Strong, Sleek and Sinful - By Lorie O'Clare Page 0,95

you don’t want anything between us, so be it,” he said, his voice cold and flat. His words stabbed at her with the fierceness of a sharp knife. “But God help you, Kylie, if you know something about Dani that might bring danger upon her and you aren’t telling me about it. . . .”

Chapter 16

The night air didn’t have the chill to it that it had the past week or so. Instead humidity wrapped around Perry tightly enough that he could hardly breathe as he walked across her dry lawn to his Jeep parked in front of her neighbor’s house. Maybe tomorrow, when he’d put his temper, and all other emotions, under lock and key, he’d be able to rid himself of the overwhelming desire to walk back into her home and fuck the shit out of her until she admitted she wanted to be with him.

The sooner he backed out of Kylie Dover’s life, the better off he’d be. Focus on this case and nailing the prick who was destroying teenage girls’ lives should be all he allowed into his mind these days.

“Proof once again why you don’t have time for relationships,” he hissed under his breath as he reached his Jeep.

“Perry,” Kylie called out.

He held his car door handle, standing in the street, and watched, actually surprised, as Kylie ran across her yard barefoot and stopped when she reached the sidewalk at the front of his Jeep.

“I told you the truth when I said Dani didn’t want me to come to dinner because she didn’t want her mother playing matchmaker.” In the dark, it was harder to see Kylie’s face. Dark shadows shrouded a good half of her face, while her blue eyes reflected the streetlight behind him and almost glowed in the darkness. “There’s no way to prove this, which makes it speculation, but Dani worries that if we get too close I’ll share with you information she’s confided in me.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said, her voice cracking while she quickly looked away from him down the street, allowing him to see her pinched expression.

“I’m fine.” He found it interesting that his walking out on her after basically telling her good-bye affected her as much as it did him. Maybe Kylie did possess the ability to feel. Something twisted inside him, refusing to allow him to shove his growing feelings for her away.

“Good. I’m glad to hear that,” she said, her voice soft and sultry. She licked her lips and returned her attention to him, sucking in a breath, which pushed her breasts out and allowed him to see how puckered her nipples were through her dress. “Obviously I don’t know Dani like you do,” she began, watching him warily. “I see that she’s very intelligent. And I see her need to be accepted among her peers, which sometimes allows people, especially young people her age, to refuse to see things as they really are.”

“Tell me what you know.” He knew he sounded hard and cold, and refused to be daunted when she flinched. He’d never admitted to a woman before that she meant more to him than a good fuck. “If she’s done or is thinking about doing anything that could harm her, you’d better tell me.”

“I want your word first that you won’t let her know I told you.”

Like he owed her any kind of promise when she wrapped a cloak around emotions and desire as though it was her fucking wardrobe. Emotions he saw now making her cheeks flush and her eyes glow, even in the darkness.

“If you tell her I told you, she won’t confide in me anymore. I won’t know if she plans on going through with this if she closes herself off to me—kind of like you’re doing now,” she added, letting her voice fade away until her final words were barely audible.

“You have my word, and I don’t lie.”

“There are many different definitions, and reasons for not telling someone everything about you,” she said, tilting her chin defiantly. “I guess Dani’s safety is more important, though, than what you think about me. I’m worried that she’s talking to a boy on the Internet and that she might sneak out to meet him. With teenage girls disappearing right now, and his online name—”

“What is his online name?” Perry barked, interrupting her while every inch of him hardened painfully. He realized he gripped his door handle hard enough that he might rip it