by Lynn, Janice
Avery busied herself with Mrs. Sedwick’s job. Perhaps while doing the woman’s day-to-day things she’d uncover yet another way to get beneath Jude’s skin.
Which was the wrong way to think because getting beneath anything of Jude’s distracted. Way too much.
Focus, Avery, focus.
Minutes later, the distraction returned. The edges of his sexily tousled hair were damp, as if he’d splashed water onto his face. His skin still carried a flush and his eyes shined bright. His stylish clothes had a slightly disheveled appearance.
Even so, something about him appealed. And left her feeling a tad guilty.
Perhaps it was the self-deprecating grin he gave her when their eyes met.
“Was that a freight train coming through here, or what?”
She didn’t answer and he glanced toward his open office door.
“Mrs. Yamaguchi left while the leaving was good?”
Avery kept her expression pert. It would be way too easy to actually like Jude. Liking a target, feeling guilty, could only lead to problems. That’s why she preferred the quickies. No time to ever know more than just the basic facts. Which in this case was that Jude had used a young woman in such a horrendous way that her father would never take her seriously. He’d robbed her of her pride, her self-respect, and her dignity.
He’d even dissed Randi.
No one dissed a TGEA girl. All for one and one for all.
“She left, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Crap.”
“Yes,” Avery stared at the computer monitor as if the screen contained the answers to all mankind’s problems, “she mentioned something about crap, too.”
She heard him snort.
“Yeah, well, I’m in a whole heap load if you can’t get her to agree to come back.”
Her? Avery frowned. Wrong answer. Jude would have to do his own puckering up.
She glanced at him, determined to tell him to do his own suck-up work, but his face had gone pale.
He groaned, doubled over, and ran towards the bathroom.
Later. He’d have to pucker up much later.
* * *
“Tell us everything,” Courtney demanded the moment Avery entered their apartment.
Avery kicked off her heels, pushed them neatly against the wall, and dropped the over-sized black purse that contained the tricks-of-her-trade next to them.
“I thought you were out on a job today,” she said, wondering why Courtney was home.
“I was.” Courtney stuck her finger in her mouth and then air-pressed her finger in front of her while making a sizzling sound. “My mark crashed and burned. Mission accomplished.”
A quickie. Avery sank onto the sofa. She should have taken that job and let Courtney have Jude Layman.
Courtney would have Jude naked on that big leather sofa in his office faster than she could say nudie magazine. Not good.
“Quit scowling. It’ll give you wrinkles,” Cassidy warned as she walked into the living room carrying popcorn. Payback Puss followed closely on her heels, meowing and eyeing the popcorn. The crazy cat loved popcorn. “Don’t tell me that look’s because Jude Layman blew you off, too?”
“Not exactly.” It pleased her that she told the truth. Which annoyed her. She shouldn’t care that Jude had been interested. At least until he’d taken the afternoon off to have a friend drive him to his doctor, providing Avery the opportunity to bug his office and set up two surveillance cameras. She’d also taken advantage of his absence to get a good feel of the magazine’s layout.
“Do tell.” Cassidy sat Indian-style on the opposite end of the sofa, hugged the bowl of popcorn to her, and looked like an eager child awaiting a story.
“I gave him one of the specially made tablets Danielle compounded for us.”
Cassidy popped a handful of popcorn into her mouth, shook her head at the cat, and then mumbled, “The pharmacist whose husband stole medicine from her pharmacy and tried to let her take the wrap for it?”
“That’s the one.”
Courtney tossed Payback Puss a piece of popcorn. “Do we still have any of those special blend Viagra and Testosterone tablets she made? I used the last one I had on a date a while back.”
“You didn’t,” Cassidy gasped.
Courtney nodded smugly. “It was possibly the best night of my life. The kind of night that makes you wanna sing hallelujah at the top of your lungs.”
“Hello, is this the same girl who was worried she might be losing it?”
“Okay, so you have a point.” Courtney grinned sheepishly. “So, do we have any more?”
Avery had one in her purse’s arsenal. Today hadn’t been the right time to give Jude an unstoppable boner, but if the right opportunity presented itself she might give him one. “A few, but they’re not for personal use. You know that. That’s just not ethical and beneath us. You know better. Just as you know the vet said not to let Payback Puss eat popcorn.”
Having clients from all walks of life came in tremendously handy. When they’d asked the pharmacist if she could help them with some super strength, quick-acting compounds, the lady happily obliged.
All the tablets were identical to regular aspirin. If the tablets ever got mixed up, there would be no way for the girls to even know which was which so they kept them carefully sorted.
“You going to use one on stud boy?”
Images of she and Jude tangled in a silky bed sheet whipped through her mind. With the tablet, Jude would be hot and hungry for her.
No. No. No.
Jude was a mark, not a potential lover.
Avery shrugged with a nonchalance she didn’t feel. “Seducing him isn’t the game plan for Jude Layman. If he resisted Randi, there’s not much I can do in that category.”
Remembering the way he’d looked at her when she’d brought him the water and what they affectionately labeled “the gut bomb” tablet, she wasn’t so sure Jude would have resisted her. He hadn’t ignored her sexually. He’d looked interested. Very interested. Like he wouldn’t be averse to her tangled sheet—and bodies—image.
Phew. She fanned her shirt away from her skin. There she went to sweating all over again.
She couldn’t like him, couldn’t be attracted to him, couldn’t anything in regards to Jude except make him pay and pay dearly for what he’d done to Mandy.
“What’s wrong?” Cassidy asked, watching Avery way too closely.
“Nothing.” She glanced at the remote in Courtney’s hand. “Start the movie.”
“Not a movie. Surveillance of that guy in Boston we were contacted on last week.”
Avery’s brows knotted together. “You hired a local P.I. to get the goods on him?”
“Yep. He thinks I’m the expectant mother of dude’s child and that I want to see what kind of daddy he’ll make before risking bringing him into my little one’s life.”
“Isn’t that hitting it a little too close to the truth?”
Courtney shrugged. “Nah. Aidan doesn’t suspect anything. He sent this to the PO Box in Boston like instructed and I had Ginny Stringer, you remember Ginny from university?” They all nodded. Ginny had been one of their first clients after she was date raped by a campus dickhead. The popular guy got off scott-free, but Ginny had dropped out of school due to the cruel treatment she received on campus. TGEA reaped a justice far more suiting than anything the legal system could have dished out. “She works for the Post Office there and had it over-nighted.”
“What’s on the tape?”
Courtney shrugged. “Aidan just said I should watch it and then make up my own mind. He emailed a detailed report on everything he discovered.”
“That’s two times you’ve said his name,” Avery pointed out, wondering at the light in Courtney’s eyes.
“He’s the P.I.”
Avery curled up on the sofa and watched. She had to give the P.I. credit. He’d done a thorough job and the video footage was excellent. The mark was a total sleaze and ap
parently thought nothing of having a different woman every night despite the fact his long time live-in girlfriend was pregnant. The girlfriend had been the one to request TGEA’s services. She’d wanted to know if he was cheating on her or was she just being paranoid like he accused?
So much for paranoia.
“This P.I. is good.” The footage was concise, to the point. “Does he do anything outside the Boston area?” Avery asked. From time-to-time they subbed out investigative work to locals. Good P.I.’s were hard to come by.
“Mostly just local stuff. He does travel some, though, because that’s how I originally met him. I think he’s a single dad. He had a picture of a little girl on his desk.” Courtney looked distracted and she ran a finger through her spiky white blond hair. “I should check on that.”
“You were in his office? Met him face-to-face?” Sometimes Courtney and Randi took too many chances with protecting their identities.
“Hel-lo.” Courtney rolled her eyes. “He thought I was pregnant with jerk-off here’s baby.”
“You were in disguise?”
Courtney nodded and made a round belly motion. “I was a brunette when I went to his office.” She gave a duh look, then waggled her plucked brows in a pure Courtney move. “Otherwise, he might have recognized me from the night I slipped him the magic pill.”
“What?” Avery and Cassidy both asked at the same time.
Courtney waggled her brows again, but Avery didn’t quite buy her devil-may-care-attitude. “He’s the one I used the magic pill on.”
“Oh my gosh, Courtney.” Cassidy shook her head. “What were you thinking?”
She shrugged. “That I wanted him to keep it up all night. We were going to have sex anyway, so it’s no big deal.”
Avery groaned. “You drugged the man.”
“Believe me, he wasn’t complaining.” Courtney looked pleased at whatever memory ran through her mind.
Cassidy giggled. “Did the pill work?”
“Oh. Yeah.” Courtney made the words stretch out with emphasis.
Good grief. “Was this before or after you hired him?”
“Before. I did him during that scuba-diving trip I took a couple of weeks ago. We needed work done in Boston, and I figured I’d throw some business his way.”
“The Belew mark in Montego Bay? That’s when you slipped this P.I. a magic pill?”
“Yep.”
“You were screwing around while on a job?”
Courtney gave a duh look. “I got my man and my mark, so what’s the big deal?”
“You drugged him, slept with him, and then got him involved with a case.”
Courtney’s face took on the look of a rebellious teenager. Actually, her friend could easily pass for exactly that with her outrageous attitude for life and youthful appearance. Courtney defied death with the same imagined invincibility a teenager did. Having grown up as the only child of one of Hollywood’s best stuntmen had left Courtney fearless and with experience doing things no normal person did. Like blowing up buildings before her sixth birthday.
“I didn’t force him. He was already in my hotel room and planning to spend the night when I slipped him the pill.” Her hands went to her slim hips. “Besides, when I showed up in Boston, he didn’t even know we’d ever met.”
Courtney sounded a bit tiffed by that. Almost as if she’d wanted to be recognized.
“Fine.” Avery sighed, glancing back at the television screen. She’d corner Courtney in private later, find out what was really going on, and remind her friend there was a fine line to be walked with the tools of their trade. “Just be careful, because this guy’s good. We don’t want him sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Courtney plucked a piece of popcorn out of Cassidy’s bowl and tossed it to Payback Puss. “I’m telling you, he didn’t know I was the woman he spent the most amazing night of his life with in that hotel room. You worry way too much, Mom.”
Avery shook her head. They liked to tease her by calling her Mom when she stepped into the role. Just because she liked to play by the rules didn’t mean she was a stick-in-the-mud. Someone in the group had to keep them somewhat in line or they’d get caught, shut down, possibly go to prison, then who would watch out for women?
* * *
Marcus handed Jude a bowl of chicken noodle soup with a few stale crackers stuck on one side. “Man, the entire time I’ve known you, you’ve never been sick. Not once.”
Jude shrugged, eyeing the soup on his bar counter suspiciously. Dare he risk it?
“Eat up. You’ll feel better.”
“Thanks, Dr. Marcus,” he said sarcastically. “You planning to send me a bill?”
“Nah, tonight’s on the house.” Marcus grinned, sliding onto the pale oak barstool identical to the one Jude sat on.
“I’m almost afraid to eat this.”
“Almost? Dude, you look terrified.” Marcus laughed.
It had been so long since he’d heard the sound that Jude lifted his gaze from the yellow broth to his friend. Marcus was smiling. Yes.
That in and of itself was almost worth the hell he’d been through today.
“Wouldn’t you be?”
“If Montezuma’s revenge hit me?” Marcus nodded. “Oh yeah. I’d be scared shitless.”
“Or not,” Jude remarked wryly as shitless would be nice after the amount of time he’d spent in the bathroom today.
“You think you’re contagious?”
“The doctor says not. My blood work came back normal. He says I probably have a touch of food poisoning.”
Jude ladled broth into his spoon and sipped the hot liquid. Nothing happened. No cramps. No urge to turn himself inside out.
“Who was the hottie?”
Jude’s spoon clattered against the bowl. “What hottie?”
“The one at Mrs. Sedwick’s desk.”
“That hottie.” He stared into his soup bowl. He should be excited. Marcus was showing interest in a woman. Unfortunately, that was one woman Marcus couldn’t have. “She’s a temp.”
“A temp?” Marcus took a drink of his soda. “Mrs. Sedwick out sick? Maybe that’s where you caught this stomach stuff.”
Jude shook his head. “Nope. She’s gone to Disney.”
“What?”
“She won some kind of trip that was a take-it-now-or-lose-it deal. She took it.”
“That’s weird.”
“Not really.” Mrs. Sedwick was a contest junkie and constantly entered online contests and sweepstakes. Seemed she’d finally won something. He’d never hear the end of it when she got back because he’d warned her repeatedly that she was wasting her time.
Apparently not.
Then again, she might be sitting through condo sales pitches until her skin turned purple.
“What’s her name?” Marcus’ question was soft, almost like he didn’t care, but not quite.
“Mrs. Sedwick?”
Marcus sent him a knowing look. “The temp, dumb-ass.”
“Angel.” Jude blinked. “I mean, Angela.”
“Angela?” Marcus prompted.
“Angela Greene.”
“Nice name.”
“Yeah.”
“Nice… eyes, too.”
He should be glad Marcus noticed Angela’s eyes. Instead, he wanted to tell his buddy to keep his eyes off Angela’s eyes.
“Yeah.” He slurped his soup from his spoon.
“I don’t believe it.” Marcus sounded incredulous. “You like her.”
Jude quit slurping. “What are you talking about? Of course, I like her. She’s a beautiful, intelligent woman. What’s not to like?”
“Do you think I’m a fool?” Marcus asked.
Jude figured he’d better not answer that one since his buddy had been pretty messed-up since Joy walked out. The truth might not go over well.
“That I haven’t noticed you’ve given up your Hummingbird Principle the past few weeks?”
Jude s
miled. Ah, the Hummingbird Principle. The philosophy of life he’d come up with his freshman year at Princeton.
There were too many flowers to sample to ever stay with one for very long.
Jude lived that principle every day of his life. He wasn’t ashamed of it. Nor did he make any excuses. Women adored him and he adored them back. He made no promises and expected none in return. For however long the scent remained sweet he sampled feminine nectar. When the time came, he traveled to the next flower.
Nothing wrong with that.
Except what did that have to do with Angela Greene and Marcus’ knowing grin?
“I haven’t given up the Hummingbird Principle.”
“No?” His friend snorted. “For a while I thought it might have something to do with you feeling sorry for me, but the minute I saw her, saw how you looked at her, I knew.”
“Knew what?” He only asked because Marcus was showing interest in something besides Joy. Not because he was curious at what Marcus thought he’d seen.
“She’s why you’ve lost interest in women.”
“I have not lost interest in women.” Jude pushed the soup away. Knots had formed in his stomach again. Knots that wrenched his already sore gut.
“No?” Marcus challenged. “What would you call it? For that matter, when was the last time you got laid, O Great Hummingbird Master?”
He didn’t want to talk about this. “That’s not any of your business.”
“Because you haven’t gotten any in weeks.”
“Whose fault is that?”
Marcus flinched. “What do you mean by that? Surely you’re not blaming me for you dragging me to club after club and throwing every woman in the room in my direction?”
Jude didn’t say anything. Like he shouldn’t have said anything to begin with. Put his blabbering down to having had his insides ripped out by an invisible hand more times today than he could count.
“Besides,” Marcus went on. “I’ve told you to go home with the girls who’ve hit on you. No way are you laying this on me.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Marcus stared at him and then grinned. He slapped him on the shoulder. “You almost had me there.”
