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LENGTH: Short-Story
SENSUALITY: Carnal

Cover art (c) Alex DeShanks 2008
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When she was good, she was very good, and when she was bad—problems. Sara picked the wrong man to rob, but she always paid her debts—just not in the coin Lukas was determined to collect in. Unfortunately, Lukas didn’t see it her way.

Lukas had had his eye on the sexy broad or he wouldn’t have tumbled to the fact that she was the one that had been robbing him. He was pretty pissed
off about it, but he figured there were ways to recover his losses that appealed very strongly to him.

Rating: Carnal

PROS AND CONS

By

Layne Blacque

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Lukas Duffy allowed the pretty little thief five minutes before heading up to his bedroom to shut her down. After the first time she had robbed him, he had seen the con coming and knew she and her gambler lover had planned to score big that night.

In those pre-dawn hours, nearly forty gamblers and assorted playmates bounced from table to table at Duffy’s Bar & Grill. Despite the activity, Lukas ably followed the action—even down to who went to the bathroom. From the corners of his laughing blue eyes he’d spotted Rafe Castillo’s woman leave the ladies’ room. Dressed in all black, a panther with smooth, liquid moves, the stunning lovely had slipped up the stairs to rob him. Again!

This time, he’d stop her in her tracks, and depending on how much trouble she gave him, he’d slap her boyfriend around to teach the sneaky dame a lesson.

Slipping up the wooden stairs—ancient creaky steps as old as his great Grandpa Patty—he stood outside the doorway of his bedroom. Rafe’s girl had left it open a bit. But when Lukas placed his eye to the crack, his gaze locked on a piece of cold steel. The bitch had pulled a gun on him!

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said, her voice cool venom. Opening the door with the butt of the .38, she stepped back and beckoned him inside. “We both know what this is, slugger. But if you play your cards right, no one gets hurt, and you’ll never have to see me again.”

“Pity,” Lukas said, smarting off. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you again. And again. Though I’d prefer to see you naked. I’d prefer it even more if you put down my watch and my gold cufflinks.” Holding his hands up, he moved into his bedroom and smirked at the lady in black.

“You’re cute,” she hissed. “But I’m not playing with you. Just let me get what I came for. Between the restaurant and after hours poker games, you make a mint every week.” Her deep brown eyes shone beneath the rising sun streaming through the window. “Just give me a head start before you call the police, all right? Use that time to beat up Rafe. I’ll be long gone before he realizes I’m washing my hands of him.”

Lukas almost missed his opportunity. He’d been too busy staring into her hypnotic eyes. Her lips—full, kissable mounds of milk chocolate beneath deep red lipstick—called to him, despite her irksome words. Those same words, however, pissed him off enough for him to see her falter. Stepping forward easily, he pulled the gun from her hand and pointed it at her flat belly.

“You were saying, doll face?”

Flustered, she held up her hands. Dropping his watch and the cufflinks, she backed toward the door. “Okay, Mr. Duffy. You win. Just…don’t shoot.”

“Why would I want to shoot the woman who has burglarized my house three times this month?”

“Just let me explain, all right?”

He shook his head, causing his shaggy reddish brown hair to fall into his eyes. “Maybe I’ll let you explain it to the cops.”

This time, it was her turn to look doubtful. “What are you gonna do? Call them out to bust up your illegal card game—the one you make six figures on every month?” She shook her head and her dark hair, shorter than Lukas’s, moved like a velvety, layered cap above her forehead. “Who’s conning who, now?”

When she has you, she has you.

Lukas couldn’t help but grin. This young thing, with her slinky black cat get-up and her blood-red lips, sure knew how to talk a good game. But how was she at playing? “What’s Rafe gonna do when he finds out I caught you, huh? He going to smack you around? Maybe not give you your take for this month?”

She laughed so hard that Lukas nearly forgot that he held a gun on her. She fairly bellowed, her eyes welling up as she pressed her small hands over her stomach and guffawed. “Rafe is not my boyfriend. We’re partners—that’s it. And I think you and I both know I earn more from lifting stuff than Rafe ever could from playing poker.”

“Amen,” he agreed. “I’m glad he’s not your boyfriend. He’s a loser.”

She shrugged. “Hey, I’m really sorry ….”

“That I caught you?”

“Yeah,” she said through a smirk. “But unless you plan on shooting me or something, I’d like to go. I promise I won’t come back.”

Lukas bent and placed the gun on his empty nightstand—empty because the watch and cufflinks the stunning thief had swiped were no longer in their rightful spot. “What’s your name?”

She stuck out her chin. “Does it matter?”

“Yeah.” His voice became a whisper. “At least it matters to me.”

The woman’s eyes—so hooded and on guard before—lightened considerably. Slowly, she brought her arms down to her sides. “I’m Sara.”

Something was brewing between them—something that could be nice. But Lukas didn’t want nice. What he wanted was to put some fear into her. Pulling her body roughly against him, he steeled himself against her bucking blows. She twisted and turned, cursing beneath her breath. Her pretty eyes flashed death at him. “Sara, I want you to stay awhile.”

“No!”

“Yes. You still owe me a lot of money. I need to figure out a way for you to work it off.”