Whiskey Sour (21 page)

“I’ve already been in the room. There’s a second bedroom on the opposite side of the living room. I’ve got sensors placed so I’ll be able to watch on a hand-held device. I’ve got your back.”

“Okiedokie.”

Savage pulled up at the glass front doors and a bellman opened the door for me. I walked as casually as possible into the lobby, wondering if everyone in sight thought I was a prostitute, and ducked behind a potted palm when I recognized Harry Brewer and his wife heading towards the elevator. Harry was one of only three postmen in Whiskey Bayou, and he had no compunction about reading through people’s mail, so I had no doubt he’d love to get a hold of this bit of information to pass along. Just my luck.

I waited until they’d disappeared up the elevator before making my way to the front desk and the manager. Apparently, he’d been waiting for me, and Savage had done a good job of intimidating him because a fine sheen of sweat dotted his upper lip and his eyes were wide as he stared at my cleavage in fascination. I gave him my name and he produced a key to the top floor.

I got on the elevator without company, and slid in the key card to access the top floor. I slouched against the mirrored wall, trying to relieve the pressure in my feet and chest. The next time I had to dress for seduction, I was just going to go au natural beneath my clothes instead of winching myself in a contraption that required the strength of a thousand men to get on. This little scheme wasn’t going to work all that well if I passed out in the man’s lap before the diamonds could be exchanged.

I teetered down the hallway and was just about to slide in the key card when the door jerked open and Savage pulled me into the room.

“Good grief, what’s taking you so long? Can you not feel the sense of urgency here?”

I narrowed my eyes and po
ked him in the chest. “Listen, buddy. I’m doing you a favor here. You don’t want to push me right now. I can’t feel my toes and my lungs are being strangled by whale bones.”

He looked slightly taken aback at that bit of information, and he got distracted again by my heaving bosom.

“The client will be here in less than twenty minutes, and I just got word from downstairs that they’ve got interference on the visual connection. There’s no time to fix it. There’s only audio, so you’re going to have to make sure you’re giving them an accurate picture of what’s going on up here. Got it?”

“You bet.”

“Here’s Becca’s cell phone. They’ll be calling soon with final instructions on the exchange. Don’t say anything past hello. We don’t want to give ourselves away.”

“Right,” I said. I took the cell phone from Savage and we only had to wait a couple of minutes before it buzzed in my hand. He nodded at me in encouragement.

“Hello,” I said.

The voice on the other end was brisk and impersonal.
Male this time. And he didn’t bother with social niceties.

“Once you’ve secured the payment from our client
then you’ll call this number.” He rattled off a phone number and Savage handed me a pen and a piece of hotel stationary so I could copy it down. “Tell the client to call down to the front desk and have them send up a bottle of champagne. The product will arrive within a few minutes. The client will set the briefcase outside the door as an act of good faith. Once the transaction is complete you will conduct business as usual.”

The caller disconnected and panic seized me. There was so much potential for a colossal screw up on my end of things that I started to hyperventilate again. Little black dots danced in front of my eyes and it suddenly became imperative that I get out of the contraption of torture.

“It was a man this time,” Savage said, oblivious to what was happening inside me as he took me by the arm. “What were your impressions?”

“I think I’m going to die,” I said instead.

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

“
No,” I said, wheezing. “My guts are being squeezed out the bottom of my feet like a tube of toothpaste. You’ve got to get me out of this thing or things aren’t going to be pretty.”

“
Shit, Addison. There’s no time. I’ve got to take cover.”

“There’s time,” I insisted. “Help me or suffer the consequences.”

I reached behind me and yanked at the zipper of the dress and the material fell to my waist, revealing the contraption below. I heard Savage suck in a breath, but I didn’t care about his reaction. I just needed to breathe.

“Just untie it and loosen the strings,” I said. “Kate doesn’t know her own strength. She’s trussed me up like Mammy did Scarlet in Gone With the Wind.”

To give Savage credit, he was a man of action and not one to sit back and let an opportunity pass him by. He untied the knot Kate had made and used his fingers to loosen the strings. Little by little I was able to draw in the all important air that would keep me on both feet instead of passed out in a heap on the floor.

“
Oh, shit,” Savage said. And before I knew it he’d yanked my dress all the way down and tossed me on the couch. “Look sexy. He’s here.” Savage disappeared into the room behind me and closed the door quietly.

“Oh, God.” God wasn’t much interested in helping, because the door clicked to signal it had been unlocked and the handle rattled. I was sprawled on the couch in the most unsexy way possible, and I quickly tried to get in a pose that screamed “seduction” instead of “mentally unstable.”

I laid
down on my side and propped my head on my fist, crossing my ankles and hoping I wasn’t about to come face to face with Brad Pitt or something. I tried to get rid of the grimace on my face and channel a look of seduction, but all I manage was a wobbly smile and a whole lot of heavy breathing. It would have to do.

The
foyer was blocked by a wall, so I couldn’t immediately see anyone, but I heard the footsteps as they fell against the tile. And then there was silence as he stepped to the carpet and came face to face with me.

I didn’t recognize him. Thank the Lord. But the bad news was he definitely wasn’t old, and he looked to be in pretty good shape. I wasn’t going to have much luck outrunning him if push came to shove.
He was movie star handsome, and why the hell he’d need to hire an escort service to see to his sexual needs was beyond me. He probably had women tripping all over themselves to get into his bed. He was tall, dark and handsome in a classic sense, but you could see the power he wielded as if it were a part of his skin. This was an important man.

“Well, hello,” he said, propping a shoulder against the wall and running his gaze from the tips of my stilettos all the way up my body.

“Hello, yourself.”

“This is
a pleasant surprise,” he said. He set down the duffle bag in his hand at his feet and unbuttoned the single button on his suit jacket before taking it off and draping it across the back of a chair. He loosened the tie at his neck, but didn’t make any other moves.

“What fun is business
if there’s no pleasure in it,” I said.

Holy crap
. I didn’t even recognize the voice that was coming from my mouth. It’s like I had multiple personalities or something, and I didn’t find that as disturbing as I should have. I was like a super spy. And apparently I was good, because Mr. Noname’s nostrils flared and he picked the briefcase up and came towards me.

“That’s a lovely sentiment,” he said. “
I agree. I’d much prefer to get the business out of the way so we can get to the pleasure.”

“Surely you’re not going to leave me in the dark
.” He quirked a brow in question and I said, “Your name. What should I call you? Or are we going to be passing strangers for the next twelve hours?”

He smiled, showing a slash of white teeth and a slightly crooked incisor that was charming in its appeal.

“Robert Duncan,” he said, setting the bag on the coffee table. “And you’re Ms. Gonzales, I presume?”

“I am.” I moved slowly, putting my feet on the floor with deliberation as I stood up and let him get a full view of me.

“Very nice,” he said appreciatively. “It seems I’m going to owe Natalie a favor since she’s obviously sent me her best.”

My mouth tilted up at the corner in what I hoped passed for a smile. “Why don’t you bring your
burden to the table,” I said, gesturing to the heavy antique table.

I followed him to the table because there was no way in hell I was going to let him walk behind me. My underwear was drafty to say the least, and my corset was loosening more and more by the minute since Savage hadn’t had time to secure the strings.

Robert set the bag on the table and unzipped it. I kept my mouth firmly closed and a look of impassivity on my face as he pushed it toward me. Just another day at the office, Addison. Two million dollars in cash. No big deal.

“Why don’t you call down for champagne while I make sure everything is good here,” I told him. “I think you’ll be surprised by what they bring you.”

He smiled and took my hand, laying a soft kiss to my fingers. I resisted the urge to wipe it off once he walked to the phone and turned my attention instead to the fat stacks of cash bundled together with rubber bands.

I counted the money and then put everything back inside, zipping it closed.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” he said, returning.

“Excellent. Why don’t you set this in the hallway? My employer would like an act of good faith.”

“Two million dollars is a lot of faith when I’m left with nothing to show for it.”

I took a step closer and whispered, “You’ve got me.”

His eyes darkened and he took the bag and set it outside the door. Damn, I was good. I had a fleeting thought that I probably shouldn’t get too excited. Things hardly ever went right when I was involved, and there was still a lot of room for catastrophe.

I had a moment of panic when Robert came back into the room, and he was pulling his tie from beneath his collar and working at the buttons at his cuffs. He probably though he was an expert at the whole seduction thing, but I felt like I was more like a specimen under a microscope when he looked at me rather than an actual person, and it was starting to creep me out.
The fact that he was so attractive only made the feeling stronger.

“How about some music?” he asked.

“I’d love some music.” I said a quick prayer, hoping he wouldn’t ask me to dance. My moves pretty much were limited to the running man and the sprinkler.

He turned on the stereo and classical music—something soft and dreamy—filled the air. A knock at the door sounded a few seconds later.

“Ah, that will be our champagne. And other things, I presume?”

I nodded and he went to answer the door. I limped back over to the couch and kicked my shoes off just as all hell broke loose. A deluge of gunshots echoed
through the room. Furniture splintered and glass shattered under the hail of bullets. I saw Robert stumble backwards into the room, his white shirt soaked with red, and I jumped behind the couch just as a piece of flying glass hit me in the leg.

There were harshly ordered commands and I peeped around the couch in time to see three men open fire on Robert at point blank range. He crumpled to the floor, and I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

More shouts came from the hallway and the three men turned around and opened fire. That’s when Savage grabbed me from behind and rolled me to the nearest closet. He got me to my feet and pressed me into the wall, protecting me with his body as the fight outside seemed to go on forever. I had no idea what had just happened, and even worse, I didn’t know if that was the cops that had drawn the gunmen’s fire at the end. My worry for Nick ratcheted up a few notches and I felt the tears gathering in my eyes.

“Everything will be all right,” he assured me. “We’ve got plenty of backup.”

I let out a sigh of relief at that reminder, but that didn’t take away the worry for Nick. My eyes were wide and my pulse was pounding under my skin. I found myself almost hypnotized by the blackness of his eyes, and it was then I realized I was wrapped around him tighter than a blanket. It had been pure reflex to grab on as tight as I could and not let go. My fingers were cramped and digging into his shoulders and my leg was around his waist as I tried to crawl up his body.

“My leg hurts,” I whispered. “I think it got cut by the glass.”

“We’ll get it checked out,” he said against my ear, his lips barely moving. “Relax. And be ready to move on my say so. Someone else is in the room.”

He pushed me harder into the wall, his body shielding mine, as he brought the gun in his hand up and pointed it at the closet door. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood, and I took comfort in the way he put his free arm around me. I fit against him easily—too easily—and it was something I’d have to think of later. Preferably when I had clothes on.

I heard the crunch of glass as footsteps made their way across the room. Then there was nothing but silence, and I knew whoever was out there stood just on the other side of the closet door. Savage and I both held our breaths as the knob jiggled once before it turned.

Light flooded the closet and I squenched my eyes closed against the glare, not having any desire to actually see my death up close and personal. I waited for the sound of gunfire and for hot metal to rip through my skin, but there was nothing but tense silence.