food.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Then promise me you won’t even try to pull the move, Ella.”

Her lips compressed and he sighed.  Leaning forward, he looked her right in the eye.  “Okay, first of all, unless you know what you’re doing, you don’t want to get that close to someone who can turn your move around and hurt you first.”  He waited for her to recognize the truth to his statement but when he only saw stubbornness in her eyes, he continued.  “For someone with your size, you want to do a bit of incapacitating first.  Try to kick a guy in the gut first so that he’s bent over, then move in to flip him onto his back.”

That got her!  He loved the interest in her blue eyes.  So did his body and he instantly hardened with her excitement.  He was in trouble, he thought. 

“That makes sense.  I just need to kick someone?”

He almost groaned.  It wasn’t just her body that turned him on.  Her enthusiasm was hot!  “No, Ella.  You don’t just need to kick someone.  You have to kick them hard and fast.  And because you’re so short…”

“I’m not short!” she argued, straightening her shoulders.  “You’re just abnormally big.”

He shook his head.  “I’m taller than average, but you’re short, honey.  You can deny it all you want, but you’re a tiny thing.”  He watched her cheeks flare with color and almost laughed.  “Anyway, you don’t just need to know how to kick someone, you need to know where to kick someone.  You’re too small to kick someone in the gut, Ella.  And I’m guessing you wouldn’t try to kick them in the…” he hesitated, watching her cheeks turn a darker shade of pink when she realized he was referring to her kicking a guy in the testicles. 

“I understand,” she said and looked down at her food, twisting the noodles around on her chopsticks like an expert.  “So….”

“So, you kick him hard and fast, fast enough so he can’t grab your ankle and flip you over.  If you’re threatened, Ella, don’t hesitate.”

She shifted slightly.  “And if one of my friends is threatened?”

He rubbed a hand over his face.  “Then you call me.  Fast.  And I’ll take care of the threat.  Don’t go there, Ella!”

She smiled at his stern command.  “You’d come running in to save the day?”

“Yes.  Damn straight.  But promise me....”

“No.  I’m not going to stand by while someone I care about gets hurt.”

He leaned back and sighed.  “Fine.  Then you’re going to have to take lessons from me about how to protect yourself.”

She thought about that for a moment, looking over at his broad shoulders and long, muscular legs.  Shaking her head, she knew she couldn’t get close to this man.  No way! 

“I’ll sign up for the self-defense classes over at the women’s shelter downtown.”

Daniel’s satisfied smile grew wider.  “Fine.  But I teach that class as well.”

She almost tossed her Chinese food into the trash.  “I’m not going to learn from you!”

He laughed.  “Yes.  You are.  Starting right now.”  He plucked the box from her fingers and lifted her up off of the coffee table and set her down.  “Okay, pretend like I’m a threat.  What are you going to do?”

She lifted her hands up in the air, fists tight.  “I’m going to punch you.”

He immediately shook his head.  “Wrong.  First of all, you’re going to call for help.  Then you’re going to call me. And then…” he moved closer to her, his fingers moving her fingers slightly.  “Leaving your thumb sticking out like that is just asking for your thumb to be broken on impact.  Protect it like this,” he said and showed her where to put her fingers so they weren’t going to be destroyed on the first punch.  “Secondly, don’t flex your wrist.  Always keep it straight.”

She followed his instructions as best she could.  But the man’s touch was distracting.  If only he would explain and not demonstrate! 

“Here, come at me now,” he said and stepped back.

Ella narrowed her eyes and looked up at him.  “What do you mean?”

He smiled slightly.  “Come at me.  Punch me Ella.  Take your best shot.”

Ella could see the smirk in his eyes and knew that he was taunting her.  She didn’t care.  She really wanted to prove that she could handle him. 

Unfortunately, the man was too big, too muscular and…

Now how did she end up cradled against his massive chest with his arms around her like this? 

Looking at him over her shoulder, her breath caught in her lungs.  “What happened?” she asked slowly, still not sure what had happened. 

“You came at me from the right,” he told her, pulling her closer, gently moving her against him.  Ah damn, she felt good.  Too good.  With her in this position, he couldn’t hide his body’s reaction to her sweet derriere right there against his erection. 

“I think I always attack from my right,” she replied, her voice a breathy whisper.  His lips were close.  So close! 

“I know you do.”  His eyes dropped to her lips.  “Always from the right.  Which is why you’re here, in my arms.”

Ella wanted to nod her head, to accept that she needed to attack from the left, if that was even possible. 

Unfortunately, with his arms around her like this, she couldn’t really thing about anything.  Except for the way his arms were around her.  Tight, but not painful.  Secure.  Really nice. 

Too nice!

“What are you doing?”

He smiled as his lips touched her hair.  “Holding a beautiful woman in my arms.  Was there confusion?”

She couldn’t help but laugh.  “Okay, but are you going to let me go?”  she held her breath as she waited for his response. 

As she waited, she felt his lips on her hair, kissing, nuzzling her ear.  An involuntary shiver raced through her body. 

“You feel it too, don’t you?” he asked, his voice a husky sound now. 

Yes.  She could feel it.  She could feel the electricity, the delicious tension.  But she shook her head.  “I don’t.”

He laughed.  “You do.  But you’re cute when you’re being stubborn.”  He kissed her neck.  “I think I like it.”