Читать книгу Red-Hot & Reckless - Tori Carrington, Tori Carrington - Страница 8

SOMEONE WAS FOLLOWING HER.

Three days after the Sebastian episode, Nicole Bennett sat in a Baltimore, Maryland, bar called Flanagan’s Pub. Not her original destination, but a spontaneous detour designed to flush out her tail.

She was pretty sure someone was watching her. Maybe had been since she’d arrived in the city the same day she’d left New York. And she was convinced that the sensation was more than residual uneasiness left over from what had happened three days ago. Still, it wasn’t that she had actually spotted the person tailing her. Rather, it was more of a hunch that someone, somewhere was shadowing her moves. She could tell by the way her skin itched. How the tiny hairs on her arms stood on end. How the beer- and smoke-soaked air of the bar seemed to hum with a strange expectancy.

Her tail wasn’t in the establishment. She was sure of that. It had taken her all of two seconds to catalog everything and everyone in the place. Two businessmen occupied a corner booth. When they weren’t hitting on the ballsy barmaid well equipped to handle anything that came her way, they were deep in conversation, too doughy and pale to be members of any branch of law enforcement she had to be afraid of. Well, the IRS aside. But she had nothing to fear from the IRS. They wouldn’t collect a percentage of what they couldn’t prove she had. An elderly woman and her two middle-aged daughters bearing shopping bags occupied another booth—again, no threat, as they laughed over pints of dark Irish beer, then pulled comical faces when they tasted the bitter concoction.

Nicole looked back at the barmaid. Of course, she had initially presented a bit of concern. Her take-charge efficiency and razor-sharp wit made her the perfect candidate for either side of the legal fence. But the bar had been an unplanned stop and in Nicole’s experience no branch of law enforcement was that organized.

She looked at the woman in question. She seemed distracted. More than likely a man, Nicole thought. Only a man could put a grimace like that on a woman’s face. Just seeing it made her want to join in the grimacing.

“Probably moved on to the next willing female before my plane left the ground,” the barmaid muttered as she wiped down the sticky surface of the bar.

Bingo.

But Nicole found very little comfort in the confirmation. Truth was, it stank to look at someone who felt pretty much the way you did.

The door opened and a well-turned-out redhead came in, her clothes and jewelry the real thing. No threat, even if Nicole suspected the woman hadn’t been born to her current wealthy position. She’d been around both old money and the nouveau riche enough to tell. She automatically priced the pieces the woman wore, then dismissed them. Not because of their worth, but rather because the only jewelry Nicole targeted was Tiffany, and the only jewels she lifted were unset and most of the time uncut, easily fenced.

“Cool shirt.”

Nicole glanced to see that the newcomer was talking to the barmaid, not her. Her own slick black leather pants and low-cut leather vest were world’s apart from the playful T-shirt sporting a cartoon of Jessica Rabbit the barmaid had on.

“You don’t look like the T-shirt type,” the bartender told the newcomer.

The woman’s warm laugh drew the attention of the two businessmen, as she’d almost certainly intended, probably more due to nature than design.

“Believe me, sister, I don’t dress this way every day. And I certainly don’t do it for myself.”

The woman continued speaking, still talking about the barmaid’s shirt and Jessica Rabbit. “I’d like to think I have a lot in common with her. Not bad, just drawn that way.”

The barmaid nodded. “My motto.” She poured a shot of the good stuff and slid it over to the latest arrival. “My name’s Venus. Venus Messina.”

The woman extended her hand. “Sydney. Sydney Colburn.”

Nicole’s attention turned from the door to the two women.

The barmaid named Venus was staring curiously at the other woman. “Sydney Colburn…no kidding? The writer?”

After Sydney tasted the whiskey, she nodded. “One and the same.”

Only then did the name ring a bell with Nicole. Oh, yeah, she was familiar with the author. She’d picked up a few of Colburn’s novels at airport kiosks while en route. Initially she’d done so to discourage conversation during flights. But from the first sizzling word she’d read she’d become hooked.

Venus was telling Sydney how much she liked the heroes in Sydney’s novels, saying it was too bad more men couldn’t live up to that standard, then added, “And my favorite part. No wimpy heroines!”

“Men who meet my standard do exist,” the author said softly. “The trouble is finding them.”

Nicole made a face. She was so right there.

“Finding men has never been a problem for me,” Venus offered up. “Keeping them? That’s another story.”

“The good ones or the so-so ones?”

Venus sighed. “Good or even so-so wouldn’t be bad. Unfortunately, the only ones I seem to manage to hang onto are the creeps who cost you jobs or empty your bank accounts. Not the green-eyed dreamboats with chestnut hair and the kind of wicked, sexy grin that oughta be illegal.”

Nicole got the definite impression that the “dream-boat” the barmaid referred to wasn’t a work of fiction, but rather a reality. And she also guessed that he wasn’t a part of the picture anymore.

Sydney made a knowing sound.

“What?”

“You got it bad, sister.”

Nicole smiled. You can say that again.

Venus scowled. “Speak for yourself.”

After Sydney admitted she was speaking for herself, Venus poured her another drink.

“We bad girls have it tough, you know?” Venus said. “Those Goody Two-shoes have saying ‘no’ down to an art form, blaming morals or past hurts. We say yes, because of those same morals or past hurts! We just can’t give up on the idea that the next handsome stud who comes along might erase what the last one did.”

“Handsome studs are a dime a dozen.”

Nicole sat up slightly as the barmaid named Venus approached. “Hey, girl, I almost forgot you were here. Come join us. Bad girls need to stick together.”

Nicole squinted at both women, then pursed her lips. It wasn’t so much Venus’s straightforwardness that surprised her, but that she’d so correctly nailed her. Was it an innate gift, the ability to pick out those similar to you? Of course, in her case it wasn’t all that difficult to tell which side of the good girl/bad girl equation she stood on, what with her tendency toward all black clothing—especially leather, all black clothing. Straight down to her thong.

But clothing or no, Nicole felt sure that despite their physical differences, she shared much in common with the other two women when it came to men and life in general. As for careers…well, no one said she had to tell them she was a professional thief and that she knew the worth of Sydney’s gems right down to the carat weight.

She smiled wryly. “Bad girls. Are we forming a club here?”

Venus snorted. “Last club I belonged to was the Girl Scouts. I got kicked out when I was eleven.” As Sydney raised a questioning brow, Venus explained. “Summer camp. I got caught sneaking into the boys’ cabin to play Seven Minutes in Heaven. The troop leader came in just as I was heading into the closet with Tommy Callahan.” She shook her head and sighed. “He had the cutest dimples. And cool braces.”

Sydney nodded, wearing a similar look of reminiscence.

Nicole’s amused smile widened into a grin. “I never made it past Brownies. I kept altering the uniform in a way that, well, didn’t exactly meet with the troop leader’s approval. But the boys liked it.” She winked. “Besides, brown isn’t my color.” Of course, they didn’t need to know that she’d also made off with the troop’s petty cash box on the first day.

“Hell,” Sydney proclaimed, “my mother never let me forget I got tossed outta preschool for showing the boys my underwear.”

Venus snickered. “Hey, why was she complaining?”

“Yeah,” Nicole said with a knowing look at Venus. They finished the thought in unison. “At least you were wearing ’em.”

The three of them, strangers until ten minutes before, but sisters just the same, shared a moment of soft laughter. It had been a long time since Nicole had felt so connected to other women, and she enjoyed it. If only for a moment.

Venus said, “I guess we’ve been members of the bad girls’ club since birth, huh?”

Sydney silently lifted her glass in salute, and Nicole followed suit. Venus popped the cap off a beer and joined them.

The door opened again, reminding Nicole what she was doing there. Two young women wearing business suits barely spared her and her new friends a glance as they joined the men in the booth.

“Oh, no, a good girl’s in sight, reign in the lust,” Venus whispered.

Nicole picked up her drink and moved next to Sydney, then introduced herself. They chatted for several more minutes, until the ring of Sydney’s cell phone interrupted.

Venus moved away to wait on the two newcomers, then returned just as Sydney was finishing her call. The woman drained her glass and dropped a bill on the counter. Nicole noted the crisp one hundred dollar bill.

Venus picked it up. “I’ll get your change.”

Sydney told her to keep it and get Nicole good and drunk. Then, with a cheery wave, she walked toward the door. But before she could reach for the handle, the door opened and Nicole watched a man come in. She narrowed her eyes, taking in the big brown-haired man who had the solid build of a cop.

Number one weakness at ten o’clock. Her sexual radar homed in on him. Cop or no, he was a man. And a striking one at that.

She watched as he skirted around a departing Sydney, then approached the bar, his gaze on one woman and one woman only: Venus.

Nicole let out a long, mental sigh. It was just as well. After her last encounter with the opposite sex, she’d do well to fly solo for a while. Still, it could have been…interesting if the fine male specimen was the one shadowing her.

She eyed Venus, who looked a breath away from either blindsiding the latest arrival or pulling him across the bar and laying a wet one on him.

“Hi, Venus.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m thirsty,” he said as he slid onto a bar stool and tapped his fingers on the pitted wood surface of the bar. “What do you recommend? A Screaming Orgasm? Sex on the Beach?”

Venus smirked. “Screaming Orgasm Up Against the Wall is always a good choice.”

“How about Screaming Orgasm Up Against the Bathroom Counter? Or in the Pool?” The man’s grin was even dirtier than his words implied.

Nicole let out a low whistle, not having to question whether or not this was the man Venus had referred to earlier. “Yep. Definitely oughta be illegal.” Just being within five feet of the couple reminded her why she could never swear off men, no matter how much trouble they caused. She smiled at Venus, then made her way out of the bar.

The door slowly closed behind her as she tucked her chin into her chest and scanned the street from beneath her lashes. Nothing. Not a single suspicious person in sight. Just an ordinary, perfect early summer day and the foot traffic it encouraged.

She shifted her backpack to her other shoulder as she started one way, then changed her mind and walked in the opposite direction, the sensation of being followed mysteriously gone.

Could she have been wrong? She took a deep breath, then released it, wondering if paranoia was something that went along with age. Of course, it didn’t help that out of the three members of her family, she was the only active thief left. Her brother Jeremy had hung up the title a year ago when he’d met and married Joanna. Her father…

Nicole swallowed hard. Maybe that was why she was so hypersensitive about everything lately. What had happened to her father…well, she was going to make damn sure it didn’t happen to her.

She slid a glance over her shoulder. A shadow retreated into a doorway.

She twisted her lips. Maybe she hadn’t been imagining things, after all….

ALEX CASSAVETES melded into the doorway of the pub the wily and alluring Nicole Bennett had exited moments earlier. He absently rubbed his chin. She’d spotted him. He knew she had. What did that say about him as a one-time detective in the N.Y.P.D. robbery division and current insurance investigator?

Apparently not a whole hell of a lot.

Alex pushed up his jacket sleeve and glanced at his watch. He’d be a moron to try to tail her now. He suspected she’d caught onto him before she’d even entered the pub. It’s the reason he hadn’t followed her in. He still couldn’t believe that the instant he’d stepped out from the coffee shop where he’d been waiting across the street she’d looked back and made eye contact even though a good hundred feet separated them.

Damn.

Stepping from the doorway, he made his way in the opposite direction, not even looking at where Nicole had been moments before. To have come so far and to have blown it so close to meeting his objective was incompetent at best, stupid at worst.

The heels of his shoes thudded against the sidewalk, echoing against the building-crowded Baltimore street. Nicole Bennett, thief of thieves, had flown from New York to Baltimore a little more than three days ago. And he’d been right there with her every step. Following her into lingerie shops. Eating lunch a few tables away from hers. Even securing the room across from hers in the glorified flophouse that advertised hourly rates on the faded brick exterior.

But nothing in his thirty-two-year existence had prepared him for meeting her gaze head-on.

“The eyes of a witch,” Panayiota, his Greek grandmother would have said. Black, fathomless eyes that could either repel you or pull you in. He could only imagine what impact those almond-shaped eyes would have on him at close range. Photographs, no matter how vividly real, didn’t come close to depicting the genuine article. He’d just learned that the hard way.

“You’re losing it, Cassavetes,” he muttered to himself, turning a corner and suppressing the urge to duck to the side and see if she was watching him.

No. His best bet now would be to return to the boardinghouse and hope she would come back so he could pick up her trail again.

Even as he thought it, Alex knew she wouldn’t return. She was the type that, once she sensed danger, would disappear back into the woodwork from which she’d emerged. A search of her room yesterday and this morning had revealed absolutely nothing of the woman who inhabited it. Nothing that would require her to return to the room. His guess was that she either kept her personal items in her generously sized leather tote, or that her occasional visits to various bus and airport lockers explained the lack of anything left behind.

Which is exactly why she’d been so difficult to catch.

And precisely the reason he intended to catch her.

Alex Cassavetes always nabbed his man. Or in this case, his woman. A very clever, seductive and endlessly fascinating woman who slipped through his fingers like quicksilver and for the first time made him question his abilities as an insurance investigator.

He caught himself fingering an item in his pants pocket, then slid it out and stared at it. No, you wouldn’t find Nicole Bennett’s likeness on any Wanted posters. Or even any alerts circulating to local and federal law enforcement agencies. Nicole Bennett—if that was even her name—was smarter than that. For the most part, she targeted other thieves. Marks that would have to be the ultimate in obtuse to report the thefts. She was more of a ghost that sensed when a large score was about to go down and then would swoop in and make off with the booty with nary a soul the wiser.

Except for Alex.

He stepped into the lobby of the rundown hotel where he’d hung his hat for the past two days, eyed where an aging hooker and a john were haggling with the desk manager, then took the steps to the second floor two at a time.

He couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment when he’d put two-and-two together and come away with Nicole Bennett. He’d been in the middle of the third month of tracking down the diamonds that Christine Bowman and her dangerous band of thieves had made away with. Christine had been arrested and charged, and later convicted, of the theft and the death of two security guards, but the diamonds had never been recovered. The insurance company he worked for had been out a great deal of money. But something had been bothering him about the whole case, something hovering just beyond his reach. So he’d pulled an all-nighter going over everything related to the case when something in his brain finally clicked. He’d methodically thumbed through the security shots taken from a St. Louis bus station and found the image of the woman standing half in shadow in the far corner while Christine Bowman was arrested on the other side of the station. The mystery woman had gone unnoticed, despite her black leather trench coat and striking features. Then he’d rifled through photos taken from similar thefts, incidents where the thieves were caught but the spoils were curiously missing. And he’d come across two more partial photographs of the shadowy woman in black standing on the fringes of the goings-on. An interview with St. Louis P.I. Ripley Logan had yielded him a name: Nicole Bennett.

The same name on the hotel register for the room across from his.

He turned the corner of the second-floor hall. His room was halfway down the vomit-green corridor with its narrow wood doors and tarnished knob and lock plates. Room 107. He slid his key into the lock, then paused, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He slid a glance over his shoulder at the peephole to Room 108. Nicole?

He pushed his door open and paused. Before he could question the wisdom of his actions, he walked across the hall and knocked on the door to Room 108, his gaze steadily on the peephole.

Silence.

Alex cocked a half grin. He knew she was there. Sensed it with every molecule.

He raised his hand to knock again, then heard the lock mechanism turn. And instantly found out exactly what it was like to encounter those coal-black eyes up close and personal.

Nicole Bennett swung the door open all the way, then leaned against the jamb and crossed her arms.

Alex felt like someone had just given him a sucker punch to the gut. There emanated such a sizzling current about her that he was distantly surprised he wasn’t suffering electrocution.

“You wanted something?” she asked, looking at him as intently as he was looking at her.

Alex’s grin grew. Oh, but she was slick. Very slick. You wouldn’t suspect that she was aware he was tailing her. But he knew. Knew by the way he hadn’t heard her step to the door—she must have been standing on the other side of it watching for him. And since he knew she’d already seen him on the street, well, he had plenty of evidence that proved she wasn’t that dumb.

He allowed his gaze to drop to the deep vee of her black leather vest. She had a knockout figure. Not that you could tell by the loose leather coat she’d worn up until a few weeks ago when the warm weather had forbidden it. He appreciated the subtle muscle tone of her arms, and the way her breasts pressed together, offering up a virtual buffet of sweet flesh that made his mouth water.

“Yes,” he said, raising his gaze back to her face to find her cheeks touched with the slightest color.

“Hi, I’m Alex.” He waited for her to offer an introduction of herself, but wasn’t surprised when she didn’t. “I’m across the hall.” He tried looking into her room, as if he hadn’t been in it two minutes after she had left that morning. “Did housekeeping bring you towels? Because I—”

She stepped from the door to the tiny bathroom to her right and grabbed a dingy gray, threadbare towel. She handed it to him.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” She closed the door, then slid the lock home.

Alex stood for long moments grinning at his feet. There hadn’t been the sound of her moving away from the door, which meant that she was probably looking at him again from the peephole. He decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to give a little salute as he crossed back to the other side of the hall.

Interesting. He let himself into his room. She had not only come back to the hotel, but didn’t seem fazed in the least by the knowledge that he was tailing her. Or she wasn’t entirely certain and was trying to force his hand. Either way, he gave her a lot of credit. Never in his career had he met a woman so sure of herself.

And so totally hot.

Maybe this wasn’t over yet.