Dangerous Kisses (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  “Pretty good. Pretty good. I wish I could say the same for our old friend here.” Brandon averted his attention to Paul, the amusement back in his smile. “I wondered if you and Robert would make it a full day without butting heads. I guess not.”

  “We’ll make it every day from now on.” Paul loosened his tie as he moved from behind the desk. “I just fired the cocksucker.”

  Brandon’s eyes widened, and he let out a disbelieving chuckle. “You fired him? Damn, Paul. Aren’t you making rash decisions today?”

  Megan didn’t see it as a rash decision. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if it had been a smart one. When it came to the wellbeing of the aquarium, yes, from the scene she had witnessed, it had been a very smart move. When it came to Paul dealing with his wife, however, Megan knew he was going to have hell to pay when Marie got wind of him firing her nephew.

  “If you had heard the whole conversation, you would know the decision I made was not rash by any means.” Paul walked to the door, stopped, and turned to Megan. “Are you coming?”

  Megan glanced at her wristwatch, surprised a full hour had passed already since she arrived. The aquarium would be closing at six o’clock. She didn’t have any plans for the evening beyond going home and soaking in a long, hot bath, so she shrugged and followed Paul out of the office, sensing Brandon at her heels.

  “I heard the whole conversation,” Brandon continued on another half laugh. “Hell, Paul. Half the aquarium heard you yelling at that poor boy this time. You know we all sit around placing bets on when the next spat between you and Robert will happen.” He settled into step beside Megan and patted the right back pocket of his khaki slacks. “I think I’ve made damn near twenty bucks over the past six weeks betting on him and Robert,” he whispered to her, then raised his voice again. “If you were attempting to be discreet, Paul, you failed miserably.”

  Paul breezed past the scattering of employees and tourists in the hallway, leading them to the unisex locker room and the changing area inside. He went to a locker in the far corner and pulled out his wetsuit.

  Megan started to back out of the room, but he disappeared into one of the stalls to change, so she stayed.

  “I wasn’t attempting to be discreet,” Paul said through the stall door. “I don’t give a rat’s ass if the President of the United States heard me. That poor boy, as you referred to him, deserved every bit of it and then some. He’s lucky I allowed him to walk out of this place in one piece.”

  “Maybe so.” Brandon sighed. “Look, I agree he needed to be fired. Heaven knows after all the stunts he’s pulled around here, he got what he deserved. It just doesn’t seem to me like now would be the most opportune time to throw more fuel on the home fire.”

  “What’s going on at home?” Megan didn’t mean to put voice to the question. She didn’t want to pry, but her concern for Paul overruled her sensible thought.

  Paul stepped out of the stall, put the suit he had been wearing in his locker, and turned to Megan, sadness and what she could only define as guilt clear in his eyes. “I fucked up with Marie. Our marriage hasn’t been a great one in years. You know that. But I, well”—he raked a hand over his balding head—“did something that definitely didn’t make it any better.” He sighed and shifted his attention to Brandon. “Despite that, nothing I do lately is making my home life any better. This place is all I’ve got, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Robert fuck it up any worse. If Drake hadn’t gone behind him this afternoon and checked the gauges on the tanks, every one of those sharks could be dead right now.”

  “They’ve been in captivity too long,” Megan said, thinking aloud. “They don’t adapt as well to colder temperatures as ones that live in the open ocean, especially the tiger shark.”

  “Exactly.” Paul nodded and walked out of the door, holding it open for them to follow. “As it stands, they may be in danger anyway. I have no way of knowing for sure until countless hours are spent monitoring them, countless hours that could be better spent on other tasks.”

  “Where are you going now?” Brandon asked, shuffling to keep up with Paul. “Would you stop for a minute so we don’t have to keep talking to your back?”

  “I don’t have time, and this conversation will get us nowhere anyway.” Paul continued down the hall to the employee entrance of the shark tank. “I’m going diving with the sharks. Like Megan said, that tiger shark is my biggest concern. There’s too much money invested in that baby to let it keel over. Drake’s a well-trained young man and a hell of a lot more qualified than Robert, but I’ll feel better once I spend some time with it myself.”

  “Fine, then I’m going with you.”

  Paul turned, the first real smile of amusement tilting his lips since he had teased Megan about Drake back in his office. “Oh, I can’t wait to see this one.” He laughed and started up the flight of stairs to the tank room. “You in that shark tank ought to be a sight. Don’t you think you should have changed first though, old buddy? Kind of hard to swim in a business suit.”

  Megan coughed to disguise her own giggle, but knew she failed when Brandon shot her a sideways look.

  “I didn’t mean I’m going diving. This conversation is not over.”

  “I wasn’t aware we were having a conversation to begin with. I thought you were blowing off steam like you usually do and I was supposed to be listening until I had my fill.”

  “What are we going to do now that you let him go? No one else is going to do the job for the pennies we were paying him, and we can’t afford to pay some hotshot expert more.”

  Paul topped the stairs, turned, and shook his head. “Think about it, Brandon. With Robert gone, I can give Drake the position he deserves, give him a raise, and in the end we’ll still be forking out less than we were with Robert here. I just saved us money. Isn’t that what you, Joan, and Walter want?”

  “Saving a little here and there isn’t going to help in the grand scheme of things. You know that. Joan and Walter want to take the offer we’ve been given. They want to sell this place.”

  And, if Paul didn’t agree, Megan suspected Joan and Walter would pull out. Then he and Brandon would be forced to sell or they would lose everything. God, she’d had no idea the aquarium was in such danger.

  Paul tipped his head back and closed his eyes, his shoulders rising and falling in a deep breath. Megan knew what he was doing. She found herself doing it, too, pausing to listen to the soothing hum of the giant filters and the water sloshing against the side of the tank. She inhaled deeply, closing her own eyes as the smell of the salt water moved through her system. There was something tranquil in the sounds and the scent, something that always seemed to sooth her when nothing else would. She knew Paul felt the same.

  Maybe it simply came from a life lived on the water. Maybe it came from sharing a love for marine life with those so close to her. She might have decided to go her own way with her career in law enforcement, but she had never lost that feeling for the water, never lost the bone-deep need and appreciation that drove her to places where she could visit the wonders of the ocean time and again.

  “And you?” Paul finally asked, turning to level an intense glare on Brandon. “What is it you want, Brandon?”

  Brandon looked at the ceiling and pushed an audible breath from his lungs. “I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

  “Figures,” Paul mumbled and stepped onto the steel grating that circled the top of the tiger shark tank.

  Megan stepped to the edge of the tank, her gaze falling instantly on the long, lean figure swimming alongside the fourteen-foot tiger shark. The corded muscles of Drake’s shoulders and biceps flexed as he stroked through the water, his attention focused on the shark. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his broad shoulders and big, strong hands that were obviously made to hold a woman as he brought her to orgasm after orgasm.

  Electric fingers of sensation tickled through her, beading her nipples and slickening her pussy. She watched as he moved one power
ful arm and lovingly splayed his hand on the shark’s side next to its dorsal fin. She wanted to feel that hand on her flesh. She wanted to writhe against him as he skimmed that hand down her body, feeling every inch of her heated skin.

  “Come on, Paul.” Brandon’s pained sigh snapped Megan from her lustful thoughts. “You know how much I love this place. I don’t want to see it close, but lately, it’s becoming ludicrous to think we can keep it open. I’m busted, man. I don’t have a penny left to sink into it. Profits are barely covering the overhead. There isn’t enough to spare for improvements. If Joan and Walter decide to pull out, we’re screwed.”

  Megan watched as Paul kneeled beside the tank and gripped the edge, her mind reeling. There had to be something they could do. But what?

  “Walter and Joan are not going to pull out as long as there’s still a chance they can make money,” Paul said, sounding far more confident than he looked.

  “No, they won’t,” Brandon agreed. “But they’ve also realized the only way that’s going to happen is if we all agree to sell, and we know you aren’t going to give in.”

  “This place is my life, Brandon.” Paul’s voice actually cracked, and a band twisted around Megan’s heart. “I’ll figure something out. I just need some time.”

  “Time is something we’re running out of.” Brandon threw a frustrated hand in the air. “Did you think your affair with Joan would change her mind?”

  Megan’s jaw dropped. Paul had an affair with Joan Baxter? Holy shit. Paul glanced at her, and she saw the truth and a truckload of guilt in his somber expression.

  He kept his gaze on her but, when he spoke, his words were obviously directed at Brandon. “I would have preferred it if you hadn’t made that public knowledge right now.”

  Brandon shot her a cursory look and sighed. “I’m sorry, but damn it, Paul, what the hell were you thinking?”

  “Believe me, I’ve asked myself that question plenty of times since it happened. What I can tell you is what Joan and I shared had nothing to do with this place. We never talked business.”

  “Well, maybe you should have.” Brandon turned to Megan, his posture one of pure irritation and utter defeat. “Can you talk some sense into him? Because no one else can.”

  Megan didn’t know what to say. She had stopped by the aquarium for a quick visit and some time with an old friend. What she had gotten were clouds of information that were rumbling in her head in a dangerous storm of confusion.

  Water splashed inside the tank next to her, drawing her attention. Drake broke the surface mere feet from where she stood, his sharp blue gaze instantly slamming into hers. His too-kissable lips tilted in a sexy grin that had embers of heat raining through her body.

  Confusion over Paul and the aquarium weren’t the only things she had gotten from this visit. A wicked desire had reawakened inside her that she had barely managed to get under control and, as she stared into the ocean of Drake’s eyes, she got the feeling that restraining that craving again would play hell on her.

  * * * *

  The vision of Megan standing at the side of the shark tank stayed with Drake long after she left. He hadn’t quite understood his infatuation with her at first. Though pretty, she was far from a Penthouse centerfold. Except, okay, from the neck down with her sexy-as-sin curves he suspected would be equally delicious, she could easily grace the cover of the men’s magazine. The neck up, however, painted a different picture. Her long bleach-blonde hair hung in waves around a narrow face with big hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and a nose a smidgen too large.

  No, not quite cover model material but, after barely a week of knowing her, he had understood. Her personality drew him to her like a magnet. She was smart, vivacious, ambitious, independent, shared his love for marine life, and he wanted her. The trouble came in not knowing exactly how he wanted her.

  Facedown on a dining room table, pinned against a wall, tethered to a bed beneath him…Drake grinned. Yeah, that would work for starters. He wanted her under his control, wanted to shatter that independence with a serious bout of good ole sport fucking. But something told him it wouldn’t end there.

  “Am I going to have to bust your chops, too, for getting sidetracked on the job?”

  Drake blinked, his grin fading as he turned and found Paul standing a few feet from him, one brow raised and an expression of part irritation and part amusement on his face.

  “We both care for that tiger shark, but she’s never put a grin like that on my lips.”

  Drake wiped the water from his face with the towel hanging around his neck. “Sorry, Paul. Did you say something?”

  “I’ve always enjoyed seeing young people with such motivation. It’s what this world needs, more people with the drive to go after what they want.” Paul pursed his lips and rocked back on his heels. “Of course, when that go-get-’em attitude isn’t directed in the right direction, how can you expect to get what you want?”

  Drake chuckled. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.” It was a lie. He knew exactly what Paul was talking about. He just didn’t want to discuss the bone-deep lust surging through him for Megan Pontius.

  Paul rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you do. I’m talking about Megan. Do you want to try to tell me you weren’t off in la-la land thinking about her just now?”

  La-la land, no. His mind had been boarding a fast-sailing ship straight to fuck-her island. “What makes you think that?” He decided to play dumb, if for no other reason than to tease his old friend.

  Paul tapped his temple. “The very intelligent brain in my head. I’ve seen the way you look at her, the way you’ve always looked at her. And I’ve seen the way she looks at you, too. She was dating that officer when you first met her but, to the best of my rather extensive knowledge, that’s been over for close to a year.”

  Yeah, Drake knew that and damn if that fact hadn’t kept him awake for a night or twenty, taunting him with possibilities. He had often wondered what happened to end her relationship with Jerry Cusack. He considered it likely the other man’s promotion to sergeant had something to do with it. Then again, maybe not. Drake sure as shit wouldn’t have given up a woman like Megan for a higher rank in the police force.

  Jealously could be the key. Yeah, Cusack was definitely a jealous man and he didn’t like Drake one iota. The man had practically gone into cardiac arrest when he had caught Megan around Drake. Cusack had hidden it fairly well, from Megan in any case. He damn sure hadn’t hidden it from Drake, though.

  Not that he kidded himself into believe he was the reason Megan and Cusack had called it quits. When it came down to it, all he could do was speculate and give her a mental pat on the back because she was no longer with the son of a bitch.

  “The temperature in the tanks is close to normal again.” Drake hoped by changing the conversation Paul would get the hint he didn’t want to talk about Megan. He didn’t want to think about her either, but damn if he could seem to stop himself. He knew women. He rarely understood them. What man did? But he could recognize the signs, sense when a woman craved a different kind of satisfaction than what she had allowed herself to explore before. Megan’s hunger was off the charts, but a night or ten under his command wouldn’t curve her appetite. Call it male egotistical confidence or plain stupidity, but he believed she would want more. A whole hell of a lot more, as in the forever kind of more, and he just didn’t know if he was ready for that kind of commitment.

  “The sharks seem to be doing fine,” he continued, noting the enjoyment sparkling in Paul’s eyes and ignoring it. Yeah, the old man knew why he was changing the subject. As much as Drake liked to see Paul smiling again, he didn’t care for it being at his own expense. “Another hour or two and everything should be fine.”

  Paul nodded. “I still want to monitor them through the night.” The older man lifted a shoulder. “Just as a precaution.”

  Drake agreed, knowing Paul’s decision was based as much on his love for the sharks as it was the sharks’ valu
e to the aquarium. “I’ll stick around, stay with them through the night.”

  Paul slapped the back of Drake’s shoulder. “We both will. I’ll take over for now. You can see to the rest of your duties and come back when you’re done.”

  Drake hesitated, not liking to leave Paul alone with the sharks. He didn’t doubt the other man’s capabilities. If anything, Paul was his greatest mentor. But, despite the too short glimpses of happiness he had seen in Paul’s eyes when the man teased him about Megan, the sadness and stress that had become a routine fixture in the man’s expression lately remained. One wrong move, one stray thought while he was in that tank with the tiger shark could spell danger and, if Drake was across the building when something happened, he would never make it back to Paul in time.

  Chapter Two

  Megan closed the lid on her laptop and sighed. Her week vacation had started twelve hours ago. And you’re already bored out of your mind.

  Maybe she should have stayed at the aquarium longer. It wasn’t like she had to go into work tomorrow. As a matter of fact, she didn’t have any plans for tomorrow. Cusack hadn’t given her time to make plans. He had been dogging her to take her vacation, and she had been putting it off. She didn’t need a vacation, didn’t want it. Working kept her sane.

  She glanced at the clock on the cable box across the room. It was barely midnight. At one time, she would have gone out for a walk on the beach, cured her boredom with a couple of hours of sand, the scent of the saltwater, and the sounds of nature. The casinos along the coast had taken that option away. There were still places where she could feel the sand between her toes, but the saltwater smell would be tainted by the aromas of food and pollution, the sounds drowned out by the constant traffic and commotion of city life.