Crazy Nights (The Barrington Billionaires Book 3) (3 page)

E
mmitt was seething with anger
. There was nothing he hated more than a wild goose chase. Well, maybe one thing. Being wrong. He’d gloated to his brother that he’d have more luck getting in front of the Barringtons, and so far he’d managed to get about twenty-five seconds of it. He’d strolled into the lobby of Lance Barrington’s building and lucked out by finding him standing there. But after a quick introduction it became clear Lance was not interested in using Emmitt’s services. And now someone was going to pay for wasting his time.

It had taken a couple hours but Emmitt tracked down Dax, the original caller who told him to come to Boston.

“Nobody wastes my time,” Emmitt boomed as he charged into Dax’s office uninvited. “You called me up here then your boy Lance tells me my services aren’t needed; which is it?”

“Who the hell is this?” a man asked as he shot to his feet, looking ready to pounce. At first Emmitt assumed it was security but the man was wearing too nice of a suit for that.

“I’m assuming this is Emmitt Kalling,” Dax replied with a wry smile. “His stellar manners come through as well in person as they did on the phone.” Both men were standing now, looking put out.

“So,” Emmitt asked, tossing his hands up, “are all the Barringtons as bipolar as Lance? You told me you had a job for me up here, and Lance disagrees.”

“We have our issues,” the other man chimed in, “but we don’t appreciate hearing about them from perfect strangers.” His hands were tucked casually into his pockets now that he seemed to think the threat was gone.

“Asher?” Emmitt asked, recognizing him now from a picture he’d seen online. He thought about apologizing, but that wasn’t something he normally did. Why start now?

“Dax, you want to tell me what this is about or should I call security?” Asher asked, but Emmitt could tell these men probably preferred to toss someone out on their own rather than calling security. Emmitt always enjoyed it.

Dax sank back into his chair and gestured for Asher to do the same. “He is security. I called him to deal with something at Lance’s office. You heard about the visitor he had?”

“No,” Asher replied looking concerned. “What visitor?”

“A woman pretending to be his secretary came in and left a mysterious black business card.”

“With white lettering?” Asher asked, now looking very interested in the situation and Emmitt’s presence.

“So you know her too?” Emmitt asked with a small chuckle. “Alethea isn’t likely to cause any problems for him, if she’s the one who left the card.”

“Yes, I know her,” Asher answered, shaking his head. “What would she want with Lance?”

Dax shrugged. “Not sure, but when I heard I told Lance he needs to beef up his security and I’d get someone up here. Emmitt Kalling came highly recommended if you could ignore his attitude. I’m becoming a pro at that with all of you so I figured it would be a good move.”

“Apparently Lance changed his mind,” Emmitt barked.

“Too bad,” Asher cut in. “I’ve been telling Lance for years he needs better security. Even if this was Alethea, and she isn’t intending any trouble, he still needs an overhaul there. He’s a Barrington; he needs to protect what’s his.”

None of this meant shit to Emmitt. He couldn’t care less at this point about Lance and Alethea or anything else these people were complaining about. But he took note of the authority with which Asher made his proclamation. “So call him. Tell him I start tomorrow if you’re so worried about his security.”

Asher crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “You ever see those signs they have in factories that say how many days it’s been since an incident or accident?”

“Sure,” Emmitt grunted, wondering where the hell this was going.

“My family has made it a few months without having to dial our sign back down to zero days without a problem. Telling Lance how to run his business isn’t happening,” he said sarcastically.

“Then I’m out of here,” Emmitt huffed. “I’ll send my bill to you, Dax, since you technically wasted my time.”

“I didn’t say you didn’t have the job,” Asher cut back. “I said Lance shouldn’t know about it. I’ll hire you, and you do what needs to be done but stay under the radar. If you’re as good as you say you are, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

“It won’t be,” Emmitt asserted. “He’ll never know I’m there.”

“We can work out the details on payment and—”

Emmitt cut in boldly. “I don’t want your money. I need something else.”

“Oh?” Asher asked, looking amused. “And what’s that?”

“My brother Mathew is the CFO of West Oil. He’d like to meet with you to discuss business. I’ll take care of Lance’s issue if you make that meeting happen.”

“If West Oil was worth buying, I’d have acquired it already. If they had something I needed, I’d know about it. If I wanted to talk to them, I would have.”

“Hopefully everything works out with Lance then,” Emmitt said coolly.

“Whoever you get to do this, better be stealthy as shit because I can tell by my brief meeting with him if he finds out someone is pulling the strings he’ll flip. And also, with that big development project he has in the works, make sure there are no slimy contractors attempting to exploit any weakness in his security.”

“You know about the project he’s working on?” Asher asked.

“I do my research fast,” Emmitt explained. “Dax got my number for a reason. I’m the guy you need.”

“Why would you swap your services for me to meet with your brother? That seems like a lot of work on your part.” Asher leaned back in his chair and looked skeptically at Emmitt.

“Why would you take the risk of pissing off your family and hire me to help Lance?”

Dax, who’d stayed quiet for the last few minutes, laughed then covered it with an awkward cough.

Asher’s mouth turned up almost imperceptibly in a small grin. “Fine,” he gave in, “you provide me with a systematic and thorough evaluation and proposal for Lance’s security needs without him knowing you’ve been working on it, and I’ll consider making time for a brief meeting with your brother. No guarantees that I’ll care what he has to say.”

“Then we’ll have a lot in common. I rarely want to hear what Mathew has to say. But I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. Anything my brother touches turns to gold. He’s a business genius.” Emmitt never had trouble complimenting his brother to other people. It was just something he refused to do directly to Mathew’s face.

“I’ll expect something back to me in a couple weeks.”

Emmitt fished his phone out of his pocket and turned to leave. “Hey, once I get all this to you how are you going to convince Lance he needs to implement my proposal without pissing him off?”

“Easy,” Asher laughed. “I’ll make my sister tell him.”

“
W
hat’s the latest
?” Mathew asked anxiously, and Emmitt nearly hung up the phone.

“Back off. I’ve been here for less than six hours, and you’re already on my case. I’ll call you; don’t call me.”

“But you met with Lance?” Mathew said quickly.

“I met with Asher,” Emmitt said confidently, loving the power that had shifted to his corner. Mathew was always the better businessman. A better son. A better brother. The levelheaded one with a solid plan. But now it was Emmitt getting things done. Finally.

“Already?” Mathew asked, sounding too disbelieving for Emmitt’s liking.

“I’ve got a job to do up here. If it goes well, you’ll get your meeting with Asher. But if you fuck it up once you get in front of him, that’s on you.”

“And if you fuck it up on your end, doing whatever job he gave you, that means what? I hit the blacklist or something.” Mathew’s pessimism was annoying but not completely misplaced when it came to Emmitt’s track record.

“Worry about your pitch to Asher; let me worry about my job.” He pulled the phone away to hang up but heard another voice chime in.

“How’s Evie doing?” Mathew’s girlfriend, Jessica, asked in a singsong voice. “Is she staying out of trouble?”

“Don’t know,” Emmitt replied casually. “I gave her a thousand bucks and told her to stay out of my way.”

“You did what?” Jessica asked, sounding furious. “You can’t send her out into a new city with that much money.”

“I didn’t. She threw it back in my face and took off in the other direction.”

“So she has no money?” Jessica chastised. “You can’t send her out into a new city
with no money
. What the hell is wrong with you? Go find her. She could be anywhere by now.”

“What’s the big deal? She’s a grown woman.” Emmitt didn’t let the little sting of guilt grow any larger. Evie was not his responsibility. He had bigger things to deal with than her whereabouts.

“You don’t understand. I’ve been out with her. She’s very naïve, and she’s been in a rut lately. I don’t think she should be alone. When we went to a club Mathew had to pull her down off the table she was dancing on and carry her back to my place. She was so drunk she forgot she kissed him.”

“Evie kissed Mathew?” Emmitt said, feeling a foreign flame of jealousy spark in him.

“It was nothing,” Mathew cut in quickly. “Jessica and I weren’t even together really. Why would you care?”

Jessica huffed as though they were both missing the point. “Emmitt, whether you think you have a responsibility to her or not, you do. If I would’ve been in the room this morning when Mathew cooked up this idea for her to go with you, I would’ve said no. Evie saved my ass, and I know it cost her a lot. Recording Pierre and making a formal statement to the police against him lost her a job on his movie and hurt her career indefinitely. She’s fragile right now, and it’s partly my fault. I’ve been calling her for hours, and she hasn’t picked up.”

“Then you come up here and babysit her,” Emmitt snapped.

“It’s partly your fault too,” Jessica argued. “You used her as your cover to spy on me for Mathew.”

“It wasn’t spying,” Mathew chimed in quickly, the same way he always did when the topic came up. Calling it spying always infuriated him.

But Jessica plowed through his words. “It’s you who pulled her into this in the first place. All I’m asking is that you keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t get in trouble. She’s probably out right this minute getting hit on by some loser in a bar who won’t take no for an answer. Find her.”

“Are you two finished?” Emmitt asked, drawing in a ragged breath.

“Just do the right thing,” Jessica ordered in a maternal voice. “She needs someone right now.”

Emmitt laughed hardily. “I’m not my brother. I know he’s your knight in shining armor and all, but that title doesn’t run in the family. If Evie gets herself in trouble, she’s just going to have to get herself back out. I don’t have time for it.”

“She’s a nice girl, Emmitt,” Mathew said in a defeated tone.

“And you knew that this morning,” Emmitt reminded him. “And you know who I am. You know better than to put a nice girl in my path.”

“Send her back,” Mathew said sternly. “I was being selfish this morning. I was too focused on the Barringtons and how she could help. You’re right. She shouldn’t be up there with you. Send her back.”

“Guess I’ll have to find her first,” Emmitt replied. “Should I start with amateur night at the strip club down the street or the closest crack den?”

“Send her back, Emmitt,” Mathew ordered. “Don’t fuck with her.”

“What’s the one thing you never tell the bear?” Emmitt joked, knowing his brother’s blood pressure must be skyrocketing by the second. “Don’t tell him he can’t have the honey . . . or he’ll take the whole fucking bees nest out of the tree.” He hung up the phone and tucked it into his pocket. He could picture Mathew now, circling the office, cursing under his breath.
Mission accomplished.

But there were other things to be done besides fuck with Mathew. He had an architectural business to research and dissect without being noticed.

He tried to push the image of Evie at some bar being groped out of his mind, but his hands kept balling into fists as he thought it over. She was painfully sweet and wide-eyed and soft-skinned and smelled good . . . He was losing the thread of his thought as he conjured up her image. The point was, she was the kind of girl you wanted to put in a bubble and protect. The kind of girl who attracted the attention of all the wrong men and probably didn’t realize she was in trouble until it was too late.

He headed back to his room and flipped open his laptop. There was a quick solution for tracking Evie down. A pinpoint of her cell phone would give him a good start. Pulling up the application he typed in her number and watched as the small red electronic push pin settled right on top of the address of their hotel. She was exactly where he’d left her.

Pulling his shoes back on, he thought through what he’d say to her. The orders had been clear. Send her back. But he didn’t take orders anymore. As a matter of fact, he enjoyed doing the opposite of what he was told.

So he thought over what he knew so far. Evie wasn’t going to sleep with him just because he told her she should. He’d already tested the waters. To sleep with a woman like her he’d have to be “all in.” He’d have to care. To feel. A cold shiver ran up his back at the idea of it. So if he was going to cross off the idea of sleeping with her, he’d just keep her in Boston long enough to piss his brother off. One more spin of the wheel in a game he loved to play.

E
vie jumped
at the loud knock on her hotel door. “No thank you,” she gulped out, trying to yank on her robe. She’d pulled the curtains tight after her massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure were done and decided ten thousand calories from room service menus and a few hours of sleep was just what she needed. But now foggy from her nap and in odd surroundings she was disoriented. “No thank you,” she said again.

“What?” Emmitt’s voice called through the door. “It’s me, just open up.”

“I’m not decent,” she stammered, wondering if he’d found out how she’d been using his credit card.

“Come on,” Emmitt barked again. “Just open up, already. I’ve got shit to do.”

Evie closed her robe as tightly as she could but still felt strange with just the cotton between her and Emmitt. Pulling open the door she stepped back quickly as he charged in and took an inventory of her room.

“You’ve been here all day?” he asked, sounding disappointed. “Jessica was sure you’d be out getting yourself into trouble.” He lifted a paper off the desk in the corner of the hotel room and laughed. “So you were insulted by my cash but you don’t mind running up my card at the spa?” He took in the pile of empty plates on a tray by the door. “And half the room service menu too.”

“What do you mean Jessica thought I’d be getting myself into trouble?” Evie asked, moving a step or two back every time he moved.

“She told me all about your night out, how it ended with you kissing my brother.” Evie watched his face and thought the glint in his eyes might actually be jealousy. But it faded fast.

“Oh,” she said, dropping her head in utter embarrassment. “I can’t believe I did that. But does Jessica really think that’s what I’d do up here? It was a stupid mistake and a crazy night. I don’t go around acting like that all the time.”

“So much so they told me to send you back.
Now
.” He pulled back the thick black-out curtains and let the light from the setting sun pour in.

“I’m not going back there. They can’t just treat me like I’m a package, a Christmas sweater no one wants.” Evie was certain the only thing waiting for her in Texas was more failure. “And I’m not about to get drunk and make a fool of myself again either. I’m going to . . .” she hesitated, knowing there was no plan.

“You’re going to help me,” Emmitt said as he closed the gap between them. With the wall to her back she couldn’t move away, but truthfully she didn’t want to. The smell of his cologne was wafting by her, and the urge to grab his shirt and pull him the rest of the way toward her was powerful. But she didn’t.

“How?” she asked, bringing one hand up to her face and pushing her hair back. “How can I do anything for you?” His wide muscle-bound chest was at eye level, and she tried to focus on something else in the room.

Emmitt recounted the conversation he had with Asher and explained how he couldn’t easily move in and out of Lance’s office without being noticed. But she could. If she was hell-bent on staying, she’d have to pull her weight.

“I can do that,” she said with an anxious smile. “I can do whatever you want me to. Just tell me, and I’ll do it.”

“Don’t say shit like that when you’re standing there in a robe. It’s not fair.” His hand rose up and brushed her cheek, his deliberate breath rising and falling as he stared into her eyes.

Without warning he leaned down and crushed his lips to hers. A shock of heat and desire bolted through her and tingled its way down to her core. As suddenly as it had started Emmitt was pulling away. And she moaned a little protest at the absence of his lips.

“I didn’t want you to think kissing a Kalling is like the kiss you had with Mathew. He’d give me a bad reputation that way.”

She murmured something stupid and then threw her arms up around his neck, trying to yank him back into a kiss. She could feel pulsing shock waves splitting her open, and he’d be the only person who could slam her back together.

Dropping open the robe, exposing her bare body to him, the small hesitation she felt in his lips melted away. Whether it was in her character or not, no longer mattered. She wanted him. She wanted to feel something unmistakably real. Something just for her that quieted her mind and settled her nerves. She knew he was capable of that. Emmitt looked like a man who could make you forget your biggest problems. At least for a little while, until he became one of your problems.

A second later his body banged into hers, pinning her to the wall as he ground himself against her. She could feel his large excited rod eager to enter her, though he was still clothed. His hands slid down and cupped her ass, lifting her from the floor. Instinctively she parted her legs and wrapped them around him. His arms easily held her weight off the floor as he thrust his hardness against her. Unplanned and unparalleled by anything she’d done before, this moment made her fully alive. His passionate kisses landed on her neck and collarbone with bites and licks that were driving her further down the abyss of passion.

They should be talking. Evie should say something, explain what this meant to her and why she was throwing her body at him so willingly. It needed context, and she deserved to know what was going through his head. But words didn’t come. He said nothing as he plunged a finger inside her and rubbed his thumb against her sweet spot. And any chance of her forming a sentence evaporated.

Evie was panting with desire, practically begging for him to plunge inside her as she clawed at his shirt. An incessant chirping noise broke them from each other. He kept her pinned to the wall as he dug his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. A text message.

“Everything all right?” Evie asked as a wash of something she couldn’t identify fell over his face. Something had just changed and the room felt suddenly cold. Where a moment ago he was hungry for her, he now seemed distracted and uninterested.

“It’s work. I’ve got to go,” he breathed out as he loosened his grip, letting her body slide down the wall and her feet hit the floor. Leaving her empty and unfulfilled.

He tucked his shirt back into his pants and wiped her lipstick from his lips. “Flip the lock on this door when I go. You should keep it locked.”

“You won’t be back tonight?” she asked, covering herself up as best she could with her hands and trying to feel anything besides mortified.

“No.” He was pulling at the door before she could ask him anything else. As his back disappeared and the heavy hotel door clanked shut she froze.
What the hell had just happened?

Emmitt looked down at his cell phone and nearly crushed it with his bare hands as he read the text from Jessica again.

Jessica: Did u find her? I have this terrible feeling she’s with some dirtbag who is trying to make a move on her.

She wasn’t all that far off in her worries. Though he hadn’t planned it, seeing Evie in that thin cotton robe had left him feeling helpless against the lust. It was painful to think what he could be doing to her body this very minute if Jessica’s timely text message hadn’t reminded him who he was dealing with. It’s not that he hadn’t broken dozens of hearts before. It didn’t bother him to think about how many women he left in his wake. But there was something about Evie. Something delicate and endearing he couldn’t seem to shake. The women who had come before would inevitably bounce back from his leaving, but Evie didn’t seem like she would. He’d been a great barometer for women in the past: the lowest measure of a man that they could use to build the list of things they actually wanted in a relationship. He was the before, and the next guy they found was always the after. But Evie was different, even if he couldn’t articulate why.

The idea of using her, owning her body, and then leaving her behind, made his gut twist up with guilt. It was a weakness, something he hated, but for some reason it grew more powerful by the minute. The more time he spent with her the more he knew it to be true. The right thing to do was to forget the idea of fucking her. Stop imagining her long golden hair swept over one of her shoulders as she rode him, his hand clamped on her hips, guiding her up and down. He couldn’t continue to picture her hidden behind the thick steam of the shower, touching her body coyly, and begging him to join her. He couldn’t . . .

“Fuck,” he murmured to himself as the ding of the elevator brought him back to reality. Emmitt’s reputation was one of a selfish, thoughtless prick. Usually he didn’t walk away from a horny woman just because he was afraid, in the end, he might hurt her. So what the hell was happening to him?