He snapped his fingers and someone handed him a 3x5 card. He passed it on to Caroline. “Here are your questions, and…” He turned to the crowd and pointed at Mitch and two other bachelors. One of them was that scum, Steven. “You three are the bachelors. Have a seat gentlemen.”
Oh, hell no.
Steven and the other bachelor practically skipped to their seats. Caroline cocked a brow at Mitch, shooting daggers with her eyes.
No way, he wasn’t getting out of this.
Reluctantly, he dropped into the third chair and slouched.
“Bachelor number one,” Caroline read from her card. The camera rolled. People in the crowd held up camera phones, recording along. “If you had to pick three adjectives to describe me, what would they be?”
Steven leaned forward and leered at her. “I only need two. Bangin’ hot.”
Porn Stache smiled. A few people in the crowd laughed.
Jesus. Mitch was going to have to expand that jackwagon’s vocabulary.
After he busted the kid’s nose.
Caroline gave Steven a flat, unimpressed stare. Teeg called it her resting bitch face. Mitch had seen it a hundred times. They all had. Good thing she didn’t have her gun.
“Bachelor number two,” she continued. “If you were to describe me with a song, what song would you choose?”
Lamest. Questions. Ever.
Bachelor Two, on Mitch’s right, squirmed in his seat. “I, uh, I’m not much of a music person.” Boos echoed through the crowd and the kid shifted nervously in his seat. “Um, Little Bad Girl?”
Nothing like some Taio Cruz and Ludacris to describe your potential wife.
But the crowd liked it. Someone even started playing the song in the background and a couple of the girls hovering on the edge of the group started grinding on each other. All they needed was a pole.
Caroline’s lips rolled in on themselves. Mitch knew what that meant. She was trying not to let an f-bomb fly.
Yep, good thing she didn’t have her gun.
“Bachelor number three.” Her gaze met his and he could see the SOS in them. “Since we’re in Vegas, where would you take me on a date?”
Damn, and here he was hoping she’d ask him to do his best Elvis imitation. “Let’s see, where would I take you?” He gave her a sexy grin. “Oh, honey, I’d take you everywhere.”
The crowd grasped his innuendo and a string of “oohs” went up. Some catcalling ensued. Someone whistled.
Caroline smiled. A real smile. She even let go of a laugh.
Porn Stache stepped forward, nodding at the cameraman. “So Sin City Bachelorette, if this were real life, which bachelor would you pick tonight?”
Caroline looked right at the camera, her skin porcelain under the lights, her dark eyes still laughing. “Do you even have to ask?”
Steven stood and held his hands out to the crowd. “I’m the clear winner!”
A few clapped, a few laughed. Caroline rose from her chair, grabbed the kid by the shoulder and shoved him back down in his seat. Then she walked over to Mitch and held out a hand. “I pick you.”
Of course she did. They would always find their way to each other. “How ’bout that date then, Tami?”
She led him away from the crowd. The camera shut off, the bright lights with it. Behind them, people trailed off, some back into the penthouse, others deciding to take a swim.
“Hold it, you two.” Anita, one of the assistants, pushed through the crowd with a photographer in tow. “We need some publicity shots for the website.”
“Publicity shots?” Caroline said.
“Yeah. Viewers love the behind-the-scenes stuff.” Anita waggled her hands. “Get together.”
Caroline’s eyes met Mitch’s and he grinned. This idea, he could get behind. He stepped closer and immediately, like she’d done thousands of times, she extended her right arm, hooking it around his waist, her fingers—those amazing fingers that did wicked-ass things to him—trailing along his back and firing something. Damn. Every time.
Every.
Time.
She touched him and his body went ballistic.
He skimmed his hand over her lower back, brushing the rise of her ass and he gave her a pat, the muscle memory kicking in before his brain directed otherwise. Because for two people who barely knew each other, he shouldn’t be touching her ass.
She shot him a look, but nothing about it said pissed. No, that look was all heat and sex and need and he got hard.
He tucked her in closer, dug his fingers into her waist and brought her hip flush with his crotch, let her feel what he had waiting for her.
Again, she snapped her eyes to his, held them for a second while a slow smile dripped across her face. And damn, they were good together.
“Well,” Caroline said, “seems to me, Mitch is having a moment. Or, maybe it’s me having the moment?”
A flash went off and then the click-click-click of the camera while Mitch imagined making use of the very large bed inside. Hell at this point, he’d bend her over a sink if she’d let him.
The photographer lowered the camera, checked the back of it. “Wow. You two are hot together. The camera loves you.”
Mitch leaned in, nuzzled Caroline’s ear. “The camera isn’t the only one who loves you.”
“We’re good here,” Anita said, “Thank you, everyone. Mitch and Tami, you need to tone it down. A little playful is fine, but we’re too early in this game for you two to be dry humping each other.”
At that, Mitch snorted. Dry humping? Dry humping was for amateurs. One thing he most certainly wasn’t.
Caroline stiffened, putting distance between them. “Thank you so much for that visual, Anita.” She grabbed his arm, dragged him toward the terrace doors. “I can’t believe we just did that. We need to be more careful. Let’s, for a change, control ourselves. Dammit. I need a drink.”
“I can’t believe the limited talent pool. And the crew,” he said. “That’s the best they can do?”
The thumping music inside had resumed. Caroline leaned close as they passed a couple dancing. “I can’t find Toby.”
“No one’s seen him.” Mitch maneuvered her around a group of partiers. His phone vibrated with a text from Grey. “He may have come down with something is what I heard.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Me, either.” He read the text and felt an oh, shit moment coming on. “According to Grey, hotel security found one of the bachelor’s dead in his room. Cole Wagner. Looks like an overdose, but Grey thinks it’s suspicious. That’s who we saw being carted away. Cole was in the bar with Steven that night.”
“Damn,” Caroline said, wiping perspiration off her neck. “Do you think Bad Ass One helped Cole with his overdose? Maybe he wanted Megan all to himself?”
Mitch’s instincts were buzzing like a swarm of bees again. “Makes sense, and if so, we have a possible murderer who kidnapped the senator’s daughter.”
“And Toby’s missing.”
“Can you cozy up to Porn Stache and see if he knows what happened to his assistant director?”
“Porn Stache?” She laughed. “God, I love you.”
He snagged a couple of mineral waters at the bar, then sent her on her way to work her magic on the head douchbag. He tried to force himself to engage with some of the women who came his way again, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Caroline. He was a magnet to her steel.
She’d cornered the producer and set her water down on the table. A few seconds later, Steven sidled up to her and put his hand on her lower back, inching it lower and lower. Mitch’s ire ratcheted up a notch.
Whack.
She smacked his hand away, gave him the resting bitch face, and started talking to the exec again. Steven faded back half a step, and…
Hello. What did he just drop in her water?
Bastard. Mitch left the woman talking to him in mid-sentence and made his way across the room.
Caroline shifted and ran into Steve
n still standing behind her. She gave him a quizzical look and reached out for her water.
Shit.
The floor was crowded, the music too loud in Mitch’s ears. He shoved a big guy aside, trying to get to her before she took a sip.
And felt a vise clamp down on his arm whirling him around.
Apparently the big guy didn’t like being shoved, but Mitch didn’t take well to manhandling. His fist was up and popping the guy’s nose before he could breathe.
Caroline saw the commotion, the guy sprawling on the floor, and she set her water back down. Mitch left the guy and barreled through the crowd now gathering around the idiot on the floor.
He probably looked like a steer charging a matador as he headed for Caroline. Steven, having been at the receiving of Mitch’s temper before, backed away.
Mitch grabbed the kid by his Banana Republic collar with one hand and pointed at Caroline’s water. “Don’t drink that. He slipped something into it.”
Caroline turned her death glare on Steven and jabbed a finger at him. “You are done, pal.” She nodded at Mitch. “Let’s take him outside.”
Steven turned to the producer. “Tell him to get his hands off me. I didn’t do anything, I swear!”
Porn Stache raised his hands. “You signed a release. The show isn’t responsible for any injuries or accidents.”
As Mitch hustled Steven out onto the veranda, he saw the producer snap his fingers at the cameraman and motion for him to follow after them.
While he would love nothing better than to crack the kid’s nose on national TV, it probably wasn’t in the best interest of the mission.
“Bathroom,” he told Caroline.
“This way.”
He followed her, watching her sweet ass sway in that red fabric. She carried her bottle of mineral water with her and a moment later, they were inside a plush bathroom big enough for six.
Caroline laid into the kid before Mitch could even lock the door. “Start talking and tell me what you put in my water?”
* * *
“Whoa, bitch, back off.”
Caroline set the water down on the marble vanity and dragged one finger over the rim. “And me without my gun. Again.”
“Usually,” Mitch said, “she says that about me. You’re fucked, dude.”
Steven made a move for the door, but Mitch slid in front of it and leaned on it, casually resting, but his face—that amazing face with it’s sometimes hard, sometimes soft angles—was all don’t fuck with me.
Wicked hot.
She was so doing him when they got back to the hotel.
Caroline boosted off the sink and folded her arms. “Steven?”
The idiot pivoted back, his head swinging between Mitch and Caroline. “Let me out of here.”
“In a minute,” she said. “For now, do yourself a favor and don’t upset Mitch. He’s a pain in the rear when angry. And I’m not in the mood.”
“Who the hell are you people?”
“I’m the girl you just tried to slip something to. And, guess what? There’s a woman missing. One who you spent time with the night she disappeared. Did you slip her something too?”
“Honey,” Mitch said, the Captain Sarcastic smile lighting up his face, “you forgot the best part.”
“Oh, right.” She met Steven’s gaze and put a little Resting Bitch into it. Couldn’t hurt. “The best part. This is good. That missing girl happens to be the daughter of a United States Senator. As we like to say in show business, you’ve really screwed the pooch.”
“Uh, I think that saying might be more military than show business,” Mitch smarted off.
Caroline smirked. Pain in the ass. “Either way. He’s screwed it.” She held up the mineral water. “This, you arrogant pig, is the water you just spiked. I’m about to turn it over to the FBI. What did you put in there? Rohypnol? Did you drug Megan too? The senator’s daughter.”
As expected, any remaining flush to Steven’s skin faded to a pale yellow. Now you’re getting it. “Start talking and we might be able to save you from a maximum security prison.” She glanced back at Mitch. “What do you think?”
“I think the minute those cons see his pretty face, they’ll drag him into the shower. Now that would be good TV.”
Caroline considered that, wagged a finger. “He’s a smart man, Steven. You should listen to him.”
She inched a little closer, only to have him step back. Perfect. She wasn’t much for intimidation tactics and threats. She preferred immediate action. Handcuffs and a jail cell specifically, but this drink-spiking human feces needed to be checked. He needed to feel the hypersensitivity and chest crushing, mind reeling panic that came with being prey.
And she’d give it to him.
She dug under the hem of her dress and Steven’s eyes bulged. She’d let him squirm while she slid her cell phone from the pocket attached to her garter. “Don’t worry, this time it’s not a knife. Although, I’m better with a rifle than a knife.”
“True,” Mitch said. “She can hit a six-inch target from six hundred yards. Imagine what she’d do to you from this distance.”
The kid gagged and Mitch let out a snort.
Caroline made a circus of poking at her phone’s screen. “I’m going to call our friend at the FBI. Let him know that we’ve caught the man who kidnapped the senator’s daughter.”
“Kidnapped? I didn’t kidnap her. And you don’t have proof I gave her anything either. Who the fuck are you people?”
“People you don’t want to mess with.”
“Hey, dumb ass,” Mitch said. “Who needs proof when it comes to a senator’s daughter?”
After punching random numbers on her phone and not hitting send—Steven wouldn’t know that—she held her phone to her ear. “It’s Tami. We have a suspect in custody. Send someone over to pick him up. And bring an evidence bag. He put something in my drink. That alone should get him a nice view overlooking the prison yard.”
For kicks, she poked at the screen again and set the phone on the vanity. “Ten minutes,” she said. “That’s how long you’ve got to convince us you didn’t rape and kidnap a senator’s daughter.”
9
The penthouse bathroom smelled like expensive soap and women’s perfume. Watching Steven squirm under Caroline’s tough act made Mitch’s day. Finally some justice for the little prick.
Why let Caroline have all the fun? Mitch grabbed Steven by his prissy collar and slammed him up against the wall. The velvety, wine-colored wallpaper reminded him of a museum. “You were with Megan the night she disappeared. You and your friend—what was his name?”
“Cole. Look, I told you, Cole couldn’t hold his liquor and we left the bar before Megan and that weirdo guy she came back for. Why aren’t you looking into him?”
“He didn’t slip a roofie in anyone’s drink,” Caroline said. “You did.”
The kid’s eyes slid to the water bottle. He knew he was in deep shit but was still trying to act like he didn’t have a worry in the world. “You can’t prove I slipped anything into your drink, bitch.”
Caroline lunged, but Mitch held up his free hand to hold her off.
“Sure we can.” He was tiring of the bravado act. “I saw you do it, and one of the many cameras probably picked it up.”
“But it’s Vegas,” Steven argued, his tone suggesting Mitch was dense. “This is show biz.”
As if that exonerated drugging a woman.
Mitch squeezed the collar tight, pressing his knuckles into the kid’s windpipe. “Where’s Toby? Why was he at the bar with you and Megan that night?”
Steven’s eyes went wide, then he looked away, fighting against the pressure on his throat. Mitch eased up so the kid could speak.
He drew in a deep breath and coughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let go of me. I’m calling my lawyer.”
Forget a lawyer. Mitch was about to bring him to Jesus when his phone went off with Grey’s ringtone. He dug the phone out of
his pocket with one hand and gave it to Caroline.
She answered. “Hey, what’s up?… Yep, he’s here with me. I’ll put him on speaker.”
Grey’s voice held an edge to it that Mitch didn’t like. “Teeg has security footage of the assistant producer, Toby Gilles, and another man who fits the description of Steven Highland, helping Megan out to the hotel parking lot and putting her in a car registered to Toby. The car drove away at approximately one-twenty-three a.m. Thursday morning.”
Mitch’s mouth curled in a satisfied smile as he watched dipshit Steven’s face go white as the marble tile on the floor. “Roger that,” he said to the Justice Team leader. “We have Highland in custody. He was just about to tell us where to find Toby and Megan, weren’t you Steven?”
The kid tried to backpedal, but went nowhere since he was flat up against the wall. Words now spilled from his mouth. “It was Toby. He sold me the drugs. Wanted me to drug Megan for him. Then he picked her up and took her to an abandoned warehouse where they shoot zombie films or some shit.”
“Is he there with her now?” Caroline asked. “Is that why he’s not here at the party?”
Steven sighed, finally giving up. “He didn’t know she was a senator’s kid until she told him when she came to from the drugs. He’s got two strikes against him already. Strike three and he’s 25-to-life.”
Fuck. Their background check had only turned up the battery charge. What else had Toby done? Mitch didn’t like where this was leading. “Where is this warehouse?”
Steven met Mitch’s gaze. “I know my rights. I want a deal. I’ll give you the address but only if I walk.”
Grey’s voice went even harder. “No deals! What’s the address?”
“I got this,” Mitch said. “I’ll call you back in two minutes.” He nodded at Caroline to hang up.
Nudging his body into Steven’s, he pinned him to the wall and twisted the kid’s collar tight again. “Here’s a deal for you, scumbag. You tell me the address and I won’t mess up that pretty face of yours for the camera.” He wasn’t letting Steven out of his sights, and he certainly wasn’t going on a wild goose chase, which is what he suspected the kid would send them on.
Undercover Justice Page 7