Indecent Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 3) (3 page)

Martin strode out of the bar and headed for the elevators while Travis sauntered to the resort gift shop on the other side of the lobby. Aubrey had seemed so tense earlier perhaps a little gift might make her smile. Something funny that would make her laugh. These days making her happy was all he wanted to do. He could only hope and pray he was succeeding because women like Aubrey Grayson didn’t come around in a man’s life very often.

Losing at the game of love? Not an option.

‡

T
he champagne flowed
as the band played an old Gershwin tune, the music carrying all the way out onto the open terrace of the luxurious hotel ballroom where Aubrey was currently getting a breath of fresh air. The main room was sprawling with marble floors and crystal chandeliers but she’d still become overcome with the cloying aroma of perfume. After she’d sneezed several times Travis had insisted on bringing her out here for a lungful of unpolluted oxygen and she’d gratefully accepted.

“Is this better?” he asked, his brows pulled down in concern. “You were looking a little green in there.”

Aubrey took a slow, deep breath before answering. “Much. I don’t mind perfume but it was like a cloud hanging over our heads in there. I think it was the mixture of all the scents, frankly. Strong floral and musk shouldn’t be combined with apples and hay.”

Travis smiled, showing off that dimple in his right cheek. He looked devastatingly handsome in his well-cut black tuxedo, tailored to perfection. She preferred him in blue jeans and a flannel button-down thrown over a white t-shirt but there was definitely something about a man in a suit…something hot and sexy. But then Travis couldn’t have been unattractive if he tried. He had that undefinable something that drove women crazy whether they were eight or eighty. Maybe it was his charm, or his intelligence, or the way he filled out his torn blue jeans. Whatever it was he had it in spades.

“I like your perfume.” He leaned down and nudged his nose along her bare shoulder sending a frisson of awareness up her spine and down to her toes. She had to concentrate to keep her knees from shaking at his nearness. “Not heavy. Not sweet. Just perfect.”

Feeling the heat rise in her cheeks, she gave him a shaky laugh. “I’m not wearing any perfume. That’s just soap and lotion. I was afraid the bottle might break in my suitcase and make a stinky mess.”

“I doubt I’d ever describe you as stinky but you do smell good. Are you having any fun? I know my friends can be a little overwhelming when you first meet them.”

“Are they all your friends?”

She’d been introduced to some lovely people so far this evening but she’d also met a few that she couldn’t imagine Travis spending five minutes with.

“No, and I think you knew that before you asked the question,” Travis chuckled as he slid his hands around her middle and tugged her back to his front. Aubrey relaxed in his embrace letting the tension of the party fall away. Simply enjoying the peace, she listened to the hypnotic rhythm of the waves lapping at the sugar white sand. Moonbeams danced on the surface of the water but shrouded the homes and trees in shadow as if protecting a deep, dark secret. “In fact most of these people could only be called acquaintances. I’m here for Martin this weekend and he is a friend.”

“I liked him. He seems like a nice man.”

“He is a nice man, one of the best. He liked you too by the way. Said I was a lucky man but then I knew that.”

Pressing a kiss to her temple, Aubrey felt his warm breath on her cheek. She closed her eyes and savored the sensation of feeling completely and totally safe within his strong arms. It wasn’t smart to get used to this but every now and then she allowed herself to revel in the pure pleasure of just being close to him. His fingers spread over her abdomen heating the skin through the thin fabric.

His lips skimmed her temple, his warm breath a caress against her cheek. She was as helpless as a kitten when it came to this man’s advances. “This dress is fantastic. You’re amazingly talented. I wish you would let me help you, sweetheart. You could set up your own business.”

Tonight she was wearing a special gown she’d designed just for this occasion. At one point in her life she’d dreamed of becoming an apparel designer but quickly realized that being practical paid the rent. Luckily it was a handy skill for nights like this where she wanted to blend in with the wealthy elite.

The full-length white silk dress with skinny spaghetti straps holding up the bodice boasted a slit up the side to the top of Aubrey’s thigh showing a generous amount of leg. The gown made her feel a little glamorous and she desperately needed the ego boost this evening as women dripping in diamonds flirted with Travis hoping to simply get one of his special smiles. Most of them had looked her up and down dismissively before pressing closer to him in a ploy to show off their bountiful assets. She had managed to ignore most of their high school games but she couldn’t deny it was better when it was just the two of them.

Aubrey stiffened in his arms, hating that he’d brought up the sensitive subject again. They’d had this discussion before early in their working relationship. After only working with him for a few weeks she’d come into the office wearing a softly tailored pink skirt and jacket. He’d complimented her and then tried to guess the designer which had only made her laugh out loud. Assistants didn’t make enough money to buy fancy duds and she didn’t hesitate to point that out to Travis much to his chagrin. Eventually she’d admitted it was her own creation and he’d been impressed enough to want to discuss helping her get into the design business. She’d assumed he was simply being polite.

By the time he’d convinced her he was completely serious they’d begun seeing each other. There was no way she was going to let her boyfriend and soon to be lover shell out money to start her in business. It smacked of…payment for services rendered and she’d told him so straight out finally getting him to drop the idea.

Now he was doing it again.

“No,” she said firmly. “I told you why I can’t do it.”

She felt his heavy sigh and knew the conversation wasn’t over yet. “You shouldn’t care what people think. We’ll know the truth and that’s all that matters.”

“Bullshit.” The word popped out before she could stop it but she did know better. “People with money and power always say that what others think don’t matter because it doesn’t matter to them. To regular people? Those things matter, Travis. It matters what people think about me. Maybe I’m shallow but I don’t want to be known as a woman who slept her way into a job.”

Travis was a good man and he was always trying to help her or care for her in some way but she’d been standing on her own two feet for a long time now. She wasn’t a princess that needed rescuing.

“No one would ever say that about you.”

“Oh, really? Are you sure? From what I’ve seen of your friends and business partners in the last five months they’d love to rip me to shreds. They’re like coyotes that prey on the weakest antelope.”

“I sure as hell wouldn’t call you weak either. You scare the living shit out of me.”

Travis was laughing and even Aubrey had to relax and let her lips curve into a smile. The women he’d dated before her were as different as day to night. She often wondered what he saw in her.

Aubrey leaned against his chest, his heart beating under her cheek as her gaze scanned the crowd in the ballroom. “I think I’m going to run to the ladies’ room.”

“I’ll get you a fresh drink. Meet me at the bar.”

Aubrey tucked her tiny clutch purse under her arm and headed for the dim alcove just inside the entrance to the ballroom. Once inside the restroom she quickly repaired her makeup and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss before running her fingers through her long, thick hair that had a tendency to curl in the humidity. Sighing at her reflection, she shoved everything back in her purse and zipped it shut. The trip to the ladies’ room had only been a distraction anyway to keep the evening happy and light. She didn’t want to ruin the party by having a disagreement with Travis no matter how innocuous.

Pushing on the door, it swung open and in her haste to rejoin Travis she ran right into another body, dropping her purse onto the marble floor. She immediately apologized and reached down but a masculine hand beat her to it, holding it out. Her breath caught in her throat and she had to forcibly straighten her knees to keep them from giving out. She took the purse from him with nerveless fingers trying to make sense of what this man was doing standing in front of her. It had been years but not nearly long enough.

Bruce Livingston.

A classmate from junior high and high school. She’d never liked him even then and now he was standing right in front of her with a triumphant smile.

Slightly paunchy around the middle and his hairline receding, his expression of sickly arrogance made her skin crawl in revulsion. He was the absolute worst person she could see tonight – or any other night for that matter.

Bruce knew all her secrets.

He knew who and what she really was.

Her fingers tightened on her clutch to keep her hands from visibly shaking as her stomach twisted violently in her abdomen. Her carefully constructed facade was about to crumble before her very eyes.

Before Travis’s eyes.

Her past, long dead and buried, had clawed its way out of the grave.

‡

A
ubrey never had
a chance to flee.

Bruce’s hand snaked out and clamped down painfully on her arm. She’d have bruises tomorrow from his punishing grip.

“I thought it was you, Aubrey.” Bruce’s shark-like grin widened and a shudder of fear and revulsion ran down her spine. She was trapped. She didn’t want to make a scene among this well-heeled crowd but she didn’t want to stay here. “I hardly recognized you across the room. You’ve certainly moved up in the world hanging on Travis Anderson’s arm. Does he know what a little slut you are? Or is that part of the attraction?”

Aubrey’s palm itched to slap that nasty smile off of Bruce’s face but instead she fisted her fingers, the nails digging into her own flesh. The pain centered her anger and kept her from hauling off and punching him in the gut.

“Let me go, Bruce.”

The words came out surprisingly strong but the man didn’t bat an eyelash at her command.

“Come on, babe. Don’t be like that. You used to be such fun… and I’m always ready for that. Why don’t we go somewhere more quiet and get to know each other again.”

Acid bile had crawled up her throat and she had to swallow hard to be able to speak. “Leave me alone. We don’t have anything to say to each other.”

His fingers tightened and she winced, tugging at her arm. “Don’t be like that. We both know that you’re a little whore, Aubrey. You had quite the reputation in high school. It’s a shame you and I never met up back then but we can remedy that tonight. You may have fucked practically every guy in school but I can show you what a real man is. You won’t need anyone else after I’ve had you.”

The mere suggestion of having sex with Bruce Livingston made her physically ill.

With a burst of strength, she yanked her arm away, rubbing at the livid marks his bruising grip had left behind. “Get the fuck away from me, Bruce. I’m not that girl anymore and even if I was I sure as hell wouldn’t screw you. You were slime then and it looks like nothing has changed.”

Bruce had been a few years ahead of Aubrey in school and kind of a jerk so she was shocked to see him at a fancy party like this one. She’d assumed he would end up selling used cars and wearing plaid suits with white shoes. Even at the most fragile moments of her life she’d had the sense to keep away from him. He had a reputation for cheating on his exams and being abusive to his girlfriends.

“You don’t want to say no to me.”

His left hand sported a gold wedding band and she silently pitied any woman who would have had the unfortunate luck to be married to him.

“Go back to your poor wife and leave me the hell alone.”

Aubrey’s voice was louder than she’d intended and a few people milling by stopped for a moment before moving on. Bruce stepped forward, crowding her personal space, and she lurched backwards only to find herself pressed up against the wall. His breath was hot with the unmistakable stench of whiskey and cigarettes. Blood pounded in her ears as his arms effectively caged her in keeping her his prisoner.