Scent of Persuasion: Sensory Ops, Book 2

by Nikki Duncan

  Through the glass walls of the ICU, she watched him round the nurses’ station and pass all the private, glass-walled rooms. At the end of the hall, he slid open a door. A burly man exited with a smile on his face and said something. Breck’s shoulders lifted and fell with a deep breath.

  After a minute, he slapped the man on the back and went into the room.

  His step was lighter.

  Kami moved away until the bodyguard-looking man left the ICU and passed her. The nurse at the desk headed into a room. Kami took a deep breath, shoved down her dread of the ICU and went inside. The door whooshed closed behind her, making her jump.

  “Suck it up,” she chastised herself. “You can’t get answers being a coward.”

  Following Breck’s path and keeping an eye out for the nurses, she silently begged them to stay in the patient rooms. ICU security was normally tight. It was rare to find the main station left unmanned. As she rounded the empty nurse’s station, she met the gaze of the man Breck was visiting.

  His leg was in a cast and he had some minor discoloration on his face, but he otherwise looked as if he’d just woken from a nap. He was familiar, a little rugged with curly hair and dark eyes. He looked like a young version of Leon Masters.

  She covered her mouth and stumbled back. Madame V had been wrong. Trevor Masters wasn’t dead.

  He raised his chin and said something. Breck spun on the ball of his foot. Shock flashed across his face, with rage snapping close behind. He stormed across the small room and slid open the door. “What are you doing here? Did you follow me? You were at Blue Chip.”

  This would have played out quite differently if she hadn’t stopped by Channing’s place.

  “Yes, I followed you from your office.” He didn’t scare her, but it was obvious he was guarding Trevor. From what, though? Everyone thought he was dead.

  She angled her head more to look at him. Maybe this was a witness protection thing. She could have just put everyone in danger. Shit. She couldn’t lie any longer, especially about following him. What other reason would an escort have of being in an ICU? “And I’m really confused.”

  “Me too,” Trevor called out. “Let her in.”

  The muscle in Breck’s jaw ticked beneath the pressure of his grinding teeth. “Why?”

  She wasn’t sure if he was addressing her or Trevor, but he didn’t move. Trevor raised a hand and waved at her to come in. She stepped around Breck and into the room.

  Anticipation and a sense of watchfulness charged the air like a poker game had hit its pinnacle and a bluff was about to be called. Her cards wouldn’t be revealed until she knew a little more, like how they’d kept it quiet that Trevor was alive. The why was becoming a little more obvious.

  “I’m Kami Evans.” She nodded to Trevor as she moved to the foot of his bed. “I met your parents last night at a fundraiser.”

  Trevor glanced between her and Breck. Breck closed the door and joined her. “She worked the event with me.”

  “As his hired escort.” Kami didn’t like tacking that on, but Breck was implying it and she needed to see Trevor’s reaction. His brows scrunched together.

  “You had the fundraiser.” Surprise slipped along his voice as he looked from Breck to her. “You were there? Are you from Elegant Entertainment?”

  “Yes.”

  His glance was filled with skepticism. “Where’s Lori?”

  “I don’t know.” Odd. Kami would love to talk to Lori, and she got the Feds wanting to find her, but for the client who had nearly died right after seeing her to grow agitated at the idea she was missing seemed strange.

  “She was from your agency. You have to know her.”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

  Breck stepped up and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Kami replaced Lori after she left Elegant Entertainment.”

  “No. She planned everything. She wouldn’t have left without mentioning the possibility.”

  How did Breck know she’d replaced Lori? They hadn’t discussed how long Kami had been with the company, and it hadn’t been included in her online profile. What had she missed?

  “The way I’ve heard it…” She stepped closer to Trevor’s bed. “Lori packed up and vanished in the middle of the night after your accident. She was gone before I went…was hired. I’ve never met her.” But would sure as hell love to. I only need a few minutes to ask what she knew about Channing’s death.

  “Went what, Kami?” Breck turned her to him. He didn’t blink or move as he stared at her. His hard face and glacial gaze were free of judgment, but he dared her to lie to him. “Are you or are you not an escort?”

  She angled her head and stiffened her resolve. “Did I give you any reason to doubt me?”

  “Oh come on.” Trevor fake moaned. “I just woke up from a coma. Do I really have to listen to you revisit your sex lives?”

  “Until I have the answers I need and you can get out of that bed to shut me up, you’ll listen to whatever I deem important.” Breck addressed Trevor, but he never looked away from Kami.

  She used the years of her acting coaching and held out against the urge to lift her chin or make any other move that could be construed as a silent challenge or a maneuver to hide a lie. She held her gaze as steady as his.

  She’d liked him last night, maybe partially because he was her taboo. Today, he was dangerous and on edge. There were no signs of the sense of humor he’d shared openly last night.

  He still aroused her. He awakened her appreciation for a man of action, the draw of the bad boy. Corporate bigwigs were workaholics who cared more about their job and the almighty dollar than about their family or children.

  But dangerous men could be more disastrous than a category five hurricane. Homes and towns could be rebuilt, but lives and shattered hearts… People didn’t bounce back from that sort of damage.

  Dangerous men were either chasing a woman or the next thrill.

  Dangerous men pulled women in with pretty promises and glimpses of their moral center, but they didn’t put their family or children first.

  Her father had been a dangerous man.

  Breck closed his eyes, revealing a hint of defeat she doubted he showed often. She glanced at Trevor to find him watching them intently through narrowed eyes. She looked back at Breck as he opened his eyes. His face had softened a little, but she didn’t believe he’d actually calmed.

  “Why did you follow me?”

  “Before Kieralyn and Aidan came to Madame V’s identifying themselves as FBI, Madame V ordered me to come see you again.”

  “Why? She want you to steal another hairbrush?”

  “Something like that.” He did know. If they’d been at his office, she would have led into things by giving the brush back with a claim that she’d borrowed it.

  “Trevor’s brush was missing this morning after you left. No one else had been in there.”

  Trevor’s brows shot up. He raised the bed.

  She’d watched little lies rip people apart so many times. She hated lying. To anyone. Standing in Trevor’s hospital room, right after he’d apparently woken from a coma, it felt especially wrong to lie to Breck.

  Part of her believed he was innocent, that he was the next target. But without following Madame V’s orders she didn’t have a shot at finding out what would happen next or how Channing and probably Trevor had been maneuvered into taking their own lives. Given the circumstances, withholding some answers now could lead to more important ones later. Unless she was grossly miscalculating things.

  “Madame V told me to come back to you. I assumed it had been at your request.” Which had been true enough for a few seconds. “As I was going to get ready, I overheard Madame V talking with Kieralyn and Aidan.”

  “You mean eavesdropped after discovering who they were?”

  Kami shrugged. Most people would eavesdrop if the Feds came around asking questions, if for no other reason than curiosity. She happened to be looking for revelations that she wasn’t c
razy to believe in Channing, so when she’d heard Feds asking questions about Lori… Yeah, she’d listened in.

  She looked at Trevor and wondered if they should really be discussing this in his hospital room. “They were asking about a missing girl. Lori. Madame V told them she left just before the news of your death hit the news.”

  Trevor pierced Breck with a hard glare. “You’ve told people I’m dead?”

  “The damage was done when I got here. And you were dead for a couple minutes.” Breck shuddered and waved his hand. “The police are saying you committed suicide. Edwin made a play to take over the company. I refused to accept either.” He fisted his hands in his hair as he paced. “I had you admitted here under a false name and called in some favors for a twenty-four hour guard. Your parents named me as CEO of Blue Chip.”

  “You’re doing my job?” Trevor chuckled and then winced. Apparently he had more to recover from than a broken leg. And why did he seem so surprised that Breck was the new CEO? He seemed to be very good at the job.

  Breck practically growled. “Just hurry the hell up and get out of here.”

  Kami stood back like a spectator and tried to grasp the complexities of their relationship. Breck was clearly upset at the idea of Trevor having died, even momentarily. What would have caused him to admit Trevor under an assumed name rather than setting the media straight? Did he have a plan to work it all out in the end? And why did Trevor seem so surprised that Breck had taken his job?

  “Sure.” Trevor chuckled as he leaned back in the bed. “I’ll just rise from the dead three days later.”

  “More like three weeks.” Breck grabbed the footboard of the bed and leaned forward. His knuckles whitened as he dug his fingertips into the unforgiving wood. “Edwin’s involved in something. He stands to benefit by getting that Oedipus contract signed with Eston White.”

  “You can’t sign that!” Trevor surged up and winced. Color drained from his face. Instantly weakened, he sank back to the pillows. “I ordered that destroyed.”

  Kami went to Trevor’s side and adjusted the pillows that had moved. She’d done the same thing for Channing’s mom. It was instinctive to want to help someone in pain find comfort. And Trevor wasn’t just someone. He was Jane Ann’s and Leon’s son. And he knew the woman who’d been with Channing shortly before his death. He’d been targeted in a similar fashion.

  If nothing else, being near him gave her hope. The bad guys didn’t always win. Channing and Trevor would have justice.

  Considering that he’d walked into traffic three weeks ago, his injuries could be as minor as busted or bruised ribs that hindered his movements, to something more major like a surgery he still needed to recover from. Given that he was in ICU, they had to be pretty serious.

  He smiled at her. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” Straightening his sheet, she was suddenly struck by the depth of her grief at having lost Channing and his mom.

  She turned away and grabbed the water pitcher to fill a cup for Trevor. She used the moments of having her back turned to steady her shaking hands and pull herself under control. She could break down later. Much later.

  The cops were saying the same thing about Trevor they’d said about Channing. Only he would walk out of the hospital and return to his life. Channing was gone. She’d lost her best friend. Focusing on her breathing and reciting the calming methods she used before going on stage, she gained control over her emotions.

  “Kami?” Breck’s hand landed on her shoulder.

  She ignored the warmth of his touch on her shoulder and vowed not to make a fool of herself. She lifted her head and smiled as she handed Trevor the cup.

  “Thank you.” Trevor smiled and placed his free hand over her wrist for a moment.

  Having been asleep for three weeks, he would have a lot of questions, but his concern for his company jumped to the forefront. Whatever Oedipus was, Trevor didn’t want it going anywhere. That didn’t sound like the decision of a businessman ruled by the ever-powerful dollar.

  “I’m glad you’re going to be okay, Trevor.”

  She pulled her hand away and shifted out from beneath Breck’s hand still resting on her shoulder. She didn’t care what Madame V was doing with the brushes. She didn’t care what happened to her. She wasn’t playing any part in the deceptions surrounding Elegant Entertainment. She sidestepped Breck and headed for the door. “I’m sorry I followed you, Breck.”

  He grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “Tell us what you know. Or what you think you know.”

  “Kami.” Trevor waited for her to look at him. When she did, his eyes were kind and understanding. As if he knew what plagued her. “It’s obvious something has you upset. Maybe scared. You can trust Breck. He can help you with whatever it is.”

  She studied the men before her for a moment.

  She wanted to trust them.

  She wanted to believe they would help her.

  She wanted to believe justice was near.

  She didn’t know either of them. Her gut wasn’t churning like it normally did when someone set off her inner alarms, but that didn’t mean they were on the level.

  “How were you able to follow me from the office?” Awareness of Kami’s nearness and the anticipation of whatever she might say simmered in his gut.

  She’d done a pretty good job of hiding her reaction when she’d mentioned Madame’s dictate that she come back to him. The briefest glimpse of apprehension had shone through. Even if she didn’t know anything, she had a hunch something was off with Madame V.

  It didn’t all stem from Kieralyn’s and Aidan’s visit. It stemmed from Channing Harris’ death, and while it was tempting to ask her directly, he wanted to see if she volunteered the information.

  “I was on the way to see you, but you were out front with Kieralyn and Aidan.”

  “So you spied on me?” He hadn’t imagined her scent or the impression that someone had been watching him outside the building. His instincts had been right on. He’d just failed to pinpoint the source.

  “You were very into your conversation. I didn’t want to interrupt.” She fidgeted with the skirt of her dress. “I was going to head up to your office when you wrapped up—”

  “But I came here.”

  “Yes.”

  “How close did I come to spotting you?”

  “You were very close when you stopped by the orange blossom plant.”

  “Hmmph.” The one that had smelled just like her and had taken him back to the night with her in his arms. If he hadn’t shoved memories of her away in an attempt to keep his thoughts ordered, he would have noticed the fantasy hiding right before him.

  He’d been distracted enough for her to successfully follow him. Distractions, though pleasurable at times, could get him or someone else killed.

  That he wanted to stand near her just to catch a hint of her scent pissed him off. Attraction was an inconvenient sentiment he had no time for. Especially when the woman sidetracked him from his job. “What is it you’re afraid of, Kami?”

  She looked back and forth between them a few times before settling her gaze on Trevor. She moved back to Trevor’s side and fingered the fold of his sheet. “Do you remember what happened to you? If you didn’t try to kill yourself, do you remember how you wound up here?”

  Jealousy rushed through Breck. She’d been with him. Her assignment had been to return to him, but Trevor was the one she granted her attention to. Trevor hadn’t been the one to make her cry out in orgasm. She hadn’t stripped Trevor or stripped for him. She needed to get her priorities straight, but keeping his in line meant keeping his mouth shut. Until later.

  “I was working late to wrap up a few things before a date.” Trevor’s eyes softened. His lips tweaked up at the corners. “She always smelled so sweet.”

  A date? Trevor didn’t date. They were alike in that way too. They had one-night stands. Never dates.

  “Lori was supposed to be there at any moment. She’d just gone back
to change.”

  “You’d been with her that afternoon?”

  “I cooked lunch for us in the apartment.”

  A man didn’t cook lunch for an escort in his apartment. Trevor didn’t cook lunch for anyone. Whatever their relationship had started out as, it had clearly evolved into more. “Keep going.”

  “I got a phone call. A woman told me to sign the contract and go for a walk.”

  “Then you walked into traffic and are now thought dead.”

  “But he didn’t sign the contract.” Breck pulled a chair over for Kami and then sat on the bed so his leg brushed the front of hers. It wasn’t much, but given her attention to Trevor, he wanted her to be aware of him. And putting her in the chair put some distance between her and his friend. He hadn’t called for her company, but he wasn’t in the mood to share now that she was here. “What are you getting at, Kami?”

  “My stepbrother died shortly before Trevor was hurt.”

  “And?”

  Kami grabbed her neck and squeezed. She raised her head and her emerald eyes, darkened with sadness and fear, met his. “The cops consider his death a suicide. He made plans for his anniversary less than an hour before hanging himself.”

  When Breck had first gotten the call about Trevor, every fiber of his being had revolted at the concept of Trevor taking his own life. He’d been saddened at having lost his best friend, until he’d arrived at the hospital to learn they’d brought him back. Then anger had set in and multiplied several times when the cops insisted there had been no foul play.

  He knew how it felt to hear of a loss. She’d been forced to face hers and know she was too late to help him. His throat contracted on swelling grief. “You don’t think Channing killed himself?”

  “No more than you apparently thought it of Trevor.”

  He nodded, conceding her point. She was trusting him with information. He would give her the respect she deserved.

  “I went to Channing’s apartment this afternoon before going to your office.” She raised a hand toward him. “Wait. How’d you know his name?”