Dared by a Dangerous Man

by Cleo Peitsche

  I hadn’t realized I was struggling against him until he lowered me onto the bed. The muscles in my arms and stomach hurt. His large body, so strong and protective, wrapped around me.

  We lay there together. I was panting, trying to catch my breath, trying not to feel the irresistible heat of Corbin’s touch.

  “This is killing me,” I murmured. My throat was tight, raw. “How many times do I have to lose you?”

  “You won’t—”

  “Bullshit,” I said angrily. “When do you leave?”

  He was quiet, but I felt the tension everywhere his body touched me.

  “Exactly,” I said.

  “I have a duty to contribute however I can. I owe her that. Yes, I have to leave, to fly to Paris and talk to the man who was imprisoned with her. It’s the fastest way to get to the bottom of this.”

  I closed my eyes.

  “You need to trust me, Audrey. This man has details, and they’re dribbling out. Then I get a phone call and I have to verify if what he said is true or not. It’s inefficient, and it’s dragging this out unnecessarily. If I see him, face to face, I’ll know the truth.”

  Then what? And then? And after that?

  There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t sound selfish and awful.

  “She’s got no family left,” he said.

  “All the more reason she’ll need you. You won’t be able to turn your back on her.”

  “No, I won’t turn my back. I’ll always love her.” His words pierced my heart. “She and I became adults together. And I’ll be there for her. But I won’t abandon you.”

  I struggled away from him. “How fucking pompous and condescending. Abandon me? I’m not going to die without you. And anyway, you have no idea what you’ll do.”

  The fire in his blue-green eyes leapt higher. “I’m the one being pompous and condescending? I’d wager I know myself better than you do, Audrey.”

  “I want to come. To Paris.”

  To his credit, he contemplated my demand. Finally he said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s not a vacation.”

  “Of course it isn’t.” I got out of bed and crossed my arms.

  Corbin rose heavily to his feet as well. The muscles of his neck and shoulders were tense, and I noticed for the first time that he had dark circles around his eyes.

  “Can I come or not?”

  He wanted to deny me, and in fact he started to shake his head. “Fine,” he said.

  “Good.” It came out halfway between combative and relieved.

  Corbin opened his arms. “Come here.”

  I stepped toward him even though I didn’t believe it would help. Still, I allowed myself to be folded close to the warm, familiar granite of his chest, and just like that, I was under his spell again. Lost, and again at his mercy.

  “Never should have let you leave yesterday,” he said. “Tonight… I don’t want to be apart, but I have something to take care of. Unless you want to come?”

  A peace offering, I realized. “Where?”

  “To see my mother. I need to collect some photos I’ve been storing in her attic. If you come, you could meet her.”

  The thought of meeting Corbin’s mom under the current circumstances was ludicrous. I didn’t know how she’d felt about her daughter-in-law, but if his wife was half as amazing as Corbin made her out to be—and I suspected she was—then his mother surely adored her.

  I also didn’t want her to look at me, think about the unlikely coincidence of Corbin choosing two women named Audrey, and treat me with pity.

  While I didn’t hope his wife wasn’t alive, my feelings bordered too close to that for comfort. I definitely wished it would all magically go away. I didn’t want his mother to see that truth in my eyes and to know what a horrible person I was.

  “No,” I said. “We’re starting the expansion on the building. It wouldn’t be fair to make Rob face Dad alone.” A weak excuse, and he surely knew.

  “Ok.” He kissed the top of my head, and I knew my fears were founded. He was compartmentalizing his relationship with me. I didn’t even understand why he’d bothered to come. Guilt?

  I stepped away. “When will you be back?”

  “After I see my mother, I need to go to Virginia, then to Paris. I won’t have time to fly back here.”

  Cynical thoughts swirled in my mind. Something told me he wouldn’t be spending much time in my little corner of the world going forward.

  “Let me know when you want to come, and I’ll arrange tickets and transportation to the hotel.” His departing kiss was, at least, on my lips.

  I listened to him walk down the steps, then I closed the door.

  Fuck.

  This was better than thinking he’d abandoned me, but I was pretty sure all I’d managed to do was prolong the inevitable.

  And deep down, could I respect him if he didn’t go back to the woman he’d married?

  I’d think about it later. At the moment, I needed to get some food for Millie, then find my passport. It was probably at Rob’s place; I hadn’t cleared all my boxes out of his garage.

  The drive over, I prayed Rob would be out so I wouldn’t have to face his questions.

  But when I saw the dark windows, the empty space where he typically parked his car, I felt alone.

  Chapter 12

  It turned out that my passport was expired. It had been for minors, and I hadn’t gone anywhere since I was fifteen. However, by paying an expedition fee, I could have a new one… within three weeks.

  “You’re kidding,” I said to the woman who was helping me.

  She pushed her pen into her gray-streaked hair and shrugged. “Unless you’ve already got a plane ticket for a flight leaving within the next five days?”

  No, I didn’t have a ticket yet. “One second.” I texted Corbin to ask what I should do.

  He texted back: Already took care of it. Have them look you up.

  “Could you look me up?” I asked, feeling guilty.

  “Do you have identification?”

  I handed over my license. She wedged it against her monitor and tapped on the keyboard, her fingers a blur.

  “Oh,” she said, surprised. “We can have yours by 3:30 today.” Her demeanor had changed. Whereas before she had been polite but detached, now she seemed to want to leave a positive impression.

  After I got my passport photo and filled out the application, I returned home to get Millie, then drove to the office. I couldn’t help but feel a little thrill of gratitude that Corbin had pulled strings to move things along.

  And that he’d obviously thought of it ahead of time. If he really hadn’t wanted me in Paris, he could have left me behind. I never would have known.

  It was the first truly reassuring sign I’d had.

  When I walked into the office, Erin bounced over. “Rob is looking for you,” she said. She looked down and squealed. “Cute dog.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And Frances called. She left a message. I put it on your desk.” She grinned so hard I could see her gums.

  “Thank you, Erin,” I said, giving her a long look. “Is there something else?”

  She shook her head, then nodded. “Can I talk to you a minute? In private?”

  Dad’s office was empty, so we went in there. She closed the door. “What’s the official policy on dating coworkers? Is it allowed?”

  “What?” I asked, even though I’d heard her just fine. In fact, we didn’t have a policy. The only time it had come up before was when Dad dated one of the receptionists. It was how he’d met and married Martha.

  But there hadn’t been any reason to take an official stance on it.

  “Are you just asking, as a hypothetical?”

  She sucked on her lower lip and tried not to smile. “I won tickets to a concert, and I wanted to ask Martin.”

  “The Martin who works here?” I asked, flabbergasted.

  She nodded. “He’s cute.”

  That was news to me. �
��I… guess it’s ok,” I said. “As long as there’s no office tomfoolery.”

  “Tomfoolery. You’re so funny, Audrey.”

  “I’m serious. You’re both valuable members of Stroop Finders. We wouldn’t want to jeopardize that.” I was starting to think that agreeing had been a bad idea.

  “Well, anyway, I’m not sure he’ll say yes,” she said quickly. “Thanks!” She hurried out before I could change my mind.

  On the bright side, I thought, if Martin had a girlfriend, it might slow him down a bit.

  I went out to my desk to gather up my files, and I made the mistake of looking at the whiteboard.

  73 to 75.

  The bastard had gotten two people while I’d been following Massimo and moping over Corbin. And the gulf would only grow wider while I was out of the country.

  Time to let it go.

  I gathered up all my folders and put them on Martin’s desk. He was tireless, and he had no social life. In short, he was the male version of me, or the way I had been before Corbin.

  Rob walked in. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “I was getting my passport renewed,” I said. “Ours expired when we turned sixteen.”

  “Yeah, I know. I renewed mine a few years ago.”

  “You didn’t tell me?”

  “Sure I did. You said it was pointless because we never go anywhere.”

  I pursed my lips. It sounded like something I would have said, but I didn’t recall doing it. “Hey, maybe you want to come with me to Paris,” I said.

  Rob stared. “You’re going to France?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Try not to sound so excited about it.” He glanced at his watch. “Sounds like we both have a lot of news. Let’s get lunch.”

  We settled on a greasy Chinese place. The food was mediocre, but the kitchens and bathrooms were clean, unlike most of the places that served a hot lunch within a ten-minute drive.

  “We’re all set,” Rob said after we’d ordered. “I had a long talk with Dad this morning, and he said it’s not a problem.”

  “Exact words?”

  “‘Well, you outvoted me. It’s my own damned fault for making you partners.’ But he did volunteer to fax back signed papers, so he’s not being a pain about it.”

  “You can fax stuff from a cruise ship?”

  “Apparently. As far as the construction itself, there’s one more permit to issue, and they’ll be coming out on Monday to do the inspection. Something about wildlife preservation. It’s just a formality. After that, we’re ready to go.”

  I was quiet while the waitress dropped off egg rolls and crispy fried noodles.

  “What about the papers I need to sign?” I asked.

  “You can go by the bank whenever. Your part of the loan is much smaller than mine anyway, so it’s not holding anything up.”

  “I’ll do it after lunch. Thank you for handling all this. Are you nervous?”

  He dipped a golden egg roll into the sweet-and-sour sauce. “It’s kinda fun.”

  “Assuming it works out.”

  “Assuming that, yeah. What’s this about Paris? When are you going?”

  I wiped my greasy fingers on a napkin, took a sip of water, and helped myself to another noodle, scooping up duck sauce.

  Then I took a deep breath and told Rob everything about Corbin’s wife.

  “Damn,” he said when I finished. “That’s… Words escape me.”

  “Will you come?”

  “Do you really want me there?”

  I thought about it. “I do. I think… I’m going there to support Corbin, and to keep up the pretense that things between us are fine. Maybe you can support me. Or at least distract me. And I’ll pay half of your ticket. Corbin is paying for mine, anyway.”

  “You’d have to. I’m on a tight budget for the next few months,” he said lightly.

  Guilt fluttered in my stomach. “Is it that bad?”

  “Just tightening my belt. I had someone look at my condo, and everything is fine. There shouldn’t be any big repair bills coming up soon. Same for my car.”

  “Thorough. Can I ask you something that’s been driving me crazy? What happened? Why did you suddenly start caring about all this stuff?”

  “You did ask me that before, and I don’t know. I think I just got bored. And you weren’t doing the jobs of ten people, so someone had to step up. Back to planning. We need to figure out where to put everyone. It’s gonna be loud, and there will be times when the office is basically unusable.”

  The waitress placed a steaming platter of lo mein on the table in front of Rob, and ginger eggplant and rice in front of me. We switched them as she walked away.

  “Going back to Corbin… You’ve been handling the news pretty well,” Rob said. “I knew something was up, but I never imagined it was huge. You’ve got as many secrets as he does.”

  Rob was teasing, but it brought me up short. I did have quite a few secrets. A year earlier, I’d had none.

  “It’s weird that his wife and I—”

  “Ex-wife,” Rob corrected. “Huge difference.”

  “It’s weird that we have the same name, isn’t it?”

  “I’d be more worried if you look alike. You’ve seen a photo?”

  “No, but I guess I will eventually. She’s French and Tunisian,” I said. “I doubt we resemble each other at all.”

  “Could be that she has dark, curly hair,” he said with an apologetic shrug.

  “You’re not helping.” Noodles had slipped from my chopsticks, and I ended up with a mouthful of air. I reached for a fork and decided it was time to change the subject. “You’re not going to believe who wants to date Martin,” I said.

  “Erin.”

  Apparently obvious to everyone but me. “You think he’s into her?”

  Rob shrugged. “I know he’s single. Sometimes we hit the bars together.”

  “What am I missing about him?”

  “He’s a nice guy, Audrey. You just don’t like anyone who came in with Henry.”

  I shrugged.

  A mischievous look appeared in Rob’s eyes. “Martin likes practical jokes.”

  “Huh. For example?”

  “Can’t think of one off the top of my head.” But his grin was broadening suspiciously.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. When are we meeting Jennifer?”

  “I don’t know. She stuck me with her dog and won’t return my phone calls. If she doesn’t resurface by Saturday night, you’ll have to take Millie.”

  After lunch, Rob went to relieve Katrina on a stakeout, and I returned to the office. Without all the files on my desk, it was easier to see that I had messages.

  The one on top was from Frances. CALL HER. URGENT!!!! Erin had scrawled, which might have meant it was important… or that Erin needed to cut back on chocolate and sugar.

  I went into Dad’s office, closed the door and dialed the sheriff’s office while I flipped through the other messages. All were from Frances.

  So it was urgent, then.

  “You should have called my cell phone,” I told her when she answered.

  “I misplaced your number, and anyway I’m calling on official business.” She paused. “Semi official. Quickly, I wanted to talk to you before the DA does. I heard from Zenia Forentina that Henry’s about to cut a sweetheart deal. He’s got dirt, major dirt, and he’s willing to give it up in exchange for a lighter sentence.”

  It took a moment for that to sink in. “How light?”

  “Well, that I don’t know, but Zenia said he might get as little as two years, maybe less. They’re trying to hammer it all out, so now is a good time to speak up if you’ve changed your mind about pressing charges and testifying.”

  “I haven’t,” I said firmly. “So about your personal matter—”

  “You don’t need to look into it anymore,” Frances said. From the way she spoke, her voice lowered, I assumed there was someone standing nearby and she couldn’t talk free
ly.

  Well, I could. “I spent an hour with Massimo yesterday,” I said. “And I agree. There’s no reason to look into him. He’s a perfectly nice guy, and he’s truly in love with Neil. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’s after his money.”

  “None of that matters now,” Frances said. “He’s not my problem anymore. You need to think about Henry.” She hung up abruptly.

  Obviously something had happened with Neil and Massimo, given how gleeful she’d sounded, but what, I wasn’t sure. Maybe they’d broken up? It would make sense.

  If that was the case, I felt bad for Massimo. Something told me he was bawling his eyes out somewhere.

  Well, he’d find someone else. Maybe someone with a less suspicious grandmother.

  As for Henry… Corbin would fix that. I was surprised he hadn’t nipped it in the bud, but maybe he didn’t know yet.

  There was an easy fix. I reached for my phone.

  Corbin answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”

  “Work,” I said. “Where are you?”

  “Don’t go anywhere.” He hung up.

  “Ok,” I said to the silent phone. I kept it in my hand, waiting for him to call back.

  Come outside, he texted.

  Come. Not go. But he couldn’t be back.

  It didn’t matter; I was already moving.

  The door to the SUV was open. “Get in,” Corbin said.

  He’d trimmed his hair, and he looked amazing in a tailored dark suit. He hadn’t bothered with a tie, and his black shirt was partially unbuttoned.

  And me in a tank top and jeans.

  “You wear suits like a movie star on a late-night talk show,” I said as I adjusted my seatbelt. “What are you doing back?”

  “My flight to Paris leaves in four hours,” he said.

  “From here? Why didn’t you fly out of D.C.?”

  “I felt it was more convenient to leave from here,” he said with a grin. He reached over for my hand.

  And just like that, things between us felt almost normal.

  I didn’t want him to do this, to be so perfect. He made me want things I couldn’t have. It made me see him looking at engagement rings and assume, and hope, and want…