Sex, Lies and Midnight

by Tawny Weber

  Absolutely crazy. Breathless, Simon stared into her deep, golden eyes and wondered if she was the answer to his prayers. Or the curse that would finally take him down.

  Her hands were trembling and there was a sheen of shocked worry in her pretty gold eyes. Like she’d been just as overcome by that as he had. Before, he’d have taken her as a woman used to using her body to get what she wanted. He’d have been wrong.

  “This wasn’t what I offered to pay you for,” she protested breathlessly. “I was offering to pay you cash. To help you with your investments. I don’t barter with anything else.”

  Simon had no idea why it thrilled him that she’d never pulled a con using the oldest lure in the book. That made their kiss, well, special. And that, he winced, made him a sap. A horny, deceiving sap.

  But still, he couldn’t lie to her.

  “Look,” he said, risking the case by reaching out to take her hand, “I’m not going to deny I think you’re a gorgeous woman. You’re fun and I’m very attracted to you.”

  Her fingers stiffened and she tried to pull away. But Simon didn’t let go.

  “But I’m not the kind of guy who takes advantage of women.” At least, not in the way she was worried about. “This deal is for me going home with you for New Years. I provide distraction and run interference with your family and that woman who keeps bugging you. That’s all you’re paying me for.”

  Her fingers relaxed and she gave a shaky sigh.

  Then, because he couldn’t help it, Simon added, “Anything else that happens? That’s between us. Just you and just me. No deal, no investment, no family stuff. Just attraction.”

  He saw her throat move as she swallowed nervously.

  “I know it was my idea, but I have to think it through. This is my family we’re facing. I have to be sure it’s not a mistake,” she said. “If you give me your number, I’ll call you in the morning.”

  Then, as if she were scared of what else might come out of her mouth, she gave him a quick smile, turned on those sexy heels and hurried back into the ballroom.

  Simon watched, mesmerized by the sweet sway of Maya’s hips as she waltzed away. All curves and sweeping dark curls, she was pure female. Pure delight. Pure temptation.

  And she was going to be difficult to resist. But if Simon prided himself on anything, it was on his control. Which, he realized with a sigh and shake of his head as she shot him a look over her shoulder before leaving, was going to be sorely tested.

  At least, it would be if she took him up on his offer. And he was pretty sure she would. She needed to go home, and was desperate to do so on her terms. The loss of pretty boy put her at a disadvantage.

  Simon grinned. Things were working out even better than he’d hoped.

  Before he could really dig into the joy of gloating, his cell phone rang. He glanced at the display and frowned.

  “Don’t you need probable cause to spy on me?” he answered.

  “No clue what you’re talking about,” Hunter shot back, sounding amused. “I’m just checking in, seeing if you’re ready to report to work tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow is Sunday.”

  “Technically, today is Sunday. Which makes tomorrow the day you are due to report to the Savannah office for your next assignment.”

  Hunter must be on the east coast since it was only ten here. Still, Simon glanced around the atrium, narrowing his eyes at the windows and dark corners.

  “About that…”

  “Yes?”

  There was no inflection in Hunter’s voice, but still, Simon had the feeling that the man knew exactly what he was about to say. And wasn’t happy about it.

  “I’ve caught an opening on a cold case. I’m going to touch base with Roberts about pursuing it for the next week instead of taking a new assignment,” he said, referring to his director.

  “No.”

  “No?” Frowning, Simon strode to the back of the atrium, squinting at plants and barrels as he went. Did Hunter have that authority?

  “As of now, you’re temporarily assigned to my division. Your permanent move to the task force will depend on your work over the next month.”

  Stopping midstride, Simon struggled to decide how he felt about that. He’d worked damned hard for that transfer to Savannah. It was the next step up the ladder and he’d worked his ass off for it. But working with Hunter? That’d make his career.

  All he’d have to do was give up his shot at Tobias Black. The shot he’d just cemented.

  Maybe he should fill Hunter in. He instantly decided against it, though. He wanted to make this bust himself. He wanted to prove he deserved the promotion he’d just been offered.

  Why had he just been offered that promotion?

  “I didn’t put in for a transfer. What’s the deal?” he asked.

  “I have need of your talents.”

  Simon was good. Damned good. But he had no illusions. Other than the fact that he had a photographic memory for numbers, there was nothing he could do that dozens of other agents couldn’t. Not as well, but that was beside the point.

  “Why do I doubt you?”

  “Because you’re an untrusting soul, Barton.”

  True. Simon sighed, his mind racing as he stepped out the back door to the hotel’s deck. He glanced around, noted the stairs leading to the exit and headed that way. “I have personal time coming. I need to take it. I’ll report to you in the DC office a week from tomorrow.”

  “Are you going to tell me what you’re up to?”

  Making his way down the series of stairs to the parking garage, Simon thought of Hunter’s warning to step off the Black case. “Nope.”

  Hunter’s sigh was silent. But Simon knew it was there. He grinned, pulling his keys from his pocket.

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  Simon’s grin dimmed a little. In touch could mean so many things. In Hunter’s case, it’d probably mean Simon would wake up tomorrow morning to the guy staring at him from the foot of his bed. But before he could protest, his new boss hung up.

  Well, shit.

  Sure, he had the perfect inside track to Tobias Black. A chance to guarantee his permanent position on Hunter’s team and send his career skyrocketing. And now, it seemed like Hunter didn’t trust him.

  Crazy.

  Except, Simon sighed as he slid into his car, he hadn’t proved very trustworthy tonight. Gaining entrée to a criminal circle was one thing. But locking lips with that entrée was bad form.

  Still, he couldn’t regret that kiss.

  Maya Black was delicious. Sweet. Freaking out-of-this-world amazing.

  No matter how the rest of the case turned out, tonight was going down as a winner in his book.

  THIS WAS A CRAZY PLAN. She should cancel. Maya’s fist clenched around the phone she’d taken to carrying around the house in preparation for calling Simon. She should cancel. That was the only smart thing to do.

  Cancel their deal. Call Caleb with the excuse that she was sick and couldn’t make it. That’d give her time to figure out what to do next.

  But if she waited, Lilah would have time to get a tighter hold on Dad. She’d sucker him into a wedding before Valentine’s. As hurt and disappointed as Maya was in her father, she didn’t think she could live with herself if she didn’t do whatever she could to save him from that.

  So she had to go through with it.

  She’d bring Simon home. She’d pretend he was her boyfriend.

  And she’d keep her fingers, lips and tongue off him.

  The memory of her body pressed against his sent a wave of desire pounding through her. Her heart raced, heat surging, damp and needy, between her thighs. Yeah, that last one would be the hardest.

  She looked around her lovely little haven of a house and sighed, her heart heavy. Yes, she’d be coming back. But things wouldn’t be the same. No matter what happened in the next few days, she’d return a changed person.

  A knock at the door prevented her from sinking too far into a pout
strong enough to require chocolate fudge ice cream.

  Maya hurried to the front, then, her hand on the doorknob, she stopped and took a deep breath. She wiped her suddenly damp palms down her jeans, tugged at the waist of her white angora sweater and fluffed her hair.

  Pathetic, she chided herself with an eye roll. She was primping like a giddy virgin on her first date.

  Squaring her shoulders, she grabbed the knob again and opened the door.

  “Simon,” she greeted, infusing as much airy confidence as she could scrape together in her voice. “I’m not sure if I’m impressed or worried that you prepared so quickly for this little trip.”

  “Hey, you made an investment,” he said, leaning against her door looking so hot and sexy she actually felt the need to fan herself. “All I had to do was throw some clothes in a bag when you did.”

  “No job worries?”

  “It’s easy to get time off during the holidays.” He gave a dismissive shrug. “Not too many people looking to invest money this time of year. As the last week proved. But hey, this works out to both our advantage. Ya gotta love win-win deals, right?”

  “Right.” Maya shivered. There it was again. Something edgy under the amiable demeanor that had her both nervous and excited.

  Forcing herself to stick with the plan, she stepped back and welcomed him in. Not that she was stupid enough to hope this wasn’t a mistake. She knew it was. Her father had taught her at a young age to take the big risks but mitigate the damages.

  “I’m all packed and ready to go,” she said, waving a hand toward the modest stack of five suitcases, topped by a bright purple cat carrier. “You don’t mind that I drive, right? I know the way and am more comfortable in my car. Besides, it’s cold in the mountains and we’ll likely hit bad weather and I’m betting my Ridgeline will handle it better than whatever sporty trick you drive.”

  “You keep a car in the city?” he asked, giving her a speculative look. But he didn’t deny that he drove a sporty trick, she noticed.

  “Public transportation is all well and good, but I prefer being in control.”

  He quirked a brow, but didn’t comment. Instead he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  “Problem?” she asked.

  “I’m less about control and more about convenience, so I rented a car for the trip. I’m calling the rental company to pick it up.”

  Lips pursed, Maya watched him make his call. That was the first lie she was sure he’d told her. This was not a man who ever chose convenience over control unless he already had all the cards stacked in his favor.

  She shrugged into a light denim jacket while he finished his call. Then Simon approached her baggage.

  “You’re bringing a cat?” Simon asked, frowning at the carrier like it might hold some kind of explosive device.

  “Of course. You don’t think I’d leave her here, do you?”

  “I can’t say I thought about it at all, as I didn’t know you had a cat. But is it a good idea to lock an animal in a cage for a couple hours? Won’t it protest?”

  “It’s name is Dottie, and she’s a good traveler,” Maya said, walking over to lay her hand on the carrier. She rubbed the furry little face staring at her. Unconditional love purred back, soothing Maya’s worries for just a second. “She won’t be any problem.”

  He looked around her living room in a way that made Maya feel like he was trying to memorize the space. “You have a roommate, don’t you?”

  Maya gave him a sweet smile, tucked one long curl behind her ear and tilted her head to the side. Brow arched, she patted the carrier and said, “Dottie goes.”

  Then she waited. Would he pull out a fake allergy, a bossy attitude or cave like a wimp?

  “I guess it’d be quite ungentlemanly to separate a lady and her kitty cat,” he said with a shrug before pending over to peer into the carrier, then ribbing Dottie’s nose through the bars.

  Her smile dimmed.

  How was she going to deal with him when he didn’t follow any prescribed moves?

  Simon straightened and gave her a wicked sort of grin. Before Maya could decipher it, he stepped forward and trapped her against the wall.

  He smelled so good. Manly, with just a hint of soap. A smile played around his mouth but his eyes were intent and dark with desire.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, horrified that her words sounded so breathless. But it was hard to help that, since she had no air in her poor, passion-shocked lungs.

  “I figure we need a little practice,” he said, his hands curving tighter over her hips and pulling her close. Not quite close enough to feel the sexy planes of his hard body against her softer one. But enough to warm her with sparks of desire, heating their way through her system like a burgeoning wildfire.

  “Practice?”

  “You don’t want to look like we’ve never done this before, do you? If we’re going to pull off the boyfriend-girlfriend thing, we should look comfortable together.”

  “Right,” she said, not caring what he’d just said. Her eyes were locked on his lips, craving to taste again the full curve of that lower lip, to delve into the delicious heat of his mouth. He could make up all the bullshit excuses he wanted. She just wanted him to hurry up and kiss her.

  Like he’d read her mind, he lowered his mouth to hers. Lips, soft and gentle, sipped and danced. He tasted so good. Rich. Strong. Decadently tempting. Desire moved like wildfire, zinging through Maya’s body at a pace way too fast for the tempo of this kiss.

  Maya wanted more. She wanted intensity, passion, the wild dance of a screaming orgasm. The dance she knew Simon could take her on.

  Before she could dig her fingers into his hair and take them on the first step of that dance, Simon brushed her lips one more time, then slowly pulled back.

  His eyes, almost black with desire, stared for a second. Then he blinked and shook his head.

  “Grab the cat and let’s hit the road,” he said.

  Maya allowed herself a second to lean against the wall until her knees didn’t feel like jelly, then sucked in a deep breath and grabbed her purse and two bags.

  This was going to be a very interesting trip.

  4

  IT’D BEEN MORE THAN two hours since he’d tasted Maya, and Simon was still way too uncomfortably hard to be stuck in a damned car. Even one as comfortable as her Ridgeline. He glared at the icy road, wishing for a brief second he were out in the freezing rain for just a few seconds.

  “Car sick?” Maya said, not taking her eyes off the winding road.

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “You keep looking out the window like you’d rather run alongside than stay in your seat.”

  “Maybe I’m not used to someone else in the driver’s seat,” he said, turning in his seat to watch her. She’d pulled her hair back into a tail that curled riotously down the shoulder of her denim jacket.

  “Are you one of those guys who always has to be on top?” Maya teased.

  Simon grinned, not only at the inference, but because as soon as the words were out, she winced like she wanted to grab them back. He figured flirting was probably second nature to her. From what he’d seen, though, it was something she tried, hard, to repress. He wondered why.

  And he wondered how hard it would be to tap into that nature and keep her flirting. And to see where things could go from there.

  “You do a great job behind the wheel,” he shot back, reaching out to trail one finger down the back of her hand. Because he was watching so closely, he saw her pulse jump in her throat. But her hands stayed steady on the wheel. “I’m betting you’re just as good on top. You ever want to prove it to me, just say the word.”

  Her knuckles paled on the wheel and he heard her breath hiss, but she still didn’t take her eyes off the road. His brows rose and his grin widened. She was amazingly controlled.

  And he wanted, so badly, to break that control. What would it take? Could he do it with his mouth alone? Before she was undressed? He’d
bet he could.

  He wasn’t sure she’d take that bet, though.

  And he shouldn’t, either. Out of line, he warned himself. She was a part of his investigation. He’d spent the night thinking about Hunter’s call and the transfer. He had a shot at shaving five years off his climb up the ladder with that transfer. He’d be so much closer to Deputy Director. All he had to do was make the transfer permanent. And nailing the Black case would do that for him.

  Which didn’t mean he should nail Black’s daughter in the process.

  “So tell me about the town. Black Oak, right? Did you grow up here?”

  Slowing to take a turn, she shot him a quick glance. In her molten-gold eyes he saw both curiosity and irritation. And there, just beneath those emotions, was the flickering heat of desire.

  Crap.

  Given the three, he’d take the curiosity. He never liked irritating a lovely lady, and he didn’t think he could resist her desire. But he’d spent his life faking out people’s curiosity.

  “Black Oak?” he prompted. “Home sweet home?”

  “It’s a quaint little town at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains,” she said slowly, obviously trying to figure out which of his mixed signals to respond to. “They get a fair amount of tourism, which downtown plays to nine months out of the year. We’re visiting during the off-season.”

  “Does the town depend on tourism?” He could write for the local chamber of commerce, he knew so much about Black Oak. But he didn’t know it from Maya’s perspective.

  “Somewhat. There are a lot of hikers and backpackers, tour groups and weddings that keep things interesting. About half the town focuses on that, the other half commutes to outside jobs.”

  Which jibed with his own information.

  “And your family? Have they lived there long or are you a California transplant?”

  “I was born in Black Oak,” she said with a jerky shrug of one shoulder. “Grew up there until I left for college.”

  “And you still have family there, right? Am I about to meet a big family or small?” He kept his words light, friendly and conversational. Like he wasn’t really curious but just making small talk.