Sexy in Stilettos (16 page)

“The nerve.” Jaya chuckled. “Do you think he was thinking about you?”

Micha scoffed, a soft growl coming through the phone. “God, I hope so, ‘cause that shit was hot.”

Micha had been allergic to relationships since Jaya had known her. “Only you, Micha.  So guess who has a new job?”

“What?” Micha squealed into the phone. “You got a new job and you bury the lead like that?”

“Well, you distracted me with all that talk of hot sex.”

“Who’s it with? Please tell me it’s Trudeaux’s biggest competitor. That’ll really show them.”

“No I wish. It’s for Adele Westhorpe.  She gave me the job.”

“Holy, shit, Jaya, that’s awesome.”

Yeah, it was pretty awesome. And lucky. She had a mortgage payment to make in two weeks. She really didn’t want to dip into her savings until it was absolutely necessary. “Now I just have to do a good job.”

“Oh, you will. Stop worrying. You were made to do this. I’ve never met anyone more organized. Even your figurines are organized.”

Jaya chuckled. “Most people just call it OCD.”

“Well, maybe a little.”

“I can plan the gala, no problem. I'm excited to do it. I can really show off my skills. And hopefully Dad hasn’t scared off any connections.”

“Did you ever get to talk to him? Was he sabotaging you?”

“He says no, but I don’t believe him. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s torpedoed me to teach me a lesson.”

Micha was silent for a moment. “Well, he certainly has his own unique parenting style.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Wait, is this the annual Westhorpe year-end gala?”

“Yeah, it’s the fiftieth anniversary or something, so a pretty big deal.”

“Hell yeah, it’s a big deal. I’m going to cover it for the magazine.”

No pressure or anything. “Well then, I’ll have to do a bang up job so you can see me strut my stuff.”

Micha rambled on about her new nemesis at work. Jaya went through the box Tamara left her, carefully setting her figurines on the coffee table. Frowning, she searched the bottom of the box, eventually giving up and dumping the whole thing out.

“What is all that noise over there?”

“No. Sorry. Just going through my get-out-of-Dodge box finally and my damn software isn’t here.”

“Wait, the program you hired that developer to build? The one that took you months to design with the contractor? Ricca and I didn’t see you for ages because of that thing.”

“Yeah, the same one.”

“Oh honey, no.” Micha said. “It's not Trudeaux proprietary software. You hired the developer yourself. Shoot, you built it practically.  It doesn’t belong to them.”

Jaya told herself to calm down. It was probably a mistake. All she had to do was call and ask for it back. “I know. I was such a mess, I left all the stuff in my office. When Tamara dropped off my stuff, I assumed it was in there. But I've looked everywhere.”

“That bitch.”

“No arguments here.”

“What are you going to do, besides beat your sister’s scrawny ass?”

Jaya had to smirk. Micha was one friend you wanted when you had a body to move. “Don’t know. I can contact the developer. I know he probably kept a copy of the work. Or he can at least help me retrieve it.”

Micha was quiet, which usually signaled trouble. “You have to go back and get it.”

“I was fired, remember? I can call them for it, but I doubt they'll just give it back to me.”

“Give it back? Hell, you’ve got to start thinking like the woman in control you are.”

Jaya’s eyes squeezed shut. This was trouble waiting to happen. “Are you talking sneaking in and stealing it back?”

Jaya could hear the smile in Micha’s voice. “Why would I suggest such a thing? It's not stealing if it's yours.”

Her friend had a point. “You know, I might have just the guy to help.”

Time to focus. Alec knew he’d come here with a job to do and so far all he’d managed to do was wear himself out with Jaya. Another night like the one they’d had, and he might not be able to stand on his own. But if he had to die from exhaustion, then what a way to go. He bit off a curse at his body’s instant response at even a thought of her. “Down boy,” he grumbled.

This was disaster. He had it bad. And any thought he had of getting her out of his system was long gone. There wouldn’t be any getting her out of his system. He was doomed if he kept this up. But he’d given her his word. He couldn’t just back out because prolonging things would get messy. He was a big boy. He could deal.

With heavy legs, Alec trudged to his temporary office, only to find Caleb waiting for him in the hallway.  All he wanted to do was sit down and rest his head for a damn minute.  After Jaya had left in the morning, Adele paid him a visit with the Westhorpe financials.

“I would have waited inside, but apparently the security has been updated so my all-access pass has been revoked.”

Alec smiled. Caleb's security expertise had helped them counteract some of the more sophisticated key-copying software. “Well, we’ve got to keep the criminals out, don't we?” Alec let them in and tossed his keys on the oak monstrosity in the middle of the room. “So what do you need? It better be good. I have a shit-ton of work to do.”

Caleb’s sharp gaze fell on his. “Well aren’t you full of piss and vinegar? My guys have Adele and Sue covered. They’re safe, and we’re getting closer to finding Max. You should be sleeping better. Your girlfriend giving you grief, is she? Has she planned out your wedding yet?”

 “She's not my girlfriend,” Alec growled, then forced himself to relax his shoulders. “I'm just doing her a favor. And she's doing me one too. Adele gave her the job for the gala. If it takes some stress off of Mimi, that’s huge to me right now.”

Caleb just grinned. “And just how does she feel about you leaving? Or the fact that you’re a Westhorpe?  Oh wait, that’s right.  You haven’t told her.”

Alec felt like someone was pounding him between the eyes with the sharp end of a hammer. “That’s because I’m not a Westhorpe.  And she knows I’m going and it’s fine. I’m on the up and up, Caleb. I’m not like Dad and Max.”

Caleb’s smiling face went solemn. “No one was saying you were.”

“And what about you? What happened with that friend of hers? The tall one with the…”  He let his words drop off.

Caleb closed his eyes and let out a breath. “The seriously excellent rack?” He shook his head. “Nothing happened. She shot me down.”

“Makes no sense. She seemed interested.”

“Yeah, well. She was interested. Just not in having a conversation with me.”

Alec chuckled, even though it made his brain feel like it had been trampled by elephants. “I don’t see the problem.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “This from the guy who’s spent the past several days holed up in his room with one woman. I don’t think I remember that happening—ever. Doesn’t seem like you, bro. You took her all the way to LA to meet with Adele.”

“I went to look for Max. Adele happened to be in town so what better reason to get her off my back about this dammed gala? I brought her an event planner.”

“Yeah. Whatever you say.” Caleb's grin grew wider but he didn't say anything else.

“She's great. A bit uptight and anal-retentive, but she's sweet and something so—” It took him several seconds to come back to the conversation. “She's not my girlfriend.”

“Uh-oh, the great Alec Danthers is going to be sidelined by a woman. They must be making snowballs in hell.”

Alec sneered at his friend. Caleb could be a full-on jackass when he wanted to be. “What are you doing here annoying me? We weren’t supposed to meet until later this afternoon.”

All hint of teasing and laughter vanished from Caleb’s face, turning it into an expressionless mask. “Yeah okay. I’ve got my guys doing everything they can to find your brother, but he’s gone full Houdini on us. He must be using cash and driving because we’ve got no hits on his credit cards and he hasn’t tried to board a plane. Since he's not under arrest or technically missing, I'm not having any luck using legal parameters to track his cars.”

Alec shook his head. “Don’t bother. He left all his cars either here or at the house in LA. He's probably borrowing a friend's.”

“Any chance he borrowed one of the hotel cars?”

“Nah. They're all equipped with GPS and right now they're all accounted for.”

“Sorry, man. We’ll keep looking.”

Alec shrugged. He knew his brother. “It's Max. He’ll turn up eventually. He's just being a Westhorpe. The real question is if he'll turn up before those idiots scare Adele again.”

Caleb nodded. “We’ll keep looking.” He rocked back on his heels as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I have some other news for you.”

Alec brought his head up. “What is it? From the look on your face, it can’t be good.”

“It’s not. It’s all kinds of a shit show.”

Perfect, just what Alec needed. “You mean worse than the current shit show of my life, with bookies after my brother if he doesn’t pay and threatening Mimi if she can’t find him? This I’d love to hear.”

“Your brother’s in worse trouble than you thought. Probably worse than Adele knows. There’s a reason he’s drained his trust fund. You said you paid the bookie after Max?  Turns out that bookie works for the Sandovals.  As in the Sandoval cartel.  And, they think he took something from them.”

Ho-ly shit
. “Who the fuck would steal from a cartel?”

Caleb nodded. “The other night I grabbed a license plate number off of Adele’s video surveillance. Registered to Eduardo Sandoval. My guys lifted some prints and ran them. Those guys were definitely looking for something.”

Alec began to sweat. He’d gone to school with Alejandro Sandoval. If evil was an inherited trait, Alejandra Sandoval was the living, breathing evidence of it—as a kid he’d gotten off on torturing other kids. “What the fuck did Max take?”

“I’m working on it.  My guess is that Max isn’t quite that dumb.  Though be might be dumb enough to run drugs through the hotels.  I can’t prove it yet, though.  He might have taken evidence of those transactions.  My guys have been hearing that there’s infighting in Sandovals gang.  One of the guys could have taken something to make a play but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet.  Max was just an easy scapegoat.  My guess is, Max cleaned out his account to give him some running money.”

A low whistle escaped Alec’s lips. “So my brother’s not just a stupid, selfish screw-up. He also has a death wish.”

Following his conversation with Caleb, Alec had taken another look at the financials Adele had given him.  Wednesday nights were a busy night across all the bars. But the numbers were more inflated than the busiest night he’d ever seen even in a New York or Paris bar.  He and Caleb needed to scope the bar out and confirm their suspicions. But they wouldn’t see much while working the bar.

Luckily, tonight, Jaya and her friends had provided an excellent cover. Micha, apparently needed a night out and Caleb was all too happy to oblige. He hoped his friend could keep an eye out while mooning over the Amazon with the prickly personality. Though it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Caleb’s men were posted throughout the club. He and his friend were only supposed to be an extra set of eyes.

The booming music didn’t help the headache he’d been nursing all day. He was jittery and felt cooped up.  He’d taken a couple aspirin, but he knew what the real problem was.  This doting boyfriend and attentive son routine were getting to him.

“Are you okay? You seem really distracted?” Jaya's warm, minty breath tickled his neck as she leaned in to speak to him. He had a little trouble concentrating. The plunging-to-the navel neckline of her white jumpsuit made his mouth water. Like Caleb, he wouldn’t have a chance if he looked anywhere but her eyes.

“I’m good. Just been working a lot, you know.” At least that was the truth. He’d started losing track of all the lies he was telling her. Every time she asked a personal question, he did his best to give her measured half-truths instead of outright lies. It was starting to wear on him.

She nodded but studied him closely. The intensity of her stare made his whole body stand at attention. Holding his breath and counting to three, he attempted to calm himself down. He was supposed to be working. He couldn’t very well drag her off somewhere private.

“Could you two please stop with the ‘rip each other’s clothes off’ looks? It’s a little nauseating.”

Beckett had pegged him and Caleb with the hairy eyeball when they’d arrived. Granted, it wasn’t as bad as the full on confrontational agro, macho shit he was giving Ricca’s boyfriend, Charles. Crazy thing was, he had some leggy blonde with him he was all but ignoring.

Whatever. He didn’t have time to get embroiled in the group’s melodrama. As Caleb got dragged onto the dance floor by the beautiful Amazon, he signaled to Alec to follow.

Leaning in to Jaya's neck, he gave her a nuzzle. “Do you want to show off those dance moves of yours?”

She eyed him warily but followed him out of the booth to join her friend. Before they reached their quarry, she turned to him. “Was this too much? Meeting the whole gang? I know it’s way couple-like. And that’s not really our situation. I just wanted to hang out, but you’ve been weird since we got here. Do you just want to go?”