His fingers danced over her perfectly tatted butterfly, her skin sending tingles through his fingertips. In this moment, there was no bad in his world – no troubled past, no semi-truths about what he was doing here – it was just them. A feisty red-head who gave him more crap than anyone ever had the guts to do. Including Nadia. Oddly enough, he felt content here with her. An unspoken connection seemed to bind them together, the feeling leaving him unsure.
She trusted him with her body even if her mind was questioning his honesty. How had he gotten here? How could he have put himself in this same situation again? Was Nadia getting killed, bleeding out into his hands, not enough of a wake-up call to steer clear from women? Especially women who could easily wind up hurt by a guy like him. Physically and emotionally.
That was enough to bring him back to the present. The cold hard truth stared him in the face. Untangling his limbs from her sweet, warm body, Blaze edged out of her bed.
“I should go back to my room.”
He didn’t want to go to his room. Not if he was completely honest with himself. Yet, he couldn’t find it in him to pretend this situation wasn’t hitting entirely too close to a lot of emotions he’d masterfully ignored for the past year. He had to get the hell out of here. Out of Colorado and out of her bedroom.
“You could…stay,” her timid whisper pulled at the center of his core. Knowing Brandi, he knew it wasn’t the norm for her to ask for anything that might make her look weak, especially anything from him. He was already praying for forgiveness because he couldn’t do as she asked and his insides were full of guilt and disgust. Disgust with himself for what she must be thinking.
“We have a busy day. We should both try to get some sleep.”
The hurt in her blue-green eyes punched him in the gut. He’d let her down. He hadn’t meant to and yet it was unavoidable. It was just…he suddenly couldn’t breathe. Flashes of Nadia smiling and happy, radiating sunshine from her body like she was some kind of angel, coupled with direct orders from Shell to stay focused and alert on getting what he needed from Drake, had him fumbling for his briefs in a hurry. He couldn’t look at her again. He could feel her disappointment on his shoulders without having to look into her eyes. He feared the disappointment he would see would mirror his own – albeit for entirely different reasons.
“Good night,” she mumbled.
His throat burned with acid, unspoken words he wanted to say to Brandi…to Nadia. He swallowed down the despair. The grief, the guilt he was feeling for doing this now, but it was for the best, he told himself. Hurting Brandi now was easier, less brutal than hurting her more later. That he could guarantee.
“See you tomorrow.”
He was such an ass. He was an even bigger ass because he owed her an apology, at the very least an explanation, and he couldn’t find it in him to do either. Even if he could, he’d gotten up earlier than usual this morning to go to the main house to use the gym and she’d already been long gone. The inevitable walk of shame had been much worse than it had to be and that lay solely on him.
They both had work today, so seeing her later would be a given. Even working out couldn’t stop him from continuously thinking about her, reliving the feeling of sinking himself deep inside her wet heat and how tight she’d been around him. The way her breathy sighs vibrated along his chest and shoulder as her tongue branded his skin with heat.
“Good morning, Blaze. You come down here often?”
Blaze set down the free weights he’d been using and wiped the sweat off his face before answering Drake.
“Not as much as I should. How about you?”
“I have a bit of free time this morning, otherwise I try to head to the office around now. I haven’t had much of a chance to visit. How’s the guest house holding up for you?”
“Doing well.”
“You and Brandi getting along well?”
We were until I turned into a complete jack-ass. “Yeah, about as much as we can.”
Drake laughed, “She is stubborn. Does a great job with the kids but she could stand to tone her attitude down a notch.”
Blaze’s defenses instantly went on alert. Was this Drake’s idea of male bonding? He didn’t like where this conversation was heading. Not if Mr. Kingston wanted to speak ill of his employee. What could Blaze say? There were many things he wanted to say, to defend Red, but when he thought of walking out of her room last night in such a hurry, he realized he wasn’t any better than Drake. Besides, his priorities here were simple.
“She is stubborn. In fact, after what happened with her father, I’m surprised she still works here. Most females would likely want to get as far away as possible from memories like that.”
“Not Brandi. She’s loyal to a fault, that’s why she’s so great with the kids. Loyal to Diane, too. She’s definitely not one of those nannies though, if you know what I mean.”
“I don’t know what kind you mean, actually.” And if I ask more questions, I’m not going to like the answers. “Does she have contact with her father? She finally told me about him but didn’t go into too much detail.”
“Kurt and I go way back. Once upon a time we were great friends but then he tried blackmailing me and had his goons kidnap his own daughter. Even I wouldn’t stoop that low. I know he’s rotting in prison but Diane and I don’t speak with him anymore. For the obvious reasons.”
Blaze wanted to push and ask more questions but when his phone started ringing, there was only one person it could be: Shell, and it broke whatever bonds the men were starting to build between them.
“Hey Bro, I can’t talk right now,” he glanced through the mirrors at Drake, “I’m having a meeting with my boss, I’ll call you later.”
Not waiting for Shell to reply, he ended the call.
“Pretty nice your brother lives so close, isn’t it?”
“Sure is. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until we picked up right where we left off.”
“That new wife of his sure is a looker.”
“I better head out, let you finish up. Talk to you later?”
“Probably not today, I have a phone call here in,” he glanced at his watch, “twenty minutes and then it’s back to the grind. Global is just getting busier and busier with the new release.”
Blaze’s heart accelerated. Global Electronics would be busy, indeed. With Drake on schedule to have a planned phone call, he couldn’t get out of there and back to his place any quicker. He took a fast shower and settled in.
Three minutes to spare. He wanted to listen in on Mr. Kingston’s phone call. Brandi’s sweet smell lingered in the air, confirming she had already been back to the house and was once again gone. He pulled himself up to her computer, zeroing in on Drake’s office. The man himself was already in there, The Prince lay in front of him.
Drake drummed his fingers on top of the book, waiting. He appeared to be on edge, but given the fact Blaze was watching this through a security lens, it wasn’t easy to pinpoint his exact state of emotions.
Blaze pulled on his headphones in order to have audio along with visual. He could hear clearly and was pleased with himself that no one even suspected he was here undercover. The device he planted in Drake’s office picked up his calls, recording them into a database, making any of the calls easily searchable when the time came.
The phone on Drake’s desk rang and Blaze watched him hit the button, not picking up the receiver. Speaker phone, nice. Otherwise, Blaze would have only heard one end of the conversation until he could retrieve the audio files.
“Let’s get down to business, gentlemen.”
“This is Drake.”
“When will you have the money?” The voice on the other end was extremely distorted.
“I need a few more days. On Friday to be exact.”
“Don’t bullshit me. I know your shipment comes in Wednesday.”
“Once I distribute the arms, the funds will be back into my account by Friday. I can get you the money Friday. Take it or leave it.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Drake. You have much more to lose than I do. This is going to play the way I say. I want the money by Tuesday, three o’clock. I don’t care how you have to come up with it, just get it. I will give you instructions on how to proceed by then. I would hate for something to happen to any one of your children because you can’t follow instructions.”
“Don’t mention my children! I will have the money by Tuesday.”
“By Tuesday, Drake. I will blow the arms deal wide open if you don’t follow through. Don’t forget who holds the power in this situation. I do. Not you. You will come through on your end of this bargain. If you don’t, you will be Global Electronics biggest failure, do you understand?”
“Sure, I get it. Just don’t touch my children. I’ll do whatever I need to, just leave them alone.”
“Tuesday, Drake.”
And the line went dead.
Blaze watched as Drake shoved the book, sending it crashing to the floor. He rubbed his eyes and leaned his forehead against his arm. The perfect image of a man who’d gotten himself in too deep, unable to crawl from the depths of despair and deceit.
Who was blackmailing him? He was elated he’d gotten confirmation Drake was indeed being blackmailed. Blaze had been sent here because of Drake’s criminal dealings in firearms though. The Bureau had gotten wind of his illegal involvement from none other than Drake’s father. Blaze wasn’t sure why Mr. Kingston would tip the ATF off other than him wanting something Drake had. Something he would lose once he got busted for trafficking illegal firearms and Dallas would gain.
It was a surprise to learn Dallas would be coming to Denver in a few days and it bothered Blaze that he wasn’t able to put all of the pieces together. Dallas had a host of connections in Manhattan. Which was how Blaze found himself here and not some other poor soul to bust Drake. Shell had been able to finagle things just right in order to send Blaze to Windsor. It was purely coincidental Dallas’s son lived here alongside Blaze’s family. No one was the wiser that Blaze had anything to do with the federal government.
If he had to guess, Dallas wanted something from Global Electronics. He didn’t know what or how that could work in the grand scheme of things but that’s what his gut was telling him. Dallas owned so many companies and was involved with so many different people, he would bet he would somehow benefit from Global Electronics not unveiling their newest product when they were scheduled to release it.
The phone calls, the purported ransom notes, were things Blaze couldn’t figure out. They were seemingly connected, but Blaze didn’t get the feeling that the person demanding money knew a whole lot about the firearms shipment. They knew about his involvement with the guns, but they didn’t seem to know any details or anything more than the fact the guns would be shipped on Wednesday. Blaze knew from experience, the vaguer you were, the less you knew.
Could it be Dallas? The second the thought went in his mind, it wasn’t right. Dallas had more money than Drake and wouldn’t put himself in the potential position of getting caught when he was the one who leaked the info to the bureau in the first place. Dallas was ruthless, cunning, and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted…but illegal? Not when he’d gotten the ATF involved.
Who else would be blackmailing Drake?
That was the question of the day and luckily for Blaze, he’d have all day to ponder it. As long as he could get Little Red Riding Hood out of his mind.