Enchanting the Beast

by Maggie Dallen

  If he could play this game, then so could she.

  And she would win.

  She straightened her shoulders and tipped her chin up so she met Charlie’s gaze. “Give me a few more days.”

  He started to protest but she shook her head. “Jack doesn’t know that the detective is asking about me, does he?”

  Charlie shook his head. “I don’t think so. The detective recognized your last name when this Spencer guy asked about you. I don’t think he knows much at this point.”

  Holly nodded, feigning more confidence than she felt. “Good. Then I’ve got a little time to fix this.”

  Charlie glared at her. “You’re in over your head, Holly. I should never have let you—”

  “A few days,” she interrupted. “That’s all I’m asking for. I can fix this, I know I can.”

  “How?”

  Excellent question. Luckily adrenaline and anger made it easy to hide her uncertainty. “Just let me handle it. If I can’t make this right, then I’ll take the full blame.”

  He leaned down. “My reputation is at risk here, Holly. I don’t think you know what that means.”

  A chill ran down her spine at the threat in his voice. She didn’t know him well but her gut said this man didn’t play around. If she messed with his business, he would mess with her. She had no idea what that meant, but it wouldn’t be good.

  “What’s your plan?” he asked.

  She let out a long breath, relieved that he’d dropped the psycho act. Or maybe it wasn’t an act….

  “Well?” he asked.

  She swallowed down the nerves that were starting to come back to life after being drowned out with rage. What was her plan? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she had to beat Spencer at his own game. But Charlie was waiting for an answer so she drew a deep breath and summoned up her Eve impersonation, which basically just meant acting like she had all the confidence in the world. Like she had a secret that no one else knew. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, tossing her hair and spinning around to head back to the hospital room. Over her shoulder she added, “Just leave it to me.”

  Chapter Five

  Back in the hospital room she collapsed into her chair.

  “What’s wrong?” Lexy came over to her, concern written all over her pretty face.

  What’s wrong was that she’d been an idiot. A blind, naïve fool. Spencer had been laughing at her this whole time. Worse, she’d screwed up everything. For her and her sisters. She was supposed to be handling things, taking over Eve’s role as leader until her sister recovered.

  How was she managing to make matters worse? It was clearly a skill, she decided.

  Here’s a bad situation, Holly.

  Wonderful, I’ll go ahead and take that. When I return it should be a million times worse!

  She had to fix this. And soon. She didn’t really care if Charlie got in trouble with Jack, but she couldn’t afford to lose the money and Eve would be out of work too if this affected her reputation.

  Besides, now it was personal. Her mind flashed on Spencer’s face. The way he’d pulled her onto his lap. The way he’d been so kind and understanding. Lies. All lies.

  Well, now the gloves were coming off. See how he liked being played for a fool.

  And yes, she was aware of the fact that she’d technically been playing him. But she hadn’t been. Not really. She’d been too weak. Too soft. Too freakin’ honest. She’d stupidly thought she could be herself and truly befriend Spencer and then walk away with her hands clean and her bills paid.

  Ugh, she was remarkably dumb sometimes.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Lexy asked, still hovering over her chair. “You look like you’re constipated or something.”

  “I’m thinking,” Holly bit out. She made a concerted attempt to relax her facial muscles and unclench her fists.

  She had to work on her new role. She had to be better than him at this game, which meant changing her tactics. No more cookies and chit chat. No more honesty.

  She had to be more like Eve.

  “Lexy, I need your help.”

  Her sister perched on the hospital bed in front of you. “You name it.”

  She took a deep breath and turned toward her sister. “What exactly did Eve tell you about how to seduce a mark?”

  Lexy’s silence lasted so long, Holly wasn’t sure if her sister was struggling not to laugh or marveling at her bravado.

  In the end, it turned out she was trying to come up with a way to tell her she’d fail. Or at least, that’s how Holly took it. Leaning forward, she gave Holly a sympathetic grimace. “No offense, hon, but I don’t think this whole undercover seductress thing is really your style.”

  “Well, no offense to you but I know what I’m capable of and if it means taking care of you and Eve, I can do anything she can do.”

  Lexy bit her lip and studied her for another long moment. “So, what’s your plan here? Are you really going to try and seduce this guy into doing what this Jack guy wants?”

  Her stomach turned at the thought. Not at the idea of sleeping with Spencer, but of using sex to manipulate him. She could never go that far. “Of course not. I’m just going to make him think that I’ll sleep with him.”

  She had an idea. Granted it was just a whiff of a plan, but it was her best bet. If she wanted to win this little game she and Spencer were playing, she would have to change the rules, flip this around, and beat him at his own game. She was lost in thought when her sister finally blurted out Eve’s secret to success.

  “Think about sex,” Lexy said.

  Holly blinked at her sister. “Excuse me?” To her amazement, unflappable Lexy actually turned a shade of pink. She cleared her throat and repeated herself. “Think about sex.” She shrugged and added, “That was Eve’s advice when I asked her how to flirt.”

  Holly found herself struggling not to laugh. “And when was this?”

  Lexy grinned. “When I was fourteen and had a crush on Bobby Reynolds.”

  Holly made a gasping sound that was part amusement, part shock. “She told you to think about sex at fourteen?”

  Lexy laughed. “Not exactly. I figured out what she meant later on. Back then she toned it down a bit. She told me to imagine him kissing me whenever I talked to him.”

  Holly stared for a moment, torn between so many questions. “And that worked?”

  Lexy sipped her coffee and smirked. “He asked me to be his date to the dance, didn’t he?”

  Holly let out a slightly hysterical laugh before dropping her head into her hands. “I can’t believe I’m taking advice from junior high.”

  Lexy laughed too. “I swear it works. And not just on teenage boys, either.”

  Holly looked up then. “What do you mean?”

  Her little sister’s smug smile spoke volumes. “I’m kind of brilliant at flirting.”

  Holly let out a little snort of amusement. “You’re also kind of cocky.”

  “No, I mean it.” Lexy’s eyes were lit up with laughter, a rarity since Eve’s accident. “Eve was totally right. It works. Now that I’m older I’ve upped my game.”

  “You think about sex,” Holly guessed.

  Lexy nodded. “Mm-hmm. And it works like a charm. I think it has something to do with the vibe I’m putting out. It’s how Eve always seems so sexy and confident when she’s flirting with a guy.”

  Holly shook her head. The whole idea was ridiculous. “I don’t know….”

  “Just try it.” Lexy arched her brows. “What do you have to lose?”

  Nothing. She had absolutely nothing left to lose.

  Holly’s laughter faded as the reality of her situation set in. Did she really think she could seduce Spencer? Especially now that she knew that he knew?

  But he didn’t know. Not necessarily. He might have his suspicions about her but he clearly didn’t know why she’d shown up on his doorstep if he was asking that detective for information.

  Not for the first time,
she wished Jack had been more forthcoming. How did he know Spencer? She didn’t believe they were old friends any more than she believed that Spencer would ever forgive her.

  So she really did have nothing to lose. That bridge had been burned already so she might as well go down in a blaze of glory. Her little internal pep talk did not do the trick. Her stomach threatened to toss up her breakfast as she plotted and schemed how best to betray the guy she liked.

  But that guy—the Spencer she’d developed a crush on—he didn’t exist. She had to remember that. It was the only way she’d get through this.

  Spencer hated this neighborhood. The old butcher shop had been replaced with a boutique but the block still smelled like rotten meat. Everything had changed, but it still oozed the same bad vibes.

  Yet somehow, someone had convinced the city’s young and wealthy that this was a cool place to be. He sure hoped his father had been a part of that scam, though he doubted his father was capable of that kind of success.

  “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Hunter asked. He’d insisted on giving him a ride out here, though Spencer hadn’t needed the help.

  “I told you, you didn’t have to come.” It was the fifth time he’d said it since the private detective had shown up on his doorstep with a bag full of bagels, like this was some sort of field trip.

  He didn’t look back to see but he knew Hunter shrugged. His friend, for lack of a better word, wasn’t a man of many words. Either Jenna had learned his special brand of sign language or she was just as impartial to language. He’d have to ask when he went to their place on Christmas Eve.

  Andie had won that battle after all. She’d gone too far by sending Jenna over to his apartment to browbeat him into accepting their invitation. He shook his head at the memory. The woman was a good sister to Andie, but she scared the living daylights out of him.

  He glanced back at Hunter who was trailing him so they didn’t take up the whole sidewalk. “Did Jenna insist that you tag along?”

  He shook his head but he was wearing a little smile which was this hardened former cop’s version of a goofy grin. “She strongly suggested that I join you, but the final decision was up to me.”

  Spencer let out a short laugh. “You keep telling yourself that, tough guy.”

  “You should consider yourself lucky,” Hunter said.

  “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

  “Because Jenna has decided that you’re family.”

  Spencer stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. The words had a decidedly strong impact on his ability to speak. Hunter smirked at his obvious surprise. “It seems that since Andie considers you a brother and Andie is Jenna’s sister, you are now her younger brother by extension.”

  He still couldn’t speak. Hunter looked amused by it all. He didn’t seem to realize how insane that was. He’d gone his whole life with one person he could count on. One. And her name was Andie. And now Hunter had just gone and informed him that he suddenly had a family, whether he wanted them or not? He shook his head and shut his eyes for a second. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

  He turned back and kept heading toward the bar but he heard Hunter’s laugh behind him. “What’s so amusing?”

  “It’s funny you think you have a choice,” Hunter said. “Have you met the Knight sisters?”

  Spencer didn’t respond. It was a rhetorical question since Andie Knight was his foster sister and he’d worked with her sister, Jenna, when Andie and her boyfriend had gotten in trouble with a local thug. Andie gave new meaning to the word stubborn—no one in his right mind went up against Jenna, the ice queen, and her former stepsister, Mackenzie, was a veritable force of nature. So yeah, he supposed it was ridiculous that he thought he had a choice in the matter.

  Maybe it was all The Godfather talk with Holly but he found himself wondering if this was what it felt like to be made by the mafia. If so, he supposed he could understand the allure.

  He was part of the family now. In his head he heard Holly saying it with her horrible mobster impersonation.

  “What are you grinning about?” Hunter asked. He’d come up beside him and was looking down at him like he’d just sprouted horns.

  Spencer stopped smiling. “Nothing.” It was time to move on from the Holly fantasies. Yes, that kiss had been epic, but it had been a test…and she’d failed.

  She’d proven once and for all that she wasn’t who he thought she was. He’d known she’d had an agenda but he hadn’t expected her to stoop to kissing him to get what she wanted. Somehow he’d convinced himself that she was the victim. One of his father’s pawns who’d only end up getting hurt in the crossfire when Jack’s plan fell apart, which it inevitably would.

  And maybe she was. But if that was the case, why had she kissed him? It didn’t fit. She was kind and honest—except for all the lying, of course. But considering she gave herself away every time she told the tiniest fib, it was hard to hold that against her. His gut had told him that she had ethics. A strong moral compass. He couldn’t reconcile the honest, ethical woman he’d gotten to know with a woman who would use her body to get what she wanted. He just didn’t see it.

  “So,” Hunter drawled, breaking into his thoughts. “You’ve got a thing for the girl, huh?”

  He stopped his wheelchair and turned his face up. “No, of course not.” He’d said it too quickly, too emphatically, and Hunter laughed.

  He didn’t have feelings for her. Even as he told himself that, his body said otherwise. His brain insisted on showing him images of Holly—Holly laughing in his kitchen while he cooked, Holly debating the merits of Batgirl versus Supergirl, Holly sitting on his lap, kissing him. His heart constricted at the memories, causing an ache in his chest. He’d never felt this sensation before but he recognized it for what it was.

  He was screwed. This changed everything he thought he knew about his beautiful neighbor. Maybe he’d been blinded by feelings.

  Ugh. Feelings.

  Had he forgotten all of his rules? Thrown away all his hard-learned lessons? Apparently he had because he’d broken every well-established directive. And all because he’d thought he’d known her. He’d been so sure he understood her, but now…

  Well, now he had no idea what was going on.

  He rubbed his eyes behind his glasses and kept moving toward his destination. There was one surefire way to find out.

  Stopping in front of the old familiar bar, he turned to look up at Hunter. “Maybe you should wait out here.”

  The man who looked like a caricature of a cop didn’t insult either of their intelligence by asking why. The bar was a known hangout for local thugs and criminals, including his father. He’d always used to hang out here when he wasn’t in prison and if Jack was anything, it was a creature of habit. Unfortunately for him, his habits included being imprisoned on an alarmingly regular basis.

  Dread had Spencer moving slower than usual as he rolled his wheelchair through the front door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark lighting, but once they did, he saw that nothing had changed. It was exactly as he remembered it. The place even smelled the same, like stale beer and cheap cologne.

  There he was, in his favorite booth in the back. The creature of habit himself. Jack grinned as he approached. “Ah, the prodigal son returns.”

  Spencer didn’t smile. He supposed prodigal son was a better nickname than bad luck charm, but the sentiment left a bitter taste in his mouth. He wasn’t the one who’d abandoned the family only to return looking for a handout. That had always been Jack’s role.

  But he was over all that. Had been for a long time. “So they let you out early.”

  Jack spread his arms wide. “You know me, kid. Always on my best behavior.”

  Spencer let out a short laugh. His dad’s best behavior meant lying through his teeth as he flashed a fake grin, just like he was doing now. Spencer’s defenses were up. Like an old habit, he found himself eyeing his father for clues and analyzing every word for it
s true meaning.

  Nothing was ever as it seemed with this guy. Everything revolved around fibs, half-truths, and full-blown lies. He reveled in smoke and mirrors.

  A familiar heaviness settled on Spencer’s chest as he slipped into the old routine. Making chit-chat like no time had passed. As if it was entirely normal to go years without seeing one’s father because he was behind bars.

  Finally, the friendly pretense grew to be too much. This kind of false friendliness had always been taxing for him. Was it any wonder he preferred solitude? “So,” he said as his father beckoned the waitress for another round of beers. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  His father turned to him with a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

  Spencer tapped his hand against the table. His patience had already worn thin with this game. “Why send the girl?”

  Jack looked at him for a moment before throwing his head back with a loud laugh that had the other patrons looking their way. “Okay, okay, you caught me.”

  Spencer remained quiet. Of course he had. His father’s tactics had always been as subtle as a sledgehammer. Holly was case in point. A strange woman showing up on his doorstep with an agenda just after his father makes parole, there’d never been any doubt the two were linked.

  “She’s a beauty, am I right?” His father leaned forward. “Not even you can deny that.”

  His mind filled with images of startlingly warm eyes, red lips, and luscious curves. “No,” he murmured. “I can’t deny it. But that doesn’t answer my question.”

  His father’s eyes twinkled, giving the older man a leprechaun air in keeping with his rusty red hair threaded with silver. He’d gotten a few more wrinkles around his eyes, but other than that he looked the same. Like an overgrown boy who refused to grow up. Spencer’s dark hair and sharp features had come from his mother’s side, along with her good sense and intellect.

  His father’s boyish grin was in full force. “Ah come on, you can’t be mad at an old man for trying to make his son happy.”

  “Mm-hmm.” Spencer sipped the beer the waitress placed in front of him. “So you paid for some strange woman to have an apartment in my building for…what? My happiness?”