“Right,” Kadie said, stepping toward the woman. Tuck snatched her again, unwilling and in actual fact, unable, to let her go into the clutches of that evil bastard.
“Let me talk to him,” Tuck demanded, making no secret of his intention to touch her and get an audience with her boss.
He could play it that Kadie was a stranger to him, a beautiful woman who had his attention, that maybe he wanted to spend some intimate time with. If she stayed at the mansion, as she’d said, then he doubted she picked up clients in random bars. The show was a means to an end. All he needed was Sikorski’s attention for a few seconds, and once he said what he had to, Tuck would have his in.
The bodyguard made his way toward them while Sikorski stayed behind his hired-human-shield like the well-dressed coward that he was. “Do we have a problem?” Sikorski drawled in his Eastern European accent.
“He wants to talk,” Kadie said, pouting at the lusting honcho whose job it was to protect Sikorski. Tuck was impressed, she was protecting him by distracting the bodyguard and managing to do it in a way that raised no suspicions. “He says he has something you want.”
“Is that right?” Sikorski said with an intent look, like he was trying to place the stranger. He and Tuck had never met, but he couldn’t discount that he might have crossed Sikorski’s radar. Sikorski was in deep and met all kinds of people. It was no surprise that he didn’t have instant recall on the names and faces of every person he’d ever met. “What on earth could a… being like you have for me?” Clearly, he wasn’t impressed by what he saw.
TEN
Tuck left his stool. Kadie knew this man inside out, she knew everything about him. Maybe not about his work and his colleagues, but she knew his personality, his motivations, and recognized his moods.
Yet, looking at him now, there was something scary about the menace in his unyielding form and grim scowl. Tucker Holt was terrifying, and until today she’d never seen this side of him. Choosing not to look directly at him, she felt him loom beside her like an immovable force, an intimidating reckoning that saw the world and everything in it all at once.
He knew everything, feared nothing, and just like that she got it. The man she loved, the man she had been with for years and trusted with her heart, the man she had saved herself and her world for, was dangerous and capable of anything, absolutely anything. Sikorski didn’t move, his expression didn’t change. For the first time, she saw him actually intimidated, something she’d thought was impossible. Sikorski owned everyone and everything, but she read fear in his gaze and for some odd reason her pride in Tuck grew.
Sikorski started, but Tuck didn’t let him finish. “I’m bored of—”
“Game Time,” Tuck said, shutting Sikorski up with two words. Sikorski’s default was to ridicule and patronize, to put people in their place. Tuck didn’t even have to blink. With those two words, he’d shaken Sikorski’s core, which was something else she’d never seen.
Sikorski’s expression relaxed a miniscule fraction, but it was enough to tell her that Tuck had his attention. “What is that?” Star, her female companion, piped up. “It’s a game? You want to play a game? I love games. What kind of—”
“Quiet,” Sikorski demanded. Immediately, Star silenced, and shrank back, though her eyes danced with curiosity at this new colleague. Tuck was attractive, his defined features and muscular body were impossible to ignore. Kadie didn’t like it when other women checked him out, but she tolerated it while they were together because she trusted his fidelity. That safety net didn’t exist anymore.
“You have it?” Sikorski asked.
“Is that a trick question?” Tuck said. “It doesn’t exist… does it?”
Sikorski’s lips curled up slowly. “You have my attention Mr.…?”
“Swift,” Tuck said, using the name she’d heard before.
Kadie didn’t flinch. Tuck had to be able to trust her and registering anything she knew to be a lie in front of these people might get him hurt. If he had a choice, she wouldn’t be here at all, she didn’t need him to spell it out. Having her in this situation would terrify him, maybe because he thought she’d cause him trouble, or maybe just because these people they were with were dangerous. This was Tuck’s job, lying, getting close to dangerous people, he was practiced. Kadie had to prove that she could approach this as a professional too and put her own fears aside.
“Swift…” Sikorski prompted. “Is that a first or last name?”
“Just Swift for now,” Tuck said.
Sikorski was still going to vie for superiority, he had to find a way to adopt a lofty position over this stranger who, to all external parties, appeared to be the commanding power. “I’ve concluded my business for the evening—”
“I can take my business elsewhere,” Tuck said.
“No one said that,” Sikorski said. Uncertain about this development, her boss hid his intrigue under indifference. “This is hardly the place to talk of such a… delicate matter.”
“You gotta take these lovely ladies somewhere,” Tuck said, eyeing the blonde, Star, with great interest even though Kadie stood closer.
“Yes,” Sikorski said. “Somewhere, but nowhere you are welcome.”
Using her to get himself close to Sikorski conflicted her. It was odd, but warming, to be accepted as part of his work and she was glad to be of help to him. Except she knew it would never be as simple as that. Tuck had his reasons for wanting to be near Sikorski and one of those reasons was to get her away from the Russian, he’d been explicit about removing her from her pimp.
Kadie didn’t want to stay with Sikorski forever, just for long enough to make an extraction of her own. Being a novice, she hadn’t figured out how to do it yet, but she wouldn’t give up just because the situation was difficult. Her whole reason for being in this bar alone the other night was to meet Howie, they’d managed to come up with a plan that was supposed to give them an out. Howie hadn’t shown up and she hadn’t seen him since. Urgency was making her anxious.
Tuck wasn’t dissuaded by Sikorski’s condescension. His persistence might have pissed Sikorski off, if he hadn’t already made it clear he was useful. “I’ve come a long way—”
“You’d have had to,” Sikorski said, sneering at their surroundings. “What if I don’t like what you have to tell me?”
“We part as friends,” Tuck said. “But, I hear you’re the man to talk to about this, and I guarantee what I have to say is worth it.”
Sikorski considered him for a moment, then looked at his own bodyguard to size up who would triumph if things came to blows. The Russian cast a look at her, and although the exchange was brief, its subtlety wasn’t missed by Tuck who was invested in the villain and his interest in Kadie.
This wasn’t the first time she’d checked someone out for Sikorski, so she knew what to do and how to play it. She was just pleased that he’d chosen her for the task, not only because she didn’t want Star to put her hands all over Tuck, but because her main concern was Tuck getting out of this alive. So if he had any weapons or contraband, she couldn’t let anyone else find them.
Damn him for coming into her life now when she needed to be prioritizing elsewhere. She was only here, only knew who Sikorski was, because of her former lover. But she couldn’t blame him for the mess she was in.
In this moment, she had a role to play, one that she was more used to than she’d ever wanted to be. Widening her smile, she pushed out her chest. Tuck knew how to read her eyes and they would reveal more to him than her breasts, but he dutifully looked at her chest, understanding that was the point of her presenting her cleavage. Any man that saw him miss that invitation would be suspicious.
“Do you work out?” she whimpered. Flirting with him, as she would any other person Sikorski wanted her to frisk, she had to make their exchange look good.
Touching his abs, their physical connection fizzled, scorching her skin. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about his dick, but her instinct was to get
closer to it. Sliding her hands around his ribs to his back under his jacket, her splayed fingers slid up, down, under his arms, then out of his jacket to his wrists. Linking her fingers in his to draw his arms around her, she checked his pockets while he held her.
She was here to frisk him. Plastering her body against his was meant to be a distraction that would lower his guard. Men were happier to be touched by barely clothed women than the club-fingered oaf of a bodyguard.
The distraction would work for any other man, but probably not for Tuck who had been inside her many times, as close as a man could get to his woman. His heat reassured her, pushing her on, giving her the confidence to feel safe, even with her back to Sikorski and his bodyguard. This mission would have to be completed quickly by both of them. Haste could lead to mistakes, but with each other in the mix there was too much at stake.
“Well, Sugar, you sure know how to introduce yourself,” he drawled, her foot left her shoe, and touched his ankle, sliding up to his calf, and around his shin as her hands dipped into his jeans pockets. Her other foot did the same on the other leg, and this time when she went to lower it he snatched her knee, and pulled it up to his hip. She gasped, but he caught her waist to keep her balance.
Kadie worked hard to maintain her façade. When he touched her, took control of her, it made her forget that there was any act to uphold. “You didn’t say please,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
He had to realize that she would feel his erection as she searched him. This move told her that he wasn’t shy about his physical reaction to her proximity and wandering hands. Tuck wanted her to know it was there, to feel it.
To the world he was tough, thorough, and harsh. Life pulled no punches, and neither did he. But he wasn’t ashamed of being under her spell. When she’d been his girl, she’d known it, known his body was a slave to hers, just as hers reciprocated.
Almost a year had passed since they’d been intimate, yet the time melted away to nothing when she was here, breathing the same air as him.
“Put the girl down,” the bodyguard barked.
Still twined around him, she was in no hurry to retreat. “It talks,” Tuck said, scrutinizing her every nuance as she tried not to squirm against him.
Her back was to the others, but they might catch a glimpse of her expression in the mirror if he didn’t keep his body in the way. Yes, Kadie’s reaction was as strong as the one in his pants. Despite the odds, they were both tempted to shatter the illusion, it was written in the intensity of his gaze. If she pushed up, let him kiss her, then that would be it, they’d both lose their cover.
Inviting as the temptation of tasting him was, she couldn’t take the risk and had to prove her loyalty to Sikorski while not leaving Tuck vulnerable. “It also packs heat,” she said. Keeping her tone dry and impatient, perhaps even annoyed, her eyes held a warning. “Long, hot, throbbing heat.”
If he hadn’t known already that she would protect him then she confirmed it by blatantly ignoring the knife strapped to his ankle. While they were together, she’d known it was there, because he always carried it. Not only had he told her that in words, but she’d removed it for him during their bedroom activities and had watched him strap it on several times before he left for a job. Kadie knew it was there all right, and she hadn’t told her new friends, she’d chosen to support him instead. That was her way of letting him know that she wouldn’t leave him swinging in the wind.
Pressing into the sheath with her foot when she’d searched him, she didn’t allow any flicker of recognition to cross her expression. She wanted him to have a weapon. A way to protect himself and maybe even protect her if they were found out. For however long he was planning to hang around, she would have a split loyalty and she had no idea how that would play out to all of their advantages. Tuck had more experience and if it came to it, she would confide in him and maybe he could help her find a way out for all of them.
All he had to do at the moment was to make sure that no one else found the blade, because if she was suspected of helping him then they would both be in trouble and both of their missions would fail. Unexpected, and somewhat unwelcome as it was, she had an ally on the inside. Tuck might be the person she trusted more than any other, but he was also the one she cared about most, and having him involved in this risky game increased her need for success.
She would rather that her ally wasn’t the other half of her whole. If anything happened to him, it would be happening to her not long after, if not at the hands of the villain then at her own hand. Sikorski would kill them both if he uncovered their association. But if Tuck lost his life in this game, she wouldn’t be able to go on without him, the guilt would eat her up.
Tuck released her leg, and she spun on the spot to face Sikorski again, her shoulder blades wavering against Tuck’s chest. “He’s fine on the weapon front,” she said.
“Fine,” Sikorski said, giving her body a full, carnal perusal before looking over her head at Tuck. “Come for a ride in the car and we’ll talk.”
“In a car?” Tuck said. “So you can drive me out to the middle of nowhere, and put a bullet in me for my knowledge?”
Kadie wouldn’t have thought of that. Tuck’s previous associates must have been real treats to work with. “What would you rather?” Sikorski said. “My girls fuck it out of you?”
Fucking Tuck for information, Kadie could handle that. Except her former lover glanced past her to fixate on Star instead. “Maybe.”
“Star has your interest? You must be a man of the earth,” Sikorski said.
Tuck leered. “Something like that.”
Kadie didn’t know what that meant, except that Star was somewhat simple most of the time. That Tuck had dismissed her as an option infuriated her and made her wonder what the erection had been for if Star was the one he wanted to get close to.
“You may come with us,” Sikorski said, and the bodyguard retrieved something from his back pocket. “But you must agree to our terms.”
Tuck watched the bodyguard approach with a blindfold. Kadie had seen this before too. New associates would get into the car, but wouldn’t know where they were, or how to get out again.
Proving his experience, Tuck didn’t flinch. “Paranoid motherfucker, aren’t you?”
“Careful,” Sikorski said. “My patience is renowned for being thin. If you please me, and give me what I want, you will reap rewards and this discomfort will be long forgotten.”
“I could be a one-trick pony,” Tuck said, testing the boundaries. Most men would just be grateful to have what they sought, a way in, Tuck was still battling for dominance against a man who’d always fight back.
“A man who speaks of Game Time has broad associations, sinister knowledge, or both. But if I do not like what you say, this discomfort will be the least of your worries.”
Without breaking a sweat, Tuck maintained his aloof pose. “I wouldn’t put myself at risk if I didn’t know it would pay off.”
“Which begs the question,” Sikorski said. “What is it you want for this knowledge?”
Tuck snatched the blindfold before the bodyguard could reach him. “Let’s get where we’re going. Like you said, this is hardly the place to talk about such a delicate matter.”
“So you agree?” Sikorski asked.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tuck said with a single nod.
His unwavering confidence awed her. He might be jumping into the fire, but he didn’t appear to feel the heat. And after leaving Hells Waiting Room for the last time, the fire was the only place left to go.
ELEVEN
They at least let him get into the car before Warta, Sikorski’s personal bodyguard, tried to take the blindfold from Tuck’s hand. Tuck snatched it out of Warta’s reach.
“The pretty girls can touch whatever they like,” Tuck snarled at the man holding open the back door of the limo. “You’re not my type.”
The rear seats faced each other and Kadie found herself next to Sikorski, sitting
with her back to the sealed privacy panel. Tuck was diagonally opposite her, next to Star, and was the last to get in. Star took the blindfold from Tuck, and leaned in close, pressing her breasts to his arm as she reached around him to put it over his eyes.
Sure that her breathing had stilled, Kadie looked straight at him in the clutches of a wave of panic. Her usually casual Tuck was tense, not because of the blindfold, but because Sikorski’s hand was resting on her upper thigh. His eyes flashed from it up at hers to sear his fury into her skin before Star covered his eyes and fastened the blindfold.
Warta closed the door and went to sit up front with the driver where he always travelled. After they heard the front passenger door closing, the vehicle started to move.
“Are you a nervous traveler?” Star purred into Tuck’s ear. Her hand slid up his leg and covered his package with caressing fingers.
Tuck slid down the seat a few inches to better Star’s access and Kadie nearly growled aloud at his barefaced acceptance of the advance. “Are you offering a little relief, Sugar?” he asked, turning his head in Star’s direction. She was plastered the length of his side, allowing no light to penetrate. Star had a great body, one of the best. Men favored her over most of the other girls at the mansion. Star’s leg twisted over one of Tuck’s, and she drew his earlobe into her mouth.
“That could certainly be arranged,” Star hummed in his ear.
Kadie could’ve forgiven him being the passive party, but when his hand slid to Star’s hip and up her waist to her breast, Kadie was certain fire was ready to burst from her nose. There in front of her was the man who had refused sex with her that very day in the motel room. He couldn’t have any hard and fast rules about taking care of his needs during a mission because his hand covered Star’s breast, clearly sampling the density of the flesh.
Sikorski took a stack of papers from a pouch next to him and began to read, indifferent to Star’s display. Kadie’s equivalent was pressing kisses to Tuck’s face, his jaw, his neck. When he tipped his face toward Star, the hussy didn’t hesitate to take his mouth in a clamor of tongues that fueled Kadie’s ire.
Swift (Kindred Book 4) Page 12
