Suddenly Sexy

by Susanna Carr

  “Yeah—” she cleared her throat “—I don’t think I could have pulled off that level of sexy.”

  “No, you misunderstood me.”

  “It’s okay, Eric.” She rolled the empty beer bottle between her hands. “You were right. I wasn’t a good choice. I’m sorry I made you give me the job.”

  “I’m not.”

  No, he wouldn’t. He knew she needed this wake-up call. The next time she wanted to break out of her cubicle, Perry would only have to mention the Lloyd incident. It would be enough to shut her up.

  She truly needed this assignment to have been a success. Not just for her team, but for herself. She had waited so long for her turn. She had imagined how great she would be, how she would shine if only she had a chance for the spotlight.

  The hope that always pushed her forward was gone. Now she regretted grabbing for the chance. She wished she hadn’t tried to live her dream. If she hadn’t tried she could still pretend anything was possible.

  “I’m sorry this was a waste of time,” she said.

  “No, it wasn’t a waste,” Eric insisted. “We needed the practice.”

  “Well, the practice was wasted on me. I’m not doing it again.” She gathered up her courage and met Eric’s gaze. The kind understanding she saw in his blue eyes nearly destroyed her. “You’ll need to find someone else to be a decoy. I quit.”

  7

  QUITTING? ERIC STIFFENED. That didn’t sound like Julie. She wasn’t a quitter. It was a quality of hers that he admired and found exasperating in equal measures. She wanted to do anything and everything, as if she were making up for lost time. If she didn’t have the skills, she got by with her drive and energy.

  But now, after one try, she was going to quit being a decoy. This was what he wanted, right?

  Eric saw the dullness in her blue eyes. It was as if the light—the joy—were snuffed right out of her. He wanted to protect her, but not at the cost of her enthusiasm.

  He wasn’t good at pep talks, but he’d give it a shot. “Listen, Julie…”

  She released a deep breath. “I don’t want your pity.”

  “Good, because you don’t have it,” he insisted. “I admit you surprised me tonight.”

  “I know.” She tiredly rubbed her head. “The military jacket was a bad call. I took it off to show more skin, but it didn’t do me any good.”

  “The alias worked,” he insisted. “Lloyd allowed you to get a lot closer to him than Blondie and Red.”

  “More like Blondie and Red were already occupied.”

  Eric dipped his head and pressed his mouth against her ear. “I’m only going to say this once, so listen closely. You have a skill in observation. You notice signs that reveal something about a person. That takes years of training, but it’s almost as if it comes natural to you.”

  “So, I’m a great people watcher. Big whoop.” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take my disappointment out on you. I appreciate that you’re trying to cheer me up.”

  “But I suck at it?”

  A reluctant smile pulled at her lips. “Something like that.”

  “Fair enough.” He straightened and turned her bar stool so she had to face him. “I’ll focus on my strengths and stick to the facts. There were no indications that Lloyd would be unfaithful to his girlfriend. Martha volunteered him. That was the only reason we chose him as a target.”

  Julie’s eyebrows rose as she gave him a knowing look. “And because he didn’t look dangerous or pose any great physical threat to me.”

  She knew him well. Eric was adept at hiding his feelings, but Julie could see right through his motivations. “Okay, you caught me on that. But give me a break. Next time I can’t choose the target. He might be scum who’ll try to get you naked before you say hello.”

  “I doubt we will get that lucky,” she said as she reached for her jacket on the back of her bar stool. “You need to get a different decoy. Someone like Asia. If it had been Asia, Lloyd would be at the hotel next door right now, renting a room.”

  Eric curled his finger under her chin. He didn’t speak until she met his gaze. “I don’t want Asia to be a decoy. I want you,” he said. “You showed that you are adaptive and instinctual. You need to develop those skills if you want to be a detective.”

  Julie’s expression softened. “Thanks, Eric.”

  He stroked her jaw. Her skin was warm and smooth. He wanted to explore her face with his hands and mouth. His eyes must have given away his intentions as Julie’s cheeks reddened before she pulled away.

  “It shouldn’t matter if he was a serial cheater or not,” she said as she put on her jacket. “I should have tempted him.”

  “You tempted me,” he reminded her. She had driven him crazy. Still did. “You made me forget all my good intentions.”

  She stood up abruptly. “That’s different.”

  “Why?” he asked in a teasing tone. “Do you still think I’m an easy lay?”

  “I never said you were easy,” she said as she flipped her ponytail from her jacket collar.

  He grasped the end of her ponytail and gave it a tug. “The assignment is finally over.”

  He wanted to whisk her away and relive the heat they’d shared in the supply closet. The hotel room he’d been living in was just a few floors up. All he had to do was ask.

  As much as he wanted Julie, he wouldn’t make his move tonight. Not when she was feeling vulnerable and had something to prove. He wouldn’t take advantage, even though his primal instincts called for him to pounce. He’d wait, no matter how much it killed him.

  Eric let go of her ponytail and took a step back. It was a struggle as his body wanted to gravitate closer to Julie. “Everyone on the team is meeting up at the bar in the hotel next door for a drink.”

  She frowned and blinked a few times as if she didn’t understand what he was saying. “Why? The assignment was a complete failure.”

  “Were you made?” he asked. “Did Max get caught taking photos? Did the audio equipment cause any feedback?”

  “No,” she said slowly.

  Eric shrugged. “Then that’s reason enough to celebrate.”

  “You need to raise your expectations,” Julie said with a shake of her head. “Why don’t you go on ahead? I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Are you sure?” He didn’t like leaving her. Not when she was feeling discouraged.

  “Do you really think I need an escort to the ladies’ room?”

  Eric raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll save a seat for you.”

  * * *

  JULIE STEPPED INTO THE restroom and saw her reflection everywhere. On the oversize mirrors, chrome sinks and bathroom stalls. Several women with sleek hair and tiny dresses were at the mirrors repairing their makeup and liberally applying perfume.

  She entered a stall, slid the latch shut. Exhaling slowly,

  Julie allowed her shoulders to sag before she leaned her forehead against the smooth metal.

  That didn’t go as planned. Julie closed her eyes and rocked her head from side to side. The only thing that went right was not being made as a decoy. That wasn’t a major achievement to celebrate. Lloyd probably didn’t think she was sexy or smooth enough to be a decoy.

  Julie gradually opened her eyes and stared blankly through the door hinges. She felt numb and she welcomed it. The pain was there, just underneath, but she couldn’t deal with it yet.

  All this time she thought that if she had a chance, she could show off her detective and espionage knowledge. She would show everyone that her skills were wasted on tracking uniforms.

  What a bunch of bull. She felt a tear trail down her cheek, but she didn’t wipe it away. All of her detective and espionage skills
were from books and TV. She used to think that it was okay that she was stuck in bed or in the house. She had considered it her incubation period. The moment she struck out into the world, she would be at a much higher level than any other detective her age.

  That was one more fairy tale that didn’t hold up to reality.

  Julie rubbed her eyes. She was behind the curve and no amount of reading or studying was going to fix that. This was just like high school P.E. She was the weak link in the team. The one who dragged everyone down. The one who everyone had to compensate for by working harder if they wanted to win.

  She didn’t want to be a decoy anymore. What if she failed again? Julie shuddered at the thought. If that happened, she would go back to her cubicle and never leave.

  But Eric said she had skills. He wouldn’t lie about something like that. He had been sweet in his blunt and gruff way, she thought with a faint smile. She liked seeing that side of him and she had a feeling he didn’t show it too often.

  A movement in the mirror caught her attention. The reflection showed familiar shades of platinum-blond and can’t-be-natural red. She groaned and fought the urge to bang her head against the bathroom stall door. No way Kick-Ass Julie could have competed with that. She didn’t care what Eric said. Big breasts trumped observation skills every time.

  She was about to step away from the door and wait until the women left when she saw Blondie whip out a thin black cord from her teeny-tiny purse. Julie frowned and looked closer. Was this some new makeup tip she needed to know about? She could use all the help she could get.

  Julie dismissed the possible makeup tutorial when Blondie plugged the cord into her cell phone. She then connected a USB stick onto the other side of the cord.

  “I forgot my cord,” Red said as she looked through her long rectangle clutch. “I need to use yours when you’re done.”

  Blondie huffed irritably. “How the hell could you forget something like that?”

  Red shrugged and the glitter coating her skin reflected in the mirror like diamonds. “It must be in the purse I used last night.”

  “The cord is the one thing you need. I’ll loan you mine but this is the last time.”

  What was going on? Julie pressed her face against the door and watched the two women. They didn’t look like students or women who worked for a living. So what was the urgency of backing up some files? And why would they do it in the bathroom of a nightclub?

  “I’m done. Hold on.” Blondie unplugged the USB stick and Julie heard the unmistakable sound of jangling keys. She squinted to get a look at the key ring. She couldn’t see anything until Blondie grabbed the keys in her hand as she gave the cord to Red.

  There was an action figure on that key ring. Julie drew back in surprise. It looked just like Kick-Ass Julie. It was the same action figure that had been on Lloyd’s shirt.

  It didn’t make sense. Blondie was the kind of woman who would have Swarovski crystals on her key ring. Maybe Hello Kitty if she was feeling playful. But the charm would have to be encrusted with diamonds to meet Blondie’s expectations.

  “Hurry up,” Blondie said impatiently.

  “There’s only so much I can do,” Red said, tapping her sling-back pump on the tile floor. “I swear all the gigabytes are full on this thing.”

  Julie’s eyebrows rose. It sounded weird hearing the word gigabytes coming out of a mouth covered in frosted pink lip gloss.

  Blondie turned to the mirror and fluffed her hair with her fingers. “If they realize they don’t have their keys…”

  “It’s going to be fine.”

  Oh, my God. Were they downloading the guys’ information from their USB sticks? Julie pressed her face closer and tried to get a glimpse of the key ring Red held. She couldn’t see it because Red had her back turned to her.

  “Done.” Red ripped out the cord and gave it to her friend. “Now I’m with the one wearing the white shirt, right?”

  “Tell me you’re joking,” Blondie said as she stuffed the cord in her minuscule purse. “You’ve been slithering all over the guy for most of the night and you don’t remember which one you have?”

  “What can I say? All geeks look alike,” Red replied as they walked toward the door. “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we accidentally switched keys?”

  “Don’t even try it.”

  Julie waited a few moments until she was certain the women had left the bathroom before she unlatched the door. So that was why Blondie and Red were all over Lloyd’s friends. It was as if a piece of the puzzle had fallen into place.

  At first she thought they were looking for rich guys. They were hunting for someone who could buy them expensive drinks and maybe a fancy meal. It was a common myth in the Seattle area that all computer programmers were multimillionaires.

  But those women could have had their choice of any man in the club. Julie bent her head as she walked out of the bathroom and made her way through the maze of people. Blondie and Red were sex goddesses and they knew it. They could have sophisticated men. Hot men. Men like Eric.

  Julie clenched her teeth at the thought and powered through the crowd. She would have hated it if one of those women had set their sights on Eric. Julie knew she wouldn’t have been able to compete, but she wouldn’t have been able to sit back and watch, either.

  But Red and Blondie didn’t even look at Eric. Their full concentration was on the computer nerds. And now she knew why. It was because they were after the USB sticks.

  It was weird, Julie decided as she exited the club. The women didn’t grab the sticks and go. They were giving them back. Because they didn’t want the computer programmers to know that the information was compromised.

  Julie suddenly realized she was on the sky bridge that would take her to the hotel. She was on autopilot as she wondered what was on the USB sticks.

  It couldn’t be that important. Most guys who worked on computers had USB sticks on their key rings. Lloyd had one, right next to his library card.

  She remembered how Lloyd had absently twirled the keys on his fingers as he bragged about his work. Revolutionary, he said. The project he was working on was a “game-changer.”

  Julie quickened her pace. The competition would pay a very good price to get their hands on that intellectual property. She may have seen something big. Something that was way better than premarital screening.

  If only she understood what Lloyd was actually working on! She’d make up for that later. Julie picked up the pace, her boots ringing against the ground. Right now she couldn’t wait to tell Eric and the team what she’d stumbled upon.

  Julie was out of breath when she arrived at the bar in the hotel lobby. It was quiet and dark. She found the team sitting at a cluster of tables, toasting to their first assignment. She barely heard Martha telling everyone that she always knew Lloyd was a good guy when she rushed to the table.

  “Guess what?” Julie interrupted excitedly. She felt the excitement coursing through her veins. “I just stumbled on corporate espionage.”

  Everyone fell silent and stared at her.

  “Uh-huh,” Max said as he saluted Julie with a tilt of his long-necked beer bottle. “Sure you did.”

  “I’m serious.” Julie flattened her hands on the table top. “Do you remember the blonde and the redhead who were all over Lloyd’s friends? Didn’t you think that was strange?”

  “No,” Max said bluntly. “It’s why the nerds go to those nightclubs in the first place. For the girls.”

  “Not Lloyd,” Martha said loyally. “He was probably dragged there by those guys.”

  “Well, Lloyd needs to keep his key ring in a safer place,” Julie said. “Blondie and Red have stolen his friends’ USB sticks.”

  “Are you sure?” Asia asked.

  “Well, they only had the sticks for a few minutes, I’m sure t
hose guys have them back now. The guys kept their USB sticks on their key rings.”

  “Most programmers do,” Ace, their resident computer expert, said from down the table.

  “Wouldn’t the information be encrypted?” Asia asked.

  Ace shook his head. “Not always. People get lazy.”

  “I don’t know if it was encrypted,” Julie said. “All I know is that the women were downloading the information on their cell phones.” She looked at her colleagues. “So, what now? What are we going to do about it?”

  “Um…nothing,” Asia said, giving Julie a curious look.

  “Really?” Her friend’s response stunned her. She thought Asia would be the first to jump in and develop a strategy. Asia was just as hungry for a big case. “Why would you say that?”

  “Well, first, it’s not a paying job. I don’t do pro bono work. Second, we don’t know the victim or the culprit. And third—”

  “And it probably didn’t happen,” someone at the table said in a stage whisper.

  Julie looked around the table. “It did happen.”

  Ace gave a chuckle. “You’re just like every rookie I’ve seen, Uniform Girl.”

  Rookie? Uniform Girl? Julie glared at the guy. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s like when an intern starts practicing medicine,” Max explained, “and thinks they discover a rare disease. You had your first assignment and now you see crime wherever you turn.”

  Was that what she was doing? Seeing a big case, a potential crime, where there was none? Julie gave a quick look at Eric. He was listening to her, but didn’t ask any questions. He remained watchful and quiet.

  “It happens to everyone,” Martha said as she set down her cocktail. “When I first started out, I thought my neighbor was trying to poison his wife. They still won’t talk to me.”

  “This is different. I saw them with key rings.”

  “They were probably their key rings,” Ace said. “Did you consider that?”

  “I did and I know the keys weren’t theirs. They said they were putting them back.” She clearly remembered hearing that. Her mind wasn’t playing tricks. “Anyway, they seem the type to have Chanel or Coach key rings. Not something with action figures.”