setting.
The lady in the navigating device indicated Kylie had arrived at her destination. She paused in the street, staring at the dark home on the corner lot. Perry’s Jeep was parked in a gravel drive close to a door she guessed was the back door. Her stomach twisted with nerves when she parked on the street and then walked on the gravel to the door.
Perry opened it before she could knock. One look at the tight, almost angry look on his face and her heart swelled to her throat. He didn’t say anything but stepped to the side as she walked in.
“Where were you?” he asked when she walked as far as a kitchen. There weren’t any lights on except in a room on the other end of the house. And she knew that only because of the lit windows from outside. “Or wait, let me guess, you can’t tell me.”
There wasn’t pain in his tone, more like resignation. It still stabbed at her heart, the heart that was supposed to be well guarded by walls that would prevent any emotions from getting to it.
“And you would tell me every case you’re working on?” she demanded, turning around and facing him.
Perry crossed his arms over his muscular chest and glared down at her, his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Oh, no, let me guess,” she said, mimicking him. “It’s different because you’re a man.”
“You’re goddamn straight,” he hissed, but then stopped, turning and storming past her into his dark living room. He rubbed his hand over his head, barely tousling his short, dark hair, and turned on her. Whatever demons haunted him turned his eyes black as night.
“No,” she hissed, pointing at him. “That’s wrong. You quite possibly have jeopardized my whole case. I wouldn’t do that to you. And your only argument is because I’m a woman?”
“I haven’t jeopardized your case,” he said, his voice lowering to a dangerous, if not deadly-sounding, baritone. “Not a fucking soul knows you’re FBI other than me. And of course whoever you’re working with,” he said, waving his hand at her but then turning to pace. “I tried walking out on you, and you stopped me, remember?” he continued. “I told myself at first that the only attraction was that you’re fucking hot as hell.”
“Thank you,” she said dryly. But then let the rest of his words sink in. “At first?”
He walked toward the room off his living room where light flooded from the doorway. Kylie stood alone in his living room, waiting for him to answer, or at least suggest she follow. But he did neither. She stared at the extra long and wide leather couch and pictured him sprawled over it, remote in hand, watching his large-screen TV. She guessed even when the lights were on the room would be dark; black leather furniture and dark-stained wooden end tables and coffee tables with equally dark-stained floorboards and doorways gave the room a dominating yet calm and controlled atmosphere. Every inch of the space around her was filled with Perry’s aura.
She’d entered his lair. There were pictures on the wall, but she didn’t focus on them, instead moving warily toward the doorway with light streaming out of it. Even the air sizzled with his controlling nature wrapping around her, making her flesh tingle. She fought for calming breaths when she reached the doorway and paused. This wasn’t the time to search her surroundings and learn more about the man who’d seeped into her pores and created a longing that wouldn’t go away. She shouldn’t dwell on how he’d arranged his home, or how it gave her more insight into the nature of the man.
Perry stood in a den, a room she guessed was where he spent most of his time, his personal haven. Everything in the room spoke of Perry. From the dark green walls and even darker-stained woodwork bordering the floors and ceiling and doorway to the thick roped circular carpet covering wooden floors. His computer was set up in the corner, and bookshelves that she’d love to explore lined two of the four walls. They were crammed full of so many books, and trophies, more than likely a showcase that displayed his life. But it was the tall, glass-enclosed cabinet that he stood facing, filled with guns of all shapes and sizes, that she guessed summed Perry up. Weapons of power, of control, deadly and dangerous just like the man.
“We’ve got a problem.” He didn’t elaborate, although the silence grew between them. Instead, he continued facing his display case, possibly not even seeing the weapons inside. “I don’t compete with anyone when working a case. It’s my case, or it’s not.”
“I was called in to work this case. I didn’t ask for it.” Kylie walked toward him but stopped and faced his back, staring at roped muscle stretching under his shirt. He wasn’t going to turn around. Well, let him play stubborn. The facts were simple. “Nothing has changed, Perry. Except hopefully now you understand that I wasn’t lying to you by choice.”
“Things have changed.” He turned around, and the fierceness in his gaze looked worse than angry. A tiny muscle twitched in his jaw as he fought to maintain outrage that made his eyes black. “You’re the bait for a madman and I have to stand by and allow this to continue. I’m not sure I have what it takes to do that, Kylie.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
He grew before her. She was sure of it. Muscles flexed under his shirt and it seemed she was forced to tilt her head farther to maintain eye contact.
“I definitely have choices,” he whispered, his baritone sending chills over her flesh. “The obvious one was whether to walk away from you, or not. You’re here. That choice is made. Now to decide if you’re going to bring this guy down alone, or not.”
“Wait one minute,” she hissed, pointing her finger at him.
He grabbed her wrist, keeping her hand raised between them as his face came closer to hers. “Possibly one minute, but not much longer. You’re going to keep me advised on where you’re going.”
“I can’t do that.”
The passion, anger, whatever emotions made his eyes glow, seemed to disappear at once. He stared at her, his green eyes flat, closed off to her. Perry nodded once, releasing her wrist. “Okay then. I guess there’s nothing else to discuss.”
There were things they needed to discuss. If she thought Perry would blow her cover, she was obligated to report in and let John know she’d been revealed as FBI. Policy was very clear on this matter. Kylie crossed her arms, studying the dull gaze Perry offered her and his stance, not confrontational but not intimidated, either. Not that she ever thought he would be by her.
“I need to know what you’re going to do now that you know I’m FBI,” she said, her heart constricting as she fought to suppress all the feelings she had, pain over how he looked at her, frustration that he was acting like a big baby, and fear that he might do something to make her life hell.
“What I’m going to do?” Perry raised one eyebrow while a muscle twitched over his jawbone. “What I’m going to do,” he repeated. Then turning from her, he walked across the room to a doorway shrouded in darkness. “I’m going to bed.”
She stood there, confused and suddenly alone in the room. It was either turn around and leave, which was probably her smarter move, or follow him and demand that he talk to her.
“Damn it,” she hissed, and stalked after him, fisting her hands at her sides. “You’re being a-”
She stopped talking when, even in the incredibly dark room, she got an eyeful of incredibly hard-packed ass. Perry dropped his jeans to the floor and stepped out of them. His shirt came off next. Her mouth watered as her eyes adjusted quickly so as not to miss a moment of viewing roped muscle twitch across his back when he raised his arms, pulled his shirt off, and dropped it on top of his jeans. Then walking barefoot across his bedroom, he turned on the light in an adjoining bathroom and closed the door on her.
Kylie listened when water started running but then looked at his bedroom. Spotting a lamp next to his bed, she turned it on, then sat on the oversized bed. Everything in his house seemed so masculine and large. Just like Perry. His bed was firm and high off the floor. She couldn’t sit on it and put her feet flat on the floor, so she pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged, taking in the contents of his room, and waited.
Perry’s bed frame was the same dark varnished wood as his dresser. There were a handful of snapshots arranged in frames on the dresser, and after a minute of sitting there, wondering why she waited for him, Kylie got up and flipped the switch on the wall by the door, flooding the room with light, and leaned in to see the snapshots better.
Perry’s nieces, at different ages, were posed in each shot. There were a good ten pictures framed and placed on the dresser. She arranged them with her eyes in chronological order, not touching any of them, and noted that Dani didn’t wear the amount of makeup she did today in the recent past. Kylie focused in on a picture of the girls, all close to the age they were now, maybe a year or two younger, surrounding a very pretty woman. Her hair was brown, like the girls’, and her oval face gave her an air of regality. But it was her eyes, slightly large for her face, that reflected the strong family trait. Kylie knew without a doubt she was looking at Perry’s sister. They had the
