True Deceptions (True Lies)

by Veronica Forand

  “Thanks for the heads-up.” She turned to leave the hotel suite.

  “Cassie.”

  She looked back at him over her shoulder, still with a newfound confidence in her role. “Simon.”

  “Be careful, not everything is what it seems.”

  “Whatever that means.”

  He stood up and walked over to her. “It means I can’t tell you everything, but I need you on your guard.”

  “Fine.” She sent him a quick wave and left him standing in the doorway as she headed to the lobby to meet her date.

  Wearing navy pants and a pale yellow golf shirt, Dane strolled into the hotel like a cover model for a golf magazine.

  He greeted her with a friendly hug and a soft kiss on her cheek. “Wow. You look amazing.”

  She hugged him back and plastered on a casual smile. He’d taken such good care of her in Jordan. One of the good guys. It was clear he wanted her. Although he was gorgeous and sweet, and a strong shoulder to cry on, she didn’t want him, because her heart belonged to the stubborn guy up in their hotel room.

  Her hand remained around Dane’s waist. “You look ready to take on the links.”

  “My plan is for a casual day in Sausalito. Simon isn’t begging to come with us? I’m surprised.”

  “He’s busy with work stuff. He’s keeping me close, but giving me space too. Does that make any sense? I don’t want to be pushed in any direction yet. And that sort of goes for you, too. I need to take things slow.”

  His eyes perused her outfit, and he smiled as though he’d won a prize. “I can take all the time you need, beautiful.”

  A resort area on the far side of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito catered to affluent crowds and tourists. Seeing Dane’s car, a new red BMW M4 convertible, Cassie placed him with the affluent crowd and not the tourists. The car, designed to be noticed and admired, fit him just as the rugged black Range Rover suited Simon.

  He left the car with the valet at a waterfront restaurant.

  “Care for a stroll before lunch?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  They walked in silence along the marina and past houseboats decorated with colorful planters full of flowers in bloom. Cassie allowed the salt air to calm her soul. The ocean had always been therapeutic. When Dane slipped his hand into hers, she took it. Simon’s hands overwhelmed hers, but Dane’s felt comfortable. He wasn’t as complicated as Simon. He wanted sex, and she wanted information. A simple transaction as long as she could retrieve the information and bail before the sex.

  “Are you still living with Simon in London?”

  “Yes.” Dane’s piercing eyes did nothing to calm her nerves, but she’d get through. Think like a professional. Get rid of all emotions.

  “Are you going back?”

  What could she say? That she had to because she worked there? “I don’t know.”

  A few months ago, Dane would have been the man of her dreams. But Simon was it for her. Complicated. Difficult. It didn’t matter. There would be no other man for her. But she was playing a part today. She was every bit as competent as his former partners.

  “Stay. If only for an extra week or two. Give me a chance to win your heart. You’ve already won mine.” He leaned in to kiss her, but she turned toward the city skyline across the bay so that the kiss landed on her cheek.

  Dane’s phone rang. He pulled the cell out of his pocket, his hand gripping hers close to his chest.

  “What?” He spoke as though he wanted to kill the person on the other line. “I can get them for you this afternoon. What’s the rush?”

  She couldn’t hear the person on the other end, but whoever it was clearly had the power to push all of Dane’s buttons. He sent a half smile and a wink toward Cassie, but his frustration was clear.

  “Fine. I’ll have the pricing to you by noon. Gotta run. I have my hands full.”

  When he replaced the phone in his pocket, he returned his attention to Cassie.

  “Sorry about that, some of my customers are more demanding than necessary. I need to run over to work for a few minutes. Do you mind coming with me?”

  Getting into his office without even having to ask. Perfect.

  “Will you let play me with the little helicopter again? That was the most fun I had in Jordan.” She’d hated flying the UAV with him. He’d wrested control of it from her because he thought she’d crash it.

  “Absolutely. Maybe I can teach you a few tricks.”

  She smiled at his ignorance. “I’d like that.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Pelican Industries was headquartered in a large, modern building with palm trees lining the parking lot and a fenced-in area the size of a college stadium for demonstrations and research and development. The place was a hive of activity. People dressed in casual business attire, holding coffee cups and tapping on electronic tablets, crowded the lobby.

  A perky young redhead sat at the reception desk, waving to the employees and greeting visitors as they arrived. Dane spoke to her the way a politician greeted a potential voter, all smiles and artifice. It unnerved Cassie. He seemed too good to be true, too perfect in his world, too good at his job, too smooth an operator. Without the rose colored glasses she’d always worn to paint the world in a rainbow of good intentions, Cassie saw duplicity as clearly as she could see the ambition in the twenty-somethings milling about in the hallway. Dane was not simply a salesman.

  He led Cassie down a maze of corridors and into his small office. With its floor to ceiling glass and stainless steel furniture, it was the perfect design for a high tech salesperson. Functional, organized, cold. He had nothing personal in the space except a coffee cup from the Carnegie Deli. Cassie had eaten there once when she’d visited New York.

  “Are you a native of San Francisco?” she asked, hoping to get a better glimpse at the real Dane.

  “No. I’m an East Coast transplant.” He eyed the coffee cup and then sat at his desk and began typing on his computer, complete with an HD flatscreen monitor. She wanted to get a better view of what he was typing, but didn’t want to approach that side of the desk yet.

  “Where did you go to school?” She strolled to the window and looked out at the parking lot full of electric and hybrid cars.

  “MIT. Computer science major, although I prefer sales. And you?” His eyes strayed from the screen to glance at her face, but he wouldn’t see a reaction to the question. Without emotions to deal with, she could be anyone she wanted to be. She decided to be a surfer girl.

  She embraced her new identity. “I was homeschooled and then tried college, but it wasn’t really for me.”

  “So you hang out with Simon.”

  “Not all the time. I’m a receptionist at the Sainsbury’s headquarters. It’s a grocery store chain in England.” She shrugged, all while scanning the contents of the room for information on the drones Simon wanted to purchase.

  “I’ve heard of it. I’m sure we could find you a better job over here. You’re going to have more fun hanging around me.” He continued to type into his computer, as though her leaving Simon was a done deal. He didn’t even know her. Why would he try to steal her away from Simon?

  “I’m not sure I’m ready for a big change. I’ve had enough excitement to last a lifetime.”

  He stopped typing and gazed at her. “Do you really think Simon can provide you with a stable life? The man travels more than anyone I know.”

  “How do you know Simon so well?” She watched him formulate his answer.

  He shrugged, revealing no emotion. “He just seems like the type that travels around, making deals and never settling.”

  “I’m not looking for forever. For now, Simon seems nice.” And all consuming and terrifying. But still, he held her heart.

  “Come here. I can help you decide.” He waved her to his side of the desk. When she arrived at his side, he patted his lap.

  The thought of kissing Dane again didn’t appeal to her, but she needed information on the secur
ity codes for the drones. She smiled and pretended she was an actress. This was only a scene in a movie. Nothing real. She sat and placed an arm around his neck to stabilize her tall body. Her long limbs stretched out under his desk, and her chin rested on the top of his head. A completely awkward position.

  She giggled. “I’m a bit too big for you.”

  “Never. You’re perfect.” He stayed away from her face, which was for the best. She had too many black and blue marks to avoid, from her chin to her forehead. Instead, he touched her neck with his lips and continued toward her ear. She focused on her job, ignoring the knots forming in her stomach.

  “I—uh, remember, I’d like to take it slow.”

  “If anything makes you feel uncomfortable, you can tell me to stop,” he said against her neck.

  Her location on his lap provided the perfect view of his desktop. She gave him an encouraging moan and glanced over every paper she could. Sales numbers and invoices and sales meeting minutes and what looked like a British phone number. She committed it to memory and continued to allow playful sounds to escape her throat to encourage him to remain in the same position.

  His computer screen had a blue bouncing ball blocking her view of the program running. She shifted in his lap and bumped his mouse. The screensaver disappeared, leaving a breakdown of the drones Simon ordered. Simon must have made the call when they were at the marina. Had he seen Dane kiss her? Probably. His timing had been too perfect. He could be looking in the window from the parking lot below right now.

  He probably wasn’t very happy with her right now, but that made it even more necessary that she came back with the information he wanted.

  Dane’s hands started moving up her back. She placed a kiss on the top of his head and then saw exactly what she needed. A yellow Post-it on the far side of his desk with the word “NETOPS-35.” Under the SPAWAR Integrated Cyber Operations Pillar Contract, AC4S provided Network Operations—NETOPS—support to Department of Defense customers. Cassie understood their systems, especially the thirty-fifth protocol. They were one step behind the security systems she’d been working on. If this was the security system on the drones they were ordering, she could reprogram them without too much trouble. That was all she needed to know.

  She leaned away from him and kissed the tip of his nose. “I need to use your bathroom.”

  His breathing was heavy, and she felt his hardened attraction to her when she shifted off his lap and stood.

  Ugh. She had to leave this situation before he asked for more than she cared to give.

  “I have everything I need. I’ll walk you to the Ladies’ Room. We can leave from there. Why don’t we go back to your hotel so I can drop this off with Simon?”

  “Simon asked for it?” She tried to sound surprised.

  “He seems to have the best timing of anyone I know.”

  More likely the best surveillance.

  He pulled her back for a moment and whispered within an inch of her mouth, “Dinner?”

  If they were making out in the daylight, they’d be in bed together at night. “I can’t. I promised Simon we’d talk about where our relationship was headed tonight.”

  “I hope he’s headed to London, and you remain here.”

  She brushed one of her fingers across his angled cheek. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know you grew up in San Diego. You won a surfing competition at age thirteen and have only lived in London for two years.”

  “Did the State Department give you that information? Or did you Google me?” He had her fictitious story down pat.

  “A little bit of everything.” He had a devilish gleam in his eyes she’d never seen before.

  Simon purchased a beer and waited in the lobby for Dane and Cassie to return from their date. He hated feeling so out of control with his emotions. Cassie was a liability at work, his Achilles heel. He couldn’t dampen his attachment to her, so he had to make sure she was safe. And the idea of Dane’s hands on the woman he loved was more than any man should have to bear.

  Dane returned Cassie to the hotel at a quarter past two. His arm encircled her waist. They both looked too happy and comfortable together. Although Dane’s poaching of Simon’s girlfriends in the past had never bothered him, the man needed to stay away from Cassie. His kiss on her cheek had almost forced Simon to storm Sausalito like a platoon at Normandy, but Cassie had handled herself perfectly. How could she use her body as a tool after being assaulted at the prison? Was it an act? Or was she falling for Dane?

  No. She cared for him, not Dane. He could feel it in her actions and words. That didn’t fade so easily, and she wasn’t the type to shift her attention. At least, he didn’t think she was.

  Dammit. She has me tied up in knots.

  She took the furthest spot at the table from Simon’s chair. Dane sat between them, grinning like the winner he wasn’t.

  He handed Simon a large envelope. “Here’s the information you requested. We’ll send everything to the address you provided.”

  The envelope would contain a few sheets of useless paper that provided no important details of the actual transaction. Simon would send an encrypted email to him later to confirm all the details, including the shipping logistics to a transfer location in France.

  “Did you kids have a nice lunch?” Simon asked, not wanting the details, but craving them anyway.

  Dane placed a hand over Cassie’s. “It would have been better if we didn’t get sidetracked.”

  “Business comes first.”

  Cassie visibly gritted her teeth at his comment. She still had no clue how much more she mattered to him than any assignment. Right now, however, was not the time to tell her.

  “For you maybe. I enjoy the occasional moment of pleasure.” Dane rubbed her hand and looked at her as though they were lovers.

  She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Dane, but she didn’t deny anything. And she shouldn’t. Dane had marked her neck like an adolescent boy with zero control—more to piss Simon off than to claim Cassie. Simon swallowed his anger. Dane never made it past her neck. That was obvious from her unruffled demeanor.

  Simon couldn’t be mad at either one of them. He’d directed Cassie to find the information in Dane’s office about the security codes. This was her first chance to help in the assignment. She didn’t deserve him second-guessing her work tactics.

  It still didn’t make him feel better. He had murderous intentions where Dane was concerned.

  If she found something they could use, she should display Dane’s sloppy hickey as a kill mark. Right now, however, she looked as though she needed some fresh air away from both of them.

  “Cassie, why don’t you go relax after the long flight and what appears to have been a boring morning. There’s a spa on the third floor. They’ll fix your hair, nails, and give you a massage. We have dinner reservations at seven. I’ll meet you in the suite at six thirty.”

  She nodded to Simon with a half smile twisted by a bit of attitude. Her smile brightened toward Dane. “Thanks. You still owe me some time to play with those remote control airplanes.”

  “Call me anytime.” When she stood to leave, Dane rose as well and moved to kiss her. She turned her head so his lips landed on her cheek.

  His frown lifted Simon’s spirits. With a brief wave, she breezed out of the lobby.

  Dane called the waitress over and ordered a beer. “Interesting tactic, following us. Your timing was perfect.”

  “I enjoy it. Besides I needed the paperwork more than you needed to molest my girlfriend. She’s paid you back enough for your kindness. Now leave her alone. She’s confused, and she’s been through hell.”

  “She’s confused, because she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings when she leaves you for me.” He smirked as though he’d already won her.

  “Let me make myself clear. If you ever go near her again without my express permission, I’ll set up a Twitter account for Dane O’Brien, CIA prick, and provide detai
led stories of our exploits together.” Their friendship had survived a lot of hardship, especially working for competing agencies, but it wouldn’t survive anything to do with Cassie.

  “That’s the best you can do? Because I can think of at least five ways to make you suffer and none of them involve lame Internet games.”

  “Try me. I’m full of ideas.”

  Their friendly competition had always ended in a round of drinks at the closest bar in whatever part of the world they’d been in. Now, however, hostility boiled through Simon’s pores. Cassie was not a prize. She was his destiny.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Simon needed several more days in San Francisco to determine the modifications necessary to provide the North Koreans with their requested specifications. Dane offered to take care of Cassie while Simon worked with the engineers on specifications that Cassie had secretly drawn up. Simon would let him watch over her again when the polar vortex reached into hell.

  After a beautiful dinner overlooking the bay, they returned to the hotel suite. She seemed happier than she had since the incident in Jordan. She snuggled into his arms on the sofa. The light in her eyes shined brighter again, and even her bruises were fading. He lifted her chin and pulled at the small bandage covering her stitches.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m removing your stitches this evening.”

  “You? Do you have training?”

  “Sure.” He’d taken a required medic course several years ago. Nothing in depth, but he could remove stitches easily enough. “Let’s keep ourselves out of the local hospital database. Admit it, you could easily hack into it and find medical records on anyone you want.”

  She shrugged. “Who would want my medical information?”

  “You’d be surprised.”

  She tried to pull away, but he caught her before she could stand up. “Let me go, Simon.”

  “I thought you trusted me.”