Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (61 page)

No. Photographs.

If Reid had been stalked by Alana, she might have been caught on camera following him.

It was a long shot, but Kendra was ready to give it a try. She went online and began to search on Reid’s name. She’d done a lot of research in school on his business credentials, his successful management techniques and his career. She’d recently searched on his personal life, at least as far back as the images of him with Alana. This time, she targeted the window between Reid’s rise to visibility and his meeting with Alana. There were hundreds of images but far fewer than posted later, when he and Alana were living such a high profile life.

Kendra sorted out the casual shots from the professional photographs, because they were the ones more likely to include interesting details. She displayed each one as big as possible, so she could scan the backgrounds and the faces of the people around him. She’d examined only a dozen when she realized she’d seen the same woman twice. Once in Hong Kong. Once in London.

Kendra went back and forth between the images, but it was the same woman. A slender brunette, wearing a hat, watching Reid from the background. She was carrying a camera. In one shot, she looked like a businesswoman. In the other, she was dressed as a tourist. Kendra enlarged the image that showed the woman’s face best and was startled to be confronted with the same woman who was Reid’s bride—but with brown hair.

She began to build a portfolio of images, starting with the wedding shot of Reid and Alana, then adding images in which the brunette appeared. In the end, she had sixteen shots, spanning two years, and who knew how many other incidents had gone unrecorded. She was dressed to be overlooked in all of those situations, in startling contrast to the fair blonde hair and flamboyant designer clothes she wore when accompanied by Reid.

Kendra realized in at least four of the earlier shots, she had a companion.

A man. He kept his face turned away, his hat pulled down and his collar turned up. He looked to be of a similar height to Reid and of similar coloring, although the images weren’t clear enough to be sure. In one, he and Alana were holding hands. In another, they were kissing. It might just have been a cover.

Or she might not have been as alone in the world as the private investigators had believed.

Had she ever seen this guy before? Kendra couldn’t be sure. There was only one shot of him that showed his face, but it was shadowed and grainy. She enlarged it as much as possible then imported it into a graphics program. She was playing with the contrast, trying to get a better look at his features, when someone rapped hard on the door.

It was a loud and decisive knock, but no one had rung the buzzer to be let into the building.

She thought of Ethan surprising her in the copy room and suddenly, it didn’t seem to be so smart to be home alone.

She got up slowly, looking around the apartment for a weapon, then the knock came again. It was harder and more insistent.

“Kendra! Are you all right?”

Reid!

* * *

It took a thousand years for Kendra to respond, from Reid’s perspective, which was plenty of time for his imagination to run wild. He was so relieved when she opened the door that he stepped right into her apartment and caught her in his arms. He kissed her thoroughly, noticing how she locked her arms around his neck as if relieved to see him.

He broke their kiss and kicked the door shut behind himself, then framed her face in his hands. He looked into her eyes and saw a glimmer of her fear. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“Nothing. When you knocked, I just wasn’t certain.”

Reid exhaled in relief. “I knew you had to leave, to prove to yourself you could,” he confessed to her. “But I didn’t want to let you go.”

“Is that why you followed?”

“Partly. I also found out that you were right about Alana.”

Her eyes brightened with curiosity at that. “How so?”

“She seduced Forster.”

“Was it his child?”

Reid shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s gone to the police and will probably surrender a DNA sample.” Kendra bit her lip, thinking, and Reid couldn’t resist running his fingertip across her mouth. “A question, Miss Jones?” he murmured, feeling himself get hard with need for her all over again.

She cast him an impish smile. “You came to see if I was cheating on you?” she asked in a teasing tone that revealed she knew that wasn’t the case.

“I know you wouldn’t. If you wanted to be with someone else, you’d tell me why in full detail before you did.”

“Or I’d ask you to arrange it,” she said, her gaze warm. “We never did play that game with Rex that you’d planned.”

Reid caught his breath. “Mayday,” he whispered and her eyes widened.

“What?”

“I didn’t want to share you. I didn’t want to watch you being shared. I would have done it to fulfill your fantasy, but I never liked any of it.” He kissed her again, lingeringly. “You’re making me feel selfish, Kendra. I want you all for myself.”

Kendra smiled. “I liked the idea of it better than the reality. I mostly liked it because I imagined you did.”

Reid shook his head slowly, making no effort to hide his thoughts from her. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I know that for you submission is a private fantasy, not the way you want to live your daily life. I’m trying to find a balance.” He didn’t finish and make the obvious confession.

She leaned back to study him, her smile enticing. “There must be a reason for you to make a compromise,” she said.

Reid found his chest impossibly tight. “There is.”

She lifted a brow. “Going to tell me?”

Reid shook his head. He couldn’t say it, not yet. There were too many loose variables, too many unresolved items. He needed to be more sure of her and that balance between them. He felt volatile and vulnerable, which was never a good time to act.

Kendra’s lips tightened and she turned away. He guessed from her body language that she’d try to provoke him, but was shocked by what she said. “I found the cameras in my room and smashed them.”

“What?”

“There were two of them.”

Reid’s protectiveness surged forth again, along with outrage and fear. “Maybe there are more.” He headed for her bedroom, determined to find them.

Kendra trailed behind him. “I’ve turned everything upside down. I think that’s it.”

He spun to face her. She leaned in the doorway, apparently calm, but he could feel the flutter of fear in her. “You can’t stay here. I forbid it.”

Kendra tilted her head to study him, her eyes alight with defiance. “Are you giving me an order? Because we don’t have a contract anymore.”

“I don’t give a shit about the contract.”

“Then why should I do what you say?”

She was fishing and he knew it, and Reid tried to express himself clearly. “I need to protect you and I can’t do it when you’re here. Someone has already been in this apartment and placed those cameras. You have to be sensible, Kendra. There’s no telling when he’ll come back.” Reid swallowed. “Or what he’ll do when he does.”

Kendra paled but held her ground. “You think you know who killed Alana?”

“I have no idea who it was. I think it was someone she knew, someone she hid from me along with the rest of her life.”

“How did she trick you?” she asked softly.

Reid shoved a hand through his hair. “Maybe I saw what I wanted to see. Maybe she appeared to be so perfect that I didn’t want to push too far.”

“And destroy the illusion,” Kendra concluded with a sigh. “Maybe you weren’t really fooled at all.”

Reid looked away from her, not certain of that himself. “She’s dead, Kendra, and I didn’t kill her.”

“I know.” She came to him then and put her hand on his arm.

“But someone else did.” Reid met her gaze. “I hope I’m wrong but I’m afraid that same person put those cameras in your room and sent me the pictures.”

Kendra shuddered involuntarily and Reid dared to reach for her again. To his pleasure, she came into his arms readily. She embraced him tightly, then gestured to her computer. “There’s something you need to see. Maybe you know who it is.”

He watched and listened as she explained what she’d done, then leaned over the chair behind her to examine the out-of-focus shot. “I can’t really see his face,” he complained. “I have no idea if I’ve seen him before.”

“He might have something to do with it. Or he might know something about her.” Kendra gestured to the files she’d loaded on her computer desktop from his USB drive. “There’s nothing here. She did a good job covering up whatever she wanted to hide.”

Reid crouched down beside her, knowing there was something he had to know. “Who was the guy?” he asked quietly.

Kendra turned to face him, and he respected that she didn’t pretend to not understand. “In the photo of me?”

Reid nodded.

She blushed a little. “I don’t even remember his name. I went out with friends and he was the friend of a friend of a friend. He was really interested and I was feeling...conflicted.”

“Conflicted,” Reid echoed.

Kendra spun on her chair to face him. “You’d just offered me a contract for sex, for me to be your willing sex slave on demand, whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. I was curious. I never imagined I’d like it so much.” She swallowed, then smiled. “I never imagined I’d start falling in love with you the first day.” She rolled her eyes. “Never mind after you tied me up and beat me with a riding crop.”

“You liked it.”

“I loved it, and that scared me. I thought I was losing my mind. I was afraid that I’d do anything you wanted, and I wasn’t sure how much you’d demand.” She shrugged. “After a drink or two, it seemed to make perfect sense to prove to myself that nothing had changed, that I could still enjoy normal sex.”

“And did you?”

She wrinkled her nose. “It was awful. It just left me wanting you even more.”

“With or without the bondage?”

“Either way.” She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned closer, her eyes glowing. “I trust you to do whatever you want, because I know you’ll never hurt me. Not only that, but you’ll push me a little bit further to guarantee our mutual pleasure. Sometimes you seem to know me better than I know myself, and that’s really hot.” Her blush deepened and she dropped her sparkling gaze. “I was always a fan girl, but that was because I didn’t know you. Now I’m crazy in love with you.”

That confession was everything Reid needed and wanted to hear. He kissed her, loving how pliant and passionate she was, admiring the spark in her that meant she wasn’t completely submissive. She’d always keep him guessing.

When he lifted his head, they both were breathing quickly.

“This would be the part where you say something similar to me,” Kendra whispered, her eyes shining.

Reid did his best. “I need to truss you up today,” he whispered against her mouth, daring to confess his own need. “Will it frighten you?”

“Not if it’s you.”

Her confidence made his heart pound. Still, he couldn’t resist teasing her. “I thought you’d say we need a new contract for me to tie you up tight and spank you pink?”

Kendra smiled. “I’m yours to command, Reid.”

“Then pack your bag right now. You’re coming to stay at the house.”

Kendra headed toward her bedroom and Reid followed her, not wanting to let her out of his sight. “Does that mean you’re going to have the safe room finished?”

He had to catch his breath that she was offering him something he wanted so badly. “Only if you want it. Only if it doesn’t frighten you.”

She cast him a smile. “I love the idea of being your captive, you know that. I’m already fantasizing about that doorbell.”

“How so?”

“I’m wondering how long it will take me to learn to become wet when it rings.”

“It seems only fair that I help you to solve that mystery,” Reid said, smiling when she grinned at him. It wasn’t his imagination that she packed faster, even though he doubted he could get her home quickly enough. He felt a new sense of optimism, a conviction that they could find that balance together.

“How long am I staying?”

“Until I say you can leave.” Reid lifted a brow at her glance. “Plan for a week.”

“Yes, Reid,” Kendra said in her most demure voice and Reid knew that if he’d been positive there were no cameras in the apartment, he would have taken her on the spot.

But then, waiting always heightened the pleasure.

* * *

Kendra could sense the tension in Reid. Learning Alana had deliberately deceived him had been a shock, and she was glad it hadn’t made him question his trust in her.

His need to take control was palpable. She knew he was keeping her experience with Ethan in mind, and trying to keep his impulses in check so as not to frighten her. She also knew he desperately needed to seize command of the situation.

She hadn’t realized her experience with Ethan had frightened him that much. He hid his reactions and emotions so well, but eventually the signs became clear. Kendra was glad to have an instinctive understanding of the kind of man he was.