by Raven Scott
“Uh-h. . . I hired some Mexican mercenaries to assassinate a guy, and not only did they not do that, but they got this woman involved who ended up my employee through events I’m still unsure of?” Valerie laughed, of course, but I was still pissed about that fucking bullshit even now, almost five years later. Licking my teeth, I shook my head and sat back a little to prop my head on the rest. “No, seriously, I think the stupidest thing I’ve ever spent money on was probably a golf trip. Did I mention yet that I absolutely hate golf?”
“Oh, no, you didn’t. Are you so rich that the law doesn’t apply to you?”
“Yes. I just own the whole world, and it sucks.” Throwing back her head to cackle at my sarcasm, Valerie held my hand against the soft leather straining against her thighs, and I smirked faintly. “If I was, would it matter? I didn’t take you to be the type to get caught up on something as superficial as money, Valerie.”
“Not really. I mean, I’m still not really understanding the whole scale of it, but it’s whatever. Even if I needed your help, I’d try to pay you back and keep it reasonable. It’s not like you’re a criminal or anything.” Trailing off, Valerie shot me a curiously arched brow, and I ground my teeth. “You don’t give off that slimy vibe, you know?”
“Isn’t that the beauty of it? Who’s going to suspect me? This is exactly why I don’t say ‘gotta.’” She chuffed a laugh, and a strange sense of guilt constricted my throat. I’d rarely felt guilty about anything before, but lying to her . . . Adjusting my grip on the wheel, I rubbed her palm with my thumb as I waded through downtown. “What would you think of that, Valerie?”
“I guess you have a point about being smart about it. To be honest, I’ve never thought about it before. At least you don’t sag your pants.” If Valerie was looking deep into my questions, she didn’t let it show, and I scoffed loudly before she let go of my hand to point across the dash. “Let’s stop there. There’s plenty of time before the mall closes, right?”
My gaze flickered over, and I almost thought I saw her frown under furrowed brows right beforehand. The Dairy Queen wasn’t too packed, and I pushed my blinker and rolled to a stop to wait for opposing traffic.
“I’ll have to check on the mall. It’s only seven-oh-four p.m., though.” Grumbling more to myself than her, I took my turn with a slight squeak of the tires. “Did you want to go in or go through the drive-thru?”
“Let’s go in.” Pulling into the first available spot, I jerked the gear into park and the emergency brake, and Valerie covered my hand with hers. Prickles rippled up my arm, and a cold sweat broke out under my shirt when she leaned over the center console. Her lips were soft, warm, and my heart thundered hard as my free hand flew to cup her even softer, warmer cheek. Our kiss was tentative, and her eyelids fluttered as my gaze darkened, my focus boiling down to what of her I could feel.
When she pulled back, Valerie’s eyes sparkled brightly, and she brushed her nose against mine with a small, wistful sigh.
“You didn’t kiss me at all Saturday night. I was wondering what it was like.” Her mumble hit me right in the chest, and my lips twitched in some weird way between an uncomfortable wince and an awkward smile.
“I’ll have to rectify that.” A genuine, small smile puffed out her cheeks, and Valerie’s palm left mine to cup my chin and wag my jaw like I was a kid. “I’m not going to say it.”
“It’s easy. Do it with me . . . ‘I can fix that.’” Drawling slowly, Valerie’s smile widened, her eyes sparkling a little bit brighter with amusement, and she caressed up my jaw. “You’re so difficult, Carlyle.”
“I refuse to be associated with that asshole Shia LaBeouf.” She ducked her head to laugh, and I downright grinned before unbuckling myself and turning the car off. “Let’s go before we end up not.”
“How many movies have you watched, huh?” Popping open the door, I turned back to Valerie as she unbuckled, casting me a heavy side-eye. For a second, I thought about that, but eventually, I couldn’t do anything but shrug.
“I’m not sure. I only know Disney because Mateo was obsessed with all that when he was younger. It’s not surprising he turned out the way he did with people like that for a role model.” When she opened her mouth again, I held up a hand, and the keys jingled loudly. “And, yes, I’ve met them— they’re all assholes.”
23
Valerie
I knew he was too perfect. Staring at Carlyle from under my lashes, I scooped some of my strawberry sundae into my mouth in an attempt to cool my brain. He wasn’t nearly as subtle as he thought, and I wasn’t so naive as to think those questions and comments were meaningless. I wonder what happened today to make him come try to confess in the first place.
“So, this business trip to Nevada. Is it involved with your anxiety over this hostile takeover thing?” I mean, who the Hell asks what a person thinks about him if he was a criminal? During the car ride, I couldn’t stop thinking about that whole cage match conversation. Carlyle wouldn’t lie, I didn’t think, but there was another reason he brought it up other than just the one he gave. His hazel eyes flickered to mine, and I clamped my lips around my spoon to suck off the strawberry sauce.
“I don’t know, to be honest. Things that happen far away have even farther-reaching consequences. Like with your mother, I’m trying to do damage control because of someone else’s mistakes.” Nodding firmly, I leaned on my forearms on the table even as he sat back a little to frown under furrowed brows. He’s lucky he’s so damn handsome and polite. Otherwise . . . “I had a business associate in Nevada that’d I paid to do some ongoing contractual business. The city they live in was in the midst of a boom, so I figured I’d get in on it. After a few fumbles on their part, mostly because of incompetence, I pulled out.”
“Why go back when they already proved they couldn’t do the job?” One thing I knew very little about was business, and Carlyle cocked his head as he hummed in acknowledgment. His lips pursed around his spoon, and I nibbled my own as they tingled from the residue of our kiss.
Truth be told, I hadn’t realized he didn’t kiss me until I was already doing it . . . and I knew why. Those lips told no lies, and they liked me.
“It’s coming to bite me in the ass. I thought the operation was sound, but it just fell apart so easily, and I lost a lot of money. I’m not stupid enough to think I can attempt to get it back, but if I could figure out what happened, I can stop it from happening again.” I scraped the bottom of the banana boat for syrup as Carlyle spoke, and he reached across the table to hold my wrist gingerly. “Also, I was looking for a reason to impress you.”
Giggling as flames licked my cheeks, I only shook my head, and he cracked a sexy smirk as he thumbed my skin. A shiver lodged between my shoulder blades, and I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth fully as I locked eyes with him. Carlyle had mastered the art of being genuine while hiding his true intentions and now was no different.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, yet.
“You just want to get me drunk, so we can get hitched, and you’d have an excuse. I know what you’re doing, Carlyle, and I’m not gonna fall for it.” He chuckled, and the sound caressed my ears even while they burned with all the heat radiating from my abdomen. “You’re lucky you’re sexy and don’t use slang. Otherwise, you’d have nothing going for you.”
“Come on, that’s not fair. I have nice hair, too.” Sniggering at that, I shook my head, and Carlyle smiled broadly, squeezing my wrist before retreating to hold up his boat. “I guess it doesn’t make up for being a terrible person, you’re right. I’m just wrong for wanting to spend time with you, Valerie.”
“I guess that makes us both wrong. Then again . . . ” Sliding my foot up his inner leg, I hummed softly as Carlyle’s eyes narrowed on me. “What’s that saying?”
“What’s wrong is wrong, and what’s right is left.” Barking a laugh at that, I slump back in my seat to cover my face with my free hand, and Carlyle grinned broadly. Merriment brightened his eyes, and
he propped his cheek on his fist as I stifled my giggles. “Whatever you say or do is always right, and I’m always wrong. That’s the way it goes.”
“You got jokes, and they’re funny.” Carlyle chuffed softly, and I sat up over my empty banana boat to pull my hair over my shoulder absently. Sighing as a short silence stretched between us, I licked my lips heavily, and he didn’t break eye contact while he ate the last of his banana smothered in sauce. All the flirtiness was suddenly sucked from my chest, and I twisted my hair around and around as my foot fell from his thigh. “T-to be honest, Carlyle, I don’t want to get a new phone. I’ve been putting it off because if they have my mom, they know all about me— my birthday, my name— they’ll find my new number. It’s almost a guarantee.”
“Has Natasha gotten any phone calls?”
“Not that she’s mentioned.” I couldn’t help the irrational hope bubbling in my chest that if Carlyle really was a little shady, he could help me out. Clearing out the restaurant to talk about a voice demodulator program, having a bodyguard like Theo, and tonight, it all pointed to some less than squeaky clean shoes. “I shouldn’t have broken my phone. I was just . . . I didn’t want to get dragged in again.”
“Do you still have it? I could hand it to my cyber guy, Jerry.” Nodding, I inhaled deeply, steadily, and Carlyle sat back to rub his chin thoughtfully under furrowed brows. “If I found anything, would you want to know, or do you want it handled externally?”
“Um . . . I don’t really know how to answer that.” It’d been a few weeks at this point, and I shrugged as Carlyle set down his empty boat. “Yes?”
Sliding out of the booth first, he held out his hand for me, and I followed suit before he gathered the boats to dump them in the trash. His palm was warm and dry, hard against mine, and I lifted it to my cheek to feel the hairs on the back of his hand bristle.
“We should’ve stayed in bed.” The almost unbearable urge to get naked and just cuddle swept through me in powerful waves, and I spoke up as we entered the parking lot. Carlyle wrapped his arm around my neck, pressing his lips to my temple, and I closed my eyes after stepping off the sidewalk and onto the asphalt. “I’m sorry I dampened the date.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Valerie. If you want, we can get a hotel room. We’ll get your phone first, though, alright? I’ll have Jerry work on the security once we know your new number.”
“I’d like that.” Tonight had started feeling like a really nice date, and I just had to ruin it. “Um . . . have you been to this mall before? I haven’t.”
“The Walden Galleria? Not personally. It’ll be an adventure.” Smiling encouragingly, Carlyle pulled his keys out of his pocket, and we paused while he unlocked the car. Shirking off my gloominess, I rubbed my hands up my face and through my hair and heaved a massive sigh.
All I had to do was focus on the man in front of me, and I’d have a great time.
Not the fact that he made comments about assassinating people.
Or that he alluded to some shady business dealings.
Or that I really didn’t care either way.
24
Carlyle
“No . . . no . . . no . . . Agh!” Slumping over the arcade machine, Valerie groaned in frustration, and I rubbed her shoulders as she glared at the stuffed cat she’d been trying to claw for almost twenty minutes now. “I almost had that bastard.”
“Can I try?” I expected her to say ‘no’ again, that she would definitely get it this time, but she surprised me when she nodded in defeat. Sticking a dollar into the machine, I clenched my jaw under brows furrowed in concentration, and she stepped back, but not too far. “I bet you’d be a riot at a carnival, Valerie.”
“I’ll have you know that you’d win that bet.” Hunched over this game, I only guffawed at her grumble, and I wiggled the joystick. This evening hadn’t gone the way I thought it would, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Valerie hadn’t asked me to take her home at the very least.
It was getting harder and harder to keep my damn mouth shut, and I would be damned if Valerie didn’t have some inkling of something vague.
“If you get this on the first try, we’re breaking up.” Surprise rattled my spine, and my head whipped to the side as my thumb bore down on the joystick in an effort to clench a fist. Valerie jumped a little, her breath catching, and alarm glimmered in her eyes, widening as they caught mine. “What? It was a joke.”
“I didn’t know we were together.” Her slender brows nearly flew off her face, and my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. “Valerie . . . ”
“No, no, it was a joke, Carlyle. I mean, how could someone . . . ” My cheek twitched in agitation when she trailed off, and Valerie shook her head as an ugly, black blotch engulfed my heart and lungs. Before I could even really think about alternatives, my mind went straight to the worst, and I grabbed her face to squeeze. Fire scorched my throat, and she gasped as her cheeks went pale above my stretched fingers.
“How could someone like me not be a disconnected, pompous ass, thinking everyone’s beneath me because I have money?” Goosebumps blanketed my entire body from the ice flooding my chest, and Valerie shook her head hastily, her dark hair making her look ghostly, almost. Scowling darkly, I released her to turn on my heel and walk away, but I wasn’t expecting her to follow me.
What the fuck did she think we were doing? If I didn’t want to be around her, I wouldn’t be.
Stuffing my fists into my pockets as my nails dug into my palms, my scowl twisted into a sneer at the thought. If Valerie was just another slut, I wouldn’t have fucked her. I would’ve gotten some head and ignored her any other time. Unless I wanted something.
“Carlyle . . . Carlyle, that’s not . . . ” Frantic hands grabbed my arm, but I didn’t break pace as Valerie practically tripped over herself, trying to keep up. “That’s not what I was going to say, damnit! Stop walking so fast!”
“Then what?” My nasty snarl made her jump away, and my heart squeezed even as I pinned her to a column between stores. I could feel people staring at us, but I ignored them as the tendons in my hands bulged from the tension zinging through me. Valerie lost some of her puff, and my throat tightened around a growl as she so gently set her palm against my chest.
“How can someone break up with you after that kiss?” Cutting my hiss off, Valerie’s words rolled off her tongue in a slur, and I tensed when her hand fell from my chest. A little, tiny, sad smile crested her cheeks, and a light extinguished in her eye as my heart palpitated painfully. “Let’s just go back. It’s not that important, I guess.”
“The fuck does that mean, not that important? Of course, it’s important!” What the fuck is happening right now? My elbows gave out on me as the question dug ruts into my brain, and I suddenly found myself nose to nose with her. “Do you think I’m doing all this because I don’t want to be with you? For sex? For a job? What?”
“I hoped you would know what, Carlyle.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I lost my shit at that, and I glared hotly at Valerie as she struggled not to look away. “I invited you out because I wanted to spend time with you. That’s the only God damn reason. Yeah, I went to your apartment because I had a shit day, and I wanted to see you, but I didn’t invite you out as a distraction. Jesus, fuck.”
Pushing myself away roughly, I raked my hands through my hair and down the back of my head, and Valerie crossed her arms over her bust with a sour expression. She didn’t look the least bit scared or uneasy, but she did look nervous, and I scoffed loudly.
“You know what I do know, Valerie? I wasted my fucking time.” All this fucking drama over a stuffed animal. Rolling my eyes, I turned on my heel to storm down the causeway, and I could hear her pattering after me. Valerie just shot the shit out of absolutely nowhere, and I blinked hard as I tried to wrap my head around it. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, my hand shook as I unlocked the screen, and red seeped into the edges of my vision.
I wa
s distracted by her big ass and sharp wit. Obviously, she wasn’t lying when she said painting and sex were all of her personality.
“Carlyle . . . ” Ignoring the call, I dialed Carl’s number, but Valerie rushed around me to hold my phone down. “Stop . . . I . . . ”
“Take your hand off me now.” Hurt rippled across her delicate features, and she tentatively withdrew to hold her hand to her chest as the demanding ground through my teeth. I pulled the phone to my ear only to listen to the ring, and I swore under my breath. I’d let Carl off for the night, and he’d probably left his work cell in the car before heading home.
“Can you . . . can you just . . . hear me out? Please?” It physically hurt to listen to the waver in Valerie’s tone, and I slid my phone back in my pocket to cover my mouth tightly. She took my silence as acceptance, but I really didn’t want to say something I’d later regret as her swimming eyes met mine. “Please, Carlyle. I get it. I shouldn’t have made the joke. I’m sorry, okay?”
“What the fuck is with you tonight, huh?” My lip curled back, and Valerie went a little gaunt as I scratched my jaw and neck in irritation. “Do you need me to fucking spell it out for you or something, Valerie? It’s not about the damn joke. Jesus, it’s . . . why are you trying to pick a fight with me? Answer me that.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that, Carlyle. I just . . . we just . . . got our wires crossed. I didn’t mean to imply in any way that . . . ” I fucking saw that shit— that fraction of a second when she decided to give up, that maybe I wouldn’t believe her, that tiny dim in her eye. “I don’t want to fight with you. I’ll go get my phone and call an Uber.”