Tragic Desires

by A. M. Hargrove

  “Will do. We’ll be back down there to finish up.”

  “What do you mean? Aren’t you in Austin?”

  “Nope. We came home to figure out our best strategy. I figured a few days wouldn’t hurt.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Jeff says. “Keep in touch.”

  “Will do.”

  Huff pulls in the office’s underground garage. We pass through the layers of security and Gemini asks, “This is all yours? This entire building?”

  “Yeah.” At the elevators, the armed guard greets us and I enter the security code. Then we’re on our way up to the executive level.

  When the doors open, Sally welcomes us from her desk.

  “Welcome back, Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Huffington, Mr. Strickland.”

  “Thanks, Sally.” I keep moving, my hand on Gemini’s back, guiding her along. When we get to the back offices, Jill stands.

  “Mr. Wolfe. I didn’t expect you today.”

  “I know. I need all heads in the conference room.”

  We move toward the double doors at the end of the hall. They slide open and I flip on the lights.

  “Gemini, make yourself comfortable while we wait for everyone to get here.”

  She gapes at the room loaded with state-of-the-art everything, including surveillance equipment, computers, and telecommuni-

  cations. She’s finally going to see the full power and scope behind my company. Maybe now she’ll understand exactly how much and how prepared I am to help her. When she sees my team at work, hopefully the questions she has about my abilities will be answered.

  THIS IS QUITE unexpected. When he said he owned the company, I sure as hell wasn’t thinking this is what he meant. He owns the fucking building, with a Fort Knox-like secure underground garage. There’s no telling what he has at the main entrance. Then we take the elevator to the executive level, where a very beautiful receptionist, Sally, sits in front of a frosted-glass partition. She’s dressed in chic business attire with her hair and makeup artfully done. And here I am with my mane a mass of snarls that I haven’t brushed since our morning sexcapade, wearing oversized sweats that I can barely keep on. Can it get any worse?

  Oh, yes it can. We continue walking, his hand on my lower back steering me, and we eventually reach the inner sanctum, where Jill, greets us. Well, that’s not exactly true. She greets all of them. She ignores me like I’m a dreaded virus. Just as Sally did. Who can blame them? I look like a street urchin. Or maybe even a crack whore, which isn’t far from the truth. Gee, don’t I have a lot to be proud of? Not only that, their boss is screwing me! Yabba Dabba Doo!

  My head is already pounding. When Drex ushers me into his conference room, I don’t know whether to be shocked or amazed. My guess is the FBI or Pentagon would be envious of this room. Good lord, who is this guy? I mean, really?

  As I observe him, he fires up his toys. Soon, every wall is filled with images as his men file in, each carrying their own laptop. Drexel is so animated as he speaks, it’s as if he’s on an adrenaline high. That’s when I get it, when it all sinks in. He thrives on this stuff. This is his life. It’s not just a paycheck. It’s the driving force and energy behind everything that he is. Here I sit, exhausted and whipped, but I look at him and see someone who’s refreshed and renewed. It’s like looking at a man who just stepped off the plane after returning home from a two-week vacation. The corners of my mouth turn up.

  What captures my attention most is what everyone else is dialed into. It’s all in his delivery. He has every one of those six men in the palm of his hand. They hang on his every word. And when he asks someone to do something, it’s with clarity and authority, but with the knowledge that they understand why they’re doing it. By the time he’s made his points, even I’m ready to jump at his command. He is one badass boss.

  When he finishes, everyone departs, but I still have the awestruck, goofy-assed expression plastered on my face. “You’re really something,” I tell him.

  “What are you talking about?” The man is clueless.

  “This.” I sweep my arm in front of me. “It’s your calling. I don’t know if you ever wanted to do anything else, but it’s good that all things led you here. You’re a wonder to watch in action. You’re so animated and engaged in this whole process, I couldn’t stop watching you. Hell, I’d go to work for you right now.”

  Something darkens his gaze. “I don’t know about all that.”

  “Well, I do. My great observational skills were at work.”

  “Come on.”

  “Where to, boss?”

  He snorts. “I can’t imagine you taking orders from anyone. Let’s go home.”

  “Hey.” I hold my gigantic pants away from my legs. “Clothes?”

  “Right. Sorry.”

  We leave the conference room and head back toward Jill but we don’t stop. Instead, we turn and head toward another door. Then I see his name, Drexel Wolfe, CEO, on the door. I follow him inside. His office is expansive and filled with sleek, modern furniture. The only things that soften the look are the beautiful Persian rugs scattered everywhere.

  “Want a drink?”

  “Do you have any water?”

  “Well, yeah, but I was thinking of something a bit stronger.”

  “Water, please.”

  He hands me a bottle and my stomach growls. I’m starving.

  “Shit. We haven’t eaten all day. I’m sorry. I tend to forget about that.” He looks humble all of a sudden.

  “I pretty much forgot about it myself, until just now. I also need a pill.” He reaches for his backpack, pulls the bottle out, and hands it to me.

  Then he walks over to the phone on his large desk. “Yeah, Jill, we need some food. No. Yes.” He looks at me and asks, “Pasta okay?”

  I nod.

  “The lobster ravioli, light on the sauce. Two salads. Dressing on the side. Bread with his olive oil mix. Tiramisu for two.” Then he’s listening to her speak. “Jill, did I ask you your opinion on my diet? No? Then that’s what we want. Oh, and Gemini needs some clothes. What size? Hang on.”

  He looks at me.

  “Size four maybe. I don’t know really. Or a small. Or medium.” He laughs.

  “You don’t shop much, do you?” he asks.

  “No. I hate to shop.”

  “Jill, get her size four and small and medium for the shirts. And you only have to pick up a few things.” He disconnects and rakes his eyes over me. I’m immediately conscious of how terrible I must look.

  He saunters toward me and his hand is on my arm. The next thing I know, he’s dragging me to the couch. “You’re the strangest woman I’ve ever met.”

  “How so?” I’m curious.

  “You hate to shop. That’s just not possible for a woman.”

  “Apparently, you’ve met the wrong women. Shopping is boring. And not to change the subject, but do you think this plan of yours will work? You know, to find those people in Aali Imaam?”

  “That’s not my only goal. I also want to flush out why The Company wants you.”

  “Which company?”

  “The Company. The CIA. By hunting down Aali Imaam, it’ll trigger the alarm within the CIA and they’ll send someone. It may be the men who showed up at Jeff’s. I can’t be certain, though. But somewhere along the way, we’ll flush out whoever is after you … or was after your mother and find out how deep their involvement is.”

  “This is pretty tricky.”

  “It may seem that way, but it’s relatively basic. We know Aali Imaam wants you, because of the unknown file. I’m pretty sure The CIA knows what that file contains, but they won’t say. So if we can dangle the carrot, so to speak, we can draw them out.”

  “How will we do that?”

  He laughs. “Gemini, weren’t you in the conference room a little while ago?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Didn’t you listen?”

  “Um, not really.”

  “You were staring at me the entire time. What were you
doing?”

  “Thinking about how damn hot you look and that you were made for this job. I didn’t hear a word you said.”

  He rubs his forehead. “I don’t know whether to laugh or strangle you.”

  I scrunch my face. “I’m pulling for the laughing bit.”

  “Christ, you’re a handful.”

  His lids drift to the half-closed position again and my fingers grab hold of his shirt’s neckline. There’s one thing I want to do and it’s to pull him close to me so I can kiss his lips. I am preempted when someone raps on his door.

  “Great timing, huh?” he asks. In a booming voice, he says, “Yeah, come in.”

  It’s Blake. “They’re calling for you. It’s the CIA. I put ’em off but they’ll be ringing again.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Drex, think you should talk to them? They said it’s urgent and threatened to pull all of our government contracts.”

  Drex lets out a boom of laughter. “Hell, Blake, they can’t pay any of their bills as it is. Do you think I care about that? I don’t give a shit. Besides, our livelihood does not rely on the government at all. If that were the case, this corporation would never have taken off. The only reason they do business with me is because I can get them answers when their bureaucratic agencies fail them. This’ll only hurt them, not me, and they damn well know it. You know the major sum of our income comes from the private sector anyway.”

  “If you say so, boss.”

  “I do say so. Trust me. Their threats are laughable. I’ll let them stew for a while. When I talk to them, it’ll be on my terms.”

  Blake walks out and I’m left wondering about their exchange. “Exactly how much work do you do for the government?”

  “Maybe twenty percent of what I actually do. But it’s not twenty percent of the company’s income. They suck at paying most of the time. And when they do, they don’t want to pay what my services are worth.”

  “Why do you do it?”

  He shrugs. “For country. I was a soldier and that motto never dies. Plus they gave me my start. Got me connected.”

  “So when you left the military, you started this business. When you told me about it, you didn’t indicate it was this huge.”

  “I tried. It’s a bit difficult to tell that to someone. I started out on a loan but I picked up some high-tech jobs. And then I had the help from my military connections. Things just expanded. I opened this business at the right time. Cyber hacking is a huge part of our business … we find the hackers. We have select teams that work on that. I have teams that specialize in cyber espionage. So many corporations have their inventions and developments stolen before they even hit the market, some before they’re patented, all because of cyber espionage. My firm helps catch those hackers. We also deal with bank theft via cyberspace. Banks have to deal with protecting their systems against hackers and getting compromised. It can be difficult to stay on top of it all, so we can send teams in to identify weaknesses and help develop stronger security. We work with software developers—our team helps them come up with programs that are more difficult to hack into. We’re extremely broad in what we do. Mid-sized to huge corporations are our main clients and we charge a lot for our services.”

  I’m amazed. “Wow. I thought when you said you were a private investigator, you just spied on cheating husbands.”

  “Yeah, you and a million other people. And that’s okay with me.”

  “But why? Don’t you want the world to know what you do?”

  “The world does know. At least the world as it pertains to me. We’re the best at what we do and corporations beg us to take them on as clients. We have way more business than we can handle.”

  He makes a damn good point. “Wow. I concede.”

  “Hmm, I didn’t know we were having a contest.”

  When he looks at me like that, my limbs hang off my body with no strength of their own. We’re both silent, caught in each other’s gazes, until we’re interrupted by another knock.

  “What is it?” His tone is not at all friendly.

  “It’s your dinner, sir.”

  “Shit,” he mutters. “Come in.”

  The door swings open and in marches Miss-Everything-In-Its-Place-and-the-Epitome-of-Fashion. “Where shall I put this, Mr. Wolfe?” Her voice is husky.

  She’s eyeing him like she wants to lick him. And why the hell wouldn’t she? He’s lickable. Her head swings my way so I smile. Maybe it’s just me being petty here. I’m uncomfortable looking a mess, and I haven’t eaten all day. But I swear that woman gives me a bad vibe.

  “Put it on the coffee table, Jill. And thanks.”

  Did she just flutter her eyelashes at him? Good lord, let’s be a bit less obvious, Jill. She’s definitely flirting with him.

  “Oh, and Jill, you can head out now and shop for Ms. Sheridan. Call me if you get done early. I might have you swing by my place.”

  “My pleasure, sir,” she purrs.

  She sashays out, her hips about to knock her off her too-tall shoes. I couldn’t sway my hips like that on a good day.

  “Shall we dig in? Gemini? Hello, is anyone home?”

  “Oh! Sorry. What did you say?”

  “Wow, someone was a million miles away.”

  “Yeah, I suppose I was. Um, how long has Jill been working for you?”

  “A little over a year.”

  “And she knows where you live?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Isn’t that a bit unusual?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”

  “Because I’ve never known where any of my bosses lived.”

  He stares at me, rubbing his chin. “You’re not jealous of her, are you?”

  “No, of course not.” I’m quick to answer but the truth is I’m jealous as hell.

  “There’s nothing between us.”

  To hell with this. “Have you slept with her?”

  The expression on his face is priceless. His usual half-closed lids have popped open. In fact, if the situation were different, I would laugh because his eyes are nearly cartoon-like in their appearance. “Absolutely not. I would never sleep with an employee. I thought I made it clear to you that I don’t get involved with my clients.”

  “True,” I say, “but she’s not your client.”

  “When I made that statement, I meant that to include my employees as well. That would be considered gross moral turpitude in my estimation.”

  I take a good hard look at him and determine he’s telling the truth. “She wants to sleep with you. In a very bad way. We probably should’ve had this discussion before we slept together, but if you and I continue to have sex, I would ask that, um …” and I run out of steam. I feel strange making demands on him because I have no right, but I have to say this. “This is weird since we don’t really know each other, and I know I have no right to make this demand, but I don’t sleep around, Drex. And I guess what I’m saying is I would prefer if you didn’t either.”

  He gives me that raw, sexy look that causes goosebumps to erupt all over my skin. He stomps to the door and the lock clicks into place, then stalks back, his gaze so intense, it penetrates my skin. Every nerve ending comes to life. How he does it, I have no idea, but it’s like his eyes weave a spell on me. They melt away everything except for the burgeoning heat that blossoms inside me. I want this man. I want his hands to touch me all over. Now.

  When he’s standing in front of me, he reaches down and fists my shirt, hauling me to my feet. Then his other arm wraps around me and presses my hips into his as his mouth possesses mine. But before he kisses me, he says, “There’ll be no other partners for me as long as you do the same. But if you don’t, there will be hell to pay. I. Don’t. Share.” He kisses me once. Hard. Controlling. And dominant. And then says, “Now, let’s eat before our dinner gets cold.”

  He releases me and I drop, none too gently, back onto the couch, breathless. He certainly plays this game well. And he just t
aught me something: Drex Wolfe likes to be in control, not only in his business life, but where his women are concerned too. Damn is he ever territorial and he’s just made that abundantly clear. The corners of my mouth lift as I discover that I quite like that quality in him. But how the hell does he expect me to eat after that?

  I observe him as he pulls the food out. He’s unwrapping everything, apparently unaffected by what just transpired. I, on the other hand, can’t catch my breath. As he’s working to get our dinner set up, he hands me a napkin and fork, but his hand lingers on mine, sending currents of heat up my arm and into my belly. Shit, how does he do that?

  “Eat, Gemini. You haven’t had anything all day. And with what I have in mind for you, you’ll need some nourishment.”

  How does he expect me to eat after he says that? “Are you always this bossy?”

  He pierces me with one of his looks. “Oh, Gemini, I think you have it all wrong. You’re the one being bossy.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you. Did you not just give me orders that I couldn’t sleep with anyone but you? In fact, if I recall correctly, you all but insisted.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s something any self-respecting woman would say.”

  “Did you hear me argue with you?” He runs his finger across my cheek. That’s it. Now it’s my turn.

  My hand folds around his and I grasp his shirt with the other one and pull him to me. Right as my mouth is about to touch his, I say, “No, you didn’t argue. Now quit teasing me.” And I kiss him. But it’s not a short one. It’s long, delicious, wet, passionate. He ravages my mouth and I revel in it.

  When we’re breathless, he says, “You don’t care about your dinner?”

  “Do I look like I care?”

  “It’ll be cold.”

  “Ever hear of a microwave?”

  “Sit up.”

  “I can’t. You’re lying on me.”

  He leans back and pulls me into a seated position. My shirt disappears in a whoosh and my bra follows. When he leans his head toward me, I stop him with my hand on his chest. “Oh no, you don’t. I’m not sitting here like this while you get to play and I have to look at you in that damn shirt.”