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Her eyes widened and the vein in her neck jumped in response. This time he was the one who leaned in close, but not to whisper in her ear. He wanted to see her face.
"You looking for a quick, hard fuck, Elisa?"
"Always." Her breath was ragged, but she didn't flinch. She was too flinty for that.
God, the woman unnerved him, and damned if his dick didn't love it. Instead of answering, he turned his attention back to the front of the room. Tamara was finishing up with her spiel.
"Chicken." Elisa issued the one-word challenge with a soft chuckle.
He shook his head. "Smart."
"It's always the quiet ones that I really want to hear yell."
"You want to hear me to cry uncle?"
"That's not exactly the sexiest thing you could scream when you're buried inside me."
With that last shot, she stood and walked away swinging her narrow hips and giving him the perfect view of her pert, leather-clad ass as she crossed the room to where Vivi and Lexie stood. Typical. She wound him up and left him itching for more, which was exactly why he needed to stay the fuck away from her. Once he had a taste, he wasn't sure he'd be able to deny himself again—and there was nothing more dangerous than getting involved with a woman who lied for a living and liked it.
Chapter 14
Isaac
Everyone in the room was getting restless. Isaac couldn't blame them. Vivi, Lexi and Elisa stood on one side of the room. They were a dangerous trio of investigative know-how, hacker can-do and flimflam artistry. Gidget was in attendance, sitting sandwiched between Taz and Bianca like a guarded treasure. Keir, Lash, and Duke were set up around a table littered with cards from an abandoned game of Spades between them. Only Marko sat by himself in the back of the room, dividing his attention between Tamara as she talked and Elisa across the room.
Even if Tamara didn't realize it, most of the B-Squad already knew more than a little of her story. Now they just wanted to get to the solution side of things. It sounded like a damn fine plan to him.
"So let me get this straight," Lexie said, her fingers flying across the keys of the laptop resting on top of a three-drawer filing cabinet. "Your sister married a cult leader who runs his own militia group. She managed to get out and was fighting for custody of her teenage daughter when she died. You got shared custody of Essie, but Fane owns almost all of the judges in the area, so you took off with the girl before he could win the court battle for full custody and force her to marry one of his toadies. She's hidden somewhere with someone you trust. Now Fane has found you, and it's only a matter of time until he grabs you and does whatever it takes to force Essie's location from you. Do I have that right?"
Tamara blanched but held her ground. "Pretty much."
"And you figured you'd wait until now to ask for help because…?" Keir asked, getting straight to the burr that had clearly forced its way under everyone's saddle, judging by the annoyed expressions on eight of the ten faces looking out at them. Taz and Bianca were the exceptions.
Tamara gripped her hands tight in front of her, but her voice remained steady. "Lash helped me set up security at the house and I figured that would be enough. I didn't want to involve anyone else in my mess more than I already had"
Vivi snorted. "Last night's almost-gunfight in front of our building pretty much took care of that."
Tamara turned crimson.
A responding protectiveness rushed through Isaac. He didn't mean to take a step in front of her, but he did. He couldn't stop himself. "That wasn't her fault."
"No one said it was, Camacho." A smile tugged at the edges of Bianca's lips. "So we need a three-pronged approach. We need to build a case against Fane, keep a twenty-four/seven watch on Tamara, and get Essie here so we can protect her."
"She's safe where she is," Tamara said, her knuckles turning white from her grip.
"No, she's not," Bianca said, her voice understanding. "If Fane found you, he can find Essie."
Like magic, even though it was just Lexie pushing a switch, a screen came down from the ceiling. On it was a photo of Jarrod Fane and a bio in bullet point form listing his age, known aliases, and closest advisors, along with a brief listing of law enforcement officials believed to be in his pocket.
Tamara's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before reality sank in. She might not have realized it up until that moment, but the B-Squad had taken her in as one of their own. Whether she thought she deserved it or not, she had a place with them, and that meant they'd help—even when she didn't ask.
"You're right." It cost Tamara to say those two words, but she hid it well—only the tightness around her mouth gave her away.
Taz nodded. "Go with Lexie and Vivi, they'll need all the information you can give them to work up a preliminary dossier so we can narrow down potential vulnerabilities."
"I can help," Isaac said. "I've been doing a little research on my own." Okay, a lot, but he didn't need to go into that in front of everyone.
"Imagine that," Lash said, not bothering to hide his smirk. "I suppose you think you'd be the best one to be her twenty-four/seven."
