The Infatuation (Josh and Kat #1 , The Club #5) (13 page)

“Thanks, man,” I say to Henn.

“Just speaking the truth,” Henn replies.

“Well, well, well,” Kat says, arching that bold
eyebrow of hers. “It turns out the Playboy’s a good guy, after
all—Mickey Mouse roller coasters notwithstanding.”

I smile broadly.

She bites her lip.

Oh man, I can’t wait to fuck this gorgeous woman.
It’s gonna be so fucking good.

“So, Henn,” Jonas says. “If The Club lives in the
Deep Web, how the fuck do we find them and take them down?”

Henn proceeds to explain his strategy for implanting
malware onto Oksana Belenko’s computer. In essence, Sarah’s got to
pay a personal visit to “the pimpstress extraordinaire,” as he
calls her, obtain her email address, and then send Oksana an
infected email on the spot, which Oksana’s got to open in Sarah’s
presence. Sounds kind of hairy to me, actually—I agree completely
when my brother insists on accompanying Sarah on her mission.

“But they think I’m
playing
you, remember?”
Sarah protests in a huff. “Why on earth would I bring you with me
if I’m
scamming
you?”

“I don’t know,” Jonas says, crossing his monstrous
arms over his chest. “Use that big-ass brain of yours to come up
with something they’ll believe.”

Sarah sighs in frustration.

“It’s non-negotiable, Sarah. We’re doing this
together or we’re not doing it at all.”

Sarah huffs. “Why would I bring you to meet her? It
makes no sense.”

Jonas looks at me, obviously inviting me to come up
with a suggestion, but I’ve got nothing.

“They think I’m
playing
you,” Sarah says
slowly, like she’s thinking out loud. “Why would I bring you with
me?”

“I don’t know, but it’s non-negotiable.”

“I heard you the first time, Lord-God-Master.” Sarah
crosses her arms over her chest. After a moment, she picks up her
champagne flute and ambles to the floor-to-ceiling windows on the
other side of the room. Nighttime has descended on the city while
we’ve been talking and The Strip’s dazzling display of neon lights
is sprawled out before us.

“Wow,” Sarah says, staring out at the expanse of
lights. “It’s beautiful.”

We all get up and take in the view alongside her,
drinks in hand.

“Let’s take a photo, Sarah,” Kat says. The two girls
smile for a selfie on Kat’s phone, followed by Jonas and Sarah, at
Kat’s urging.

“You two look good together,” Kat says to Jonas.
“
Really
good together.”

At Kat’s words, Jonas looks like a fucking kitten
being stroked. Aw, Jonas. Shit. It’s times like this I remember my
brother’s gone his whole life without a single person other than me
telling him how fucking awesome he is.

“Don’t post those pics anywhere, Kat,” Henn warns.
“We don’t want the bad guys knowing we’re on their turf.”

“I won’t post them; don’t worry. I just want to
remember being here in Vegas with my best friend for her first
time.” Kat wraps Sarah in a warm hug. “Thank God you’re okay. I was
so worried about you. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.” Sarah says, nuzzling into Kat’s
blonde hair.

I can’t take my eyes off Kat and Sarah right
now—especially Kat. Yeah, she’s gorgeous, but I already knew that.
Yeah, she’s sassy as hell. But, watching the way she’s so tenderly
kissing and hugging Sarah, it’s suddenly dawning on me she might
also be… dare I say it...
sweet
? Huh.

Sarah whips her head up and gasps. “I’ve got it,”
she says.

“You’ve got what?” Kat asks, brushing Sarah’s dark
hair out of her face.

Sarah disengages from Kat, suddenly animated with an
idea. “We use their
greed
against them.”

“That’s my girl,” Jonas says. “I knew you’d think of
something.”

Sarah leaps over to Jonas and throws her arms around
his neck, something she seems to do a lot, I’ve noticed. “This is
gonna work.”

“Of course, it will,” Jonas says. “We’re an
unstoppable team.”

Henn looks at his watch. “Okay, get your plan
figured out and we’ll launch first thing tomorrow. I’m gonna work
all night on my malware. I want to make sure whatever we send them
is ironclad.” He grabs his laptop, clearly excited to get to
work.

“Well,” Kat says, her hands on her hips. “While
Henn’s hard at work cooking up a fancy virus, I guess the rest of
us will have to find
something
to do in Las Vegas. Hmm.” She
taps her finger on her temple like she’s solving an algebra
problem. “What on earth could we possibly do in
Las Vegas
?”
She raises her eyebrow at me, clearly inviting me to provide a
suggested solution to the riddle.

“You like to gamble, Kat?” I ask.

Her face lights up. “I love it.”

How did I know she was gonna say that? “What’s your
game?”

“Blackjack.”

“Lame,” I say.

“Excuse me?”

“The real fun is craps.”

“I’ve never played,” she says. “It seems
complicated.”

“Nah, it’s easy. I’ll spot you a grand and teach you
how to play.”

Her eyes pop out of her head. “I’m not gonna take
your money.”

I love that she just said that—I can’t remember the
last time a woman said anything even remotely like that to me,
actually—but, of course, it’s out of the question.

“No, you’ve got to roll the dice for me, Party
Girl,” I say matter-of-factly. “You’ve got first-timer’s luck
and
lady luck on your side, and they only let you roll when
you’ve got a bet on the table.”

“Well, then, I’ll bet my own money.”

She tosses her golden hair behind her shoulder in
what appears to be a misplaced gesture of defiance. Oh God, she’s
such a sexy little thing.

“Kat,” Jonas says. “Let my brother pay for your
fun.”

Thank you, Jonas.

Finally, for the first time ever, my brother has
actually stepped in to help me with a woman. I open my mouth to
thank him for his unexpected assistance, but the fucker keeps
talking.

“There’s nothing Josh Faraday loves more than
throwing his hard-earned money away on mindless entertainment,”
Jonas adds.

I laugh. I knew it was too good to last.
“
That’s
your idea of helping me, bro?”

Jonas shrugs.

“You’d be doing me a favor, Kat,” I say, turning
away from my useless brother and fixing my eyes on Kat’s
ridiculously beautiful face. “Betting on a first-time roller is the
dream of every craps player—it’s as exciting as it gets.
And I
love excitement
.”

Kat grins and bites her lip, her eyes blazing.
“Okay, Playboy,” she says. “I’m in. You had me at
‘excitement.’”

Oooooooooh, I like this girl. My skin is beginning
to tingle.

“But we’re all going out together, right?” she asks,
looking at Sarah.

“Of course,” Sarah says.

“Where should we take these lovely ladies to
dinner?” Jonas asks me.

My dick is beginning to tingle along with the rest
of me. “It just so happens I know the perfect place,” I say.

“Of course you do,” Jonas replies.

“Do you ladies think you can handle a night out with
the Faraday brothers?” I ask, but the only lady I’m looking at is
Kat.

Sarah and Kat squeal with excitement, and Sarah
throws her arms around Jonas’ neck for the hundredth time today.
“Thank you, Jonas.”

I stride over to Kat. “Hey,” I say softly.

“Hey,” she replies, her blue eyes blazing at me.

“You ready to earn that nickname of yours, Party
Girl with a Hyphen?”

Her eyes flicker at me. “I was born ready,
Playboy.”

I hold her gaze for a long beat. She truly is the
most spectacularly gorgeous woman I’ve ever beheld. I have the
sudden, irresistible urge to kiss her. I lean in, slowly.

“Just as soon as you resend me that email that must
have gotten lost,” she says, pressing on my chest and halting my
forward progress. “The damned thing must have gone into my spam
folder when you sent it earlier this week.”

“Gosh, Kat,” I say. “I didn’t send you an email this
week.”

“No?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have a
vagina
.”

“Oh, really? Huh. That’s too bad.”

“It’s too bad I don’t have a
vagina
?”

She smirks. “It’s too bad you didn’t send me that
email. I was really looking forward to reading it.”

I smile at her. She might be the most gorgeous
creature I’ve ever beheld, but she’s also the most stubborn. Jesus
God. “You’re not gonna get what you want this time, no matter how
sexy you are,” I say. “So you can stop banging your head against
the wall. Wouldn’t want you to bruise that pretty forehead of
yours.”

“You obviously don’t know me at all. I don’t back
down,” she says. “I only get more determined.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

She squints at me. “We’ll see.”

“I guess so.”

She stares me down. When I don’t look away, her
cheeks flush. She clears her throat. “Why don’t you ask Henn to
come with us to dinner?” she says. “Since we’re obviously just
gonna have a friendly dinner and nothing more, the more the
merrier, right?”

“Great idea,” I say. “Henn, you wanna join us for
dinner?” I call to him sharply, but I don’t take my eyes off her.
My cock is rock hard. I’d pay any amount of money to have her
sitting on it right now.

Henn doesn’t reply.

“Yo, Henn?” I call to him, devouring Kat with my
eyes. “You wanna join us for dinner, man?”

“Oh, Josh,” Henn says. “How many times do I have to
tell you? You can wine and dine me all you like, but you’re never
gonna get me into bed.”

Kat chuckles.

I step close to her and brush her cheekbone with my
fingertip, and she abruptly stops laughing.

She parts her lips and lifts her face like she wants
me to kiss her. My cock is straining for her.

I lean down and brush my lips as close as humanly
possible to hers without actually making contact. “Laugh it up,
Party Girl,” I whisper. “But Henn’s not the one I’m gonna wine and
dine and get into bed tonight.” I pull back from her face and
wink.

Josh

“Hard four!” the dealer yells.

“Woohoo!” Kat shrieks.

“You’re on fi-yah, sistah!” Sarah shouts. She shakes
her ass into Jonas’ crotch, and he gropes her ass and hips.

The dealer pushes a stack of chips at Kat and she
leans over the craps table to collect them—which, of course, gives
me the perfect opportunity to ogle her backside. Jesus. That
sequined mini-dress of hers is barely longer than a men’s
dress-shirt, and holy shit, she’s working it
hard
. Endless,
toned legs. Sky-high heels. Long, tousled blonde hair cascading
down her back. And a tight little ass to cap it all off. In
summary, the girl is smoking hot. Gorgeous. Sexy. Beautiful. I
can’t come up with enough praise to do her justice. She’s physical
perfection.

An old dude in a Hawaiian shirt on the other side of
Kat leans into her shoulder. “What number ya feeling, Blondie?”

Kat picks up the dice. “I’m not sure,” she answers.
“I’m just gonna bet the pass line this time—I’m not getting a
vibe.”

“Oh, I’m feeling a six for sure,” Sarah says
confidently, wiggling her ass into Jonas’ crotch again. “I’m
feeling hella
sixy
right now, baby.”

Jonas presses himself into Sarah and wraps his arms
around her. “Oh, my precious baby’s feeling
sixy,
is
she?”

“Yes, sir, baby-sir,” she says. “Sixy as hell.”

Jonas throws a couple thousand bucks in chips onto
the table. “On six,” he says to the dealer, his free hand running
up and down Sarah’s torso. “Always bet on Sarah Cruz.”

“Hard or easy six?” Hawaiian Shirt Guy asks Sarah,
clearly hanging on her every word.

“Easy,” she answers.

Jonas nibbles her neck and pulls her hips into him
forcefully. Jesus. Who the fuck is my brother right now? I’ve never
seen him act like this with a woman, ever. He’s acting like...
me.

“Oh my,” Sarah says, laughing. “Easy six... and
hard...
Jonas
.”

Jonas bursts out laughing.

Kat and I look at each other, grimacing.

“I don’t know whether to swoon or barf,” Kat
whispers to me and I chuckle.

“I’m definitely leaning toward ‘barf,’” I reply.

“Easy six,” Hawaiian Shirt Guy yells to the dealer,
jumping on the Sarah-train.

“Me, too,” I say, throwing a couple orange chips
onto the table. “And for the lady, too,” I add, throwing a
thousand-dollar chip to the dealer for Kat.

“Josh, no. You already gave me plenty of gambling
money. I’ll use the money you gave me.”

“Nah, put that away, PG. I’ve got a feeling—trust
me.”

In a sudden flurry, every other guy at the table
follows suit, throwing their chips onto six, all of them betting on
Sarah’s intuition.

Kat picks up the dice. “Jeez, talk about pressure,”
she mutters. She tosses the dice onto the table.

Easy eight.

Everyone at the table cheers. It’s not a six, true,
but it’s not crapping out, either, which means we’re all still
alive.

The dealer quickly distributes winnings on the
roll.

“Bets?” the dealer invites.

“Yeah, add this to my six,” I say to the dealer,
tossing yet another pumpkin to him. “Plus another one for the
lady,” I say, tossing yet another orange thousand-dollar chip onto
the table.

Kat looks at me with wide eyes. “No, Josh.
Stop
. No more.”

I wink. “Humor me,” I say. “I have a feeling.”

Kat presses her lips together, but she doesn’t
argue. She holds the dice out to Sarah.

“
Vaya con dios,
” Sarah says with solemnity.
She blows on them.

“Come on, Blondie,” Hawaiian Shirt Guy says. “Roll
us a six.”