Chapter 31 Tallus #2
I huffed a laugh. “What part? I sit at a computer all day. Unless you consider the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome dangerous, then no. It’s not.”
Aaron bumped his shoulder with mine. “You’re funny, Tallus.”
I wasn’t, but Aaron was buttering me up. It felt like he had questions he didn’t know how to ask, and I wasn’t making it easy for him.
At his office, I lingered in the hallway as though planning to head out but also hoping to give the impression that I might not want to just yet. Our gazes held for a long time, an unspoken conversation playing out between us.
I had figuratively cast a baited hook in his direction and waited to see if he would bite.
When I caught my bottom lip between my teeth and flashed my attention momentarily to his mouth, he broke.
“Want to sit for a few?” He motioned to his office.
I feigned hesitation, glancing into his office as though weighing my options. Then, I purposefully gave Aaron a once-over, openly checking him out that time.
“I shouldn’t.”
A hint of a smile touched his lips, and as I hoped, Aaron suspected I could be led astray. “Come on. No big deal, right?” It was no longer a question. He reached out and brushed a knuckle down the front of my shirt. “Just for a few minutes.”
I nodded and followed him into the office.
He closed the door behind us.
Aaron settled, sitting on the edge of his desk, crossing his ankles and bracing his palms on the surface as he watched me play the role of conflicted attraction, hovering near the door. He let me stew in my feelings for a while before speaking.
“Want to talk about it?”
“No. I… That would be weird.” I laughed self-deprecatingly. “I shouldn’t be here… like this.”
“Like what?”
“Don’t be coy, Aaron. You’ve been flirting with me for weeks.”
“Guilty. There’s an attraction here.” He waved a finger between us. “Don’t say there isn’t.”
I didn’t say anything, still aiming to be the man with one foot out the door.
“He’s a brute. He doesn’t deserve you.”
Fuck you, I thought. Out loud, I said, “He’s not so bad.”
One Diem was worth a thousand Aaron’s.
“You don’t seem happy.”
I shrugged noncommittally. I’d never been happier, but Aaron couldn’t know that.
Even if I told him, he would never understand.
When you were loved by a man like Diem, a man who, up until a year ago, didn’t even understand the concept of love, you didn’t need anything more.
His love was quiet and often misunderstood, but its roots ran deep, and nothing, no one would take him away from me.
Especially not a sleezy, underhanded flirt like Aaron.
But I had a job to do, so I fixed an appropriate expression on my face and played a part.
“I have an idea,” Aaron said. “Let me take you for coffee. We can chat. Get to know one another. It doesn’t have to be anything… unless you want it to be.”
“I can’t.” I checked the time on my phone for show. “I have that lunch meeting with my lawyer client, who would not be happy if I canceled.”
“Right.”
But I didn’t shut him down completely. I wanted to show willingness. Give him hope. “Um… maybe another time?”
“Oh yeah?”
I gnawed my lower lip before responding, meek and mild and manipulative all rolled into one.
The Tallus concoction no one saw coming until they were in too deep.
In my years as a single guy at the bars, it had worked wonders.
I was the player. I always got what I wanted.
Aaron was no different than the men I picked up, high on lust and looking to get laid. I was always in control.
“Why not? Give me your phone.” It was standard protocol. The exchange of numbers. Hopefully, Aaron was too caught up in a potential hookup that he wouldn’t think of the consequences of letting me handle his device.
He blindly reached for his phone, unlocked it, and handed it over. The poor guy’s sex-addled brain seemed to have forgotten about his friend Lukyan. Or perhaps our scam-artist millionaire hadn’t relayed the severity of his problem to an underling.
I maintained eye contact as though truly deciding my fate before exchanging a wicked grin with Evergreen’s coordinator and accepting the offered phone. “I hope I don’t regret this.”
Aaron’s charmed smile suggested he thought he’d won. “You won’t.”
I located Aaron’s contacts, but instead of creating a new one, I searched his recent text exchanges, unsurprised to find Luke’s name at the top. Their most recent correspondence had happened ten minutes before I arrived. A text sent by Aaron. I’ll see what I can find out. X
Wait…. Aaron sent kisses? But that didn’t… No, I didn’t have time to process it. Later. The fact that they had communicated at all in the past twenty-four hours already told me enough. Aaron thought I was nothing more than a piece of ass with no brain.
Be insulted later. Focus.
I scrolled back, skimming their previous messages—messages that alluded to a not-so platonic relationship—while pretending to insert my details.
With seconds to browse, I skipped the nonsense filler, searching for keywords, locations, or addresses, while noting the time stamps so I didn’t scroll too far back.
A few messages sent during the night stood out.
Lukyan. Sunday, 12:15 a.m. Everything is cleared out. Heading to the cottage. Where the fuck are the keys?
Aaron. Sunday, 12:16 a.m. In the gutter over the portico around back. Put them in the basement cold storage. Under the stairs. Should I come?
Lukyan. Sunday, 12:18 a.m. No.
Lukyan. Sunday, 1:46 a.m. Files are secured.
Aaron. Sunday, 1:48 a.m. Are you staying there?
Lukyan. Sunday, 1:50 a.m. Can’t. Gotta leave for a bit.
Aaron. Sunday, 2:01 a.m. Where? How long?
Lukyan. Sunday, 3:37 a.m. Fuck! I can’t get the boat in the water until tomorrow at noon at the earliest. Gotta lay low. Stop texting me ffs.
Aaron had not stopped texting, but that was as far as I got. The slimy bastard shoved away from the desk, a furrow in his brow. Maybe he realized too late that giving me his phone was a bad idea. Maybe he realized too late that he’d handed me the rope I would use to hang him.
Either way, I’d taken too long and needed to run interference.
I acted quickly, tapping the power button to darken the screen and meeting Aaron in the middle of the room.
A man on a sex mission, nothing more. Before he could say whatever was on his mind, I seductively tucked his phone into his trouser pocket, fingers lingering on his upper thigh as I pressed in close.
Close enough to trap body heat between us.
Close enough, I was surrounded by his scent. Close enough to make his brain stutter.
He seemed to forget—again—that I was the enemy.
Some men would chase the promise of a good fuck even if it steered them into traffic. Aaron was one of those men.
Hooding my eyes, staring longingly at his mouth like I wanted to taste it, I whispered, “I hope you’re not fucking with me, Aaron.
” I looped a finger in his belt and tugged so our chests bumped.
“I’m tired of men jerking me around. I’m putting a lot at risk doing this…
with you. Diem’s a jealous man with a violent temper. ”
“He doesn’t scare me.”
He should, I thought.
Aaron’s hand landed on my hip. His fingers dug into my side like he needed to hold on before he was swept away on a current of lust. “I’ve wanted a taste of you from the moment I laid eyes on you.
If that brain-dead behemoth boyfriend of yours wasn’t always lingering around, I would have brought it up sooner. ”
The comment burbled rage through my veins. Aaron moved his hand, slipping it over my ass and squeezing. Diem would break every one of his goddamn fingers for the audacity alone.
Anticipating Aaron was about to cross lines and take a taste of his prize, I clasped his chin, holding him back. “Not here, sugar.” Thinking on my feet, I added, “Diem plans to visit this morning. If he sees my car in the parking lot, he might come looking for me. I won’t be stupid about this.”
“Cancel your lunch. I have a place nearby.”
I pretended to consider, then grimaced. “I can’t.”
He groaned. “Meet me after your meeting?”
Catching my bottom lip between my teeth, I studied the lustful look in his eyes. “All right. Two thirty. Where?”
Aaron opened his mouth to respond, but shut it again. “I’ll text you an address.”
No, you won’t, I thought. The second I leave, you’ll realize I didn’t put my number in your phone and that you’ve made a big mistake.
“Okay.”
Aaron tried to steal a kiss, but I held tight to his chin, tsking his attempt. He chuckled and wet his lips. “Not even a taste?” He kneaded my ass cheek and ground against my leg. The fucker was hard, and it took all my acting skills not to shove him off.
“Savor the anticipation, baby. It will make it that much more fun.”
“You’re a tease.”
“A tease who is willing to step out on his boyfriend for you.”
“I’m doing the same.”
I quirked a brow. Interesting, I thought. Out loud, I said, “I thought you were single.”
Aaron shrugged. “I am. Mostly. I’m a convenient secret. If he can have a girlfriend when it suits his image. I can have a hookup. All’s fair in love and war. I don’t feel sorry for either of our men. Mine’s a liar, and yours is a jackass.”
Somehow, somehow, I refrained from hitting him, but it was close. I was more interested in exploring his statement. A liar? Was that disguised hostility? A relationship with Lukyan? He’d signed off one of his texts with a kiss. It had to be. I had so many questions.
Instead, I found an appropriate grin that didn’t show my rage and put some much-needed distance between us.
At the door, with my hand on the knob, I made a show of rearranging my junk—which had not been aroused in the slightest—and gave Aaron a wink. “See you later?”
“Can’t wait.”
I speed walked from the building. Running might have raised suspicion. It was a matter of time before Aaron figured out that I didn’t leave my number and was instead browsing his text exchange with Lukyan.
The second I hit the parking lot, I darted for the Jetta while connecting a call to Diem.
He answered as I fell into the driver’s seat, huffing and puffing.
“Are you running again?”
“The universe hates me.” I shoved the key into the ignition and frantically glanced back toward the building to see if Aaron had followed. No sign of him.
Yet.
“Are you in trouble? Did you discover anything?” Diem asked.
“No trouble yet. Ask me again in thirty seconds. I need to know where this Luke fucker keeps his boat? I wrote it down. It’s a dry storage something or other. A marina. Fuck. I can’t remember. He rents a slip at the same location. My notebook, Guns. Get my notebook.”
I peered around the parking lot, certain someone was watching and waiting.
Diem’s theory made sense, but what if Lukyan was out there?
Waiting. Watching. We’d threatened his business.
His prosperity. His freedom. Would he run or retaliate?
What if he kidnapped me? Used me for leverage to force Diem to keep his mouth shut? What if he…
“Diem! The boat. What is taking so long?” Panic set in.
Sweat peppered my temples despite the cool day.
I groaned. I didn’t want to get shot again.
It made for a great story, but it really fucking hurt, and Attitude Armor was not the same as a Kevlar vest. This outfit was expensive, and I didn’t want to ruin it for a guy like Lukyan.
“Hang on… I’m looking. A marina?”
“Yes. I wrote it down. That’s where Lukyan is.
I’m sure of it. The boat is in storage, but he’s putting it in the water at noon today and taking off.
If he takes the Welland Canal, he can get to Lake Erie.
If he gets to Lake Erie, he can get to the States.
Once he’s out of the country, he won’t come back. ”
“We have an extradition treaty with the US.”
“He won’t stay there. He’ll jump on a plane and be in fucking Australia by dinner.”
“It’s over twenty hours to fly to Australia.”
“Oh my god. Now is not the time to get technical.”
I checked the time on the dash. 11:27. Shit. How long did it take to put a boat in the water? Even with Sunday traffic, I might not make it on time.
“Diem—”
“Got it.” Diem relayed the address for the marina as I punched it into Maps. “I’ll head there now,” he said.
“No. I’m closer and already in the car.”
“Tallus—”
“I can— Oh shit.” Aaron appeared at the front door to Evergreen, his phone pressed to his ear, fury blazing in his eyes.
Time was up.