Enchanting the Beast

by Maggie Dallen

  His father looked unperturbed by the question as he shrugged. “I figure you get lonely in that little apartment of yours. All those computers can’t keep you warm at night.”

  “Actually, those computers put out a good deal of heat.” He eyed his father, trying to see past the good-natured smile and the twinkling eyes to the con man beneath it all. “What was she really doing for you?”

  His father’s smile dampened just a bit, just enough to make his sigh seem heartfelt. “Ah kid, you always were a cynic.”

  “For good reason,” he pointed out.

  His father didn’t try to deny it. Even he couldn’t spin their past. Losing his mother in an accident, his father to prison, and his home when he was thrust into foster care—not exactly a Norman Rockwell upbringing.

  “Why don’t we skip the part where you pretend that Holly’s flirting was all for my benefit and tell me what you want.”

  His father didn’t blink at his harsh tone but he dropped the happy-go-lucky leprechaun act as well. “It’s simple, kid. I got an opportunity and want you to go in on it with me.”

  No. He could have said it right then and there. There was no way he wanted any part of his father’s schemes. But then he wouldn’t get the information he wanted on Holly and her involvement, and like it or not he was still curious.

  “What kind of opportunity?” he asked.

  “I know a guy,” Jack started.

  Spencer sighed. Jack always knew a guy.

  “He has a plan,” Jack continued.

  Of course he did. He bit back another sigh. If he sighed every time his dad pulled out another cliché he’d be hyperventilating in minutes.

  Jack seemed to get the hint and cut to the point. This guy he knew had a plan that involved hacking into a major retailer and stealing customers’ credit card information. They had a hacker but he was someone new. They didn’t trust that he could pull it off. They wanted Spencer to act as a sort of consultant for a percentage of the cut.

  Spencer’s stomach turned. There had been a point in his life when he’d been tempted by the idea of easy money. He’d had friends who were making good money hacking either for themselves or for shady organizations. But he’d gotten out of that world and there was no way he would get sucked back in. “How’s Holly involved?”

  That’s all he cared about. His father could do what he liked. He was a grown man who made his own bad decisions. He wouldn’t try to stop him. But until he figured out how deep Holly was into this mess and more importantly why, he couldn’t just walk away.

  Because he was an idiot, apparently. How many times did he have to tell himself that she wasn’t the victim here? She was a grown woman and she had tried to manipulate him.

  She was his worst nightmare come to life—the very thing he’d spent the better part of his life hiding from in his apartment. The reason he’d left the rest of the world behind—no one out there could be trusted. She’d proven him right.

  So why did he still care?

  His father must have seen it, too, because that smile was back and it was smug. “You like her, don’t you?”

  “No.” It was the second time he’d denied his feelings and it sounded just as false this time around.

  Jack ignored him. “What’s not to love? She’s a sweet girl.”

  “A sweet girl who’s working for you.” Spencer said it out loud for his own sake. It was a reminder.

  Jack shrugged. “She needed some money and I thought you might need some buttering up. A sweetheart with a great rack to help you see how good this opportunity could be…for all of us.”

  The nice rack comment had him clenching his teeth to keep from punching his old man. “How exactly is this opportunity supposed to be such a great deal for me?”

  “Your cut would—”

  “I don’t need the money.” Spencer cut him off before he could get started.

  His father’s lips twitched up. “Doing pretty well for yourself, huh? I always knew you’d land on your feet. You’re lucky like that.”

  Spencer’s brows shot up. “Really? When did I stop being the bad luck charm and start being ‘lucky like that?’”

  Jack waved off his comment. “Ah, you take everything so literally. It was just a dumb nickname. No harm done.”

  Right. No harm done. Except that he’d been convinced his father blamed him and his bad luck for his mom’s death all these years. He still suspected his father felt that way, those snide remarks about his bad luck were always jokingly said but laden with resentment.

  Now, as his father turned to him with a smug smile, he could see that old resentment flickering in his eyes. “You might not need the money, but your girl certainly does.”

  Spencer froze, digesting the words and their meaning. His girl.

  He liked the sound of that way too much. But the implication, the barely veiled threat—that he did not like.

  In fact, that made him furious. But years of dealing with his father and others of his ilk taught him how to hide that fury. He, unlike his father, excelled at hiding his emotions. In a game of poker, he’d beat his father every single time.

  “I’m sure she’d love the money,” he drawled lazily. “But that’s not my problem. I want no part of this so-called opportunity.”

  His father pressed his lips together in a scowl, but Spencer could see the truth and the truth was…alarming.

  He really didn’t care that Spencer was refusing to participate. His father had a smugness about him. He was far too pleased with himself beneath the layers of acting. Almost like…he’d won.

  “The only way Holly gets her money is if you agree to the job.” His father gave a shrug, holding his hands up as if to say, those are the rules, what can you do? As if someone else had made those terms, and maybe they had. His father was the face, never the brains.

  “Well, that’s too bad for Holly.” But convenient for his father. He wouldn’t have to pay Holly. He’d bet money that had been the idea all along. So, if he hadn’t actually needed Holly to get him to agree to this job…what had he needed her for?

  He had questions—lots of questions. Namely, what was his father really up to? Whatever it was, it wasn’t this hacking job. But while his father was no mastermind, he was also no fink. He’d keep his secrets.

  Until Spencer uncovered them. And he would. In the meantime, he’d have to break it to Holly that her plan had blown up in her face. Whatever she thought she was getting from his father, she wouldn’t be seeing a dime.

  There was no way he’d get involved with his father’s schemes, not even for her.

  As he wheeled himself out of the bar and back into the light he realized that he should be pleased at the idea of rubbing Holly’s nose in it. He should be feeling triumphant. After all, he was the victor here. He’d figured out what she wanted from him and there was no way she’d get it. He’d done what he’d set out to do.

  He’d won the game.

  Hadn’t he?

  Chapter Six

  For the second time, Holly hovered in front of Spencer’s door, but this time she had nothing to hide behind. There was no platter full of cookies to tell her how ridiculous she was being. There was only the vague sense of guilt that had her stomach churning and her heart racing.

  She stopped to remind herself why she was doing this.

  If she succeeded, they wouldn’t have to worry about paying rent, they wouldn’t be buried alive by medical bills, and Lexy could finish her last semester the way she and Eve had always intended.

  She straightened her shoulders. And all she had to do was be persuasive. She didn’t have to actually sleep with the guy. Though kissing him again did have its appeal….

  No. That way lie danger. It was a slippery, treacherous path if she let herself cave to temptation. Then she’d be back where she had been the day before with a muddled view of what was right and what was wrong.

  Once she got her paycheck, maybe then she could afford to sit around and ruminate over the ethical
implications behind what she was doing. Maybe she’d even let herself stop and daydream about what if.

  What if she hadn’t met Spencer like this. What if he’d never been her mark and she’d never had to stoop so low. What if he’d actually cared about her.

  She let out a long exhale. There would be plenty of time for what ifs later.

  She knocked before she could doubt herself any more. She had a plan and she was sticking to it. Granted it wasn’t much of a plan, but she had to stick to her strengths. She was straightforward and she was honest—sort of. Most of the time. It was time to go with that.

  Her brilliant plan relied on the assumption that he still didn’t know exactly what she was up to. Oh, he might have guessed she’d had an agenda in getting close to him but the fact that he was asking around told her he didn’t know what exactly that agenda entailed. He certainly didn’t know the specifics or that detective wouldn’t have come sniffing around the hospital. Heck, she didn’t even know the details of Jack’s plan, only her part in it. And her mission was simple. She just had to get him to a meeting.

  She’d do that but she’d do it her way. She’d be honest—sort of.

  Her hands clenched into fists as she heard him approach on the other side of the door.

  She’d be as honest as possible…and she’d flirt with him.

  That conviction helped to keep her standing in place when the door swung open, even though what she really wanted to do was run in the opposite direction.

  Spencer looked good. Heck, he always looked good. Her eyes had lost the ability to be objective now that she knew him. It was like her brain had created warm, fuzzy crush goggles specifically for her and only around this man.

  Hadn’t she thought he wasn’t classically handsome? She studied him now as he smiled up at her like nothing was wrong. How could she ever have thought that?

  He was handsome. He was hot. He was sexy. He was…waiting for her to speak.

  “Hi,” she said. Excellent. Good start. Let the flirtation commence.

  “Hi.” His polite smile of greeting turned to one of amusement. No doubt he was laughing at her awkwardness.

  She cleared her throat and lowered her voice to one a little sexier, or at least she hoped it sounded sexy. “Can I come in?”

  His brows shot up as he backed up and gestured for her to enter. “Of course.”

  Deep breaths. This was it. Showtime.

  She attempted to slink into the room with the kind of casual grace Eve had mastered back in junior high. Adopting a breathy voice, she said, “I think you and I need to talk.”

  He looked perplexed and amused all at once.

  And she felt ridiculous.

  Suck it up. She’d come this far she couldn’t falter now. She licked her lips, not in a particularly sexy way, just because she was nervous and her mouth had gone utterly dry. She needed to get closer to him, touch him in some way. Touching was key, she’d read that on the Internet. Also, it was pretty obvious. Still, the Internet had validated that assumption.

  She took another step toward him wondering how on earth she should touch him without seeming ridiculous or inappropriate. She couldn’t just plop herself down in his lap. Maybe she could just rest a hand on his shoulder?

  She hovered indecisively until the sudden presence of a large hulk of man behind him had her jumping back as if she’d just been caught shoplifting.

  The big brawny dark-haired man grinned at her and she got the sense that he knew everything about her and this ridiculous situation.

  “You must be Holly.” He came toward her with an outstretched hand and she found herself looking to Spencer for an explanation. Who was this and how did he know her name?

  “Holly, this is my friend, Hunter. Hunter, meet Holly.” He didn’t call her his friend. Or even his neighbor.

  She tried not to read too much into that as she reached out to shake Hunter’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  Hunter’s low, rumbly voice was laced with laughter. “You too.” He looked down at Spencer and then back to her. “It’s all so clear now.”

  Um, what did that mean? She looked to Spencer again and he was scowling up at Hunter. “Weren’t you just leaving?”

  Hunter ignored him, turning back to her with a decidedly mischievous look in his eyes. “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.”

  Hello, non sequitur. She decided the only logical response to that random comment was an affirmative. Perhaps he’d meant it as a question and hadn’t used the proper intonation. Is tomorrow Christmas Eve? “Yes,” she said. He seemed to expect her to say more, so she added. “It certainly is.”

  Now that the holiday had firmly been established she hoped he might leave. Her nerves were barely holding it together. The sooner she could end this flirting fiasco, the better.

  But the large man didn’t budge and she found herself facing the two of them like a prisoner before a firing squad. Hunter broke the silence again. “My girlfriend and I are having some people over to our place tomorrow to celebrate.” He reached into the inside breast pocket of his jacket as he spoke, pulling out a business card and pen. “We’d love it if you could join us.”

  He missed her look of surprise as he bent over and scribbled something on the card using the wall to write against. Turning back he handed it to her with a flourish. “There’s our address.”

  She took it but didn’t glance at the address. There was no way she’d spend Christmas Eve with a bunch of strangers, even if Spencer was there. She might have developed a silly crush but there was no way she could allow herself to forget that he would hate her once this was all over. If he didn’t hate her already….

  Still, there was no call to be rude so she smiled at the strange man and tucked the card into her purse pocket. “Thank you.”

  He moved past her toward the door she’d just entered, calling out his “see you later, Spence,” as he went. He paused when he hit the doorway and turned back to face her. “My number is on there, too, if you ever find yourself in trouble.”

  She didn’t know how to respond so she stayed silent and watched as he shut the door in her face.

  Okay. What did that mean?

  He knew. He had to. But how much did he know? And who was he? She felt like she’d just experienced a drive-by intervention but had no idea from whom or why. A little part of her wanted to go after him. He had an air of all-knowingness about him that was oddly reassuring. Like if she could just spill her problems at his feet, he’d sort it all out.

  The problem in question spoke up. “So what brings you by today?”

  She spun around to see Spencer watching her with that amused little smile that added to his sexiness but did nothing to bring her comfort. “Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he added.

  Her brain went blank in the face of that smile.

  Dammit, what had she come here for? What was her plan?

  Sexy flirting. That was it. She was here to seduce and run. She scrambled to remember all the lessons she’d taught herself before she’d come, allowing herself one moment to marvel at Eve’s ability to do this all the time.

  She would never underestimate her sister ever again.

  What was lesson number one? Lexy’s little gem—think about sex. Right. She could do that. Using her new and improved sexy walk, she shimmied her way further into his apartment without asking for an invitation.

  Sexy women were confident, weren’t they? She heard him following behind her. “Um, Holly?” There was that confused amusement again. “What’s going on?”

  She refused to be sidetracked by his amusement. He wouldn’t be laughing when she was seducing him.

  Once they reached the living room she turned around to face him.

  Think about sex with Spencer. And…go.

  Her brain had no problems conjuring up that image. She remembered the way he’d felt beneath her when he’d pulled her onto his lap. Her lips tingled at the memory of that kiss, the way his lips had moved against hers.

  “
You said you wanted to talk?” he prompted.

  Now she was turned on and that just made her flustered. She tried to read his eyes for any clue as to how much he knew. All she saw was the same old Spencer. Funny, smart, sweet Spencer.

  She focused on the desire that made her skin feel too hot and her clothes too tight. She wanted to be closer to him. Using that, she crossed the distance between them and came down to her knees so they were eye level.

  This position was dangerous. It was far too seductive. He was watching her closely. The amusement had faded and something darker and far more dangerous had taken its place.

  Desire.

  He felt it too. She wasn’t alone in this heady daze. She wasn’t imagining it. The atmosphere in the room thickened. The air between them grew heavy and warm.

  She was too aware of the sound of her own breathing in the quiet room. Of his hands so close she could touch them.

  Or they could touch her.

  Oh man. Her sister had forgotten to mention that thinking about sex would make her more addled than ever. But it did help her to feel sexy. The awkwardness she associated with her lame attempts at flirting fell away. She was so focused on the feeling of blood rushing through her, of the way her lips seemed to feel a magnetic pull toward his. Those thoughts and sensations ran roughshod over the critical part of her brain that typically focused on what her hands were doing or how her voice sounded.

  She went with it, saying the words she’d practiced in the mirror. “You and I should talk.”

  He stared at her and for a moment she felt a heady sense of triumph as she realized that the unfamiliar look in his eyes was him mesmerized. He was fascinated by her, at the change in her.

  “You said that already.” His eyes were dark and focused. If looks could strip, she’d have been naked at his feet.

  What was she talking about? Right. “Yes, well, I wanted to talk.” The blood flow was clearly leaving her brain incapacitated. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I haven’t been totally honest with you.”

  Spencer’s eyes widened in surprise at that and she felt another surge of triumph. This was her goal. Throw him off guard. He thought he had the upper hand but she intended to fix that. He might know she was up to something but he didn’t know what. Which meant the “what” was still a variable she could manipulate.