Page 10 of Dancing With Temptation

He glanced over to the nightstand when his phone started to buzz quietly.

“What’s up, Tanya?” He asked, not surprised that his thoughts seemed to have conjured her up.

“Not much, there’s no sign of the asshole that Roxie used to call a boyfriend near her place. I’ve not been able to track him down either.” Tanya’s voice purred into the phone, naturally sensual, even if she was doing her best to sound professional.

She was another capable woman in his life, as good at scheduling meetings without conflict as she was at security details.

“Alright. Have you heard from Kai?” Lincoln put down the tablet he still held in one hand. Kai Li was one of his best friends and had probably spent the day playing polo or, more likely in Myrtle Beach, golf. The man couldn’t stay still which was why, despite being one of the richest men in the world, he was currently running the security detail that Tanya was a part of.

“Yeah, he’s keeping tabs on the others tracking down the ex and those men after him. No sign that they’re after Roxie, by the way, not from what I’ve seen so far.”

“Good. Thanks for calling, Tanya. Is there anything else you need to tell me?” Lincoln asked, preparing to get back to the contract.

“That’s all. I’ll buzz you if there’s anything new tonight.” Tanya’s voice held a wistful note that he knew she tried to suppress, so he ignored it. She could pine for him all she wanted to, she was too good an employee to fuck. Fucking her would make life messy and he didn’t need more mess in his life right now.

“Alright, speak soon.” He hung up before she could say anything else.

He went right back to tapping on his tablet, entering an amount that was several times more than Roxie’s previous salary as a payment amount. Once he’d read it over and decided everything she’d asked for was there, he emailed the contract to her. He didn’t know if she’d still be up, she’d gone back to her hotel after he’d prepared dinner, but he hoped she would be.

He fell asleep waiting for a reply.

* * *

The next day Lincoln woke up to see she still hadn’t responded. As much as he tried not to let it happen, a dark mood settled in and he spent most of the day growling at his phone to buzz already. Or ping. Or whatever noise it wanted to make to notify him that Roxie had responded. Shit.

He got up, dressed, and left the house to pace around on the sand, water surging up the beach to wet his feet. He should be enjoying the sunlight with a few beers and some good music while the soothing sound of the surf relaxed him but, oh no, Roxie was too busy to reply to him.

The hotel she was in had wi-fi, she’d told him that, and she had Internet on her phone, so why hadn’t she responded? Was something…wrong?

Ice cold dread laced into his blood, shot down his spine as he started to wonder if someone or something was keeping her from replying to his email. Or had she run away again? Lincoln stopped dead on the hot sand, sunlight warming his suddenly icy skin, and looked back at the house, wondering if he should get his keys and drive over to the cheap room she’d rented.

He could just picture how she’d glare at him if he did show up there and everything was fine. Her shoulders would draw back, her lovely face pulled down in a frown, hands on her hips. A smile replaced the worry on his face, but it didn’t stop him from glancing at his phone again, in case he’d missed a notification.

He’d call Kai or Tanya and ask them to do a stealthy check on her, but what if she tried to call and he missed it?

Lincoln kicked a lump of sand and headed back into the house. He’d wait one more hour, then he’d go over there. With a calm he didn’t feel, he showered and shaved, and put on clean clothes. He wasn’t the kind to panic, even when the situation excused it. Logic ruled his mind on most occasions. The exception to that rule was Chloe, who now insisted on being called Roxie.

Still, panic wouldn’t help the situation, so he decided to just send Tanya a message and have her drive by and do a quiet recon. His brows knitted together in frustration when he got her response.

Sorry, Lincoln, I can’t today. I’m with my daughter at the movies. I could drive by after?

That wasn’t very helpful, but Tanya had a six-year-old daughter named Myra who needed her mom’s attention. Lincoln knew that—he’d met the girl on several occasions and liked her intelligent, inquisitive eyes.

If you don’t hear from me by the time the movie is finished, I’d appreciate that. Otherwise, I’ll text you if I hear anything.

Tanya didn’t bother to respond but he saw the ‘seen’ notification that showed up on the messenger. That’s all he needed to know to get on with his day. Now, if only Roxie would do the same thing.

Brushing his right hand through his hair, Lincoln answered a few emails from work and a message from his sister. She was a fertility doctor in New York, with a title that went on for a mile. Normally, June was so busy he didn’t hear from her for months, but she was attending some gala or other and wanted to know if Lincoln would be there. It would be a good time for them to meet up, since they so rarely saw each other now.

Lincoln allowed his sister to distract him for a while but when he heard a car engine pulling up outside his house, he knew it had to be the woman he needed distracting from. The only other person but him who knew the code to the security gate out front was Roxie. Wincing at the way his heart thudded a little harder in excitement, he’d never been a sappy guy so being excited to see her brought him down a notch or two, he went to the front door to wait on her.

His first impulse was to yell at her, demand to know why she hadn’t answered his messages immediately, while checking her over for injuries or other harm. Instead, he stood in the doorway, one hand on the door, the other in his pocket with a bland smile in place. Okay, so he was going loopy over her for some reason, he could deal with it on his own. She didn’t need to know anything about it.

“Hi.” She said when she made it to the door, a faint smile on her lips as if it was only the lingering remains of a smile and not meant for him. She looked up at him with a frown knitting her eyebrows together, before she looked down at the ground. “I had to do some thinking, so before you blast me and ask why I didn’t answer your messages, that’s why.”

“And what did you decide, princess?” Lincoln winced again, not sure why that word had slipped out. He only ever called her princess to annoy her, but that’s not what he wanted to do. Now, she’d bristle up in anger and blast him with some profanity-laden directive stating where and how far he could shove it.

He watched her and saw that her smile stretched a little wider. Perhaps she’d let the dig go then.