AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was.
Katie asked Pratt something about one of the songs, leaning her shoulder against the wall and bending one knee so the skirt of her black dress flattened enticingly over the long, lean expanse of her thigh. In heels, she stood nearly as tall as Judah. With their black hair and olive skin, their matching dark eyes and wide smiles, the pair of them looked like they’d emerged from the same mold.
And Sean was fifteen years old again, sick with furtive jealousy, watching Katie and her boyfriend, Levi, make out under the eave by the high school entrance as he hurried to class.
For Christ’s sake.
This wasn’t going to happen. Not like this. Katie could sleep with Pratt after lights-out if she wanted to, but they had a job to do, and he wasn’t going to stand here like a eunuch watching her flirt with the guy.
So stop them.
Mrs. Guzman had warned him to be careful. If he tried to dodge the stutter too many times—to go around it rather than talk through it—it learned to anticipate his tricks. Substitute one word for another often enough, and soon he’d be blocking on the substitute, too. It was how he’d become effectively speechless by high school.
But these were desperate times.
Even visualization wasn’t as simple as it should have been. There was no pretending Judah was one of his board members, not when he and Katie were practically entwined. There would be no shutting out her presence the way he’d done yesterday.
What would it take for him to feel relaxed enough with Katie to speak to her? He could think of only one situation that fit the bill, and it involved his getting acquainted with what she had on under that dress. It had him moving his hands up her legs and learning the shape of her hips. Peeling down those spaghetti straps to kiss her breasts. Covering her wide, smiling mouth with his as he moved inside her body.
Him. Not Pratt. Him.
So he told himself he’d done it. Before they left the suite for the High Hat, he’d gotten his hands on Katie exactly the way he’d wanted to since the first day he saw her in the office. He’d kissed her. He’d touched her. He’d thrust into her, and she’d loved every second of it.
He could smell her now, that fresh, citrusy perfume warming up on her sweat-slick skin until it filled the hall and the deeper, earthier smell of her sex filled his senses. Sean had put his mouth on every inch of her. He’d buried his face between her legs and made her come. And he was going to do it again, just as soon as they got rid of this twit and went back to the room. He was going to spend the rest of the night making sure Katie never forgot his name.
“Tomorrow,” he said to Judah, interrupting their conversation. He didn’t get caught on the t sound. He wouldn’t stutter tonight. Sean Owens owned his own Internet security company and a custom-built four-thousand-square-foot house in San Jose. He had a gardener and a housekeeper. He knew how to make Katie moan with pleasure, and he didn’t fucking stutter.
“We’re going to talk tomorrow morning,” he said.
Judah raised an eyebrow. His posture had stiffened.
“Nine a.m.,” Sean specified. “All three of us. And I want you to block out at least two hours for the meeting. We have a lot to discuss.”
Katie glared at him, clearly unhappy he’d taken charge of the conversation. He’d cheer her up later. He’d push her up against that brick wall in their hotel room and make her a happy woman. Right now, they had work to do.
Judah smiled his stage smile and said, “Can’t, sorry. I’m heading out early tomorrow. I have some people to see on the way to Lexington.”
“When, then?” Sean asked.
Pratt shrugged. “What’s the rush?”
A muscle jumped in Sean’s jaw, but he tamped down his anger. Judah didn’t bear him any personal malice. He just considered him another cog in the great wheel of his life, a dispensable minion who would jump to do his bidding.
Sean was no man’s minion.
“Katie and I are professionals,” he said. “We’re here to help you. If you want our help, you have to level with us. If you don’t, we’re leaving in the morning, and you can find somebody else to screw with.”
Judah’s smile faded, his expression shifting toward inscrutable.
Sean pushed a little harder. “Good luck with that, by the way. Finding somebody else. Because Katie and I are the best team around at what we do.”
Pratt’s gaze flicked from Katie’s face to Sean’s, then back to Katie’s, as if he hadn’t given the dynamic between the two of them any thought, but now he was giving it plenty.
Good. Sean stepped closer to Katie and settled his hand over the warm, exposed skin at the middle of her back, his fingertips stealing inside the open drape of her dress to curve around her waist. She stiffened, but Pratt wasn’t looking at her when she did it. Sea
n had captured his attention.
They stared at each other.
