by Nana Malone
"I’m an open book. All you have to do is flip the pages, Miss Barnes.”
I didn’t believe him for a minute. The problem was… I wanted to.
Eleven
Theo…
It was official. Zia was trying to drive me insane. That was it. It was the only logical answer. Not even a full seventy-two hours with her and I was losing it. Not to mention she was starting to dig in all the places I didn’t want her digging.
Or, you want her.
I hadn't really thought it through. The proximity, needing her in my orbit, how impossible it had been to sleep. How did she not feel it too?
Just because you look like the billionaire, doesn't mean you have the same appeal.
That was bullshit. She could feel it. I knew she could feel it. The way she'd arched under me when I kissed her. That had been a mistake.
But Elena had been in there about to see her and well, I reacted.
Also, you wanted to kiss her.
Yeah, I had. And then I kissed her. Now all day had been like this gnawing, clawing need. When I had gone out to ask about the file, I had expected to see Olivia. And I had been pissed off when it was Zia, because, of course... instant fucking erection. The need made me edgy, and I’d bitten her head off. Of course, she wasn't going to know where the goddamn files were. I'd gone looking for the files myself, and they weren’t in any logical location. I didn't know what the fuck Olivia and Arlington had been doing the whole time, but their shit was a mess. It was like they wanted Arlington Tech to fail. I had spent a good amount of time rearranging some files myself so that I could at least stay on top of the things I was supposed to cover, but shit, it was a fucking disaster.
And yet you expected her to be able to find it?
Okay, I'd been a dick. Because I wanted her.
News flash asshole, you more than want her.
The problem was I had already heard that little needy sound she'd made at the back of her throat when she was aroused, and I wanted to fucking hear it again. But that wasn’t going to happen, because I wasn't me. She'd made that little needy sound for Derrick Arlington. And well, I'm pretty sure she didn't like me… or him. Her body liked me, but she didn't actually like me, so I suppose that feeling was mutual.
When six thirty rolled around, I grabbed my laptop and the file I'd been working on for the merger, and I opened the door. I didn't know where the fuck Arlington was, but I'd keep acting as if I was him until Kyle and I could fucking find him. When he'd said I would have everything I needed and I’d signed on the dotted line, I didn't think I'd be left alone in a pool of sharks, all circling around trying to decide which angle had the tastiest bits.
Zia was ready when I dragged open the door. I had to work to not swallow my own tongue. White was killer on her. Just fucking dynamite. She slipped her coat over her arm and laid her laptop on the crook of her elbow. "Are you ready? Jax is downstairs."
I frowned. "Jax?"
She shook her head. "You won't see him. He'll follow you until you're back to the penthouse.
"And where are you going to be?"
"It's the rotation. I'm off tonight."
"You're supposed to be staying with me though."
"Relax, buttercup. Is there something you need tonight? Perhaps someone should fetch your coffee? A pastry?"
"More like I need you guarding my body." Fuuuck. That sounded so cheesy.
It might have been cheesy, but her gaze flickered away from mine and she swallowed hard at that. “You’ll be fine. No one is getting into that penthouse without us knowing. It’s armed with cameras, and Jax will be nearby.
"What do you mean nearby?"
"He'll be posted at the elevator. He will be in your vestibule. It's fine. No one is going to know."
"My staff..."
"This is how it goes. Rotations. The only ways into that penthouse are the elevator and the stairs. The vestibule on the stairs, he'll be there. And once I take care of a few things, I'll be back."
My gaze narrowed at her. The lines around her mouth were tight and she kept checking her watch. "Am I boring you? Do you have a hot date tonight?"
What I wanted to do was tear apart anybody she was seeing. Was someone else going to have his hands on her? Yes, I recognized that was irrational. Why the hell I thought I had any right to know about her personal life was beyond me. But still, there it was, my inner caveman, thumping his chest and looking for his club.
"The best part about this is that it's none of your business."
I ground my teeth together. "Whatever, just remember to be discreet, because you're my girlfriend, so I can't have you running around on a date."
She rolled her eyes. "Girlfriend for show."
By the time I reached the main lobby, she was marching a step ahead of me, and I reached out, took her hand, and pulled her back.
Her gaze snapped down to our joined hands and then up to my face. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
I grinned at her. "You're my girlfriend, remember? I’m keeping up appearances."
She opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again and closed it. It was hilarious watching her do the copy routine.
"Fine." She started marching again, but I stopped her.
"Where is Jax?" I asked as I tucked her body close to mine. Her back was rigid and stiff, but the moment I curved my arm around her waist, she relaxed. Unfortunately, that just made the caveman thump his chest harder.
"First car at the curb, right behind yours."
"Where's your car? I should walk you to it."
"I'm taking a cab."
"Fine." If she thought I was going to let her just climb in the cab, she had another think coming.
At my car, she tried to slip past me with a wave.
I lifted a brow. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
I grinned at her. “And here I thought you were the best in the business.”
With an eye roll, she gave me a dimpled grin. I knew I was supposed to be able to form coherent thought and shit, but dimples. I was a fucking goner for her dimples. Then she kissed me on the cheek. And before I even had a moment to respond, she was slipping out of my grasp again.
Hey dumbass, remember that thing where you were gonna push her away? How’s that going?
I needed to get with the program. Zia Barnes was dangerous in so many ways.
Zia…
Tamsin never had known where to find her chill. Less than twenty minutes into our run that evening, she started on me. “How was the prison visit?”
I pursed my lips. “Mostly a dead end, I think. Cummings was a hired K&R guy. Never met with his employer face to face. He couldn’t really give much. He did say that Derrick had been determined to escape and had tried more than once. The second time they caught him and threatened to kill him, but he was defiant.”
She shook her head. “No. don't do that. You’re getting that but-he-needs-saving face on me. He’s not a puppy. And that was a long time ago.”
“I know I know. I’m not getting soft I swear.” I left out Derrick’s good Samaritan antics the first night I was guarding him. I knew it would sound like I was starting to care about him.
And it was hard not to. He was nothing like the man I’d read about.
“How is that tasty bit of man-cake anyway? Is he still looking like he wants to take a bite out of your ass?"
"Nothing is happening with man-cake. And he does not look at me like that."
"Liar. I saw you guys when you were leaving Royal Elite. I could feel the tension all the way inside. The way he looks at you, the little touches when he thinks no one is noticing. He looked like he wanted to eat you. Can you do this and not get emotionally attached?"
"Oh my God. I have to touch him. I'm his bodyguard." Had I touched him? You did a whole lot more than touch him yesterday morning. “And I’m super clear on what’s happening here. No emotions. Just picture me singing ‘Let it Go.’”
&
nbsp; “I love you and I’m your best friend, so I'll help you stay in denial all day long, but even you have to see that man is fine with a capital Fuck Me.
I laughed. "Tamsin, since when do you use the word fine?"
"Well, I'm just saying. He is gorgeous. Bangable. Shag City."
"Look, I hear you, and while it would be flattering if it were true, I really don't like the guy. It seemed like we might be able to work together, but in the office he’s less than charming."
"Now you’re getting the picture. You need to hit that. Then quit that."
"What?"
"He can get your cobwebs out." She gave me a wide grin as we headed toward the pier.
I choked a laugh. "Oh my God, you're terrible."
"Yes, I know. And one of us should be getting some."
I was more than willing to change the subject. "What are your dating prospects?"
She shook her head. "None."
"Come on, you're not even trying. You say I'm not trying, but you aren’t putting yourself out there."
"Look, there might have been someone, but he's got like a whole situation going. Besides, we made out once, and now it's awkward."
"Oh, you didn't get to bang him?"
"No, which is also disappointing, because from the equipment I checked out, he is blessed. Very, very blessed.
"Ugh, so what's the situation? Is he married? Tell me he's not married Tams."
She rolled her eyes. "No. I don't do married dudes."
"Okay, well, what's so complicated? Does he have lots of kids or something?"
"No, not him personally, but he looks after someone. So, it's complicated."
I narrowed my gaze at her as our feet hit the concrete. "Oh my God, Trace?"
I'd never seen Tamsin blush before. She was far too outrageous and said too many wild things to ever be bothered with blushing. But she went boiled-lobster red.
"Oh my God, you and Trace hooked up?" I stopped running and stared at her. "Holy fucking shit. Holy fucking shit. Trace? Talk about smoking hot. He and Derrick could be brothers he’s so hot."
She shook her head. "Last I checked, Trace wasn't a billionaire."
"Who cares? He's hot."
"Yes, hot and packing, apparently. But his sister..."
"His sister is fifteen. What are you even talking about?"
"Well, he stopped me. He said it was too complicated. He had to look after Kate. You know how that goes."
Oh my God, I did know how that went. I’d used that same excuse lots of times about Deedee when I couldn't stand to get emotionally tied to someone or I didn't like them. I didn't open that up though. "Look, you guys could work around that situation. I think this could be good for you."
"Well, you need to tell him that because he's currently not about it."
"Well that's his loss, because you are awesome."
"Thank you. But we are not talking about me and Trace. We are talking about you and that absolutely fuckable billionaire."
"Billionaire client. Client being the keyword."
"Fine. Okay. Client. I mean, God, live a little. You've always followed the rules."
"No, I don't, remember? The one time I didn't follow the rule, love kicked my heart right in the middle. I'm not so eager to repeat the experience."
"I know. It sucks. But I’ve never known you to be a quitter."
"I'm not a quitter. Besides, it's not like that."
"Uh-huh. Sure, it's not. So you're telling me that you're locked up in that bedroom with him and you're not looking over at him across the room while you're nestled up on that couch thinking ‘God, let me just climb into bed with that fine piece of man-cake?’"
I grimaced.
She frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Um, is now a good time to mention that we’ve kissed… twice?"
Tamsin's eyes went wide, and her mouth opened to form an O. "Holy shit. I told you. Man-cake. How did that happen?"
I quickly explained while we grabbed our water bottles.
"Well, that makes perfect sense. You were undercover. Then you were under him. And he totally covered for you with Garrett, so I like him already."
"But then he was a total dick to me in the office today, so there’s that."
"Uh-huh. Whatever you say. I stopped listening when you said you were on the same bed and he grabbed your ass." She whooped. “There was ASS grabbage!”
"Jesus Christ, Tams. I need you to give me good advice. Good, sound, actionable advice."
"I am. Bang the new billionaire. How is that for advice?"
"Sometimes I swear you hate me."
"Oh no. I love you. I just want one of us to have an orgasm sometime this century. You seem the more likely candidate. Besides, he is a temporary assignment. It’s not like you're gonna fall for the guy.”
She did have a point there. There was zero chance of me falling for Derrick Arlington.
Twelve
Theo…
Kyle and I had taken to meeting out on the balcony of my office. I was certainly going to miss this view when I left.
Is that all you’ll miss?
He set his laptop on the table I’d had set with coffee and pastries. "You all right?"
I shrugged. "Well, still alive so that's a plus."
He chuckled softly. "No one's tried to kill you lately, so that's good."
"We're setting a real low bar, dude."
"Hey, sometimes, it's the small things."
"What are we looking at? You said you had something."
Kyle nodded. "I don't know what to tell you, but that merger you've been working so hard on, something fishy this way comes. They've got accounts I can't track. They're dealing with shell companies of shell companies of shell companies of shell companies. Offshore accounts. On the surface, sure, all the money looks legit. Coming from places it should be coming from. But when you dig into those companies, they don't exist. Or they exist in name only, or they don't have products or ways sell to them."
I cursed under my breath.
Kyle continued. "Look, this is the part where you get to say, 'I told you so.' This is my idea. I thought it'd be easy. We'd come hang out in the islands, meet some cute island girls, go home. Intact. But right now, we got a billionaire we can't find. A merger that's built on quicksand. And someone trying to kill you. So maybe now we throw in the towel?"
I shook my head. "No. We both put our lives on hold for this. We can do it. We just have to hang in there. Besides, you basically just confirmed what I already knew. I already had a hunch about Inline. The question now is who stands to gain from this merger? Obviously, Arlington. The board members. But who would have the most to lose? The investors are the ones who will lose if we’re right about this. Rocco Stains, the founder of Inline… I can’t pin him down. On paper, he looks good, right?”
Kyle nodded. "Oh, yeah, on paper he looks legit. Cornell graduate. On par with the likes of Zuckerberg. Brilliant. To him, data is king. Simple, but unhackable. Uncrackable. And I should know. I tried. Granted, hacking isn’t one of my super skills, but I'm not bad. And if you want a peek at anything they're holding, you're going to need a server farm and about 100 friends because there's no getting to it. So yeah, as a business model it looks great. ‘Come to us, we’ll protect your data.’ The problem is money. Where's it fucking coming from? Not to mention, I was looking at the paperwork they sent over. For the last 10 years, they've had money going to some kind of slush fund that's unaccounted for."
I frowned. "They're not paying taxes on it?"
"No, that's just it, they are paying taxes on it. More than they should maybe. The account is labeled... Hold on a second, let me see if I can find it."
He pulled open his laptop, tapped quickly, and then said, "THDA Enterprises. I don't know what the acronym is for, but that's what it's labeled, THDA. That account has been pulling .01% of profits for the last 10 years. The company's twelve years old. Now, I've just told you I don't exactly know where the money's coming from, shell com
panies of shell companies of shell companies, but they've got millions of after-tax money in that account. .So you're not going to get them on some tax evasion bullshit. But I want to know what they are doing with the money."
I ran a hand through my hair. "Jesus Christ. What am I even doing here?"
"My sentiments exactly. Time to go. This shit has gotten out of hand. This shit is too crazy."
I turned to stare at him. "Wait, so it wasn't too crazy when a guy who looked just like me with my exact face strolled into our office and made us an offer we couldn't refuse?"
"Come on, dude, he was your freaking doppelgänger. You know how I’m obsessed with that shit."
I rolled my eyes. "Your fascination with having a twin got us here, so we have to make the best of it."
"Jesus Christ, this is going to get us both killed." He shook his head. "This is just like that time with Carla Suvy when I suggested, that you ask her to prom."
"Yeah, you knew full well her brother had threatened anyone who tried to date his sister. I didn't know this. But you were convinced it was going to be just fine because I could wing it. And then, when you realized he was dead serious about murdering anyone who dated his sister, you wanted to throw in the towel."
Kyle chuckled. "Yeah, but you were insistent that you'd made a commitment. Had to stick it out."
"Yep, ended up with a broken nose for my efforts."
Kyle groaned. "God, we've gotten in a lot of trouble together."
I laughed. "Yeah. Usually because I'm following your dumb ass."
"No one told you to follow me."
"Oh, yeah? Then who would bail you out of trouble?"
Kyle's smile was warm and affable, like always. But I knew behind that, he was the guy you called at four in the morning because tragedy had struck. He was that friend that you called when you thought you might have found your birth father. The one who drove with you the nine hours to Buffalo just to meet a guy who could be your father and collect a DNA sample, only to then discover he was not, in fact, your father.
He might get me in a lot of trouble, but he was still my best friend. And I would walk through fire for him. "Kyle, you know I can't just give up."
