Too Wilde to Tame

contrite about the way her eyes took in his wet, tousled hair and then gradually dropped to his bare chest, which was still damp from his shower.

In that brazen, unapologetic way of hers, her eyes followed the light sprinkling of hair covering his pecs, all the way down his abdomen, past his navel, to the waistband of his jeans. She licked her bottom lip, prompting him to recall how soft and warm that tongue of hers had been when she'd taken his hard cock deep inside her mouth.

His lower body stirred accordingly to that provocative thought, and he bit back the groan that automatically rose to the surface. No doubt about it, this woman was going to be the death of him, and he wondered if she'd come by for the sole purpose of torturing him with what he wanted so badly. Her. Hot and melting beneath him. Again. It was clear to him that even after sleeping with her, Mia Wilde was far from being out of his system. He was beginning to wonder if she ever would be.

She stopped in front of him, close enough to touch, tempting him to reach out and run his fingers through her hair, pull her close, and kiss her senseless. Instead, he leaned casually against the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest.

'So, what brings you by?' he asked in a lazy drawl.

Her full breasts rose and fell as she inhaled a deep breath, and something akin to distress flashed in her gaze. The brief glimpse was quickly masked by that tough facade of hers. 'Something's happened, and I need your help.'

He raised a brow, both intrigued and concerned by her statement. He couldn't begin to imagine what had happened for Mia to admit she needed help, let alone come to him of all people for it. But whatever had transpired, it seemed serious, and he wasn't about to turn her away without hearing what she had to say first.

'Come on in.' He stood aside so she could enter the house and then shut the door after her and led the way into his kitchen.

He opened the refrigerator and grabbed himself a cold beer, thinking he could probably use something stronger to deal with Mia, but he wanted his wits about him tonight. 'Would you like something to drink? I have water, soda, or beer.'

She shook her head. 'Nothing for me, thanks.'

Twisting the cap off the bottle, he tossed the metal disc into the trash and took a seat on one of the kitchen counter bar stools across from where she was standing. Distance was the key with this woman, he decided, because any kind of close proximity was dangerous as hell to his libido. Except the counter cut off his view of her at the waist, drawing his attention to her low-cut, snug-fitting, lace-trimmed camisole top and the way the soft pink cotton material molded to her voluptuous breasts.

Oh, hell.

Forcing his mind to concentrate on the situation at hand and not on Mia's very luscious body, he guzzled a long drink of his beer as he lifted his gaze back up where it belonged and took in her expression. He could immediately tell by the crease of her brows that she was upset about something, even though she was trying hard not to let it show.

It was such a novelty to him to see yet another side to her persona, to realize that Mia was a woman with real feelings and emotions, and even had a few chinks in that headstrong personality of hers. He wondered what really lurked beneath all that bravado of hers and then decided he was probably better off not knowing.

'So what's up?' he asked, turning the conversation toward business and the reason for her impromptu visit.

She met his gaze, not as the sultry seductress he'd come to know, but as a woman seriously in need of help. 'I received something very disturbing in the mail today.'

That immediately piqued his interest as well as his P.I. instincts. 'What, exactly, did you receive?'

'Pictures. Of me. They were taken last Friday night at The Electric Blue,' she explained calmly. 'But it's not the pictures that bother me so much as what someone wrote on them.'

Cameron was more curious than ever. 'Do you have the pictures with you?'

She nodded. 'I figured you'd want to see them, so I brought everything for you to look at.' Opening her purse, she pulled out an envelope and then handed it to him from across the countertop.

Setting his beer aside, he checked out the envelope, front and back. He noticed that Mia's name and address had been typed out and there was no return address, though the postmark indicated the envelope had been mailed from Chicago. He withdrew the contents, unfolded the plain piece of paper, and checked out the enclosed photos and the offensive slurs someone had written across each one.

On one hand, he was stunned by the degradation behind the pictures and insulting words. On the other, he'd always known Mia's reckless behavior had the potential of courting this kind of trouble. But that didn't mean she deserved to be the target of such a sick and deranged joke.

'Not very flattering, is it?' she asked, striving for a humorous approach to the pictures that showed her wilder side with four different men-him included.

She was trying to be light and breezy about the photographs someone had taken of her without her knowledge, but there was nothing remotely amusing about her predicament. Someone obviously had some kind of grudge against Mia, and they were intent on exploiting and scaring her.

He arranged the pictures on the counter so he could compare each one and met her gaze. 'Do you have any idea who might do something like this?'

A wry grin canted the corner of her mouth. 'If I did, I wouldn't be here.'

'Good point,' he murmured. Mia never would have dropped by his house to see him on a personal, intimate level. No, their very brief affair was done and over with, and other than a business-related issue, there was no real reason for them to spend time together.

'I have no idea who sent the pictures, or why,' she went on, her tone frustrated as she waved a hand toward the photos. 'There wasn't a note in the envelope, or anything else to indicate what the person wanted.'

He rubbed his hand along his unshaven jaw as he studied the prints again. The images weren't crisp and clear, indicating that they'd either been taken with a camera phone, a disposable camera, or by an amateur. 'Well, they don't appear to be professional shots.'

'I thought the same thing myself.' Mia bit on the corner of her lip and then met his gaze. 'I thought of something when I first saw the pictures.'

'And what was that?' he prompted.

'I saw my neighbor there Friday night hanging out with a few of his guy friends,' she explained. 'I always thought Will was a nice enough guy, and I've never felt uncomfortable around him or threatened in any way, but I suppose he could have taken these photos.'

He frowned, not quite following the conclusion she'd drawn. 'What makes you think your neighbor might be responsible for the pictures?'

'I've seen him taking pictures around the apartment building with one of those big, bulky cameras,' she said, gesturing with her hands. 'You know, the kind with the big lense that looks way too complicated for a novice to use.'

Abrupt laughter escaped him. 'I highly doubt a camera of that caliber would take such grainy pictures.' And he should know, because he and Steve used a professional Canon when a client requested photos of their investigation.

Her shoulder lifted in a half-shrug, giving her breasts a sweet, eye-catching bounce. 'Maybe's he's just learning.'

'Maybe.' Cameron wasn't about to dismiss any possibility. 'But why would he take pictures of you with other guys and write these words on them? Has he asked you out before and you turned him down?' It was the most plausible motive he could come up with.

'No.' She absently tucked back a strand of silky black hair brushing along her cheek. 'We've talked a few times, but there's never been any kind of attraction between us.'

Cameron didn't want to analyze why her answer relieved him so much. He didn't want to give a damn about her social life with other men, and he definitely didn't want to think about another man touching or kissing her the way he had last Friday night. But after having tasted what it was like to be with her so intimately, he was beginning to care too much.

'I'm just going on the fact that he has this camera and I've seen him use it when I've been around,' she continued, completely unaware of the direction Cameron's thoughts had wandered. 'His apartment balcony is