She reached for the door just as a key scraped the lock. Derek and Lana shared a glance. Aside from Jackie, visible through the glass wall of her office, they were the only two people with keys.
The door swung open.
At the sight of a biker-booted foot, Lana sighed. She should have known. Who else would make an unauthorized and illicit copy of her office key?
“What can I do for you…Ice?”
James removed his glasses, then leaned against the doorframe, arms folded, one leg crossed over the other. He met her gaze and winked.
A thrill of excitement coursed through Lana’s veins. So the night in the field wasn’t their last night together after all. He’d come back for more. Lana Parker is a sex machine! She pumped an imaginary fist in the air and chalked one up to the seduction techniques she’d learned in romance novels.
Angel coughed nervously and James turned his gaze on the open-mouthed, wide-eyed, stiletto-booted woman in front of him.
“Angel.”
“Ice? What the fuck are you doing here?” Angel bristled and her face reddened. “Did Rex send you to spy on me?”
James stared at her until she looked away. He was in full-on intimidation mode, and in those tight leather pants, Hades vest, black T-shirt and dark glasses, he didn’t even have to try. The do-rag covering his hair only added to his unshaven appeal. He was badass and Lana wanted him. Badass bad.
And from Derek’s red face and panting whimpers, so did he.
“Well fuck,” Angel muttered. “I’m doing it for my baby girl, Ice. You know things aren’t good between Rex and me. You know about all the girls he takes into the office. I want her to have a normal life and that means I need to keep Rex the hell away from her. I know I’m no saint, but I’ll do right by her. You know I will.”
Lana cringed at the begging tone in Angel’s voice. So unlike her. But she was clearly scared of James…Ice. For the first time, Lana wondered how he’d earned his road name.
“I didn’t see you here,” James said quietly. “I walked into this office and I saw a redhead and…” he glared at Derek, “…I don’t know what the fuck you are…looking like some kinda pumped-up, pimped-out GQ model…but you better start packing your bags because you’re not staying either.”
He turned back to Angel. “You got five minutes to get the hell outta Dodge before I open my eyes and see someone I shouldn’t be seeing in a PI’s office.”
Angel’s jaw tensed and she gave him a curt nod. “I owe you one.”
“Yes you do. And now you have four minutes and twenty-seven seconds left.”
Angel hurried to the door and paused to look back over her shoulder at Lana. “You call me when you got the goods. I’ll mail the payment to you.”
And then she was gone.
“Interesting woman.” Derek shuffled closer to Lana, and then his eyes fixed on James. He pressed his lips to Lana’s ear. “Interesting man.”
James’s gaze flicked from Derek to Lana, and back to Derek. “What’s this?”
“He’s Jackie’s.”
“He’s leaving.”
Lana groaned. “Lighten up. He’s harmless and not my type. I like brooding, dark, dangerous bikers who tell me it can’t work between us, fuck me senseless in a field and then show up at my office with an unauthorized copy of my key to mark their territory.”
Derek chortled. James scowled. Jackie looked up from her desk and winked through the glass.
“I didn’t say it couldn’t work.” James followed Lana into her office and slammed the door behind them. “I said I didn’t know if it could work.”
“So…you came here to tell me you just want to be friends?” She whirled around to face him. “Is that it? Because I have all the friends I need. And I have Derek in case I need something my friends can’t give me.”
James folded his arms and leaned against her office door. “He’s gay.”
His smug attitude began to grate on her nerves and she had to remind herself that she was the one who had taken the initiative to convince him he wanted more. If not for her unrestrained, wanton, kinky behavior the other night, he probably wouldn’t be here. She needed to bring him down a peg and level the playing field.
“You wish.”
His eyes narrowed and he rocked his neck from side to side, puffing out his chest like he was spoiling for a fight, as he whipped off his leather jacket. “Then I’ll deal with him. My girl’s not working in an office with that fucking dick on legs.”
My girl. Smug and possessive. She’d created a monster. And one who looked like he was about to beat on poor defenseless Derek. But at least she had her answer. He wanted more than friendship. And so did she.