by Anthology
In the bedroom, he spanked and teased me, tied me up and pushed my limits. The things that man had done… He was the best lover I’d ever had. For him I was not only submissive—I loved it.
But there had to be one place in my life where Corbin wasn’t the hero. I’d chosen my job.
Rob opened his mouth just as his office phone rang. He leaned back to pick up the receiver.
I should have left, gone to my own office to start in on the next round of work, but instead I waited.
“Yeah, we’ll be right there,” Rob said. He hung up. “Dad wants us.”
I groaned. The only thing that could make the day worse was to be on the receiving end of one of Dad’s lectures. “You didn’t tell him when you saw the posting, did you?”
Rob looked at me like I was insane. “Of course not. I figure if we pull off a miracle, he never needs to know—”
“And if someone beats us to Chaew, Dad can find out then,” I finished, pushing to my feet.
Dad had been getting a lot of bad news lately, all of it my fault. Minimizing that was a good idea.
Finding the chinless guy in Dad’s office shouldn’t have been a surprise, but Rob’s bad news had erased my short-term memory or something.
I took a closer look at the stranger. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a print of a running tree, but also a dark blazer, like he couldn’t decide between casual and formal and so had opted for a bit of both.
“You’re replacing Rob,” I said to Dad.
Rob shook his head. “It wasn’t funny the first time.”
I held my fingers apart an inch. “Maybe a little?”
Dad cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. “This is Jasper Rand. He’s Smile’s nephew.”
I felt myself bristling. Smile, aka Lester Smith, was a former private investigator and one of Dad’s closest friends. Even though I rarely saw him anymore, I’d thought of him fondly and considered him a friend… right up until Dad hired him to spy on me and Rob. But that was water under the bridge, right?
Dad gestured at us. “Let me introduce you to my son Rob.”
“Nice to meet you,” Rob said as they shook hands.
“And my daughter Audrey,” Dad said.
Of course he introduced Rob first. He always introduced Rob first, and it wasn’t because Rob was technically older.
I shook Jasper’s hand. He had a firm but clammy grip, and I surreptitiously wiped my palm on my jeans as soon as I could.
“You two are brother and sister?” Jasper asked. “I never would have guessed that.”
“Twins, actually,” Rob said.
Everyone learned in elementary school that fraternal twins could be as similar or dissimilar as any two siblings, but people were always shocked by our physical differences after learning we’d shared a womb for nine months.
Rob’s red hair was poker straight, and up until a couple of months ago he’d hidden his warm brown eyes behind glasses. I had dark, curly hair—frizzy, really—and green eyes. Rob was about five-ten, and I was barely five-four; certain ungenerous souls claimed I was shorter.
Jasper was still looking from me to Rob. Me to Rob. Me to Rob. “Wow,” he said, grinning like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced.
I didn’t dare sneak a glance at my brother, but I knew we were both thinking the same thing.
“I hired him,” Dad said loudly.
“What?” I gasped.
Dad put his hands on his hips and pushed back his shoulders, taking up space. It was what he did whenever he was going to say something he knew we wouldn’t like. The worse the news, the more he thrust out his stomach and raised his voice.
“We have more bounty hunters on the payroll than we can afford,” I said, getting loud myself.
“The payroll is fine.” Dad said it like it was a joke, like I was kidding or didn’t know what I was talking about, but I caught the sharp edge of warning in his voice.
“Oh, I’m not a bounty hunter,” Jasper said. “Though I’m flattered you thought so. You guys are so tough.”
“Then what are you?” Rob asked.
“Hold up, Jasper,” Dad said. “Let me explain my reasoning here before I tell them the surprise.” His stomach was now taking up half the office, and he was smiling so hard, I worried his face would crack into pieces. “We aren’t in the sheriff’s department’s good graces. They aren’t actively trying to sabotage us, but we need to accelerate the healing.”
“Healing?” I couldn’t believe my dad was talking like this. He was normally gruff and emotionless.
He gestured at nothing. “Good PR is what we need.”
“Oh, shit,” I said.
“What?” Rob asked.
“We can’t afford a PR guy,” I told Dad.
“Uh, no. I’m a journalist,” Jasper said quickly, punctuating his statement with an anxious little chuckle.
“He’s a journalist,” Dad repeated as if we were all deaf, “and he’s going to write a story on us. What fugitive recovery agencies do, how it all works.”
Our dad had lost his mind. “And we’re paying him to print it… where? Are we starting a newspaper? How does this work, exactly?”
Dad shot me a look. I shot it right back.
“Two weeks,” Dad said. “You won’t even know he’s here.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Rob’s voice was a little strained. “How can we help?”
“Hold up,” I said. “Two weeks of what?”
“He’ll observe how the business is run,” Dad said. “He’ll be a shadow.”
“A shadow,” Jasper said.
I didn’t like the weird echoing thing he and Dad had going on. I began shaking my head.
Rob grabbed my arm. “A word.” He steered me into the hallway, closing the door behind us. He whispered, “Do I have to remind you that we wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t pissed off the sheriff’s department? If this goes to a vote, I’m on Dad’s side.”
I felt like I’d been dunked in ice water. “Seriously? You think this is a good idea?”
“Audrey, deep breath. This is not the end of the world.” He pulled on his puppy dog look, which had never worked on me. It was, however, irritating enough that I wanted to make it stop.
“Fine,” I said.
My brother frowned and leaned his head back as if I’d announced that I’d seen a dozen tutu-wearing Yeti marching through town. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” I pushed back into Dad’s office, Rob on my heels. “Jasper, welcome to Stroop Finders. I’m afraid I’m too busy for any interviews, but Rob will be happy to have you shadow him so he can show you how it all works.”
Dad huffed a laugh. “Excellent,” he said. “Thank you for stepping up, Rob.”
Of course. Rob always got the credit. But this time, I didn’t care.
I turned to leave, and even Rob’s scathing dirty look couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
Chapter Two
Sunlight bathed my large office. There wasn’t much furniture: a desk, three chairs, a small table, and a sofa. Maybe the stacks of files could count as sculptures? Stroop Finders was only in this location until construction was finished on our building, so I hadn’t bothered bringing in plants or artwork.
I wanted nothing more than to call Corbin, ask him to meet me for a late lunch, then let him fuck my worries away. I even pulled out my phone and brought up his number, then stared at the photo of him chopping wood, shirtless and muscular and too damned hot.
I could practically feel his hands on me, spreading my legs, a hot palm clamped over my mouth as he rammed into me from behind.
So damned tempting.
If only Stroop Finders were someone else’s mess.
The next hour disappeared in a flurry of fruitless phone calls as I followed up on the tenuous Chaew leads I’d gathered.
The bulk of Stroop Finders’ money came from scooping up people who’d used bondsmen to post bail and then didn’t show up fo
r their court dates. Most bondsmen didn’t maintain their own fugitive recovery teams, so they needed to hire help. Stroop Finders had a reputation for being fast.
A former bounty hunter had once said that our job consisted of bribing people to sell out their friends and family. He’d been joking, but it was pretty accurate. Most of the bail skips we went after were men. To find them, we usually started with their girlfriends or wives.
Often, that was enough. Either the women were happy to give them up, or we’d catch the skip on his way for a screw. It might happen at midnight in the middle of a heat wave, and you might have to eat fast food and pee behind bushes, but sooner or later, lurking around the women usually paid off.
A very small percentage of our work was the sort of bounty hunting that most people think of: Most Wanted lists. We didn’t exactly ride around on horses and kick in saloon doors, though. Everything was high tech now—it was amazing what some idiots-in-hiding would post on Twitter—but most bounties were still unearthed because someone, somewhere, talked.
Chaew fell loosely into the second category. A financial planner, he’d ripped off some wealthy clients, then disappeared before he could be arrested. Rob had convinced the clients’ lawyers that Stroop Finders was the fastest, safest path to locating Chaew.
Apparently, the lawyers had lost faith in us.
It was true that Stroop Finders was undergoing some financial difficulties, and it was also true that I was to blame. However, if we could catch Chaew, the bounty would go a long way toward stemming the financial hemorrhage that occurred every payday.
My office phone rang. “There’s someone here to see you,” Erin said, her voice teasing.
Other than Martin, who was her boyfriend and one of our employees, there was only one person who reduced our receptionist to a giggling schoolgirl.
Excitement winged through me.
“Send him down.” I took a moment to smooth my fingers over my curls, then started across the office.
The door opened, and I found myself staring into Corbin’s blue-green irises. Even from halfway across the room, the vivid color caught me off guard and whipped the breath right out of my chest.
Tight jeans molded to his muscled thighs. His dark flannel shirt, which I suspected had been expensive, highlighted the breadth of his chest and shoulders.
The man was the embodiment of confidence and power. I’d thought so even before falling in love with him.
He hadn’t bothered shaving, and the stubble shading his square, masculine jaw made him look every inch the bad boy he was. His dark hair was a little long, a little tousled.
“May I come in?” he asked. His deep voice vibrated over my skin, giving me the sensation of being stroked in intimate areas. Only Corbin could make me feel naked by asking a completely innocent question.
My mind went to dirty places. Please, do come…
“Please do,” I said quickly, forcing myself not to turn toward the sofa that was definitely big enough for a quickie… As busy as I was, I could spare ten minutes.
He entered with long, certain strides. Unfortunately, he didn’t close the door behind him.
His arms wrapped around me. Corbin’s familiar, masculine scent was better than any cologne. “Hi, baby,” he said. “I’m going to ask you a question, and you have to say yes.”
Oh, he wanted to have lunch together. Lunch, which would take at least an hour, maybe longer.
“Not great timing,” I said, struggling in his embrace.
Corbin released me, a frown troubling his handsome face. “What’s wrong?”
The mood was gone, and I’d killed it. “Nothing,” I said, licking my lips. “Typical work crap.”
“Typical work crap doesn’t stress you out like this.” He didn’t narrow his eyes, but he might as well have.
Unable to take the scrutiny, I pretended to sort through a stack of files sitting on the edge of my couch. “What’s your question?”
“I was going to ask where you wanted to have lunch,” he said, “but if you’re busy, you’re busy.” He didn’t sound annoyed or offended, but I knew better. I’d been pulling a lot of long nights the last couple of weeks, and Corbin was getting tired of waiting, of coming in second.
I couldn’t blame him for that, but I’d hoped he’d give me a few more days before sitting me down for a Serious Talk.
“Today’s not great. I’m sorry,” I mumbled as I ducked my head and began carrying the files to my desk. “We’re slammed, that’s all.”
Corbin stepped in front of me. It was like being blocked by a truck. “Then let me help.”
I made the mistake of looking up.
His gaze locked on mine. “Audrey. I miss you, baby.”
Razor-sharp guilt stabbed through me. “No help needed,” I said tightly. “We’ve got it under control. We just need time.” It came out a little harsher than necessary.
His expression hardened. “Then I’ll wish you luck and get out of your way.” The kiss he brushed over my lips did little to soften the unspoken accusation that I was being unfair.
He wasn’t pissed, but he had every right to be and we both knew it. If anything, his patience only made me feel worse.
“Be safe, and I’ll see you tonight.” Then he left, and I realized he hadn’t even bothered asking what time I’d be home.
Frustrated, I closed the door, then sat heavily in my padded chair and kicked off my shoes. I had to find Chaew. Even if it killed me, I was going to uncover a lead.
A few minutes later, someone knocked at the door.
“Come in,” I called out, my attention on the note I was jotting down. The door opened so hesitantly that I looked up.
Jasper lingered in the doorway. I’d forgotten all about him.
“Rob’s office is the next one over,” I said.
“I know.”
“Then—”
“Rob suggested I talk to you for a few minutes.”
“One second, Jasper.” I gave him a smile as I grabbed the phone and punched in my brother’s extension.
“Just tell him about the case,” Rob said upon picking up. “I’m about to call one of our former contacts at the sheriff’s office, and I don’t want Jasper listening in.”
I sighed and hung up. “Please, have a seat.”
I’d meant for Jasper to settle onto the sofa along the wall, but he hurried across the room to plant himself in one of the two chairs in front of my desk.
“What are you working on?” he asked.
“Are you secretly recording this?”
“Your dad explained the need for privacy,” he said. “I’ll only record the official interviews.”
Which I wouldn’t be participating in.
Jasper leaned forward. “Tell me about your case. Rob says it’s a big one.”
Other than it being a waste of sixty seconds, I couldn’t see any harm in telling him a few things. “Our fugitive is a man named Damon Chaew.”
“Murderer?”
“You’re not going to run into many murderers at Stroop Finders,” I said. Well, not unless he happened to meet Corbin. I shoved the thought away. “What I mean is that murderers typically don’t get released on bail, and if they take off, law enforcement handles it.”
Jasper nodded.
“Like so many of the people who end up with private bounties attached to them, Chaew stole a lot of money.”
“How much money?”
“Fifteen million or thereabouts. See how that works? Kill someone, and your case will land on some overworked detective’s desk. Steal money from a rich man, and he’ll put a fat price on your head. Within nanoseconds, every bounty hunter in the country will come running to ensure justice is served.”
Jasper slid to the edge of the chair, his eyes gleaming. “How much money for getting him?”
My, aren’t we nosy? I gave him a long, appraising stare. Maybe Jasper wasn’t as clueless as he looked. “Enough for it to be worth our time,” I said.
“What
’s the biggest bounty you, personally, have ever caught?”
I crossed my arms. “What’s the biggest story you’ve ever written?”
My intention had been to shut him down, but it was the wrong question; Jasper’s face erupted into an ambitious smile. “I’m hoping it’ll be this one. And in case you’re wondering, I do say that to everyone I interview.”
He made me laugh in spite of myself, and I decided to stop giving him a hard time. Maybe Dad and Rob were right, and a good news story would raise our profile, remind the authorities that we were a serious company and they should help us out every now and again.
I wondered how Rob was doing with his contact. I hadn’t gotten anyone at the station to take my calls in months, but if they were warming up to Rob… I did a quick calculation. Rob was about ten times more charismatic than I was, so… It could be a while.
“Your brother carries a gun,” Jasper said. “You?”
Rob’s gun usually stayed in his glove box, but I wasn’t about to tell Jasper that. “I prefer pepper spray,” I said. “Everyone in the company has received advanced self-defense training.” After a moment’s reflection, I added, “We pay for first aid training, too.” I didn’t want us to sound like a public menace.
Jasper nodded. “I haven’t been here long, but it seems most of your employees are men. Does that bother you?”
“Not really,” I said. “Everyone has different skills that they bring to the job.”
“I can’t wait to see you in action.”
I didn’t bother telling him there was no way in hell that would happen. I found myself thinking of Corbin. Where had he gone for lunch? I could have spared fifteen minutes to grab a sandwich.
Instead, I’d gotten defensive. Corbin hadn’t intended to pressure me by showing up; he wasn’t like that. And usually I was excited to see him, even when I was busy.
Rob burst through the door, all excited grin and impatience. “Found him,” he said. “With his secret girlfriend at his secret son’s baseball game.”