by Tessa Bailey
Call him sick, call him whatever you liked, he loved Polly talking about his dick in any capacity. Look at it. Want it. “I’m the furthest thing from decent.”
“No shit.” They were breathing heavily, inches from each other’s mouths. And hell if the swollen bastard between his thighs didn’t react favorably to having her close, even though she might have come there to murder him in cold blood. Pity, his cock didn’t deal in semantics.
“One last chance, Banks. Drop the gun or I’ll take it away from you.”
She pretended to think about it. “See, I’m not really in the mood to cry uncle.”
“Are you in the mood to cry Austin? Now that could be interesting.” She attempted to jerk the Beretta away again, giving him no choice but to dig his thumb into the pressure point on her wrist, releasing her grip automatically. “There now.” Keeping his attention trained on Polly, he placed the gun out of her reach on an overhead shelf. “That wasn’t so difficult, was—”
Her freed fist drilled him in the stomach. A grunt burst past his lips, but masculine pride kept him standing upright. Well, masculine pride and another fist flying in his direction, this time at his head. He shot a hand out to intercept the punch, using the grip to drag Polly off the sink and twist her arm behind her back.
“Aiming for this moneymaker face, sweet?” He clucked his tongue. “Now that’s just cruel.”
“Let me go,” she demanded, her voice vibrating with anger. Although he detected more embarrassment than anything else. He’d never seen her anything but confident. Ready for a challenge. It didn’t sit well that he’d scored her pride, so he let go of her arm. He had questions that needed answering, though, so as soon as he refastened his pants—not an easy feat when his cock still stood at attention—Austin pressed her body back against the sink, blocking both avenues of escape with his arms.
“How did you find my address? I’ve made it impossible.”
Some of her confidence returned in the form of a chin lift. Jesus, he would’ve liked to see that chin pointed toward the ceiling as she wailed for more tongue. “You should know by now that nothing is impossible for me.” Intelligence glimmered in her eyes. “I know you asked Derek to pay you by money order. I tracked the last several serial numbers to four different check-cashing places in the neighborhood.” Her shrug appeared grudging. “That was smart, not using the same place consistently. But I was able to pinpoint your general location down to a three-block radius, nonetheless. This building is the only one not run by a professional management company, and the most likely to rent without a proper credit check and accept cash deposits.”
It took an effort, but Austin managed to hide the chest-expanding awe she’d inspired. “And my apartment number? How did you manage to glean that information, my hot little sleuth?”
“I’m not your anything, Shaw.” She narrowed her gaze. “And your buzzer has the name I.M. TheTits on it.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “Thank you for saying so.”
Polly flattened her palms on his chest and pushed, but he refused to budge. Austin knew what was coming next, and they were having this conversation face-to-face, where he could witness her reactions. And fuck the nonsense, he loved being pressed up against her, loved being close enough to see the pulse dancing at the base of her neck, loved inhaling the comforting smell of lemonade. When she left, how long would the scent linger?
Austin frowned, not wanting to think about her departing just yet. Odd, when he’d never brought anyone to his apartment before. Not in Chicago. Not anywhere. He should be worried about making sure his location was secure after her breaching it, but instead, he only wanted to hash out what was sure to be an explosive discussion. Good thing he’d stowed his manhood securely away in preparation for battle.
She pushed up on her toes, and even though she was still at a ten-inch height disadvantage, her fury was formidable. “What do you have to frown about? Did someone drug and take advantage of you last night?”
Remorse swarmed in his rib cage like bees. His first time kissing Polly and she believed it had been the drug’s influence that caused her to wrap around him like ivy. Brilliant. Once he cleared up her misconception, they could continue. Austin leaned in and watched her pulse go wonky. “It was only meant to be a dance. Not even a full song. But you’re too stubborn to pass out when you’re bloody well supposed to.” His attention fell to her parted lips. “Us making a meal of each other was independent of my mission.”
Fireworks lit up her eyes like New Year’s Eve. “I apologize for not adjusting to your plan. Mind telling me what it was?” Polly’s tits heaved at her neckline, but Austin valued his hide, so he didn’t give them more than a swift, appreciative glance. Okay, two appreciative glances. One for each sweet little globe. “Notice I referred to your plan in the past tense. Your interference is not welcome.”
“You’re getting it nonetheless, I’m afraid.”
“Why?”
He blew out a breath, ruffling her hair. “You won’t like the answer.”
“It’s safe to say you’re right,” she said on a burst of laughter. “Tell me anyway.”
His balls had grown tight at the sound of her laughter, so he took a moment to center himself. Polly didn’t laugh at his jokes, but he’d heard her laugh with Erin on occasion. The sound was musical, so at odds with her no-nonsense personality, it always caught him off guard. It aroused him while giving him an odd, incomplete feeling in his chest because he never brought it out of her. Not the happy kind, anyway. And today would be no different. “Whatever crusade you’ve chosen here, you’re well out of your league, Banks.” He cursed when she flinched. “If one of those men found you in their bathroom with a weapon, there wouldn’t be a subsequent conversation.”
“You’re such a saint,” she whispered, her lips barely moving.
“I’m well aware I’m much closer to Satan.” He rolled his right shoulder. “Just not close enough to stand by while you get pulled into something you don’t understand and can’t control.”
“Maybe it’s worth the risk.”
Frustration walloped him between the shoulder blades. “The risk being your life, Polly? Are you mad?”
“I came to Chicago to achieve something. Am I risking my life? Could I lose my spot on the team and gain one in the prison yard? Yes and yes. It doesn’t change my mind.”
They squared off a moment, wherein Austin reeled from her casual revelation that she would risk her very well-being for some cause.
“How do you know Slim?” she finally asked.
“Who?” Austin shouted.
An impatient noise sounded in her throat. “The man you dropped at the diner the night before last. Do you leave a lot of men unconscious on the floors of public restrooms?”
“It’s been an age.” When Polly sputtered, he laid a finger over her mouth, satisfied when her luscious body stilled against him, softened a few degrees. Yes. She wasn’t immune to him, much as she tried to portray it. It would have been perfect to kiss her then, but if he used her attraction to his advantage before, what came next? It might be the last time she allowed his mouth in the same room with hers, let alone allowed him to gain more access to it. “Did Erin tell you I took the bollocks out of commission or was that a lucky guess?”
“Erin.”
“Damn.” He smiled to hide the stab of disappointment. “And here I thought I’d duped at least one person in Chicago into thinking me more than an unredeemable opportunist.”
Polly peered up at him, as if she could read his thoughts. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think she wanted to tell me.”
Did he care? Discomfort blinked on the horizon, so Austin cleared his throat and moved on. “That man’s name isn’t Slim. I know of him. I also know of the man you tracked to the club last night, and you don’t want to tangle with the likes of them. They’re deadly, Polly. They protect their interests at all costs.”
He watched the half truth sink in with a mixture
of dread and resignation. Dread that would multiply if she ever found out the truth about his partnership with Charles. Resignation because he had no choice but to lie by omission. If he had a hope in hell of keeping Polly alive, she needed to trust him, just a speck.
“I…”
She shifted against him, her throat working in a way that told Austin she was suppressing her emotions. Lord, he wished she wouldn’t. Wished she would lay it all on him so he could sort through.
“I don’t like you, Austin, but I didn’t think you ran in the same circle as murderers. I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not assuming.”
He opened his mouth to tell her he’d never murdered a soul, but he stopped before the words could emerge. Polly would see right through him, and he’d lose whatever minuscule ground he’d gained by watching her back. “Listen, Polly. Whatever I’ve done in the past…I only want to help you now.” Good God, he sounded like a man who presented women with stuffed animals and the like. “And obviously, my help is very valuable. You’d do well to accept it.”
The look she blasted him with was pure…seduction? At once, his body went rigid with want, testosterone flooding his bloodstream. Ready to please, ready to get pleased in return. It occurred to him on some distant level that Polly was about to play him—that she’d only been acting wounded over his revelation, pretending to be shocked at his former associations…and he didn’t give a single goddamn. He dampened his lips and brought their hips together. Go on, sweet. Play me, so I can fuck you against the sink.
“Your help is valuable, Austin?”
The husky quality of her voice made him growl. “Yes. My help, among other, more satisfying things. Say the word and you’ll have the benefit of both.”
Polly let her hands roam up his chest, the sides of his neck, and higher, where they tangled in his hair. “That man at the bar…”
“Yes, sweet.”
“Tell me how to kill him.”
Chapter Six
Polly had never said the words out loud before. Tell me how to kill him. And the moment they were out in the open, blinking like a trashy neon sign, she wanted to gobble them back up. That had to be a typical reaction, though. Didn’t it? Revealing your intention to take an eye for an eye to another soul surely created room for doubt. Although she and Austin worked in close quarters, they’d managed to maintain an emotional distance. With the utterance of her dark request, she’d jumped feet first into…more. Infinitely more.
A mixture of impatience and nerves swept Polly head to toe as Austin stared down at her. Even with those sharp eyes scrutinizing her, his face was a blank canvas, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. Would he agree to help or tell her she was crazy? Hell, maybe she was crazy. Maybe the grief of what had happened all those years ago had turned her into the type of woman who casually discussed extinguishing another human being. She didn’t want to be that woman, but the injustice couldn’t stand. Reitman couldn’t just get away with tearing lives apart, tearing down something so good and going on his merry way.
Despite what she’d said to Austin, she was well aware what the Brit was capable of. He wasn’t the only one in the dark bathroom adept at reading people. Finding out he knew Reitman, though. Now that had come as a shock. That connection between Austin and Reitman could provide her with valuable information. Maybe even get her in the same room with Reitman where she could demand recompense for the wrong done to her family.
“What do you have against Reitman?” Austin said, finally. “If you want my help, I need to know the particulars.”
“I didn’t say I wanted your help,” Polly rushed to say. She had no intention of becoming a con, stooping to Reitman’s level. Wouldn’t that defeat the entire purpose? “I asked you to teach me. Tell me his weaknesses. Anything I can use.”
Austin’s laughter was hollow. “Use me and cut me out. That’s your intention.”
“Nailed it.”
He tilted his head, let his gaze run down the side of her neck. “And is it also your intention to seduce information out of me, sweet?”
An invisible belt cinched around Polly’s middle. Having this discussion while pressed together was ill-advised. His erection lay trapped between their bodies, reminding her how he’d looked upon walking into the bathroom, before he’d seen her. Not the polished, controlled con she’d come to know. No, he’d been a…beast. Jaw clenched, grunting as he pumped his own flesh. The sight of him performing such a personal act with such base lust on his handsome features wouldn’t leave her. Each time the moving image arose, she grew damper between her clenched thighs.
Is it also your intention to seduce information out of me?
Could she? Could she exchange her body for valuable insight into the life of her nemesis? This was a dirty, dog-eat-dog world she’d insinuated herself into…perhaps it had only been a matter of time before her most personal morals were compromised.
“I ought to acquaint your pretty arse with my palm for considering it, Polly,” Austin grated. She reddened at his angry statement, started to answer, but gasped instead when his teeth closed around her neck in a light bite, then licked a path down to her collarbone. “You should know better than to offer such a tempting exchange to the likes of me.” He boosted her onto the sink in one fluid movement, without removing his mouth from her body. “My scruples are in short supply.”
Polly couldn’t get a decent breath. God, his mouth…the way he bumped and dragged against her as he spoke. She was falling victim to his trappings, and with each passing second, she turned more willing. “How do I know you’ll keep your word and help me?” Her voice was thready, unstable. “I need a guarantee, before—”
Austin’s hands gripped her knees, squeezing. She was still reeling from the effect of his intimate touch when her legs were wrenched wide. He ran his forehead across her cleavage and she could feel his attention stray to the vee between her thighs. “If I made you a guarantee”—his tone had dipped, turned rich and glossy—“would you believe me?”
“No,” she whispered.
His head came up, his heavy-lidded eyes focusing on her. “We are at an impasse, then. A dreadful place to be, when I’d like to be bending you forward over the sink and taking advantage of all that wetness I’ve inspired.” He regarded her like a meal, looking for an ideal place to dig in. “Are you a screamer, Polly? I wager you try to keep the sound trapped, but those lips were made to be accommodating.” Masculine fingers caged her jaw. “You’d open them nice and wide for me, wouldn’t you, sweet?”
Polly jerked her jaw from his grip, simultaneously pissed off and—dammit—turned on like never before. When he gave an imperceptible nod, almost in deference to her outrage, she realized he’d been goading her.
He removed his touch from her knees. She pretended not to see his hands curl into shaking fists before they were shoved in his front pockets. “I never negotiate in the bathroom. It’s bad luck.” He retrieved the gun from above her head with a censorious look and stepped backward toward the door. “The kitchen will suit well enough.”
When Austin turned and strode from the room, Polly’s mouth fell open. Remembering Austin’s taunt, however, she snapped it closed immediately. What had just happened here? He hadn’t exactly turned down the offer of sex in exchange for information, but his actions dictated that he’d done just that. There had to be a catch, and she could admit to being curious. And grudgingly impressed that he’d walked away when she’d been able to feel his need, straining between them.
She covered her face with clammy hands and breathed deeply. If the last twenty minutes had proven anything, it was the imperativeness of keeping her head around Austin. She’d thought him lost to the same chemical reaction she was experiencing, when all along he’d been searching for cracks in her exterior, advantages. His instant transformation back into smug con had proved that.
Polly slid off the sink onto wobbly legs and went to join Austin. Just outside the bathroom, a locked door distracted her. She�
�d noticed it on the way in, but hadn’t wanted to waste time attempting to pick the lock. What was on the other side? She turned to find Austin watching her from the kitchen, a teakettle in one hand. “I wouldn’t attempt to enter that room if I were you. It leads to a terrifying parallel universe.”
“Funny, I thought I was trapped inside one already.”
With a twist of his wrist, he turned on the flame beneath the kettle. “Because I turned down your martyr’s proposition of sex, you mean.”
The kitchen was absent of anywhere to sit, empty save a toaster and frozen clock, so Polly leaned back against the wall. “I guess you could say that.”
“Good news, then.” He removed two white mugs from the cabinet. “As I’m not a complete idiot, Polly, I didn’t turn it down.”
She despised the lust that tickled her belly. “I don’t understand.”
He paced halfway across the kitchen in her direction, crossing his arms as he considered her. “I have no problem admitting that I value pleasure. Or that I choose pleasure over supposed happiness. When you’re experiencing pleasure, you know it. Happiness is too vague a notion and a fleeting one, if you manage to experience it.”
She didn’t know how to respond to such rare honesty from Austin, so she stayed silent and waited for him to explain his point.
“Pleasure is what I want from you…from your body,” Austin continued in a gruff tone. “But for some elusive reason, I will also derive pleasure from your safety. So I will find a way to accomplish both. Are we on the same page?”
“Yes,” Polly answered slowly. “But I’m not sure I want to be.”
His smile was pure, lethal charm. “That’s why we’re negotiating, sweet.”
God, he was dangerous. “I’ll take what’s behind door number three.”
“Door number three could lead to you being harmed, so I’ve put a padlock on it. Choose again.”
Polly traced a circle on the floor with the toe of her boot. “The only reason you’ve been following me is to…keep me safe? No other reason?”
