She had a couple, but they weren’t worth bragging about. Actually she couldn’t remember where she’d gotten them.
“Why was Filip at Salavich’s bastion today?”
That was a very good question, she thought. Allegra cautioned herself not to say too much. She was supposed to be Filip’s woman, nothing more, and until she contacted Cyrus she would continue the ruse.
“He doesn’t discuss his business with me.”
“And you’re all right with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t think you’re the kind of woman who goes into anything blind. You handled yourself pretty good downstairs.”
“Just pretty good?”
“The disguise was quick thinking.”
“Since we’re on that subject, I think it would be best if Filip was spared the details.”
“You want me to lie to him?”
“I don’t see any reason to upset him with details that aren’t important.”
He eyed the robe, then the belt tied around her waist. “Sharing secrets with you would be my pleasure,
señorita
.”
The look he was giving her told her that his silence was going to cost her. She didn’t like his wolf’s grin any more than she liked her position right now. If Filip thought he couldn’t trust her, then what?
She’d been going over in her mind the time she’d spent with him the past few days and the one thing that stuck out was Filip standing on his yacht with a detonator in his hand, the
Sera Vedette
on fire and the captain fish bait.
She finished her wine and set the glass on the bar. Turning slowly, she asked, “What would it take for you to forget what happened downstairs?”
“I rarely forget anything. I have a healthy memory.”
“Your price, Toriago?”
“As I recall, your cash flow is tight at the moment.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what you have in mind.”
“There is one thing.” He grinned.
It was a self-serving naughty grin, akin to a dog’s after he’d cornered a fox.
“You’re saying if I sleep with you, it will cancel my debts, and make you forget what happened in the bar?”
“Is that what you’re offering?”
Allegra walked to the couch and sat. Curling her legs beneath her, she studied Toriago, wondering who he had met in the alley. Wondered if she slept with him if she would be digging herself a deeper hole, or if his healthy memory would suddenly turn fuzzy.
“I think the ball is in your court,
señorita
.”
“I’m thinking.”
“About whether you can trust me or not?”
“I don’t do trust. I do cause and effect. We make a deal, and if you break it, then—”
“Then you kill me with your gun when my back is turned.”
Allegra smiled. “You’ve played this game before. Good.”
He took off his jacket, tossed it on a chair. Her eyes locked on it, pictured the phone in his pocket. She decided before the night was over that she would call Cyrus.
Before he sat down across from her, he pulled his shirt from his pants and unbuttoned it. He lit a cigarette, leaned forward and tossed the lighter on the coffee table between them, and reached for the ashtray. “Could you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Kill me? I’m still going over in my mind the whole trust, cause and effect thing.”
She tried to keep her eyes from drifting to his open shirt. “Some business is more unpleasant than others. But survival is survival.”
“Whether it requires that you shoot a man or sleep with him?”
“Filip wouldn’t like what happened downstairs. I see no reason to upset him after the bad day he’s already had. I’ll tell Filip about the tail I picked up. I think he should know that the shooter could be here. But the rest—”
“Do you think you’re up to it?”
“Excuse me?”
“Downstairs it seemed like that kiss took a lot out of you.”
“Are you saying it was lacking?”
“Let’s just say under less pressure and some rest I would hope you could do better. Of course there could be another explanation.”
“And that is?”
“Has it been a while since you slept with Filip?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Like I said. You seemed a bit out of practice. One minute you were hot, then you were cold. Well, I don’t know Filip, but some men aren’t very good when it comes to knowing what a woman wants or needs. You can’t be blamed for that.”
Allegra sank into the couch a little deeper. Yes, it had been a while, but in her business there wasn’t much time for personal gratification—routine bred acceptance—yet that had nothing to do with her performance tonight. She had been at the top of her game, and if he didn’t think so then maybe he was the one who was out of practice.
“Maybe I just don’t like you, Toriago.”
“But you’re still willing to sleep with me?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think that’s it. There must be something about me that you like or you wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice so much.”
“An oversized ego usually means a man’s been shortchanged in another area.” She smiled. “You have my sympathy.”
He grinned, the wolf was back. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“Perhaps I’ll tell Filip the truth and save you the embarrassment. Who did you meet after you left the hotel? I saw you step out of the alley. I was on the balcony, remember?”
“I didn’t meet anyone.”
“I saw a man leave the alley less than a minute after you, and it wasn’t your chauffeur.”
“I went looking for our friend in the trench coat, and when I didn’t find…
him,
I searched the surrounding area. After that, I went to the bar and got your bag. Trust me, I didn’t meet anyone.”
“As I said, trust isn’t something I do. My mother raised me to be a realist. She said never trust a man you haven’t known forever. Since forever is an untouchable, unreachable phenomenon for a man, you can understand my dilemma.”
She uncurled her legs and got off the couch. She started past him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“I can get you out of here. Find you a safe place if that’s what you need. If you’re afraid of Petrov—”
She pulled away. “I’m not.”
He stood, reached up and brushed his thumb over the cut on her cheek. “I notice everything. You don’t know him as well as you pretend to. It’s in your eyes when you look at him.”
“You’re mistaken if you think that’s what you see.”
His thumb stroked her temple. “It’s not everyday a woman agrees to sleep with a stranger to keep a minor secret from her boyfriend. Whatever you need to walk away from, I can help.” He dropped his hand. “The offer has no time limit.”
“You’re a contradiction, Toriago. One minute your eyes are stripping me naked, and the next minute you’re playing Boy Scout. You see, I can read eyes, too. I can also read body language.” Allegra shifted her attention to Toriago’s crotch. “As lacking as my performance was downstairs, I managed to do something right. And for the record, when I’m wrong, I say so. I can see that you haven’t been shortchanged. My mistake.”
Allegra picked up the bag next to the couch and escaped into the bedroom. When she closed the door behind her and turned, she found Filip awake.
“I’m thirsty. Get me some water.”
“Of course. I brought you some pain killers.” She left the room and retrieved a glass of water from the bathroom, then stepped back into the bedroom. She sat down beside him and gave him the pills and held the water glass for him.
“The wound should be cleaned and bandaged.” She touched his forehead. “You have a fever.”
“Where are we?”
“You don’t remember?”
“If I did I wouldn’t be asking.”
“We’re in Toriago’s suite. I didn’t know where to take you. He suggested we stay with him.”
“Why would he be so generous?”
“I don’t know. But when I went downstairs to get you some clean clothes and the medical supplies, I was followed. It could be the shooter from this afternoon. I think it’s good that we’re here. That way—”
“You don’t think until you’re told to think.” His eyes drifted over her. “Why are you wearing his robe?”
“I took a shower. But the robe isn’t—”
“To wash his scent off you?”
“What?”
“I saw the way you looked at him in the car. The way you looked at his body, and the way he was looking at you. He would have taken you in the car in front of me if I had told him he could have you.”
She opened her mouth to deny it, but in a split second Filip grabbed her around the neck, his fingers digging deeply into her flesh. He squeezed harder—hard enough to cut off her air supply.
Allegra reached up to pry his hand away, but he pulled her down beside him, his fingers still squeezing the life out of her. He sat up and leaned over her, his strength coming out of nowhere, considering the shape he was in.
“I thought I told you how we were going to play this game. You are my woman. We’re here on business, nothing else, so stay away from Toriago. Now go put some clothes on.”
When Filip released her she rolled off the bed choking and gasping for air, clutching her bruised throat. She felt dizzy as she struggled up from her knees and she backed up and used the wall to steady herself. She tried to speak, but she couldn’t breathe.
“Did you hear me? Get some clothes on, then bandage up this damn wound.”
A
llegra heard the shower turn on, and quickly rose from the couch. She hurried down the hall, past the bathroom and slipped into Toriago’s bedroom.
After Filip had nearly choked her to death she had decided calling Cyrus was the only thing she could do. She should have called him sooner.
In the bedroom she hurried to the bed, switched on the light that sat on the nightstand, then quickly scanned the room. Toriago’s leather jacket was draped over a chair.
Right pocket.
Got it.
She pulled out the phone and quickly punched in the code number. It started to ring.
Once.
Twice.
She heard the shower turn off.
A third ring.
Number four.
Dammit, answer the phone.
On the sixth ring the voice mail turned on.
She had no choice but to leave a message, then disconnect. She slid the phone back into the pocket of Toriago’s jacket, then turned to leave. But it was too late. The bathroom door opened.
There was only one way out of the bedroom. Caught in the act, she scrambled to the bed and sat down just as Toriago walked into the room wearing a pair of black PJ bottoms and nothing else.
The look on his face when he saw her seated on the bed was priceless. It was complete surprise, and then it turned wary as he glanced around the room. “What are you doing in here?”
The truth would damn her. A lame excuse would be worse. She thought about making a joke and trying to be funny. It wasn’t really her style, and anyway she didn’t see anything funny about the day’s events, or the fact that Filip had nearly killed her a few hours ago.
In the end, she said, “I owe you for saving my life…twice, remember?”
He angled his head, took in her appearance. She didn’t look like she was there to seduce him—she had changed back into her jeans and the black sweater she’d bought downstairs. But she’d turned him on wearing jeans before.
“Then you really are a woman who pays her debts no matter what the price.”
She had declined eating with him when he’d ordered up a late supper. She didn’t think she could swallow, and it still hurt to talk.
Keeping her voice in check, seeing a way out, she said, “Most men would find that an admirable quality. Since you’re not one of them, I’ll say goodnight.”
She stood, started past him and almost made it out the door when he stopped her. Pulling her around to face him, keeping his eyes locked on hers, he closed the door.
There was a moment of awkward silence, then he curled his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her into his space. The pressure on her neck was excruciating, but she refused to make a sound.
He dipped his head and kissed her, pulled back, and said, “I guess I’m a lucky man tonight.”
“Then we have a deal?”
He searched her face, looked into her eyes.
“Is it there? Can you read my eyes? If you can, then you know I’m not playing a game.”
He didn’t answer. Instead he released her and walked over to the desk. He picked up his jacket and pulled out his phone. In that moment she thought it was all over. That he knew why she was in his room. But he only checked his messages, then turned off the phone and set it on the desk.
Facing her, he said with a smile, “It would be a shame to be interrupted. Take off your sweater.”
He didn’t waste time, and she was all for getting it over with. She might enjoy looking at his body, but until now she hadn’t considered what he would think of hers.
She was thinner than she had ever been. Not as curvy, and her breasts were a small handful.
Still, she’d given him a hard-on once before, and at the moment it was rising to the occasion again. In fact, it was giving a parade performance that could flag a train.
“Second thoughts?”
“No.” She pulled off her sweater and dropped it to the floor.
His eyes went straight to her breasts covered in blue satin, and she felt her nipples constrict in response to his stare down.
“Now the jeans.”
She kicked off her shoes, unzipped her pants and slid them past her thighs. She bent over, pushed them down her legs and stepped out of them leaving her in a blue thong.
He didn’t bait her again. Instead he walked toward her and circled her as if he was deciding whether she was worth taking to bed or not. Again she wondered if he thought she was too thin. She couldn’t explain how she’d lost the weight. She’d just woken up one morning and she was twenty pounds thinner.
She refocused her energy as he circled her again. Whatever his eccentricities were, she would meet them head on.
He stopped behind her and unhooked her bra. His hands on her shoulders, he slowly slid the straps off her shoulders.
The air was cool in the room, and she realized that she was giving him a parade performance, too.
“What happened to your neck?”
She touched the bruise on her throat. “It must have happened this afternoon during the ambush.”
He ran his hand down her spine and she closed her eyes. He’d gotten her out of her clothes so fast she had thought the rest would be quick, too. She didn’t expect foreplay. In fact, she was surprised by it.
If he thought she didn’t understand by now the way a man’s mind and body worked, he was wrong. Just because a woman needed more than the act to be satisfied, didn’t change the facts, or the one-two-three code men lived by whether they realized it or not.
Men are all action, baby doll. Get hard, get in, get out
.
The next thing you know they’re snoring or pulling on their pants and having a cigarette.
His warm hands continued to play with her, tease her flesh and arouse her insides in ways she wasn’t prepared for. Right now she didn’t need an exception to Bonnie’s rules on men and sex. The act, she could handle. It would just be sex, and then her debt to him would be paid, and hopefully by tomorrow she and Filip would be gone. That is, if he was strong enough to get out of bed. He’d certainly had a surge of energy when he’d tried to choke her.
But as the minutes ticked slowly by Toriago continued to break the rules. Continued to touch her and stroke her body until she felt as if she was going to melt into a pool on the floor.
She turned around. “Stop. Really, you don’t have to waste time getting me ready. I’m ready.”
“You’re ready for what?”
“To repay my debt.”
“What’s your rush? We have all night.” His hands drifted over her bare shoulders, and then one finger traced a slow path over the width of one breast to the other, brushing her nipples.
“I’m a get in, get out, kind of girl,” she finally said.
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” She ran her hand down his chest and boldly cupped him. “I think you’re more than ready, so—”
“Maybe you should make sure. Put your hand in my pants.”
He was watching her for a reaction. She hesitated only a second, then slowly slid her hand inside and touched him, curling her fingers around him.
This time it was her turn to check out his reaction. He sucked in a ragged breath, then his arm tightened around her. She could feel him pulsing in her hand as she stroked him, hear every breath he took.
“You’re more than ready. In fact, you feel like you’re in pain,” she whispered.
“More than you know.” He nuzzled her ear, and his smooth cheek brushed her face. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you always do whatever you’re told?”
“Is this a trick question?”
“Your answer is supposed to be, ‘Only when you’re the one asking.’”
“Sorry. I didn’t realize I was feeding your ego as well as your—”
He kissed her before she could finish what she was going to say. And while he played with her lips, she played with him.
Good old foreplay. The magic pill to bringing a woman to her knees. Only she wasn’t going to let it happen. She wasn’t going to feel anything for this man.
The minute she made herself that promise, the kiss turned erotic, and she realized she was in trouble.
He was turning this into something more than just sex. He was getting to know her body, and likewise she was learning his. He was getting into her head, and that was too intimate.
She pulled her hand away from him. “Enough of this.”
“No.” He slid his hand over her back and down her hips, his fingers cupping her small ass. Stroking her, he pulled her flush against him and rotated his hips.
The scent of him, his hands on her… It was too much and she arched against him, suddenly wanting him to take his time. Wanting this slow seduction to go on all night no matter what the price.
Her hands went around him and she stroked his broad back, felt his smooth flesh and the bulk of his muscles beneath her fingertips.
His heart was pounding in his chest, or was it hers?
When he broke the kiss, he stepped away from her and walked to the bed. Pulling back the sheet, he said, “After you.”
She climbed onto the mattress wearing only her panties and lay down. His gaze found hers, then it drifted downward, over her slender neck, her naked breasts—farther to the junction of her thighs.
When he sat down beside her, she did all she could do not to reach for him. Her stomach was in a fever knot, and her insides were screaming for him to put his hands on her again.
She hadn’t been with a man in a long time. That had to be the reason why she was aching so badly, so hot for him.
“You’re not afraid of me?”
“No.”
“And you’re not afraid of Petrov?”
“I already told you I’m not.”
“Not even when he tried to choke you.” He laid his hand over her throat, fit his fingers into the pattern of the bruises in the same manner Filip had hours ago.
“You’re very perceptive, Toriago.”
His next move was unexpected. He stood and went looking for his cigarettes. Finding them, he lit one and blew smoke toward the ceiling.
He was supposed to smoke afterwards. But then nothing about Toriago seemed to fit into Bonnie’s mold.
“What do you want me to do? Do you like to watch? Should I touch myself?”
More smoke. He was now leaning against the wall.
What was he waiting for?
“Do you like that? Does it get you off?”
At the moment she would just as soon it was his hands that sent her over the edge, his fingers moving between her legs.
She raised her hand, was about to cup one of her breasts.
“Don’t.”
She stopped. “Is there something else you want? Something else you’d like me to do?”
“You can close your eyes.”
“All right.” She did what he asked. “Now what?”
“Now go to sleep.”
Her eyes blinked open. “Sleep? You want me to go to sleep?”
“It’s been a long day. For both of us. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Stunned, Allegra watched him step out of his black pants, flash her his tight, amazing ass, and pull on his jeans. Leaving them unzipped, his body still throbbing for release, he grabbed his shirt and jacket, then walked out of the room and closed the door.
It went without saying that if he allowed Stillman to walk over him, then maybe he wasn’t the man he used to be. That just maybe he should be retired.
Doubt had been chewing Merrick up all day, and it made him feel older than ever before.
He needed a drink, but he didn’t open the drawer and reach for the scotch. Instead he reached for the phone on the second ring.
To his surprise it was Sarah Finny, the woman he couldn’t love until his life made sense again.
“Hello, Sarah.”
“Adolf. I…haven’t heard from you in several days. Is everything all right?”
“Yes. I’ve been busy is all. The office has been a little crazy this week.”
“Okay, well… It’s your birthday today, right? I was wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner?”
Merrick glanced at the calendar on his desk. He’d been so busy he’d forgotten what day it was. No wonder he’d been feeling so damn old all day.
The date sparked an old memory. If Johanna was alive she would be shopping for his favorite foods today, and when he got home she would have met him at the door with a glass of wine, and that sexy smile of hers. There would be candles burning over the fireplace, and after dinner—
“Adolf, will you come to dinner?”
“Ah…no, Sarah, I can’t. I’ve made other plans.”
“Oh. I know I should have called sooner.”
“No, it’s all right.”
“Well, happy birthday, then, and… I’ll see you when I see you.”
“Thanks for the call.”
Merrick hung up the phone. He should never have started seeing Sarah this past year. He’d led her to believe that he was ready for a relationship when that wasn’t the case.
Not that he didn’t want a normal life. Maybe after he’d caught the Chameleon and sent him to hell, he’d be able to move forward. But for now he was carrying around too much baggage. Baggage Sarah didn’t need in her normal, very routine, safe life.
God willing, by this time next year he would be able to shed his old skin and be the man Sarah needed, but for now he wasn’t that man. He might feel old, but he was still determined to stay in the game.
Stillman was wrong. He wasn’t ready to retire. Not until he had the Chameleon on his knees begging for his life just before he killed him.
Merrick left his office well after six. He drove his black Corvette by Sarah’s flower shop just as she was turning off the lights. He parked his car and watched her lock up, then watched her punch in the security code that would allow her to enter her apartment on the second floor.
He studied her shapely curves, her pretty face. She was a beautiful woman. A woman who lived an uncomplicated life. It was true she’d had her share of heartache. Her father and mother were dead, but they had died from illness, not at the hands of some maniac.
He didn’t have the right to dump his messy life into her lap. Sarah deserved a man with a normal eight-to-five job, with a hobby.
No, he couldn’t chance the Chameleon striking out at him through another innocent woman. He wouldn’t jeopardize Sarah the way he had unknowingly gambled with Johanna’s life.