His To Keep

Chapter One

Chapter One

“Are you telling me you two took down twenty men? All by yourselves? You must be extremely good at what you do.”

Andrea Reed’s voice, sultry and amused, carried perfectly down the first-floor hallway of DeMarco Investigations. Straight into Dominic DeMarco’s office.

As his hands tightened on the grip of his Beretta, he imagined it was the smooth skin of her neck.

“We’re the best, honey.” A thick Southern accent coated the response. “If you’re ever in trouble, we’re the men to get you out of it.”

Biting back a curse at the testosterone-induced stupidity of that statement, Nic reminded himself to consider the source. Even though he couldn’t see the men in Annie’s office, he’d known them for years. Muscle-bound from their crew-cut heads to their shiny black combat boots, the Idiot Twins were about to get a few more holes they didn’t need¾

Shit. Deep breath. Calm down.

They weren’t going to hurt her. They wouldn’t dare. He was overreacting, which was nothing new when it came to this woman.

“That is just so amazing.” Annie’s smooth-as-velvet voice rippled through the air, wrapping around his libido and heating his blood. “And where was this again?”

His knuckles creaked as his grip tightened. God damn it. She was reeling them in like a pro.

“South America, ’bout a year ago.”

Anger settled in a hot ball in his chest. That information wasn’t for public consumption and these two asses knew that.

He couldn’t completely blame them, though. Annie was a menace to any man’s sanity. The second he got her alone, he was going to throttle her.

“You must be extremely good shots.” Annie’s tone reeked with sexual interest that had to be faked. A Main Line heiress, Annie didn’t date guys like TweedleDumb and TweedleDumbass . She had to be milking them for all they were worth. Her next questioned confirmed it.

“So was Dominic with you on this little jaunt?”

No, he wasn’t going to throttle her. He was going to spank her. Put her over his knee and smack that gorgeous ass that teased him day in and day out until she begged¾

He nearly ground his back teeth into dust at the image. Why did it have to be this way with this woman? Why did she tie him in so many damn knots he couldn’t see straight?

Why couldn’t he lust after the divorced shop owner down the street? She knew the score. Annie… Annie was just plain out of his league.

“Nic, man, he was ruthless. Must’ve taken out eight or ten guys by himself. The man’s a machine.”

Okay, now they were really starting to piss him off. He shouldn’t have let this go on as long as it had. But he hadn’t known she was still here.

He’d been waiting in his third-floor apartment, pissed off at her again for … Hell, he didn’t even remember what for.

Whatever it was, she’d lashed into him with the icy precision of her tongue and told him exactly what he could do with his unwanted advice.

Her anger, on top of the phone call he’d gotten today, had forced him to find a hole to crawl into before he said or did something totally stupid.

He’d made a strategic retreat to his apartment on the third floor, figuring it’d be safe to return around seven o’clock, fifteen minutes before the Idiot Twins were set to arrive. Annie usually left the office by six. She never stayed later than six-thirty.