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“You.”
She felt his smile on her skin. His full lips thinned into a grin, and his tongue sliced across the side of her collar bone, sweeping the strength out of her legs. Nicola hooked her thumbs into his belt loops. One of her legs snaked up his thigh. Trying to breathe was a wasted effort, and—
Ring. Rrr-ring. Ring.
What was it with the interruptions?
Cash pulled back to stare at the elevator’s phone box, slid his hands down her body, letting one rest on her hip, and opened a small door with the other, grabbing the phone. “Hello.” Amused, he dragged the syllables before he made it to a long oh. A few uh-huhs later, he winked at her, flicked the elevator RUN button back to ON, and said into the handset, “Must have bumped into it. Sorry.”
With the elevator phone back in its box and their ride creeping toward the ground level, they locked in a gaze. Nothing saying. Nothing doing. Just waiting.
The doors opened, and a pudgy security guard waited for them to exit, hands on hips. “You two okay?”
Yup, definitely cameras in the elevator. Just like the CIA: someone’s always watching.
Cash took her hand in his. “Couldn’t be better.”
***
This may have been a mistake.As mistakes go, it may have been a jumping-off-a-bridge bad idea. The GUNS sign was dead ahead on the right, and Cash braked, turning off the road and into a parking lot with a rusted, charging bison mascot snarling at every truck that dared cross into Sugar’s parking lot. The thing had to be the size of an army tank.
“We’re here.”And so is she.Sugar’s '69 Mustang Boss 429, the same color as the lipstick she wore, sat in her parking spot. The twist in his gut and a flash glance at Nic said this moment was leaning toward colossal catastrophe.
No time to backpedal. Jumping out of his truck, Cash saw the security camera track him. Sugar knew they were there. Nic got out and slammed her door. At least she was down for their Q and A session. A second later, his girl was on his six, and they walked toward the gated-up, locked-down door.
His girl.
She was definitely his girl walking into Sugar’s lair. He’d iron out the semantics later.
Moving from the focus of one security camera to the next, he waved hello at the lens over the door, and a series of locks disengaged mechanically after someone approved their entry.
They walked into the waiting area lined with wall-mounted guns and knives. Glass cases housed a few more beauties.
Sugar’s heels clacked down the hall before they could see her. It was Sugar. Only she could make footsteps sound like the sway of her hips. Her perfume drifted in before she did, and her entrance was nothing short of a sultry explosion.
“Cash, baby.” She ignored Nicola, lasering onto him with lethal accuracy, and wrapped an arm around his back to kiss him hello. “I knew you’d be back soon.”
This was about what he’d pictured. To Nic’s credit, her boot didn’t bounce-bounce-bounce. This was work-Nic. The professional Nicola. Cool and calculating. Nic didn’t flinch at whatever else Sugar babbled about. Probably several variations of, “let’s get into bed. Or drop to the floor.”
Sugar turned to Nicola and shook her head, faux confused. “And what was your name again? Sarah? Julie?”
“It’s Nicola,” Nic said with a touch of bring-it-bitch. “I understand if it’s hard to remember names that aren’t tangible.”
Annnd, the ladies were off and running.
This was everything Rocco probably dreamed of watching in real time. If the ladies were still standing at the end of this visit, he’d give Roc a serious recap.
He stepped a boot between them. “Can we go to your office, Sugar? We have—”
“Baby, you’re the king of the castle for all I’m concerned. Lead the way.”
Cash fought the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he studied the guns lining the walls. Sugar could build the hell out of a specialty request. The display paid homage to that talent.
If he could focus the ladies on guns and ammo, this convo could stay on the up and up. “Why don’t you lead the way?”
“Not sure that I want Julie, eh, Sally, whoever, running around back there though.” She turned to Nicola. “I can have someone bring you a chair, and we’ll make you comfy right here.”
Cash gave a chuckle, impressed that Nic appeared unfazed, and said, “Not gonna happen like that. The three of us have business.”