The Object of His Protection - Brenda Jackson [37]
That was easy for him to say, she thought as she pressed her body even closer to his back. Panic surged through her and had her clenching his shirt even tighter. From a crack in the closet door she could see it was one of the security men making his rounds. She might have been imagining it, but Drey didn’t appear in the least bit nervous. He stood there, cool and ready for action. Silently she prayed that they didn’t see any.
The security guard—who had a gun strapped to his waist—seemed to linger in Nate’s office longer than necessary. Glancing over Drey’s shoulder and gazing through the crack in the closet door, Charlene saw why. The man had taken a seat on the edge of the desk and was using the computer, namely the Internet.
She and Drey watched as the man signed on and went to a pornography Web site. Her view wasn’t as good as Drey’s but she saw enough to know the man was enjoying looking at the photos of all the naked bodies that appeared on the screen. It was downright embarrassing, Charlene thought, and wished there was some hole she could crawl into.
After about half an hour, it seemed the man finally remembered he had a job to do, and reluctantly signed off the computer. Charlene had been afraid of getting caught the entire time. Fear had clogged her throat at some point, making breathing difficult.
Once they were sure the man had left to go to another part of the building, Drey came out of the closet and pulled her with him. After having stood in the same cramped position for so long, her legs felt stiff and her joints ached.
“Come on,” Drey said taking her hand. “We got most of what we came for. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter 11
An hour later after taking a shower Drey took the time to remember everything that had happened that night at the coroner’s office. It had been like a scene from a James Bond movie. The only difference was that he hadn’t had in his possession any of that fancy technology. But he had been stuck in a very dangerous situation with a beautiful woman—a woman who was now probably asleep, dead to the world, after tonight’s action.
He hadn’t failed to notice that Charlene hadn’t said much of anything during the ride home. And once they had gotten here she had said good-night and raced off to the guest room.
While preparing for his shower he had heard the one in the guest bath going. Visions of her standing naked under a spray of water had given him a boner and he’d ended up taking a cold shower before settling down and taking a warm one.
Thinking back on the evening, he realized getting into the coroner’s office hadn’t been a complete waste of time. He had gotten copies of Harmon’s and Joe Dennis’s autopsy records, as well as the discarded original autopsy record for Dennis. But they hadn’t found the key. Chances were Nate had gotten rid of it by giving it to whomever he was in cahoots with.
Feeling the need of a cold beer, he left his bedroom and was rounding the corner when he heard a sound. He stopped, glanced over at the window and saw Charlene standing there and staring out.
Drey paused and looked at her thinking she was definitely a picture of beauty wearing a long velour white bathrobe. Even from across the room he picked up her just-showered scent that mingled with vanilla.
He couldn’t help noticing that she was shaking. The heat was on in the town house so he wondered what was wrong with her. Then he knew. She was having a flashback to what had happened earlier that night. She was probably thinking about what could have happened had they gotten caught. More than likely she was reliving the fear, the excitement and the intensity of the situation they had found themselves in.
“Charlene?”
He said her name softly and she turned. The look he saw in her eyes made him swiftly cross the room and pull her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe now. We’re both safe.”
Inwardly he called himself all kinds of fool for letting her talk him into taking her. As a police officer he had been in such dangerous situations before, but she had