The Undercover Playboy (Captured by Love Book 3)

by Miranda P. Charles

  Cassie’s brows rose.

  Susan laughed nervously. “I’m having a meeting with him this morning to check on other issues he might be having with the electricals around the place. Since I’m taking some of his time, I thought the least I could do is make him coffee.”

  Cassie swallowed a scream. “Right. Carter does like coffee. He takes them with a dash of milk, no sugar. He doesn’t care much for froth.”

  “Oh, great. Thanks! That’s easy enough, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll make him one now. Our meeting starts in a few minutes.”

  “I thought the foreman talks to the building manager about construction issues,” Cassie said nonchalantly. “I mean, you’re busy enough as it is without having to worry about the construction work going on here.”

  “Well, being the HR manager, I want to know more about what’s going on so I can make sure disruptions are kept at a minimum.”

  Bullshit. But Cassie simply smiled and walked to the coffee machine to make her hot drink. She was ready to terminate this conversation.

  “Uh, Cassie.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don’t drink coffee so I’ve never bothered to learn how to use this. Could you show me how it works?”

  Arrgghh!

  “It’s pretty simple,” was what she said with patience and restraint she didn’t know she possessed, and proceeded to teach Susan how to operate the machine.

  They heard a couple of male voices approach, and Cassie’s heart galloped in her chest. Carter.

  He entered the kitchen with Pete, a carpenter with a gregarious personality.

  “Good morning, ladies,” Pete boomed. “Coffee time, is it?”

  Cassie twisted around with a smile, her eyes locking with the man she wanted to hug and slap at the same time. Carter looked surprised—even dismayed. Good. She wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with this situation.

  “Yes, coffee time,” Susan said brightly.

  “I thought you didn’t drink coffee, Susan,” Pete said. “Or did you say that as your way of telling me not to offer you one ever again?” he added in a teasing tone.

  Susan chuckled. “Carter and I are having a meeting. I thought I’d make him coffee as I have a bottle of orange juice that I’ve bought from around the corner.”

  “Meeting?” Pete said with interest.

  “Like I told Cassie, I just wanted to check current happenings so I could make sure disruptions to the employees are at a minimum.”

  “So when’s my turn to meet with you?” Pete asked.

  “Well, you see, most of the distractions are caused by Carter,” Susan said with a laugh, touching Carter’s arm. “I don’t think I’d need to meet with you, Pete.”

  Cassie tried not to glare at Susan. The woman was being so obvious that Pete gave her, then Carter, a knowing smile.

  “Well, don’t let me and Cassie hold you up for your meeting,” Pete quipped.

  Cassie prepared her coffee, not glancing back when Carter and Susan murmured their goodbyes.

  She wondered how Carter would explain this to her later. If he even wanted to explain. Maybe he’d just tell her that their amazing night last week was the last of their date-by-date agreement.

  Her eyes started to mist and she blinked them away.

  Don’t feel, Cassie. Just don’t feel.

  *****

  Cassie checked the time and grabbed her purse from her drawer.

  She exited the building and made her way to Hyde Park. It had been roughly ten minutes since she’d seen Carter walk out, followed by Susan a couple of minutes later. If the two were going for another lunch date, then she wanted to see them with her own eyes.

  It didn’t take long before she spotted them. There they were, strolling side by side towards the far end of the park.

  So Carter would rather have lunch with Susan than with her? How could he?

  You asked for a one-night stand, Cassie. You got more than that. Don’t expect anything more.

  With watery eyes and heart like lead in her chest, she swivelled and went the other way. So what was new? Yet again, she wasn’t enough for a man.

  But couldn’t she really blame Carter?

  Well, he’d been honest with her from the beginning. They were in a non-committed relationship, for heaven’s sake. It was she who needed to adjust her expectations.

  No.

  No adjustments necessary. It was either Carter agreed to an exclusive relationship or she was done. They were the only two options she could take.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “It’s time to head back. Lunchtime’s over,” Susan said to Carter with a sigh.

  “Must we?” Carter asked, desperate to keep Susan talking for longer.

  Susan chuckled. “I’m afraid so, or Bronwyn wouldn’t be happy with the both of us. She can be very difficult to deal with if you make her unhappy. I’ll go first. I’ll see you back there.”

  “Okay,” he answered, giving Susan a fake smile when she kissed his cheek before walking back to the office.

  He was frustrated, but there had been some progress. He’d played the financially desperate dude to the hilt for the good part of an hour, and no self-respecting woman in her right mind would want to have anything to do with him after all the details he’d spouted. But Susan had promised to find ways to help him. He hoped to get that “offer” he’d been waiting for soon.

  He stood up and hurried to a nearby coffee shop where he waved to the two detectives waiting for him at a corner table. His partner David was back from his honeymoon, and Vera was with him.

  “Hey, guys,” he said, joining them at the table. “I only have five minutes. I don’t want to be sacked from my electrician position.”

  “How did that go?” David asked.

  “I think she’s close to fully trusting me,” he answered, and updated them with his conversation with Susan.

  “Good. Because they’ve struck again,” David said, his face serious.

  “What?”

  “The bodies of a man and a woman were found last night in an apartment at Hornsby. They were shot. The woman was identified as Emma—the person who tried to recruit Gavin.”

  Carter let out a harsh breath.

  “There was an expensive bracelet found in the apartment engraved with the name ‘Zeena’. If the shooter was someone from the syndicate, then lucky for us they didn’t know that the bracelet was there. A couple of our guys traced it as belonging to a rich CEO of a footwear chain. Her house was robbed three nights ago, and her husband found her tied up on a chair. They didn’t report it. They admitted they didn’t want the bad press because the CEO had been blackmailed by the guy found dead with Emma. Same MO.”

  Carter slumped in his chair.

  “What else have you found out at Tellman Galleries?” Vera asked Carter.

  “I’m still not convinced that Bronwyn is innocent,” he answered. “Susan might well be involved, but she doesn’t strike me as the type who could head something as cold and sophisticated as this gang. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bronwyn turns out to be their leader. Anything interesting from the bugs I planted?”

  “Nothing,” Vera said. “I personally reviewed the audios and there was nothing out of the ordinary.”

  “And when you’ve tailed Bronwyn?”

  Vera shook her head. “Nothing suspicious at all. My feeling is we’re better off focusing on Susan. When she finally makes you an offer, you can get her to lead you to the rest of her cohorts.”

  “Carter,” David said, leaning across the table. “What do you think about involving your friend Cassie in this? She might be able to—”

  “No, David,” he interrupted, shaking his head. “I’m already getting some intel just from chatting with Cassie. We already know that there are entries in the gallery’s financials that she’s still trying to figure out. Bronwyn still hasn’t met with her about those. There’s nothing else she could help us with.”

  “But you said yourself that she won’t tell you anything mo
re than that. If she knows why you need the information, she might be more forthcoming—and act as our mole.”

  “We might as well plaster a bullseye target on her forehead, David. So, no,” he said, his tone harsher than he’d intended. Everything about him was screaming to protect Cassie.

  “We’d walk her through everything so she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb. She might be a great help—”

  “No,” he said, glaring at his partner. “Just give me time. I’ll get what we need. Susan’s coming around.”

  David and Vera glanced at each other knowingly.

  “You better get something concrete soon, Carter,” David said. “They’re very good at covering their tracks.”

  *****

  Carter scanned the crowd crossing the busy intersection to St. James train station along the edge of Hyde Park. Where was Cassie? When he’d realised she’d left work at exactly five, he’d sprinted to this spot so he could catch her.

  He didn’t know how he’d explain the incident involving Susan in the kitchen this morning, but he had to try. He’d seen the hurt in her face and he couldn’t stand it.

  He caught a glimpse of a brunette in a camel-coloured coat and his heart jumped. There she was, her stride hurried like the other office workers on their way home.

  “Cassie!” he called out, catching up and halting her.

  “Carter,” she said in surprise.

  “Can we talk, please?”

  To his relief, she nodded.

  “Let’s go over there,” Cassie said, pointing to some benches along a row of trees.

  He would have preferred to have their conversation at his place—or even hers. But Cassie was already walking towards the spot with her arms crossed tightly on her chest.

  He was scared. She was bound to ask questions he wouldn’t be free to answer truthfully. But he was eager to patch up whatever rift might have developed from what she’d witnessed this morning.

  Cassie stopped by an empty bench but didn’t sit down. She turned to him with a small smile on her face. “I guess this is about you and Susan, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “There’s no me and Susan, Cassie,” he said softly.

  “Sure. I guess she’s another casual girlfriend, just like me,” she said with a tinge of hurt.

  “I’m not sleeping with her.”

  “But you’ve been having lunches with her, even last week when I thought you were in Canberra.”

  He frowned. Who’d told her that? He took a step closer and lifted her chin with his finger. “There’s no me and Susan, Cassie,” he repeated, struggling to find the right words to explain the situation without dragging her into the case.

  “Well, I don’t think there’s a you and me either, Carter. A casual relationship doesn’t make a couple, does it?”

  “What we have is different.”

  “How?”

  “Well, for starters, I’m sleeping with you and not with her.”

  Cassie stared at him for a long moment before her arms went around his neck.

  His breath hitched, wanting so badly to pull her closer to him, but not daring to in case someone from the gallery was passing by and seeing them. All he could do was give her a smile.

  Cassie’s arms slackened and dropped down to her sides, her hurt evident.

  God, sometimes he really hated his job. “I’m not big into PDAs, Cass,” he murmured.

  Cassie made a face. “That’s not true. I’ve seen you with Wendy, remember?”

  He raked his hair. She remembered that? That was five months ago when he and Wendy—a fellow detective—had been undercover as a couple. They’d had to attend a big gala dinner and appear all over each other. But Wendy was a lesbian and hadn’t been into him at any point in time.

  “Will you still be having lunches with Susan?” Cassie asked.

  Oh, Lord, why these questions?

  “Sometimes,” he answered truthfully, knowing he wouldn’t get away with lying about that.

  “But why, Carter? She obviously likes you. Why encourage her?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. How was he going to answer this?

  “You’re not sure who you really like, do you?” Cassie asked. “You’re still trying to figure that out.”

  “No, it’s not that,” he said, frustrated as hell.

  Cassie took a deep breath and placed a hand on his arm. “Can we go to your place? Have dinner and... you know?”

  His brows rose, surprised by her sudden change of direction. “Of course,” he said with relief.

  *****

  Carter picked up the wine bottle from the coffee table to top up Cassie’s glass.

  “No more,” she said, cuddling up closer to him on the couch.

  He smiled, kissing her hair. The home renovation show that Cassie loved watching was wrapping up. Good, so they could do more than cuddle.

  He was still amazed at her swift change of mood. But she was quieter than normal so he knew that their previous conversation was still bothering her. Maybe she was trying to process things in her head, and he supposed it was best for him to stay quiet and follow whatever lead she might give.

  But, damn, it was hard to just sit and do nothing more than hold her. He’d been aroused all night and it was taking all of his self-discipline not to try to seduce her.

  The TV show ended and he couldn’t help himself. He nuzzled her cheek, his hand creeping up her thigh.

  “Bedroom?” Cassie asked softly.

  “Finally,” he said, looking up to the heavens.

  “I thought you liked that show too.”

  “Not as much as what we’re about to do,” he said in her ear.

  Cassie stood up, taking his hand and leading him to the bedroom. He flicked the light switch, but Cassie switched it off then closed the door. With the blinds drawn, not even faint light from outside the window made it in.

  “I want to do it in the dark,” she said.

  “Mmm,” he moaned, pulling her to him. “We haven’t done it with the lights off before.”

  “Make love to me, Carter,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Gladly.” He reached for the zip of her dress and pulled it down, kissing her face and neck as he did so.

  Soon, they were both naked, exploring each other’s body with their hands and mouths while they stood in the dark. He’d always preferred seeing Cassie whenever they had sex. Watching her in the throes of passion heightened his own. But there was something so erotic about not using the sense of sight. They should do this more often.

  He pulled her hand and led her blindly to the bed, stumbling onto it. Then, eagerly, he covered Cassie with his body.

  There was a soft sniff.

  “Babe?” he said with concern.

  “Shh,” Cassie said, spreading her legs and reaching for his cock.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, worry gripping him even as his body desperately wanted to thrust into her.

  “I need you, Carter. Now, please,” she gasped, angling her hips and guiding his erection to her wet centre.

  Hell, he was only a man. He didn’t have what it took to deny Cassie what she asked for.

  He drove into her, slowly and deliberately, making sure she felt every inch of his hardness with his every movement.

  Cassie wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to him as if she never wanted to let go.

  He kissed her lips, her face, her neck—wherever his mouth landed—and held her tight as she started to tense.

  “Carter,” she said in a sweet whisper as she trembled with her release.

  He thrust into her three, four more times, and he too reached climax, calling out her name, wanting her back.

  He pulled out of her and reached for the bedside lamp. When light flooded the room, Cassie buried her face in his neck.

  The fear that had gripped his heart squeezed tighter. “Sweetheart...”

  “I have to go, Carter.”

  “No. Stay the nigh
t.”

  “I can’t,” she said tremulously.

  “Why not?” He tried to make her look at him, but she stubbornly kept her face in the crook of his neck.

  “It’s hard for me, Carter. Leave me with this wonderful memory, please. It’s a great way to end our date-by-date arrangement.”

  No! He held her tight. “Cassie, please just give me time.”

  She extricated herself from his embrace and sat up, her eyes misty. “I’m sorry, but I’m really a coward. I can’t handle a non-committed relationship with you with the full knowledge that you’re also considering another woman. My heart won’t be able to take it when you tell me that you’ve chosen Susan.”

  “Cassie, there’s nothing going on between Susan and me,” he said, sitting up to lean close to her.

  “So why do you have to continue seeing her?”

  “But we’re not sleeping together!”

  “The fact that you aren’t makes it harder for me, Carter. We just had another night of hot sex and yet you can’t make yourself stop seeing her? If even our intimate moments can’t make me win you from someone you haven’t even slept with yet, what chance do I really have?”

  “Cassie...” He had absolutely no idea how to fix this and he so wanted to punch the wall.

  “I’ll stay if you tell me you won’t go out with her anymore.”

  He covered his face, so close to breaking and telling her everything.

  Don’t make her a target, you fool.

  Cassie pulled down his hands and cupped his cheeks. “Thank you for a wonderful time, darling,” she said, tears running down her cheeks.

  She kissed his lips, quickly got dressed, and walked out of his room.

  And all he could do was watch her, his heart shattering.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Cassie sat on Erin’s sofa, staring blankly at the wall as more tears continued to stream down her face. Damn it. When would this crying stop?

  “Here you go, honey,” Erin said, handing her a glass of water.

  “Thanks. Sorry I woke you up,” she said, sniffling.

  Erin sat next to her and placed an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know I don’t mind.”

  She sank into her friend’s embrace, tears flowing faster. “I can’t help but feel so unlovable,” she said in a small voice.