Buried Lies

by Brittney Sahin

  A mixed Avicii song blasted through the speakers, as I touched her back and pulled her closer. Her breasts pressed against my chest, and I reached for her wrist, slinging her arm over my shoulder.

  She inhaled sharply and peered into my eyes. The vibration from the bass poured through me as we moved like old times.

  I couldn’t hear the music after a few minutes. Everything was white noise. Nothing else existed except Olivia.

  At some point, I realized we’d been dancing for a hell of a lot longer than one song. My shirt was practically sticking to my body, and I noticed her long neck glistening. “You tired?” I whispered into her ear, and her body shuddered at my breath.

  “Looks like you’re having a good time.”

  Olivia jerked away from me in one sudden movement with Declan at our side. Her cheeks were already red from dancing, but I could have sworn they deepened to crimson as she focused on Declan. “I should walk around. Check on how things are going.” She brushed a loose strand of hair from her face.

  “Relax. Everything’s going great. You don’t need to work,” Declan responded.

  “If that’s the case, I might head to my room.”

  “I’ll walk you.” The words had slipped from my lips before I had the chance to stop them.

  “Come back, man. The night has only just begun.”

  I checked my watch. It was quarter past one already, but yeah, in Vegas, that was like ten p.m. “Sure.” I rested my hand on her elbow, and she nodded to Declan before we headed inside.

  There was no one standing by the elevators, but why would there be? No one would leave the grand opening of a club this early, except Olivia. I was surprised Declan didn’t object to her leaving. I figured he’d want her there until the sun rose.

  “Do you regret what happened between you and me?” I couldn’t help myself. The past was hanging in the air between us, heavy and thick.

  She pressed the elevator call button. “Regret?” she snapped and squinted at me. “I’d hardly—” The elevator doors opened, and a few people strode out of it, pushing past us, cutting her off.

  Olivia entered the empty elevator and faced the glass window. Apparently, she didn’t intend to finish her thought. Following her inside, I hit the first-floor button and rubbed the back of my neck as the doors closed. “Liv . . .”

  Her shoulders slouched forward at the sound of my voice, and she slowly faced me.

  I blew out a breath, exhausted from the emotions pulling at me, and closed the gap between us.

  “I don’t want to talk about the baby.” Her voice was low and grave but coated with a tender sadness.

  “Neither do I,” I rasped before I banded my hand around her hip. I pulled her against me, my lips on fire as they touched hers.

  ***

  Olivia

  This wasn’t a part of the plan. Kissing my ex-boyfriend wasn’t how I wanted to get the information I needed. But, holy shit. He tasted so damn good.

  His tongue mingled with mine, stealing my breath. His hand fisted my hair, and my head tilted back. “I want you,” he growled after breaking the kiss.

  The elevator doors chimed, and I shifted away from Connor’s hold. I couldn’t look him in the eyes. I was both embarrassed and angry with myself for giving in. How could I still feel something for this man?

  I stared down at the red carpet as I brushed past him and exited the elevator.

  “Liv.” He reached for my arm and spun me toward him, not giving a damn about the people who were still standing in line outside the elevator. “Are you okay?” he asked breathlessly.

  “Sure.” I nodded like an idiot, moving my head up and down like some lifeless being. “Tired.” I pulled my arm free from his grasp. I couldn’t handle the way his fingers burned my skin, sending shivers of desire through my body.

  He motioned for me to walk, and I was grateful he didn’t say anything. What was there to say? We’d kissed. It’s not like we hadn’t done it before.

  Men were supposed to get better with age. Was that possible? Connor had been incredible even when we were young. I swallowed back the memories of his sweat-slicked body riding me atop the rooftop of his apartment when we were young.

  “Where’s your room?”

  Goosebumps crawled across my skin as we walked through the casino and toward the main lobby. The swarms of people at the machines and the green felt tables, pissing their money away were tiny blips on my radar. “Eighth floor.”

  Fluorescent lights bathed the lobby, mimicking sunshine to keep gamblers awake and spending. We entered a hallway filled with depictions of Greco-Roman art along the walls. The silver-doored elevators gleamed before us.

  “You have your key?” he asked once we stepped inside the elevator.

  I bit my lip for a moment. “In my bra.”

  His eyes averted immediately to my cleavage. “You’re kidding?”

  I turned away from the camera, which was perched in the top right corner of the elevator, and slipped my hand inside my bra. “See?” I revealed the small white card.

  His light green eyes steadied on mine, and I wondered if he was going to kiss me again.

  Instead, he blew out a breath and waited for the doors to open. “Left or right?”

  Why was he even walking me to my room? It wasn’t like there was a safety issue at the hotel. What were his intentions? His almost bruising kiss popped into my head. Did he want to take it further?

  It sure didn’t seem like it, the way he was acting.

  Blake’s orders came to mind. Did Connor know anything? If I tried to pump him for information, what could he possibly tell me?

  Of course, if he didn’t know anything now, he might know something later. If I gained his trust . . .

  I wanted to scream. I hated this. And I hated how I felt like a teenager again, unsure and aching inside.

  “What’s up?” Connor was smiling—one of the first times he’d smiled at me like that since we’d bumped into each other. It wasn’t a forced, tight-lipped smile, but a real knock-your-panties-off kind of smile.

  Once outside my room, I swiped my card, unlocked the door, and opened it. “Want to come in?”

  “Not sure if that’s a good idea.” His palm went to the wall just outside the door, and he leaned in closer to me. I tilted my head to look up at him, noticing his strong forearm and the way the material of his shirt constricted against the swell of his muscular chest.

  “We should talk,” I suggested in a low voice, worried if I spoke above a whisper it would crack.

  “About what?” The muscle in his jaw tightened, and his eyes creased as he narrowed them at me. He was Mr. Serious, now—a man I’d never met when I was younger. Connor had always been the live-free-or-die guy. The bungee jumping, skydiving, dancing in a restaurant even though it was, well, a restaurant, kind of guy.

  “I don’t know. There’s all this tension between us, and we have to work together now. I meant what I said at your office. Put the past behind us and be friends.” God, that was total bullshit. I wish it could be true, but how could I ever trust him enough to be friends? Besides, my job was in the way.

  “Olivia,” he leaned closer until his face was inches from mine, “you and I were never meant to be friends.”

  I wet my lips, drawn into his pull. “What were we meant to be?” My eyes closed, and I waited for his lips to touch mine again.

  But when my eyes fluttered open, he was standing a foot back with his hands tucked in his pockets. “I should go.”

  What?

  His eyes were cast down and focused on the carpet. “Please, can we try?” I had to do this—I had to win him over. It was my job, right? I didn’t want to make amends with him for any other reason than that.

  “Try what?” he asked with a terseness to his voice that set me on my heels. His eyes were now on me, and something dark was there—something I’d never seen when we were younger. I know the military can change a person, but this was pure and utter hatred.

&
nbsp; “Connor,” I said softly, “come in.”

  Sure, let the tiger—no, the lion—into my room. He was going to eat me alive.

  He rubbed his neck with his large hand and came inside. Shaking my head and fighting my guilt, I shut the door and turned to face him. He moved straight to the terrace, opened the door, and stepped outside.

  The terrace overlooked the Vegas strip. Sitting down in one of the chairs, I mentally scolded myself for admiring his backside as he pressed his hands to the railing.

  “How have you been?” I crossed my legs and leaned back in my seat, attempting to be casual.

  “Great,” he said sarcastically. Okay, maybe I deserved that. His father had just passed away a few weeks ago. “Listen . . .” He had turned to face me, but his voice stopped as his eyes settled on my legs.

  “What?”

  His mouth twitched as he dragged his gaze up to my face. His pupils dilated, taking over the soft green of his eyes. “I can’t be here with you,” he said in a deep voice, shaking his head.

  I stood up, my legs trembling a little as I moved toward him. He touched my face with the back of his hand, and I leaned into his touch. “Connor, what happened to you?” I snapped my eyes shut as painful memories hurdled to my mind.

  A few moments of silence, and then, “You happened to me.”

  My cheek tingled from the loss of him as my eyes opened.

  He’d already gone.

  Chapter Ten

  Connor

  I leaned back in the lounge chair, my legs stretched out, wearing only my black swim trunks. The sun was hot on my skin as the poolside DJ spun an engaging mix of electronic music. Vegas was wild. If I were in a better mood, I’d have enjoyed it.

  Lauren was walking my way in a tiny black bikini, her boobs practically spilling out of her top. She shifted her sunglasses to the edge of her nose and flashed me a smile as she sat down in the empty lounge chair next to me. She plopped her large bag down between our seats and slapped my knee. “Hey, cowboy.”

  Really? Did I give off a horse-riding, rodeo vibe? I brought my bare feet to the ground and removed my aviator sunglasses. The sparkling, cool water of the pool beckoned me.

  “What happened to you last night? You never came back.” She reached into her massive bag and dug through it for a moment. Then she pulled out a bottle of tanning oil and handed it to me. “You mind?”

  The woman would fry, but who was I to judge?

  She lay on her stomach and swept her brown hair over her shoulder, offering me access to her back as I stood. My breath hitched when she unclasped her bra strap. What the hell? This had to violate some code of business ethics. I shook my head and poured the oil onto my palms. “I was tired and went to bed. Sorry. How was it?”

  “It was amazing. You missed out.”

  I rubbed the oil over Lauren’s back, and her shoulder blades pinched back a little. I wasn’t the least bit turned on.

  What was happening to me? It had been almost a month since I’d gotten laid—since before my father died. I still couldn’t believe I’d kissed Olivia. And the things I had thought about doing to her tight body last night . . . shit, now I was getting hard. I hoped to hell the bulge in my shorts wasn’t apparent—that was a lawsuit waiting to happen.

  My phone began to ring, vibrating noisily against the side table, and I did my best to wipe the oil from my hands with my towel. “Sorry,” I muttered as I grabbed my cell.

  “Tell me that you didn’t come back last night because you went back to that girl’s room—Olivia, right?”

  Ben, Jesus. “No. I was tired.”

  “What? Really?”

  “Sorry to disappoint,” I said and mouthed to Lauren, “Be right back.”

  “When do you go back to New York?” Ben asked as I weaved my way through the rows of sunbathers to the outskirts of the pool area. “Monday’s the plan, but I don’t know. Part of me wants to high-tail it out of here tonight.”

  “Why?”

  Olivia, mostly, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. “Could you do me a favor? Could you ask around about Declan Reid?” I shoved a hand through my hair. “Discreetly.”

  “Sure. The guy who owns the club, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What for?”

  “I don’t want to raise any flags, but maybe you could gain some insight about him without anything pointing to me . . . I might do a business deal with him, and I just want to make sure he’s legit.”

  “You getting the vibe he’s not?”

  “I don’t know. This whole businessman thing is new to me. Maybe everyone does it this way.” I thought longingly of the three job offers I’d turned down this week: bodyguard, rescue attempt, and a missing person case. It was hard puttering around in Vegas when I knew I could be out there helping people.

  “I’ll see what I can find out. No worries.”

  “Thanks, man. Ring me later.” As I started back for my seat, I spotted Olivia standing at the edge of the pool, by the deep end. My mouth clamped shut in frustration as my eyes raked over her insanely hot pink bikini.

  It looked like she was about to jump in the water, but two men were flanking her sides. And she didn’t look happy. Before I realized what I was doing, my feet carried me through the maze of chairs.

  Olivia was waving her hand between the two men, and one of them had placed his hand on her hip. Gritting my teeth, I shoved my phone in my pocket, prepared to use my fists to remove the men if necessary.

  But I didn’t get the chance. I stilled about ten feet away when Olivia twisted the man’s hand back, and he dropped to his knees before her.

  Wow. When had Olivia become such a badass?

  “Back off,” I growled on approach just as the man was rising to his feet.

  Once the men walked away, Olivia angled her head at me. “I had them. They were just drunk and stupid.” She folded her arms, and her eyes bore into me. Her skin was glowing from the sun, and her chest heaved.

  “Where’d you learn to do that?”

  “I took defense classes, and I box.”

  The woman got sexier every minute.

  This was bad.

  “Anyway, I was trying to swim, so if you don’t mind . . .”

  Before I had a chance to respond, she slipped into the pool and disappeared beneath the water, her hair fanning out behind her.

  I rubbed my jaw, not sure what the hell to think. I still needed to cool off. The pool would be big enough for the both of us.

  I hurried back to return my phone. Lauren’s eyes were shut with wires trailing from her ears. Good, I didn’t want to dive into small talk. I tucked my phone under my towel and went back to the pool.

  The water felt like a warm bath, but it was still better than roasting beneath the sun.

  “Are you following me?”

  Olivia was just a foot away. Her hair was slicked back, revealing her flawless face.

  Beautiful. I couldn’t think of a better word to describe her.

  I was going stiff again. Shit.

  She shook her head, huffing, and started toward the crowd of people gathered at the other end of the pool, flailing their arms to a David Guetta remix.

  Without thinking, I started after her. My hand shot through the water and touched her back.

  Turning toward me with wide eyes, she swallowed. “What?”

  This wasn’t right. How could I do a deal with Declan if it meant being around Olivia? I couldn’t control myself around her.

  “Tell Declan I can’t do business with him.” My hand fell to my side, splashing into the water. Her mouth formed a sexy O and dirty thoughts pushed into my mind. What in the hell was wrong with me? “Sorry,” I added.

  “Declan will be upset.” Her plump bottom lip slipped between her teeth.

  “Goodbye, Liv—Olivia,” I said, my voice breaking a little as I turned away. I moved toward the closest set of steps, preparing myself to book the next flight back to New York, but Olivia’s fingers on
my back arrested me.

  “You’re doing the right thing,” she said, loud enough for me to hear over the music but low enough not to draw too much attention.

  What was she talking about? But I didn’t ask. I didn’t even look back.

  I grabbed my stuff carefully, glad that Lauren’s eyes stayed shut. She could stay and party in Vegas for all I cared. I’d shoot her a text from the airport to let her know there would be no deal.

  I wanted the best for the company, for my brother, but I couldn’t be around Olivia for another minute.

  ***

  Olivia

  “This was our best shot. What happened?” Blake barked. I was thankful the phone was set to speakerphone and safely resting on the dresser next to me.

  “Maybe he figured out that Declan’s shady.” I zipped up the side of my sequin dress and studied myself in the full-length mirror in the hotel room. “Connor wouldn’t have been able to help us if he’s not crooked, anyway.” Thank God.

  “I’m not buying that. Last night you told me that Declan still hadn’t talked to Connor about business. Why would Connor all of the sudden jet out of there?” A crackling sounded through the phone as Blake blew out his breath. “What’d you do, Liv?”

  “I didn’t do anything. I don’t know what happened. He said he couldn’t do business with Declan.” I sat in the desk chair and spun to face the window, which overlooked the strip’s infamous Eiffel Tower.

  “Get him back.” Blake’s sharp voice grated on my ears. What had I ever seen in him?

  “I can’t.”

  “He’s one of our best leads so far.”

  “Not if he’s innocent. If he’s a straight-up guy, there’s no point in getting close to him,” I protested.

  “There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” Blake insisted. “Besides, Declan’s going to flip when he learns Connor took off. What if he fires you? The last nine months will be for nothing.”

  Unfortunately, Blake was right. Declan would be more than pissed, and he’d probably blame me since he knew about our history.

  Before I could speak, there was a knock on my door. “I gotta call you back.” I slipped the phone into the dresser drawer and hurried to the door.