Kitabı oku: «Courting Gossip»

Chapter One

Genieve watched her lover through the veil of her lashes as she pulled the little black dress over her shoulders and down her body. She took her time revealing her curves as she stood in the swath of moonlight that slipped between the cracks in the curtains. In the quiet of the hotel room, Samuel’s breaths shortened. She pushed the dress over her hips and let it fall to the floor. His eyes widened as he looked his fill, and he took a step closer.

The senator approved.

‘You are so beautiful, my darling.’

She smiled as she pushed her hair over her shoulder. Darling? Gyuk. She hated when he called her that. It was old-fashioned and sexless, but he’d chosen it as his pet name for her. She moved closer to kiss him so he wouldn’t say it again.

He wasn’t the only one who needed to get into the mood.

His hands settled on her waist, warm and strong. That was better. She liked his hands. Nothing destroyed a mood for her faster than cold hands.

She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and ran kisses along his collarbone. He was stroking her back now, moving ever closer to the clasp of her bra. It loosened and those warm, strong hands covered her breasts.

‘Mmm,’ she hummed as he petted her. Now they were getting somewhere.

She loosened his belt buckle, but stopped before going any further. He had a strict rule about touching below the belt. She didn’t mind, but he was self-conscious for a reason. It limited the number of sexual tricks in her arsenal, but she kissed him again before stepping back. Smiling softly, she untangled herself from her bra. She wiggled out of her panties and gave them a sexy little kick before climbing into the king-sized bed to wait for him.

The air conditioner in the hotel room kicked on then and ruffled the curtains. With the spring weather, the poor thing didn’t know what to do. It had kicked on twice already, only to shut down a few minutes later. If they spent the night, the constant cycling would drive her crazy.

But they weren’t here to sleep.

The fluttering curtains made the swath of moonlight snake across the floor of the room. It glinted on the senator’s silver hair and made it luminous. He really was a dashing man.

She stretched out on the mattress below him as he unzipped his pants and toed off his shoes. His gaze settled on her naked breasts, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. There it was, the sure sign that his erection was slowly coming on. For all the time he spent in the gym honing his body, the senator did need the little blue pills and plenty of visual stimulation on her part.

Her nipples tightened. She needed stimulation, too.

The mattress shifted as he came down on the bed with her, and his mouth went straight to her breast. Once he got it up, Samuel moved fast. The lash of his tongue was strong and wet, and her nipple poked up further. Heat radiated from her breast down to her core, and she felt her body warming up well. She raked her hands down her lover’s back, letting her nails score his skin lightly. His teeth nipped at her, and her back arched.

‘Oh, my dar—’

She pulled him up for another hot kiss. Rolling them onto their sides, she flung a leg over his hip and ground against him suggestively. He kicked the covers down the bed, and his pillow smacked against the floor.

His mouth wasn’t as good when it came to kissing, but she could make do. She boldly stroked her tongue across his and his fingers sank deep into her bare bottom.

‘Ooo,’ she cooed. The hold was tight, and her hips rolled forward. He was breathing harder as his erection bumped against her. He wasn’t hard yet.

‘So greedy,’ he murmured into her ear.

Not greedy. She was trying to help him along. It was her job, after all. She was his escort. They had a contract that said she’d do exactly what she was doing, and in return, she’d be compensated nicely.

And there was a nice little tech stock she had her eye on…

She deliberately slid her hand down his chest and along his stomach. He didn’t have a six-pack, but his belly was flat. He also had a very sensitive belly button. She dipped her finger into the indentation and felt him jerk. His erection bumped up against her, nice and stiff, and she smiled at him.

Thank goodness it wasn’t going to be too much work tonight.

He rolled her onto her back as he reached for the nightstand. There was the sound of foil tearing, and he shifted against her as he readied himself. Genieve parted her legs as he stroked his hands up her inner thighs. His gaze went to her breasts as she played with them, plumping them up and pinching at her nipples, but the foreplay wasn’t for him. For as serviceable as the senator was at the warm-up, the actual act of screwing was his downfall.

The man had no swing.

His mouth came down on hers, and she closed her eyes when she felt him start to push into her. He wasn’t too big, nor was he small…she just needed help when it came to this part. Automatically, she began mentally sorting through potential partners: Ryan Reynolds, Theo James, her pal tennis player Salvatore Paul…To her consternation, her brain went directly to a man she didn’t even particularly like.

But he did the trick for her, in a major way.

She creamed hard as the senator ground into her with an uneven stroke. Her neck arched as Samuel’s mouth once again settled on her breast. Her nipple bloomed under the strong tugs, but as her fingers wove through his silver hair, it was a dark-haired man whose weight pressed her into the mattress.

‘Ahhh,’ she panted.

Her heels dug into the bed as she accepted uneven, wimpy thrusts. They didn’t matter. In her mind, they were long and hard. Hot breaths hit her neck as their stomachs rubbed together. The body against hers was young and vital, full of hunger and an overwhelming, driving need to fuck.

‘Oh!’ she gasped. ‘Oh, God. Yes.’

She felt a strong, confident hand at her breast, and her nipple poked against a warm palm. She wiggled lower under her lover, trying to get his thrusts to hit where she needed them most. Her fingers dug into a muscled ass, and she felt him buck into her.

‘My God, Genieve!’

‘Br—’ She recognised the voice just in time. ‘Bring it,’ she panted.

The fantasy had been broken, but she was nearly there. Samuel was thrusting into her eagerly now, and she encouraged him by rubbing the spot at the base of his spine. His neck reared back at the caress, the tendons in his throat stretching.

His thrusts began hitching, and Genieve closed her eyes to try to sink back into the fantasy. She pictured dark hair and a hard body. Blue eyes tending to violet and a mouth that never smiled.

She nearly had him back when she heard a clicking sound that wasn’t the air conditioner. The man in her head disappeared as she rolled her head on the pillow towards the door. Was that something out in the front room of the suite?

‘Samuel,’ she said.

He didn’t hear the warning in her voice.

She heard it again, only this time it sounded more like voices. Was it the people in the suite next door? The television upstairs?

She lifted herself up onto her elbows as Samuel pumped into her frenetically down below. His thrusts were jagged and too shallow, but he wasn’t too far gone to understand when she pushed at his shoulders.

‘Samuel!’

There was light shining under the bedroom door that wasn’t from the moon. It was from the seating area of the suite, one that nobody should be in.

Someone was in their hotel room.

Before either of them could react there was a crash and suddenly strangers burst into the bedroom. The door bounced off the wall and back into the intruders.

‘Ow.’

‘Damn it!’

They were momentarily stunned, but they didn’t stop. Two men pushed their way inside. A light glared across the room, and it was blinding after the darkness. Genieve’s heart nearly leaped from her chest, and a scream raked through her throat. The cry was loud enough that the spotlight on her bounced and the headboard in the next room banged against the wall.

‘Holy shit, are you getting this, Lance? He’s doing her. He’s doing her right now.’

‘I got it. I got it. Senator Gunderson, this is TMI News.’

News? They were being filmed? Oh, dear God.

Genieve scrambled away from Samuel and their bodies disconnected. She yanked the covers over herself and turned her face away. Panic rose inside her as she felt the man with the camera step closer.

‘We received information that you were here with a prostitute. What do you have to say to that, Senator? What’s her name? Where did you pick her up?’

Genieve’s stomach turned. Oh, God. No. This couldn’t be happening. She lifted the blanket higher over her head and scrunched down further.

‘Senator? Do you have any comments?’

Her mind raced. What could she do? She was trapped. Her lungs worked hard as she stared at Samuel. He’d scrambled off the bed and was hiding between it and the wall. The two intruders moved further into the room, their tiny camera with the bright light glowing.

‘What do you have to say to your constituents, Gunderson? They voted you into office to do good, not whores.’

Genieve flinched, but her gaze landed on the nightstand. She grabbed the clock off the table and hurled it across the room. One of the reporters let out a squeal when it hit.

‘Hey, that hurt.’

She was already looking for more ammo, but she found the phone instead. She jabbed at the 0 button and begged for help when the main desk answered.

‘Do you think you’ll stand a chance at re-election now that everyone sees what you truly stand for, Gunderson?’ one reporter asked.

The other snickered.

It may have been funny to them, but their words finally got through to Samuel. He was cowering beside the bed near to her, but it was slowly sinking in that this was a media ambush. They weren’t being threatened physically. They were threatening his career and his reputation.

It was a career he’d primped for, smiled for, kissed babies and butts for…

Genieve blinked in surprise when he followed her lead and threw a shoe across the room. The light from the camera bounced again as the reporter got out of the way, but the impact against the wall was loud. The senator shocked her even more when he threw another shoe, this time hers, and followed it across the room.

‘Ow! Hey! Oh, shit.’

‘Get out,’ Samuel roared as he stalked towards them, buck-naked.

The light from the camera bounced as bodies jostled. ‘Senator, what do you…Whoa, would you look at that?’

‘Get out!’

‘Lance, he only has one ball. Get that in the shot!’

Genieve felt along the floor for her dress or any clothes she could put on. The scene was too loud. More people would be coming. She couldn’t be caught like this.

‘Is that why you have to pay for prostitutes, Senator?’

She needed to get out of here fast. She needed that camera. How much had they caught? Did they have a clear shot of her face? She winced. It didn’t matter. With her hair, they’d know who she was. She was the redhead who’d been seen all over DC with the silver-haired senator.

Thuds and grunts filled the air. Without the glare of the camera shining against the blanket, she risked a glance over the covers. She was surprised to see Samuel actually winning the battle and pushing the two much younger men from the room. They didn’t seem to have expected a fight, but the senator was putting his time at the gym to good use.

Spotting her chance, Genieve sprang from the bed and ran to the bathroom. The only clothing she saw on the way was Samuel’s pants. They wouldn’t help her much. Her phone would. She swiped it off the dresser without breaking stride, then skidded into the bathroom on bare feet, slammed the door behind her and locked it. She looked around for anything she could use. The bathrobes. She grabbed one, quickly undid the fancy folding and pulled it around her shoulders. The fabric overwhelmed her, but she tugged it closed and belted it tight. Pushing her hair behind her ears, she looked for a window or balcony. There was no way out. Even if there was, they were seven floors up.

She started to call the security team at Luxxor, but stopped before the call could connect.

‘Damn it.’ The contract she’d signed with the senator had stipulated she call another number first, and it belonged to someone she really, really didn’t want to see right now.

But if anybody could get them out of this mess, it was Brody Haynes.

She pulled up his number in her address book. It was late, but it was Haynes’s job to extricate his clients from bad situations. He was a fixer, a spin doctor. She’d had to call him before when Samuel had had too much to drink and another time when the senator was involved in a fender-bender with an off-duty cop. She dreaded the political operative’s reaction, though, to finding the two of them in a situation like this. He didn’t like her being around Samuel in the first place.

Still, it was in the contract. If she called anyone, it had to be him.

She punched the speed dial with a shaky finger and held onto the sink as she waited for an answer. Adrenalin pumped through her veins. The fear was still sharp, but queasiness had hit her stomach. She’d been scared for her life. Now she was fearful of so many other things.

‘Hello?’

The voice on the other end of the line was groggy, and it took her aback. She’d rarely heard Haynes be anything other than sharp and terse. Had she dialled the right number? ‘Brody?’

‘Genieve?’ There it was. Not terse, but quick and alert to the fact that something must be wrong if she was calling.

‘I…we need you. Room 740 of the Emissary Hotel. Two men just broke into our hotel room.’

‘What?’ There was the sound of creaking furniture and then a thud. ‘Are you OK?’

More loud voices had joined the ones outside the bedroom door, and the light in the bedroom had been turned on. Hotel security must have arrived. She could hear people moving around, but the scuffling and crashes had stopped. At least Samuel wasn’t out there fighting against them alone any more.

Should she have left him like that? She rubbed her forehead. Haynes would surely let her know what she’d done wrong. There was always something.

‘Jenny, are you OK?’ he barked.

Jenny. She ground her teeth. She hated when he condescended to her like that. ‘I’m fine. I locked myself in the bathroom, but Samuel is still out there fighting with them. You’ve got to get here fast, Brody. They’re reporters.’

‘They broke into your hotel room for a story?’

Her stomach turned. ‘They had a camera.’ Her voice faltered into a whisper. ‘They caught us together in bed.’

She didn’t get an answer. He didn’t even let out a curse, yet the chill that came across the line was so frigid, she nearly dropped the phone.

‘Brody?’

‘Who was it? Which channel?’

‘Channel? What does that matter?’

‘It matters. Who are they?’

‘You think I took time to ask? I don’t know — Wait. They said it, but I didn’t recognise it. MTI? TMI?’

‘Don’t say a word to anyone until I get there. Do not come out of that bathroom. Don’t let them catch you on camera any more than they have.’

‘I’m not stupid but, Brody, you’ve got to get here fast. They…they know what I do for a living.’

The chill in the fixer’s voice nearly left frost. ‘Don’t let anyone touch you. I’m coming.’

The line went dead without so much as a goodbye, but for some reason Genieve’s breaths came a bit easier. Her stomach was still knotted, and she knew this was going to be a really bad night. Brody was stoic and cold as Siberia, but he was solid. She just had to hold on until he could get here.

Yet, before she could even make a call to Luxxor, someone was knocking on the bathroom door.

‘Ma’am, this is hotel security. All you all right? Can you come out of the bathroom?’

After what she’d just promised the ice man? ‘No.’

‘We need to talk to you so we can figure this whole thing out.’

‘So talk.’ She held fast, refusing to budge.

Things only went from bad to worse when Metro PD arrived on the scene. That was when she started considering the smoke detector on the ceiling as a viable distraction. If she set it off, could she slip out of the hotel with the rest of the crowd without anyone noticing?

Her toes curled into the bath rug. Despite what the reporters kept saying, she wasn’t a whore. She was an escort, albeit one with an exclusive client…who paid her for sex…She doubted the police would care to split hairs, but she’d never been picked up before. She’d never even come close. She couldn’t be arrested for prostitution. She couldn’t bring down Luxxor. She was with a US senator!

‘Ma’am, you need to come out of the bathroom.’

There was the sound of a key in the lock. She stepped back and bumped up against the shower as a policeman stepped inside. He was a young cop, handsome and wary. His jaw dropped a notch when he saw her. She rubbed her bare feet together. Sometimes the attention she got for her looks was fun, but other times it was a problem.

‘Ma’am, are you OK? Are you hurt?’

‘I’m scared.’ It was the truth. She was scared to death that the truth would come out.

His demeanour changed on a dime. ‘Everything’s OK. You’re safe now.’

He held out his hand. ‘Could you join us?’

She pulled the belt of her robe tighter around her waist. ‘Are they gone? Did you take their camera?’

‘They’re in the other room. I promise you, you won’t have to deal with them.’

Genieve thought fast. It wouldn’t be good to get on the police’s wrong side. Brody had told her not to leave the bathroom, but she was left to her own devices now. She needed to play this right. Tilting her head, she gave the young officer a helpless, fearful look. ‘Thank you for coming to our rescue.’

Our rescue. Hers and Samuel’s. They were together, a couple. At least on paper…

Reluctantly, she stepped into the bathroom doorway. There were still loud voices and way too many people in the room where, only a few moments ago, she and the senator had been getting down to an entirely different kind of busy. She pushed a shaky hand through her hair. When she saw another cop’s head snap around, she took her time combing her fingers through the strands.

Instinctively, she fell back on the training that Luxxor had given her. Say as little as possible, stay out of the limelight and wait for the company lawyer to show up. She didn’t need to tell the police her name, but she wasn’t to fight their requests.

‘Genieve, darling. Are you OK?’

She fought not to roll her eyes. So much for not identifying herself. She took one look at Samuel and knew she had to go into protective mode for him, too. Brody wouldn’t want shots getting out of the senator wearing nothing but a bed sheet. She grabbed another robe off the shelf and handed it to him. ‘I called your lawyer,’ she said, looking at him steadily. ‘He should be here soon.’

‘My law— Oh, yes. Good. He’s needed.’

Samuel knotted the belt of the robe around his waist. His cheeks were flushed and his famous, perfect silver hair was mussed. It was hard to tell if that had come from her hands or the altercation.

Genieve’s cheeks warmed. There wasn’t much about sex that made her shy any more, but the situation here was downright mortifying. The bed where they’d lain was rumpled, clothes were strewn about the room and, worst of all, she still felt that ache of need deep down in her core.

She’d been close. With the fantasy she’d had going, really close.

Her skin crawled when she caught a glance of the two men who’d broken in through the open door to the front room, and she hurriedly stepped out of their line of sight. She had to keep as little attention on herself as she could, although that was easier said than done. She tiptoed her way through the mess of clothes and bedding and settled onto a hard stuffed chair in the corner of the room. The large robe gaped open when she crossed her legs, but she let it. She needed to have everyone on her side right now, however she could get them.

‘Are you OK, ma’am? Can I get you anything?’ the officer asked.

A magic carpet ride out of here?

‘Could you bring me a glass of water?’ she asked, her voice throaty.

She ended up with three of them. Every cop and hotel associate in earshot moved to get her a cup. She smiled gratefully as she evaluated the scene. The young cop seemed to be the one trying to wrangle everything. He had a notepad out and was writing everything down.

‘Ma’am, I’m Officer Simons. Would you mind answering a few questions?’

‘She’s not a ma’am, she’s a call girl,’ someone in the next room called.

Genieve winced.

‘What are they still doing here?’ Samuel bellowed. ‘Why haven’t those two been arrested yet? Do you know who I am?’

Genieve rubbed her temple. Where was Brody?

‘They just barged in,’ she told the policeman. ‘I was so scared. I thought they were going to hurt us. I started screaming. Thank goodness someone heard.’

She let tears well up in her eyes and let out a sniffle. She whipped a Kleenex out of the box on the table beside her and blotted her cheeks. ‘I really…Can we talk about this later?’

Simons patted the air. ‘Of course, ma’am. If you could just sit right there, I’ll get this sorted out as quickly as possible.’

The cop headed back into the front room. The wait was excruciating, but Genieve tried to contain her nerves. The senator wasn’t having much luck with his. He was in a huff. The police and hotel staff were trying to calm him down, but nothing worked until a change suddenly swept through the air. The cops in the room stood up straighter, and the hotel manager started wringing his hands.

‘Hey, you. Are you in charge here?’ she heard someone ask in the front room of the suite.

She sat a bit straighter in her chair. Brody?

Her heart started beating faster. She was actually glad to see him. He was grumpy and bossy, but he’d know better how to handle this mess.

But would he protect her? Or let her take the fall?

Her fingers wrapped tightly around the arms of the uncomfortable chair as the noise out in the front room increased. She heard the reporters – she didn’t think she’d ever forget their voices – but then she heard sighs and moans that made her blush.

‘I want that video burned,’ Samuel yelled. ‘They broke in here. That’s private.’

Genieve felt ill, but then someone was in the doorway. Her anticipation rose, but then recognition hit and her stomach dropped to somewhere down near her feet. The tall, well-built man who’d entered the room wasn’t Brody Haynes.

It was Detective Morgan, Nina’s detective.

Genieve tried to make herself disappear, but the detective’s gaze locked onto her. She was the centre of attention in the room, red hair or not. He recognised her, too, and the gears in his head started turning. He was a handsome devil, and sharp. The man had been poking around Luxxor for months. He had a serious thing for her boss, and he was more than a little curious about what her company did. Genieve watched him, frozen and unable to stop him as he connected the dots.

Oh, God. Even if she made it out of this room without being arrested, Nina was going to kill her.

Fight-or-flight kicked in, and Genieve judged the distance to the door. Yet movement in the doorway pushed her right back into her chair. Another man had arrived at the worst possible moment. Her heart that was already beating too fast kicked into overdrive. It was the no-nonsense fixer – and also the sexy man from her fantasies.

Brody was finally here.

* * *

Brody’s blood was pumping and his jaw was set when he arrived at the Emissary Hotel. He’d nearly flown through DC’s empty late-night streets and the tyres of his car had left skidmarks in the parking spot he’d found outside on the curb. He’d known this arrangement would cause problems. He’d tried to stop the senator’s ‘relationship’, but Gunderson was infatuated with the shapely redhead he paid to keep in his bed.

Genieve Hart played with a lot of men’s heads, but Gunderson was an elected public official. He should have better self-control, no matter how mesmerising the woman was.

Brody’s focus was laser-like as he strode through the lobby to the elevators, but he picked up on everything going on around him. Word was already getting around to the hotel staff. He heard the cleaning crew whispering at the bell stand as a maid stood with her vacuum turned off. Two squad cars were parked outside and a harried hotel security man was punching at the keyboard of a computer at the check-in desk. The only good thing so far was that the network news teams hadn’t picked up the scent yet.

Only one rogue crew had crashed into the senator’s private party. TMI was an internet news site, from what he’d been able to pull up on the WiFi connection in his car. He’d never heard of them, but, if this story got out, they were going to go viral.

At the thought, his vision went a little red. It was never good when he got a call in the middle of the night, but this one was a special kind of hell. The so-called reporters’ careers would be the first casualty of this burgeoning scandal, he’d make sure of that. From what Genieve had told him, they’d crossed every line there was for the press. They’d broken into a private hotel room. They’d invaded a couple’s privacy, and they’d taped…they’d taped something he didn’t even want to think about.

He blew out a breath as he stepped into the elevator and jabbed the button for the seventh floor. She’d better still be locked safe, sound and hidden away in that bathroom.

A muscle in his jaw popped.

The elevator was slow, but it gave him time to rein himself in. By the time the door opened on the seventh floor, he was ready for whatever he had to face. He evaluated the situation as he strode down the hallway. He ticked off the security cameras, the number of cops on the scene and the number of doors that were opened for people to look out and gawk. The scene wasn’t good. It was way too loud for the middle of the night and only drawing more attention. The crowd gathered near Room 740 was too big, and he’d already heard the term ‘Senator’ being thrown around.

Damn it. Either somebody had recognised Gunderson or he’d volunteered his identity. Did the man ever listen to a word he said? How many times had he extricated him from uncomfortable situations like this? Brody scowled. His hourly rate was about to go up, that was for sure.

A cop stopped him when he tried to pass. ‘Sir, I’m sorry, but I can’t let you by right now.’

‘My client called me. I’m here to represent him.’

The statement had shades of the truth. He had a law degree, and he was licensed to practice in DC. He just put his legal mind to use in different ways. Trials and lawsuits weren’t his thing. His specialty was more in the area of…advice.

And Senator Gunderson hadn’t followed it.

With a nod, the cop let him pass. Brody continued on his way, but his steps slowed. His gut inclination was to get in there as fast as he could, but he heard voices. He stopped to listen. In his game, information was ammunition, and right now he was nearly out.

When a cop in the hallway gave him the stink eye, he pulled out his phone to call for a car for the senator, but his ear was on the conversation inside the hotel room. He needed to find out what had led to this. How had the reporters known that the senator would be here? Who had told them about his…special friend? Had the video already gotten out?