Seduction in Session (8 page)

“Lara? What the hell is going on?”

She finally found the will to push Connor away, to bring her leg—god, it was practically around his hip now since she’d been humping the man’s thigh—back down to where it should be. She turned and saw not only Tom wearing a look of pure shock on his face, but Kiki grinning beside him.

“So you hired him after all?” She winked. “Good choice.”

Connor picked up his bag. “See, they believe it, sweetheart. I told you I could make them believe it.” He stared at them. “How did you two get in here?”

Kiki stared at him as if she exerted a conscious effort not to drool. “I live on four. Tom left work when he heard about the shooting.”

“Excellent. Well, that was what I needed.” He strode out of the elevator like nothing had happened.

“Lara, what are you doing with that idiot?” Tom asked. “We heard the news and got here as fast as we could. No one would tell us anything. Now we find you making out with the help?”

“I’m highly skilled labor if that helps any.” Connor stepped back into view. “And I’m going to need to talk to both of you. Lara, let’s go. I would prefer to have this conversation in private. Which door do these open?”

He dangled a set of keys in front of her. They were a mishmash held together with a
SAVE THE ORCAS
key chain. Yep, he’d stolen her keys . . . and she was pretty sure he’d just walked off with all the dignity she had left.

“1024.”

“Excellent. The four of us should go have a talk because you’re about to find out we’re all one happy family. Lara, I hope you have Scotch.”

She shook her head. “No. I have herbal tea.”

“Then we’ll send out for some when we order dinner. Let’s go.” He turned and walked down the hall like he owned the place.

Like good little soldiers, Kiki and Tom followed. Lara thought seriously about darting back in the elevator and fleeing the country.

“I’ll find you if you run,” he shouted down the hall.

With a sad sigh, she forced herself to move. And her nipples were hard again. Damn it.

*   *   *

C
onnor settled in after hanging up the phone. The minute everyone was in the condo, Lara’s crew had hightailed it to the back of the unit. He was sure they were trying to talk Lara out of hiring him, but that ship had sailed the minute he got her father on board. Still, her friends could make things difficult for him. Connor wanted to get a few things in place before he dealt with the problems ahead. Namely, food and drink. He’d taken one glance inside Lara’s fridge and known he would need help to survive. The woman didn’t even have real milk. Apparently someone had decided to slap whatever the hell came out of almond teats into a milk jug. So he’d made a list of necessities and called a delivery service.

If connected to the right people, one could get just about anything delivered in D.C. A twenty-five-year Glenfiddich was on its way. He preferred the fifty-year, but he had a down-on-his-luck image to maintain. In addition to the Scotch, he had burgers and fries being catered
in. He definitely wasn’t going to be able to live on whatever tofu crap Lara intended to serve.

“I thought you were broke and stuff.” Lara stood in the hall that led back to her living room. “That’s an expensive bottle of Scotch.”

Ah, that’s where the senator had done him good since he couldn’t use his own very-high-limit credit cards without blowing his cover. “Perks of the job. Your father gave me a healthy per diem. Don’t worry about a thing. I’m all paid for. I have to say, I’m glad your dad stepped up because Niall was paying me next to nothing.”

“I don’t think my dad gave you that money so you could buy booze.” She’d done nothing but frown his way since the moment that elevator door opened and his rival for her affections had entered the picture. Oh, sure, she and Tom were no longer dating, but from the nasty looks the other man sent his way, Tom was obviously still interested. Despite the guy’s pale-eyed, metrosexual vibe, Connor didn’t think Tom intended to simply give up. Not that he gave a shit about Lara’s ex, but he was surprised to discover he didn’t like her frowns. He’d definitely preferred it when she’d smiled at him.

“Your father understands the need to relax. Unless you can think of a more interesting way?” He grinned. Needling her was rapidly becoming his favorite pastime.

“Jogging,” she shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. “It releases all kinds of endorphins.”

He’d noticed she’d walked in and immediately covered her torso in a thick hoodie that proclaimed she was a woman earth warrior. Interesting wardrobe change since the thermostat was set to seventy-six in the apartment.

“That’s not going to work.” He shook his head. “Whatever activity I choose to relieve my stress has to be something we do together. I can’t let you out of my sight, and I don’t think it’s smart to be out in the open until we figure out who’s shooting at you. We’ll need to find something we can do as a duo and in this apartment. Alone. Can you think of anything?”

“You’re a jerk.” She spun around, the sneakers she’d changed into earlier squeaking on the hardwoods as she stalked out of her very organized kitchen that apparently contained no meat, cheese, or alcohol beyond something called organic blueberry wine.

He stared at the opening she’d just huffed through like the little princess she was, that sweet ass of hers swaying. He hadn’t gotten his hands on it when they’d kissed. He’d been distracted by the softness of her silken-spun hair and her plump lips. He’d been so consumed with kissing her that he’d forgotten to fill his hands with her lush backside.

He’d meant the kiss to prove that he could handle her and he would be in control. He’d intended to stake a claim, to shove his way into her life even more than he already had. She was too polite and used to deferring to the people around her, so Connor had known that if he simply pushed his way into her circle, she would accept it. Oh, she might frown at him, might use that pretty mouth of hers to spout shit at him from time to time, but she wouldn’t kick him out. Hell, she hadn’t been able to get rid of that fiancé of hers for years.

Yeah, the kiss was supposed to have been his show of power. Instead, he’d almost lost it. When he’d pressed his lips to hers, she’d sighed a little before completely giving over to him. Her reaction had been so open, so honest. She hadn’t held back or prevaricated. She hadn’t teased him. He’d fully expected the kind of flirty negotiations women often engaged in before sex. It was a little bargain between soon-to-be lovers. Women always wanted more, and the smart ones knew how to get what they wanted, whether it was money or introductions to his powerful friends or information. They would kiss him, press their bodies to his, and then pull back until he agreed to their terms. It had been that way ever since he’d lost his virginity during his Creighton days to a college girl who wanted an introduction to Maddox Crawford.

Lara Armstrong hadn’t engaged in any of that coy negotiating. She’d just given it up. Like she wanted nothing more than him.

The minute he’d felt her leg start to move against his, he’d thought
seriously about punching the button to stop the elevator. His instincts had taken over, and every one of them told him to press her back against the wall and burrow deep inside all that insanely hot sweetness. To take all of her sugar for himself.

Bracing himself on the kitchen counter, Connor took a deep breath. His cock ached just thinking about how hot she’d been. He would give it to her, every inch he had. The innocent act really did it for him.

And if it wasn’t an act? If she really was that sweet and soft and naive?

An odd, almost nasty half growl caught his attention. When he looked down, he spotted a rat. No, maybe that was a dog . . . or some weird combo of the two. Whatever it was, the little animal sat at his feet, staring up at him with a less-than-menacing glare.

“You are the single fugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” And it was irritable. Its little body shook as it unleashed a high-pitched bark his way.

“Lincoln!” Lara was back and she quickly picked up the dog. Yeah, now that he looked at it, the thing appeared to be some mix of Chihuahua and dachshund. It had a weenie-dog body but the triangular face and shaking that accompanied the poor creatures with Chihuahua DNA.

On the other hand, he kind of envied the little mutant because Lara picked him up and cuddled him to her chest.

“You named that thing Lincoln?”

Her chin came up, a sure sign she was ready to be stubborn. “Lincoln was a noble man. I want this little guy to be noble, too.”

There was no way that squirming thing could ever be considered noble. “Was it homeless before you picked it up?”

Lincoln studied him from the safety of Lara’s arms, still growling and yipping. Lara used her free hand to pet the thing. “He’s a rescue dog. There are so many dogs who need homes. I’ve had him for a couple of months now but he still seems really surly. I guess it’s just his nature.”

Well, if Connor weighed three pounds soaking wet, he might have an attitude, too.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Tom stalked into the kitchen from the back of the unit. He still wore the nice slacks and polished loafers he’d worn to work, but had since changed into a black T-shirt to try not to look like the lawyer he obviously was.

Kiki was still wearing the clothes from earlier, a sexy boho-chic skirt and a peasant blouse that showed off her mocha and caramel skin. “I think he thinks he’s her bodyguard. With benefits.”

“There are no benefits.” Lara shook her head. “Huh. That’s actually sad when you think about it. Bodyguards should get benefits, too. Have you thought of unionizing?”

“No.” Oh, he intended to make sure she became intimately familiar with every beneficial part of him, but explaining that to her would just get him in trouble. First, he needed to deal with the two potential troublemakers in front of him, and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t keep Lara on task. If this had been a normal mission, keeping them quiet would have been easy, but Lara would likely throw a fit if her two besties ended up disappearing from the face of the earth. She would probably lead a search team with canines eating cruelty-free foods or some shit.

Sometimes it was way easier to deal with the dregs of the world. At least he always knew how they would behave.

“Look, Senator Armstrong and I reached very reasonable terms, so I’m doing my job. I’ll be more effective if I have less interference.” He put on what he hoped was his reassuring face and told himself to behave as normally as possible. And by
normal
he meant not killing them because he didn’t want to listen to their whiny lawyer voices anymore.

“I don’t care what her dad says. He’s gone straight out of his mind. I think you should leave. There’s no way you’re staying here. She doesn’t even know you,” Tom said with a sullen pout.

Yep, not crushing Tom’s windpipe with one hand was going to be an act of pure mercy on his part. “Could we all sit down and talk about what happened?”

Lara nodded. “Yes. I think that’s a very good plan. Let’s form a friendship circle and talk this out. That will bring Connor into the group and make him feel comfortable.”

Kiki grinned impishly. She wasn’t so bad. “I don’t think that man has ever been in a friendship circle. Maybe we should get the drums out. Lara spent some time with a tribe in Ecuador who believes that drumming together aligns souls and makes for better negotiations.”

Dear god. There wasn’t enough Scotch in the world. “I think we can skip the drumming.”

Lara nodded. “It makes Lincoln howl and then my next-door neighbor yells at me. He’s a very unhappy man.”

Oddly, Connor didn’t like the thought of someone yelling at her. She would never yell back. She would likely try to “understand” the man. He pushed those thoughts out of his head. He wasn’t here to protect her from herself. “Let me put this to you as straight as I possibly can. Do you two understand that someone tried to kill Lara this afternoon?”

Tom’s eyes widened and he slumped down on Lara’s love seat, making a place for Kiki to sit beside him. “The radio said they thought it was random or maybe some form of drug deal gone bad.”

He would be honest with them—to a point. “It wasn’t. The gunman stopped right in front of where we were sitting and pointed straight at her. There’s no doubt who his target was.” He turned to Lara. “My first question is, who knew where you were going to be this afternoon?”

It was time to start getting some real answers. Sure, the whole bodyguard thing was a cover, and once he found the information he needed, she would be on her own, but he had to look like he was doing his job.

“I met Lara at the coffeehouse, but I had to leave before you got
there,” Tom admitted. “I don’t think she told anyone about it but me and Kiki.”

“She just wanted company in case you turned out to be creepy,” Kiki added. “Of course then she got a look at you and she dumped my ass really fast.”

“I did not. I just realized that I was late. You totally could have come along.” Lara sent her friend some seriously pleading looks.

This would be a tough group to keep on task. “So, Lara, no one else knew where you were going to be this afternoon?”

She turned to him and shook her head. “No one. I just told Kiki and Tom and only because a woman on her own can’t be too careful. Anytime I’m meeting someone, I always make sure one of my friends knows when and where the meeting place is.”

Something about the way she’d hesitated over the word
always
made him think she was lying.

He would bet half his fortune that her friends didn’t know she was meeting Deep Throat.

“All right. I’m going to need to figure out who’s tracking you and how. I need access to anything you were carrying with you today.” Most likely, someone had traced her cell phone. He’d run a few programs to see if someone had tampered with her device.

Tom held up his phone. “Or you could just look on Facebook. She told all 3,274 friends of hers exactly where she was at. See? She checked in at Ebenezers.”

He would always have to remember that he wasn’t dealing with a polished operative. He was dealing with someone more like Miley Cyrus, and if she’d been shot, she would likely have taken a selfie of her bullet wounds and posted it on Instagram before bleeding out. He turned to Lara, who gave him a sheepish smile.