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Knox waved her off and did as he was told, and she enjoyed the view as he walked away. A hot guy who followed orders. If she wasn’t careful, she’d do something really stupid.
Like fall in love with the grumpy bastard.
* * *
Tenley took a seat in the hotel’s restaurant at the bar and ordered a gin and tonic as she eyed her potential patrons for the evening.
The balding guy with the cheap suit sitting at the end of the bar was scrolling through pictures on his phone, smiling, not paying a bit of attention to anyone around him. He had happy family man written all over him, and Tenley would bet her last dollar that he was loyal as the day was long. Not a potential mark, but good for him. His wife—or husband—was lucky to have him.
There was a guy who looked maybe five years younger than her who’d clocked her—and her pencil skirt—the second she walked in. Definitely a fuck boy out with daddy’s credit card, looking to score. Hmmm. There was potential there. But her patience was running low and dudes like that required so much ego stroking. She just wasn’t in the mood to assure him how smart, handsome, and well-endowed he was. Especially since he was a mediocre looking, dull-eyed little ponce who probably stuffed rolled up sweat socks in his underwear to compensate for what nature hadn’t seen fit to give him.
Not like Knox, who looked like he’d been French kissed by Mother Nature herself when he was created. Talk about genetically blessed.
Which was so not where her mind should be at the moment.
That’s when her eyes fell on a forty-something, salesman-looking guy sitting three stools down. Expensive suit, hand-crafted Italian loafers, tan line on his ring finger. He looked annoyed at whoever he was talking to on the phone. Tenley casually slid to the empty stool on her right so that she was in earshot of his conversation.
“Look, Katie, I already told you, it’s just a sales conference. There aren’t even any women here. Just a bunch of other med device reps. I promised you it wouldn’t happen again, and I meant it, alright?”
I’ll just bet, Tenley thought.
Very deliberately, she leaned down and adjusted the strap on her heel, making sure to turn her body so that he’d get a good look down her blouse if he was interested. When she straightened, his eyes were shifting from her cleavage to the expanse of thigh she flashed his way when she crossed her legs.
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.
He hung up on poor Katie in a hot second and immediately closed the distance between them, taking a seat on the stool next to her. “Well, hello, gorgeous. My name’s Ted. What’s yours?”
How sad that his name was as unoriginal as he appeared to be. She decided to bring Savannah back out for the night. So, she giggled like she was flattered by the totally generic compliment he’d probably given twenty other women that night alone and offered him her hand. “I’m Savannah. It’s so nice to meet you, Ted. What’re y’all doing here this fine evenin’?”
And just like that, she had him. He was practically drooling on her as soon as he heard her lilting drawl.
So, they flirted for the next few minutes. Well, she flirted. What he was doing was far too ham-fisted to be described as flirting. He was hardcore hitting on her as he ordered her a fresh drink, unconcerned with the fact that her first drink was practically untouched.
It only took five minutes for him to assume he’d charmed her enough to get into her panties. Ted put his hand on her knee and slid it slowly up to her thigh. “How about we continue this conversation in my suite?”
In her head, she did a fist pump. A suite! Awesome. She was about to reply when she glanced up and saw that Knox had taken a seat next to the family man and was glaring at Ted’s hand like it had personally offended him somehow. He looked like he was about to leap up and ruin everything. So, when his eyes lifted to hers, she gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible head shake.
I got this, her gaze said.
His jaw clenched, but he stayed put. OK, but if not, I’m gonna beat the fuck out of him, his gaze said back.
His grumpy chivalry was kind of…sweet. Completely unnecessary, but sweet.
She turned her full attention back to Ted. Time to go in for the kill.
“See, here’s the thing, Ted,” she said, dropping Savannah’s sugary accent in favor of her real accent, which was much harder. “I’m a private investigator. Your wife, Katie, hired me to check up on you at the conference and make sure you weren’t cheating.”
He pulled his hand off her thigh like it had burned him. “Fuck,” he hissed.
She patted his cheek, none too gently. “Not tonight, hotshot. Katie’s not going to be happy with the footage my partner down there at the end of the bar recorded tonight.” She gave Knox a little wave. He gave her a head nod of acknowledgment. “But,” she added, “I bet her lawyer is going to love it.”
He leaned forward and grabbed her wrist. “Now, listen here, you bitch…”
Tenley grabbed his thumb and yanked it backward until he yelped in pain and released her. She tsked. “Now, Ted, is that really how you want to talk to the woman standing between you and a lifetime of alimony payments? Seems shortsighted of you.”
Ted narrowed his eyes on her. “What do you want?”
“Oh, thanks for asking. Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to give me your room key, then leave this hotel and find somewhere else to stay for the length of the conference. If you tell anyone about this arrangement or take your credit card off file, Katie gets enough evidence of infidelity to bury you in court. But if you cooperate like a good boy, you can go home to your lovely wife and do your best to earn her trust—even though we both know you don’t deserve it. She won’t hear that from me, though. All she’ll hear from me is that you went to the conference, ate your dinner, then went back to your hotel room, alone, like the mediocre, boring asshole you are.”
