by M. S. Parker
Benita chuckled, but then her expression sobered. “Incognito is good. Go blonde this time. Short.” I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh,” she went on, “Keep your phone on you and call me if anything happens. I can be there in a heartbeat. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday.”
“We’ll let you know if anything happens,” I assured her as we opened the door to leave. “My gut says he won’t show, but if he does, I’ll watch him closely.”
Her face said she thought the same thing. “If we can follow him back to whatever lair he’s holed up in, that’s the goal. We can watch his movements then. Maybe catch him with his hand in some cookie jar.”
I gave her a salute.
“And Rookie,” she called after me.
“Yeah?” I turned back and stepped aside to let Bron pass me.
Her face was as serious as I’d ever seen it. “Be careful.”
I gave her a serious look back. “I will. Promise.”
As I followed Bron through the door and out into the crisp October wind, I realized that she might not have only been concerned for my physical well-being.
Chapter Four
Karis
While the two of us were out shopping for our “undercover” outfits, I went through the list of pros and cons of attending this event in my head. There was no association of Bron to Leticia’s murder, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to attend the open memorial. The only negative would be for him to run into the maid he’d been caught screwing. I gritted my teeth at the thought.
I didn’t think Bron would attempt to steal anything while we were there. He would need balls of steel to try something underhanded while I was watching. Besides, I kept reminding myself that he was currently on our team. He wanted his “get out of prison” deal and would be on his best behavior. His goal was to help me catch a murderer.
“Thank you,” I murmured to the valet / FBI agent as I handed off the car keys outside the late Leticia Backman's home. I looked around and spotted another agent serving a butler and was suddenly glad I hadn't reconsidered bringing Bron with me.
He held out his arm to me. “Relax, Karis. These are my people.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted you to come with me.”
“Only one of them, huh?” The corner of his mouth curled up in a sly little smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Right, only one of them. There are others, but I’ll only tell you those if you behave tonight,” I teased.
I knew our reason for being here was serious, but it was getting more and more difficult not to fall back into the banter that the two of us had done for so long. The more time we spent together, instead of emphasizing all the ways we were different, it instead reminded me of what we'd had, proved to me that our connection was still there.
No matter how much I wanted to deny it.
“Just be forewarned,” he said with a note of caution. “I may not be the only grifter in there. Leticia was a pretty big target. Rich, smart. She wasn't an easy woman to con.”
“And yet, you thought you could do it,” I pointed out.
“Oh yeah, of course I did. I’m good.” He grinned. “But I was distracted.”
All the humor in me faded away as I remembered what had tipped Mrs. Backman off. “She mentioned Angelina.”
Bron's eyes widened as he stopped. “Shit. No, Karis, it wasn’t Angelina who had me distracted.” He looked down at me, his expression earnest. “She was only a distraction from you. You were what threw me.”
I wanted to believe him, but all I could think about was that he'd had sex with me twenty-four hours after he'd slept with the woman he now called a distraction.
I gave him a tight smile. “Alright, lover boy, we’re on the clock.”
Turning back toward the entrance, I keep my hand on his arm. We had to keep up appearances, after all. But that didn't mean I had to look at him while we did it. Looking at him was even harder than normal because the tux he was wearing made him look amazing. Well, more amazing than usual.
We walked in arm in arm, and I felt eyes on us. While I knew a good chunk of the attention was for my gorgeous companion, I wasn't naive enough to think that none of the admiration was for me. I'd gone with a simple black dress, but it was one that showed off my long legs and made the best of my cleavage. With my short ice blonde bob and heavy makeup, I almost didn’t recognize myself.
We both looked good.
A guide met us before we'd gone a couple steps and walked us to the ballroom where the party was taking place. The moment the doors opened, my grip on Bron's arm tightened. Oh, hell. I might've looked like the rest of the men and women inside that room, but I was in over my head.
The music playing was something classical, but I couldn't tell the difference between Bach and Beethoven. Art adorned the walls, but I knew nothing about the styles or the artists. The food and champagne looked expensive and so far beyond my palate.
“Breathe,” Bron whispered. “I've got your back.”
Surprisingly, that actually made me feel better.
“Listen, I’m going to grab something to drink. You should do the same,” he said.
“Wait, you mean split up?” What the hell? He'd just said that he had my back.
“We can cover more ground that way.”
“Good idea.” I tried to hide my disappointment as he walked over to one of the tables serving drinks. He grabbed what looked like a glass of champagne and wandered over to a group of people standing beside the dance floor. I couldn’t get over how natural he looked in his tux. He’d been made for this, I thought.
Uaine had made him for this.
I pushed the thought aside and walked over to get my own glass of champagne from one of the dozens of waiters wandering around. I caught a few admiring looks from some of the other guests but didn't make eye contact or talk to anyone. I wasn't here to have fun. I was here to work.
And my work was to find Uaine Leconte.
Except after a pass around the room, I still hadn't seen him.
I was so focused on the man I was looking for that I didn't see the man in front of me until I found myself face-to-face with a solid wall of muscle I knew all too well.
“Oh.” A nervous laugh bubbled up as I found my hands pressed against Bron's chest. “Excuse me,” I said.
“Can I have this dance?” He had an arm around my waist before I could answer.
So I didn't answer. I simply let him pull me onto the dance floor. My body fell into step with his without a second thought. I'd danced before, but it'd always taken my partners time to get used to my height, to the way I moved, but Bron seemed to already know. We swayed together as one song faded into the next, our feet taking us around other couples I barely noticed. The world had narrowed down to the two of us. I could smell my own lotion and soap mingled with what I knew was Bron's unique scent. The heat of him warmed me, brought a flush to my skin.
This was supposed to be work, but I wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms and pretend that nothing and no one else existed.
“Leticia had this all planned out,” Bron broke the silence between us. “I spoke with her estate manager and he said that she'd actually made all of the arrangements for the ball, the auction, as well as her own memorial service and burial.”
I shook my head. “That seems like a bit much in the preparation department.”
Bron shrugged. “She wanted to make sure that everything was done the exact way she wanted it.”
Funny, I thought, that a dead woman had more control than I did. She'd been able to plan all of this, and it looked like it was going off without a hitch, but I couldn't get much of anything to go my way.
“Did you find anything about Uaine?” Bron's question interrupted my musing.
“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. I pulled my focus back to the matter at hand. “You?”
“According to the people I’ve spoken to, if he’s not here, he’s got someone here for him. A new pupil perhaps.
” He looked around the room as we continued dancing. “As we thought, most knew I’d been taken in for questioning, but I told them I’d been sprung for lack of evidence.”
“Do you think they believed you?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Who know. Thieves generally question everything.”
As he spoke, his eyes continued to scan the room. I did the same, but all I could see were the women watching us. They’d been checking Bron out since we’d walked in, and it didn't look like they'd gotten enough of him yet. Jealousy coiled hot and tight in my stomach. I tried to ignore it, tried to remind myself that Bron wasn't mine to be jealous of. I'd made sure of that.
Our dance was business. Nothing more. A means to an end.
“Excuse me.”
A man's voice came from my right. He was shorter than Bron, but a little taller than me. Not surprising. Most men didn't want to dance with a woman taller than them. He was good-looking, with a strong jaw and dark hair, the sort of man I might've been interested in, had circumstances been different.
“May I cut in?”
Bron's arms tensed around me for a moment, then released me. I felt a pang of disappointment that he gave me up without a fight, then pushed it aside. If he wasn't mine, I sure as hell wasn't his. For all I knew, he'd only slept with me so I'd trust him. Or so that he’d have something to hold over my head.
“Sure,” Bron said easily as he took a step back. “She's all yours.” He gave me a sharp smile. “I see someone over there who looks like she'd like to dance with me.”
As I watched him walk away, the stranger held out his arms, and I stepped into them, ready to keep playing my part.
Chapter Five
Bron
We were supposed to be working, and I supposed that keeping our cover as guests was part of the job. That meant mingling and dancing. For a while, it'd meant dancing with me. But then that square-jawed asshole cut in and I'd let her go.
Dumbest thing I'd ever done in a long history of dumb things.
So there I was, standing around like an idiot while the girl I wanted danced with someone else. The least I could do, I decided, was to do what she'd brought me here to do. Find Uaine. The handful of other professionals I'd talked to had all said the same thing. Rumor had it that Uaine had his sights set on most of the stuff here, but no one knew for sure if he would make an appearance himself or send a representative. It'd been years since I'd seen the man, so I doubted that I'd know any of his current...employees, but I knew the type, knew what to look for, so it made sense for me to keep an eye out for someone who didn't belong.
Despite my resolve to watch for anyone suspicious, I found my attention constantly being drawn back to Karis as she danced with a new person every song. I remembered when she'd first started growing and how unsure of herself she'd been. She was even taller than me for a few months before my own growth spurt kicked in, and she'd always been self-conscious about it. Kids could be cruel, and a lot of the girls at school had made fun of her for the tall, athletic build she'd always had. Now, however, she owned her height, her body. She moved gracefully around the room, her dress hugging her in all the right places. Places that I remembered touching, kissing...
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who noticed how incredibly sexy she was. It seemed like every guy at the party wanted to dance with her. They practically lined up as each song neared its end. On the plus side, it gave me an opportunity to get a good look at essentially every man in the room as they made their intentions known. I was most curious about the ones who didn’t try to dance with her, though no one had yet to reveal themselves as anything but another party guest. A few were there with significant others who were clearly commanding their attention, while at least a dozen had already been checking me out. They'd still bear watching, of course, but no one had done anything the least bit suspicious.
The downside to her dancing, of course, was that she was drawing too much attention to herself. If Uaine had shown up, he would've seen her long before we saw him, and since he'd met her once before, it’s possible he could recognize her, even with the wig. She was unusually tall and no amount of makeup could hide that.
If he were to get suspicious, he'd surely disappear, and once he did that, I doubted even the combined efforts of myself and the FBI would be able to find him again. Until he wanted to be found.
And that meant no deal for me...and no more Karis. They'd lock me away, and I'd never see her again. I wasn't foolish enough to think that this would last forever, or that there was ever a chance of her seeing me as anything more than a con man, but I'd take any time I could get with her, for as long as I could get it.
I needed to stop watching her dance and focus on the task at hand. I took another lap around the room. I didn’t expect a change in perspective to reveal anything that I hadn’t noticed before, but it at least gave me a bit of a reprieve from scowling at the men who had their hands all over the woman I wanted. A reprieve that, unfortunately, didn't last long. Almost against my will, I found my attention being drawn back to her.
She didn’t dance like an FBI agent, I thought, though, for the life of me, I couldn't have said exactly how I thought a federal agent should have danced. Maybe more reserved or something. Certainly not with the sort of sensual grace that made men think about how she'd be in bed.
My hands curled into fists at the thought of her in bed. I knew how she moved there, or at least in a small part. I didn't want anyone else thinking about her that way, but I knew they were. No one could have their arms around her, see her swaying to the music, and not think about fucking her.
A stab of jealousy went through me, strong enough to surprise me. I'd never been jealous of anyone, not really. I'd had times where I'd wished things had been different. Wished my parents were still alive, that sort of thing, but never actual jealousy.
Except when it came to Karis. Over the years, whenever I'd thought of her, thought about her dating, kissing, having sex – any of the things I'd wanted for myself – I'd been jealous of the unknown. Now, however, I could see the men with her, see how they looked at her, how they wanted her.
And I fucking hated it.
I glared at her newest partner. He was just even with her height and seemed to be taking advantage of the fact that leaning close to talk to her put his lips near hers. Though the songs hadn't exactly become more romantic, he held her closer than her other partners had, and I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking. Even as I watched, the hand on the small of her back slid lower. I tensed as it brushed the top of her ass, then swore under my breath when he dropped it far enough to palm her.
I didn't stop to think about the wisdom of what I was doing. All I cared about was getting that bastard's hands off her.
Dropping my hand on his shoulder, I effectively stopped their movement. “Excuse me.”
The man glared at me. “This is still my dance.” He tried to pull away, but I tightened my grip.
“No, I believe you’re done here,” I spoke through gritted teeth, resisting the urge to break the asshole's hand. I gave him a hard enough tug to make him let go of Karis.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?” he snapped. “Wait your damn turn like everyone else!”
“Here’s the thing.” I took a step toward him, using my height to my advantage. “It's always my turn.”
“She didn't say she was with anyone.” He sounded like a petulant child, but that didn't surprise me. He was probably some trust fund baby who thought he could have whatever he wanted. Well, he couldn't have her.
“Well, she is, so back off.”
“What the hell, Bron?!” Karis snapped at me. She grabbed my arm and dragged me off the dance floor while people stared. “What's your problem?”
I glowered at her, refusing to let her shame me into apologizing. I hadn't done anything wrong. She'd been the one dancing and flirting while I'd been watching for Uaine. “We’re supposed to be working right now, Karis, or did you forget why
we were really here?”
“Don't tell me how to do my job,” she threw back at me, eyes flashing. “You don't know a damn thing about being an FBI agent.”
“It wasn't just that,” I retorted. “You were making a fool of yourself, flirting with all those guys. Going from one to the other.”
“Are you kidding me?” she hissed. “You fucked Leticia's maid less than two days ago, and you're going to lecture me about dancing with a few men?”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Who I slept with isn't the issue here.”
“Of course not.” She shook her head, clearly disgusted. “A guy can fuck whoever he wants, but heaven forbid a woman have a little harmless fun on a public dance floor.”
“Look, if you're jealous–”
“Jealous of some maid you seduced?” Her voice started to raise, and she glanced toward the house before continuing in a quieter tone. “Grow up, Bron. Not everything is about you. Then again, I don't know why I expected anything different. Your entire life is about you. Finding rich people to rip off. Some moron to con. Who cares what happens or who you hurt as long as you get what you want.”
I opened my mouth to argue, to come up with some sort of defense for my actions, for my life, but I knew there was nothing to say. She was right. Maybe when I'd first gone into the system, having just lost my parents, being a bit self-centered was understandable, but I'd let it go from there. I'd always prided myself on having standards, morals. I only robbed from people who could afford it, only conned those who I deemed to be in the wrong. I'd never let myself think about the lives I must have ruined, the people I'd hurt.
“We’re leaving.” Her tone was hard again, as hard as the walls she'd put back up.
Whatever progress we'd made, whatever friendship we'd had left, it'd all just come crashing down around us. No matter what happened with my case, I had a feeling that things between us were done.
