Page 68 of The Money Man
He held up his hands in a gesture of denial. “I did not, but I plan to give the personal shopper an extra tip for reading my mind. I’d ask you to model them for me but then we’d never get out of this room.”
She tossed him a smile of seduction as she held the panties in front of her hips. “I hope the outside clothes are a little more, um, workplace appropriate.”
“Even if they are a nun’s habit, I’ll know what’s underneath and that image won’t leave my brain until I strip that red lace off you tonight. Maybe in the shower where they’ll be clinging to your skin already and I can’t be sure what’s making you wet, the water or my fingers between your legs.”
She gave a little gasp that sent a jolt straight to his cock. His erstwhile seduction was working just as well on him as it was on her.
“I’d better get dressed before I don’t want to anymore,” she said, racing back into the closet.
He sat on the bed and tried to run numbers through his head so he wouldn’t picture her bending over to pull on the panties, the smooth, full curves of her bottom begging for his hands to stroke them. He groaned and scooped his cell phone off the bedside table to call Tully.
Holding the phone to his ear, he waited for the ring but got silence. Frowning, he checked the screen and saw a “No cell service” message. He turned the phone off, waited a few seconds, and turned it on again.
Alice walked out of the closet, clad in jeans, a pink blouse, and the high-heeled shoes he liked so much on her. She had twisted her hair into a complicated knot at the nape of her neck, sending a pang of disappointment through him. “What did Tully say?” she asked.
“Nothing yet. My phone is being uncooperative.” The screen graphics were running through the reboot process.
She picked hers up from the table by the bed, coming close enough for him to catch that tantalizing whiff of his soap on her body. She shook her head. “Mine too. It’s got no service. Is that typical in your building?”
“Hell, no. Leland supervised the installation of the communication systems so it’s all state of the art.”
“Maybe it’s just our service provider having a blip.” She shoved the phone in her pants pocket. “I want to go check on Sylvester and Audley. They may never forgive me for leaving them alone in a strange place.”
“And cats know how to hold a grudge.” He stood up. “I’ll contact Tully via the computer in my office downstairs.”
He held out his hand, not wanting to spend any more time without touching her. When she laid her fingers in his without hesitation, her small bones so fragile within his grip, quiet satisfaction washed through him.
She looked up at him with an odd, bemused expression clouding her face. “This is so amazing.”
He lifted their linked hands to his lips, kissing the back of hers softly, rubbing her skin against his cheek. “I don’t know what you’re talking about but it sounds like a compliment.”
“Oh, it is,” she said. She gestured around his bedroom with her free hand. “It’s just so ... out of my league. I mean, look at the size of it. In Manhattan. And the view. And ...” She looked back at him and shook her head. “It’s beyond incredible.”
“I’m glad you like it but it’s not out of your league,” he said, bothered by her discomfort. He wanted her to feel like she belonged here. “You are far more incredible than this view.”
She gave a breathless little laugh, one that sounded unconvinced. “That was definitely a compliment.” Her fingers tightened around his and she stared up at him. “I’ll remember it.”
He didn’t like the sound of that somehow, but he wasn’t going to push it. Her reaction to his bedroom was not positive. For him, his apartment was like his custom suits. Once it had given him a profound sense of accomplishment. Now it was just a place that wasn’t the KRG office. As they walked down the hall to the stairs, he tried to see his home through Alice’s eyes. He’d bought it fully renovated because he was too busy with work to supervise a building project. He’d hired a decorator to furnish it in a clean but comfortable style. When they reached the top of the stairs, he noted the rather spectacular chandelier that hung over the double-height entrance. The gold fixture was a cascading grid of slim, interlocking bars, chunks of crystal, and angled light bulbs. It was fascinating and beautiful. And he wouldn’t have paid any attention to it without Alice.
When they reached the bottom of the steps, unease plucked at his chest. “Pam? Christian?” he called as he and Alice headed toward the hallway. The guards had planned to take shifts patrolling the apartment, even though he had thought it was overkill. The second guard was supposed to sleep in the apartment off the kitchen that would have been used by a live-in housekeeper, if he’d had one.
Relief loosened the tension when he caught a flicker of movement from the hallway. But it was short-lived.
Shock ripped through him as Myron Barsky and a man who had to be John Peters walked into the entrance foyer.
Myron smiled. “Your compatriots are no longer with us.”
Chapter 16
Derek heard Alice gasp as he yanked her behind him, putting himself between her and the two men.
Barsky’s hair was no longer in shaggy, nerdy curls, but slicked back and snugged in a low pony tail, and his face was bare of glasses. The man still wore jeans, but the button-down shirt was crisply pressed.
And he held a handgun as casually and comfortably as though it were a cell phone. It wasn’t quite pointed at Derek and Alice but clearly it would take a tiny adjustment to bring it there. Peters, on the other hand, held his gun rock steady and it was aimed at Derek’s chest.
Fear supplanted shock as he desperately tried to figure out a way to get Alice out of the situation.
“What the hell?” he snarled as Barsky’s words sank in. “What do you mean, ‘they’re no longer with us’?” His gaze strayed to the gun.
