Deceived At Every Turn Read online

  Both dogs sat staring at him with a puzzled look. The largest, who he assumed was Fred, licked his chops while eyeing him.

  Harper chuckled when she entered the kitchen, witnessing their exchange. Her hair was damp and combed back from her face, her freshly scrubbed skin was bright pink and shiny, and she wore an oversized, fluffy yellow bathrobe.

  Riley’s penis perked up, begging for her attentions.

  The dogs sensed her presence and, without looking at her, nonchalantly lumbered away from Riley, who expelled a heavy sigh of relief.

  “Hmm, not a dog lover, huh?”

  “Dogs are okay,” he replied, peeking around the corner where the two beasts disappeared. “But those two were sizing me up like I was a snack.”

  “No, they weren’t.” She laughed.

  It was a nice sound, and it made his already tight balls ache.

  Harper reached up beside him, opening the cupboard door, and took two glasses out, setting them on the counter. The subtle touch of her brushing against his arm broke his self-control. He couldn’t take it any longer. Riley grabbed her abruptly and spun her around to face him.

  As she gasped in surprise, he captured her mouth and slipped his tongue past her parted lips. Her body trembled against him, and her fingertips dug into his biceps for support. She returned the kiss, her hunger seeming to match his own. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tightly against him. His kiss became possessive, his hands wandering, his tongue exploring.

  Before he’d had his fill, Harper broke their delicious oral embrace. Her bathrobe had parted and Riley was awarded an exceptional view of the swells of her ample breasts, heaving with her labored breath. Groaning inwardly, his eyes focused on the tip of her tongue as she ran it over her swollen lower lip.

  “I’ve thought of doing that all day,” he confessed hoarsely.

  Her emerald eyes sparkled as he held her gaze. Her expression flickered with a barrage of emotions. Confusion. Curiosity. Frustration. Need.

  Riley’s cock was harder than it had ever been. He wanted, so badly, to sink himself inside her.

  “I’ve left blankets and pillows for you on the sofa.” Her voice wavered. She released her grip on Riley, dropped her shaking hands to her sides, and wiggled from between his aroused frame and the counter.

  “Good night, Harper Rainier.”

  Her body tensed at his use of her name. He inhaled sharply when she looked over her shoulder at him. Her eyes flared with desire, her face flushed with heated excitement.

  Barely above a whisper, she spoke. “Fred, Ginger, do not let this man near my room.”

  * * * *

  Fleeing the kitchen before doing something she would regret, Harper hurried to her bedroom, closing the door behind her. Once alone, she replayed the last two minutes in her mind. Overwhelmed by his touch, his smell, his taste...

  She’d dropped her guard and hadn’t seen it coming.

  He’d kissed her.

  Welcoming his embrace, she hadn’t even tried to stop him.

  Harper’s body clamored for release. The intense need thrumming through her was frightening.

  She had no idea how long it took, but in time her heaving breath, ever so slowly, returned to normal. The arousal Riley invoked wasn’t so easily abated.

  What in the hell was he doing to her?

  Chapter 6

  “What sort of fun and exciting things does Miss Rain put you through?” Riley kept his tone casual as he crouched beside the tan unmarked car belonging to Mark Thompson, the three-to-eleven surveillance man.

  “None at all. Why are we watching her anyway?”

  “I don’t know. So, what happens?” Riley hoped his interest wasn’t evident to the men he worked with.

  “I tail her while she goes shopping, to the gym, meets friends. Usually when she comes back here around dinnertime, the kid and the dark-haired woman are already home. Some guy--I’m assuming a boyfriend with the smooch he lays on her--picks up the other woman around six and always drops her back off before nine-thirty.

  “After dinner, Miss Rain and the kid take the dogs for a walk to the park. Sometimes they get ice cream for the walk back. Same routine every night. No visitors either. Then you show up. What’s up, Spence? You got a thing for the stripper?”

  “Nah, just curious. It piques my interest as to why we’re watching her, that’s all. Hey, you might as well call it a night, I’m here now and I’ll be staying.”

  Not needing to be told twice, Thompson fired up the engine and slid the shifter into gear. He jumped in surprise when Riley knocked on the window.

  “Hold up. Can you tell me anything about Detective Alex Rainier?”

  “Great guy. Alex was a real go-getter. Thought he could change the world. Word around the precinct is he walked into a drug buy, caught the perps by surprise. Took a bullet before he could call for backup. A homeless man in search of shelter from a snowstorm found him. We never found the gunman. A real shame about his wife too.”

  Yeah, a real shame, Riley thought to himself. A beautiful, young woman like Harper forced to turn to stripping to support her little girl. He began to think of her in a new light. Well, sort of. There was surely something more respectable she could do to support herself and her child.

  Earlier that afternoon Riley had asked a contact in the land registry office to pull up the deed to Harper’s run-down little house. It was titled to Alex Rainier. Riley learned from his source at Metro First National Bank the monthly mortgage payment, also in Rainier’s name, was made on time every month. His source dug deeper into Rainier’s financial records and informed him Rainier’s accounts were frozen and had been for the past six months. The mortgage and utility payments were drawn from one Harper Rainier’s personal bank account.

  Riley started to feel anger toward the so-called great detective. What man, especially a police officer, wouldn’t have things financially in place for his spouse, for just that situation?

  If he’d been killed in the line of duty, his life insurance and pension would have left Harper in a reasonably secure position. She wouldn’t have to struggle. More importantly, she wouldn’t have to take her clothes off for money in front of a bunch of drunken, ogling men.

  But he hadn’t been killed, Riley reminded himself. There should be insurance money or compensation through his benefits to help her out. Alex Rainier may have been a good man and an excellent detective, but there was no way he had Riley Spence’s respect. The position he’d left his wife and daughter in made him a disgrace in Riley’s eyes.

  The tan car drove away as a compact blue one pulled into the driveway. The door opened and Riley watched as the driver leaned over and planted a wet one on the lips of the young woman he’d seen earlier that morning. As she walked up to the porch, it hit him why she looked familiar.

  At ten, Harper came out, locked the front door and approached his car. By this time Riley was leaning against the hood, enjoying the warm evening air, and cooling his hostile emotions.

  “Hello,” she offered with a smile.

  Riley shifted uncomfortably as his cock stiffened in the unforgiving confines of his jeans.

  “Good evening,” he said, his voice husky.

  Despite the thick heat in the night air, she shivered at his greeting, and he couldn’t stop the smile that curved his lips.

  Their ride to and from the club was quiet, tense and sexually charged.

  Chapter 7

  Riley decided it was time to pay Detective Alex Rainier a visit. He waited patiently in the parking lot of the Metro Nursing Facility until Harper drove away. Once inside he approached the nurses’ station where Nurse Mary sat. She glanced up at him in surprise.

  “Good afternoon, Officer. May I help you with something?”

  “I’m here to speak with Mr. Casey Finnigan. Would you be so kind as to direct me to his room?” Though his stance was non-confrontational, his tone left no room for argument.

  Mary’s brow narrowed in puzzlement. She hesit
ated as if weighing her answer. Finally, she pointed toward the end of the hallway. “Certainly, Officer, he’s in the last room on the left.”

  “Thank you.” Riley strode with purpose down the hall.

  Outside the door to Rainier’s room, he stopped and attempted to calm himself. His breathing was harsh, and he clenched his fists tightly at his sides. He was about to give a fellow officer a piece of his mind and needed to check his anger. Composed as he was going to be, under the circumstances, he pushed the door open and entered the room.

  “Well, if it isn’t the great Detective Rainier--” Riley’s sentence went unfinished. Before him lay the body, or rather a shell of the man, who was once the great Detective Rainier. Tubes and wires ran from his body to the half dozen machines stationed around his bed. Quiet hums and beeps echoed in the room as the machinery helped sustain life. A lump formed in Riley’s throat as he approached the side of the bed. He assessed the unconscious man from toe to head and back again.

  The detective’s chest raised and fell in time with the sounds of the life-support equipment keeping him alive. His pasty, opaque skin was as white as the sheet covering him. A thick gauze bandage was wrapped around his head, but Riley could make out the light blond hair poking out of the top.

  Riley stood humbled in front of the broken man.

  “Not what you were expecting, Officer?” Mary’s voice brought him from his daze.

  “No, ma’am,” he answered honestly. “What happened to him?”

  “All I know is he was shot in the head six months ago.”

  Riley’s heart dropped. “Will he wake up?”

  “No, he won’t. He is clinically brain dead.”

  “Harper knows this?”

  “Oh, yes. The doctors advised her to terminate life support in the hospital before she decided to move him here five months ago. She and Olivia visit him nearly every day. It costs the poor thing a fortune for his private care. I suppose she’s not ready to say goodbye.”

  Riley lifted a brow at that. He wondered if Nurse Mary really did know, or suspected, who ‘Casey Finnigan’ was to Harper. After all, most people wouldn’t spend a fortune on private medical care for a ‘friend of the family.’

  “Are you investigating the shooting, Officer?”

  This wasn’t part of his current assignment, but as an officer sworn to uphold the law, how could he not at the very least look into the case? For Harper. And Olivia. If nothing else, to bring them closure.

  “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll definitely look into it. For the time being, I’d like to ask that my visit be kept between you and I.”

  “For the time being, Officer.”

  Turning to Mary, Riley fought the sting of tears in his eyes. “Thank you for allowing me a few minutes with Mr. Finnigan. I appreciate it.”

  Back in his car, he sat, white-knuckled, gripping the steering wheel, staring out the windshield for he didn’t know how long. The urge to go to Harper and hold her tight was overwhelming. Of course she loved the detective, having gone to the extent she had to conceal his identity, but she shouldn’t spend her life pining away for the man, hoping for a miracle that was never going to happen. With a desperation that startled him, he wanted to console her, to be the man to help her through this difficult time. He just wasn’t sure how to reach out to her.

  Riley had gone out casually with a couple of women in the past. Way in the past, like when he was twenty. His career had always come first. Until two years ago, when his life was thrown for a loop, then his priorities changed. Now, his home life came first.

  Did he even remember how to date? It had been years since he’d been on one. Did he really want to date this woman he’d only just met a little over a week ago? Yes, he did. He wanted to ease her pain and suffering. He wanted to show her life was worth living again.

  With desire unnerving him, he needed to make love to her. He wanted her and wasn’t going to stop until she was his. A sly smile crossed his lips. Suddenly, it hit him. He knew how to reach Harper. How to show her he was more than a law enforcement officer, since it was very clear she despised cops.

  After seeing Detective Rainier, Riley understood her dislike for the uniform. His visit today had left a bad taste in his mouth.

  So his plan was underhanded. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

  Chapter 8

  At the end of the following week, Harper pulled into her driveway at four-thirty in the afternoon and noticed Riley’s Beemer parked along the curb. It was empty. A light gray BMW SUV was parked in her spot in the driveway.

  She wondered who it belonged to. Stepping out of her car, Harper watched in puzzlement as the unmarked vehicle tailing her for two solid weeks continued driving by and vanished up the street.

  When she entered her tiny house, she was met with silence. Olivia didn’t greet her at the door. Neither did Fred nor Ginger. Unease swept over Harper and after bolting the front door, she tore through the living room and stopped short when she reached the kitchen.

  “Hi. How was your day?” Riley’s sexy, dimpled smile lit up his face as his gaze met hers. He handed her an ice-cold bottle of beer.

  “How did you get in my house?”

  “You should have your security system checked.” He grinned mischievously. “It’s flawed.”

  “Where is Olivia? Melina? My dogs?” Her voice rose with each question.

  Riley answered as he strode over to the fridge. “In the backyard. A dinner date with her boyfriend. In the backyard with the girls.”

  “Girls?”

  Harper ran to the back door and breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted Olivia on the swings with another little girl, and Fred and Ginger were lying beside the jungle gym where the two played.

  “Yeah, one’s yours and one’s mine. I hope burgers are okay for dinner. It’s what the girls asked for. Probably not the healthiest of meals, but it’s hard to deny them, isn’t it?”

  Harper turned to see Riley take a plate of homemade hamburger patties from the fridge.

  “You have a daughter?” Her heart plummeted. A daughter meant there was a Mrs. Spence somewhere. Just her luck, she’d fall for a married man, and one with a child to boot. Then again, he could be divorced, which meant he’d have the emotional baggage that went along with that. She didn’t need any drama in her life.

  Aside from her dislike for cops, Riley Spence seemed to be workable. He had an incredible smile, a wry sense of humor, was scrumptiously gorgeous, and bore the body of a Greek god. Not to mention, he’d spent every night for two weeks with her. Driving her back and forth to the club, camping out in his car in front of her house, in a shitty neighborhood.

  Alas, he’d never made a move on her. Well, except the kiss. That delicious toe-curling kiss.

  “No, Zandra is my niece. I inherited her two years ago when my sister passed away. Are burgers okay? Oh, and I made a couple of salads too, they’re in the fridge. There’s a potato and bacon I made myself.” He beamed. “Caesar for the health conscience. At four, Zandra’s already started with diet talk. I really need to cut her off from TV. Unfortunately her sitter is a TV-aholic and...” He trailed off when he looked up at her. “Are you all right, Harper?” Riley frowned.

  “Who else is here?” she asked nervously.

  Clearly confused, Riley glanced around the kitchen then back to her. “Just the girls and me.”

  “Who does the SUV in my driveway belong to?”

  “Oh, that. Sorry, I didn’t know what you were talking about.” A Cheshire-cat sized grin spread across on his face. “It’s for you. A loaner, for as long as you want.”

  Harper’s jaw gaped before she gained some composure. “I already have a car, I don’t want it.” The tension in her had her near yelling. “Besides, I can’t afford that.”

  Riley stifled laughter. “No offense, sweetheart, but your car, for lack of a better term, is a piece of shit.” He waved off the further objections, which were hovering on the tip of her tongu
e. “Don’t be concerned with the cost, please just drive it and enjoy it.”

  “I’m not some charity case, Officer Spence. I can afford my own keep.” Sudden irritation was beginning to take hold of her. “I know it’s not much, but calling my car a piece of shit is kind of harsh. It gets me where I want to go. Most of the time.”

  Ignoring the use of his title, Riley continued. “You need a reliable vehicle for you and Olivia, and I’m in a position to help you out. Honestly, there’s nothing more to it than that.”

  She stared at him blankly. “No strings?”

  “Absolutely no strings attached. Just enjoy it.”

  He was loaning her his luxury SUV like it was no big deal? People just didn’t do that. Not for her anyway.

  “How is it you can afford two Beemers?” she queried. “I know cops don’t make the kind of money that would allow them to drive such a high-end vehicle. Never mind two.”

  “How is it you know so much about a cop’s finances?” he returned, with a smile.

  Harper refused to answer right away. With narrowed eyes she hitched her chin at him. “Only a cop on the take--”

  His sexy smile vanished, and he shook his head. “I’m not dirty.”

  The voice in the back of her mind assured her she could trust what he said. Yet she remained silent.

  “Harper, the truck was, uh, my sister’s,” he said, a tad too hasty for her liking. “It was just sitting there, not being driven. I prefer my car. That’s all there is to it. Okay?”

  It looked really nice from what she’d seen walking by it.

  Maybe she’d borrow it for a couple of days and send her car into the shop for service, which it so desperately needed. She’d have to work a few extra shifts at the club to earn the cash to pay for the repairs, but she’d swing it. Yeah, that’s what she’d do. She’d use Riley’s SUV for a couple of days...maybe three...four...a week max, then return it to him.

  Still feeling hesitant, she nodded in acceptance.

  * * * *

  “Good.” Satisfied, Riley grabbed a spatula from the drawer beside the stove. Looking up, he met her suspicious gaze, again. He shrugged. “What now?”