No Limits Read Free

combined.
    For not the first time in the twenty years of their association, he found himself wishing he’d taken on someone who hadn’t turned out so silly, so easily flustered, so goo-goo eyed when it came to men—except that particular bit of Lorna’s being female had played well with his dealings and made the rest of who she was easier to overlook. Then there was the surprising fact that inside all that fluff, she had a good head for his work. He supposed that had a lot to do with the pit of her existence before he’d plucked her out of her family’s shack in the swamps, and knowing he was giving her a chance she’d never get again.
    He looked her over.
    Her hair was a nest of bottle-red flips and teased curls, her tits 100 percent real, still firm and high, and more than enough for any man’s hands, mouth, or dick. Her hips, still trim, were curvier now than they’d been years ago when he’d crawled between her legs without help. Her stomach remained bikini flat above her shaved-bare pussy. Even thinking of all that, he couldn’t deny that these days he found more pleasure elsewhere. These days in particular it came from the impending culmination of what he’d been working toward for near on half his life. Being on the back side of sixty, it took more than what he could get from Lorna to keep his flames fed, even if once in a while it was nice to remind her of all that she owed him for.
    She turned away from his office window, lifted a brow darker than her hair, and after a long moment, approached in that slow, easy way she had, using the bright white tips of her nails to pick at the loose end of the belt cinched around her waist, her lips pursed.
    “If I pee myself, Baby Bear, it’ll be because I’m scared out of my wits. When he called to tell me he was coming to look over the place, I thought I was going to die.”
    Scared of Simon Baptiste when she should’ve been worried about Bear himself. “All you have to do is follow the script. If he asks why Le Hasard has gone to hell, give him the reasons we worked out. You’ve done things a lot more fearful than that in your life.”
    He saw it in her bright blue contact lens–covered eyes when she snapped, “The minute he sees the place as rundown as it is, he’s going to know something’s up. Of course he’s going to ask; wouldn’t you? Or are you too feeble-minded to remember that he’s been paying me to keep the place spruced up and rented out? And I haven’t been doing either, thanks to you.”
    He waited, letting her think on what she’d said, on whom she’d said it to, on how much she should be wanting to take back her words. Then he reminded her of a few things, doing nothing more threatening than making one big fist out of his laced hands and making sure he had her eye. “My mind’s as sharp now as it was twenty years ago. I remember everything, and you’d do good to do the same.”
    She knew where her bread was buttered and that helped her shed the attitude. She sunk defeated into the chair in front of his desk, wrinkles showing in her neck as she slumped.
    “That’s the problem, B.B. I remember it al l . I know every one of the things I’ve done, and especially what I did that night to Simon and King….” She let the sentence trail with a shudder that took over her body.
    Bear wasn’t worried. He’d made sure she’d been as high as a kite that night. He doubted she remembered what he didn’t want her to. And the only two people who’d been with her when the fire had started had no cause to question the past. He stood by his admonition. “This is what you’ve been doing for years, Lorna. You’re a professional. You make deals. You buy property. You sell property. You take your commissions and doll your gorgeous self up with the money you rake in. There’s no reason to start second-guessing yourself this late in the game.”
    He planted both hands on the top of his desk and pushed out of his chair, standing tall, looking