Second Chances [Pine Valley 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Daniel had already sent Angel and Gavin, his former team members, to watch over Leah’s parents. He knew aside from him, they were the best. Daniel could have turned the case over to the new head of MacGregor Inc. and walked away, but as he had watched Leah sleep, he knew he would do the job himself. His heart had physically hurt at the thought of never seeing her again. In his head, Daniel still thought he was too old for Leah, but his heart was another story. As he had watched her sleeping in his bed, he had to resist climbing in beside her and curling up behind her. She looked like she belonged there and something inside him wanted to keep her there.

  “You let me keep you safe and trust me to take care of things.” Daniel answered Leah’s question when her sobs finally quieted down to a few hiccups. Leah looked up at him and nodded. The trust shining in her eyes and her tear-streaked face almost had Daniel ignoring the shouts in his head that she was too young. He wanted to lean in and capture the plump bottom lip she was currently worrying between her teeth.

  As much as it pained him, Daniel let Leah go and stood. “We have a lot we need to discuss. First, let’s get you something to eat. Do you need help to the bathroom before I go?” Daniel needed out of the room as fast as possible. The hard-on in his jeans was threatening to break free and he didn’t want Leah to see it. She was there for his protection, not to have him all over her like some dirty old man.

  Daniel wanted to groan when Leah nodded that she needed help, but he managed to keep the sound to himself. “Okay, let me do all of the work. You have a few broken ribs. I taped you up as best as possible, but I don’t want you moving wrong and puncturing a lung.”

  When Leah held her arms up for him, Daniel placed an arm under her knees and one behind her shoulder and gently lifted her. He ignored how good she felt or the fact that she had buried her face in his neck as he carried her to the bathroom. The heat of each breath she took rushed across his skin, sending tingles down his spine.

  Daniel got her to the bathroom in record time and eased her down to stand. Once he was sure she was steady on her feet, he quickly exited the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He left the bedroom and closed that door as well, adding extra protection between Leah and his overactive hormones. He leaned back against the door and thumped his head on it before taking a deep breath.

  He felt like a teenager all over again, unable to control his erection at the first sight of a pretty girl. Leah wasn’t just pretty, though. She was beautiful. She called to him like no one ever had before. He and his wife had grown up together. They played in the dirt when they were little and started their first day of school together. When they were old enough to discover the opposite sex, their progression from friends to lovers had been an easy choice to make. They were comfortable with each other and he had loved his wife with all his heart—she still held a place there—but not once had she ever made him feel the deep need and intense lust that he was feeling for Leah. He had to just keep telling himself that she was too young for him. She was also a client. Daniel had a rule that he didn’t date clients. Not that he would ever take a dime from Leah. There was no way he would make her pay him to keep her safe, so it looked like the client excuse was out. Daniel was just going to have to use some of his infamous self-control to stay away from Leah.

  Back under control after his mental pep talk, Daniel headed to the kitchen to fix them some lunch. Leah hadn’t had anything on her stomach in at least two days since she had been sleeping, so he decided to go with something light. By the time he had two cans of soup warming in a pot and a few sandwiches made, Leah came around the corner wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts and a pair of his socks. Daniel just about swallowed his tongue at the sight and his finally-under-control cock instantly went rock hard all over again.

  “I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your T-shirt.” Leah fidgeted by the door. “I cleaned up a little, but I couldn’t find my bag anywhere to change and I didn’t want to put my dirty clothes back on. I can go change if this isn’t okay.”

  Daniel held a hand up to stop Leah from continuing her nervous chatter. He would have rather seen her with nothing on. “It’s fine. I wasn’t able to get your bag from your car so you can take whatever you need until we can get you some clothes,” was what he told her instead. He noticed Leah’s pale skin and the sweat dotting her upper lip and cursed himself. “Come sit down before you pass out.” The woman was in pain and he was standing there lusting after her like an idiot.

  Daniel pulled out a chair for Leah and helped her sit. Once she was comfortable, he sat the sandwiches on the table and poured two bowls of soup, sitting them on the table as well. “Go ahead and eat,” he told Leah once he was seated. “I’ll get you something for the pain once you have something on your stomach.”

  The quietness in the room as they ate was too much for Daniel. “How do you think the men talking outside your office figured out you were there?” he asked to take his mind off how good she smelled.

  Leah finished chewing before she answered. “I’ve thought a lot about that. The only thing I can think of is, either one of them saw me leave, or one of them came back and noticed the office door closed and the lights off. My name is on the door so they would have known whose office it was.”

  Daniel nodded. It made sense. Looking over at the woman seated next to him as she took delicate bites of her sandwich, Daniel realized how they found out she had overheard them really didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered to him was getting Leah off their radar and keeping her safe. If that meant Daniel had to take out the entire senate until he found the ones involved, then that’s what he would do. Daniel would also take Diego out with his bare hands if that’s what it took to protect Leah and her family.

  * * * *

  Leah sat on Daniel’s sofa in his office after lunch and watched him work. Even though she had slept for almost two days according to her new protector, Leah felt like she could have still slept a few days more. Instead, she forced herself to stay awake in case Daniel needed her input on his investigation. So far, the man was in his own world as he sat behind his desk. If he wasn’t on the computer, he was on the phone. He hadn’t said anything to her, but Leah was enjoying herself just sitting there watching Daniel work.

  The man was gorgeous. She found herself wondering why he was single. So far everything she noticed about Daniel told her the man didn’t have anyone in his life. She had a feeling he would have never brought her to his home if he had a woman there waiting for him. Leah knew he at least had a daughter based on the phone conversation she’d overheard and wondered if Daniel was divorced or if he had ever been married at all. The questions were on the tip of her tongue to ask Daniel, but Leah held herself back. His personal life was none of her business. That didn’t stop her from thinking about it, though. It also didn’t stop her from picturing the man without a shirt on.

  When Daniel had picked her up and carried her to the bathroom, even though she was in pain, Leah had barely held herself back from rubbing herself against the man like she was a cat in heat. She wanted to purr at the feel of his hard, muscular chest she was pressed against. From what she felt, and by the way his muscles flexed whenever he moved, Leah knew Daniel didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. She wondered what it would feel like to have all of those muscles wrapped around her body as he moved against her.

  Leah shuddered at the thought and felt her cheeks heating as she blushed. She wasn’t a prude, but Leah couldn’t say she was experienced when it came to sex either. Aside from the few fumbling attempts with her high school boyfriend, she hadn’t been with anyone since. Leah would like to think it was because she was too focused on getting her degree in college and she didn’t have time for a relationship, but that would have been a lie. There was no excuse other than the fact that when it came to the opposite sex, Leah was painfully shy. She could come up with all sorts of fantasies and scenarios in her head, but when it actually came down to it, she knew she would never have the courage to act any of th
em out.

  Looking over at Daniel as he growled at someone over the phone, Leah suspected that a man as good looking as him probably had women lined up down the street to be with him and they probably had way more experience than she did as well.

  “Is there something wrong?”

  Leah frowned, confused at Daniel’s question.

  “You sighed. Are you in pain?”

  Leah shook her head, embarrassed that she had sighed out loud. If only he knew the real reason. The man would probably dump her off on the first person he saw and run as fast as he could in the other direction. “I’m okay, still a little tired.” She hoped Daniel didn’t see through the lie she had just told. She needed to get her mind off of taking the man to bed and staying there for days. Daniel was there to protect her. He was her bodyguard and nothing more.

  “Is there anything I can do to help? I feel bad just sitting here while you do all the work to protect me.”

  “Actually, there is something I have been meaning to ask you.” Daniel moved away from his desk and sat on the couch next to Leah before continuing. “You said that you felt like your house had been broken into and your office and purse searched, right?”

  Leah nodded. She had no doubt in her mind someone had been in her apartment several times.

  “What I don’t understand is why. If you overheard something you weren’t supposed to then why not just kill you? Why search your house and office before trying to take you out?”

  The hair on her arms and the back of Leah’s neck stood on end at Daniel’s questions. “I never really thought about it. Do you think they were looking for something? Is that why they waited almost two weeks before they tried to kill me?” Leah could feel herself panicking and took a deep breath. If they were searching for something, then that meant she had something they wanted. The problem was she had no clue what that could be.

  “Do you have any idea what they could be looking for?” Daniel asked, proving his thinking was right on track with hers.

  “I have no idea. I never take my work home with me. It was one of the reasons I was there so late the night I overheard the conversation that got me into all of this mess in the first place.”

  Daniel reached over and pulled her hand into his and Leah had to resist the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl who was finally getting some attention from the boy she had a crush on. The man’s hand was warm and rough from the many calluses she could feel on them, and Leah wondered what they would feel like if he rubbed them all over her body. Daniel’s hand clenched around hers, snapping her out of her thoughts. Leah looked up at him and gasped at the heat and lust she saw shining in his eyes. She had a feeling Daniel knew exactly what she had been thinking.

  Leah bit her bottom lip to keep from blurting out something stupid. She had learned a long time ago that when she got nervous, the filter between her brain and mouth was the first thing to go. The last thing she wanted to do was shout out something crazy and scare Daniel off. She needed the man to keep her safe. Leah turned away from Daniel to keep him from seeing how much she wanted him, but a thick finger under her chin gave her no choice but to turn back.

  “You have no idea how much I want you right now.”

  Leah swallowed the lump in her throat that his husky voice had caused. She had no idea what to do or say about the bomb Daniel had just dropped in her lap. It amazed her that a man like him wanted her. He could have any woman he wanted, but he had just confessed he wanted her of all people. Leah had no idea what he saw in her, but she wasn’t about to open her mouth and complain. Instead, her lips parted for another reason as Daniel slowly leaned toward her. She could feel his breath against her cheek as his mouth moved closer to hers, and held still, not wanting to break whatever spell he was in. Her breath came out in shallow pants as she anticipated what was about to happen. Leah wanted his lips against hers more than she wanted air in her lungs. Just as she felt his moist breath caress her lips, the phone rang, snapping them back to reality.

  Leah sat back as Daniel groaned and released her. “I’m sorry,” Daniel sighed. “I need to get that. It’s a call I’ve been waiting on all day.”

  Leah nodded. It was the only thing she could do at the moment because she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would beg Daniel to ignore the phone and kiss her just once. If the sexual tension that had been building in the room was anything to go by, the kiss would have been explosive. Leah shuddered and clenched her thighs together. Daniel had only held her hand and her panties were soaked. Standing, she eased out of the room. It was either that or go over to Daniel and straddle his lap. She knew she wasn’t brave enough to do anything like that, so Leah retreated to the bedroom. She needed time to think about what had almost happened and figure out what she was going to do about it. It was one thing for her to be attracted to Daniel, but to know that he was at least attracted enough to try and kiss her was something else all together. Leah had no idea how to handle that.

  Chapter 4

  Daniel resisted the urge to smile as he watched Leah try to sneak out of the room without him noticing. He knew she was running scared, but he couldn’t bring himself to feel bad about it. Based on the way she looked at him when he held her hand and the way she reacted when he attempted to kiss her, he had no doubts she wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

  The question was what he planned to do about the attraction. What he really wanted to do was hang up the phone and track Leah down instead of listening to his contact drone on about the information he had found. He wanted to lay her across his bed and finish what they had started on the couch. That was what he wanted to do. The problem was, he didn’t know if that would be the right thing to do. Leah was still young and naïve. She had her whole life ahead of her once he got her out of the danger she was in. The last thing she needed was a bitter, jaded old man like him dragging her down. Daniel also had enemies all over the world. No one got out of the business he was in without making at least a few. Those enemies would do whatever they could to get their revenge against him. He had already found that out the hard way with his daughter. He couldn’t expose Leah to that as well.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  Daniel grunted. He hadn’t been listening and that was something unusual for him. It seemed that he could think of nothing other than the innocent young woman currently somewhere in his house. “Can you repeat that?” he asked his informant.

  The man sighed before continuing. “I said Diego has disappeared. No one has seen him in a few days. What we do know, is that the man was gearing up for something huge. Rumors are Diego was bragging that Mexico had grown too small to contain him. He talked of plans about going international. My advice to you would be to mind your own business and stay out of this. This is something even you can’t handle, Bulldog.”

  Daniel smiled at the nickname that had stuck with him since boot camp as the other line disconnected. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose at what he had just heard. He had a feeling his informant was right about him being in over his head, but Daniel thought of Leah and those big, whiskey-colored eyes. He couldn’t leave her to fight this battle alone. He knew he was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe. If that meant he was going to have to take down one of the most dangerous men in the world to do that, then that’s what he would do.

  Putting the information he had just received with what he already uncovered, Daniel had a feeling he knew exactly what Leah had overheard. Diego had plans of going international, and Daniel figured the good ole USA was the first stop on the man’s worldwide tour. If what Leah had heard was true, Diego already had a few senators in his back pocket to make his transition as smooth as possible. Too bad the information had fallen into Daniel’s lap. He now had every intention of taking down everyone involved. That was the only way he was going to get Leah out of danger.

  In the meantime, Daniel needed to get his mind on the task at hand and not the sexy woman currently in his home. Leah was in more danger than either
of them had ever considered. As much as he wanted Leah, he couldn’t compromise her safety by having his mind on her. As much as he needed a distraction, and he had no doubt Leah would have been the ultimate distraction, Daniel made the decision to only focus on her safety. He winced as he thumped his aching erection. Now, all he had to do was get his cock on the same page. In the meantime, Daniel went about gathering all the information he had accumulated over the years on Diego. He knew he was going to need all the help he could get if he was going to take down one of the world’s most dangerous men.

  Once Daniel put in a few calls and gathered together all the information he had, he finally felt calm enough to seek out Leah. His throbbing cock had finally gotten the hint at some point during his fact-finding mission and gone down. As Daniel left his office in search of his houseguest, he grimaced. He knew keeping his cock from rising whenever he was in the same room with Leah was going to be damn near impossible. Fortunately, Daniel knew all about impossible missions.

  * * * *

  Leah gritted her teeth as she held her side and made another turn. She was in pain, but that didn’t stop her from pacing the length of Daniel’s bedroom. She couldn’t sit still with the thought of her almost-kiss to one of the sexiest men she had ever seen still running through her mind. Leah wondered what would have happened if the phone hadn’t rung. Would Daniel have placed a nice sweet peck to her lips and ended things there? Would he have ravished her like she really wanted him to? Would things have stopped at the kiss or would the situation have gone even further if they hadn’t been interrupted?

  Leah knew she was getting ahead of herself, but she couldn’t stop the thoughts from running through her head. She had never been attracted to someone in the way she was with Daniel. Since the moment she had laid eyes on him at his office, her thoughts had been consumed by the man. Her life was in danger and there was a real possibility she wouldn’t survive the threat, but all Leah could think of was Daniel and whether or not he felt the same burning need and attraction as her.