Unfinished Business (5 page)

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Christy.”

“I
do
know what I’m saying.”

He shook his head, already detecting aggressive behavior. He knew for now the best thing to do was go along with her . . . at least let her think he was doing so. “And I want you, too, baby, but wanting each other won’t do us any good if we’re dead. I need you to behave and let me drive you home safely. Then after I get you home I’m going to take care of you.”

She reached out and placed a hand on his thigh and started rubbing it. The eyes looking into his were filled with hope, excitement, and anticipation. “Promise?”

He removed her hand when it began inching toward his crotch, and placed it in her lap. “Yes, Christy, I promise.”

She didn’t have to know that his idea of taking care of her was getting her tucked into bed and hoping she slept off the effects of the drug, although he knew that was a lot to hope for.

However, apparently she believed his promise, because for the rest of the ride to her house she stayed in her seat and behaved. It was a Friday night and it was late. In a way, that was a blessing, since it seemed none of the residents in her particular apartment building was out and about. Parking the car, he quickly went around to the passenger side, and after opening the door he gathered her into his arms.

“Don’t forget your promise, Alex,” she reminded him softly when he reached her door.

He glanced down at her while trying to fish her keys out of her purse. “I won’t.”

Once inside her apartment he quickly turned on the lights in the living room before heading straight to her bedroom. The first thing he needed to do was ply her with coffee.

He placed her gently on the bed and then he looked at her. No woman, under the influence or not, had a right to look this sensual, this mouthwateringly sexy. He tried ignoring that look as he began taking off her shoes. “I want you to strip down to your slip, then get into bed, Christy. Can you manage to do that?”

“No. If you want me you’re g-going to have t-to undress me you-yourself, Alex. I don’t think I can do it.”

He cursed. Her speech was getting even more slurred and it was apparent she was losing coordination. “OK, I’ll undress you.”

Like a docile child she stood, leaning against the bedpost for support, as he knelt and reached under her skirt to remove her panty hose from her body. Beads of sweat formed on Alex’s forehead and his breathing was becoming irregular when her heated scent inflamed his nostrils.

Once the panty hose were removed, he gently unfastened her skirt and tugged it down her hips. Next he removed her blouse, which left her in a very thin slip, her bra, and panties. “Now please get under the covers,” he said in a voice that trembled so much he could feel it.

She looked at him. “But what about the rest of my clothes?”

“I’ll take them off later,” he lied.

“All right. Now aren’t you going to take off your clothes, too?”

“Not yet. I want you in the bed, and I’ll be back.”

He pushed back the bedcovers and watched as she slipped between the sheets. Then he quickly left the room to go into the kitchen to get the coffee started. He checked his watch. The major effects of ketamine were known to kick in at least two and a half hours after a person had received the initial dose. What Christy was now experiencing was the prelude, which was mild in comparison to the real thing. He just hoped he could handle an oversexed version of Christy.

Deciding he needed to check on her, he left the kitchen and quickly returned to the bedroom. He stood in the doorway and smiled. Christy was still nestled under the covers, and it appeared she had drifted off to sleep. He let out a deep sigh of relief. Kevin had said he hadn’t given her much of the drug, so there was a possibility she would sleep off the rest without any problems.

But still, to be on the safe side, he decided to watch over her during the night. Kicking off his boots and removing his jacket, he moved to the recliner next to the bed. He picked up a thick file labeled
“The Patterson Report”
that was lying on her nightstand table and decided to read it, hoping that doing so would keep him awake while he watched over Christy. He settled back in the chair and as he began reading he hoped that the worst was over.

Alex woke to the sound of someone thrashing about in the bed. He became alarmed when he saw Christy quivering uncontrollably, and then he remembered another effect of ketamine was fluctuations in body temperature.

He moved to the bed and reached out and touched her. She felt ice-cold. He quickly removed his shirt and jeans and got under the covers with her and pulled her nearly frozen body into his arms, sharing his body heat.

“I-I’m cold, A-Alex,” she said through chattering teeth.

“I know, baby, and it’s going to be OK. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” And he meant it as he held her.

He knew if he didn’t get her temperature back to normal he would have to take her to the emergency room. He was trying to avoid having to do that, since there would be questions asked and he wanted to spare Christy that. Another alternative was to call in a contact at the Bureau to see if there was a doctor in the area who was willing to make an unofficial house call. Alex knew from having worked as an agent that every city had physicians willing to discreetly do what they could to help federal agents.

He continued to hold her as her body shivered uncontrollably. A half hour later her trembling had stopped, her temperature was back to normal, and she had drifted off to sleep again.

Alex’s eyes slowly opened when he felt a hot, soft body cuddle against his back, a very hot, naked soft body. And at the same time he felt the tip of a tongue move around in his ear. “Make love to me, Alex,” a feminine voice whispered in that same ear. “I need you. I’m aching.”

Alex sighed deeply as he slowly turned around. Christy wasn’t going to sleep anything off after all. “Christy, I—”

Before he could get out another word, she had straddled him and was kissing him with that incredible mouth of hers. And if that weren’t bad enough, he felt her breasts, bare breasts that were pressed up against his chest, and the heat of her below as she was grinding against his midsection.

Damn. What had happened to her slip, bra, and panties? He was still wearing his briefs, but that didn’t stop his erection from pressing into the the area between her thighs. He knew that he had to garner all the control he could muster and get her off him before . . .

But then he enjoyed kissing her, devouring her mouth, mating hungrily with it. And he liked the way her soft hips were cradling his thighs and how her body was rubbing sensuously against him, making his erection just that much harder.

Closing his eyes, he felt a rush of heat flare to his groin and knew he had to stop her before things got too out of hand. He groaned deep in his throat and after opening his eyes he flipped over, pinning her beneath him. “Behave, Christy,” he quietly ordered her.

She ignored him and darted her tongue out to insert it inside his mouth, moving it around and around, driving him mad with desire in the process. He quickly pulled back. “I said stop it!”

She suddenly went still and her gaze clashed with his and he knew the aggressive and violent behavior had set in. She glared at him. “I want you, Alex. Make love to me.”

He knew that tomorrow she wouldn’t remember a thing about tonight, but he refused to take advantage of her that way. “No.”

She met his gaze. “Kiss me then,” she whispered, looking straight into his eyes.

“Aw, hell.” There was no way he could deny a plea like that. He leaned down and kissed her in a way he had never kissed a woman before, full of all the passion that he felt.

She kissed him back and just when he thought he was about to lose control she deliberately bit him. He pulled his mouth away, tasting blood from his bruised lip.

“What the hell did you do that for?” he asked, not believing she had done such a thing, but the pain in his lips was proof that she had.

She glared at him. “Because you lied to me, that’s why. You broke your promise!”

He sighed deeply. Yes, this was the aggressive and violent behavior he had hoped to avoid. He continued to pin her down in the bed. “You will behave or I will continue to hold you down like this.”

She glared up at him. “Make love to me.”

“No.”

“Please.”

Alex growled deeply. “No.”

She growled back. “Do it!”

Shaking his head, he tried not to stare at her full and firm breasts as he held her arms over her head and manacled her wrists with one hand while using his other hand to search under the covers for her missing articles of clothing. He found her slip and proceeded to hold her down to tug it over her head. It wasn’t an easy task, since she was determined to struggle against him all the way. He pulled her into his arms in front of him, wrapping his firm thighs across her legs to keep her immobile.

“Now go back to sleep,” he said. He could feel his lip swelling and knew he would have a beauty of a bruise tomorrow.

“No!” Then she smiled sweetly up at him. “Kiss me again.”

He glared at her. “Not on your life. Now go back to sleep.”

“Make love to me, Alex. Please.”

He glanced down into large dark brown eyes that were staring at him after she made such a desperate plea. “No,” he said softly. “Go to sleep, Christy.”

A pout formed on her lips, but she cuddled closer into his arms as he held her, and moments later he could tell that she had drifted back off to sleep.

Knowing the risk of temptation if he stayed in bed with her warm, barely covered soft body snuggled so intimately to his, Alex eased out of bed. He studied her as he put his jeans and shirt back on. She was sleeping with a peaceful and contented look on her face. He didn’t want to think what would have happened tonight if he had not been there. He hated that men such as Kevin existed and hoped after tonight the man would think twice before doing something like this to another woman.

Alex sighed, settled back into the recliner and picked up
“The Patterson Report”
and continued reading.

 
Christy slowly opened her eyes, wondering why her eyelids felt heavy, why her throat was dry, and why her body was aching so badly. She forced her gaze to move when it seemed that her body couldn’t, and relaxed when she saw that she was in her room, her bed. But for the life of her she couldn’t recall how she had gotten there. In fact, she was having problems remembering much of anything.

She closed her eyes, wondering what was wrong with her. She opened them again and forced them to move to the side and gasped when they collided with Alex’s deep, dark penetrating gaze. “What are you doing here?” She forced out the words in a hushed yet shocked voice.

For a brief silent moment he continued to look at her, hold her gaze. There was a dark shadow under his chin that meant he needed to shave. She had never seen him first thing in the morning, and maybe it was a good thing she never had. She didn’t think that any man could look so sexy this early. Even needing a shave, Alex was the closest thing to male perfection she’d ever seen.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

His question pulled her thoughts back to the situation at hand. She slowly eased up in bed, clutching the bedcovers securely around her. “What are you doing here?” she said again, determined to get answers. The last thing she remembered was meeting Kevin at the club last night and enjoying dancing and talking with him. After that, everything else was a total blank. What was Alex doing sitting in a chair in her bedroom like he had every right to be there? And why was she in bed wearing only her slip?

She watched as he leaned forward in the chair, still holding her gaze. Then he said, “You were drugged last night.”

She blinked, not certain she had heard him correctly. “What?”

“I said you were drugged. That guy you met at that club drugged you.”

She bristled at his words, refusing to believe what he said. She knew how to protect herself from such a thing happening. Her brothers had pretty much drilled her on the rules countless times. She knew not to accept drinks from people she didn’t know, she opened any containers herself, she kept her drink with her at all times, she didn’t share drinks, and she didn’t drink anything that tasted or smelled strange. So what was Alex talking about?

She stiffened her spine and glared over at him. “That’s impossible. Kevin could not have drugged me.”

Alex was out of the chair in a flash and in her face in an instant. She saw the line of angry fire in the eyes locked with hers. “That bastard drugged you!” he said, and the anger in his voice matched that in his eyes. “And he bragged about it to one of his friends and even admitted it to me right before I kicked his ass.”

His words hit Christy like a ton of bricks. None of what Alex was alleging made sense. “Listen, Alex, I—”

“No,
you
listen. I followed you to that damn club, and it’s a good thing I did. I walked into the men’s room while he was bragging to one of his friends about setting you up for the night by giving you a date rape drug. After giving him a behind whipping that he won’t forget, I had a hell of a time getting you out of the club without causing a scene. The drug had already begun taking effect. You wanted to dance, so we danced, and then you almost killed the both of us when I was taking you home and you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself.”

Christy was hearing his words, but she had a hard time believing them. “How did I get in bed?” she asked; her mind and thoughts were getting more confused by the second.

“I put you to bed.”

She leaned up and brought her face even closer to his. Her glare deepened. “You undressed me! How dare you!”

“Dammit, I dared all right. But all I did was remove your clothes and panty hose. You did the rest yourself.” He blinked, trying not to focus on that incredible mouth of hers that was too dangerously close to his.

Christy dropped back down in bed. Hearing what Alex was saying was too much. Could it be true? She looked back up at him. He was mad, madder than she had ever seen him before, even madder than he’d been that night he had kissed her three years ago. She had to think. What if what he was saying
was
true? She lowered her head, not wanting to think of what could have happened to her.

She slowly raised her head and met Alex’s intense gaze. She could tell he was still mad. Although she didn’t remember anything, she had to admit that what he was saying made sense; otherwise they wouldn’t be having this conversation. What other reason could there be for him to be here in her bedroom with her? And why would she be feeling like she had a hangover this morning? She had known Alex a long time—all of her life—and she knew he had no reason to lie about what he was telling her.

“What drug was it?” she asked quietly. An article on date rape had been one of the first pieces she had done for the
Houston Chronicle
, so she was familiar with them, especially the most popular three on the streets.

“Ketamine.”

“Oh God,” she said softly, covering her face with her hands. Ketamine was a favorite with some men because it was known to make a woman have intense sexual cravings to the point where she became the aggressor.

She slowly removed her hands and met Alex’s intense gaze. “How much did he give me?”

“Enough.”

She lifted a brow.
Enough? What the hell was enough
? She then studied Alex’s bruised and swollen lip. He said he had kicked Kevin’s ass. Was the condition of his lip the result of that incident? “What happened to your lip?” she asked, wondering what else he’d suffered because of her.

“You bit me.”

She blinked. She must have heard him wrong. “I bit you?”

“Yes.”

She stared at him for a moment, then asked, “Why would I bite you?”

Christy watched as a small smile touched the corners of his bruised mouth. “Because I wouldn’t make love to you.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, hoping she had heard him wrong, but knowing the effects of ketamine, she realized that she probably hadn’t. “I asked you to make love to me?”

Alex stared at her, deciding to be completely honest. She needed to know just how things had been last night. “No, you didn’t ask. You
begged
me to make love to you, Christy, and turning you down was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”

Christy looked away, not able to meet his gaze any longer. Damn Kevin for having done that to her. Damn her for not being smart enough to catch him doing it. And damn Alex for being there to witness it all.

Alex knew how Christy was probably feeling and reached out and gently grabbed her chin to make her look at him. “It wasn’t you acting that way, Christy, it was the drug. You were under the influence. I knew it and that’s why I didn’t act on it.”

She sighed deeply. But many other men probably would have. Like her brothers, Alex operated on an honor system that wasn’t practiced a whole lot today. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

He frowned, seeing the tears that misted her eyes. A stubborn and difficult Christy he could handle. A weepy one he could not. He never could and doubted that he ever would. That’s the reason he had given her his ring in the first place when she had been thirteen, because of her tears. “There’s no reason for you to be sorry. Like I said, it wasn’t your fault.”

She moved away from him, fire replacing the tears in her eyes. “Yes, it was my fault. Somehow I didn’t follow all the rules. I knew what to do to avoid date rape and I didn’t take the necessary precautions.”

“You did follow the rules. He had help.”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“He paid the waitress to put the drug into your drink. There was no way you could have known and you had no reason to suspect the person who served the drink to you.”

A long moment passed before Christy nodded, accepting what Alex had said. Then she thought of something, knowing Alex’s respect for the law. “The police?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t call them, although I was tempted to. There was no way I could do so without getting you involved.”

Christy let out a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted or needed was some sort of scandal involving her name. She met Alex’s gaze. “Thanks.”

“I don’t want your gratitude, Christy.”

She frowned. “Would you prefer that I not be grateful?” she snapped.

“Damn it, be whatever you want,” he snapped back, moving away from the bed, away from her. A part of him was still angry at what could have happened to her last night. He needed time alone to deal with his emotions and moved toward the bedroom door.

“Where are you going?” Christy asked, not understanding what had him so peeved with her. She had apologized for biting him and had thanked him for all he’d done. So what was his problem?

He turned back around. “I’m going to rummage through your refrigerator to see what I can prepare for breakfast. I suggest you get up, shower, and get dressed. After breakfast we need to go get your car.”

She nodded. When he turned back around to leave she called back out to him, “Alex?”

He turned back around, pausing at the bedroom door, and met her gaze. “Yes?”

She didn’t answer right away, then quickly said, “My brothers. You won’t tell them about this, will you?”

Alex saw the worried look on her face and wanted to cross the room, take her into his arms, and kiss her. “No, I won’t tell them anything about this.”

He saw relief flood her eyes. “Thanks.”

Without saying anything else, he turned and left the room.

When Christy finished her shower, she toweled off and then went to her closet to decide what to put on. After a few moments she slipped into a printed lounger her sister-in-law Lorren had given her a few months ago as a birthday gift.

There were still questions for which she needed answers. Alex had said she had begged him to make love to her and he had refused her. Yet she knew for a fact they had shared a bed. His masculine scent was all over her bedcovers and pillows. Why had he gotten into bed with her if he hadn’t intended for anything to happen? The very thought of being in bed with him was enough to add heat to her already steamy shower.

Christy sighed deeply. She needed to stop thinking such things. If Alex stopped Kevin from doing anything to her and he didn’t do anything to her himself, then that meant her virginity was still intact, and she was glad about that. A lot of women her age would be bothered by such lack of sexual experience, but she was not. It always bothered her how some of the girls in her dorm in college would deliberately seek out guys to rid them of what they considered “that little problem.”

She’d had no problems saving herself for the man she would marry—whoever he was. She just had to completely get over Alex, which she fully intended to do. In the meantime, she would patiently wait for her soulmate to come into her life. Too bad she had already wasted all those years thinking that Alex had been the one.

She walked over to the window and looked out. An overcast sky was making it difficult for the sun to shine through and she needed to see the sun. Gramma Laverne always said there had to be a little rain in your life to appreciate the sun, and today of all days Christy needed to see the sun.

She smiled when she thought of her grandmother. In her late eighties, Laverne Madaris still got around pretty good and was one feisty lady who, along with Christy’s mother, had instilled within her old-fashioned rules of decorum. Christy appreciated the role her grandmother had always played in her life. Also like her mother, Christy’s grandmother was her confidante and had always been so. But Christy would make sure when they had their weekly telephone chat tomorrow that she didn’t mention anything about what had happened at the club.

But she would mention to her grandmother about Alex’s arriving in Cincinnati and coming to see her. Her mother and grandmother were the only two people she’d confided in about what had happened between her and Alex three years ago.

Christy turned away from the window when she heard her phone ring. She figured Alex wouldn’t pick it up just in case it was one of her family members calling. He wouldn’t want to explain what he was doing at her house so early in the morning.

She quickly crossed the room to answer it. “Hello?”

“Christy? Are you all right?”

Christy smiled upon hearing Shemell’s voice. “Yes, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

When moments passed and it was obvious that Shemell was hesitating, Christy repeated herself. “Why wouldn’t I be OK?”

“I was at the club last night. I talked to you. Don’t you remember?”

Christy frowned. No, she didn’t remember. “And?”

“And you weren’t yourself. It was as if you’d had a lot to drink. You were sort of . . .”

Christy inhaled deeply, not sure she wanted to really know, but asked anyway. “Sort of what?”

“Sort of wild, loose and brazen. You were flirting with several men and when that guy Alexander Maxwell wanted to take you home you almost made a scene until he danced with you. And that was after you had plastered yourself all over him. I’ve never seen you act that way before.”

And Christy intended for Shemell to never see her act that way again. “Well, I, uh, had too much to drink,” she said, quickly deciding not to tell anyone the true story.