Most Wanted Read online

  MOST WANTED

  Books by Sasha White

  PURE SEX

  THE COP

  LUSH

  SEXY DEVIL

  PRIMAL MALE

  MOST WANTED

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  MOST WANTED

  SASHA WHITE

  KENSINGTON BOOKS

  http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Susan Lyons for helping me get the details right. To Delilah Devlin and J.J. Massa for cheering me on. Yes, I know, I am the queen of the last-minute pressure crunch. I appreciate your helping me stick to my goals.

  Thank you to Erin Suitor for always being there to read for me when I need you. Your input is important to me, and I truly appreciate it.

  The ladies at Romance Divas are the best! Jax, Lisa, and Kristin, thank you for creating such a fantastic community that offers support and research help for all sorts of things (wink). And thanks to all the Divas of the “Secrets” section for being there any time day and night to help out a crazed writer on a deadline.

  A special thank-you to Nickelback for their song “Animals,” and Theory of a Deadman for their song “Bad Girlfriend.” Those songs really helped me pound out a few scenes.

  And last, but definitely not least, thank you to my readers for always wanting more. These stories are for you.

  Contents

  Hidden Cravings

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Unrestricted Access

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  No Angel

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  HIDDEN CRAVINGS

  1

  Heart pounding and blood heating, Lexy stared at the man leaning against the red brick of her apartment building. Unmoving in the shadows just beyond the light of the entrance, he was barely visible. Yet, as she slammed the car door and moved steadily across the dimly lit parking lot, her insides knotted with an undeniable excitement.

  Devon Kaye. It wasn’t really surprising her body recognized him before her brain did. After all, the man had worked her body in ways that, a year later, still lived on in her dreams.

  Stifling the urge to jump on him with open arms and eager lips, Lexy kept her steps slow and even, and her expression casual. It was almost nine o’clock at night and the August night sky was still darkening, creating shadows that danced against the walls of the brick building.

  When she got close, he shifted out of those shadows and she stopped in front of him. Planting her hands on her hips, she tilted her head to the side and took her time checking him out. Delicious.

  He was six feet of lean muscle covered by scuffed biker boots, faded denim jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket. His midnight hair was mussed, his jaw unshaven, and his piercing gray eyes turbulent.

  Lexy’s hormones settled into a holding pattern and she spoke softly. Gently. “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  Talking never had been their strong point. The first night they’d met, Devon had said they were two of a kind, and it was true. They’d connected almost immediately on a very physical level. Even as they stood there, silent, the hunger for Devon’s touch gathered strength inside her.

  Without another word Lexy turned away, unlocked the door to the building, and went in. She noticed he carried a worn duffel bag with him, but she didn’t ask about it. They didn’t talk in the elevator or the hallway, but as soon as the door closed and they were inside the apartment she tossed her keys on the sideboard and turned to him.

  “You look like shit.” It was a lie. Despite the roughness of his appearance, he looked dangerously sexy, as always.

  Devon’s hot gaze ran over her demure slacks and simple blouse and she wanted to cringe. She’d been on a date with a nice guy she’d met at the gym. A nice boring guy. The almost demure clothes had been her effort at dressing up while trying not to look like she’d been dressing up.

  One side of Devon’s mouth had tilted up in a crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You look great, as always, Alexis.”

  Something soft fluttered in her chest at the way he said her name and she forgot all about what she was wearing. To everyone else she was street-smart and sexy Lexy Signorino, private investigator and skip tracer, unafraid to use her sex appeal to get the upper hand in any situation. But Devon had called her Alexis from day one, and the way her full name rolled off his tongue never failed to make her feel beautiful…special.

  As hot as her blood was running, the tension in his body and the complete blankness of his expression made it obvious the desire for an erotic fling wasn’t what had brought him out of her past and onto her doorstep. Something was seriously wrong. All romantic thoughts slipped away and she smiled at him. “Why don’t we go into the kitchen and you can tell me what’s up?”

  “Sounds good,” he said, dropping his duffel bag on the floor and following her to the small kitchen area.

  Devon settled himself into one of the cheap folding chairs set around the kitchen table and Lexy grabbed a couple of cold beers from the fridge. She handed one to him and twisted the cap off the other before settling across from him. As soon as her ass hit the chair Devon started talking, his words slow and precise, his voice calm. “My cousin Theresa called me this morning and asked me to come out and see her. She didn’t tell me why, just said she needed me.”

  “And she’s family, so you dropped everything and came,” Lexy said with a nod.

  Her own family was small. She only had one living relative, Uncle Tony, who’d raised her after her parents were killed in a home invasion when she was a kid, but her family included one other man. Jimmy D was her uncle’s best friend, and she’d do anything for either of them. Family wasn’t always about blood. It was about love and loyalty.

  “My flight landed just after noon, and Theresa was supposed to meet me at the airport. She wasn’t there.” His expression was carefully blank, but his eyes were dark with worry as he stared at her. When he spoke next, his voice was tight with controlled emotion. “I’ve called her cell numerous times, no answer. I went by her office, figuring maybe she got held up, but they said she left for lunch and hadn’t come back. No one seemed worried, but I know something has happened.”

  Lexy listened as Devon told her about going to his cousin’s apartment where he discovered the door unlocked, but nothing was missing or out of place. He’d waited around her place for a bit, in case she’d just gone to the store or something, but deep down he’d known it was useless. While he was waiting he’d called a couple of her friends, but no one knew where she was. “And the cops won’t get involved yet because she’s an adult and it hasn’t been long enough. They won’t listen to me because they don’t know me, and they think I’m just overreacting.”

  “Are you?” After being raised by a couple of overprotective Italian men, Lexy knew how they could overreact when it came to the safety and protection of women. Devon had never struck her as that type of macho man, but she had to ask.

  He shook his head at her. “Theresa called me to come out and see her, not one of her brothers, or her dad. And I think she called me not just because I’m family, but because of what I do for a living.”

  “The body guarding?” Devon’s official job title was personal security specialist. They’d met when her uncle had hired him to look after her, without her knowledge.

  “Yeah. She didn’t say it when she was on the phone, but she was worried about something—scared almost. If I’d been here I could’ve protected her, but I didn’t get here in time to help her. Now I need to find her, and to do that I need someone who knows this city, who has ties to the police, and who is an investigator.” His piercing gray eyes pinned Lexy to her chair. “I need you, Alexis.”

  Lexy’s heart slammed against her chest and she sucked in a sharp breath. He needs you to help him, she scolded herself. Not for an erotic fling.

  Shoving aside her heart and her hormones, she glanced at the wall clock. It was barely ten o’clock. She stood up and nodded at Devon. “Let’s get to work then.”

  Lexy headed off to her bedroom to grab her laptop, but as her fingers wrapped around it she caught sight of herself in the mirror and froze. Her long blond hair hadn’t changed, the shape of her body, or the clothes covering it, hadn’t changed. But the look in her eyes had become as muddled as her chaotic emotions.

  Devon.

  Here, in my apartment.

  She closed her eyes, breathed slowly and deliberately for a minute, then slammed the door on the memories trying to get hold of her. Devon had been able to get under her skin from the first moment she’d set eyes on him. They’d only spent a week together, yet she got the feeling he knew her better than anyone. The thought of spending more time with h
im now thrilled her…and scared the shit out of her.

  A year had passed since she’d first met Devon. A year had passed since she’d last seen him. Only months since she’d talked to him, and days since she’d dreamed of him. But he wasn’t there for them, he was there for his cousin. She needed to remember that.

  Laptop in hand she went back to the kitchen and focused on the job at hand.

  “Okay,” she said, setting the laptop on the kitchen table and opening it up. As a private investigator with a sideline of skip tracing for collection agencies and bondsmen, she was used to tracking people down. The best place to start was always to compile as much intel about the subject ASAP. “Start with the basics.”

  Devon took a long pull from his beer then started rattling off facts. “Theresa Jane Williams. Born 1979. She’s a probation officer—”

  “Wait a minute.” Her fingers froze over the keyboard and she stared at him. “Theresa’s a probation officer and the police didn’t take her not showing up for work seriously?”

  Devon shook his head. “They said she didn’t have any appointments scheduled for the afternoon, so she probably just took a day off.”

  “Well, I guess I can see that, but they should listen to what you have to say. Not only are you family, but you spoke with her just this morning.”

  “That’s another thing. They said if I spoke to her that morning it was even more likely she was fine. Maybe we just missed each other at the airport or she stopped to have lunch with a friend or something.”

  “Okay, we’ll deal with them later. Let’s keep moving forward for now. Do you know her hobbies? Hangouts?” Wanting to chase the worry from his eyes Lexy gave him a sassy smile. “Credit card numbers would be helpful too.”

  Less than half an hour later Lexy was starting to go a bit stir-crazy. Devon was alternately pacing her small apartment and calling hospitals to ask about accident victims while she did her thing on the computer. She went into the voting registry and got Theresa’s social insurance number, then hacked into her employment files thinking a red flag might pop up there, but no such luck. There wasn’t any new activity on her credit cards or in her bank accounts, either.

  “Fuck,” she muttered under her breath as she closed one program and opened another. There wasn’t much else she could do on the computer, and they were getting nowhere fast.

  She looked up from her computer, her gaze instantly finding Devon. He stood at the window, arms folded over his chest, staring out into the night.

  Their personal history hadn’t come up yet, and part of her wondered if it ever would. Devon wasn’t exactly the type of guy who liked to talk about his emotions, it was one of the reasons she’d always felt such a connection to him. As if he’d always understood what she never said, as if they were always on the same wavelength.

  Lexy wondered if he was as hyper-aware of her as she was of him. Just being in the same room with him had her sex juices flowing. She remembered the way he’d stroked her cheek the first night they’d met. He’d had her pinned to the wall of the back room in a bar, where he’d finger-fucked her to orgasm only to refuse to fuck her.

  “Why not?” she’d asked.

  He’d gently stroked a calloused finger down her hot cheek and said, “Because this is just the beginning.”

  As if sensing where her mind had gone Devon spun around and caught her staring at him. Heat flared between them and her body hummed its acknowledgment. Time to play, her hormones cried out.

  Yet, she held back.

  She dragged her gaze away from Devon and pretended to focus on the computer screen while her body practically screamed in frustration. Sex wasn’t something she normally shied away from. She didn’t hold with the whole “sex has to equal love,” or even romance, thing. To Lexy’s way of thinking, sex was a natural urge. Sex was a pleasure. Sex could even be considered a form of stress release or exercise.

  But sex with Devon was dangerous. Dangerous because it—because he was so addictive.

  It was hard work keeping her eyes on the computer screen with the erotic tension so thick in the air, so she shut down the search program and jumped out of her chair. “That’s all we can do from here right now. Let’s go. I want to check out her apartment.”

  He scowled. “I already did that.”

  “Yes,” she said, striving for patience. “But you’re not a woman. Not only will going over her place give me a feel for her, but I might see something you didn’t.”

  Devon’s lips pressed together and he nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

  She grabbed her purse and car keys and headed for the door. As she passed Devon he picked up the duffel bag he’d dropped earlier and she hesitated. Danger had never stopped her from doing anything before, so why let it now?

  Her hand on the doorknob, she turned back to him. “You can leave the bag here if you want.”

  Their gazes locked and sparks flew. They were definitely on the same wavelength. Devon nodded and dropped the bag, and they left without saying anything else.

  It seemed talking still wasn’t their strong suit, but they communicated just fine.

  2

  It took just over fifteen minutes to get to Theresa’s apartment building and they didn’t talk during the whole drive. Once Lexy realized Devon wasn’t going to bring up the past, the tension eased from her shoulders and left her feeling excited that he was there, and determined to ease his worry by finding Theresa fast.

  She parked in front of Theresa’s apartment building, ignoring the TOW AWAY ZONE sign, and Devon used his key to let them in. The first thing Lexy did was check the door frame. “No signs of forced entry,” she noted before closing the door and following him into the space.

  He nodded, but didn’t say anything, just went over to the answering machine and pressed play.

  “An answering machine will make things easier for us than voice mail. Grab the code from the bottom of the machine and we can check the messages at any time.” It would help if there was a message though.

  Devon stood aside, tension radiating from him as Lexy did a slow walk-through of the place. It looked lived in, but not rifled or disrupted. No signs of a struggle, or a search. “You said you already went through her desk and stuff?”

  “Yeah. I found her old-fashioned address book there and called a few friends whose names I recognized. Nothing.”

  He obviously had the right touch with more than a woman’s body.

  Theresa’s apartment wasn’t anything special on its own—neat and mostly clean, but not overly so with good, but inexpensive furniture. But beyond the bones of the apartment there was a whole hell of a lot of personality. Colorful pillows were piled high on the sofa, scented candles on the table, various plants placed sporadically throughout the space.

  It looked lived in. Like someone who enjoyed life lived there. Someone who had a life beyond work.

  A twinge of discomfort went through Lexy as she wondered what Devon had thought when he’d gone from Theresa’s apartment to hers. Her place was similar in size and layout, but it was clean, uncluttered, and unemotional. The only personal touch in her own place was a couple of framed photos on her bedroom dresser, which few people ever saw.

  Lexy shut the door on her personal issues and began to move through the apartment. She was there to do a job, to find a clue to where Theresa could be, or why she was missing in the first place. She moved carefully through the living room, to the bookshelf. Running her fingers over the book spines, she stopped when she reached a shelf full of framed photos.

  Devon spoke from behind Lexy. “Her and her parents, those are her brothers and that last one is from our family reunion three years ago.”