13. Rhett
Rhett
T he hotel is buzzing for the presidential debate as I guide Ana into the auditorium and find our seats.
I’m too focused and alert on our surroundings.
There’s not a single set of eyes that land on Ana that I don’t know about.
But I have other plans for this event that make my skin itch at the thought of leaving her.
Once the debate starts she’ll be safe here, in a room completely surrounded by security, and Rix will have eyes on her for me at all times through the camera feeds.
Ana is damn impeccable in her tight formal black dress and the contrasting red heels that match her belt. She’s nervous, scratching at her fingers, and I take her hand absentmindedly.
“He’s going to be great,” I say in her ear.
She nods. “He’s been working so hard on this.”
Ana’s admiration and pride for her father is priceless.
“Hey, Ana,” a man says on her other side, taking up the vacant seat next to her.
Now I really don’t want to fucking leave.
“Matthew!” she says in surprise. “I didn’t know you were flying out for this. Is Liam here?”
Liam and Matthew Forbes. Gregory’s sons. This guy is older than me at thirty-one. I already know everything I need to know about him from Xoid.
“No, he’s still in New York. I had some free time and thought this was worth seeing in person.”
Ana isn’t fully comfortable with him. Friendly, familiar, sure. But she doesn’t realize she’s leaned closer to me a fraction as if anticipating Matthew will invade her space more than she’d like. That’s enough for me to not trust him.
Matthew’s eyes flick up to me then, and they dampen enthusiasm. The feeling is more than fucking mutual. I don’t like the way he looks at her. Ana is a sight worth any jewel, but he has an attention for her as if she’s here for his bidding.
“This is Rhett Kaiser, my boyfriend.” She introduces me.
Damn right, I am.
“So I’ve heard,” Matthew says.
“And this is Matthew Forbes,” Ana says to me.
I have to act like I don’t know this guy’s social security number and the brand of shoes he buys as I give a tight nod in acknowledgment. Luckily, we’re spared from conversation as the announcer walks onstage and the cameras start to roll.
Again, I don’t want to leave, but I can’t pass up this opportunity. Everyone is in this room. Sullevan, Forbes, Kinsley. All the security is locked down around us. It’s the perfect chance for me to see if there’s anything of remote interest in Sullevan’s room.
Ana checks her purse for her phone, confused as she remembers putting it in there, but she didn’t notice me take it right back out before we left.
“Damn, I must have left my phone. I wanted to get photos,” she whispers.
“I’ll be right back with it,” I say quietly, pressing a kiss to her head. Before she can object I’m slipping away.
Last night I left my room for a half hour to swipe the master key card I need to access any room I want. I have Sullevan’s room pinned—two floors above ours—and I head up, fitting my modified AirPod in.
“Cameras?” I ask Rix. He’s Jeremy’s older brother and my best security hacker.
“Cut in the elevator, about to hit the hallway.”
It will look like a mere glitch, nothing suspicious. I don’t know what I might find, so I can’t risk leaving any trace of me being where I shouldn’t. As far as security will see, I left that auditorium and hit a blind spot before heading to the bathroom for a damn long piss.
“Have you noticed anything through the feeds over the weekend?”
“Nope,” he says, sounding like his mouth is half-full. “They’ve been relaxing almost as much as you have.”
I make no comment. The game this afternoon was unexpected.
The feel of having Ana wrapped around me, back then front, is something I can’t stop thinking about in very sinful ways.
How pretty she would look held in my arms, pressed up against a wall while I devoured her.
Ana’s body ... Fuck , I can’t shake it from my mind.
“Perfect” doesn’t cut it; seeing it isn’t enough.
I need to touch and claim every piece of her and it’s been driving me to madness. The things I would do for a taste.
The elevator chimes and I adjust my hardening dick with my drifting thoughts.
“904,” Rix says.
“I know.”
The key card works, and I take the black handkerchief from my suit pocket to open the door.
The penthouse is more lavish than our rooms, which are already pretty damn expensive.
The senator has multiple rooms, and I gravitate to the office-looking space that could double as a meeting room.
Papers litter the table, and I’m careful as I drift around, looking but not touching yet.
Naturally, it’s all shit to do with the debate and Sullevan’s campaign.
“What’s the guy Matthew’s deal?” Rix mumbles between eating.
I stiffen. “What do you mean?”
“Does he have a history with her or something?”
“Why do you ask?”
“He seems . . . close.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Woah, shit, I just mean she seems stiff. It’s nothing though. Just a graze here and there. I can’t tell if he actually means it.”
He fucking means it all right. This asshole has a thing for Ana, and that wavers my focus. No. It drives me to want to scour this place faster so I can get right back down there.
“The room has a safe, usually located in the bedroom,” Rix informs me.
When I get there he recites the hotel-given code and I unlock it.
Inside is more paperwork, a gun, and a credit card.
Ironically, the paper is the most valuable thing in here.
Certificates of authenticity for jewelry that could sell for a healthy early retirement.
I take pictures and send them straight to Rix.
“Get me a trace on these. Allie might be of help here.”
Rix scoffs. “I’ll get the trace. Her rich-people connections are a cheat.”
Their rivalry is all friendly competitiveness. They don’t even know what the other looks like.
The next paper I find is the deeds to a small, secluded mansion back in D.C.
“I need a check on a home too. Looks like it belongs to Rolf Sullevan.”
“You got it. Uh-oh . . .”
“What?”
“I swear I only looked away from her for a second. Little bird is flying. Let me just find— Shit. ”
“Rix.”
“She’s knocking on your door.”
Dammit, Ana.
I shove the papers back and swiftly head out, counting on Rix to be cutting the cameras as I head down two floors.
“She’s in her room. I imagine getting to yours through it.”
“Goodbye, Rix.”
“You’re welco?—!”
I pull out the earpiece and pocket it just as Ana comes back out. She’s holding her phone and does a double-take when she sees me. Well, shit. Time to wrangle my way out of this.
“Ana,” I drawl, shaking my head. “We need to have a chat about how not to leave the highest-security room without me.”
“I’m not without you—that’s the point,” she quips. I find her fire intoxicating. All poised and breakable on the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that sinks its claws into me.
“You’re missing your father’s debate.”
“I’m sure I’ll get to watch the recap. I’m only really here for family press photos. United front and all.” She folds her arms as I approach.
“I’m supposed to be protecting you, so why did you leave in search of me?”
“You were taking too long. Where were you?” Ana pointedly holds up her phone. I don’t know why I find this dance amusing.
“Again, it’s my job to know your whereabouts. And you like to make that difficult.” I close in on her personal space and she backs up in surprise until I have her against the door with a hand by her head. Though it catches her off-guard, she’s not so easily distracted.
I come up with the best excuse I can in the moment.
“I went to the bathroom, then there was a lonely woman needing help with her bags out front and I stayed there until her Uber came.”
I’ve lied and killed my way out of so many problems that my list of sins is sure to earn me the role of right-hand man to the devil.
But I don’t like lying to Ana. It unsettles me.
Irritatingly. Infuriatingly. Something I find as easy as breathing now torments me with the want to take my lies back and show her all my dark and bloody truths.
I’d watch her run, only to chase her and find some sadistic thrill in it all before she caves to me.
“How chivalrous of you,” Ana says. She tries to hide the note of jealousy, but it’s too fucking bad I find it sexy as hell.
“Damsels are my weakness.” I play along.
“Then you’re out of luck here,” she says, pushing my chest and walking away. I could fall to my knees for her right here. “I’ll leave you to damsel-watch in the foyer.”