Page 9 of Vengeful Embers

My phone rings within a few seconds.

“Hey, you,” Steve’s deep voice, which usually sends goosebumps over my skin, barely jolts my heart today. “I’m free and I was going to message you to find out what time you finished work tonight.”

“Well then, I think we should go to the Blue Diamond Lounge, and you’d better not get called into the hospital this time,” I warn him. “I’m sure the emergency center can do without you for one night.”

“I’m all yours tonight, T,” Steve promises. “What time?”

“Seven at our usual spot at the bar?” I suggest lowering my voice. “I’ll use my staff discount to get us a fancy room for later at the hotel.”

“I think, tonight, it’s my turn to book the hotel room,” Steve tells me. “I can’t wait to see you later.”

“Me too,” I say and hang up.

I need this tonight. To get lost in the companionship, our sexy role play that will end in hot sex, that will quiet my mind and help me relax. As I make my way to my car, this time using the walk button before crossing the street, I flip through what I’m going to wear, and I smile. I bought a new little black dress and some insanely expensive two-inch heels to go with it.

But as I get home to the apartment I share with Sabrina and step into the shower, it’s not Steve’s lips and hands I picture exploring my body!

RUSLAN

My phone buzzes against the hotel room table.

Konstantin.

I slide my finger across the screen and lift the phone to my ear. “Do you have news?”

“I couldn’t hear anything they were saying in Gavriil’s office,” Konstantin says. “His office must be soundproofed. No surprise. But I found out something else.”

I lean back in the leather chair, fingers tapping the glass of vodka balanced on my knee. “Go on.”

“Tara Craft is going out tonight. She just called someone. Steve. I think he’s a doctor. They’re meeting at the Blue Diamond lounge at seven tonight.”

Steve? Something twists in my gut. I sit forward.

“Do you want me to follow her?” Konstantin asks.

“No.” I smile, slow and dark, as the first threads of a plan begin weaving in my mind. “I’ll handle Ms. Craft.”

A pause. “You want me to dig into this, Steve?”

“Yes. Quietly and make sure he doesn’t make it to his date.”

“Understood.”

I end the call and set the phone down, standing slowly as excitement begins to slither down my spine.

It seems fate must be smiling on me where Tara Craft is concerned.

There’s something about her I haven’t shaken since the moment she locked eyes with me on that sunlit Vegas street.

My cock twitches at the memory of her. Those long legs encased in jeans that hugged the curve of her ass. The soft cotton of her shirt stretched across her chest, and the subtle sway of her hips.

I roll my shoulders, loosening the last bit of tension from the earlier meeting. I came to Vegas with one mission, but it seems I’ll be ending my last night with something far more satisfying.

A chance to get inside Tara’s head and, if I play my cards right, my bed.

4

TARA

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