by TJ Nichols
“And you’re here to bail me out and tell me to back away. Bodyguard or guard dog?”
“Both, and I do bite.” He drank his coffee without enjoying it.
Cody stabbed his cake and ate a mouthful. “This is really good.”
“Cake is meant to be cooked, not raw.” But it did look good, even though it didn’t look quite like cake should.
“What’s your stake in this?”
“You’re freaking out my boss, and I don’t want more people to get hurt.” He watched Cody over his cup as he took another sip. Cody didn’t seem to care about the danger to himself. “People like Lily.”
Cody flinched, and the cake fell off his fork and onto the table. “What has she got to do with anything?”
“I know you’ve been meeting with her. Try to keep it to daylight and not on Sundays.” That was as much warning as Cody was going to get. “Does she want you to take his place?”
That made Cody’s eyebrows lift. “No. We were talking about Connor. He was murdered. It’s shocking, and we’re still processing.” It was almost the truth, but Cody couldn’t quite look Olivier in the eye. “You know he didn’t kill himself.”
Olivier didn’t respond.
“What kind of person do you work for?”
“Is everything all right here? Can I get you anything else?” The waitress put on a smile.
Olivier beamed up at her and wished she’d vanish. It was clear she still didn’t like him. “All great, thanks.” When she walked away to question the next table, he returned his attention to Cody. “The kind of person you don’t piss off. I don’t ask questions. I do know that whatever happened was between your father and my boss.”
“Benitez.”
Olivier gave a slow nod. Cody knew who his boss was, so there was no point in denying it and piling up more lies. They wouldn’t protect him. “How did you know where to find him?”
Cody smiled and ate his cake.
“Look, your brother was collateral or a warning or something. He was a drug-using accountant, not some saint.”
“He was my brother. Do you have family? Siblings that you’re close to? Or did you hatch with a gun in your hand?”
Shooting Cody would make Olivier’s life simpler, but he wasn’t that person. He only killed when ordered. Benitez would order Cody’s death if Olivier confessed all that he knew. And there would be a certain symmetry to that. In that moment he wasn’t sure if he wanted to kill Cody or kiss him. He blinked and looked down to study his coffee.
He did his job. That was his life.
“Connor protected me when we were kids, and I wasn’t there when he needed me.”
Olivier finished his coffee. “Probably a good thing. If people thought you knew something, you’d find yourself in trouble.”
“And what is this?”
“Coffee.” Olivier smiled. “Just coffee.” Still the best date he’d had that side of Christmas. Fuck. His life was pathetic. Had he been wrong to end it with Tony? No. There was a reason he couldn’t date.
“Our second coffee. Is there a three-strikes rule I should know about?”
“I don’t make the rules. How about you go home. Connor wouldn’t want you to waste your life for something that can never be achieved.”
Cody shook his head. “You don’t know anything about him.”
Olivier sighed. “Yeah, I do. Money is more powerful than any truth. Besides, what is the truth? Your magic creates fictions and impossibilities for the masses. It’s no different in the business world, but they play with money—sums that people like us can’t begin to imagine—not rabbits and hats.”
“No one gets hurt by magic.” Cody pushed his cake away.
Olivier picked up the fork and tried some. It was actually very good. “You can’t help your brother. Walk away.”
“Or you’ll be seeing me for coffee again?” The corner of his lips curved as though it was a game. “That’s not a very terrifying threat when you buy me cake and take me to nice places like this.”
Olivier could put the barrel of his gun to Cody’s temple and press his body to the wall in less than three seconds. Make the threat stick. Make it hurt. The need to do violence rose like a dark hunger that couldn’t be sated but he inhaled and exhaled. He wasn’t a street brawler anymore, and Cody wasn’t some dumb criminal.
“What is it that you want? What will make you walk away before my boss wants a permanent solution.”
“I just want to know why. I know my father is involved. I know your boss is involved and that there was a mystery blackmailer.” He paused. “Lily doesn’t know anything. Just leave her alone.”
Olivier thought that might be the truth, but he’d been told to watch Lily, so he would. He didn’t know about the blackmail. “How do you know this?”
Again the hesitation. “Connor left me a letter. He was afraid something was going to happen. Did you warn him too?”
Olivier considered for a moment. Cody would do anything for his brother, even though he knew it was pointless. That was stupid… and admirable. If it got Cody away from New York and Benitez and back to his tricks, then maybe helping was the right thing to do. But it wasn’t the right thing for Olivier. If Benitez knew he was digging, there would be trouble. Although Benitez would want to know about the blackmail attempt.
Olivier was beginning to think that Connor’s death was never meant to be a warning to Anders Senior. Perhaps someone else had Connor over a barrel. “I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises.”
“And what exactly do you do?”
Olivier helped himself to another bite of cake. “I solve problems.”
“And I’m a problem to be solved.”
“You are. Though I think we’re working toward a solution that we can agree on.” He forced a smile and tried to remember it was business, not pleasure.
Cody watched him for what felt like an hour or two. “Perhaps we should have lunch next time.”
It would be smart to say no. But what better way to keep Cody close than to see him more regularly? But he was supposed to keep tabs on Lily, not the brother. “Maybe. In the meantime I suggest you time your visits with Lily carefully. She’s being watched by interested parties.” Cody needed more than one warning. That was clear.
“And I’ve already told you she doesn’t know anything. Leave her out of it.”
“You don’t know what she knows because you don’t know what you’re looking for. Does she believe it was an accident?”
Cody didn’t answer.
Shit. That was a problem. There were now two people—two people very close to Connor—who didn’t believe what they had been told. He took a forkful of cake. “You should be careful talking conspiracy theories. If they reach the wrong ears, someone could get hurt.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Be careful, Cody.”
Cody put some bills on the table, making it clear that he didn’t owe Olivier anything. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Anytime.” Olivier meant that.
“I guess you’ll be watching me?”
Olivier smiled. “Maybe.” Not officially, he wouldn’t be. But he would have to say something to Benitez about Cody, especially after that morning’s stunt. He just didn’t know what.
“Invite yourself over one evening.” Cody stood and leaned in as he walked past. “Leave the gun at home.”
CHAPTER TEN
CODY CHECKED over his shoulder the rest of the way home, but Olivier didn’t follow. He didn’t know if he should be disappointed or relieved. Both? Olivier had made it clear that Cody was bleeding in shark-infested waters. How long until they started to circle?
He could still smell Olivier’s cologne. Woody, spicy. Olivier had more substance than any of the men Cody had dated over the last ten years. More darkness. More danger. He shouldn’t have put out the invitation, but he had to keep Olivier close if he wanted more information. But that didn’t mean they were on the same side.
He shouldn’t ge
t close to Olivier at all. There was an attraction that made him drunk when he was too close. It was his smile… and the knowledge that he was dangerous.
Cody would do whatever it took to find out what happened to Connor—and he’d enjoy it all, even though he knew it was wrong to even want a man like Olivier. He winced. He couldn’t convince himself he was doing it for his brother, no matter how hard he tried. He wanted an excuse to see him again and he’d found one.
Olivier was right about one thing—no one would go to jail for Connor’s murder. It wouldn’t even make it to trial. If their father gave a damn, he’d fight for the truth. Instead he made it go away. Connor had known what was coming. Why hadn’t he gone to the police? Had he known how futile it would be? Why leave Cody anything if he knew it was pointless?
Cody sat across the road from his hotel for a little bit. The paranoia that his brother had felt had started to infect him. He checked his e-mails, replied to queries from his staff, and got back to a client. He needed to get back to his life before it started to come undone.
Then he texted Lily to warn her that she was being watched, but not in those words.
Olivier had warned he could only see Lily during the day and not on Sundays. Those were the times that Olivier must be watching her. And why keep Cody a secret from his boss? That was curious. If Olivier was loyal to his boss, surely the boss should know that Connor had a twin. Yet clearly Benitez knew nothing, because the haunting had worked.
It had worked so well that Olivier sought him out to warn him again. He should take the warning seriously and stay away from Benitez.
After an hour there was no sign of Olivier or any other suited, gun-toting man, so he got up and went up to his room, where he packed and called the front desk to say he’d check out the next day. He didn’t want Olivier to actually show up.
Yes he did…. When Olivier smiled, it was easy to trip and fall, but it would be just as easy to sever an artery on the way down.
He put the papers that Connor had left him back into the envelope. “What the hell did you want me to do? Seriously, what did you want? Justice is impossible.”
Connor would’ve been better off to bury whatever he had in the garden. Cody reread the decoded letter. If what Connor knew would bring down their father, then that was probably the reason his brother hadn’t gone to the police. Was that why their father hadn’t fought to find Connor’s killer? Did he know who the killer was?
There was a knock on the door, and Cody jumped as though he’d been bitten by a snake. The envelope fell out of his hand. He picked it up and shoved it into the top of his bag and then peered out the peephole. He wasn’t expecting anyone.
Especially not Olivier. And yet there he was standing in the corridor as though he had every right to be there.
Cody rested his forehead on the door. Why had he suggested that Olivier drop by?
Oh, he knew why. He let his head get turned by a pretty smile and a sense of excitement. Justifying it as a way to find out the truth about Connor’s death only made him a liar. He closed his eyes as Olivier knocked again, no louder and no faster.
He had to open the door. If he didn’t he would lose his connection to the one person who knew the truth. There was also the very real possibility that their shared attraction was all that was keeping Cody alive. He forced a smile and unlocked the door.
And the smile rapidly became real. Stupid lust. It wasn’t the first time it had gotten him in trouble. He thought he’d grown out of stupid, dangerous attractions, but obviously not. Maybe it was easier to keep things impersonal in Vegas. Maybe he hadn’t let himself feel that devastating rush because he knew the damage it caused. That’s all it was. It was a rush, a thrill.
A drug.
He wasn’t so different from his brother. He was just in denial.
“Didn’t think you were going to open the door.”
“And if I hadn’t?”
“I have a feeling that our paths would have crossed again.” Olivier invited himself in and brushed past Cody. The contact was anything but accidental.
“I’d think family money would keep you in better accommodation.”
“I don’t have family money.” Cody shut the door. The room wasn’t that bad. It was clean and mold and bedbug free—it was practically four star. Maybe three and a half. Three if you looked at the carpet. It was better than some of the places he’d stayed in. In some of them, he hadn’t stayed the full night. He walked out after he got what he wanted.
Olivier slipped off his jacket and slung it over the chair. His shoulder holster and gun were clearly visible.
Cody didn’t mess around with really dangerous men. Not usually. Occasionally when he was younger. It was exciting. It still was. He swallowed. “Did you want a drink?”
“What do you have?”
Whatever was in the minibar. He hadn’t planned on having a good time. When he opened the fridge, he found two beers and a couple of tiny scotches that wouldn’t get him anywhere close to being drunk enough to think this was a smart thing to do. He shut the fridge and faced Olivier. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“It’s not.” Olivier undid his shoulder harness and put his gun on the desk where Connor’s papers had been only minutes before. “But walking away wouldn’t be smart either. You need me to find out what happened to your brother and I need to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t upset my boss.”
“I thought you were watching Lily.”
Olivier smiled like a cat who already had the canary cornered and was just waiting for that first taste of feathers. Cody was no smarter than the canary if he thought he still stood a chance. If he were, he’d open the door and he wouldn’t stop running until he was home.
“I am.”
“What is it you do, exactly?”
Olivier’s smile faltered. “I fix problems.”
That could mean anything, and it was almost the same line he used before.
Olivier took three steps to stand in front of Cody and ran his fingertips up Cody’s arm. “You wouldn’t like the truth, so stop asking.”
Cody didn’t need to ask again. Olivier fixed things permanently.
Olivier’s hands were cold, and Cody pulled away, even though he wanted to move closer. He didn’t trust himself, but Olivier was still in his space. And he was two inches shorter than Cody, which he hadn’t noticed before.
Olivier put his hands on Cody’s face and kissed him. His lips were hot, and he kissed hard, with an urgency that only spiked the lust that coiled through Cody’s blood.
“You still want me to leave?” His dark eyes weren’t cold, they burned with desire.
Cody gritted his teeth, determined to regain control and tell him to get out. It was a mistake, a misdirection, a distraction. His tongue betrayed him. “No.”
He wanted the heat and the danger, and he wanted to make sure that Olivier had a reason to think about him. He wanted to be wanted. It had been a while since anything in his life hadn’t felt like routine.
IT WAS one thing to warn Cody away, but another to accept his invitation. He meant to just check on him, but then he found himself knocking on the door with a hunger that hadn’t been sated in what felt like centuries. He felt an inexplicable craving to be near Cody. Now that he was there, he couldn’t find the words or the will to walk away. The door might as well have been on the other side of the city… or even the country. He wasn’t going to use it.
Beneath his collarbone his birthmark burned as though on fire. He ignored the pain, moved closer, and pressed his body to Cody’s. He half expected him to slip away in a puff of smoke.
But Cody didn’t, and the burn spread and ate into him like poison. Olivier had killed Cody’s brother, even though he hadn’t pulled any trigger. He gritted his teeth and stepped back. How could he be with him?
How could he not be with him?
When Cody looked at him, his world fell apart in a way it had never done before. If Cody hadn’t grabbed his shirtfront an
d pressed a kiss to his lips, he might have stumbled as the ground tilted. He wasn’t drunk. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. But when Cody’s tongue slipped past his lips, everything felt right.
The groan was his. “This is wrong.”
Cody slid his hand over Olivier’s hip and dragged him close, betraying his hard need. “I know. It’s one night.”
One night.
It didn’t take that long to make a bad decision that could alter a life. And it didn’t feel like one of those choices. There was no twisting in his gut or ice down his spine. It felt right.
He tugged Cody’s shirt out of his pants so he could feel the warmth of his skin. Then he undid the buttons so he could taste that skin. He would take everything he could from their one night. Cody would hate him eventually, but not tonight.
Cody shimmied out of his shirt and made short work of Olivier’s. “This is an interestingly shaped birthmark.” He traced the shape. “Like a cross. Or….” He tilted his head. “A broken sword.”
Cody brushed his lips over what Olivier had always considered an ugly red birthmark. The mark seemed to pulse when he was angry, but it wasn’t the heat of anger that flowed through him now. Cody worked his way down Olivier’s body, kissing and tasting.
If Olivier were smart, he’d stop him, pull away before Cody undid his pants. But he wanted that touch. It had been months, and it had never been like this. If not then, it would be never.
Cody wrapped his fingers around him and stroked. Then his mouth was there. Olivier stared down at the man on his knees, and in that moment he didn’t know who he was. It was as though a hundred dreams collided. There was something there, a chance that he could change his life, but he didn’t know what to do. Then Cody glanced up, and it was gone.
There was nothing between them except lust and murder.
He hauled Cody up, and they stumbled to the bed, shedding clothes as they went. Cody lay down, and Olivier straddled him and pressed against him so he could feel the hot length of him. Cody threaded his fingers into Olivier’s hair and dragged him into a kiss that almost hurt. His teeth raked over Olivier’s lip, and he nipped at the skin of his throat. Olivier returned each bite, each scratch.
