by Mandy Harbin
“But he pays me to get naked and spanked by strangers,” Shelby said dryly.
Viola pulled up a chair and sat across from her. “True. Guess that does earn you some slacking off.”
Shelby sighed. “I wasn’t slacking. I was checking my phone. Mason still hasn’t called.”
“I see.” Viola sipped her coffee, but Shelby could see the war of words in her eyes.
“What?”
“Just seems you’re a little obsessed with that fact.”
Shelby clenched her teeth. “This is an important case, and I’m in a precarious position.”
“That you are.” She smiled. “Because of Rick and Mr. Showalter…I mean Mason.”
Shelby shook her head. “I’m going to give you so much hell the next time you draw the assignment short stick.”
“Bring it on, sister. Though fooling around with a rich hottie like Mason Showalter is so much better than rubbing down old wrinkled men any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
“Hey, we both had to work that massage clinic op.”
Viola shivered. “Don’t remind me. You can’t un-see old-man balls. That shit stays with you forever.”
Shelby’s laugh shocked her, but Viola jumped in and giggled with her. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Anytime. I should get back to work before the boss man catches me gossiping.” Viola stood. “Just don’t forget—”
Shelby’s phone ringing cut her off. Both of their gazes shot to it. She looked at the display and her heart took off. “It’s him,” she barely said. Oh God, it was him. Calling her. This is what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? For the case…and for other reasons that made her tummy tingle. Damn the man for having this effect on her.
“Pick it up,” Viola whispered as if there was a risk of him overhearing her.
Shelby grabbed it and waved Viola away. She didn’t need her overhearing. “Hello?”
“Hello, pet.” His voice poured over her like her favorite wine.
She bit her lip. “Hi,” she breathed. She warmed all over, unable to control her body’s reaction to him even in this. She glanced up and saw Viola watching her curiously. Shelby narrowed her gaze and shooed her away again. Viola opened her mouth as if to speak, but Shelby waved her hand to stop her. Shelby had to focus, and having Viola gawking while trying to interject wouldn’t help. After a brief standoff, her annoying coworker finally walked away. She took a deep breath. “I wondered if you were going to call,” she said softly.
“Mmm, I’m both relieved you wanted to hear from me and irritated I caused the distress in your voice by not calling sooner. My lack of contact has nothing to do with you, I assure you, pet. Work has been…complicated this week.
Shelby squeezed her eyes shut. She had a damn job to do and said job did not include swooning over the suspect. She needed to get her shit together. Now was a perfect time to make progress on this case, and she damn well better. He’d mentioned work, and she needed to snatch up the opportunity. “I’m sorry your work has not gone well. Anything you’d like to talk about?” She thought it best not to come right out and ask for specifics.
He was quiet for several seconds, his breathing heavy. Finally, he said, “There are better things I’d rather talk about.” His voice pitched lower. “I’ve missed you, and I’m not one to miss the absence of a woman.” He hesitated, as if there were more words he was holding back. Her heart beat so hard she had to shut her eyes to will it to steady while she waited. “Why you?” He sounded puzzled, genuine.
She swallowed. Either he was playing her very well or he hadn’t been as unaffected as she’d feared. He had no reason to play up to her, though. As far as he was concerned, she was just a woman at a sexual crossroads. Something that had turned out to be more truth and less cover for the assignment. This reality and his reaction to her complicated things. She had a job to do. She knew that. But this was also her life the FBI was playing with. For the good of the assignment and her own need to learn more about this newly discovered facet about her, she’d be as honest with him as she could be.
And go all in.
“I’ve wondered the same about you.”
“Does that mean you’ve missed me, pet?” he asked, more confidence in his voice. Did she miss him, or was it just his dominant side she missed? When she didn’t answer right away, he sighed. “I’ve worried about relapses in your training.”
What had he meant by that? Had she done something to displease him? Something inside her kept the question from being vocalized. She was unbalanced, and she hated that. What did it matter if something she did or did not do pissed him off? It shouldn’t matter.
It did.
“Are you not speaking at all?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, her head dropping. “I—” But nothing else came out.
He sighed. “I haven’t given you the reinforcement you need. I can’t explain why that is, but I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Are you free tonight?”
“Why?” Was he asking her out on a date?
“We have another scene to do, pet. If you pass this one, I promise not to leave you hanging after.” He chuckled. “Pun not intended.”
She didn’t understand his comment, but it answered the question that these scenes wouldn’t just be on Fridays. She licked her lips, the authority in his voice turning her on in ways it shouldn’t. Yeah, she missed his power. Whether she’d crave the same domination from another man was yet to be determined. She had weeks before she’d be forced to analyze that. “I’m free.”
“Good. Meet me at the club at seven. Oh, and Shelby? This time, you do not get to leave when you want to. If the scene goes well, I plan on keeping you all night long.”
“Y-yes, Sir.”
“Master,” he corrected. “But we’ll work on that more later. I look forward to seeing you, pet.”
He disconnected without her replying, and she stared blankly at her phone as his words clicked in… All. Night. Along. Holy—
“So what did he say? When are you seeing him again?” Viola asked, leaning in.
“That’s none of your business,” Shelby whispered heatedly.
One of Viola’s eyebrows arched. “Actually, it is. It’s bureau business.”
Shelby squeezed her eyes shut. “I know that. Jeez. I’m still trying to process the conversation.” That much was true, but this was still her job. That was the part that mattered here. She looked at her friend and sighed. “Tonight. He wants to see me tonight.”
“At the club or at his house?”
Shelby glared at her. “That was the first time I’ve spoken to him since I saw him. I think you know the answer to that.”
“Quit being so defensive. I’m in your corner here.”
Shelby groaned and rubbed her face. “Sorry. Just feeling a little out of my element.”
“I think you need a latte or a bitch slap. My treat either way.” Shelby looked up and Viola snickered. “Though I’d be pissed if option number two ruins my mani.” She glanced at her red French tips before winking at Shelby.
“I think I need something stronger than coffee,” Shelby muttered.
“Right. Let me finish up some paperwork, and we can grab lunch. I won’t tell Rick about having a margarita with my chips and salsa if you won’t.”
“Don’t worry. My lips are sealed.” Keeping things from her boss was becoming second nature.
Chapter Seven
Mason ended the call with Shelby and stared at his phone. What the hell was he doing? He hadn’t planned on seeing her tonight. Hell, he’d spent the last several days trying to ignore the fact that his thoughts trailed to her when he wasn’t forcing himself to focus on work and this clusterfuck he was in. He hadn’t lied to Shelby about being swamped—just not with his assigned duties. Even this morning, when he kept trying to prep for his meeting with William, he couldn’t concentrate, and the fault lay with one dark-headed beauty.
He’d called her before he’d even realized he’d picked up his pho
ne.
“Shit,” he breathed as he searched for Jedrek’s number and called his business partner.
“What?” Jedrek said in way of greeting him. He hadn’t barked it. No, that would require more emotion than the solemn man was capable of. Jedrek was more machine on autopilot than the average person. Not that Mason considered himself average. But the only time he noticed life spark in Jedrek’s eyes was whenever he conducted a scene. And even then that spark was tightly leashed. The guy had more secrets than Mason did, and that was saying something.
“Hey, man. You busy tonight?”
“Depends. Where’ve you been?”
“Had to take care of some stuff with F and B.” That was an understatement, but he couldn’t really go into any details at the moment. “I need you at the club tonight.”
“This a date?”
“I’m working with a new sub. I want her bound and you to do it,” he said, ignoring his friend’s attempt at sarcasm.
“If you’re training her, why aren’t you doing it?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. God, he wanted to be the one to tie her up, which was exactly why he wouldn’t. “You’re the best at it. Besides, I think it’s a good idea to expose her to different Doms. She’s new. I don’t want her getting comfortable with me.” Liar.
“Gotcha. All right, I’ll do it. Does she have any hard no’s?”
“You can’t touch her sexually. She’s agreed to work with various Doms, but only wants me to be the one to stimulate her should it come to that.”
“Should it come to that? You’re going to be there, too?”
“Yes.”
There was silence before Jedrek continued. “Forget it. I’m not interested in being your bitch. Ask someone else.”
“C’mon, man. You know how it is, and it’s not like that. Rafe helped me with a spanking scene, and I’m going to ask Emory to help with whipping. Your knots are a work of art.”
“I’m dominating for a reason, Mason. I don’t like having other Doms tell me what I can and can’t do to a sub.”
“Just think of her as belonging to another Dom. You’re always respectful of the rules in those relationships.”
“Do you two have an arrangement?” he asked, almost disinterested. “I didn’t think you were interested in taking on a sub full-time.”
“No. She came to me because of a mutual friend.” He wasn’t touching the comment about him taking on a sub.
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll be there when I get off work.”
Mason’s door opened, and William walked in. What the hell? He looked at his watch as he replied to Jedrek. “Thanks. See you then.” He hung up and looked at his boss. “I thought we were meeting in your office.”
William glared at him as he walked toward his desk and slowly took a seat in one of the chairs in front of it. “I just got done meeting with Fieldstein, and his office is closer to yours than mine.”
Really? No such meeting was on the company’s online calendar. All meetings were kept on it, so no one would be overbooked. Was he lying or was the meeting impromptu? Knowing William’s schedule came in handy, but Mason hated having his displayed for everyone to see. It felt too much like being micromanaged, but he didn’t make the rules around here. Not yet anyway. For now, he’d comply, but use it and all the other resources he could get to expose William. “What about?”
“None of your damn business, Showalter.” He jerked at the lapels of his jacket as he shifted in his seat. “What’s the status on Carl?”
Mason gritted his teeth before responding. If he didn’t, he’d verbally rip into his boss, and telling him just where he could go wouldn’t help anything. “He’s gone.”
William stopped picking at his sleeve and glanced up at him without moving his head. “I can see that. He hasn’t been in all week. When he started raising questions about the Culpeper Hedge Fund, you said you’d take care of it. Have you?”
Mason stared at him, wondering how much he should say. If he didn’t say enough, William would question him, wonder too much. The last thing he needed was that jackass snooping around. He couldn’t let the tables be turned. No way was he losing his upper hand. But it was too early to reveal the truth and lose everything he’d worked for. “I’ve spent the last four days scouring our financial reports, accounting summaries, investor statements, everything I could get my hands on. There are no discrepancies. When I tried contacting Carl to get his details, his assistant said he had a family emergency out of town.” Mason smirked. “Imagine that,” he said with false innocence.
“I’d heard about that. Seems awfully convenient he had to up and leave when he tried to throw us under the bus.” He smiled, and it looked purely evil. “I’d wondered if you’d had him eliminated.”
As in killed. Mason knew what he’d meant, but alluding to something and coming right out and asking were two different things. He needed to approach this carefully. William was a smart man. Mason just needed one little slip up to go in for the kill…the one he really wanted. He laughed. “Would’ve been a lot easier than weeding through all those damn documents to prove him wrong.”
William chuckled. “True. So what do you think’s going on?”
Mason forced a casual shrug. “I think he tried to screw over F and B, couldn’t make it work, and made a run for it to figure out how to get out of the mess he caused himself.”
“You think he’s dirty.”
“I’m saying the numbers all added up.” He maintained eye contact, wanted to make sure he seemed confident as he continued down his path of treachery to lure William into a false sense of security. “Do you think he’s capable of lying? You’ve worked with him longer than I have.”
“I think everybody’s capable of it if given the right opportunity.”
Opportunity? Interesting choice of words. Most honest people wouldn’t consider a chance to fuck people over for personal gain an opportunity…a right opportunity at that. Then again, most honest people wouldn’t see the real meaning behind his reply either. Mason was nothing if not shrewd, which came with shadowed respectability. “Opportunity implies Carl hadn’t set out to frame the company intentionally.” He quirked an eyebrow as he stared at his boss. “You think something happened that made him do this?”
“Carl is a numbers man. If he wanted to harm the company, he’d have the means to do it and make it look real.”
“But?” William wanted to say more. Mason could practically smell it.
“But he’s not street-smart. Having the know-how to make the papers look real isn’t enough motivation for him.”
“So someone could’ve planted the idea in his head.”
“Sure. For all we know, he was tipped off that questioning the Fund raised flags and he fixed everything before he left.”
“Okay, but who’d be cunning enough to approach him without getting himself caught in the process?” Mason asked without skipping a beat.
William stood. “I don’t know. But I want you to find out whoever that is and do to him whatever you did to Carl to make him disappear.”
Mason’s schooled expression was the product of years’ worth of practiced restraint. He knew the drill and was fully prepared to do what was necessary…as long as those actions fell in line with achieving his own goals. “I don’t know what you mean. Carl’s out of town dealing with a family crisis.”
“Of course he is.” The way William said it proved he knew differently.
“What if there isn’t anybody else? What if Carl was it?” he asked, rather than focusing on the specifics of Carl.
William’s gaze was cold, but Mason refused to look away. “Then the matter is effectively dead, and everybody else moves on.” He stepped out and shut the door behind him.
Mason glanced at his phone but pulled out his other cell. He didn’t like making these calls from his office, but he needed to relay this information as soon as he got it. He pressed the only entry in the address book and waited for line to be connected.
<
br /> “He knows Carl’s gone,” Mason said immediately.
“And? Carl is gone.”
“He thinks someone else is involved and wants me to eliminate the threat.”
“Oh, come now, he didn’t say those exact words.”
Mason gaped at the air before him. “How the hell do you know that?” But he knew. The reality slammed into him just as he asked.
“We have your office tapped.”
“Fuck!” Mason’s head was reeling. “Why all the secrecy then? Why give me a phone to update you when I learn something if you’re just going to listen in on my conversations? And why is my office tapped when you can just plant bugs in his? You can go to the fucking source.”
“It’s all for your protection.”
“Bullshit. You’re not worried about me. You want William almost as bad as I do.” Mason growled as his thoughts turned back to the man in question. He was screwing over the company. Mason had no doubt about it. He just couldn’t prove it. Yet. Once he was able to, he’d be sliding into William’s job before he knew what happened. “The man practically ordered me to off someone. He has a God complex and needs to be dealt with. I don’t have time for this shit. Take him the fuck out!” Mason whispered heatedly.
“God complex? That’s a good way to describe you. I know you’re only in this for personal reasons. Don’t try to convince me otherwise. You were the one who came to us, remember?”
“Only because you came highly recommended, and you assured me you’d take care of him.” Mason took a deep breath, trying to calm his ire. “Have you and your resources found anything out?”
“Yes. We believe the threat to the Culpeper Hedge Fund is real. We got our hands on Carl’s reports before he was dealt with, and from what we can deduce, this has the makings of a major Ponzi scheme. We also believe William Baxter is correct in his assessment that someone else was the brainpower behind tampering with it. We believe that person is William Baxter.”
Oh shit. Mason shut his eyes. “That’s impossible.”
“Why? You were the one who found possible erroneous expenses on a small open-ended fund he managed.”
