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Jack could still taste her on his lips. As fiery and potent as whiskey, but with the sweetness of a fine red wine. That unexpected kiss had shocked most of the sense out of him. Had him contemplating sweeping her into his arms, guiding her into the penthouse, and then into her bedroom. Even though he had a mission to focus on. Even if it went against everything he stood for. That was how powerful that kiss had been. Jack had actually considered risking everything for the ultimate taste of Cassandra.
Dangerous didn’t even begin to describe her, yet here he was, thinking about recruiting her.
“What’s in it for me?” she repeated tersely.
Obviously the kiss hadn’t affected her the way it had him. Oh, he was certain of her attraction to him. He’d sensed it when she had trembled at his touch out in the hallway. But attraction came and went easily. To be affected by a kiss to this degree wasn’t mere attraction anymore. To feel that shift from fantasizing to actual contemplation about taking things further was another step entirely. A step he had believed he had complete mastery over.
Jack had always been able to command his emotions. His physical reactions to the women he desired. The moment Cassandra’s lips had met his, that control had wavered so much that it almost crumbled. If she had suggested they go to bed, in that instant he would have done it. Without hesitation. Without any damn concern for the mission. He would have risked everything for a woman he barely knew.
That fact scared the shit out of him.
It was why he hadn’t been able to hide his displeasure when they walked into the penthouse. He had worried about her safety around Walker Smith and hadn’t trusted her motives. But most of all, he was unnerved by the way she had kissed him. With such abandon. And passion. Like they were alone together instead of putting on a show for a stranger.
“Of course you want something for your trouble,” he said smoothly. He hated being an ass, but at the same time he really didn’t want to her to get hurt.
“I certainly wouldn’t do anything for you out of the goodness of my heart,” she said, throwing his own words back at him.
Wow. She was good. And smart. Smartass. “I can offer you the mentorship you wanted,” he said, heaving out a sigh. “You can shadow me and learn everything you want about business.”
She pursed her lips, and tossed her head back. “You seem to be under the impression that this is a negotiation.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it?”
“A negotiation is between two parties who each want what the other has,” she responded. “If an internship is all that’s on the table, you don’t have anything I want.”
Damn, she was cutthroat. Part of him actually admired her brazenness. The other part of him saw it was a reminder of the danger she posed. Not only was she Leo Monahan’s daughter, but she had also inherited her father’s ruthless tactics.
“Tell me what you want, Cassandra,” he ordered.
Her cheeks flushed pink. No doubt she found a double meaning in his words. “I’ll be yours like you agreed to. I’ll learn everything you know about business. With one caveat.”
“Which is?”
“I want you to cut the year-long contract in half,” she said. “I’m yours for six months. Not a day longer.”
“Fine. Six months it is.” He extended his hand to shake hers. He hadn’t even wanted her here. Well, if he was being honest, now he wasn’t so sure.
Ignoring him, she narrowed her eyes and said, “I’m not finished.”
Jack lowered his hand. “More?”
“The penthouse. I want it,” she said.
“I won it fair and square in that card game,” he said. “Forfeiting my winnings would lead to a lot of trouble with the club owners.”
“You’re not afraid of the club owners,” she said, her tone frosty. “And if you are, there’s something you fear far more than them.”
“You have a real gift for observation,” he said, glancing at the books on the shelf. Almost all of them were about art. “Must be that artist training.”
“Why are you so bent on keeping the penthouse?” she demanded. “Is it because you might be able to stay close to your friend, Walker?”
“I need this place because it might be useful,” he said blandly. “Could be leverage against your father.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. That cool demeanor of hers now seemed unnerved. “You’re admitting that you’re trying to destroy my father?”
“I’m admitting what I’ve already told you,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “I want to get close to your father so that I can get a contract with his company. And I’m willing to play every angle to get that.”
There was no way in hell he could tell Cassandra that he believed her father was part of a huge conspiracy. Revealing his knowledge about a potential kidnapping plot to anyone would endanger them, but it would be especially dire if he told Monahan’s daughter. Not only that, but his contact had ordered him to question her. Which meant that Jack still had to find out if she knew anything about her father’s connection to the lobbying firm.
She sighed and pulled away from him. The absence of her body left a chill in its wake. “So this is all about money.”
“Isn’t everything?”
“I should have pegged you for a cynic,” she said.
“I’m a realist, Cassandra,” he said. “I leave the dreams and idealism to others. I deal in facts. While I might be able to protect my clients and my interests, I can’t change the world. Money is all that matters, and the house always wins. There’s no use fighting power. You have to accept it for what it is.”
“You can’t really believe that,” she said. “That money is the only thing people care about.”
“What else matters?”
“So many other things,” she said, earnestness lighting up her eyes. “Things like beauty, and loyalty, and freedom. And love.” She lowered her eyes on that last word, her golden lashes sweeping against her rosy cheeks.
“Of course you think that,” he said, barely suppressing a scoff. “You’ve never been without money a day in your life.”
“Do you know how many artists died penniless? Yet they changed the world,” she said, meeting his gaze resolutely. “I don’t know everything, but I do know that.”
“Is that what you want?” he asked. “To be a penniless artist?”
“I want to be a free artist,” she said softly.
“Some say wealth is freedom,” he told her. He was being an ass again. His heart said one thing, but his brain kept telling him not to trust her.
“It can also be used to make people prisoners,” she breathed out. Pain flashed in her green eyes, and the shift in her wasn’t like the fleeting changes he’d glimpsed earlier. Her eyes were shimmering and her lower lip trembled, as if she was on the verge of breaking down.
Seeing her in distress was a stabbing pain through his heart. An overwhelming urge to protect her drove him closer. “Cassandra—”
“If you won’t give up the penthouse then there’s no deal,” she said, cutting him off. “I need this place. Really need it. Not to score more money like you seem to want.”
Jack wanted to tell her that even though the world was a cruel place, he still had principles. Maybe even a little honor left. Under normal circumstances he’d want to turn a profit, like any good businessman would. He’d focus all his attention on getting more lucrative security contracts with the island’s elite. But these weren’t normal circumstances. Someone on Moonrise Key was a potential target for kidnappers, and he had to find out who it was before it was too late. As much as he’d faced the hard reality that money was the driving force for everything, Jack couldn’t stand by while someone needed to be protected, money be damned.
Problem was, he couldn’t tell Cassandra his true intentions. So it was much easier to let her think he was a complete bastard instead of, well, a partial bastard.
He looked down at her, fighting the urge to give in to her demand. A demand he was almost certain meant for more than her desire to preserve the penthouse décor. If she kept gazing at him with those huge, pleading, emerald green eyes he was liable to agree to something unbelievably stupid. “I can’t give you the penthouse, Cassandra, no matter what you say. Nothing is going to change my mind. That’s final.”
~*~
IT WAS ALL SLIPPING away from her. Without the penthouse she would never get free. She would be her father’s pawn until she ended up ruling his corrupt empire. And in the process her soul would be sold, piece by piece.
A lump formed in her throat. “Final...”
With tears stinging her eyes, Cassandra could see into the future. See the person she would become if she made the same awful, shady choices her father made. She’d end up becoming her father. Cruel, controlling, vengeful, and utterly alienated from her own family. All her hopes and dreams and passions would wither and die. There would be nothing left of who she truly was. All that would remain would be the image her father had shaped.
She shuddered. So horrified at the thought that she wanted to let the tears fall. And for a painful moment that seemed to stretch for eternity, Cassandra worried that the tears would fall. Inhaling sharply, she pushed aside the agony that threatened to overwhelm her. This was no time for weakness. If she couldn’t be strong, then at least she could go on pretending that she was.
“If you won’t give me the penthouse, then at least let me stay,” she said. “Let me stay here without having to leave.” A shaky breath trembled out of her. “Please. Just let me stay.”
“You mean you want to continue to live here?”
She nodded, thinking fast and actually getting excited. “Yes. The place can still be yours and I’ll take care of it. You seem to have a place of your own, so I could housesit. Make sure it’s maintained properly and its value stays the same.”
“If we agree to that setup there are going to have to be strict ground rules,” he said, his expression turning thoughtful but still mostly unreadable.
Her heart squeezed as hope seized her. Jack hadn’t shot her idea down. That meant she still had a chance to convince him. It might be a slim chance, but she would take it. Do everything she could to show him that this was the right decision for both of them. “What kind of rules?”
“I’ll keep my set of keys and stay here whenever I want,” he said.
“Okay.”
He hesitated, clearly not expecting her to agree so quickly to that rule. “That means if I decide to move in here permanently, you’ll be sharing the place with me, Cassandra,” he said, glancing at the bedroom. “You’d be living with me.”
“I understand. The alternative is living with my father, so I’ve already seriously considered that.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Are you saying you’re more comfortable living with a total stranger than living with your family?”
Comfortable wasn’t the word she would use. Truthfully, the thought of having Jack so near made her body flush with heat. If he decided to move into the penthouse he’d be here day and night. Swimming in the pool, showering. Very dirty thoughts of him stripping down to nothing raced through her head. After the sensation of his muscular frame against her body, she could practically imagine what he looked like with his clothes off.
Her mouth went dry at the vivid image of his exposed flesh. Cassandra swallowed hard. She was going to have to be on her best behavior if she ended up sharing the place with him. Giving in to her desire for him could lead to a world of trouble. “I lived with strangers in college.”
“Right. Well, for the foreseeable future I’m contemplating dropping by the penthouse when I need to,” he went on. “So probably nights or on weekends.”
“For what kind of need?” she asked, feeling her cheeks flame. “Don’t tell me you need a place for female company. That’s one thing I won’t agree to.”
Jack paused. Then he jammed his hands into his pockets. Cassandra didn’t know why, but she got the sense that he was stalling. Trying to find a good enough answer to her question. “Nothing like that. I’m single.”
“Oh.” Her traitorous heart leapt at hearing what she had already guessed when he seemed eager to pretend she was his girlfriend.
“Why do you seem so surprised? You think I’d let you kiss me like that if I had a girlfriend?” he demanded. “Damn Cassandra, give me some credit.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking of a steady girlfriend. I certainly wouldn’t have kissed you if I thought you had one. But I was thinking more along the lines of dates or something. I figured you dated around,” she said, knowing she was rambling and her cheeks were probably pink. “Didn’t think you had a serious relationship.”
“I don’t need the penthouse for that.” He gave her an incredulous look. “As long as you agree to the same. No men here. No boyfriends. No dates.” He waited till she nodded, and didn’t press her for more information. “The truth is, this might be useful as a work space.”
“You have an office, don’t you?”
“An office full of people who constantly interrupt me,” he said. “This place is quiet. Centrally located. Plus, I did win it fair and square.”
He sounded like a child. She rolled her eyes. He won it fair in an illegal gambling game. She bit her tongue and didn’t attempt to say it out loud. “You want to be close to your friend, Walker Smith.”
He said nothing, his face turning to stone. Damn, he really did have a good poker face. Once or twice she had caught him averting his gaze, or had seen emotions flash in his eyes, but he was very good at keeping his face expressionless when he knew she was watching him.
“The minute he said he was thinking of moving into the building I thought I saw the interest on your face. Plus, you seemed relieved to be exchanging contact information with him,” she continued. “That’s why you were pretending I was your girlfriend. You want to be close to Walker Smith for some reason. I assume it’s about money. Again.”
“It’s business-related,” he said flatly.
“What I don’t get is how a transportation lobbyist fits in with your business plan,” she said with a frown. “You’re in security, not transportation.”
“Every business needs some kind of security,” he said. “Walker could be a useful client, just like your father. Besides that, I have...business obligations that require me to revisit my old friendship with him.”
While that explanation was too vague to satisfy her suspicions, she was certain she’d learn more about him if she agreed to this new arrangement.
“Which means that your friend can’t know your real intentions,” she said.
His jaw clenched. A sign that he was no doubt irritated that she had managed to observe more than he wanted her to know. “No. He can’t.”
“If I’m going to pretend to be your girlfriend I’ll need to know things like that,” she reminded him. “I’ll need to know how much you want the people around you to know.”
“Fine. We’ll work things out.” Jack looked down at his watch. “I need to head back to my office, so we can discuss the ground rules of this fake relationship later.”
He seemed ready to leave the moment she asked questions he didn’t like. Cassandra made a mental note of that as she regarded him coolly. “Later sounds fine. Though I’m not sure why you made a trip to the penthouse in the first place.”
“I dropped by to make some security checks. Can’t be too careful with a new property,” he replied smoothly. Too smoothly, in her opinion.
She narrowed her eyes. “Well, my bodyguard is meeting with the security guard in the lobby as we speak, so you have nothing to worry about on that end.”
He made a non-committal sound. “So, before I go, does this mean we’re agreeing to this new deal?”
“Six months of your mentorship and an indefinite stay in the penthouse,” she said. “In exchange for me playing your girlfriend for how long?”
“I don’t know yet. Though six months seems fair, don’t you think?”
She nodded, and stretched out her hand. “Sounds fair to me.”
With a faint smile he took her hand, his grip firm and strong as he shook it. Warmth slid up her arm at his touch. “In that case, Cassandra, it looks like we have a deal. You are as good in business as your father.”
