“The pleasure’s all mine,” he purred. “For now at least. Our date will be an entirely different story since I have the honor of getting your first one.”
“Our date!” I yelped. “I can’t believe you bid so much for such a simple thing, and my father didn’t put you up to it.” I’d gone into the evening worried that I’d embarrass my parents by gaining the lowest bid of the night, but the opposite had happened thanks to Vaughn. Although, the amount he’d paid was beyond my comprehension when he could have just as easily walked up to any other woman—ones who would have a clue how to handle a man like him—and accomplished the same thing without having to dip into his wallet. It was mind boggling.
“A date with you will be anything but simple,” he murmured. “But well worth the donation I’m making tonight. I couldn’t let some other man sweep you off your feet, now could I?”
“That’s hardly a concern,” I laughed awkwardly. “Considering my father arranged for someone else to win the date with me.”
“Well then I guess your father and his choice will have to suffer their disappointment while I have the pleasure of taking you out on a date.”
“I’m not sure how this whole thing works.” I waved my free hand towards the curtain, in the direction where the table we’d been headed towards was. “Or what kind of arrangements have been made for the date, except that it’s supposed to take place sometime this next week. My parents didn’t give me a lot of details beyond the timeframe.”
Oddly enough, he seemed pleased by my admission. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’m sure our date will be perfect.”
“Okay.” I paused awkwardly, unsure what to say next. “Well, then. We should probably go see what they have planned for us.”
“I suppose I should let you rejoin the party since I’ve had you to myself longer than I planned,” he agreed. “Your parents are probably looking for you by now. You’d better go find them while I’ll take care of the details with the organizers.”
He was a complete stranger, but I was oddly reluctant to be separated from him. “How will you find me for our date?”
He lifted his hands to cup the sides of my face with both palms. “Trust me,” he whispered before his mouth crashed down on mine.
His lips were firm and hot, and he tasted like he’d been drinking hard liquor. Bold and spicy with a punch. Bourbon, maybe. I’d tried it with my friends a couple months ago and hadn’t enjoyed it. But the flavor was so improved when accompanied by a searing hot kiss from Vaughn Westbrook, I could easily find myself addicted.
He tilted my head further back and swiped his tongue along the seam of my lips, and I let out a startled gasp. Vaughn didn’t waste the opportunity, his tongue surged inside and tangled with mine. His thumbs stroked my jawline as he groaned before pulling away.
“I’ll find you.”
With that promise, while my head was reeling from his kiss, he stepped away. Pulling the curtain aside, he freed me from our private cocoon, only to walk away without looking back. I was so focused on staring at his spectacular backside that I didn’t sense my mother approaching until her fingers wrapped around my arm and she hissed in my ear, “We’re leaving.”
“But—”
“Be quiet,” she bit out. “Smile and act like nothing’s wrong.”
“It’s not an act if I’m not aware of anything actually being wrong, Mother.”
“Nothing wrong?” she sputtered. “You may have just destroyed an important business relationship for your father with your antics up there, garnering such a ridiculous bid when Mr. Bellamy had expected to win your date.”
My spine straightened, and I almost had to bite my tongue to keep myself from screaming at her as she led me towards the exit. “Really, mother. What was I supposed to do? All eyes were on me, due to your machinations. This is hardly my fault. You’re the one who signed me up to participate in the auction. I didn’t ask for any of this.”
Although, I certainly wasn’t going to complain about the outcome. I had a date with the delicious Vaughn Westbrook to look forward to. I wisely refrained from gloating about it to my mother, though.
Chapter 3
Vaughn
A quarter of a million dollars and two days later, I was only hours away from taking Carissa on her first date. It bore repeating—her first damn date, as impossible as it sounded considering how gorgeous she was. So fucking pretty she made me feel things no other woman had before. It was more than an insane amount of lust, and it wasn’t just my protective instincts rearing up because of the situation with Bellamy. I’d been jealous of all the other men at the gala because of the inches of skin her dress revealed. It was why I’d pulled her behind the curtains, away from their gazes. And then I’d kissed her, and a deep sense of possessiveness took root inside me.
The jumble of feelings she evoked in me made her dangerous. Dangerous enough that I wasn’t willing to trust my instincts when it came to her, so I used the time I had away from her to run a background check on her. It was something I probably should have farmed out to an acquaintance of mine who was damn good at gathering intel, but I didn’t want anyone else to be privy to the intimate details of Carissa’s life.
My research into her confirmed my initial impression. She was an innocent woman who had no idea what was in store for her if she fell into Bellamy’s hands. Digging into her past didn’t uncover a single bad thing. Not so much as a speeding ticket, which was damn good considering she didn’t even have a driver’s license. No sign of a boyfriend, ever. There wasn’t even any porn in her browser history.
Getting information on her had been more difficult than it should have been because she lived quiet. From what I’d managed to discover, she was sweet and a little bit shy. Well-liked by her classmates. A good student. And utterly dependent on her parents—which made her father’s connection to Bellamy particularly disturbing, considering he’d planned to allow the man to take his daughter out on the date I’d won. My background check on him hadn’t come back as clean as Carissa’s. On the surface, he appeared to be exactly what he seemed, but there were some irregularities in his financials which left me with more questions than answers.
I’d allowed my odd possessiveness to prevent me from asking for help in digging into Carissa’s life, but I had no qualms about reaching out for help with her protection and further intel on her father. The primary focus of my mission had quickly moved from putting Bellamy into the ground to keeping her safe. Killing him right away wasn’t an option because I hadn’t been able to confirm he was the head of the operation yet. If he wasn’t, then there was a possibility his death wouldn’t end the danger to Carissa, especially if her father was tied into this somehow. It wouldn’t give the dead girl the justice she deserved, either.
The bottom line was my mission had become two-pronged, and I needed help from someone I could trust. The list of people I could call upon for assistance was damn small because I didn’t make a habit out of depending on others. Gaige Taylor, who’d served as my flanker during my years as a sniper in the Army, was one of the few men I trusted implicitly. Gaige was the first person I’d call for help, but he was already on the hunt for information on Bellamy—which made him the logical choice to dig further into Carissa’s father’s possible connection, but not the right one to help keep her safe. Only one other name came to mind—Brecken Kane.
Brecken and I had crossed paths during a mission in Somalia. My team’s target lived outside a small town near the Djibouti border. There hadn’t been any indication that our intel was anything other than spot-on, but I’d had a bad feeling in my gut just about from the moment I’d laid my eyes on the operation order.
Gaige quickly caught on to the fact that something was bugging me, even though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. He’d pulled me aside to let me know he’d be extra vigilant. In his role as flanker, he observed the areas not immediately visible to me and maintained my perimeter and rear security. I knew he was damn good at his job,
but I still had that damn niggling feeling.
Twenty hours into our waiting game, my instincts were proven accurate when Gaige was ambushed. There had been enough of them that he wouldn’t have been able to take them all out. Luckily for him—and me—the cavalry, in the form of Brecken’s team, came to his rescue. Their impeccable timing saved Gaige’s life, along with mine, and allowed me to complete the mission. It had been more than enough to prove Brecken’s worth to me.
It had also put me in his debt, but he’d called his marker in recently when he’d fallen hard and fast for a woman he’d been sent to rescue. She’d been kidnapped to use as leverage against her father in an illegal arms deal. Brecken had gone into the jungles of Nicaragua to recover her, but hadn’t been willing to return her to the man who’d hired him. Not when it had been her dad who’d gotten her into that mess in the first place. Although, it had turned out to be the Army’s fault just as much as his because he’d been operating under their purview as part of an operation to recover a stolen weapon.
Their mission was a success. The weapon was back in the hands of our government. But that hadn’t been enough for Brecken. He’d wanted the man who’d ordered Hadley’s kidnapping dead, along with anyone else who’d been involved in taking her and holding her captive. So he called in his marker, and I’d made it happen.
When I’d let him know the job was done, he’d insisted he was in my debt. I’d figured we were even, but I wasn’t about to pass up a marker from him. I’d warned him that I wouldn’t forget, but I’d never expected to collect on it for something personal. And I certainly hadn’t ever thought it would be because of a woman. Yet here I was, calling him up for help with Carissa’s protection.
“Kane.”
“Westbrook,” I parroted his greeting.
“Damn, Vaughn. It isn’t often that I get a call from a blocked number on my personal cell. I should have known it was you.”
“Old habits die hard, I guess.” It was second nature for me to switch burner phones on a regular basis. I was a paranoid bastard, but it’d been the reason I stayed alive too often for me to abandon my quirks.
“Not nearly as hard as your targets.”
Truer words had never been said. It made me think of a saying a Marine sniper had shared with me. “You know how the old Chinese proverb goes—kill one man, terrorize a thousand.”
“Or many thousands, depending on how many confirmed kills you have.”
“Speaking of kills,” I drawled.
“Shit, man. What’s going on? Are you falling down on the job and need me to kill someone for you?”
“Not hardly,” I chuckled. “But I need to call in that favor you owe me for upping my body count on your and Hadley’s behalf.”
“Whatever you need, it’s yours.” There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his voice. He was a stand-up guy, but I knew the debt he felt towards me had more to do with the love he had for his wife. She’d just given birth to their first child three months ago, a little boy they’d named Quinten, but he’d leave their side in a heartbeat if I needed him because I’d made sure the men who’d hurt Hadley had paid with their lives for it.
I was ruthless enough that I’d ask him to do it, too, if that’s what it took to keep Carissa safe. But I needed more than one man on this job, and Brecken had pulled together one hell of a team when he’d set up his security business. One led by Whit Baker when Brecken wasn’t available for an assignment. The two men had served side-by-side since they went through boot camp together, so I’d seen Whit in action for myself in Somalia.
“I need to borrow your team. Observe and protect. The target may be in danger from a human trafficking ring I’m taking down.”
“When and where?”
“Yesterday would be good,” I half-joked. “But if you can get them to me by tomorrow morning, I’ll make it work.” I gave him all the necessary details before disconnecting, but I neglected to mention how I’d be able to keep an eye on Carissa until they arrived since we’d be out on a date tonight. It wasn’t something I’d be able, or even want, to keep from his team. But I wasn’t ready to talk about her with anyone yet. Not even with Brecken, who was probably the best person to discuss the situation with considering how he’d met Hadley. I’d been around the block enough times with women to know my reaction to her meant something, but that didn’t mean our circumstances were anywhere near what theirs had been.
I was beyond happy Brecken had moved past his experiences in the military and built himself the life he had. But a wife and baby weren’t in the cards for me, no matter how badly I wanted both. I’d seen too much—hell, done too much—to deserve the same kind of happiness for myself.
Plus, Carissa for damn sure deserved more than a man like me. She was soft, where I was hardened. She was innocent, and I’d been corrupted years ago. Our ages were only separated by about a decade, but we were lifetimes apart when it came to experience. No matter how much I wanted her, no matter how fucking delicious she tasted when I’d kissed her—I needed to remember that Carissa Hastings wasn’t for the likes of me.
Chapter 4
Carissa
Gazing at my reflection in the floor length mirror in the corner of my bedroom, I was practically bouncing from nerves. I didn’t think it was obvious from looking at me, but I was a tangled ball of anxiousness inside. I was going on my first date. With a man who was incredibly intimidating. And who’d made me want to melt into a puddle with a kiss. It was enough to make any girl a little nervous, but my parents’ anger over the situation was what had pushed me into the mess zone.
After my mother had bundled me into the car after the gala, barely a word had been exchanged during the ride home. There had only been icy silence, and the looks she and my father had sent my way made it extremely clear I was the reason for their displeasure. It wasn’t the first time I’d been the recipient of their anger. I was fairly certain it wouldn’t be the last, either. But it was the first time I had absolutely no clue why they were angry with me.
It just didn’t make any sense. I hadn’t complained about being waxed, scrubbed and buffed, none of which my mother had told me about when she’d mentioned having my hair and nails done. I wore the dress my mother had picked out for me, along with the ridiculous stiletto heels she’d selected. I’d gone up on that stage, when it was the last thing I’d wanted to do. Like always, I hadn’t asked any questions. I’d done exactly what my parents had told me to do, and all it had accomplished was to earn me their ire.
For two days, they’d had hushed conversations which ended when I walked into the room. Then this morning, my father had called me into his office to inform me that he’d been unsuccessful in his attempts to get me out of my date with Vaughn. A date I definitely wanted to go on, but nobody had bothered to ask me about it. Then again, my preferences had never seemed to matter to my parents much before.
I’d had to stifle the smile which threatened to spread across my face when my father told me Vaughn would pick me up for our night together at six o’clock. It wasn’t just because I was looking forward to my date, either. It was because I was happy my parents hadn’t managed to get their way like they usually did. The bachelorette auction had been too public, and his winning bid had drawn too much attention for my father to prevent me from going out with Vaughn.
Trying to be the perfect daughter had been a heck of a lot easier when I’d been younger. After they’d left me at school when I’d expected to finally come home, I’d lost much of my desire to earn their attention. Their love. Being reminded of how easy it was to earn their displeasure was a wake-up call. It was beyond time for me to come up with a plan for living my life without them in it—one which didn’t require me to stay under their thumb for the next two years until I received my inheritance.
All of my plotting would have to wait, though. I had a date to look forward to tonight, and I wasn’t about to let anything stand in the way of me enjoying it to the fullest. Step one of making sure that would happe
n was to be waiting for Vaughn before he arrived. Knowing my parents, I had no doubt they’d make him feel less than welcome if they beat me to the punch, and I didn’t want them ruining this night for me.
With a final swipe of gloss over my lips, I stepped into my strappy sandals and headed for my door. Opening it cautiously, I strained to listen for any sign my parents were around before moving into the hallway and heading for the stairs. When I reached the bottom step, I heard their voices, but the sound was muffled. A quick glance to my left confirmed the door to the study was closed, and it sounded like their conversation was drifting towards me from that direction. I knew it would anger them if I left without saying goodbye first, but I went directly to the front door anyway.
Luck must have been on my side because there was grey Lexus coming up our drive. I’d been in his office when my father had let the guy manning the gate know to expect Vaughn’s arrival this evening. If I was super lucky, they’d allowed him to drive through without calling the house first. Since the odds usually weren’t in my favor like that, I moved down the steps so I was waiting for him at the end of the sidewalk when he pulled up to the house.
I didn’t give Vaughn the chance to get out and open the door for me, opting to fling it open myself instead and hopping into the passenger seat as soon as the car rolled to a stop. It was the smart choice since the front door to the house opened as I was slamming the car door shut.
“I get that this is your first date and all, but it’s customary for a man to come to the door to pick up his date.” Vaughn glanced towards the house before shifting his gaze back on me. “And it looks like it’s what your parents were expecting, too.”
“You do not want to start this night out with a conversation with my mother and father,” I insisted.
Vaughn lifted his head to stare over my shoulder, his eyes narrowing in what looked like annoyance. “I take it your daddy’s pissed that I messed with his plan at the bachelorette auction.”
Sell Your Soul (Body & Soul Book 3) Page 2
