The Spy Is Cast (12 page)

He kept his eyes on
the road. “You. Arnie. My dad.”

Wow, short list. He
and Arnie had been friends all their lives. His dad, well, duh. Me?
I pondered that for a second before deciding I probably fell into
the category of team member, need-to-know. I changed the subject.
“Your dad’s still living?”

He grinned. “Old drill
sergeants never die.”

“You’re lucky.”

“I know.”

When we pulled up at
the hotel, I sighed at the shoes and stockings. “I should never
have taken these off.” I squirmed around in the slippery leather
seat, pulling the stockings back on. The skirt slithered
lasciviously around my thighs.

In my peripheral
vision, I caught Kane eyeing my legs. I figured the chances of
getting any action with him tonight were slim to none, but that
didn’t seem to discourage my body any.

What the hell. Acting
oblivious, I let the skirt slide up a little farther while I
finished putting on my shoes. I picked up my purse and was reaching
for the door handle when his hand closed around mine.

“Wait.”

I took stock of his
half-smile in the dimness, feeling hopeful. “What?”

He gently slipped the
rings off my finger and dropped them into his pocket. “We weren’t
wearing these when we left the hotel.”

I gave him a
half-smile of my own. “Details.”

He nodded. “I’ll come
around and get the door for you.” He got out, and I yanked the
skirt down one more time while I waited.

I managed a relatively
graceful exit from the car. There wasn’t much of an audience at
two-thirty in the morning, but if Kane thought it was important to
keep up appearances, I’d do my part.

We strolled into the
hotel lobby, his arm lightly around my waist. I did my best to
match his manner of warm interest. Coming home from a nice date,
but nothing more. Shit.

We rode the elevator
and walked down the hall to my room in silence, and I fumbled the
key card out of my purse and turned to wish him a good night. A
shock of heat rolled through me when he smiled and gently tugged
the card out of my grasp, sliding his arms around me to pull me
into a slow kiss. Still kissing me, he slid the card into the slot
and backed me into the room, letting the door swing shut behind
us.

As soon as the latch
clicked, he stepped away.

Goddammit!

Using all my control,
I kept my expression neutral while I surveyed him, internally
debating the idea of pulling him into a hot kiss. That’s all it had
taken in March. My comment about banging him up against the wall
hadn’t been idle fantasy. If we’d had just a bit more time back
then…

Trouble was, we were
working together. I knew how seriously he took duty. And I really
wasn’t in the mood to deal graciously with rejection tonight.

“The necklace,” he
said.

“Huh?” Oh, eloquent
me.

“I need to take the
necklace with me now, but you had to be seen wearing it up to your
room because you were wearing it when we left.”

I shook my head
slowly. “How the hell do you manage to keep all that straight in
your mind?”

He gave me a wry look.
“Let’s just say I’m highly motivated.”

I undid the necklace
and laid it into the box that he held out. “Me, too, but I would
have missed that one.”

“That’s why we’re a
team.”

“I guess.”

He took my hand and
squeezed it gently. “Aydan, you were amazing tonight. I couldn’t
have asked for a better partner.”

I felt my face heat
up. Among other things. “Thanks.”

He released my hand
and reached for the door handle. “Oh, and thanks for the dance
lesson,” I added.

He smiled. “You’re
welcome. Good night.”

“Good night.”

I stood there for a
few seconds after the door closed behind him, and then stomped over
and punched the hell out of my pillow.

I spent far too long
removing the makeup and fake nails, and went to bed exhausted. Then
I slept poorly and woke in the morning feeling edgy and irritable.
My foul mood was compounded when I got out of the shower and
realized I’d missed a call from Kane.

His deep voice was
still edged with fatigue in the voicemail recording, and I wondered
if he’d slept any more or any better than I had. Probably. That
wouldn’t take much.

“Hi, Aydan. Thanks
again for last night. I’m going to have to stay in town for a few
days, so you might as well check out of the hotel this morning and
head back on your own. Take care. Goodbye.”

Miffed at the cryptic
message, I scowled into the mirror. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and I
growled and tried to rub the frown lines out of my forehead.

Thanks for risking
your life, getting mauled by a fucking pervert, having red-hot
spikes hammered through your brain multiple times, and dressing up
to make small talk with a bunch of strangers. And NOT getting laid.
The most annoying part was I knew I had no reason to be ticked off.
He’d said thank you. He couldn’t say anything more detailed or
informative on an unsecured line.

I swore savagely at my
reflection, and then did my best to put on an innocuous expression
while I dragged down to the restaurant for breakfast. I was
beginning to feel human about half-way through my Eggs Benedict
when my phone vibrated. I pulled it out quickly and scanned the
display.

Shit.

I pressed the Talk
button. “Hi, Nichele.”

“Aydan…?” Her voice
was full of avid anticipation.

“What?”

“Well…? How did it
go?”

“It went. I told you,
it was a business thing.”

“I need details!”

I sighed. “Nichele,
I’m in the middle of breakfast. Can I call you later?”

“No, but you can meet
me for lunch at Kelly’s.”

There was no way I was
going to get out of this. Might as well get it over with.

“Okay. Make it one
o’clock, though. That’ll give me time to work out this
morning.”

Silence on the line.
“You’re working out? Girl, you mean you didn’t get lucky with that
hot hunk of man last night?”

The reply that sprang
immediately to my tongue would have offended even Nichele. I bit it
back with an effort. “No.”

“What happened?”

“I told you, it was
just a business thing. We’ll talk later, okay? My Eggs Benny is
getting cold.”

“Oh, so that’s what
you’re calling it now,” she teased.

“Shut up.”

She laughed. “See you
later. Bye-bye.”

I disconnected and
glowered at the phone for a few seconds. It didn’t help. I rubbed
the wrinkles out of my forehead again and went back to my
congealing breakfast.

When I returned to my
room to pack up, I was slightly cheered by the sight of the elegant
dress hanging undamaged in the closet. I couldn’t believe I’d
actually managed to wear it for an entire evening without wrecking
it. Maybe my run of wardrobe misfortune had finally ended.

There was no room in
my small backpack for my new purchases, so I carefully folded the
dress and tucked it into a shopping bag along with the new shoes,
purse, and makeup. I made sure that neither the purse nor the shoes
had any rough edges that could snag it. Despite my notorious
aversion to dressing up, I really did like that dress.

My mood improved
further at the gym. I pushed hard, putting on some extra weight for
my strength routines and turning up the resistance for my cardio.
By the time I was finished, I was drenched in sweat and my muscles
were warm and relaxed. It was no substitute for the activity I
really had in mind, but at least it took the edge off.

I showered and changed
before heading over to Kelly’s to wait for Nichele. When I strolled
in, the shabby decor and low-key atmosphere wrapped around me like
a hug from an old friend. Sunday was classic rock day, and Bob
Seger was singing ‘Roll Me Away’ in the background. I headed for
the back of the bar, smiling.

The waitress stopped
in her tracks. “Hey, it’s not Saturday!”

“Hey, Alanna! You knew
I’d moved, right? I’m just down for the weekend.”

“Corona?”

I sighed. “No, just a
glass of water. I’m driving.”

She nodded
understanding. “There was a guy sitting on your usual couch, but he
just left. Go ahead and grab it and I’ll come and clear the table
for you.”

“Thanks!” I made my
way to the back of the room and flopped into one of the broken-down
couches, my back to the wall. I scanned the bar out of habit, but
didn’t see anyone I knew.

I glanced up at Alanna
as she returned. “I’m going to have chicken wings, so I’ll just go
and wash my hands. If Nichele shows up, tell her I’m here,
okay?”

“Sure, no
problem.”

As I turned the corner
of the hallway to the washrooms, I glimpsed the rear view of a
burly man in jeans, boots, and black leather striding toward the
back exit. ‘Hellhound’ was blazoned across the back of his jacket,
surmounting a picture of a toothy black beast, drool dripping from
its jaws, its red eyes glaring.

I stopped so suddenly
my running shoe squeaked on the tile floor. The owner of the jacket
immediately glanced behind him at the sound. He did an incredulous
double-take and turned slowly. A wicked smile gleamed under his
grizzled moustache.

“Well, hell-lo, pretty
lady,” he rasped, advancing on me as he shrugged off his
jacket.

His faded
Harley-Davidson T-shirt stretched tightly across his powerful
chest. Its torn-out sleeves showed off the bulging muscles of his
tattooed arms and shoulders. I took a deep, shaky breath and
involuntarily stepped backward. “H-Hi.”

My back bumped against
one of the columns that lined the hallway, and he stepped closer to
leer down at me from well inside my personal space.

He indicated the post
behind me with a jerk of his bearded chin. “Gonna do a little pole
dance for me, darlin’?” He licked his lips slowly, his gaze
stroking down my body.

I let out a breathless
laugh. “Sorry, not my kind of pole.”

He planted his hands
on the wall on each side of my shoulders. Inches away, his body
radiated heat. His voice dropped to a deep, intimate growl. “I got
the perfect pole for ya to dance with, darlin’. An’ I know just how
good you’re gonna look slidin’ up an’ down on it.”

I swallowed hard and
my knees threatened to give way. His hot eyes were locked on mine,
his lips very close.

“Aydan?” Nichele stood
uncertainly at the end of the hallway. “Is… everything okay?”

My intellectual
processes gradually rebooted and I blinked wordlessly for a moment
while I tried to remember the English language. Then I ducked out
from under Hellhound’s arm.

“Hi, Nichele.
Everything’s fine. I’d like to you meet Arnie Helmand. Arnie, this
is Nichele Brown.”

Hellhound straightened
and gave Nichele a friendly nod. Nichele eyed his tattoos, ugly
face, and lurid jacket doubtfully. “I’ll just wait at the table.”
She retreated.

I turned slowly back
to Arnie. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah, how ya been,
darlin’?”

I knew it wasn’t just
casual small talk, so I answered the real question. “I’m really
good, now.”

He relaxed into a
teasing smile. “Ya were really good before.” Then he sobered. “I
didn’t hear from ya.” It was a question, not an accusation.

“No. I wanted some
time. I was feeling needy. You know how I feel about getting
attached. Needy is a bad place to start.”

“Darlin’, you’re about
as far from needy as anybody could get.”

“And that’s the way I
like it. Funny, though, I was just thinking of calling you this
morning.”

“Next time, do it.
Don’t just think about it.”

“It was three-thirty
in the morning.”

He grinned and bounced
his eyebrows at me. “Even better.”

I patted his flat,
hard stomach where the incipient beer gut used to be. “You look so
hot, I nearly passed out! What happened to the Molson muscle? And
you trimmed your beard, too!”

Instead of the wild
tangle he’d sported in March, his salt-and-pepper beard and
moustache were closely cropped, emphasizing a chiselled jaw I
hadn’t known he possessed. With that and the new bulk and
definition in his arms and chest, he exuded raw masculinity.

Nobody would ever call
him handsome. Hell, it’d be a long stretch to call him tolerably
homely. But he was definitely sexy. Maybe it was the muscles and
boots and black leather. Or maybe it was because I knew exactly how
good a pole dance with him really was.

His face lit up. “Ya
like?”

“Hell, yeah! What
happened?”

“I always keep the
facial fungus a little shorter in summer. An’ I told ya I was gonna
start a fitness program.”

“Yeah, but, wow! I
thought you were kidding.”

He shook his head. “No
joke. I used to work out a lot, but I got away from it. I didn’t
know how fuckin’ fat an’ lazy I’d got ‘til ya wore me out this
spring. And knowin’ how your husband died, well, shit… That ain’t a
bad way to go, if ya gotta go, but I’d rather stick around an’
enjoy it.”

He stepped close
again, stroking his strong fingers through my hair. His raspy voice
deepened. “I’m ready to rock your hot body all night long now,
darlin’.”

I ran a shaky hand
over his chest. “I had no complaints before.”

“Wait’ll ya test-drive
the new model.”

His hand slipped
behind my head, and he kissed me slowly. Goddamn, I’d almost
forgotten how good his kisses were. By the time he pulled back a
fraction, I was plastered against him, ardently exploring the hard
new contours of his arms and torso.

A bar patron walked by
us on her way to the washroom, disapproval written on her face.
Hellhound chuckled.

“Ya want me.” His
voice slid into that deep growl that never failed to light a fire
in a very wet place. “Ya want me bad.”