Against the Odds

by Tori Carson

  “Are you sure you don’t mind? I hate to take up your evening. It’s already quite late.”

  She seemed anxious.

  “I don’t sleep much. Most nights I either workout or waste time on the computer. It would be nice to have such beautiful company for a change. If you need to get home though, we can do it another day.” He knew it was a gamble to offer, but he couldn’t afford to sound too eager. She was suspicious of everything and everyone. Given a few minutes, she might decide he was trying to scam her and suddenly change her mind. He still hadn’t forgotten the disappearing act she’d pulled the other night in the same restaurant.

  “I’m an insomniac too. This business is my livelihood and I seem to do my best creative thinking in the wee hours.”

  Damn, her shy smile sent a jolt of electricity straight to his dick. Teague’s words whirled around in his mind, tempering his raging lust. Once this mess was cleared up, how would she react to his deception? Not well, he feared.

  “Another thing we have in common. This may be fate, Ms. Sasha.”

  Sid was pretty sure he was getting underneath the first layer of her armor. He noticed a slight change in her facial expression. A very subtle squint then a downward cast of her eyes told him his comment made her unhappy. Sadness radiated from her. So much so, he felt compelled to take it away. He was finding it harder and harder to keep up the façade. If his suspicions were correct, she had been dealt a lousy hand indeed.

  This time dinner lacked those awkward moments. They laughed and talked like old friends. Sid was given further proof that he was making headway with Sasha when she agreed to ride with him. Once he parked outside her shop, he took a slow, careful look around. With few cars on the road, he was reasonably sure no one had followed them, but it was impossible to evade a would-be tail without it raising Sasha’s suspicions. At the door, as she dug through her purse to find her keys, he shielded her as best he could without it being obvious.

  Sasha immediately locked it again behind them. “I have two desktops and a laptop. My receptionist has some access, but it’s very limited.” Her tone was clipped and businesslike.

  He breathed a sigh of relief once they were both safely inside, but her sudden change in demeanor left him unsettled. “Were all three here when you had the break-in?”

  “Yes, I’m not much of a computer person. I take my laptop to client meetings, more because it is expected than to serve an actual purpose.” She was skirting the truth.

  Sid booted his computer, linking it with the receptionist’s desktop. “Do you know Cheryl’s password? I can work around it, but it will be quicker if you know it.”

  Shock skittered across her face. “You shouldn’t need a password. Why is it password-protected? I specifically had this computer set up with limited access so passwords and security wouldn’t be needed.”

  Sid knew Sasha had to be worried Cheryl was up to something. “It isn’t a big deal. I can override it.”

  “Yes, override it. Can you find out what she’s been doing on this computer? It is company property. She signed a waiver voiding any right to privacy.” Her mind seemed to be whirling.

  He watched Sasha pace across the floor. She seemed more frightened than angry, though there was a hint of fire across her cheeks. She looked sexy as hell. “It shouldn’t be a problem.” He buried his smile. This was perfect. Now she wouldn’t be suspicious of him when he took longer than expected.

  “Let me get this software running and we can go into your office and check out the other computers.” He wanted them away from the windows. With the lights blazing they were on display.

  Sasha unlocked her office. Based on the clicking of the keyboards, he assumed she’d booted them and entered the passwords for each.

  As Sid finished up at Cheryl’s desk, he watched Sasha out of the corner of his eye.

  Her agitation was eating at him. The pacing and wringing her hands together had the tension level spiked. What surprised him most though was his reaction to her distress. His stomach tightened into knots.

  Sid joined Sasha in her office. He sat down and patted the settee next to him, a silent command for her to join him. “This is going to take a while, Sasha. Come and sit down. I’m offering a free shoulder massage this week to all stressed-out business owners.”

  She slowed down and looked at him with wide, haunted eyes.

  “No waiting,” he encouraged her further.

  Hesitantly, she walked across the room. For a brief moment their gazes locked. Her expression softened as she turned away and sat with her back to him.

  With his palms on her shoulders he could feel the knots in her muscles. Slowly he began to massage them away. At first she remained rigid, her back ramrod straight as she stared straight ahead. A few moments later, as he swirled his thumbs along her neck, she began to coo and moan.

  Sid was pretty sure she had no idea her sexy as hell sounds sent a shot of rock-hard straight to his cock. Obviously the sudden rush of blood to lower regions of his anatomy blocked all moral and ethical thought processes, allowing instinct to take over. As she leaned back into him, he skimmed his lips down her neck. So feminine…he couldn’t have pulled away if she’d insisted. Proving once again that God had a soft spot for fools, Sasha tilted her head a little more, allowing him greater access to her deliciously soft skin.

  “You should advertise this sale. You’d have customers lined up for miles,” she whispered to him.

  Her voice, husky and low, had him straining the fabric of his pants. She was torturing him one breathy expression at a time. He was afraid to move too fast. Sasha always had one foot out of the door. Yet if he didn’t get relief soon, he might embarrass himself.

  “This promotion is only available to very special customers. In fact, I know of only one that qualifies.”

  “I wish I’d hired you long ago.” Sasha spoke quietly.

  “My thoughts exactly.” Male satisfaction rang clear in his voice. Her fingers weren’t the only thing she had twisted into knots. Every muscle in her body was stretched taut. He was amazed she was allowing his touch. Still, he wanted more. So much more. Did he dare?

  Slowly the tension eased, her heart beat a strong, steady rhythm. “Lay down on your stomach,” he whispered in her ear as he nibbled down her neck.

  For several seconds she froze in place. Looking over her shoulder, she met his gaze. With a consensual nod, she stretched forward onto her tummy, a languid cat allowing her master to pet her. The random thought wreaked havoc with his control.

  He’d noticed her elegant feline-like movements during his surveillance and recognized her enemy potential. Her lean physique had muscles toned to give her both speed and endurance in a fight. If she was trained in martial arts, as he suspected, she was a dangerous and potentially deadly opponent.

  Now that he’d gotten to know her and realized her abhorrence to violence, those smooth, controlled movements pushed all his sexual buttons.

  Slowly, giving her time to object, he inched her shirt to her shoulders, exposing more of her intoxicating skin. She had a nasty bruise, presumably from the fall while riding. Though considering her evening adventures and backward falls from a second story window, it was anyone’s guess where it had come from. The urge to shake some sense into her nearly overrode his need to kiss her pain away.

  They were quite the pair. He with his singed hair and burnt face. Sasha with her broken wrist and assorted bruises. Both cloaked in layers of lies. Sid wondered how she’d react once she learned the truth about him. And he was pretty convinced it was a matter of when, not if.

  He was afraid to speak and slip out of character or say the wrong thing and ruin this perfect moment so he let his lips caress the angry blue-black mar spanning most of her ribcage. As his hands cupped her narrow waist, a primitive need to protect her nearly swamped him. She was so small and fragile. What the hell had happened in her life to have her living in a drug and crime-infested part of town, with a sanctioned mob hitman stalking her? He k
ept his movements slow, half expecting her to stop him at any moment.

  “Oh, Jacob, that feels wonderful.”

  A sour taste began to grow in his mouth. Sid Townsend wanted to be the one touching, her not Jacob Erkins. Damn it. Just damn it all.

  Chapter Six

  After seeing a couple of cops near Sasha’s office, Hackman decided to try to catch his prey at the restaurant Desman had told him she frequented. He was surprised to see her leave with a man. Most of the women he’d retrieved over the years avoided anyone with a dick. Quickly he jotted down the license plate number, year and make of the car the man was driving. Something was very odd about this retrieval. Since he didn’t trust Desman as far as he could throw the bastard, Hackman needed as much information he could get. Soon, he’d know all about the man and just how much of an inconvenience he would turn out to be. Hackman wasn’t leaving any loose ends on this job.

  Once the parking lot cleared out, he pulled his van behind the trunk of the woman’s car. In seconds flat, he’d jimmied the lock and begun a thorough search. Beyond swashes of fabric and paint chips, he found little else. Yet pieces of a puzzle were beginning to come together. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. He usually didn’t care who he accepted a job from or what the end result would eventually be for his target, but Desman rubbed him the wrong way. He would sell out his own mother.

  It only took one phone call to an associate in the police department to get the address and employer of the man driving away with Hackman’s target. He wasn’t surprised to learn the man was federal government worker, aka a Fed. He might not be able to determine which law enforcement department he worked for, but it was becoming obvious the cops were involved in this mess.

  The urge to shove it down Desman’s throat was strong. Still, Hackman hadn’t stayed alive this long by being careless and going off half-cocked. He placed a tracking device on the woman’s car then used Google Maps to look up the address for the Fed. He would include a visit to the man’s apartment in his list of stops to make that evening.

  * * * *

  “Sasha, where do you see yourself in five years?” A war raged inside Sid’s mind. He’d felt her surrender. If he’d kept his mouth shut, he’d be well on his way to making sweet love to her. Well, Jacob would have. Instead, he felt her muscles tense and she pushed her torso off the couch. “Easy now,” he whispered near her ear.

  “Such a somber question, Jacob.” Sasha turned her face away, but eased back onto the cushions. “I expect I’ll be working day and night trying to stay afloat.”

  “Is that all you want out of life? A successful business?” His hands never faltered. As he massaged her knotted muscles, he felt her heart rate rise. It appeared discussing their future plans upset Sasha.

  “Well, a girl has gotta eat and I have my employees to think about too. If I don’t bring in the money, a lot of people will have to scramble to make ends meet.”

  Sid knew that was another lie and noticed that once again she’d twirled her earring. It looked like a reliable tell. “Do you see yourself in a relationship?”

  “No. I don’t think that’s in the cards for me.” She sounded very sure of herself.

  “You’re a young woman, Sasha. Why are you ruling out the whole two point five kids and the white picket fence?” He slid his hands farther down her back to the swell of her gorgeous ass.

  She turned the dainty stud in her ear one more time. “I’m a career girl. The whole husband, kid thing just doesn’t do it for me.”

  “One day, far, far from now, I think I’d like to give it a try. I can’t say I’m in a hurry though. My focus right now needs to be on work. Maybe in a few years I’ll be in a position to settle down.” He felt her relax again.

  “Until then you’re just going to play the field and enjoy bachelorhood?” She sounded flirty and playful again.

  “I wouldn’t mind finding a friend with benefits. I’m not really the bar hopping, one-night stand type.” He hoped he was playing it right.

  “I’m not either. My last relationship didn’t end well and I’ve avoided dating since then.”

  His hands kneaded her perfectly shaped and toned ass while his mind considered several deliciously naughty things he’d rather be doing to it. Damn, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been laid. Jumping in the sack with a murder suspect was definitely one of his less intelligent ideas, but he was finding it hard to think of her that way. “How long ago was that?”

  She hesitated a moment, but eventually answered. “About three years ago.”

  Sid kept one hand on her ass, but leaned down near her face. “High five, you actually beat me in the celibacy race, and I figured that was hard to do. I’m coming up on two years.”

  A smile broke across her face and she slapped his hand with hers. “What do you say? Should we start the clock over?” Her face turned a lovely shade of red, as if the question had slipped out.

  Sid paused a moment and considered his next move. “Are you offering me a friends with benefits style arrangement?”

  She slid her face below her arm, but he could see she was embarrassed and intrigued at the offer.

  “I’ve never done anything like that. How would it work?” she asked without looking at him.

  “We can discuss the parameters and make sure it suits both our needs. What would work for you?” He couldn’t make it too easy or she’d get spooked. He needed to make sure some of his desires were addressed as well. Hell, who was he kidding? This is what he’d wanted and been angling toward since he’d first laid eyes on her.

  “I miss being hugged.”

  He could hear the tears in her voice and his doubts fell away. The mission fell away. Sid pulled her into his arms. Holding her tightly, he felt a peace wash over him. “I miss it too. Physical contact is important. I’m so careful to avoid giving a woman the wrong impression that I tend to avoid intimate situations entirely.”

  Her head, which had been nestled against his shoulder, tipped upward, allowing him to see her eyes. Some emotion passed across her face and he wondered what she was thinking.

  “You don’t want to get a woman’s hopes up?” She smiled and settled back against his shoulder. “Not to worry. I’m not waiting for my knight in shining armor to ride in and carry me off to a house full of kids and a white picket fence.”

  “That helps.”

  “But?” She sounded unsure.

  He grinned nervously as he decided to share a real piece of himself. “Would you believe I like my sex a bit on the kinky side?” This was always a tough conversation to have with a woman. He was shocked how many acted like he was a social pariah and needed to be locked up.

  She tilted her head back and looked at him, her expression comical. Evidently he’d shocked her.

  “Don’t take this wrong, but no, you don’t seem the ‘get down and dirty’ type.”

  Everyone kidded him about his ‘uptight’ nature. He wasn’t surprised she’d picked up on it too. “Would you believe I’m a control freak?”

  “Now that I do believe, but unlike some people I think you use it to your advantage. You’ve used those traits to enhance your life rather than allow them to detract from it.” She was finger tracing circles on the part of his chest peeking out of his shirt.

  Her summation of him was a little startling. She was highly intuitive and that was dangerous in his line of work. It made sense though. Living on the run, sometimes on the street, she’d had to develop a skill set that kept her safe, and part of that was reading people.

  “What gave me away?” He was curious about her thinking process and if he had tells he wasn’t aware of.

  “You’re confident without being arrogant. You’re relaxed in your own skin. That’s a pretty rare trait and…one I find particularly appealing.” She hid her face a little deeper in his shoulder.

  He loved that she was willing to go outside her comfort zone for him. “What else?”

  “You pay attention to detail
s. Your clothes are always immaculate, but you don’t stress over them. I’ve never caught you checking a mirror or straightening your shirt. That tells me you strive to be your best, but you don’t obsess over perfection.” She stopped making circles then began again in the other direction. “What I don’t understand is how that correlates to sex.”

  “You described me pretty well. Let’s see if I can do the same for you. Since you own your own business, you make decisions all day long. You’re in control of every aspect. Your brain is constantly working on something. It never shuts off or gives you a break.”

  Sasha looked intrigued as she nodded.

  “Do you ever wish you could lay it all down for a while and let someone else take charge?” When she started to protest, he quickly clarified. “Not of your business or your professional life, but of your body and your sexual needs. I think you’d like someone— No, not just anyone…” He needed to take this discussion out of the hypothetical and make it more personal. “I think you’d like me to step in and quiet that busy mind of yours, to give you an evening’s reprieve from thinking and stressing.”

  “Sounds heavenly, but also impossible. You may have noticed I have some trust issues.” She laughed, but it was obviously forced.

  “What if you approved of everything ahead of time?” Her beautiful face was flushed and her breathing quick and shallow. He’d suspected she was submissive.

  “It sounds like the death of spontaneity.” She spoke softly, as if she were afraid she’d offend him.

  He smiled, knowing he had her now. “You’re a designer…if five customers approached you and said they each wanted a room decorated in muted earth tones, would all their rooms be the same?”

  “Of course not. There are thousands of variations and com-bin-ations.” She spread the last word out as realization seemed to dawn on her. “I see what you’re saying.” She sighed. She tipped her head from side to side as if she wasn’t convinced.

  “But?”