Tall, Dork and Handsome

by Remy Richard

  She remained silent, so he continued. “So I’m just wondering what you did with the gun…and why you felt you needed it after there wasn’t any more danger.”

  Sabrina let out a harsh laugh. “Only someone who had no idea what he was talking about would say that there isn’t any danger. They know that I’m not working with them anymore. Worse, they know that I’m working with you now. You keep saying that you’ll protect me, but for how long?”

  She shook her head and bent her forehead to her knees, taking in long, deep breaths. Holden leaned forward and covered one of her hands with his. “As long as you want me to.”

  “You say that now, but you have no idea what you’re promising. I won’t hold you to it. I won’t count on you.”

  Holden didn’t know what to say. For as long as he could remember, people had counted on him. His sister had relied on him from a young age and now he solved complex problems for products that hinged on his ability to succeed. He was responsible, damn it. And he felt responsible for her. He wanted to be responsible for her safety, her happiness, everything.

  But it would take longer than a few days to gain her trust. For now, he had to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid like run away.

  “What about if we made an even trade?” he offered.

  He waited, holding his breath for her answer. “What kind of trade?” she asked after a few moments, her voice muffled in her thighs.

  “The gun for anything you want that it’s my power to give you.”

  She lifted her head to look at him, clearly gauging his seriousness. “That’s a pretty large blank check you’re writing there. What if I say I want a million dollars?”

  “Steep. And of course you’ll have to take an IOU. I want the gun now and I don’t exactly carry that kind of cash on me,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

  Her grip on her legs loosened and she put her feet on the floor. Without the shield of her body, he could see every curve lovingly outlined by the too tight yoga pants Lila had loaned her. He glanced down and saw her ankles on full display.

  “Hmmm. I don’t take IOUs. It’s bad for business, you understand.”

  Holden spread his arms out wide. “Then take anything you want that I have here in the room.”

  Sabrina stood up and paced the room, deep in thought. “That limits my choices a bit, don’t you think?”

  “Well, I would say you could order something off the Internet, but I don’t want my credit cards traced. I already had to put down an enormous amount of money in cash for the hotel retainer,” he complained.

  “I’m sure you’re good for it.” She threw him a speculative glance and her smile grew wider, her eyes warmer. “If I’m limited to something in this room then…I guess that only leaves you.”

  Holden felt his breath shorten. There was no way he could be that lucky. “I think it would be bad form to take anything that’s a part of me or attached to me.”

  She tapped her jaw with her index finger, as if thinking it over. “There is a pretty healthy black market for kidneys. And I have all the ice I could need to keep it fresh right down the hall. Your idea has merit.”

  “But not compassion.”

  “Compassion is for people who don’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done.”

  “Is that what you think?” he asked, stunned at her cavalier words.

  “That’s what I’ve learned to be true,” she retorted, unashamed.

  “I wish—” He stopped himself, sure that his sentimental words would push her further away from him.

  “What?”

  “I wish that I could undo whatever hurt you’ve endured. That you could see that not everyone is out to get you,” he said in a low voice, sure that she would be ready to run from him.

  “What about you? Aren’t you out to get me?” He gave her a confused look which she waved away. “Not in any way dangerous. But it’s clear you want me. Isn’t that the same thing? You want what you want from me.”

  “It’s not the same thing. The difference is that I would never take what you weren’t willing to give me.”

  She started to roll her eyes at his words, but something stopped her. He willed her to meet his eyes, to see how serious he was, and amazingly after a few seconds she did. From across the room he could see the pulse humming in her throat, the gentle shaking of her fingertips as she smoothed the fabric of her chair and the light that was starting to kindle in her eyes.

  When she spoke next, her voice was low and sultry. “Maybe I should take you as my trade.”

  “I don’t want you that way.” Holden heard the words coming out of his mouth before he had a chance to evaluate them. “I don’t want you as part of a deal or a plan to steal from me or some sort of con.”

  Her fingers stilled on the chair and clenched the fabric instead. “How do you want me then?”

  “Honestly.”

  She gave him a sad smile. “I’m afraid I don’t know the meaning of the word.” She shrugged at him before coming around to sit back in her chair, her posture much more relaxed, calmer now that she had regained control of the conversation. “I’ve decided what I do want though.”

  “Let me have it.”

  “Clothes. Not that Lila’s clothes aren’t great, but they aren’t exactly my size.” She gestured to where her breasts were straining at the fabric of the borrowed t-shirt and he almost popped a blood vessel in his eye from staring so hard. “So I want you to buy me lots and lots of clothes. Enough so that I don’t have to wear the same thing twice during our little vacation here.”

  “Sounds fine by me, except that you can’t leave the hotel. Where do you propose to get these clothes?” he asked skeptically.

  She leaned forward eagerly. “There’s a boutique in the lobby. It’s some pretty fancy stuff, but I’m sure that whatever they don’t have they can send out for and bill you.”

  He leaned back in his chair and considered her. “On one condition: Sam has to give final approval of the plan.” He held up a hand to forestall her protests. “If he says no, we’ll figure something else out but I can’t let you be unprotected because you want to wear something more fashionable.”

  She thought it over for a second and then stuck her hand out for a shake. “Deal.”

  He grasped her small hand in his much larger one and shook on it. When she started to pull away, he kept her in his grasp.

  “One more thing. When I watched the camera footage I finally saw what you did. For my sister.” She froze in his grasp and he hesitated, grappling with how to express his appreciation. “I don’t know why you did it, but you saved her. All deals aside, I can never repay you for that.”

  Sabrina waved away his words, impatient and uncomfortable. “It was nothing.”

  “I think it was quite something,” he said and pulled her other hand so that he was holding both of them. Keeping a firm grip on her, he brought her hands forward and pressed a warm kiss to the back of her fingers, drawing in her scent and feeling the stretch of muscle and tendon under his lips as he did so.

  Her lips trembled and he wanted to kiss her mouth more than anything, but in light of their earlier conversation, he thought it was better to show Sabrina he meant what he said.

  Her voice was rusty when she said, “Don’t start thinking that I’m a better person than I am, Holden.”

  “How can I not when every opportunity you get, you prove yourself wrong? Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t know you very well,” he said, his lips brushing her skin with every word.

  She let out a bitter laugh. “I doubt that. I’m—I’m not a very good person, Holden.”

  “I disagree. But I can see how you’d think that since it doesn’t seem like you’ve ever had a chance to be anything else.”

  She pulled her hands away from his and paced restlessly back to her chair. “I should probably just leave now. We both know there’s nothing more I can tell you.”

  Holden stood, ready to stop her if she tried to leave. “That’
s not true. You and Lila still need to work on the drawings of your accomplices. Until then, you’re the only one who would recognize them.”

  Sabrina paused and then nodded. “Once that’s finished, then I’m gone.”

  Holden ran his hand through his hair and then nodded. “If that’s what you want, then I’ll help you as much as I’m able. No matter how this started out, you’re not a prisoner anymore, Sabrina.”

  “I’ll go get your gun now.” She turned her back and made her way to her side of the suite, and Holden wished that he could bring the smile back to her face some way. The conversation had gotten far heavier than he had planned or imagined.

  “Hey,” he called to her back, “you’re sure you’re good with the clothes?”

  She faced him and pushed a lock of blond hair out of her eyes. “Yeah, why?”

  He pulled a key out of his pocket and dangled it. “You could have had unlimited access to the mini-bar. That’s a rookie mistake.”

  Sabrina smiled slowly until that smile turned into a laugh. “Why bargain for what you’ll give me willingly?”

  “Oh, you think I’m that easy?”

  She winked at him and turned back around to enter her room, an extra swing in her step. “Nope. I think I’m that good.”

  Watching her retreating form, Holden had to agree.

  ***

  Holden slipped down the hall and knocked quietly on Sam’s door. The last thing he needed was for Lila to hear him. He’d been trying to find time to check in with Sam, without the girls around to hear, since they’d gotten settled in that afternoon.

  It had been well after midnight when Sabrina had stopped moving around in her room and he had been able to check on her. She was fast asleep and he hoped that Lila was as well. Middle of the night subterfuge wasn’t usually his thing, but what he wanted to say didn’t need an audience.

  When Sam didn’t immediately answer, Holden knocked again, this time a little louder. After a few moments, a low murmur came from behind the door and it swung open to reveal Sam squinting into the light of the hall. Wearing only boxers, a t-shirt and a frown, it was obvious that he had woken the other man up.

  Holden winced. “Sorry, man. I didn’t realize you were asleep.”

  Sam just grunted and stepped back so that he could enter the room. Holden looked around curiously, but there wasn’t a piece of clothing or water glass out of place. If it wasn’t for the rumpled bed sheets and duffle bag on the luggage rack, the room could be unoccupied.

  Ready to tease his friend, Holden turned around in time to see Sam pull a pistol from the small of his back and put it in the top drawer of the night stand. The sight of the gun brought home what they were doing and wiped the humor from his mind. Little did Sam know that he was about to add to the gun collection.

  “How is everything going down here?” Holden asked quietly.

  Sam rubbed his eyes and gestured toward a pair of upholstered chairs in the corner of the room. Holden nodded and they both sat down. “Things are fine. Lila fell asleep about three hours ago and I did a quick circuit of the hotel. Everything seems calm. I don’t think we were followed. How are things on your end?”

  “Sabrina’s asleep too and I’m working on a new idea for the algorithm. I’ll just be glad when the damn thing is done.” He sighed deeply. “I wish I could just tell them that I couldn’t figure it out. Stop working on the program. Then these guys would move on and leave us alone.”

  Sam regarded him skeptically. “Do you really believe that? They aren’t going to move on until they’re sure that you don’t have anything they can exploit. Besides, we don’t even know where they’re getting their information. You have to come to terms with the fact that even after you turn over the completed program to Organotech, you may still be vulnerable to these guys. As long as they think you have a piece of the program, they’ll be trying to get in.”

  Holden ran a hand through his hair. “Then we’ll move on as soon as I’ve finished the program. Maybe get out of the country for a little while.” His lips quirked upwards. “I think we’ve all earned a vacation, don’t you?”

  “I certainly have. I don’t know about you,” Sam joked before turning serious again. “At some point tomorrow, I’d like to go back to your house and make sure that everything is still good there. I left a couple of guards to watch the place day and night until we return. They had instructions to get new windows put in where they were broken during the robbery. Hopefully they got that done yesterday or today. I hate the idea of the place standing open like that.”

  Holden waved away his concerns. “There’s nothing in there that I can’t replace. Are you sure you should go back though? If you’re fairly sure that we weren’t followed here, wouldn’t it be tempting fate for you to go back and forth again?”

  Sam paused to consider Holden’s advice and nodded. “I’ll think about it. It’s possible just a phone check-in should suffice. Despite his lapse of judgment with Sabrina, Martin is actually competent.”

  “Speaking of Sabrina and lapses of judgment…” Holden reached into the back of his waistband and pulled out the gun she had turned over.

  Sam’s expression turned hard as he watched Holden place the gun on the end table between them. “Where did she get that?”

  “She picked it up after she got rid of Harry at the house,” Holden explained. “I saw her take it on the surveillance tape before I erased it. I asked her about it last night and she turned it over willingly.”

  “About a day late and dollar short,” Sam said with a harsh laugh. “What else is she keeping from us?”

  “I don’t think there’s anything else,” Holden said.

  Sam stood and paced the length of the room. “Well, please excuse me if I don’t take your word on that one. Your perspective is a little lacking.”

  Holden leaned back in his chair and tried not to take offense. He knew Sam was right. He wanted Sabrina to be honest with him so much that he might be missing the bigger picture with her. Mainly that she could be taking him for a ride.

  He cleared his throat. “I get that. In fact, I need some help from you. Personal help actually.”

  Sam turned around and the look on his face was priceless. “Listen, you know I’m happy to do anything but if you’re having personal problems with Sabrina, I’d rather not know.”

  “Not that kind of problem. She needs clothes. All she’s got are the clothes she’s been wearing for a few days now and some borrowed clothes from Lila that are way too small. I need you to go with her to the hotel boutique and get some stuff.”

  “No way am I taking this woman shopping. That’s hazard pay territory and not what I was hired for,” Sam said, shaking his head.

  “I know it’s asking a lot. I don’t want you to actually go with her either. She’s going and I want you to follow her. It’s just to the lobby and back. Make sure she’s safe and that she doesn’t meet up with anyone,” Holden said.

  “You know she can’t use your credit cards or we can be traced,” Sam pointed out.

  “She won’t. I’ve got enough cash to cover it.”

  Sam was silent for a moment before moving back to sit in his chair again. “And what happens when she takes all of this cash and makes a run for it rather than going on a shopping spree?”

  “Then you let her go,” Holden said in a low voice. “Look, you said yourself that there’s very little left that she can tell us. There’s no reason for me to keep her here. If she runs, then we’ll settle up here and move on to another hotel, maybe even another state, until I’m finished with the program. The end.”

  Sam sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to get involved in your personal relationships but I think that you’re getting in over your head with this woman. I like her too. I get it.”

  Holden’s head snapped up and he glared at his friend. Sam held his hands up in surrender. “Not like that. I like her like a kid sister or something. She’s easy to like. That’s what makes her such a good con artist.�
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  “I get it. I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself. As long as you can tell me that you don’t believe she’ll do anything to put Lila in danger, then I can handle it if it turns out that she’s trying to con me for money or something.” Holden fell silent for a minute to collect his thoughts. “I just don’t think that she is still running a con though. She could have left during the break-in and instead she stayed behind and protected my sister. That has to mean something.”

  “Maybe it does,” Sam agreed grudgingly. “It’s fairly obvious that she has feelings for you.” He thought about it for a few moments. “All right, I’m willing to follow her on her little shopping trip for you. As long as she’s with us, I’ll keep her safe. But, Holden, the second I have an inkling that she may be against us, I’ll do what needs to be done.”

  Holden nodded, satisfied with that deal. “She’ll probably want to go some time tomorrow. If you’re not around when she leaves, I’ll give you a call so you can follow her. I’ve also still got the cell phone we confiscated from her. There’s no numbers in it, so I’ll just give her that so she can call if she needs help from one of us.”

  Sam scrubbed a hand over his face. “Sure, why the hell not?” He stood up and picked up the gun from the end table. Holden watched as Sam secured it in the room safe.

  “How’s Lila doing?” Holden asked as he stood and got ready to leave.

  “Pretty well, all things considered,” Sam said. “She’s following directions at least.”

  “She and Sabrina seem to have hit it off after last night’s festivities,” Holden said, moving toward the door.

  “Great. That’s just what I needed, Lila looking up to a con artist,” Sam said in frustration. “The last thing that girl needs is a lesson in how to get her way more of the time.”

  Holden laughed and waved goodbye as he left the room. “Good night.”

  As the door closed behind him, he heard Sam’s parting words, “I’ll probably have nightmares now. Thanks a lot!”

  Chapter Eleven