Accounting for Lust (10 page)

“
I’ll g
et someone to take car
e
of Cassie. We need to talk.”

Jake
nodded and
Matt
yelled at the only female member of th
e team to take care of Cassie. With
Cassie
safely inside the van,
the two men walked to the side
.

“What the hell were you thinking fucking the client?” Matt kept his voice deceptively low, controlling the anger that simmered just below the surface. “Your mind resided in your pants when it should have been
on the job. Worse, now someone else knows and he’s not afraid to use it.”

Matt shoved his hand into his pant’s pocket while the
he waved a
forefinger under Jake’s nose.  “If word gets out that we screw our clients, we
’ll
lose our reputation.
I
n ou
r
business, reputation is everything. You know that. So what the fuck happened?”
 

Jake’s temper erupted. Hell, he wasn’t a kid, neither was he a novice. Matt had no business talking to him like this. “Yes, I screwed the client. It’s not like she would ever complain.”

Matt barked out a laugh. “You’re that sure you’re the
lay
of the century?”

Jake shook his head. He knew he should come clean with Matt, but he’d never been one to share his
emotions
. Ever. To do so now would break the number one Jake-rule. Keep your private life, well, private. What he had with Cassie he couldn’t even explain to himself. How was he going to explain it to Matt without it sounding tacky.
Shit, he had to try.

“I can hold my own. But Cassie is different.” For the first time in years he searched for the correct words. “We met when I did that job in Mauritius.”

Matt clenched his teeth.
“You’ve known who the client was and you said nothing?”

“No, I didn’t know who she was until I met her
at her apartment
.” Jake ran a frustrated hand over his closely cropped hair. This was going to be
harder
than he thought.

“You lost me pal. Are you sure you’re all right? Have you been drinking?”

“Give me a
break
,” Jake snapped.
“
In Mauritius, she w
anted
an anonymous one
-
night stand with no complications. I
happily
oblige
d
. We never introduced ourselves. Hell, for that matter we didn’t talk
much
at all.” The memory of their first night together made him hard. Painfully hard.

“So you met her again
yesterday
and you’re already banging her? This makes it better? She must be one hell of a
n
easy fuck if you compromise everything we’ve worked for during the past two years.”

Jake bundled Matt’s jacket in his fist, uncaring
that a bun
ch
of
chest
hair also clamped in his fist. “You keep your mouth off her. She’s a lady
and deserves respect.” He pressed his face into Matt’s. “If you ever so much as hint that she is anything but, I will kill you.”

Matt’s glance turned to ice. “You forg
e
t who you’re dealing with.”

“No I didn’t. You’re my best friend, but tarnish her reputation and there will be hell to pay.” Jake let go of Matt’s jacket and smoothed the edges. “Now, can we get
on with
business and keep
her
alive.”

“Just one more thing.” Matt’s glance seared through Jake. “Think about what you’re willing to compromise for her. When the job is done, we still have to make a living. Are you
willing
to sacrifice your
career
for her
? I’m asking as a friend.
” Jake inhaled sharply, but Matt held up his hand. “You think about that. Now, what do we have?”

“We have a thief who
sent dirty pictures to her
father
, but didn’t blackmail him from I gather
and now wants
Cassie
out of the picture. Something sits askew on this one. From the photo’s he or she must have had Cassie’s father’s confidence to such an extent
that the old man told him where he would be and with whom. And trust me, the old bastard got around.”

“So it’s someone close.” Matt stated. “It almost always is. Where do we begin looking? Just point the way and we’ll do the rest. Oh, by the way, the female guard is not trained enough to look after your girl. She’s all yours for the duration.”

Jake refused to analyse the relief flooding through him. He had more pressing things to think about than
how he felt about Cassie. They needed to find the
thief
before he upgraded to murder.

Jake stared at the minivan.
“Let’s talk to
Cassie
. She must know more than she revealed so far.”

Silence reigned inside the van when Matt slid open the door. “Take her to the office.” He
met
every single person’s eyes. “Make sure she gets there or you’re asses will be in a sling. You saw the photo.”

The five masked faces inside nodded and closed the door. Jake and Matt followed the team at a safe distance and Jake sigh
ed
with
relief when they finally
pulled into the building. Once inside the office, Jake steered Cassie to his office, closed the door in Matt’s face and
hugged her close.

“You okay?”

“Yes.
Scared, but okay
.” She buried her face in his chest
. The flowery scent of her hair drifted upwards
.

“I know, babe.
” He squeezed her
shoulder
before gently putting her away from him. “
We need to talk. Are you up to it?”
She nodded and Jake opened the door to let Matt in. 

Cassie took the time to study the interior.
The
office
was
minimalistic with no sentimental ornaments adorning the walls or shelves. A large uncluttered wooden desk huddled in a corner opposite the windows, offering Jake a panoramic view over the city. Several comfortable chairs and a couch surrounded a low coffee table with a lamp sitting behind a well-used recliner.
On the wall, coloured pins dotted the
maps of the city and surrounding countryside.

Matt cleared his throat and Cassie accepted the offer of coffee before she perched on a single chair, crossing her ankles. The two men
took a seat
opposite her
and Matt flipped open a file. With his pencil poised, he started the interrogation.

She told them about Joshua’s suspicions and blushed when she retrieved the flash drives from her bra.
When they started asking about her father, her hackles went up. Graham Adams worked very hard to establish the business and gain the confidence of his clients. It cost him his marriage and al
ienated his children from him. H
e had a problem
controlling his sex-drive
.
At the moment,
Cassie couldn’t fault him on that. Maybe if someone asked her the same question two weeks ago, her answer would have been different. But
s
he suffered the same fate. She had the same weakness. And she understood.

“You
’re
an only child?” Matt persisted in questioning her while Jake ravished her with his eyes.
I
t
was
difficult to breathe with the animalistic lust his gaze invoked
.

“No, I have a brother as well. Dorian is an interior designer.” She saw their brows lift
.
“Yes he is gay and he is extremely good
at
his job.”

“Your mother?”

“She divorced my father when I turned eighteen and remarried about a month later. She lives in France and as far as I know, she hadn’t
returned
to the States ever since.” Cassie mentally calculated the timeframe. “Must be more than ten years now.”

“Any other biological siblings?”

She shook her head.
“Oh, we’re not their biological children. After an accident in the factory, my father lost the ability to father children together with his testicles.”
The men winced and clamped their thighs together.
Cassie bit back a smile.

“They adopted us when it seemed appropriate for an up and coming entrepreneur to have a family.
Dorian is two years my senior.”

“But, the photo’s on the flash drives . . .” Jake didn’t need to finish the sentence. Cassie understood the question all too well and wished she didn’t have the answer.

“He had cosmetic surgery done.”

The questioning continued well into the night to the point where fatigue threatened to drag Cassie’s eyes shut. Jake called a halt and they filed out of the office. A car already travelled the route they had to take to go home and found it safe.

“Please stay out of the office until Monday. Like we said earlier, the camera must be inside and
judging
by the viewpoint, the person could see everything you did on the computer. We’re going to leave it in place, but we must have time to concoct a plan to draw him out without giving the person any more access to your accounts.”

Cassie nodded at Matt, but she
failed
understand how the perpetrator could use the codes he saw on her computer.
The solution struck her instantaneously with that thought.

“Matt, we have to check the IP addresses of the computer used to transfer the funds.
You can only log in from your own IP address to get access. If we have that, we’ll have our guy.”

“We’ll check it out on Monday with Joshua’s help. Now, go home and get some sleep.” Although
he directed the words at her
,
he gave Jake a stern look
. Jake’s cheeks coloured slightly
.
He never looked sexier and despite
being dog-tired
, heat pooled between her legs.

Like
the previous night
,
they drove home in silence. This time though, Cassie leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. The photo propped up against the pillar danced before her eyes. Jake’s head
tilted
, the muscles in his neck straining. His washboard torso contracted as he pumped his rigid cock into her. She with her feet on his shoulders, wide open pussy welcoming his hot sex into her. Her eyes closed in ecstasy, mouth slightly open to allow the panting breath
s
to escape and nipples erect with breasts slightly out of focus due to their juggling.

“Whatever you’re thinking you’d better stop that train of thought or I’ll have you in the backseat of my car like
a
teenager.”

Cassie just smiled. “I wouldn’t mind.” She ran a hand over her now sensitised breast, pinching the nipple to harden it further.

“Dammit woman, we need to concentrate on keeping you alive. You’re a distraction that could get you killed.” 

She sighed
and clasped her hands in her lap
. Jake was right.
No more mistakes until they caught the
perpetrator. It would be
sinful
to waste the nights though.
She needed some close protection tonight. Her pulse kicked up a notch.

“You have to agree, if it wasn’t for the menace attached to the photo, it would have been a super hot one.”

Jake cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “I didn’t look at it like that.”

She frowned. The picture was burned into her memory, never to be forgotten. It might be the shock associated with seeing it, but now, with Jake beside her and the team securing the area, it made her hot.

“We’re home.” He parked the car and turned to her. “We have to concentrate on the job at hand. No more hanky
-
panky.”

We’ll see about that, she thought, but nodded in meek agreement. Jake
narrowed his eyes, but she
shrugged and opened the door.

He was at her side in an instant and took her arm. Once inside the apartment, she turned out the overhead lights and
switched on
the lamp in the corner.
With her hand on the handle of her door, she kicked off her shoes, took the clip from her hair and bent to pick the shoes up while making sure Jake had full view of her behind.

“I’m going to take a shower and change. You rummage through the fridge and see what you’d like for dinner. After all the happenings today I thought I could never eat again, but suddenly I’m ravenous.”