Her selfless warrior, p.14
Her Selfless Warrior, page 14
“When all of this started, I found out that those execs were up to something that they were trying to hide, and they were hiding, funneling, or laundering the money through First United Commerce, Candy’s bank. Come on, it was a gift from God, or some such shit. I definitely was meant to deal myself in. I just had to find a way to leverage Candy and get her on board.”
“How’s that working out for you?” Lark asked sarcastically.
“Since Candy took a powder, not so good.”
“So basically, it’s in your best interest for me to track down Candy, too.” Lark surmised.
“Not on this shit, it isn’t. I got rid of all the papers I took from the office, and I deleted all the e-mails that Candy sent me on the guys. But I was counting on the cash that this operation was going to bring in. I promised my bookie I’d be able to pay him. You coming by here today is my new gift from God.”
“Clarify your thinking for me, Jay.”
“It’s easy. You’re rich. You might be holding out for really rich when daddy dies and you cheat your sisters, but you have money now.”
“Maybe,” Lark said slowly, reeling him in.
“You’re like everyone else. Whether you’re scared, rich, hungry, horny, mad, or afraid like those execs, I can always smell it on you. You’re rich. I want my cut upfront.”
“You mean your bookie wants his cut.”
“Same thing.”
Between Jay’s garlic breath and body odor, and the smell of shit wafting its way from down the hall, Lark wanted out of the building…now!
“You’re right, I can wrangle up some cash. I’ll go to the ATM and meet you and give it to you. Would that be incentive enough for you to give me information?”
His lips compressed into a snarl. “It’d have to be more than some measly three hundred dollars in twenties from an ATM. I want at least two grand.”
Lark laughed. “No way.” She turned and took two steps down the hallway, breathing out of her mouth.
“Fifteen hundred,” Jay yelled after her.
“A grand,” she yelled over her shoulder.
“Fine. A grand.”
She walked back to his door. “But I’m not bringing that kind of money here. Hopkins isn’t the best part of Baltimore and isn’t exactly known for its hospitality. You’re going to have to meet me somewhere safe.”
“Like where?”
“Meet me at the Starbucks on Ashland.”
“That’s too damned far.”
“Suck it up. If you want a thousand dollars, I want a latte.”
ARE YOU AVAILABLE FOR DINNER THIS WEEKEND?
Lark tingled just reading the text. It was as if she could hear Kostya’s rough velvet voice and that slight sexy accent, right here, talking to her. It had been almost fifteen long nights since the kiss, and every night since then she had replayed being in his arms.
She itched to type back a YES, but she honestly didn’t know. She was too damned worried about Candy. If she found out something, she had to follow up on the lead.
The door opened again, and Jay Jenson walked in.
It’s a great day in the neighborhood, he’s put on a collared shirt. Who knew that was possible?
He didn’t bother with the line; instead, he scanned the store and headed for her table in the back. Lark found herself wincing at the man again as he adjusted his balls. What in the world had Candy ever seen in this man?
“You got my money?” he demanded as he loomed over her.
“Have a seat and stay awhile.” Lark smiled sweetly.
“You got my money?”
“I said, have a seat.” This time her tone wasn’t so sweet. Her eyes were hard, and he sat down. “Jay, I’ve been thinking; ten Benjamins is a lot of money, and I want my money’s worth. Not only do I want to know all the relatives and friends that Candy might be staying with, I want to know your associates.”
His bushy eyebrows furled. “That’s a no.”
Lark laughed. “If you want your money, you better change that no to a yes.”
He stood up and shoved his fists onto the table, pushing his foul-smelling face into her space. “If you don’t want me following you home and taking that money, and taking whatever else I want, you’ll just hand it over now, like the little scared prissy bitch you are.”
Lark leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and laughed.
“You don’t know my friends. My very good friends. One look at them and you would wet your pants. I didn’t have them come inside with me because I said I could handle this alone, but if I press one button on my cell phone, they’ll come in and rip you apart. I suggest you sit down, Jay.”
He looked over his shoulder, then sat down.
“Wait a minute, I don’t believe you.” He started to stand up.
It took less than ten seconds for Lark to find the picture she wanted. She pulled it up and showed it to Jensen. “Unfortunately, only two of my friends could be here this afternoon. The youngest one, Nic, has a date.” She tilted her phone so that both she and Jay could see the picture of Nic, Kostya, Cullen, and herself that Cullen had had Asher take of them when they’d finally gotten out of their cage after they crossed into Pakistan.
“Who are those guys?” Jay gulped.
“I told you, friends,” Lark said easily. So now that we have that established, you understand how kind I’ve been with you. I could have just brought my friends to your apartment and demanded the information, but that’s not my style. I leave that kind of crap to you and your cronies.”
Lark reached into the front of her hoodie pocket and pulled out the bank envelope and put it on the table, along with a pen and notepad. “Now start talking.”
“She has a sister, she lives—”
“I know about Rosie. I’ve already checked in with her. Try again.”
He pushed back in his chair, tipping it so the front legs were in the air. “Do you know about her half-sister, Dawn?” he asked slyly.
Lark shook her head and picked up her pen. “Tell me about her.”
“Dawn’s a cocktail waitress over at the MGM National Harbor Casino. She’s a looker. Bet she rakes in the tips.” He licked his lips.
What a sleazeball.
“What’s her last name?”
“Shit, I don’t know. It started with a T. Taylor or Trevor or something. I only met her twice.”
“I need more names than that,” Lark pressed.
“There’s that bastard of a boyfriend she had. She was always talking about how he arranged for a limo for their senior prom. She still had the hots for him twelve years later. Go talk to him.” Jay looked over his shoulder. “I’m hungry.”
“Too bad. What’s the guy’s name?”
“Wayne Foster. She talked about him so much, can’t help but remember that bastard. Always comparing me to him. Did he ever take her out to Benny’s for Ladies Night? Hell no!”
“Yeah, you sound like a real sweetheart.”
“You got it.” Jay gave her a smug smile.
Lark leaned in. “Now listen to me. I think Candy’s running because she got really scared. I think you did something stupid, and these guys you’ve been working with targeted her.”
Jay smirked. “I ain’t done nothing.”
“Yeah, you have. You got her involved with some shady shit over at Sanofi. You probably promised these guys the moon, then couldn’t deliver, so you got Candy to do some searches on the men you were working with, in hopes that she could get you some leverage. And then when things got hairy for her, you threw her to the wolves. How close am I?”
“You’ve got quite the imagination.”
“Hmmmm.”
Jay dropped his chair down and it hit hard. He snatched the envelope up off the table. “If you see the bitch, tell her we’re through. I’ll sign the divorce papers.”
He knocked the chair over as he left the coffee shop.
Lark looked down at her latte and crinkled her nose. She couldn’t finish it after he’d breathed on it, she’d have to get a new one. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the picture and focused in on Kostya. She trailed her finger over his face.
I have it bad.
She flicked over to her messages and looked at Kostya’s text for a long moment. It was Thursday. Chances were she’d have a better chance of finding Wayne and Dawn during the weekend, especially Dawn if she worked as a cocktail waitress. So dinner tomorrow, and work on Saturday.
Lark grinned.
I’m not rationalizing to see him sooner. I’m not.
Lark texted Kostya to arrange dinner.
14
“Feel like gambling on Saturday?” Lark asked when Amy picked up her phone.
“Uhm, no.”
Lark smiled. She knew that answer was coming. Amy was quite the little prude when it came to almost everything. It came down to growing up with a raging alcoholic drug-addicted, mother.
“Okay then, how about dressing up and letting me buy you an overpriced soda at an upscale nightclub where you might meet an attractive man?”
Amy snorted. “You already told me we’re going to a casino, I’m not going to be meeting a man that I’m going to be interested in.”
“Yeah, but you’ll have fun looking them over and making up their backgrounds and why they’re at the bar and if they’re cheating on their wives. You love that kind of thing.”
Amy didn’t answer.
“Please?”
“Why are you going to a casino? Is this for one of your stories?”
“Kind of. One of my sources has gone missing. I’m tracking down her half-sister. I’ve managed to convince—i.e. bribe—the restaurant operations manager to find out if they had a Dawn T working at the casino. He explained that there was a Dawn Tanner who would be working on Saturday. I’m hoping that she’ll know where Candy is.”
“What in the hell did you bribe him with? A new car, or a spin around one of their luxury suites?”
“I admit that when I passed over the five hundred dollars that I might have flirted a bit, but I did not promise him sex. He was a little guy and I wasn’t interested.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Hell yes, I’ll go with you. And do you know why? Because you are going to tell me every teeny tiny fucking detail about your date with the Navy SEAL. But my guess is, there was absolutely nothing teeny tiny about him.”
“I was planning on telling you.”
“Planning, shmanning. Not good enough. It’s been over two weeks and I’ve heard nothing. It goes against the best friend code.”
Lark looked down at her phone, then walked over to the mini-bar in her hotel room and grabbed a Toblerone from the basket. She needed chocolate before getting into this conversation. She tore it open and opted for the bed instead of the desk.
“Lark, are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said with her mouth full.
Amy laughed. “What are you eating?”
“Toblerone.”
“Toblerone? That means you’re in a hotel. Where are you?” Amy asked.
Lark swallowed her bite of chocolate. “I’m at the Marriott here in Baltimore.”
“Is that where your source lives?”
“Yeah. It’s also where the defense contractor is headquartered. I just got in from New York yesterday, otherwise, I would have called you.”
“You could have called before then and told me if you slept with a SEAL.”
“And I would have called you if I slept with a SEAL.”
“Dammit, Lark, I was counting on you.” Amy sighed dramatically. “Do you realize how sad our lives are? Do you?”
Lark took another huge bite out of the candy bar. “Yes,” she mumbled. “Yes, I do.”
“Well, your life isn’t that sad. Your life is exciting. You get to traipse all over the world and act like Nancy Drew checking out stories. I’m the one who manages a rundown little restaurant here in D.C..”
“Hey, you’re living your dream.”
“If I was living my dream, I would own this crappy little restaurant,” Amy protested.
“When are you going to let me invest?” Lark asked for the umpteenth time.
“When pigs fly. Can we move on? I want to know how in the hell you could have put on my blue dress and not gotten laid.”
Lark tossed the phone down on the bed and grabbed another pillow and put it behind her, then twisted until she was totally comfortable. “Amy, the man was amazing. He talked me into the whole thing saying there wouldn’t be sex, but he would want a kiss goodnight. He was sooooo smooth.”
“Tell me more,” Amy sighed.
“The dinner was great. I learned so much more about him. You know those special forces guys are smart, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Everybody thinks that they end up not making it as a SEAL because of BUD/S, and for the Deltas because of OTC, but it’s so much more than that. These guys have to be smart. I mean really intelligent. Now some of them act like they’re in junior high, but don’t let it fool you.”
“So does Kostya act like he’s in junior high?”
“Nope, he’s one hundred percent grown man.” Lark’s entire body tingled just thinking about him. “Amy, he’s well-read, and the man could talk current events. We didn’t have the same views on things, but when we disagreed about something it wasn’t a big deal, we would just explain our different points of view and debate them and move on, no harm no foul. He actually listened to what I had to say.”
“Okay, so the dinner was fabulous, then what?”
“The only real problem was the fact that he wanted to pay for the hotel room.”
“Hah! He did want to have sex!”
“Nope. Well yeah, probably.” Lark wiggled deeper into the pillows. “But the reason he wanted to pay for the hotel was that he said he couldn’t come up to Baltimore for the date because he was on call. He was really over the top.” Lark picked up the phone and whispered into it. “And you know what? I loved every minute of it.”
“Of course you did!” Amy squealed. “Who wouldn’t? Now tell me about the kiss!”
“So at the end of the night he walks me to my room, and we go inside. Amy, we know I’ve had this phobia about big men in my personal life, and we know why, but damn.”
“Are you over it? Or did you have to fake it?”
“Apparently for him, I’m way the hell over it. There was just something about being cuddled against his broad chest, being held in his arms that was amazing. And Amy, he didn’t just swoop in for a kiss. Uh-huh, he went all coaxy-like. Before he even really got started, I was pulling his head down and wanting a deeper kiss. His fingers were sifting through my hair, and when I touched his chest it was nothing but hard muscle and I wanted to rip his clothes off. I couldn’t believe it was even me.”
Lark waited for Amy to respond, but she got nothing.
“Say something!”
“I can’t. I think I just spontaneously orgasmed.”
Lark giggled.
“And you’re telling me nothing more happened that night, it just ended with a kiss?”
“That’s what I’m telling you. He was all noble and said that’s what he promised and he was sticking to it. But, he asked me to go out for breakfast the following morning.”
“Yay! Morning sex!”
“Not so much. His team got called away.”
“Boo hiss, no morning sex.”
“My thoughts exactly. Uh, Amy?”
“Yeah.”
“Did I tell you I have a date with Kostya for tomorrow night?”
“What?” Amy screamed. “If you have a date with him on Friday, why in the hell are we talking about meeting up on Saturday?”
“I told you, I have to track down Dawn on Saturday. I don’t have a choice.”
“Go flirt with that guy again and see if she works on Sunday. Or better yet, see if she works on Monday; your hours are flexible. I have a job where I clock in. So don’t give me this bullshit! I refuse to meet up with you back here in Baltimore on Saturday. Instead, I want to be hearing about a wild weekend of out-of-this-world sex with Kostya Barona. Do you get me?”
Lark laughed. Amy always made her laugh.
“I’m serious, Lark. My hymen has grown back, don’t let it happen to you.”
“I’m serious too. I’ve been having a bad feeling about Candy for over a week. There is no way I’m going to let her disappearance go on any longer than necessary.”
“When you were doing all that flirting and giving away cash, why didn’t you get her address?”
“I did. The address she had listed as her home was really a Chick-fil-A, and the phone number goes straight to voicemail. When I checked it out, I found out it’s a burner phone. Hell, she’s been working for the MGM for over a year, and she has a burner phone? Something’s up. To begin with, you and I will be together, but once I place her, I’m going to send you away.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. If she’s all James Bondy, I want to make sure I have your back.”
“What in the hell is going to happen to me in the middle of a casino?” Lark asked reasonably. “They have cameras everywhere. I just want to ask her a couple of questions.”
“You promise not to go anywhere with her?”
“I promise.”
“I still think you should be spending the weekend in bed with Mr. Muscles.”
“You realize you’re objectifying the man.”
“Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve been close enough to touch a man? Allow me a fantasy or two, I’m begging you.”
Lark giggled at the way Amy whined. “Okay, we’ll meet early before Dawn’s eight o’clock start time. She works at the lounge called Blossom, so how about we arrive at seven, okay? And dress slutty, but nice.”
“Do you want to define that?” Amy asked sarcastically.
“You’re the one who taught me that, so don’t even go there.”
“Oh, you’re right. Can do.” Lark heard the smile in her friend’s voice. “Do me a favor, take a picture of what you’re wearing when you meet Kostya. I just want a visual. You get a triple-word score if you can get a picture of what he’s wearing. And, you win double jeopardy if you sneak a pic of what he’s not wearing.”
