“Gone a few weeks and you’ve got a French hottie on the string. Girl, spill,” Adri insisted.
“I am over the moon that things turned out okay,” Katy gushed. “What was so pressing he had to speak to you alone this morning?”
Being light complected, she always blushed easily, and for once, she was thankful for it because her crimson cheeks told the story they wanted to believe, without her having to say a word. She did add, playing her part to the hilt, “It was a little misunderstanding, but as he said, we made up and then had a nice lunch.”
Adri didn’t miss much and pointedly looked at the clock. “A five-hour lunch. Gotta say, honey, that takes kissing and making up to another whole level.”
“Oo la la, girl,” Katy teased with a knowing grin. “Let me say on behalf of all woman-kind, congrats. He is f-i-n-e, Mari, and the way he calls you kitten,” she patted her hand on her chest, “be still my lonely heart. That is so sweet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Adri said with a wave. “I don’t want to hear about sweet. I want hot and dirty.”
“Oh no, I’m not kissing and telling,” Mari said as she walked toward the front of the store, the words she really wanted to say to her so-called friend burning a hole in her tongue. As soon as she was within range of the window, she caught sight of the plain white van with the local cable company logo on the side, right where he said it would be.
“Come on, Mari. You’re the only one of us that has any sex life to speak of and you’d deprive us of the sexy details?”
She turned. “But Adri, you’re married.”
“Yeah…” she sighed, “as I said, the only one of the three.”
Katy chuckled and Mari forced herself to join in. Adri was funny, she’d always been despite being a conniving backstabbing bitch, but knowing what she knew made it damn hard to laugh.
“Well, you’ll have to live vicariously through someone else’s sex life, I’ve got emails to check and loose ends from last week to tie up.”
“I put some phone messages on your desk,” Katy called after her, as they all settled back into their usual routines.
She waved her thanks as she closed the door to her office. As she leaned against it to catch her breath, she noticed her hands were shaking. Bide your time and wait for an opening, she told herself as she moved toward her desk and sat, trying to focus on work.
An hour later, after having returned emails and made a few calls, she was sorting through the ‘while you were out’ slips when she came across one from 4:35. A Mr. Abdallah had called with an urgent matter. She marveled at how efficient Arturo and the Rossi team were. This had come in while she was still in the car on the way to the shop.
She was frowning down at it when Adri walked in.
“I need the computer to do invoices, hon.”
She nodded, concentrating on what she would say.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” Adri’d given her the perfect opening. Flipping the pink message slip around so she could read it, Mari told her the line as scripted. “I had the strangest phone call. This man, he sounded foreign, like from India or somewhere Middle Eastern. Anyway, he wants to talk to me about Derek.”
“Now? After all this time?” she asked, appearing only slightly curious, but Mari saw the blood leach from her cheeks.
“Yeah, about some research he was working on before the accident. He said he’d pay me for it.”
“Oh, Mari, this sounds fishy. It’s probably a scam. Targeting a widow who’s come into money. You’re the perfect sucker for scumbags like him.” She snatched the note out of her hand and crumpled it up, which wasn’t unusual for Adri. Always, she tended to take charge of her. “Ignore him.”
“If you think it’s best.”
Adri visibly calmed, her color returning as she gave her a smile. In the past, Mari would have called it caring, now she saw it for what it really was, patently condescending. “Yeah, honey, I do,” Adri said. “Now why not head on home early? I’m sure you’re exhausted from your trip.”
Had Adri always been so patronizing and she hadn’t noticed?
“I don’t have my car. Arturo dropped me off and is coming back at seven to take me out for a late dinner.”
“Oh, well, then how about unpacking some new arrivals? You always enjoy that. I was going to tackle that huge stack of invoices that piled up while I was away.”
Condescending and bitchy, Mari amended silently. The invoice slur was a direct slap in the face, as if she were too stupid, or lazy to do it herself.
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” she replied. As she left the office—her office—she frowned. Had she really been so checked out that she hadn’t cared about being treated like a bothersome child who got patted on the head and sent off on some trumped up task to get out of her mother’s hair? Then she realized it had always been like that, ever since Derek had hired her.
Damn! Anger rushed through her in waves. She had been an empty headed stooge not to see it. Derek had set up his mistress in her shop who had then systematically pushed her aside as she carved out her own role and taken over. And Mari had allowed her, not suspecting a thing, too stupid to have seen the writing on the wall.
She pulled out her phone and sent off a quick text.
Mari: The seed is planted. Now it’s up to you. Take down this bitch!
Arturo: Good job. And I have to say I like this bloodthirsty side of you, ma petite. It’s damn hot, as long as it’s directed elsewhere. Now, stay put. Play your role. I’ll see you promptly at seven.
* * *
After he handed her into his Porsche and slammed the door, it took an eternity for him to walk around the hood and get in, or at least it seemed so to Mari. When he was inside and the door had closed to give them privacy, she blurted out, “Anything?”
“She took the bait and made contact as soon as you left the office. They have a meeting set up for next week.”
“Next week? Why so long?”
“We want her to sweat. The more she worries the more chance she’ll slip up and we’re hopeful during this week, she’ll put her friends on alert. If so, I’m positive they’ll be watching when the meet goes down.”
“And you and Jonas’ men will close in?”
“Exactly.” He sent her a small grin as he put the key in the ignition and started the engine.
She waited until he pulled out of the lot before saying more. “What else do I do?”
“Nothing, your job is done. You play it cool like you’ve forgotten all about Mr. Abdallah and go about your regular routine, none the wiser.”
She crossed her arms over her chest with a humph.
“Mari, let the professionals do their jobs. Do not interfere.”
“I don’t have a clue what you mean,” was her innocent reply.
As Arturo’s smile faded from his lips and was replaced by a frown of concern, she glanced out the window and grinned. She had no intention of getting in the middle of an international arms ring, but he didn’t need to know that. Let him stew in his own juice for a while. She’d already decided she liked watching Mr. Calm Cool Secret Agent Man squirm just a bit.
Chapter Nineteen
“Arturo here,” he barked into his phone.
“We’ve got action at Mari’s house.”
“Adriana?”
“You got it. This time she brought hardware. I think I saw a drill cord hanging out of her toolbox.”
“She’s going to break into the safe. Excellent. I’ll head that way now.”
“Wait, we’ve also got activity on one of our other surveillance feeds.”
“What?”
“It’s Mari. What did you do to piss her off this time, bud?”
“Just tell me what you have to say, Jonas.”
“She’s on the move, about ten miles west of town on I-10.”
“I left her in my suite not thirty minutes ago.”
“Like I asked, what did you say to set her off? According to Brock, she we
nt slamming out of your suite and was doing ninety out of the city.”
“Why didn’t someone stop her?”
“Orders are to surveil, man. Want me to have them run her down? It could get dicey if she doesn’t cooperate.”
“No, fuck no. In her current mood she’d resist and probably do something crazy like go off road.”
“In a Mercedes?”
“It’s a S600 with a V-12 engine and has power. I’ve driven it. It’s not your mama’s Merc.”
“My mother drives a Buick,” Jonas deadpanned.
Any other time he would have laughed, but being far from a humorous mood, he clarified. “West you say?” Then as if to himself, “Where is she headed?”
“So what’s the call? Are you staying to see what pans out at her house, or do I need to call Dex and have him keep an eye on one wayward sub until you get there?”
“Call Dex. I’m in my car now. I’ll be in San Antonio right behind her. You’ve got this?”
“Absolutely. Likely Adriana will take a while breaking into the safe. Once she finds it empty, I expect an all-out search of the house will follow, but in the end she’ll leave disappointed, again. And Mari’s cash and jewelry is secure, we cleared out the safe at the residence, just in case.”
“Maybe it’s providence that our little hot head is heading out of town. When Adriana finds nothing, she’ll suspect Mari has already gotten an eye full and has hidden it in preparation for her meeting.”
“Agreed. It’s good she’s out of town and out of trouble.”
“Yes, to the first one, my friend, but she is far from out of trouble. As it happens, she’ll be lucky to sit comfortably for a week by the time I’m through with her.”
“I hear you, man, but go easy. She’s had it rough. I’ll be in touch if we have any major developments on my end. Jonas out.”
“Easy,” he scoffed out loud as he disconnected. He then did a U-turn in the middle of downtown and in half a mile was on the I-45 northbound loop. Exits zipped by as he fumed over her open defiance. He’d gone easy, as Jonas had recommended, but easy wasn’t working, in fact, in the past forty-eight hours, easy had made Mari spiral more out of control the gentler he went.
Fuck that! He was obviously going about this the wrong way. She was a masochist, and plainly needed what he could give her. He’d been with her almost constantly in the past week. She’d taken blow after blow of hurt and betrayal and had barely shed a tear. She’d gotten angry, yes, and sarcastic, now was bordering on belligerent, but this wasn’t the Marilee he knew before all of this came to light. She obviously needed an outlet for her pent up emotions and he was just the dom she needed to tap into that and help her let go.
* * *
As soon as she entered the club, she looked around for a familiar face. Not a simple task in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, but she eventually spied Lexie waving from a table down front next to the stage. Several of the other subs seated with her were also smiling and motioning her over, warmly welcoming her into the fold. It was probably foolish of her to have called Lexie, knowing Jonas would rat her out to Arturo as soon as he found out she’d left town, but she needed a confidante to help her sort through her feelings for her maddening dom. Wait, not hers. Or was he?
That’s the way it had been for the past forty-eight torturous hours. And Arturo wasn’t helping her one bit. He’d been charming as usual, and sweet, not to mention solicitous and considerate of her feelings. But the flirty, sexy, seducer of women who could smile and melt the panties off a nun, was gone. In his place he’d left her brother, or what she imagined one would be like if she had one. He hadn’t made a move on her since their big confrontation and truce Monday morning, outside of the role they were playing to keep Adri from being suspicious. When they were alone, he’d been polite, but he’d kept his hands to himself.
That’s what you wanted, you idiot! her rational mind screamed.
But it wasn’t, not really. That was simply what she told herself to soothe her bruised pride. She still wanted him and she wanted him to prove to her that it wasn’t only because of the mission, that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him, and that when it was all said and done, he couldn’t live without her.
In light of his stinking truce, however, he’d practically been a priest, darn him. The lovey-dovey kisses and hand holding for their audience, notwithstanding, she’d been reduced to vestal virgin status, and she was damn well tired of it. So she’d tested, sassed, and bratted it up, sending not so thinly veiled insults his way in hopes of knocking him off kilter or pushing him past his limits so he would take control.
None of it was working. Until tonight, when he’d had enough such that he’d bent her over the back of the couch and swatted her ass cheeks. She’d silently rejoiced, thinking she’d broken through. But three measly swats were all he gave her, before he wagged his finger in her face and demanded she behave. Then to her shock, he’d left, daring her to stick her nose out of the suite and grumbling he’d be back after he got some air.
At first, as he walked to the door, she thought she been right all along, he didn’t want her and had been using her to solve the mystery and capture the bad guys who were sending MI6 agents to an early grave. But at the door, when he paused to stuff his wallet into his back pocket, she’d seen the proof of his desire as his trousers pulled snugly around his hips. An aroused Arturo was near impossible to miss, but the next moment, he slammed out of the suite and she was once again thrust into confusion and indecision.
Lexie, who had been through a tumultuous courtship with Jonas, was the first one she thought of. She’d understand. So she was out the door in a jiffy, daring to defy her—
What was he, exactly? Not her boss, nor her boyfriend, not really, and when she’d cried red, no longer her dom. At her wit’s end, she’d called her new friend, who promised to bring reinforcements, Angie who had been on and off with Lil T three times before he got his head out of his ass, so she said. And Mara, who was on the verge of divorce before she and Sean set aside their differences, granted made possible by some really vile men who were pulling her strings, and Megan, who had closely been in her shoes, because Cap had lied to her too, pushing her away and calling it quits, breaking her heart in the process, in the end doing it all to protect her.
As she neared their table and saw their easy smiles, she realized she had been lacking friends such as these her entire life. Before she embarrassed herself by crying, she battled back the tears and drew in her lip that had started to quiver.
“Lordy!” Megan, the tiny, blue-eyed blonde who was married to big scary Cap Rossi cried out. “She looks like she needs tequila shooters, stat.” She stood to flag down their waitress.
“No tequila. I need vodka. I’ll take an arctic circle, hold the ginger ale and keep ‘em coming.”
Lexie leaned over and asked Angie, “Doesn’t that make it a gimlet?”
“Damn straight,” the tall pretty brunette replied with a huge grin. “I’m gonna like this girl.”
After placing the order, Megan sat, and with her elbows on the table, leaned close. “So tell us, girlfriend, what did that evil Frenchman do to break your heart?”
Over the next fifteen minutes, while sucking down two vodka gimlets and mopping up tears with cocktail napkins, Mari spilled. Starting with marrying Derek when she was eighteen, to his betrayals, his affair with Adri, and how she, too, had cut her to the quick. Then when she got to Arturo, the arguing started.
“He should have told her,” Megan declared. “Tony hid this kind of crap and almost destroyed me, and us.”
“Yeah, but this is international espionage,” Angie chimed in. As a former police officer that now worked for Rossi Security as one of their agents, her loyalty to duty had her torn. “It’s for the good of the many, as the saying goes. In my case, T was hiding personal hurts and major trust issues, but people weren’t at risk of dying while he was playing fast and loose with my heart.”
“He played fast and loo
se with more than your heart, cuz,” Megan teased with a waggle of her brows as she slurped up the dregs of a frozen margarita and reached for a refill.
“Yeah, if he hadn’t been so hot and known his way around a dom’s bag of tricks so well, I’d have dumped his ass.”
“Would not!” Lexie, Megan and Mara all cried.
It was Mara’s turn to weigh in. “I have to side with Arturo on this one, honey. I was where he was, kind of. I screwed up big time, but what I did was solely to protect the man I loved more than anything, and in my mind if it took lying, stealing, and in my case, much worse, to keep him safe, so be it. I loved him and it was worth any sacrifice to bring down a nasty criminal and his cohorts who continued to threaten us, and so many others. I was lucky that in the end he loved me enough to forgive me. Give Arturo a chance, Mari. If you think there is something worth saving there, don’t let all those who wronged you in the past, shadow your future.”
The others who had watched her and Sean’s drama unfold were all teary eyed and nodding in agreement, Lexie passing out more napkins like party favors and this time Angie flagged down their waitress.
“Thanks, Mara. That’s why I came here, to get some words of wisdom and a little time to think.”
“Mara, Mari, you two are confusing me,” Megan stated. “You’re going to have to be Marilee, or you,” pointing at Mara, “are going to have to be Tamara, or I’ll never keep the two of you straight.”
“Call me Tamara and we’re going to have a problem,” the sweet redhead said in a warning tone that had everyone blinking.
To keep the peace, Mari quickly jumped in. “I’m fine with Marilee.”
“Good, that’s settled,” Mara replied as she poured the rest of the pitcher into her glass. “We seem to be out of alcohol,” she said pleasantly before standing. She winked at Megan who smiled back as she watched her friend saunter to the bar with the empty glass pitcher.
“Uh, no offense, but she’s kind of scary,” Mari observed.
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