Only Pleasure(99)

"Are you hungry?" he asked before she made it halfway through the dining alcove.

She paused and turned back to him. "Would you like to order out or get something on the way to the party?"

"How often do you eat anyway?" He propped his hands on his hips and stared at her through narrowed eyes.

It was either do something about dinner or fuck her. And if he fucked her, he might not let her out of the apartment.

"I eat often enough." A little smile tipped her lips. "I can outeat a linebacker if you let me get hungry, but Dad had a snack for me in the office while I was there for our meeting."

His frown deepened. He'd left her in the meeting with her father and a security guard while he met with Cameron in the lobby of the apartment.

"What kind of snack?"

He watched her brow arch, her lips twitch. "It wasn't much, I promise."

"What kind of snack, Kia?" he demanded.

The amusement in her face shifted her expression, made it more sensual, made playing with her an erotic adventure.

"Egg rolls from Chang's. I only ate two."

Chang's egg rolls were the best in the state, hell, the nation. Chase grunted at that.

"I'll order in," he told her. "I'm not leaving for that party without some real food."

"There will be food at the party," she pointed out.

"Like I said, real food."

A light, soft laugh whispered from her lips before she turned and moved back to the bedroom, that damned skirt twitching beneath her ass like a temptation to touch.

That should be outlawed. Made illegal on a global scale because the thought of food wasn't uppermost in his mind. Burrowing beneath that skirt was uppermost in his mind.

Shaking his head, he turned and pulled his cell phone from its holster. He called in some food, then called the investigator assigned to follow them when they left the office.

"I think I was made, Mr. Falladay," the investigator said to him in disgust. "I had my eye on a black Bentley. I was just waiting to get a bead on the license plate when it suddenly pulled out into traffic just before you left the building. If someone hadn't been watching, he would have caused a nice little wreck. But he got away clean. I couldn't get the plate."

Chase was not pleased. "There are security monitors at the front of Rutherford's that sweep the street, right?"

"Yes, sir," the investigator agreed. "I was counting on that myself, but he was either real damned lucky or he knew what he was doing because when he pulled out those monitors were sweeping over him and moving in other directions."

Luck wasn't something Chase believed in.

"I pulled into the underground parking when I followed you back, though." The investigator was still talking. "I left the car there and I'm watching from a shelter across the street. If it comes back around, I'll get an ID."

Chase wasn't betting on it returning. Whoever was tracking Kia knew what he was doing, but the state of her apartment suggested someone reaching the limit of his control. He would strike soon, and when he did, Chase wanted to make certain he was prepared.

He disconnected the call and hit Khalid's number.

"Yes, Chase?" Khalid answered the phone on the first ring.

"The Rutherford-Edgewood ball tonight. Will you be there?"

Khalid sighed. "Unfortunately, it became a requirement once Courtney married Ian. She's a great admirer of Jillian Edgewood. She would never forgive me if I didn't attend."

Courtney ran all their lives to a certain extent. She definitely had a habit of getting her way.

"I want to put a net around Kia there." He kept his voice low. "Whoever this is, they'll escalate fast. We'll need to be on our toes."

"Who else have you contacted?" Khalid asked.

"I've pulled in Daniel Conover as well as the two available investigators we have from the club. Cameron will help; the ladies will watch. If we keep her under wraps, keep her stalker from getting to her, then he'll show his hand. That's all we need, just a second to identify him."

"It takes much more than identification to kill a man, Chase," Khalid pointed out mildly.

"But all it takes is knowledge to make him wish he were dead," Chase snapped.

At that, Khalid chuckled. "I'll be there. We'll be watching Drew closely. There is little doubt in my mind that he is associated with this. And, as you say, you can make him wish he were dead." There was a thread of anger in Khalid's tone that had Chase pushing back a suspicion that had been hounding him since that first night he had shared Kia with the other man.

Shaking his head, Chase disconnected the call before shrugging off his jacket and the shoulder harness that held his weapon.

Tonight, weapons would have to be pared down. He was one of the few given permission to carry one inside the hotel and the ballroom. With several state senators, mega-stars, and lawmakers in attendance, bodyguards would be a requirement. Thankfully, Ian had managed to push Chase's permit to carry during that event through quickly.