by Paula Cox
“Because I can identify Lando?” she prompted.
Cliff was many things, but he had never been a liar. He didn’t need to lie about what he did. He wouldn’t lie to her now, she hoped, as long as she could keep him on topic.
Cliff sighed and took a sip of his drink, staring into the flames. “You know why, Liana.”
His words struck her. Did she know why? Truly? Because if he were saying what she thought he was saying, that would mean he had some feelings for her. Just like she, somehow, had developed a few feelings for him.
Liana was feeling bold. She’d had a crappy night and was ready to turn it around. And she knew how. It might have been a horrible idea, but there was only one way to find out.
“Stand up,” she instructed.
Cliff looked at her incredulously. “Excuse me?”
She puffed out her lower lip. “Please stand up?”
He groaned but rose to his feet, depositing his drink on the table next to the chair. “What is it?”
Liana rose and approached him, her chest and his chest almost touching. “I want to try your scotch,” she said.
He looked down at his glass, but she didn’t so much as move an inch to reach for it. “Do you expect me to hand you the glass, too?”
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his before he could protest or try to back away. How long had she wanted to kiss him? For much longer than she was aware of the desire, certainly. It was one thing to lust after him but despise him as a person, yet another entirely to resist the pull of his body when he started being sweet, too. And maybe he hadn’t softened up too much, but she had begun to recognize the things he did that didn’t seem soft but were.
He protected her. He worried about her. Maybe she wasn’t the only victim of Lando’s crimes, but she knew there was more to how he felt than just a matter of duty. And her theory was proved correct when he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back like he meant it.
His lips tasted smoky and rich from the remnants of the scotch. Liana sucked on them, showing him just how far she was aching to go. She tried to communicate it with every touch of her hand on his hard, muscled chest, every brush of her tongue against his mouth. And he devoured her hungrily, pulling her tight to him until she thought there could be no more room between them. He nipped and sucked and licked until Liana moaned against his lips, willing him to go deeper, take more of her.
Her core sizzled with heat, and the hardness pressed against her thigh was a promise to quench those flames.
Until a loud ringing echoed through the room and Cliff pulled away.
“What?” Liana asked.
But he didn’t answer. He stalked across the room and grabbed his cell phone from his desk, staring at the screen with a mask of pure agitation. “I have to go,” he announced gruffly, spiriting out of the room.
One moment he was there, everywhere, and the next Liana was alone in the study. The crackling of the fire and her heart pounding in her chest seemed to be the only noises left in the house. After a few moments, when it seemed clear Cliff wasn’t coming back, Liana took herself off to bed.
Alone.
Chapter 9
In the morning, Liana and Cliff both pretended that the kiss in the study had never happened. For Liana, it was a matter of principal. She had no idea why Cliff was being so strange about the whole thing, but she decided that two could play at his game. If he wanted to be difficult, so be it. She could be difficult too.
Since walking down the stairs and having breakfast, Liana had spoken less than a few sentences with Cliff. Most of them had been initiated by her. She gave up around the time he told her Julian and Ellis would be coming over around noon and headed back to her room to shower and change. When she came back down, fresh and clean, she considered her little tryst with Cliff to be a thing of the past. History. A weird by-product of an even weirder night.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t particularly believe any of her own lies.
Julian and Ellis, who hadn’t seen each other in a while, had apparently become quite chummy over the course of yesterday’s disastrous evening. They greeted each other exuberantly at the door. Julian had arrived first and seemed almost disappointed that Ellis wasn’t there yet. Apparently, regular old Cliff and Liana weren’t good enough company. Which wasn’t entirely untrue, considering Cliff and Liana were completely silent until Ellis arrived.
Ellis came through the door with a big smile and an even bigger bouquet of roses. “You were brilliant last night!” he exclaimed, passing on the bouquet to Liana. “I would have given you the flowers after the show but, well…”
Liana accepted them with a smile. “Thank you,” she said. “It means a lot.” She put the roses down on the table in front of the fireplace. Incidentally, Cliff was reading in the chair next to it—the same one he’d sat in the night before.
“They’re beautiful,” Julian exclaimed. “But not nearly as beautiful as you were, my dear!” He clapped his hands together. “You are going to be such a star. I can practically see your name in lights.”
“Oh, now you’re just being nice.” Liana blushed.
“Nice? A sunny day in autumn with a big pile of crunchy leaves to stroll through is nice,” Julian replied. “You were extraordinary and you deserve to know it.”
Ellis agreed. “I hear Cliff wants you to head the bill at his new club. You can count on me to come and see you all the time!”
Cliff snorted from his armchair. “You won’t be able to get in, you old fool. She’ll have them lined up around the block.”
He and the others began to bicker about front of line privileges, but all Liana heard was the compliment in his words. She kept hearing it, over and over again. Then, out of nowhere, Of course I care, Liana.
Liana shook her head and narrowed back to the present. “Did you guys just come to talk about my performance?” she asked. “Not that I would mind if you did. In fact, please go on at length about how I wowed you.”
Julian let out a deep, belly laugh. “I doubt there are enough hours in the day, my dear. But no, actually, you’re right to think we have another reason for coming.”
Cliff rose from his chair. “I asked them to come. I want us to come up with a plan to catch Lando.”
Ellis grimaced. “I still think it should be left to the police,” he said. “But after what I saw last night, I’m beginning to understand the desire for an outside investigation.”
And Liana was sure the money he was undoubtedly receiving from Julian or Cliff (or both of them) had helped this decision.
“Let’s go to the conference room.” Cliff extended a hand toward the hallway. Julian led the way. He had clearly been in this house before. Ellis followed close behind, and Liana and Cliff made up the rear.
“You have a conference room?” Liana asked. She had never discovered one during her explorations.
Cliff smirked. “What? You didn’t find it during your midday snoops?”
Liana flushed brighter and chose to ignore him. Instead, she watched with interest as Julian pressed on a false wall behind the stairs. It was actually a cleverly disguised door. Behind it was a glass conference table, surrounded by twelve seats, which took up most of the room’s space.
Liana marveled at the secret room. She supposed it wasn’t really a secret since all Cliff did to hide it was have a door that looked like a wall, but she still found it fascinating. She sat down at the head of the table, spinning around on her chair and marveling at the painted ceiling. It looked like frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, though she wasn’t familiar enough with the Christian motifs to pick out any of the scenes. It was beautiful.
Suddenly, a looming, angry face blocked her vision. Cliff. “You can’t sit here,” he said, already wheeling her further down the table.
Liana dug her heels in, but she was no match for his brute strength. He’d made a spot for her on the corner, between him and Julian, but he took the head spot. “It’s just a meeting between frie
nds,” she spat. “I should be able to sit where I want.”
She settled into her new spot and stared at him sourly as he moved his chair properly into position at the head of the table.
“It’s tradition,” Julian said. “We’re a superstitious lot, too. It’s bad luck for a less senior member of the syndicate to sit at the head of the table while the group discusses a death threat.”
Liana chuckled. “What a charming little world you guys live in,” she said sweetly. “There’s even a protocol for death threats. How quaint.”
Cliff cleared his throat. “Shall we begin?”
The rest of them murmured their approval.
“I think the best course of action is to sit down with the heads of the families and try to bring them on board,” Cliff said. “As it presently stands, Lando’s threat is only against me. But if this grows and draws unwanted attention, it could affect everyone.”
Julian frowned. “They’re not gonna like that, Cliff.”
“I know,” Cliff replied. “But it’s all I’ve got.”
“I know that I’m not really part of the whole, mob thing,” Liana said, still finding the fact that she was in a mob meeting room a bit surreal. “But in my opinion, Lando has made it pretty clear what he doesn’t want to happen.”
“What are you saying?” Ellis asked.
“You don’t honestly think we should just do what he says?” Cliff added.
Liana shook her head. “On the contrary. I think we should do exactly the opposite of what he wants.” When the others remained quiet, she continued. “He clearly thinks something is going on with Cliff and I and he hates it. Let’s provoke him. Let’s give him something to get really mad about.”
Cliff’s eyes were sharp as razor blades. “And how do you think we should provoke him?”
She licked her lips. “Why don’t we get married?”
***
Cliff’s heart hammered in his chest. He wasn’t used to being surprised by anything, but what Liana just suggested so casually, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, threw him through a loop.
“What?” he sputtered. “Married?”
“Not for real!” she insisted. “We just announce that we’re engaged, see if it causes him to lash out.” She shrugged. “If we do it right, he’ll get messy and we’ll get something we can use to take him down.
Cliff stared at her. Then he stared at her some more. It didn’t matter how much he stared; he couldn't tell if she was about to break out laughing or not. But she didn’t.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Ellis said.
“What?” Cliff demanded.
Ellis shrugged. “There’s a good chance we can draw him out that way. If he really wants you to ‘leave her alone,’ he won’t react well to you guys getting closer.”
“We’ve only known each other for a week!” Cliff said.
“It’s not for real, Cliff,” Liana reminded. “We can break it off as soon as we catch Lando.”
And if they never caught him? Cliff didn’t ask because he realized he didn’t want to know the answer. He wasn’t sure if he hated the idea of marrying her, either. What could she have possibly been thinking to suggest this? Did she not realize what it meant for her?
“No.” Cliff shook his head and rose from the table. “New plan—Liana, it’s time for you to leave.”
He had swept out of the conference room before she had a chance to respond. If she was going to fight him on this, he didn’t want to do it in front of Julian and Ellis. Julian would know not to follow.
Cliff made it all the way to the study before Liana caught up with him. She pulled on his arm and he allowed her to tug him around to face her. Her eyes were wide and filled with rage.
“You can’t just dismiss me!” she yelled. “I’m not a servant.”
Cliff clenched his jaw. “Do you not realize how dangerous this is?” he asked. “It isn’t a game, Liana. You could get hurt. You could die. Becoming my fake fiancée is a surefire way to speed that along.”
“And if I don’t, who’s to say Lando won’t just come after me anyway? Worse, what if we don’t do this, don’t catch him, and he comes after you and kills you?”
If Cliff didn’t know any better, he’d think she had just prioritized his safety over hers.
But she was right. Who was to say Lando wouldn’t just come after her anyway? “I’ll send you somewhere safe until we catch him,” Cliff reasoned.
Liana did not look impressed. “You’re an idiot if you think I’ll agree to that plan.”
Cliff couldn’t help it; he smiled.
“What are you smiling at?” she demanded. “This isn’t funny.”
“I’m just thinking about how a week ago you couldn’t wait to get away from me. I nearly had to haul you out of your apartment over my shoulder.”
Her eyes bulged. “You wouldn’t have dared.”
He took a step closer to her, allowing his smile to grow. It felt good to smile. “Oh I would have,” he said, his voice low and husky. “And I would have given that ass of yours a couple of smacks anytime you complained.”
Her face turned bright red. He could nearly feel the heat coming off of it, off of her. And how he wanted to drown in that heat.
But now wasn’t the time.
“I’ll agree to your plan,” he said. “But we have to be careful.”
“Of course,” Liana said, coming back into herself. “We’ll make sure—”
“You and I have to be careful, Liana,” he interrupted. “That’s what I meant.”
She frowned, knitting her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”
He longed to reach for her, to pull her against him like he had yesterday. But he stayed firmly planted on his two feet, hands down at his sides. “We can’t let ourselves get distracted by the game. It’s for show, nothing more.”
When she gave a single, firm nod, Cliff could tell she understood exactly what he meant.
Chapter 10
Liana went up to her room right after Ellis and Julian left and stayed there for most of the day. She was confused after her conversation with Cliff in the study. She was still confused about her kiss, too. Liana was just outright confused.
So he didn’t want to get distracted, huh? Did that mean there could be no more kisses? Or just that anything that did happen between them could only be strictly sex? Liana wasn’t sure she could live without kissing Cliff again, but at the same time, she didn't think she wanted just sex from him.
It was difficult because she knew she shouldn’t want him. Not sexually, and definitely not emotionally. But she did. He made her feel safe. He made her feel wanted, even when he was telling her how much of a pain in his ass she was. She loved that they were always honest with one another, even if that meant they complained most of the time.
Cliff came up and knocked on her door around six, announcing that dinner was ready.
Liana said she’d come down in a bit, and that he should just eat without her. She was starving, but she didn’t want to come out until she’d had a bit more time to process everything. When she came down an hour later, she still hadn’t quite figured out her feelings. By that point, she was pretty sure she never would, so what was the point in starving to death?
“Michael’s mother, Sharon, is coming over tomorrow,” Cliff announced from his study. She had been trying to slip by without him noticing.
“Does she know about what’s going on?” Liana asked.
Cliff turned to look at her from where he sat by the fire, sipping what was probably the same vintage scotch as yesterday. The light played with the shadows on his face, making him seem darker and broodier than ever.
“She does. I’ve been keeping her up to date on our progress. She said she wants to talk about something.”
“Sounds ominous.”
He turned back to the fire. “Not much about this situation isn’t ominous.”
Against her better judgment, Liana slipped into the study and sat down next t
o him. He didn’t look over, but she saw him watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“I was wondering what would bring you down first,” Cliff said, taking a sip of his scotch. “Hunger, thirst, or curiosity.”
“What do I have to be curious about?” Liana asked.
His lip twitched. His version of a small smile. “Darling, what have you ever not been curious about?”
