‘You dropped something,’ he said. Gravel had somehow found its way into his throat.
No names, no website and no business slogan. Luxxor Limited, secretive as always. Even their business cards could hide in the shadows.
A dark, bad feeling settled in his gut.
Genieve had been moving towards the bathroom to take her turn getting dressed, but she stopped when she saw the exchange. The lawyer reached for her, but she smoothly avoided him.
‘May I have my purse?’ Her voice had a lilt that seemed to pull right at a guy’s balls. Again, the officers in the room snapped to do her bidding.
The female police officer rolled her eyes, but she was the one who found the leather bag. She carried it to Josh.
‘Sorry,’ he said as he opened it. ‘Just a quick check.’
He had just as much right to search through her things before she went in that room alone.
‘Here, allow me.’ Taking the purse from his hands, the redhead upended the contents on the bed.
‘Jenny,’ the lawyer said softly. His tone was different with her, less stern but there was still a warning in it.
She didn’t flinch. Instead, she opened her pocketbook and showed its contents to Josh. Smart. It was all he could think as she flipped through the bills in her possession. Looked like about seventeen dollars. If she was a callgirl like the TMI guys insisted, she’d be worth a hell of a lot more than that. This woman was definitely high-end and no dummy.
‘Oh, there it is,’ she said sweetly. She picked up a tube of lipstick. ‘This is all I needed.’
She swished to the bathroom in the over-large robe. She bent along the way to sweep up her bra, but she left all her things out on display as if she had nothing to hide.
Josh grunted. Really smart.
She’d just shown him that no money had been exchanged. At least not here.
That didn’t stop his brain from churning like a lopsided wheel … faster at points and screechingly painful at others. Call girl … Luxxor … their night security detail … the way they’d always given him the bum’s rush out of there …
The way Nina had shut down all contact with him after that epic kiss – the one that had nearly set his hair on fire …
He rubbed the back of his neck. He’d always been curious about her work. When it came to Nina Lockwood, he was curious about everything. She hadn’t liked him around, so of course that had made him want to stay. She hadn’t wanted to talk about her work, so obviously he’d looked for clues in everything from what was on their desks to the terminology they used when they talked. He’d tried to guess at the clients that had come through their door. He hadn’t seen much of a common denominator, other than they were all rich and untalkative. Other than Erin Foster.
His off-balance brain clunked when he thought of the bright, friendly blonde. Innocent as a peach. She’d said she was a client.
No.
No, there was no way.
He’d gotten the wrong idea. He’d made too big of a leap. He had to have.
Genieve stepped back into the room. The little black dress could have been conservative, if not for her curves and that tussle of red hair. The woman had a look that was constantly sultry and sensuous, right down to her painted red toenails. She didn’t look like a prostitute, though. She looked like a fashion model.
‘Here, darling.’ The senator passed along her shoes.
She held the top of the dresser for balance as she stepped into the heels, and once again the simple act held the attention of all the men in the room. She stuffed her things back into her purse as the senator put on his jacket. The couple wouldn’t be staying in this hotel again, that was clear.
‘Let’s go,’ Gunderson told his man.
Brody wasn’t ready. His face was hard as he stepped to the bed and lifted the covers.
‘Hey,’ Josh said.
The man found what he was looking for under the nightstand. Black silk. Genieve’s panties. He thrust them into his pocket, his face stoic but his eyes burning.
The guy was smart, too. He wasn’t leaving any evidence of the couple’s activities behind – other than what was probably on the bed sheets.
‘That video,’ he said, his voice as cold as his eyes were hot. ‘Anything beyond the breaking and entering portion is not to be used.’
Josh cocked his head. He didn’t envy the guy’s job, but there was only so far his reign of authority extended.
And it didn’t cover him.
‘I just collect the evidence. It’s up to the DA how to use it.’
Their gazes locked. Neither of them was satisfied with the night’s outcome, but it was hard to say who was more pissed.
‘Ms Hart,’ Josh said, not breaking eye contact. ‘Do you need a ride home?’
The vein in Mr Brody’s neck bulged. ‘I’ll get her to safety.’
Josh’s eyebrows rose. Oh, so that’s how it was. The gritty lawyer, not the senator. Interesting.
Without another word, the party of three exited. Josh followed, watching their interplay. The senator walked down the hallway towards the elevator with his arm wrapped around the curvy redhead’s waist. Brody walked at her other side, his back ramrod straight.
The lawyer stopped to talk to the hotel manager. The man in the green jacket wrung his hands and nodded anxiously. Josh wasn’t surprised when Brody reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. This time the exchange of money was clear and out in the open. Josh knew it was to keep the hotel quiet about the senator’s activities.
Although they’d both call it a tip.
The hotel wasn’t going to talk about this incident anyway. It would jeopardise their rating. Guests wouldn’t want to fork over money to stay here if they were worried about camera crews breaking in to tape them.
Josh flexed his hand, unconscious that he’d curled it into a fist. Maybe it was all on the up-and-up. Maybe the senator had just been caught with his much younger, much sexier girlfriend. It would make things so much simpler.
But he and Nina didn’t do simple, did they?
Luxxor. Son of a bitch.
He’d wondered what scandal would pull them together next. He’d been counting on one.
Just not this.
A phone call awakened Nina from one of the most erotic dreams she’d ever had. She jerked awake to find the covers kicked off and sweat coating her skin. She was breathing as if she’d just run a hundred-yard dash, but the ache deep between her legs told her she hadn’t won the prize.
‘Ohhh,’ she groaned as she pressed her hands to her face.
So close. She’d been so close.
Heat flared inside her, and she pulled her knees up towards her chest. Then again, these dreams never ended happily, did they? In them she usually did something stupid like roll off the detective or push him away.
Her ringtone went off again, this time waking her fully. Her scrambled thoughts coalesced, and she pounced on her phone on the nightstand. Her sweat-drenched body cooled. It was never good when one of her escorts called her in the middle of the night.
She swiped her finger across