15
POWER
Carrera
Carrera listened as Slash explained the situation. While there was legit reason for concern, she remained calm.
After presenting the facts, along with the timeline, she said, “Is it too late to swing by?”
“Come on over.”
First time she’d turned to him for help. Another opportunity to do right by her. He returned to lifting, straining against the weights helped diffuse his anger. Anger that haunted his dreams, that clung like a cancer. It had taken hold years ago, when their family had been torn to shreds. Then, when Mara had been murdered, that anger had morphed into fury. Fury that wouldn’t abate, no matter how many monsters he took out.
He lay on the bench, pressed the bar, fighting against the massive weight. He should have a spotter, shouldn’t swim alone either. If he were being honest, he shouldn’t be an assassin. Lots of shouldn’ts that he dismissed because he played by his own set of rules.
Grunting through the lift, he finished the set, rested, and repeated. His workout always ended with biceps. He upped the weights and started curling up and down, alternating left, right, left, right.
Soaked in sweat, he traipsed up the stairs as his computer interrupted his fury-filled thoughts.
“Slash is approaching the front door,” said the security system.
He waited to see if she’d ring the bell.
The door opened. “Carrera, it’s Slash,” she called out.
A jolt of energy powered through him. She felt comfortable enough to let herself in.
“Kitchen,” he called out.
He thought he heard a whisper-soft moan as she gave him a very obvious, very slow once-over.
“Hey,” she said.
While she was eye-fucking him pretty damn good, he checked her out.
Her black tank top and black yoga pants accentuated her womanly curves. And his thoughts jumped to slowly peeling everything off her.
“Hey,” he replied as he filled a glass with water. “Want a drink?”
“I’m good.” She sat at the island. “Do you mind if I review the club video from last night?”
After gulping down the water, he pulled a barstool close, sat next to her, and queued up the surveillance from Blue Suit.
A peace settled into his soul while his pulse kicked up speed. Having her in his home was surreal enough, but partnering with her was mind blowing. He knew she was good, heard it plenty of times from the guys. While everything was happening fast, being with her felt right.
Determination shone from her eyes as she reviewed the surveillance. She flicked her long bangs off her face, rewound. “Check this out.”
He leaned close. Inches away, her fragrance had him breathing deep, her energy seeped into his bones.
“Karen is escorting Deb into the playroom.”
“Makes sense,” he said. “She’s the only one with a keycard.”
Minutes later, Karen escorted the bearded man in. Slash continued to speed through the footage until Karen brought someone new into the room.
“Here’s something,” Slash said. “Karen escorts the dancersandtheir customers at the same time,” Slash rewound the video. “Here, it’s a threesome. A little later, a couple.” She stopped the video, turned toward him.
Electric blue eyes bore into his. The energy swirled around them, her intense gaze turning up the heat. But she wasn’t there to soothe his desires, she was there because he’d agreed to work with her. This was the first solid lead they had. No way would he screw that up by letting his super-charged attraction get in the way.
