“Good evening, Miss Lara Myers.”
As seemed to be the norm, whenever Lara heard Malachi Kingston’s voice, she froze. This time, it was in the storeroom where she was gathering the supplies she needed to restock the cubicles in the main area of the Accident & Emergency department where she worked.
A storeroom that was completely off-limits to members of the public.
Apparently, Malachi Kingston didn’t consider himself as being anything as mundane as that, because he must have walked through a doorway marked Staff Only before finding her here.
“I told you we’d meet again,” he added when Lara didn’t answer his first comment.
Because she had no idea, when Malachi hadn’t known her name or anything else about her two nights ago, how he had now managed to track her down. But she had no doubt, despite the two of them having only met briefly, that it was him standing behind her. She would recognize that deep and husky voice anywhere.
A voice that currently possessed the same mild conversational tone that had so irritated her the evening they met.
Strange to think it had only been forty-eight hours since she first met this man. Hours in which Lara had painstakingly gone through the contents of Gerard Taylor’s wallet. Not once, not twice, but many times. Each with the same outcome. There was nothing in there she believed would be in the least helpful to the mission she’d set herself.
There was little in the way of cash either, but as the man possessed more credit cards than anyone she knew, he probably didn’t need to carry actual money around with him. Not that he had a job. Instead, Taylor claimed to live off a trust fund left to him by his paternal grandfather.
Considering what Lara knew about him, she was a little skeptical about that claim.
As well as credit cards, there was another card that allowed him entrance to the twenty-four-hour gym he liked to frequent three mornings a week.
Plus another half dozen cards that showed his current membership to some of London’s most exclusive clubs and casinos.
“Or should I address you as Nurse Myers?”
Lara might not have any idea how Malachi had found her, but that didn’t change the fact that he was here now, standing behind her. In the hospital where she worked the night shift in the Accident & Emergency department of one of London’s general hospitals.
As was often the case, it was quiet here at four o’clock in the morning. The drunks were all patched up and sent on their way after falling or getting into a fight, and the half dozen other patients had all been treated and either admitted or sent home. All was currently quiet in A&E.
Giving Lara time to gather up the dressings and other items needed to restock the patient bays before the next wave of people arrived needing attention.
Having already worked nine hours of her twelve-hour shift, the last thing Lara felt like dealing with was Malachi Kingston.
“Once Gerard Taylor realized his wallet had been stolen at the theater that night, on my watch,” he continued, “he demanded my brother Max remove me as part of his security detail.”
Lara turned to face him and was once again made aware of how tall and imposing he was.
His dark hair was tousled, several wayward strands having fallen onto his brow. He was also dressed casually tonight, in a tight black T-shirt beneath a black leather jacket and faded blue jeans that rested low on his waist and molded lovingly to his powerful hips and thighs. Heavy black biker boots added to the bad-boy vibe that seemed to suit him far more than a tailored suit and handmade Italian shoes.
In contrast, Lara was wearing the practical flat shoes she worked in so that her feet didn’t ache too badly by the end of the night. She also knew her light-blue knee-length uniform was less than flattering. The wildness of her hair was once again pulled up into a band and the curls secured at her crown.
Not an outfit to give her the confidence she needed to deal with this man. Again.
Attack is the best form of defense, she reminded herself. “Did you buy that whole outfit as a fashion choice, or does it actually have a practical purpose?”
“Straight in with the insults,” he murmured with appreciation. “And it serves the purpose of being comfortable clothing for riding my Harley.”
“You drive a motorbike?” She couldn’t keep the disbelief from her tone.
“One I lovingly reconditioned, yes.”
Lara’s gaze instantly moved to the large and powerful-looking hands currently relaxed at his sides. If she was looking for grease on his skin or under his fingernails, she didn’t find any.
But, unlike a lot of wealthy men who never seemed to get their hands dirty, Malachi’s hands were calloused and looked slightly rough. As if he liked working with them in a practical way.
Such as reconditioning Harley-Davidson motorbikes!
“Nice hobby if you can afford it,” she dismissed.
“Which I can,” he confirmed without apology.
She already knew that. She knew a lot more about all of the Kingston family than she had three evenings ago. “So, you’re no longer employed as Gerard Taylor’s bodyguard?” she prompted curiously.
“I didn’t say that.” Malachi leaned his shoulder against the doorframe.
The fact his stance meant he was blocking her from leaving the room made Lara uncomfortable. She also felt slightly irritated, because Malachi had to know how intimidating he looked almost filling out the whole of the damned doorway.
“You said he demanded you be removed from his security detail,” she reminded tersely.
Malachi’s mouth quirked. “My brother Max doesn’t react well to demands.” He shrugged. “He gave Taylor the choice of continuing to retain me as his lead bodyguard, or Kingston Security would no longer be acting as his personal security at all.”
Lara had a feeling, from what she’d learned of the Kingston family the past two days, that none of the brothers or their cousin would appreciate anyone trying to tell them what to do. Least of all someone as arrogantly obnoxious as Gerard Taylor.
She’d tried to resist looking for information on the Kingston family. But in the end, she’d given in to the fact Malachi had made such a lasting impression on her that she’d wanted to know more about him. Any information about him invariably contained information on the rest of his family.
As Malachi had told her, there were six Kingston brothers, and a cousin who might just as well be a brother too, as he’d been brought up by his aunt and uncle after his parents died.
Several photographs of the Kingston men on their website and in the public domain had revealed that all seven men were individually handsome, but collectively, their looks were overwhelming. Lara could only imagine the level of testosterone when they were all in the same room.
All of them worked for Kingston Security in one guise or another. A company Lara now knew as being one of the most prestigious security companies in the world, the discretion of their protection services being much in demand at home and abroad.
Several of the brothers had been in the military prior to starting the family security company.
Malachi wasn’t one of them.
Malachi was considered to be something of a genius. To the extent that after he attained a master’s degree in engineering by the time he was twenty, he went on to successfully patent several innovations in that field during the next seventeen years. Those patents had given and continued to give him a monetary return that had caused Lara to pale when she’d seen how many noughts there were to his personal wealth. He certainly didn’t need his job at Kingston Security, or to ever work again if he didn’t want to.
Unlike Gerard Taylor, Malachi chose to work.
On a personal level, Lara knew that Malachi wasn’t married, nor did he appear to have ever been in a serious relationship. There had been several stories in the gossip section of newspapers and magazines over the years of women who had obviously slept with Malachi Kingston and had hoped to ensnare the very wealthy bachelor. He had always refused to comment when questioned on his own intentions and invariably the relationship, although Lara doubted Malachi had ever called it that, came to an abrupt end.
Having met the man himself, Lara felt certain that Malachi’s lack of comment was due to his having no interest in the subject, rather than him reacting in a defensive way. Malachi didn’t appear to be a man who ever felt the need to explain himself to anyone.
Lara gave a dismissive shake of her head as she returned her attention to the situation at hand. “I’m guessing Gerard Taylor’s choice was to retain you as his bodyguard?”
“I’m still the lead on his security detail, yes.” Malachi nodded. “I have three other men working the shifts with me.” His mouth twisted. “Thank God. Because Taylor is fond of nightclubs and I’m not. I wouldn’t normally have been at the theater that night, but one of my men called in sick.”
She eyed him skeptically. “You do realize it’s four thirty in the morning, don’t you? The time when most people are in bed and asleep.” It wasn’t really a question when the large clock on the wall facing the door showed precisely what time it was.
He shrugged. “I usually only sleep for about four hours each night. And I really hope you aren’t going to make any remarks that contain the phrases ‘not normal, robotic, iceman,’ or anything similar to that.” He snorted. “Believe me, over the years, I’ve heard them all, and I was really hoping you wouldn’t resort to that level of insult.”
Lara could imagine that the brunt of those accusations had come from the disgruntled women he went to bed with and then never saw again.
She really had to stop thinking about those women. It was none of her business how Malachi chose to conduct his private life. For her to even seem as if it bothered her—by calling him some of the same names those women had no doubt leveled at him as he walked away from them without a backward glance—would make it look as if it did.
Which was ridiculous. She didn’t even know Malachi Kingston, had zero interest in who he went to bed with—
“Huh.”
Lara’s gaze narrowed on Malachi, only to find him staring back at her with what looked like surprise in those normally enigmatic brown eyes. Surprise and something that looked a lot like an increasing sexual heat.
“What?” she prompted cautiously.
He continued to stare as he slowly shook his head. “Who knew?”
“Who knew what?” she snapped. It was four thirty in the morning, and she was tired and ready to fall into her own bed the moment she reached her apartment.
He shrugged. “I don’t normally have a physical reaction to a woman from visual stimulation alone, and yet the longer I look at you in that nurse’s uniform the harder my cock is getting.”
Lara’s mouth fell open as she stared at him in complete disbelief.
He couldn’t really have—
People didn’t say—
She had to have misheard him—
Except, Lara knew she hadn’t misheard anything, that Malachi wasn’t just people, and he really had told her he had an erection just from looking at her in what she considered to be a completely unflattering uniform. Deliberately designed to be so, probably, so that patients didn’t become aroused by their nurse.
Lara tried not to look down at the front of his jeans. She really, really tried, but in the end, the compulsion was too strong for her to resist any longer, and her gaze dropped.
Oh my God!
Clearly pressing against the confines of that soft and faded material was the longest, thickest aroused cock Lara had ever seen. Even as she acknowledged that arousal, she saw Malachi’s cock twitch beneath the denim material as a pulse seemed to run the length of it.
In response to having her gaze on him?
A quick glance up at Malachi’s face and seeing the increased heat in the darkness of his gaze told her that was exactly what was happening.
* * *
Malachi knew instantly, from Lara’s stunned expression, that he’d said something wrong. Well…not wrong, exactly, but certainly inappropriate.
Over the years, he’d found it easier to mimic other people’s reactions and conversations, mainly so that his own lack of interest in either of those things wasn’t too obvious.
It was an ability that seemed to desert him every time he was in Lara’s company.
A phenomenon that, apart from anything else, was interesting on a purely intellectual level.
But he’d never viscerally reacted to anyone the way he did Lara. He hadn’t thought himself capable of looking at a woman and having his body react purely on instinct. Yet here he was, his cock as hard as marble and his heart beating wildly, just from looking at her.
He inwardly acknowledged those things weren’t completely in response to seeing Lara in her nurse’s uniform. Every time he breathed in, he was also inhaling a light and spicy perfume he knew had to be emanating from her. Plus, those deep-blue eyes, surrounded by dark lashes, were completely captivating. As was the telling flush on her peaches-and-cream, freckled cheeks, and the rosy hue to her soft, pouting lips.
Which told him that Lara wasn’t immune to being in his presence either.
Even if that was the case, he could see by the surprise in her beautiful wide eyes and the shocked gaping of her lips that he’d still spoken too bluntly.
Even if he’d also told the truth.
A truth that Lara, after that glance down at his cock, was now also aware of.
He wondered what his brothers would tell him was the normal protocol after telling a woman she made his cock hard just from seeing her in what should be an unsexy uniform and equally unattractive flat shoes, but somehow seemed to have sparked an unprecedented reaction in Malachi.
As the silence stretched between them, he realized that Lara had been as rendered speechless by him as he was by her.