The Art Of Deception, Book Two, Stolen Hearts series, Romantic Suspense by Kate Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

sure as hell had his interest.
    He could tell there was something she wasn’t saying. “What’s your theory, then?”
    “A couple of times.... Maybe it was more than that, but I just noticed the last two times...." She bit the corner of her mouth. “Forget it." She hopped down from the counter and started for the door. “It’s nothing. I’m being stupid.”
    Gage caught her around the waist and set her back up on the counter. He planted his hands on either side of her again, entrapping her. “Bullshit.”
    She looked as if she wanted to cry. “I think...I'm not sure, but...I think someone’s stocking my refrigerator with drugs. Using it as a... what do you call it...a drop off?”

Chapter Four
    Gage hovered above her like a huge predatory bird, his eyes eagle bright. He held himself so still, Sophie couldn’t hear him breathe.
    She leaned backward, the only direction she could move away from him. Part of her had known he could be a dangerous man, but looking into his blue eyes that had turned cold and flat, she realized she’d never been this close to danger. Vince Gage didn’t belong in her world.
    He pushed away from her and exhaled a long breath as if he had a leaky safety valve. She measured the distance to the door. If he was going to blow, she’d need a running start.
    “I...I shouldn’t have phoned you." She’d rather he yelled at her than this unnerving silence.
    He swung back toward her, pinning her to the counter with a glare. “Why did you? Why not just change the locks so everyone and their dog can’t troop through your apartment? Hard to make a drop when the door's locked, isn’t it?”
    She picked at a spot of red paint under her fingernail as she tried to form the right answer in her mind. Only the right answer was the truth, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth.
    “Sophie?” Gage pushed her hands apart.
    “It has to be someone I know. If I change the locks that means they’d go somewhere else." And maybe get caught.
    She couldn’t breath. She needed to get down off the counter and pace, get her blood flowing, her brain working. Only the kitchen was too small, and Gage too big.
    “Do you think it’s Raphael?”
    He was standing close enough that she could smell his scent. She felt embarrassed that she even noticed, because he’d just asked her if she thought the person she loved most in the entire world was a drug dealer. Although she’d asked for Gage’s help, part of her wanted to tell him to go to hell. But there was something steady and decent and honest about him, and that’s why she’d called him. She thought she might trust him.
    “I don’t know. No." She shook her head. “Raphael would never do anything that might harm people.”
    “Why did you call me? Why not Boston’s finest or DEA?”
    “Because I don’t want to report it. I just want to talk the situation over, figure out who it is. Obviously, I can’t talk to any of my friends about my suspicions.”
    The only sign of his agitation was the vein that throbbed in his forehead. The pulsing vessel ran almost parallel to the scar etched from the end of his eyebrow up into his hair.
    “So you didn’t call me because I’m FBI.”
    “Not really." She looked into his eyes, then away. Gage was one hell of a scary guy when he wanted to be. “I thought...you know. That maybe you could help. You do this kind of thing, right? Figure out who the bad guy is?”
    “Yeah, and then I put them in prison. Usually for a long, long time. But that’s not what you want, is it, Sophie? You think this is a game, where if we all play nice, everything will turn out fine.”
    He was right. She wanted to bend the rules to meet her needs, but that’s not the way things worked in Gage’s world. “I shouldn’t have called you,” she said again.
    “Damn straight you shouldn’t have. Not unless you want this to be a formal complaint."
    He crowded even closer, his stomach muscles, hard, pressing against her knees as