She sat up and looked down at the thing in her hand. “Annie?”
“Oh crap.” Annie snatched the disc from her palm.
She jumped up and ran into the bedroom. Annie started grabbing things off the hangers and throwing them into her luggage.
Gemma pushed off the carpet. “What is going on here, Annie? What did you get me mixed up with?”
She walked into the bedroom to see Annie zip up a small carryon and toss it on the bed.
“Nothing. They’ve got nothing on you. Remember that.”
She saw something in her best friend’s eyes she had never seen before—fear. Annie was the bravest person she knew, but right now, she was fleeing.
As Gemma was about to reach for her own underwear, there was a loud pounding on the door. “Gemma Howard.”
Annie gasped and ran for the closet.
Gemma stood frozen. Another pounding at the door made her jump and head for the living room. Clutching the sleeves of her robe, she slowly walked over and peeked through the peephole.
A shock of ginger hair and a golden badge waited on the other side.
“FBI, Gemma. Open the door.”
Son of a bitch.
* * * * *
David knew she wasn’t going to answer the door. He was lower than scum to her at this point, but he had to get her out of there. Probably didn’t help that Renner had sent an entire team to escort them down.
He knew she was on the other side of the door. Had she showered or was her scent still in his nose, still infused into his brain? Either way, she was close.
“We’re looking for Diane Fuller,” he said through the door.
“You’ve got the wrong girl. Again.”
David rested his head against the door, trying to ignore the team of men behind him, waiting for his direction. “You’re in danger, Gemma.”
“Screw you.”
Her voice was close, just on the other side.
“Please, Gemma. Open the door.”
He felt her bounce against the door. “Annie, what are you doing?” she screamed.
David turned to his team. “She’s going for the window.”
The team of agents divided down both sides of the hall, but David didn’t follow them. He had to make sure that Gemma was safe. “Move back!” He stepped away and planted his foot above the hotel door lock.
The wood splintered under his attack and he heard a scream inside.
He rushed in to see Gemma clutching her white robe. Her green eyes were wide in fear but quickly turned to anger. Two agents rushed in behind him.
They heard a crash in the bedroom and Gemma turned to run.
David grabbed her robe to keep her from running into danger and her bright-green gaze slashed across him.
“Is Diane Fuller still here?” he asked.
Her gaze jumped to the bedroom door through which the other two agents had disappeared.
David held her arm tightly to keep her from the fray. In that moment, his body was torn between protecting her and taking her right there on the desk. The struggle had opened the plush robe, exposing the curve of her breast. Her eyes were filled with frightened tears and her perfect lower lip quivered.
“Are you okay?”
He ignored the other agents swarming into the room. Nothing else in the world mattered more than her answer.
She took in a deep breath and looked up at him. The water slowly retreated from her eyes.
She caught him completely off guard with a right hook to his jaw.
Chapter Six
Gemma reeled back and punched him as hard as she could, right in the jaw. Which meant she actually caught his cheek because she had never actually punched anyone before. The moment of impact brought an amazing amount of exhilaration and catharsis as well as a lightning bolt of pain up her arm.
He stumbled backward and his hand flew to his face.
Gemma held her fist to her chest and glared at him. Bright red sprung up on his cheek and she immediately felt better.
David tested his jaw a few times. “I’m not the bad guy here, Gemma.”
“From your perspective,” she snapped. She looked down at her bleeding knuckle. Those damn sharp cheekbones had actually split the skin. She reached over to the table and grabbed a tissue from the box and held it to her hand.
“Fuller is the criminal here.” A trickle of blood ran down his cheek and he moved to get a tissue as well.
She jumped back, needing to be as far away as possible from him. After his heroics and now the blood, she wasn’t going to deny he was sexy as hell. She’d never thought that seeing someone kick in a door would be that exhilarating, especially if it was her door. Like some swashbuckling hero in a Dumas novel.
In her retreat, she ran into another agent. They were like ants swarming a picnic, all over the place in an instant and ruining everything.
David held the tissue to his cheek. “Take her to base.”
The order went out and another agent grabbed her shoulders and she barely had enough time to catch her robe from falling open as he pushed her toward the door.
The FBI had taken over a suite similar to hers. People buzzed back and forth and the hum of electronics was like white noise as she stayed in the chair where the other agent had put her.
What the hell had just happened? Annie a prostitute? David an FBI agent? And what the hell did that make her? A Howard. The wrong girl at the wrong time messed up in the wrong stuff.
Gemma didn’t know how long she wallowed in misery before David entered the room. The pity party evaporated as the anger returned.
He walked over with a bucket of ice and a towel. “Your hand will be fine.”
“I have a feeling my life would have been fine if you’d never come along.”
He flinched and his gaze didn’t leave the work he was making of a towel and some ice cubes. “You’re not leaving this room,” he stated.
“You could charge her with solicitation,” an agent called out from the other room.
“I didn’t solicit. I met a guy at a bar.”
He leaned toward her and handed her the icepack. For a moment, as his scent surrounded her, it all came back. The meeting, the two hours of perfectly wonderful conversation before he threw her against a wall and kissed the breath out of her. Her stomach churned in anger. All fake. All part of the job to corner her best friend.
“What the hell do you want anyway? You already got what you paid for.”
David looked as though she’d smacked him again. His mouth opened, then closed before his jaw tightened and he winced.
It made her smile.
“Well it started with a senator being paid off by a lobbyist.”
“What does that have to do with Annie?” she snapped.
“I thought you might appreciate the story.”
Anger lodged in Gemma’s throat. He still knew her, knew that she loved a good story, that she was never more than a thought away from the classics.
She clenched her jaw and shoved the sentiment away. It was all an act. All part of his FBI game. “Just get to the point.”
David nodded. “Intel says that a new circle of call girls is taking over. We were hoping that your friend—”
“Affiliate, you mean.” An agent from the other room walked in. Well, hobbled in. His leg was in a cast from foot to knee, but, wow, did he have the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
“Friend,” Gemma corrected. “I had no idea she was a…” She still couldn’t fathom the amount of trouble Annie had gotten herself into. But the feds had been wrong about one thing in the past two days.
She clenched her fist and winced herself. She plopped the icepack on her already swelling hand. “Is there any way that I can get some actual clothes?”
“The other agents are collecting your luggage.”
“Great. I’ve always wanted to have my underwear catalogued.”
David almost smiled. She thought he might have if his face hadn’t begun to swell.
&
nbsp; She focused on the ice, adjusting it this way and that. She could still punch him again if she needed to.
“You could also get her on assault of a federal agent,” the other man said as he flopped down in a seat, looking far too relaxed for her taste.
“No one would convict me after I told them the truth. But since I do have the ears of the two agents who seem to be calling the shots around here—what could you possibly want from me? I’m a overeducated bookstore employee.”
“Information,” David said. A stunning bruise was blossoming where she’d punched him. She knew he needed the ice he’d given her more than her knuckles did. Didn’t mean she was going to give it to him.
“About Annie? She’s an open book.” Even as Gemma said it, she didn’t believe it anymore. Annie apparently had been keeping things from her, but then again, Annie had never told her why she’d invited Gemma here this weekend. Maybe the “I’m a call girl” conversation was one better done in person.
“This new ring is growing, and fast. We want their madam and their client lists.”
Gemma laughed. “No way. Annie’s as loyal as a lapdog.”
“Who jumped across a penthouse balcony and coldcocked two agents to leave you to the feds?” the blue-eyed man asked.
“I’m being cooperative and honest.” Annie wasn’t a criminal mastermind, but she was smart enough to get herself in and out of trouble. So smarter than me. Gemma could only get herself into trouble.
“Which means we should definitely treat her as hostile.”
David glared at the man on behalf of Gemma. “Why don’t we let Miss Howard get comfortable with the idea that her oldest friend might have been involved in criminal activities? And maybe get her some pants.”
The pants in question eventually made it to the room, along with a handful of agents who made sure Gemma never had a clear shot to the door.
She took another shower. The one from this morning seemed a million years ago, some other life where she wasn’t a prostitute in federal custody. Her stomach tightened again as she let the water run down her back, where not ten hours earlier, David had been running his long fingers down her spine and his lips had been nipping down the back of her neck and not accusing her of being for sale.
It made her scrub harder and by the time she was done, her skin was raw. She dried off and dressed in a stack of clothes that one of the agents had handed her along with her toiletries bag.
Gemma figured she might as well fix her hair. Look nice while in federal custody. The last thing she needed was to go home and find a heinous mug shot hanging in the break room of the bookstore.
If she got home. She had to take in a deep breath to steady her hand. Annie said they had nothing on her, but what could they have on Annie?
As she sectioned out parts of her hair, Gemma tried to piece together what she knew. Listing the facts had always made her feel better.
Annie had a new job. She’d mentioned that and how a meeting had run late.
Annie had a buttload of cash recently. Hence the hotel.
Annie had more garters in her luggage than Gemma had ever seen.
Gemma would hate Agent Cheekbones for the rest of her life for the one moment he’d made her feel completely like Gemma Howard. The first time in her life she was confident, like the person she had always wanted to be, then bam, federal custody.
All eyes were on Gemma as she walked out into the bedroom.
“Sit here,” a female agent instructed.
She did as she was told, keeping still as she watched the agents go from the computer screens on the desk to the files spread out along the bed.
“Can I get you some coffee?” David’s voice was calm. Kind almost.
But of course he needed to play nice. Apparently she was the key to come sort of evil crime ring of prostitution. “Please.”
He deftly maneuvered around the room and managed to bring her back a cup of coffee with sugar and creamer resting on the saucer. Their fingers brushed and for just a moment, she could have forgiven him. Could have let him trail those fingers over her once more.
Then he had to go and speak.
“It was the necklace. They said the woman we were looking for would be wearing a peacock necklace.”
The piece still hung around her neck.
“We were acting on strong intel. I saw an actionable solution and I took it.”
“At what point did I give out the professional vibe? Was it when I almost snorted wine out my nose, or when I tripped over your shoe?” The hatred was back, warming her cheeks.
David looked down at the lovely plush carpet and took in a deep breath. “I didn’t think. I couldn’t.”
“Right. I seduced you with my awkwardness.” She set the coffee on the small table beside her so hard some of it splashed onto the cream tablecloth. She tore open the sugar packets and dumped in the creamer, stirring it with the spoon he’d been so thoughtful to provide.
He looked defeated. Which meant her day was looking up. Now if she could only figure out where her best friend was.
David walked away and was lost again in the fray of suits parading around the suite.
Gimpy McBlue-Eyes hobbled over to her and thrust a piece of paper in her face. “I need you to take a look at a list of names.”
She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
“Please,” he sighed.
Gemma took the paper and the cup of coffee. The list of three names was ridiculous. “These are aliases, right?”
“We think the ring uses them when they check into hotels.”
She looked back at the list of names and chuckled. Pink and actors. The first names were all shades of pink, Annie’s favorite color, and the last names were all names of hot actors.
“Anything look familiar?”
Gemma pressed her lips together and shook her head.
Gimpy grabbed the list from her and hobbled away. Gemma sighed. This was possibly the worst vacation she’d ever taken. And that included the cruise where she got a third-degree sunburn and spent the night in the infirmary.
At least the coffee didn’t suck.
* * * * *
David wanted to be close to her again. All he could do was watch her lips and he was even beginning to crave the slashes of snark directed his way. He was an ass. He knew that. He’d been partners with Renner too long and it was wearing off. He couldn’t think straight around her.
He flicked his gaze over to her as she sat drinking coffee, relaxed as if she were sipping espresso at a busy café. He could see that, only she’d have a large book and her hair pulled back into a low, sweeping bun exposing her…
He needed to get back to work. They had three times the mess to clean up that they had before. Fuller was sure to go back to the ring and tell them what had happened. They would scrub every inch of their operation trying to find the snitch giving the feds the intel.
He and Renner also hadn’t reported to their supervisor yet. David wasn’t sure exactly how they were going to spin the complete disappearance of a possible asset.
“We’ve got a hit,” someone yelled from across the room.
The entire team swarmed the agent at the computer. “Someone checked into the Central under ‘Primrose Pine’.”
David looked over Renner’s shoulder at the screen captions from the cameras. “How’d we get this?”
“Your girl over there tried to lie. Badly. It was sort of adorable.” Renner leaned around David to bark an order. “Get a point person at the hotel and notify them we need clearance.”
David’s eyes drifted toward her again. She was looking out the window, sipping her coffee, still amidst the flurry of activity.
“Has it really been that long since you got laid?” Renner actually kept his voice low.
“Fuck off” was David’s first response, but he looked at his partner. “Yes.”
Renner smiled. “You work too much.”
“If you hadn’t gotten yourself shot, I wouldn’t have
to work so much.”
Renner ignored him. “How do you want to play this one?”
David thought about it. He couldn’t screw this one up. Even if he could forget the girl in the next room, he couldn’t lose another girl in the circle when they were so close. “Wait for Samson. He can give us the play.”
“What?” Renner asked. “Are you serious? We need to move on this.”
“Look what moving on something cost us already.”
Renner shook his head, anger pinching his voice. “It didn’t cost us anything. We got a suspect giving us information, unknowingly, but still. We push the right buttons and she might hand over the whole circle.”
Memories ran through David’s brain and he gulped. She’d known exactly what buttons to push. He curled his fingers around the back of the chair as he remembered the light kiss that had sent him shuddering.
“We need to wait,” David finally got out. “At least until we get eyes in the other hotel.”
“You still the face?”
“I don’t know.”
David needed to breathe but there wasn’t any other place besides the bedroom. Some of the agents had been sent over to the other hotel, so there was some space to walk but not room to think.
He took the chance and slipped into the quiet bedroom and sat on the other side of the bed, facing away from her. The entire room smelled like her and he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to think about the case.
He put his head in his hands and thought, reciting the facts.
The intel was good. They had heard all of Annie’s confession on the bug from the cash. It just wasn’t up-to-date intel. The information their supervisor had given them to work with was old.
Now there was another potential girl at another hotel. They could see if Samson had any more new information about another john, but that might take too long. Why wasn’t Samson sharing his source on this?
“What’s going on?” Gemma asked.
“We think we found another girl at a hotel.”
“Might want to make sure it’s the right one this time.”
David ran his fingers through his curling hair and took in a deep breath. He deserved it. “It might sound all glamorous, the hotel and the dresses and the shoes, but this crime isn’t victimless, Gemma. The women usually don’t make it out of this job unharmed.”
Pride and Prostitution Page 4