by J. Kenner
“Celebrity watching? I never would have pegged you for that.”
“Funny,” Winston said dryly. “No, I need access to a party. Apparently it's infested by celebrities, very closed, and invitation only." He frowned. “Actually, I probably could have asked Jamie. Or Damien.”
“Damien and Nikki are out of town until late tonight, and while Jamie could probably pull strings, she’s still climbing the Hollywood ladder. Renly’s a better choice. And this way he’ll feel like he’s already part of the team. Will you need him on site with you? I presume this is about more than expanding your social circle.”
"Honestly? I'm going to break into a vault."
Ryan burst out laughing. "Well, now I really want to hear this story once you can tell me. I can't make any promises, but I can put you in touch with Renly. Are you prepared to tell him what you're planning to do? I don't think he's going to want his ass hanging out there without knowing what's at stake."
It was a good point, and one that Winston honestly hadn't considered. "I'll tell him as much as I can, and I’ll let him know the risks."
"In that case, I'll set up an introduction. When is this party?"
“It starts at ten.”
Ryan’s eyes widened. “Tonight.”
Winston shrugged. “I’m not one to procrastinate.”
Ryan exhaled, then stood. “In that case, I’ll set up a meeting right now."
Renly Cooper pressed the limo’s intercom and asked the driver to circle the block one more time.
“Nice transport,” Winston said.
Renly grinned, his golden eyes dancing with humor in the limo’s low light. “It’s not my usual ride.”
He was sitting across from Winston and Linda, and the overhead light gleamed on the copper hair that he no longer wore military-short. He had the build of a Navy SEAL, that was for sure. But the looks of a movie star. Winston wondered if that was his ambition. And, if so, why the hell he signed up with Stark Security.
As it stood, he liked the guy, but wasn’t quite sure what to think of him. Still, he was getting them into the party, no questions asked, and Winston definitely couldn’t complain about that.
“I picture you in a Porsche,” Linda said, making Renly laugh.
“I get that a lot. Actually, I’ve got a bike, not a car. A Ducati. But I didn’t think that dress of yours would ride well.” He flashed a slow smile. “Not on a bike, anyway.”
Linda laughed, and Winston stifled the urge to shoot Renly a harsh glare, not to mention a punch in the lip. He knew Renly was just kidding around, but Linda was his, dammit. And as for that dress, with the slit all the way up to her hip and the bodice that looked like it would fall off her shoulders in a light breeze, well … he was already regretting the hands-off arrangement he’d set between the two of them.
Not that any of that mattered now. They were here to do a job. And one more time around the block, and it would be time to go into the Bigelow and take a giant step forward in this operation.
“—perk of the job,” Renly was saying, and Winston realized he’d tuned out the conversation.
“Pardon?”
“I was telling Linda that the limo is a favor from a producer I was working with. A ragtag team of military castoffs fights a giant squid alien. And I’ve seen the first cut. It’s surprisingly good.”
Winston laughed. “And you consulted because of your vast experience with aliens?”
Renly grinned. “Well, I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
“Fair enough,” Winston managed to keep a straight face. And decided that he liked this guy.
“I was also saying that you need to show up to a party like this in style. Believe me, I’ve been dragged to several of these things.”
Linda leaned forward. “You said the staff usually stays until about midnight, then the host urges them to leave?”
“The staff will be offered incentives to go home or look the other way. Since you need into the back offices, that’ll be the time to do it. You won’t be the only ones, though. Not everyone wants privacy at a party like this, but some prefer to at least have their own dark corner.”
“Like this?” she repeated, then looked at Winston. “Like what?”
He held up his hands. “First I’m hearing of it.”
“Yeah, it’s one of those kinds of parties. I assume you two are at least good friends.”
Linda eyed him, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked a little smug. So much for his plan to shut it all down. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “We’re friends.”
“Good to hear. Okay, we’re almost there. I’ll go in with you if I need to, but I got you on a list. So I’m not staying unless you need me for your operation.”
“Thanks, but we’ve got it under control.”
Renly nodded as Linda asked, “Why not stay? A Hollywood party, and you’re in the industry.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Winston waited for him to elaborate, but Renly stayed silent. “Well,” he said as the valet came to open the limo’s door. “We’re here.”
As the uniformed man helped Linda out of the limo, Renly lowered his voice. “The alarm is disabled during these parties, but it turns back on at four. And there’s a guard who patrols the back area. Mostly the offices past the vault, so he shouldn’t be in your way. But he does do a sweep or two in that back hallway. Avoid him. I don’t have his schedule. I just know his shift ends at six.”
“We’ll be fine.”
Renly nodded. “Remember, get to the back room when the staff leaves. You’ll exit out the far side and follow the hall to the vault room. Don’t shut the vault door. My source didn’t know if it has countermeasures if accessed after hours. You might get stuck inside.”
“But the entry code?” Winston asked. “Does it trip a silent alarm?”
“Ninety percent sure it doesn’t, but you’re going to have to live with that ten percent.”
He wasn’t happy about it, but he nodded. “How’d you get the code anyway?”
Renly shrugged. “I have my ways. And I’ve learned that even though I have no actual power in this industry, I am clothed with the illusion of power. I figure it’ll come in handy working for the SSA. I figured I’d give it a test run.”
“There’s a woman working in there who spilled a few secrets, isn’t there?”
Renly only grinned. “Good luck.”
“I owe you one,” Winston said, then slid out of the limo to take Linda’s arm.
She turned to meet his eyes, hers bright. “I’ve never been to a party like this. Shall we?”
He hooked his arm through hers. “Let’s do it.”
The limo had pulled into a private entrance in the hills behind the hotel, and not the more visible public entrance on Sunset.
Two doormen took their names—fake—then pulled open the glass double doors and ushered them into the dark boutique hotel. The dim lighting was at the perfect level to keep people from stumbling in the dark while still showing off low-cut dresses, skin, and sultry glances. Even just two steps inside, it was clear this would be like no party he’d been to before.
“See anyone familiar?”
Winston looked around, noting at least a dozen Hollywood B-listers and a few top stars as well. “It’s definitely the place to be,” he said, rattling off the names.
She grinned, but said nothing.
“What?”
“I know it’s partly because you were raised in your father’s house, but I’ve always loved how wide and deep your movie IQ goes. Classics, current, even TV. All that and you’re saving the world, too.”
“Trying to, anyway,” he said. “At least a little bit of it.” He nodded toward the room in general. “That’s the reception area, right?”
She followed his line of sight to the area on the far side of the atrium-style room in which they were standing. “Looks like it. So we get behind the counter, then there should be an open area, right?”
He nodded, mentally following the map in his mind. “That leads to the back room, and then from there, the vault.”
“And we’ll see if the code Renly got for the vault room works.”
“If not, we can probably hack it.” His phone had some interesting SSA software. “But hopefully it won’t come to that. Especially since I’m not sure how we could manage that discreetly.”
“We’d have to hope that anyone nearby is otherwise engaged.” She glanced around the room, then looked back to him with a seductive smile. “That certainly seems to be the case out here.”
True enough. While he’d anticipated mingling and chatting, apparently this party didn’t go in for such nonsense. People were pairing up—and not just in twos. If the area had been full of cash registers, they could have emptied them and no one would even notice.
“Well, hi there.”
Winston turned to the voice behind him. A pert blonde with short, curly hair was standing with a tall, broad-shouldered man with commanding eyes who looked like he would have been equally comfortable in a boardroom. Winston recognized him as Matthew Holt, one of Hollywood’s power players—and a man with a dark and dangerous reputation.
Winston reached for Linda’s hand as he nodded to the couple in greeting.
“We’re going over there,” the blonde said, indicating a dark corner on the far side of the lobby. “You’re welcome to join us.”
“Oh,” Winston said, the word almost a stutter. Dammit. He should have been prepared for this…
“That’s so tempting,” Linda said, snuggling against his side. “But he just made me the most decadent promises, and I’m not a girl who likes to share.”
“Oh, but—”
“Come on, Carrie,” Holt said. “We’ll find you another temptation.” He looked Linda approvingly up and down, nodded at Winston, then took Carrie’s elbow and led her away.
“Was she asking what I think—”
“Yes,” Linda said, tugging him in the opposite direction toward the reception counter. “And you can thank me later for saving your ass. And other parts of you.”
She pulled him to a stop, then pressed up against him, her arms hooked around his neck. “Or maybe you wanted to? I mean, you said no to me, but maybe that didn’t include all women.” She lifted herself on her toes and brushed her lips over his ear. “Or did it?”
“Stop it,” he said, willing his body not to respond and failing miserably.
She made the kind of throaty noise designed to turn him on. “Well, you’re interested, at least.” She squirmed against him, making his cock wake even more. “I can tell that much.”
“Mission,” he said firmly, trying to keep his voice stern. “The staff’s about to leave. Let’s get to the back room.”
“Yes, sir.” She pulled playfully away, then took his hand.
“Wait,” he said, tugging her to a stop. “Take this.” He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out the ring he’d taken from her that very first night.
“What—”
“In case we need it,” he said, slipping it onto her finger. Neither one of them was armed. Renly had told them about the metal detectors. So if the situation got bad, that ring might be their most powerful weapon.
She held up her hand, staring at it for a moment. Then she tilted her head back and met his eyes. Maybe it was the light, but there was something about her face. Open and happy, and yet her eyes glistened with the hint of tears.
“Linda? What is it?”
“I just realized I hadn’t really been sure. Not since we walked out of that hotel room in Austin.”
“Sure about what?”
Her bare shoulders rose and fell, making that thin dress all the more enticing. “About whether you believed me. Really trusted me.” She lifted the ring. “But I guess you do.”
He cupped her chin as he bent to brush a soft kiss over her lips. “I do,” he said. “I didn’t when I first saw you. I didn’t when I tied you down. I probably shouldn’t have when you held that broken glass at my neck, but I did. And now here we are, and I trust you completely. But maybe I should have actually told you that.”
“You just did,” she said, waving the ring. “Come on.”
She led him through the crush of the crowd, past the reception counter, and on toward the celebrated back room. He pushed the door open, and they stepped into the area. Darker than the first, it was lit by candlelight. The room was some sort of lounge for the staff, and there were padded benches, couches, and chairs scattered throughout the area.
Linda tugged him to a stop just past the threshold. “The door to the hall we need is over there,” she said, nodding to the corner that Renly had described. “Looks like we should have gotten here sooner.”
He frowned, noticing the couple in an intimate embrace right by that door. “Well, we have time before the staff leaves. They can’t stay there all night.”
Linda’s hand was still in his, and now she squeezed it before giving it a tug. “I have a better idea.” She started to lead the way toward the door and the couple.
“What are you doing?”
“They’ll either get embarrassed and leave if we go park ourselves over there, or they’ll ask us to join them, in which case we can suggest someplace a little more secluded. Either way, they clear out.”
It wasn’t a great plan, but it was a plan, so he followed her lead to within about a meter of the other couple, who were half-undressed and barely even acknowledged they were there.
Linda leaned against the wall, and he bent forward. “They aren’t even remotely interested in us,” he whispered.
“Good,” she said. Then, before he could protest, she took his hand and pressed it to her breast. He started to pull away, but she held it firmly in place with one hand while the other cupped his ass.
“Linda, no. We had a deal.”
“No, you had an ultimatum.” She took her hand away long enough to reach up and pull down the strap of her gown on one side, freeing her breast.
“Christ, Linda.”
She held his gaze as she loosened the other strap, so that his hand on her breast was the only thing keeping the material in place.
“Fuck your rules,” she whispered. “We’re here, and we have time, and I want you. I want this,” she added. “You say we didn’t know each other back then? So what? We never did anything like this in Hades, but I want it now. I want you now.”
She was breathing hard, her expression full of fierce passion.
“So you tell me, Winston,” she continued, as his heart pounded in his chest and his cock took control of his rational thoughts. “Do you want me like this? Or do you just want to walk away?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I expect him to push me away—gently, perhaps, but I still expect him to say no. He’d set limits, after all, and I’m most definitely crossing the line.
Which is why I gasp when he moves his hands to cage me against the wall, then roughly closes his mouth over mine. It’s a brutal, claiming kiss, and the fiery passion of it shoots straight to my core. I want this. I want his touch. I want everything.
And I even want it here. Crazy, maybe, but I want to prove to him and the world that I belong to his man. That there is a raw, primal, unbreakable heat that crackles between us, wild and intense.
“I thought you didn’t want this,” I say.
“I want you.” The words have a hard edge, and I want to cling to them. To hide behind them and use them as shelter. Is it really me he wants, or is it the woman from long ago? Or simply a woman to touch?
As if he reads my mind, he unties the other strap, so that now both my breasts are bare in this hallway. “You’re mine,” he says. “Then, now, forever. I know it. And I’m going to make it my mission to make sure you know it, too.”
“I—”
He silences me with a kiss, one hand cupping a breast as the other slides down to find the slit in this skirt. “Is this really a conversation you want to have?” he murmurs,
his mouth at my ear as his hand finds my tiny thong panties. He tugs them aside, his fingers sliding deep into me. “Oh, sugar, you do like this.”
“Yes,” I whisper. I’m desperately wet, my skin feels on fire, and my nipples are so tight it’s painful. I can hardly say no.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he says, pinching my clit and making me gasp. We’ve never played rough before. Tying me up at the hotel was a first. This is another one. And, yeah, I like it.
“Say it,” he demands.
“I’m yours. You know I am.”
The word is barely out of my mouth when I gasp—he’s ripped the tiny thong right off my body.
I barely notice as he shoves it into his pocket, then lifts my leg, hooking it on his hip. My eyes widen, as he unzips his fly. “Are you sure?” I whisper, but even as I ask, I’m reaching for his cock, then slowly stroking it as he groans into my ear. My entire body tight with need, my sex throbbing in anticipation of this naughty, wonderful game.
“When in Rome,” he says, then kisses me, long and deep. “Put your arms around my neck,” he orders, and I do. My leg is still on his hip, and he uses one hand to hold my ass and another to guide himself to my entrance. Anyone looking will know exactly what we’re doing, but I doubt anyone is looking. There’s a couple just a few feet away, and I’m not paying the slightest attention to them, after all.
“Please,” I beg as the tip of his cock teases me. He moves his hands to grip my hips as his own shift, and then he kisses me hard to block my cry of pain mixed with ecstasy as he fills me in one strong, deep thrust.
He holds me one-handed as I cling to him, my back against the wall as he fucks me hard. His hand teases my clit, and I let my mind think about where we are and what we’re doing. I’d lost this man years ago, and now I’m in his arms at the hottest, sexiest Hollywood party, and he is making me go completely out of my mind.
The world really is a damn funny place sometimes.
