“Gina, you don’t understand. You have to listen—”
“I understand all too well. You wanted to get back at Rio by sticking this affair in his face, but then you realized he’d leave you high and dry in the divorce, so you trumped up a story to send me in to get the evidence.”
Tracy’s expression was miserable, and she didn’t deny what Gina said.
“I’m sorry, Gina, but it was the only way I knew you’d go to get them. I knew you’d be mad, but I thought I could explain when you came home. I made a terrible mistake. I met Peter at a restaurant one night about three months ago, and he seemed so nice. So understanding. But he’s not.”
“Not what? I assume Peter is the guy you are fooling around with?”
“Yes, and he’s
not
a nice guy at all. A few days ago, I was all upset, because Rio and I had a horrible fight about money—he took my name off of the checking account—and Rio said he had pictures, proof I had been unfaithful. I told Peter, because I was just so upset I had to tell someone, and he went nuts.”
“Well, I can’t really blame him. You’ve put him in the middle of this, too.”
Tracy paced back and forth. “No, you don’t get it. I’d never seen him like that. It was like he turned into some kind of monster. I—I thought he was going to hurt me, Gina. He even scared his little boy, Ricki, with his screaming at me. That poor kid—he’s so shy anyway. He never talks. Peter doesn’t let him out of his sight, though. He told me I had to get those pictures, or else.”
Gina was stunned by what she was hearing. Her sister had definitely jumped from the frying pan to the fire.
“Tracy, do you ever
think?
You’re in the middle of a
divorce to one jerk, and you pick up another one who sounds even worse? What is this guy hiding that he’s willing to threaten you for those pictures?”
Tracy wiped the tears from her face, her eyes stormy. “Oh, that’s so like you, all self-righteous and perfect, as always.”
“I’m sorry if you see it that way, but you landed yourself in this mess, and to make matters worse, you lied to me to manipulate me into doing something I could have been arrested for.”
“Would you have helped me if I told you the truth?”
Gina threw her hands up. “No, of course not. I would have told you to march in to see your lawyer or the police, tell them what you just told me and have this other guy arrested for threatening you!”
“I don’t know what it is, but Peter is into something, something big. I see shady guys around the boat, coming and going. He never tells me about any of his friends, doesn’t let me talk to Ricki much, or be alone with him. It’s like he works overtime to keep an eye on everything, keep everyone separate. He was serious about getting those pictures. He said if I didn’t get them, he’d go after Rio, too. I don’t want that, even if Rio has been awful, he’s still my husband.”
“It’s clear that you need to go to the police.”
“No! Peter said if I did there would be consequences.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic? He probably is married and just doesn’t want his wife getting wind of this—he might lose his boat, or maybe
custody of his son. He’s just trying to scare you into doing his dirty work for him.”
“Maybe. I don’t know. He
does
scare me.”
Gina wiped a hand over her face, afraid that her sister had really gotten in over her head this time. “Does he know where you live? That you’ve been staying here?”
“No, I don’t think so. I always go to meet him—he doesn’t leave the boat for too long. He said it was because of Ricki. He knows I have a sister, but I never told him anything specific, I swear. He’s never been here.”
“Thank God for small favors. You and I have different last names, so hopefully he wouldn’t make a connection. Just don’t go see him anymore. Cut any communication off.”
“I don’t think that will work. I have to get those pictures. He gave me until tomorrow, when I am supposed to see him again. And now you don’t have them,” she cried. “We have to try. We have to try to get them.”
Gina recognized the genuine panic in Tracy’s voice, and took a deep breath. If what her sister was saying was true, then there was only one way to get those pictures back. Gina took another deep breath, hardly able to believe she was even considering what she was about to say.
“Okay, here’s the thing. Mason and I, uh, we kinda hooked up last night.”
“What?” Tracy shrieked and her eyes went wide.
“He caught me in his office when I was looking for the pictures. I had to find some way to explain being there, and before you know it, one thing led to another.”
Tracy’s eyes went wide. “Wow. Well, you did look great in that costume.”
“Whatever. He invited me back for a…date tonight. He doesn’t know who I am, and of course I wasn’t going to go.”
Tracy was smart, especially when it came to her sense of self-preservation, and made the leap that Gina had already made. “But if you go, you might be able to grab the pictures! It’s perfect!”
Gina had vowed to herself not to run to Tracy’s rescue anymore, but she wasn’t sure this was the best time for tough love, not when Tracy had an apparently dangerous man physically threatening her for the photos. If she was going to be able to look herself in the mirror, though, she couldn’t sleep with Mason just to steal from him. Mata Hari she definitely was not. Maybe there were options.
“I could talk to Mason, tell him the problem. He’s a smart guy, a lawyer, he might know a way to help,” Gina suggested.
Tracy shook her head. “No way. He’s definitely a by-the-book kind of guy. He’d probably have you arrested, even though you did sleep with him. Which I can’t believe, by the way. Mason seems too uptight to have sex with anyone, though he is hunky, in his own corporate kind of way. I want details on
that
,” Tracy said, distracted from her troubles for a moment.
“Forget it.”
“But—”
“Listen, I’ll try to get the pictures, but I’m
not
sleep
ing with him to do it. I’ll just lead him on a little, or something, and try to get back into that office.”
“Do you want to slip him something?”
“What?”
“You know, a sleeping pill or something. So you can search the place?”
Gina looked at her sister, appalled. “No! Are you crazy? I’m not going to drug the poor man.”
“Believe me, Mason is far from poor.”
Gina sighed heavily, sitting down and dropping her face into her hands, overwhelmed. “This is such a mess. How could you have gotten involved with a man like this?”
Tracy closed the space, surprising Gina with a tight hug. “I know. I’m sorry. I never should have dragged you into it, but I was so desperate. If we can just get these pictures to Peter, he’ll leave me alone, and it’ll be over.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s just hope I can make this work tonight.”
“I’ll help. I have the perfect outfit. You’ll be able to take the pictures without any trouble, and he won’t even notice when he sees you in this.”
Gina wasn’t sure how well she trusted the conspiratorial tone in her sister’s voice, but what else was she supposed to do? She would distract Mason with sex, and find some way to get to the pictures. And as tempting as it was, she wouldn’t go to bed with him.
She’d slip into her temptress persona one more time
for Mason Scott, all the while knowing that the fantasies they’d hoped to explore were going to have to stay unrealized.
T
HE DOOR SWUNG OPEN
and Tracy nearly wept with relief. Rio came, looking handsome and serious, but all that mattered to her was that when she called, he’d come.
“Rio, thank you so much,” she said, throwing herself into his arms. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
She knew it was wrong, but in spite of everything, she still loved him. And she was so afraid of Peter. Rio could protect her—he’d know what to do. He always did.
Rio hugged her tight, and then set her back with a suspicious look. “What are you up to, Tracy?”
“I—I’m in a bit of trouble.”
“Where’s Gina?”
“She’s gone for the night. I can tell you, but please come in. Hurry, they might be watching.”
Rio’s beautiful brown eyes narrowed to slits. “Who would be watching you?”
She watched him purse his lips, waiting for her answer. Those lips had touched every inch of her, and the
reminder made her shiver. She also caught the heat in his eyes when he saw her, though he’d hidden it quickly.
She’d never stopped wanting him. She’d only given in to the affair with Peter Dupree because Rio had ignored her and broken her heart. Now look at the mess she was in.
“Please, Rio, come in and I’ll tell you everything.”
“This is some kind of trick because of the divorce? What game are you playing?”
“I’m not. Please!” she urged, taking him by the hand and pulling him in.
Rio sighed and stepped in, the front of his massive, hard-as-rock body brushing up against her softness as he entered the house. He looked terrific in the black pants and silk shirt he was wearing. When she looked down her heart leapt.
“You still wear your wedding ring.”
“Because we are still married, for now.”
She wore hers, too, until Peter had asked her to take it off. At the time, she thought Peter was being romantic—that he didn’t like thinking of her with another man. In truth, he was just controlling and crazy.
Rio was so different. Tracy had never appreciated that before, that for all of his faults, Rio was a gentle and passionate man. It was why women loved him. She had to hold her breath to stifle a sigh.
“What have you done, Tracy? If this is about money, we should wait for the lawyers to figure it out.” His cool demeanor brought her back to reality.
Tracy turned away, nibbling her lip and searching for an explanation, but pushed him away angrily when he stepped closer.
“It’s not about money.”
“What then?”
“The man you saw me with—”
“Your lover,” he said harshly.
Her cheeks heated, and she tipped her chin up, meeting his gaze. “At least I only strayed once,” she said, her accusation hitting the mark as he lowered his gaze, acknowledging the truth of her words. “How many women did you have while we were married?”
“I think I should go,” he said quietly, turning to the door, but Tracy stepped in front.
“The pictures you had taken of us…He’s threatened me if I don’t get them back.”
Rio barked out a laugh. “You expect me to believe this? You simply want the pictures so I don’t use them against you. Goodbye, Tracy.”
“I do want them, but not because of the divorce. He threatened me, Rio. I can prove it. There’s something else. I think it’s important.”
“How?”
“I didn’t tell Gina, but I found this in his bedroom, hidden, the night he threatened me. I thought if I had something, you know, on him, then I’d have leverage, right?”
Rio read through several pages of the small notepad, his eyebrows rising. “You took this?”
“Yes.”
“Tracy, what did you get into here? I can’t be sure, but these look like times, coordinates and maybe product codes of some sort. Prices. Transaction records.”
“That’s what I thought, but I wasn’t sure.”
“This one name, here, Backman—I’ve heard of him. He’s a local smuggler. Small-time, but dangerous.”
“So that’s good, right? I have something that could put Peter in jail, so he won’t care about the pictures? If he threatens me, or anyone, I will use this against him,” she said. “And if Gina can get the pictures, we have even more against him. He’ll have to leave us alone.”
Rio closed his eyes, shook his head. “No, my love. Men like your lover, they go after what they want, they take it and they usually kill whoever took it from them. You have put yourself in grave danger,” he said, stepping back to look out the curtain, watching the street. “Where did you say Gina went?”
“She’s at Mason’s. They have kind of a…thing. She went back to his house tonight to try to get the pictures for me, but I don’t know if she’ll be able to do it. She’s not a very good thief. I knew if I showed her the notebook, she’d make me turn it over.”
“Maybe that would have been best.”
“Sure. What do you care? Wouldn’t having me out of the picture just make your life so much easier?”
Rio seemed surprised at her outburst. “I have never wished you harm. You know I still love you.”
“How can you say that, when I obviously was never
enough for you?” she said, her cheeks burning with humiliation even while her heart raced hopefully.
Rio ran a hand over his face. “I did give in to temptation, it’s true. I suppose, on some level, I never really thought you’d stay with me. That you would find someone else, something better. And you did.”
“Only because I didn’t have you.” Tears she didn’t want to shed erupted anyway.
“I’ve been so stupid. I know,” he said. “I thought of coming to you, to apologize and try to make things right, but then I saw those pictures of you with him, and I became so angry,” Rio confessed. “I only wanted to hurt you. I should have known that was how I’d made you feel over and over again.”
Tracy’s heart stuttered at his admission and the raw emotions radiating from his eyes. “Rio, I don’t know what to think,” she said softly, lifting a hand to his face, where he turned his lips into her palm and kissed the tender skin there. “But it just feels right, and safe, to be with you.”
In the next moment, they were melded together from lips to hips and the world felt right again. Tracy felt solid again. Real in the way only Rio had ever made her feel.
“I’ve missed you, Tracy,” he said roughly. “But we have to get out of here. He will come looking and when he does, you can’t be here. I don’t know who this man is, but he’s not going to play games with you.”
Tracy nodded, grabbing her coat and phone. “What will we do? What about Gina?”
Rio heaved a sigh. “We’ll work something out. Call
her. Tell her not to come home. To go somewhere safe. Tell her to stay with Mason.”
Tracy nodded, huddled into Rio’s shoulder, his arm around her as they made their way to his car. For now, she was with Rio, and Gina was with Mason, and they were safe. They just had to make sure they all stayed that way.
T
HERE WAS NO TIME FOR NERVES
. Gina had barely finished pushing the doorbell when Mason opened the door and wasted no time pulling her in, closing the door and flattening her against it. The length of his body held her in place as he kissed her, causing her to dissolve from the waist down.
“You look good enough to eat,” Mason murmured when he finally released her lips. He was still pressed tightly against her, from chest to knee, and she blinked, bemused, not having expected such a frontal assault on her senses.
“I’m surprised you even noticed,” she joked lightly, though there was no way to disguise her body’s immediate response to his.
“Believe me, I noticed. Hungry?” he asked, his meaning obvious, but she also smelled something delicious.
That clinched it. She’d have to find a new job, since food and sex would be forever connected in her mind now.
“Very,” she said as he leaned in, but she put a hand on his chest. “What smells so delicious?”
He grinned, stealing another quick kiss before he answered.
“Bisque, salad, fresh bread, just delivered from a place where I have an in with the chef.”
“What restaurant?”
“The Glen. Do you know it?”
Gina had to bite her tongue. She knew the establishment well, had reviewed them favorably several times. Their bisque
was
as good as sex. But she couldn’t divulge that, not when they needed to keep things anonymous.
“I guess we could eat first. We’ll need the energy,” he whispered against her lips. Then he was gone, taking her coat and allowing her to get her bearings.
“I’ll choose a wine and we’ll sit for a while. Get to know each other a little,” he said.
He wore black casual pants and a red button-down shirt, the outfit making him look somewhat dangerous, reminiscent of his vampire self. He hung the coat in a hall closet and turned, catching her staring, and her cheeks turned pink. He didn’t seem to mind her perusal as he winked and then went to go get the wine, beckoning her to join him.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he said simply, and she had no response but a smile. The words were all clogged up by lust.
As they’d agreed, Mason also wore his mask, and Gina wished she could get to know the man behind it. Sadly, that wasn’t possible. In fact, sitting down to eat was a bad idea. It would lead to conversation, and the
possibility for slipups. She hated to miss the bisque, but she needed to do what she came here to do, and do it quickly. Mason disappeared down the hall, presumably to the kitchen.
She caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror to the side of the door. The close-fitting black dress hugged her curves, but barely covered her breasts, which were fully featured by the black push-up bra Tracy had insisted she buy. In a fit of guilt her sister turned to fashion, sharing her most prized designer dress and shoes, and even providing a pedicure. She now sported sexy red-painted toes through the peekaboo front of the shoes.
Tracy was a tad smaller in the bust and hips, so this dress really was formfitting in those areas. Not in a bad way, but a
va-va-voom
way, Gina realized. She spent so much time in jeans and T-shirts, she had forgotten what it was like to wear something this sultry.
In the car, she’d slipped on the glittering mask she’d worn the night before, her legs seeming very long in Tracy’s four-inch do-me heels.
Gina had to admit she looked pretty good, even though she’d done nothing special with her hair, letting it curl at will, like it always did. And now, her lips were ripe from Mason’s kisses.
Gina wondered what it was like, for a moment, to be her sister. To live a more jet-setting lifestyle where she wore clothes like this all the time, went to clubs and parties like the one Mason had thrown and met exciting, handsome men so often she didn’t think twice about it.
But for Gina, this was pure fantasy. And the problem with fantasy was that it would be a little disappointing to return to her jeans and T-shirt self. This wasn’t really her, though, and she had to remember that, for both of their sakes.
In spite of his ruthless reputation, Mason was a good man, from what she could tell. She thought he might be a man she would like to get to know better, if there was any way he’d ever really be attracted to her, not her sexy make-believe persona. But while Gina did dress up for her restaurant assignments, it was usually in her standard black pants, a light shell and coat. It was her work, she wasn’t supposed to look sexy.
Gina didn’t even own one truly
va-va-voom
dress, and she suspected that if Mason passed her on the sidewalk in daily life, he’d never look twice.
The realization stung a little.
Still, the last thing she wanted to do was to fall for him when she was only here to deceive him. To steal from him. Gina wasn’t made of that kind of stuff. She couldn’t risk being here too long, because her good intentions might not be enough to keep him from giving in. Her body was already throbbing from the kisses he’d offered, and she knew those were mere appetizers, so to speak.
She knew where the pictures were, so if she could just delay Mason for a few minutes and run downstairs and get them, she’d be home free. He didn’t know who she was, and he’d never know.
Hearing him whistling as he made his way back from
the wine cellar, Gina made a decision. Slipping off the ridiculously high heels so that she didn’t kill herself, she ran upstairs, quickly searching for his room.
It wasn’t hard to find. The door to the master bedroom was open. Candles were lit and roses punctuated and perfumed the tables on each side of a massive bed wrapped in luxurious black satin.
“Wow,” she whispered to herself, eyeing the sheets. Mason did know how to set the stage for seduction.
Now she had to complete the picture.
Steeling her nerves, the dress she wore slid from her body to the hardwood floor of the hall, providing a sexy signal for him to find her, and making it available for her to grab, with her shoes, on her way back downstairs.
Guilt pinched at her, but she was doing this was for Tracy, she reminded herself.
She stripped down to the sheer black bra that showed a little too much and a black thong that covered next to nothing. Her legs were bare and tan, toned. One of her better features, but it made her feel particularly naked. How had she let Tracy talk her into this?
“You need to drive him to distraction, and this lingerie will do it,” Tracy had insisted firmly.
Mason’s footsteps echoed below, pausing as he called her name. She heard his foot on the first stair, which creaked. She’d noticed on her way up. He reached the top, paused again behind the door, presumably noting her dress on the floor.
Gina threw herself on to the bed, sprawling over the numerous pillows in a way she hoped was sexy just as he appeared in the doorway.
“Hot damn,” he breathed out on a whoosh, his eyes raking over her as he stood transfixed with two glasses of wine shining gold in the low light. The bubbles told her it was champagne, and she licked her lips. Gina loved champagne. She could imagine licking it off of that washboard stomach of his with no trouble at all.
The way he was eyeing her confirmed that Tracy was right about the lingerie. Gina had never, ever had a man look at her like that before, with such raw hunger carved into his expression. It was…thrilling.