The driver waited by the rear door of the limo, opening it for them as they approached. Once they were both settled inside, the door closed and they were alone for a moment.
“By the way,” Zak said in a low voice. “I love hearing you scream my name over and over when I bury my hand between your legs to make you come. Next time, though, I want to do it with my tongue. Okay?”
Kaitlin’s cheeks heated, but the driver got into the front of the vehicle before she could respond. Zak looked very satisfied that he’d put her off guard momentarily.
“We’ll be there in no time, folks,” the driver said politely, pulling away from her house.
“Can’t wait,” Zak said.
“Are you going to behave this evening?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It’s possible.” She relaxed into the back of the leather seat. “But I wouldn’t count on it,” he added, turning toward her in his seat and brushing a finger possessively across the center of one breast.
Chapter Twelve
Zak usually wasn’t someone who enjoyed public attention when seducing his woman, but he was also playing a part.
While he was mostly Zak Langston, undercover agent, trying to bring down a nasty local cartel, he was also playing the part of Zak Thornton, a biker bad boy with a reputation to uphold and a brand new woman in his life.
Kaitlin moved his hand from her breast gently, stroking him with her fingertips and placing it palm down on her thigh. The smile on her lips said she wasn’t angry, she just didn’t want a public display. She had a point. The limo driver didn’t need to run off the road watching them put on a sex show in the backseat, but then again, Zak wouldn’t turn her down if she suggested it.
He was amazed he’d been able to act as cool and collected as he had after arriving at Kaitlin’s for the auspicious dinner out. He’d gone from expecting he would have to ditch her forever after arresting Demarco, to hurriedly cleaning up, shaving and cutting his hair to make it to this posh dinner on time.
Down was up and up was down.
Miles and Demarco had set up yet another meet tomorrow evening to bring in the trusted compatriot and finalize the joint deal.
In this secretive, often dangerous job, Zak always tried to be prepared for things to change. Scenarios like this were typically fluid and always altered to some degree regardless of meticulous planning. He wished he’d had a chance to have a short conversation with Miles regarding not only his insertion into this undercover operation, but also how he was involved with Demarco’s friend. Hopefully they’d chat later tonight. Or at least before tomorrow evening’s big double buyer deal extravaganza.
Zak had a bad feeling when he heard Julio had called in sick, despite the personal phone call from the man himself. It hadn’t gotten better when he’d arrived at the Devil’s Playground and seen Miles instead of Julio. Until he’d heard what had really happened through the ear bud, Zak had expected Julio to show up at the bar.
The last time he’d seen Julio was the night Kaitlin changed the course of his evening. Julio left the Devil’s Playground soon after she arrived, presumably on an errand for Demarco. He’d been directly behind Zak when Kaitlin came in. Zak hadn’t even seen him leave, but he’d had his hands and mind full of his new woman. Julio hadn’t come back by the time Zak was hustled out with Kaitlin. Or Zak hadn’t seen him, anyway.
Even with Miles inserted to help, Julio’s death put Zak’s relationship with Demarco in a precarious position.
“Did your, um, meeting go okay?” Kaitlin asked shyly.
Zak wasn’t certain he should even speak generally about the disastrous gathering. He decided to be elusive with any information from that arena. He was very good at being vague. “Not sure yet. We’ll have to see.”
Demarco was still a power hungry carnivore in this nasty business. Zak’s job here wasn’t over yet, which was both good news and bad news, the good news being he could spend more time with Kaitlin, the bad news was she still had to be involved on the periphery of these dealings.
It was clear Demarco wouldn’t let her fade back from the business. He’d even asked after her as Zak left the bar. He’d had to clamp down on his urge to punch the man’s sparkling white teeth down his throat for even saying her name.
Miles had again stepped in to calm things down in more ways than one, enabling Zak to come to this dinner and offer not only his company for a date, but his protection moving forward. He’d have to guard her safety more than ever.
Kaitlin didn’t question his vague answers. She simply nodded and changed the subject to a lighter topic. “I had an interesting lunch with my stepsister earlier. She was nice to me.”
“Is that unusual?” Zak didn’t have any sisters, only lots and lots of brothers. Whereas boys physically beat on each other to communicate, he suspected sisters used their words instead. That said, he’d witnessed a couple of hair-pulling, fist-to-the-face girl fights that would make any self-respecting bad boy cringe in fear.
“It was a bit like being in the middle of a ‘What Would You Do?’ episode.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’s never nice to me. Ever. But today was like, what would you do if your typically mean-girl sister suddenly treated you like an actual person? I kept waiting for her to turn into the bitchy, know-it-all braggart I know she’s so good at being, but that side of her personality never came out. I’m not certain what to expect tonight, but I want you to be prepared for either eventuality.”
“Well, whatever happens, I’ve got your back. If she’s bitchy, braggy or mean, we can always get up and leave.”
“I don’t know that I’d have the balls to do that.”
Zak grinned. “I do. In fact, I have enough for both of us.”
“No argument there. So maybe we should have a signal.”
“Such as?” Zak was already juggling quite a few signals with regard to his earlier meeting. He didn’t need more to memorize for this coming dinner.
“Like I could tug my ear and that means, let’s make our excuses and go. Or I could put my hand on your thigh under the table if we need to stay.”
He gave her his best bad boy grin and said, “For the record, all I can think about right now is having your hand on my thigh throughout dinner, regardless of your meaning.”
“Very funny. Is sex always on your mind?”
“Yes. I’m a bad boy. In fact, it’s the only thing on my mind. Didn’t you get that memo?”
Without skipping a beat, Kaitlin said, “Nope. At the good girl academy, we were never allowed to read any bad boy memos.”
Zak laughed out loud. “Good one.” She settled back against the leather seat, her rapturous gaze putting even worse bad boy thoughts into his head.
He grabbed her fingers, pressed a chaste kiss to her knuckles, but then turned her hand over and licked her wrist with the tip of his tongue. He’d truly love to lick his way between her thighs right now. Did they have time?
Kaitlin’s mouth fell open a bit. Whether it was in surprise, a sudden spike of desire, or that she’d read his mind regarding the possible time available for licking her body elsewhere while they were seated right here in the limo, he didn’t know.
He did know he wanted her. Maybe the driver wouldn’t notice if they managed a discreet quickie in the back seat. The lighting was low.
But in the next second, the vehicle slowed and made a turn before coming to a complete stop. The driver put the vehicle in park and announced, “Here we are. I’ll be around to open your door.” He hopped out, leaving them alone.
Zak leaned in to kiss her mouth, but she turned her cheek at the last second. “Don’t ruin my lipstick just yet, okay? Let’s save it for during dinner in case my sister acts up.” She flashed a quick grin, and he knew there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her in this moment.
Resisting the urge to lick her face, just to see how she’d react, Zak chuckled. “All right, I’ll behave for now. No promises on how long I’ll last though. Bad boys h
ave short attention spans.”
She patted his knee twice and turned as the door whipped open in front of a valet parking zone. They were also right next to the elaborately fancy doors to the restaurant. Having her hand on his leg put dangerous thoughts in his head. He needed to settle down.
Regardless of his teasing, Zak truly didn’t plan to be a douche bag at dinner. He’d fit in. He’d make nice. He’d continue the charade that they were a romantic couple because he had to.
A restaurant employee smiled and opened the front door, welcoming them to the Prendergast. They stepped into a lush foyer. Just ahead was the elaborately carved wooden maître d’ stand. Zak put a hand low on her back and they approached it. He could see several tables through the arched entry into the restaurant. The place looked crowded, opulent and filled with those in the wealthiest class.
Perhaps he could make Brooke believe he was serious about Kaitlin. She could leave town in a day or two convinced Kaitlin was involved with a bad boy and tell whatever tales she wanted. That seemed to be Kaitlin’s goal.
Whatever else their relationship entailed, he did want to be the guy Kaitlin needed in her life right now. But would she be angry to discover his real line of work wasn’t so much bad boy as privately hired undercover agent? Too soon to tell.
If she expected him to walk her down a petal-strewn aisle anytime soon, she’d be disappointed. He’d seen other agents maintain a family life completely separate from this underbelly world of criminal activity, but that existence wasn’t without sacrifices. He didn’t think he could do it.
There were personal costs to his chosen career that Zak had never considered until this moment. He glanced at Kaitlin and was rewarded with her grateful grin. She was happy, exuberantly so. Honestly, Zak was proud of himself for putting the rosy color in her cheeks, remembering with very male satisfaction how she screamed his name repeatedly as she’d climaxed.
A burly guy bustled past him and stopped at the edge of the restaurant’s main entry, hovering between the bar and the front door. He looked familiar. Was it the other guard with Demarco’s mystery man? Quite possibly.
As they waited to be shown to their table, Zak reflected briefly on the meeting with Demarco earlier. The memory of entering the Devil’s Playground for the rescheduled meeting made his oh-fuck-o-meter spike even now.
With Miles and a completely unknown entity involved in the deal, Zak was off the rails, in new territory and making things up as he went along. The most troubling news from his point of view was where they’d hidden the second stash of money.
He hadn’t wanted to rifle through Kaitlin’s shed, since he knew she was home. Besides, he didn’t have time. If Demarco had known the new money location, there would have been another litany of humorless jokes regarding the problems of having a woman in such close proximity and how it made deals of this nature tricky.
Miles suggested they converge tomorrow night with their respective financial stashes at an abandoned warehouse on the opposite end of town from the bar and make arrangements for the transfer of the product.
Tomorrow was going to be the big day. Tonight would probably be his last with Kaitlin. He should take advantage of it. Miles could suck it if he disagreed. Zak also needed to find out what Miles had in mind for tomorrow’s meeting. He’d have to contact him later on using his hidden phone. Yet another conversation he didn’t look forward to.
Zak was juggling so many balls it was a wonder they weren’t pelting him in the head every time he stood still for longer than a minute.
His reverie broke when the chilly maître d’ in this very swanky restaurant came back to his podium, ready to show them to their table, mentioning in a snotty tone that their dinner guests were already seated. They were less than ten minutes late. The maître d’ could suck it, too.
Zak wanted to mention that they’d been standing around his podium for quite a while, but swallowed his sarcasm, took Kaitlin’s arm and guided her past table after table of chicly dressed, attractive rich people. Out of the corner of his eye, Zak noticed the second bodyguard seated just inside the small hallway leading to the restrooms. He averted his head to keep from being recognized. That meant Demarco’s friend was definitely somewhere in the restaurant. Great. This was about to be the longest fucking dinner ever.
Their guide stopped at a horseshoe-shaped booth where two people were already seated. The empty far side of the half circle table waited for them. Brooke was seated in the center.
Kaitlin slid into the booth and scooted next to her stepsister, leaving Zak’s seat directly across from none other than the mystery man who’d frightened Demarco at last night’s failed meeting. The man stood, offering his hand. “Hello. I’m Ernesto Montego. Delighted to meet you.”
“Zak Thornton.” He shook the other man’s hand firmly then sat across from him. “Thanks for the dinner invitation,” he managed to say lightly, even though his o-fuck-o-meter was pinging wildly.
Montego was the trusted compatriot Miles had been vetted through. Had Miles known Zak was having dinner with him tonight?
If he didn’t, the better question had to do with Miles’s reaction when he found out.
Tonight’s conversation would have to be carefully controlled, adding more than a few razor-sharp knives to the objects Zak was trying to juggle above his head.
Chapter Thirteen
Kaitlin sensed rather than knew for a fact that Zak was agitated. Perhaps things hadn’t gone well at his meeting with the beautiful demon she’d met the night before.
She smiled at Brooke as her stepsister’s boyfriend rose to shake hands with Zak.
“Hello. I’m Ernesto Montego. Delighted to meet you.”
Zak shook the man’s well-manicured hand. “Zak Thornton. Thanks for the dinner invitation.”
“It’s my pleasure.” Ernesto gestured for Zak to sit as Brooke spoke up. “Ernesto, this is my sister, Kaitlin Price. Kaitlin, meet Ernesto.”
He nodded as Kaitlin said, “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Montego.”
“Call me Ernesto, please,” he said jovially. “Your sister is very important to me. I hope we can be friends.”
“Of course.”
Ernesto then started talking, seemingly endlessly, about how he’d met Brooke, how he’d wooed her and how he wanted to make her part of his permanent romantic life. Unfortunately, he came across as the very definition of pompous and arrogant only ten words into his long speech, which was mostly all about him.
It was in this moment that Kaitlin wondered what in the ever-loving hell she’d gotten herself into.
She barely got along with her stepsister on a good day. Beside her, Zak was a veritable stranger about whom she knew almost nothing beyond a few carnal, erotic, delicious things. He had a great ass, his kisses were awe-inspiring, and he could make her scream epically—on a dining room table, no less—without even taking her clothes off. While that was all good in its own right, it was not polite dinner conversation.
Since she wasn’t planning to talk about sex, how would they fill the evening’s conversation? What did any of them have in common? Maybe it wouldn’t be an issue, since Ernesto didn’t seem like he was ever going to stop talking or patting himself on the back for being a perfect man of the world. She glanced at Zak, but he didn’t seem bothered. Perhaps she was the only one with misgivings.
Why in the world had she agreed to this foolish dinner charade?
“How long have the two of you been together?” Ernesto asked all of a sudden, opening yet another vast crater of awkward conversation with the seemingly innocuous ice-breaker question.
Kaitlin inhaled deeply and slapped a smile in place. Perhaps it was time to tug on her ear already and leave.
Zak spoke before she could try out the signal. “Not long. But we live next door to each other. We see each other quite a bit.” In addition to saying the exact correct thing, he also looked deeply into her eyes as if she were the only person in the room. When he gently lifted her hand to his lips and ki
ssed her knuckles, she momentarily forgot anyone else was even at the table.
“Convenient.” Ernesto’s nod was on the condescending side, as if he found the idea of the two of them dating to be a spectacle worthy of a zoo. His smarmy tone brought her out of her happy dream world.
Was he being a shit? Did he think they were faking?
“It is,” Zak said. “Plus, Kaitlin is quite special.” He put his arm around her possessively, squeezing her shoulder with his strong fingers. She leaned in his direction. If the night was going to hell, at least she was sharing it with the hottest guy in the room.
“Clearly,” Ernesto said, but his tone had turned disapproving. Was she being paranoid? How had he rushed to that judgment so quickly? Where was a member of the restaurant staff to distract them from this uncomfortable line of questioning?
A waiter appeared as if magically answering Kaitlin’s internal plea for rescue to take their drink orders. As it turned out, she had nothing to worry about with regard to awkward conversation. Ernesto resumed talking as the waiter stood there, about himself, of course. All the while, Zak either gently rubbed her shoulder or lightly rasped his fingernails on her bare back as if he didn’t want to stop touching her. She liked it very much.
“I don’t know if Brooke told you,” Ernesto said as if sharing a secret. “But I’m renowned for my knowledge in the world of gourmet food, and I’m quite the wine connoisseur.” Brooke fawned like he was a demi-god. Kaitlin put on a show of being impressed and made all the appropriate noises of amazement, but she wasn’t.
“Will you allow me to select our adult beverages this evening?” he asked as if he’d just told the best joke ever.
Adult beverages? Really? She wanted to roll her eyes, but resisted the urge.
She looked at Zak. He looked back with a loving smile, shrugged and deferred to her.
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