From Sanctum With Love (Masters and Mercenaries Book 10) (34 page)

Kai stood up beside her and drew her in close. All evening long he’d been attentive, sitting with her and generally being around if she needed something. He’d calmed so much from earlier in the day. He drew her away from the crowd, leaning over to whisper in her ear. “Can you do me a favor, baby?”

For that face, she would do almost anything. She let her hands run up his torso. It seemed insane to her that she’d spent so much time watching him and not touching him. It felt so damn right to touch him. And she’d made the decision to chill about the contract. He’d told her he loved her. If he wasn’t ready for a contract, then she wouldn’t push. And all that talk Jared had given her about how fast Kai moved when he was truly in love, well, Kai had grown up a lot since then. He wasn’t a man who would ever lie to her. There was absolutely nothing truly manipulative about Kai Ferguson. “Of course.”

“Talk to Mia. Case is going crazy. He wants to spend some time with her. I’ve seen the way she looks at him. Find out why she’s so scared and calm her down,” he whispered. “Just one dance. I think that would help Case a lot.”

Okay, so he was only manipulative in other’s best interests. Kai was right. Mia was twelve kinds of hung up on Case. So why wasn’t she paying attention to him tonight? “I’ll do what I can.”

He winked and brushed his lips over hers before she joined her girls.

The minute they walked out of the VIP lounge and into the private bar, the music volume dropped and Kori could hear again. Thank god.

Sarah turned the minute the door closed. “He’s a dick.”

Jared had been true to his word. He’d accepted Kori’s request that Sarah be included and then proceeded to ignore her in favor of any other woman who wanted to talk to him.

“I’m sorry.” The whole night was one big waste. Why anyone would want to sit in a club all night where they couldn’t hear well and no one seemed to be getting along was way past her understanding. “I think maybe he’s more of a player than we thought he was.”

She’d hoped Jared would come around. Sarah was strong enough to handle the press. Kai was right about that, and he’d been right about letting Sarah make her own decisions.

Sarah shrugged and walked over to the bar. Earlier there had been a bartender present, but Jared had explained that he preferred to mix his own drinks and tipped the guy to go away. Kori was certain that was because Jared was fairly paranoid that everyone was some kind of undercover reporter waiting to sell him out to the tabloids. He might be right, but it would have been nice to have a bartender.

“I thought we were going to the ladies’ room,” Mia said, looking back toward the door.

“Oh, that was my way of not having to bring anything back for the guys,” Sarah explained. She uncorked a bottle of tequila and poured out a shot. And then another. And another. Luckily the limes had already been sliced and someone had thoughtfully left out a saltshaker. “Drink with me. Please, I need my bitches. I got the cold shoulder from Hollywood hottie and now I have to watch him flirt with skanks all night.” She pointed Mia’s way. “Don’t you start with they might not be skanks. I’m not in a fair or forgiving mood.”

Mia’s shoulders squared and she stepped up to the bar. “They are obviously skanks.”

Ah, the solidarity of womanhood. Kori picked up the remaining shot glass, but not before giving her thumb a nice lick and letting Sara salt her up. There was a proper way to do a shot even in times of distress. It’s what lifted them up from the barbarians. Not the animals. Animals were often nicer than people. But she was fairly certain barbarians didn’t properly shoot tequila. She held her glass up. “May he get an STD from sleeping with skanks.”

“Here, here,” Sarah agreed. “And may this liquor help Kori’s asshole feel less enflamed.”

Unfortunately, Mia had already started her shot when that little line was uttered. She nearly spit out her tequila.

Damn, but she might need more than one. Kori did her shot, managing to not choke before she bit down on her lime and sent Sarah a look that hopefully could freeze over hell. “Really? We need to advertise?”

“You let Kai do that?” Mia grabbed a bottle of water. “Seriously?”

“He’s my boyfriend and we’re…very open to certain types of play,” Kori admitted. “I’m going to take it this is one of your hard limits?”

She wasn’t going to get all bent out of shape. Mia wasn’t looking at her like she was the whore of Babylon or anything. The pretty blonde was fairly new to the scene. She was finding her way and that often meant asking questions.

Mia took a long drink. “No. I made it soft, but I don’t do any of the sex stuff with my training Dom. Javier is nice and all, but I’m interested in a relationship, not casual sex.”

Javier was a line chef at Sean Taggart’s restaurant. He was known as Top’s manwhore du jour. “Yes, you should keep it friendly with him. I don’t think he does relationships.”

“What about Case? Are you trying to bag a Taggart?” Sarah asked, pouring herself another drink.

“I don’t know. I’m going to admit that I am very attracted to him, but he scares me, too. I don’t like the fact that he seemed to hate me one day and the next he’s asking me out,” Mia admitted. “It seems fishy to me. He’s been almost too nice lately.”

“Cut him some slack,” Kori said quietly. “He’s still in mourning.”

“I get that, but I think something’s going on. And I’m not sure I completely trust Jared’s crew.” Mia leaned against the bar.

“Because he’s a dick,” Sarah agreed.

Mia shook her head. “No, I’ve been doing some digging. His entourage has some serious issues. Did you know that Lena chick threw hot coffee all over a woman who was hitting on her last employer? She was working for a big-name actor and the rumors are she had an affair with him. Well, at a promo junket, she decided one of the reporters was getting to close to her man and she tossed a Starbuck’s in her face. Lena spent some time in ‘rehab’ after that.”

That was some juicy gossip. “How do you know that?”

“I have friends in LA,” Mia admitted. “Look, I don’t talk about this a lot, but my brother does some work for important people. He has connections and I used them to look into the new guys.”

“Paranoid, much? Not that I’m blaming you,” Sarah said, finishing her second shot. “It’s totally cool because your paranoia is the most interesting thing that’s happened all evening, but it’s weird. Normal people don’t investigate newbies.”

Mia shrugged. “Consider it a hobby. I think we should stick together while we’re hanging out with Jared and his crew. It’s fine to dance and everything, but maybe we shouldn’t wander off alone.”

“Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Kori stared at Mia, who suddenly looked like a girl who knew something she shouldn’t. “What is this about?”

“Look, I had a friend who knew Jared a couple of years back,” Mia replied. “We went to college together. She was murdered after she visited one of his sets.”

Sarah’s eyes went wide. “You think Jared killed her? Because I’m not seeing that. I was voted girl most likely to be murdered by my senior class and he’s not interested in me at all.”

“You went to a weird school,” Kori said with a shake of her head before turning back to Mia. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Mia’s eyes were clear and serious as she spoke. “About my friend? No. I’m not kidding. She really liked him and then one day I didn’t hear from her. A week later they found her body. I don’t know if it was him, but I started doing some research…”

The door opened and Mia’s mouth closed fast. Brad and Lena walked in, Lena’s head shaking as she walked toward the bar.

“I told you, I’ve already got everything set up,” Lena was saying. “My mother is going to be producing several high-quality, Oscar-worthy films and I’m going to get Jared in them. He’s leaving the whole TV shit behind him and he won’t look back.”

“Lena, don’t push this. You know how this goes. If he moves out of superhero shit, he won’t need me,” Brad argued, his face florid.

Lena waved that worry off. “He’ll always need a trainer.”

“But he’ll get one of those easygoing ones,” Brad argued. “Look, no one trains this hard if they’re not taking their shirt off five times a day. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since that man had carbs? No one wants to live like that. They have to because their careers depend on it. You want to make him over into some bullshit actor. Have you seen him really act?”

Lena rolled her eyes. “I have more faith in him than you do. He’ll learn, and yes, I’m going to make sure he gets a new trainer. And a new agent because your brother sucks. He spends all his time hitting on women when he should be managing Jared’s career. Now get away from me. I’m going to the ladies’ room. Alone. Because I’m an adult.”

Sarah shot her the finger, which Lena ignored.

“Bitch,” Brad said before slamming out the door.

“Okay, so we’ll keep an eye out for each other,” Kori said. She wasn’t sure she bought Mia’s theories, but people who lost friends didn’t always see things clearly.

“I’m going to find a hot stud and dance the night away, and Jared can kiss my juicy ass good-bye,” Sarah stated, holding herself regally. “This house of pleasure is closed to him.”

“I guess we should head back out,” Mia said.

Kori let Sarah go first and held Mia back. “Give Case a chance.”

Mia glanced to the door. “I want to. He’s so…overwhelming and I worry about his family.”

“The Taggarts are some of the most amazing men I’ve ever met in my life.”

“I’ve found appearances can be deceiving,” Mia said quietly.

“How do you know if you don’t try? I’m going to ask you something. What’s going to make you happy? Trying and failing with Case—who could honestly use some happy things in his life right now—or being too scared to try at all?”

Mia frowned, thinking for a moment. “I worry that I’m crossing a line I can’t come back from. Kori, I haven’t told you everything, but now isn’t the time. Let’s say I have an ulterior motive for being here.”

“The stuff with your friend?” It wasn’t a hard leap.

“Yes.”

“Case has nothing to do with that.”

“He might,” Mia replied. “McKay-Taggart has worked for some interesting people.”

“I assure you Case Taggart would never do anything to hurt you. He’s not that kind of guy. If he’s interested in you, it’s because he wants to spend time with you. He’s not working. The man wants a dance. I wasted so much time with Kai. I didn’t read the signs. I held off showing him I was interested and I did it because I was scared. Then we lost Theo. I think that made every single one of us realize how short life can be.”

“I’ve lost a lot of people in my life. I lost my parents when I was very young. I lost my brothers for a long time after that.”

“What would your parents want for you?” It felt good to be helping someone. She couldn’t help Sarah and Jared, but Mia and Case were a different story. If they liked each other, there was zero reason for them not to try.

Somehow being in love with Kai made everything seem possible.

Mia sniffled. “They would want me to be happy. My friend would want me to be happy. But Kori, until I figure this thing out, be careful.”

She leaned over, giving her friend a hug. “I will.”

Mia straightened up and smiled. “I’m going to go ask that cowboy to dance. Can you hold my purse?”

It was the job of a good girlfriend. “Will do.”

Kori took Mia’s little bag and followed her out, sure at least one thing had gone right tonight.

* * * *

Kai watched as Kori walked out with Mia. She looked over and gave him a wink and that was when he realized what she was carrying. Mia’s purse. It was one of those tiny things that was mostly a wallet with some bling on it. It wouldn’t carry more than some cash, credit cards, and her phone. He was only interested in one of those things.

Mia stopped in front of Case and held out her hand.

Shit. Kori had done it, and she looked so happy for her friend.

Kai’s gut twisted.

“What is she doing?” Jared asked, staring out on the dance floor where Sarah was commanding attention.

“I think she’s dancing, man,” Squirrel said as he stood up and slapped Jared on the shoulder. “Face facts. You lost that one. Guess you can’t win ’em all. I’m going to grab a beer from the bar. A real beer. All the crap they have in the VIP lounge is artesian crap. I’ll be back.”

“Have you seen the others?” Jared glanced around as though he realized his crew had deserted him.

Squirrel shouted over the music. “They’re out and about, brother. Don’t worry about them. Find another lady and have some fun. I know that’s what I’m going to do.”

Kori sank down beside him, settling her purse and Mia’s away from him. He would have to reach over her to get to it. Damn it. He wanted to tell Case to fuck the whole op. He wasn’t doing this. If Kori found out, she could get hurt, and the most important thing in the world to him was that Kori didn’t get hurt.

But he owed more than Kori. He owed them all. He had to make this work.

Case stood up, taking Mia’s hand in his. He towered over the blonde, and even from where Kai was sitting it was easy to see how the couple leaned into each other, how their bodies couldn’t seem to stay apart. The smile he gave Mia wasn’t all about the op.

Case looked over at Kai and nodded. “We’re going to go dance for a while. Be back in a bit.”

Mia clung to his hand, looking up at him like he was everything she wanted. She winked Kori’s way.

“I think that’s going to work out,” Kori whispered in his ear. “Thanks for pointing it out to me. I hope at least one of my friends finds a happy place tonight.”

Actually, it looked like Sarah was doing a pretty good job herself. The brunette beauty was commanding the dance floor, with not one but two guys vying for her attention. Her hips moved sensually, her eyes flashing.

And Jared couldn’t look away. Kai noticed all the women had given up and walked off while Jared frowned toward the dance floor. “Does she know either of those men?”

Kori flashed an impish grin. “It depends on what you mean by the word ‘know.’ Because the way she’s twerking on that one dude, she could know him biblically soon.”