by Laurie Roma
“You still couldn’t pay me enough to deal with all those assholes running around in there.”
“Hey, just because we look damn good in our tuxes doesn’t make us assholes,” Lucian chimed in.
“No, Steele,” Rock replied, “you do that all on your own.”
Tara rolled her eyes and she listened to their banter. She raised a hand and pressed it behind her ear. “Anyone see anything?”
“I’m by the elevators…No sign here,” Slade murmured. “And you fucking owe me, Rock.”
“You lost the toss square, Slade. We’re clear on cameras,” Rock said from where he was stationed in a room down the hall. The team had taken over one of the conference rooms near the ballroom and set up screens to monitor all the entrances and exits surrounding the area. “Now quit your bitchin’ and check over by the bar.”
Tara sought out Julian in the crowd, and when she found him, her heart gave a curious flutter.
Damn, he looked good.
Julian wore his tux like he was born for it. Well, actually, he had been. He looked dashing, breathtakingly handsome in his black and whites. She couldn’t help but feel the wave of lust that hit her every time she looked at him.
As if he could feel her eyes caressing him, he turned from where he was talking to a movie director and the headliner of a popular burlesque show down the strip. Julian and Tara’s eyes met across the room and the sexual heat flared between them, no matter the distance.
Earlier that night he had laid out a dress on their bed when she had been getting ready for the party. It was from one of the couture shops down in the main part of the hotel and it was absolutely beautiful. The vibrant bloodred color contrasted dramatically against her golden skin and the strapless sheath draped her figure like it had been made for her, not to mention that it matched the red diamond on her hand perfectly.
The dress wasn’t the only thing he had left for her. A gorgeous diamond necklace graced her neck with descending drops that came to a V right above her breasts and matching earrings dripped from her ears. Wearing something so expensive made her nervous, but she didn’t let it show. To the outside world, it looked as if she were born to wear diamonds.
Even though wearing them made her twitchy.
What did it say about her that she felt more comfortable with her poison dart ring, her metal cuff bracelet, and the black carbon steel knife attached to her thigh than she did wearing what she imagined was millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds? So now here she was, at a ball that she didn’t want to be at, in love with a man who she didn’t know how to handle and waiting for a known killer to make a move.
Life was just peachy.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
Tara looked to her left and her eyes widened at the sight of the very handsome, very arrogant, ex-colleague of hers. Peter Rankin was a CIA agent that Tara had worked with while stationed in Los Angeles. He had been obsessed with climbing the ranks to a position of power, while she had just wanted to do the job right and make a difference. She knew that Peter didn’t like to lose and he couldn’t handle the fact that she was smarter and could beat him in hand-to-hand combat. He was a good-looking man but she had never taken him up on his offer when he had asked her out. He wasn’t her type…She liked her men to have a soul.
To sum it up, the guy was a total prick.
“Well, well,” Tara said. “What do you know? Guess they’re letting anyone in tonight.”
Peter flashed her a wide grin, his brown eyes sparkling with interest. She knew that look well. “You know me, I’m everywhere. It’s good to see you, gorgeous.”
Ignoring the compliment, she simply said, “It’s been a while.”
“I’m in the running to head up the field office in LA,” he bragged, taking a step closer. He was invading her personal space. His cologne was so strong it was almost choking her. “I’ve missed you, Tara.”
Tara snorted and took a step back where the air was breathable. “Save your charm for someone who’s interested.”
His eyes turned hard, his voice lowered. “You always were blowing me off. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if you actually blew me.”
“I’m gonna break that motherfucker’s face,” Rock practically growled in her ear.
Not if she got to him first.
“You never knew when to quit,” Tara said, her voice laced with disgust. “I suggest you leave before I put my foot up your ass.”
“Ohh…”
“There you are, sweetheart.” Julian appeared at her side from out of nowhere. Tara was amused by the proprietary arm that wound around her waist pulling her close. She looked up, then blinked in shock at the savage gleam in Julian’s eyes.
Shit, he must have heard what Peter said.
“Hey, baby. Julian, this is a former colleague of mine, Peter Rankin. Peter, meet my fiancé, Julian King,” Tara said, pleased with herself for not choking on the word this time.
Julian ignored the other man and leaned down to stroke his lips lightly on hers.
Ever the social climber, Peter straightened and reached out to shake hands with Julian. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. King.”
Julian glanced down at Peter’s hand and then pinned him with icy blue eyes. “I don’t shake hands with people who insult my woman. It’s a little quirk of mine.”
Peter’s smile became brittle. “Your woman? Hmm, I noticed you don’t seem to mind your woman’s other men hanging around.” He turned to Tara with a sneer. “Heard you and Lucian were working for Mac Securities now. I wonder what incentives you gave him to come with you. And with the Savage twins, right? But seems like Tara here was holding out for bigger, richer things.”
“That’s it—” Tara scalded him with a look as she took a step forward.
Julian’s hand clamped down hard on Tara’s waist, holding her in place. He smiled down at her, then turned cold eyes toward Peter. “And if I ever hear that you even look at Tara again, I will personally bury you. I suggest you leave now.”
Peter bristled indignantly. “Don’t threaten me, King. You don’t know who I am or—”
Julian’s smile was slow and just a little bit mean. “See, now that’s where you’re wrong. I know exactly who you are and who your boss is. Don’t think you can fuck with me and mine and walk away clean. Now get out of my hotel.”
“But I wanted to hurt him,” Tara said with a little whine, just to see Julian’s beautiful mouth kick up in a small smile.
“You should leash your bitch,” Peter muttered.
This time Tara braced as Julian tried to lunge forward. Not that she couldn’t handle it, Tara was glad when Devon appeared on his other side.
“Boss, we have a problem here?” Devon asked, his voice deceptively cheerful.
Tara tightened her hold on Julian’s rigid body. He wouldn’t make a scene, but he would deal with this asshole and make him pay for his insult. “Get him out of my hotel. Actually, ban this bastard from all of our properties.”
Peter paled. “You can’t do that!”
Julian’s grin was downright terrifying. “I just did.”
Grim-faced, Devon stepped into Peter’s space so the man could either move or get body checked by the bigger man. Peter moved.
Slade and Lucian appeared out of nowhere. Lucian’s smile was pure evil as they watched what remaining color Peter had drain from his face. “Let me show you the door.”
Peter’s angry eyes flickered to Tara before he turned around and headed for the door. Devon and Lucian followed to make sure he left.
“That little asshat is going to be a problem,” Slade muttered before he disappeared into the crowd again.
Tara turned to look up at Julian. She knew without looking that people had noticed the exchange with Peter and she didn’t want to draw any more attention to them. It was a good thing Julian had a calm head on his shoulders, unlike her friends.
“Rock is right, I should have broken that fucker’s face,” Julian grumbled.
Okay, m
aybe not so much.
“See, I told you,” Rock said over the comms. “You should listen to me next time.”
Damn, how could she have forgotten Julian was also wearing an earpiece?
“If anyone gets to break his face, it’s gonna be me, but we have more important things to worry about right now. And you aren’t supposed to be listening to private conversations,” Tara added to Rock.
“What the fuck else am I going to do? So far nothing is happening and I’m bored out of my mind,” Rock complained.
Tara rolled her eyes then paused. She looked up at Julian. “You can’t really ban him from all your hotels, can you?”
“Hell yes, I can,” Julian replied with a nod. “Just let that idiot try and step foot onto one of our properties and he’ll see how serious I am. No one calls you a bitch but me.”
Tara smiled. “Aww, that’s so sweet.”
“I try.”
“Jesus,” Rock said with disgust. “If you guys are going to get all lovey now I’m going to patch in and eavesdrop on someone else for a while.”
“Go do that,” Tara ordered.
Julian maneuvered her toward the relative safety between two pine trees decorated with twinkling white lights. “Do you want me to get rid of that for you?” Julian nodded to her champagne glass that was still full. “If you’re not going to drink it someone might notice.”
Tara looked at it, shrugged, then tipped the glass over into one of the pots holding the pine tree until it was half empty.
“Well, then…” Julian sighed as a beautiful, slim blonde in a pale peach gown walked up and joined them.
“Mr. King, Ms. Toshi, I’m so pleased I’ve caught you two alone for a moment,” the blonde gushed.
“Monica,” Julian murmured in greeting.
His arm wrapped around Tara’s waist again, but this time she couldn’t decide if he was trying to hold her back or make sure she wouldn’t run away. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Have you set a date yet? We can clear whatever day works for you but these things take time and I want to make sure it is the absolute perfect day for you and that takes planning and—”
“Date?” Tara asked, confused.
“For the wedding of course!”
Oh, for the love of…
“We haven’t set the date yet, Monica,” Julian replied before Tara could say a word. “Why don’t I touch base with you when we decide?”
“Perfect! Oh, I am just so happy for you and can’t wait to help you plan your perfect day!” The blonde squeezed both of their arms, then hurried away.
Tara shoved the glass into Julian’s hand so she could rub at her temples. “Seriously? Like I don’t have enough to worry about right now.”
Julian handed the glass off to a passing waiter and patted her shoulder. “There, there, dear. Monica will do most of the work for us. All you have to do is pick out your dress and make a guest list.”
“Oh god!” Tara grabbed onto the lapels of his tuxedo. “We’re in Vegas, right? Can’t we just go to one of those chapel thingies and do it there? Bam! We’re done. Married.”
“No.”
Tara groaned. “Fine. But I’m not guaranteeing there won’t be casualties during the planning of this shit.”
Julian leaned down to kiss her brow. “You’ll be fine.”
“I think I need to go to the bathroom so I can throw up.”
Julian just smiled at her. “I’ll wait for you here.”
* * * *
Tara weaved her way through the women at the vanity mirrors in the bathroom until she made it to the doorway. She opened the door and exited the room. What was it with women going to the bathroom in herds? Couldn’t they fix their makeup without the five-minute window for more gossip?
Not paying attention to a passing waiter, it was too late to react as Tara’s arm was grabbed in a tight grip and another was closed over her mouth. She struggled, but the man’s unyielding grip was impossible to break as she was dragged into one of the vacant reception halls.
It was dark in the room. The large windows allowed for streams of light to illuminate the room just enough so Tara could see three men waiting in the center of the room, all holding guns.
The waiter jerked Tara closer to the men and she froze in fear.
There he was.
Hassan Sharif.
Tara was roughly thrown forward by her captor but she was able to catch herself before she fell. “Ms. Toshi,” Hassan Sharif said in a deeply accented voice that grated on every nerve in her body. “Or should I call you Agent Toshi in memory of our…time together.”
It was as if she had been thrown into her worst nightmare.
For a moment Tara couldn’t think. She couldn’t shake off the paralyzing terror that clenched at her heart, making her incapable of movement.
Damn him. Damn this sick bastard straight to hell. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to rage and scream and tear him to pieces with her bare hands…but she couldn’t move.
Her hands clenched into fists at her side as she struggled to control her panic.
“Chill it out, T-rex…I have you on screen and the team is moving in,” Rock’s deep voice was like a soothing balm to her ragged soul. “Deep breaths, babe, hold it together until we can get into position.”
Tara made a slight nod with her head she hoped Rock could see through the camera. She forced herself to slow her breathing and the lightheaded feeling slowly disappeared.
There she was.
Back in control.
“Sharif. What rock have you been hiding under?” Tara put as much scorn as she could into her voice.
Sharif’s guards trained their guns on her at her disrespectful tone.
“Have you missed me?”
“Sure, like a bad case of the clap,” Tara said, enjoying the tightening of his lips.
Yeah, asshole, that one pissed you off. How ’bout this one?
“So what are you doing in Vegas, Sharif? Can’t get a girl so you came for the strippers?” As she spoke she slowly toed off her heels…until she was standing on her toes. Slowly lowering herself so they wouldn’t notice, her bare feet touched the ground and she was able to brace herself for whatever may come.
“You should know better than to speak to me in such a way. I will make you pay for it…in blood.”
“Promises, promises.”
“You insolent bitch!” Fury flared in his eyes and he stepped forward until he was standing in front of her. His hand flew up and he slapped her hard across the face.
Fuck, that hurt!
He gripped her hair in his hand, pulling her head back. “I came for business. To my surprise, who did I see on the news last week? My pet. My business is concluded in the godforsaken town, but now I will collect what is mine. I wasn’t done with you and now we will get a chance to start again where we left off.”
“She was never yours. She belongs to me,” Julian’s voice came out of the shadows. He stepped forward, revealing his face and the 9mm in his hand.
Sharif spun with Tara, holding her in front of him as a shield as he jammed his gun into her neck. His men whirled around, training their guns on Julian, Slade, and Lucian as they stepped forward into view. The waiter that had been guarding her spun around as Devon, Brett, and Mikayla entered the room the same way Tara had been brought in.
Tara slipped her hand inside her dress and extracted the black, carbon-steel throwing knife from where it was attached to her thigh. She kept it hidden in her hand, not ready to show that she was not as helpless as she seemed.
“I’m in position and can see Sharif in my sights through the window,” Adrian said. “You’re blocking my shot, T-rex. No joy. I repeat no joy.”
“I’ve got the fucker on the right with the mole on his forehead. I’m gonna put a bullet straight through that ugly mark,” Rock promised, death in his voice.
“Remember me?” Lucian asked Sharif as he took another step closer, fury laced through every word. “I’ve wait
ed a long time to kill you, you son of a bitch.”
“Ah,” Sharif said against Tara’s cheek. “Mr. Steele. I would say it was a pleasure, but as you can see, you and your friends have crashed a private party.”
“Let her go, Sharif,” Brett ordered.
Sharif shifted with Tara so he could look behind him. “No, I don’t think I will. You are going to let us leave, with Ms. Toshi.”
“The hell we will!” Julian roared.
Sharif’s chuckle made Tara want to cringe. “I can only assume by your team that you have still remained a naughty girl,” Sharif said so close to her cheek that he could feel his lips moving against her skin. She wondered absently how he would react if she threw up on him.
Gah, he was disgusting and his touch made her skin crawl.
Sharif’s hold on her tightened. “Did you truly think you could be here, in the same city, baiting me and have me not come for you?” He made a soft tsking sound. “I still remember the feel of you under me, the feel of your skin beneath my whip. The feel of your blood on my hands.”
“You fucking psycho!” Julian tried to rush forward, only to be held back by Lucian and Slade.
“Ease it down, King. You’re not helping her if you get dead,” Slade hissed.
“Take me. Take me and let her go,” Lucian said.
“No!” Tara yelled.
Sharif shook his head. “You were nothing more than a means to an end, Mr. Steele. We needed information and that is why we kept you. When you failed to give us what we wanted, we would have killed you. But not Ms. Toshi here. I developed a…taste for her and decided to keep her.”
The memories of that time tried to weave their way back into her head. Tara couldn’t let them. She had to keep it together.
“Steady, T-rex,” Rock ordered.
“We’ve got you, babe, focus,” Adrian said.
Sharif sighed. “Since you are still sticking your pretty head where it doesn’t belong, I can surmise that you know of my business here in this city of sin.”
“Where is the canister?” Slade barked.
“Safe, for now,” Sharif said. “But it won’t remain so unless you release me and let me get back to my men in…”—he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it up to show a countdown of one hour, fifty-four minutes and change on the large screen—“less than two hours.”