Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(19)

She strode up the steps that led her inside the cool environs of Neiman Marcus. Immediately the world seemed to slow, becoming a more luxurious place. She might work at a charity, but she couldn’t help but enjoy the decadence of one of the world’s premier department stores.

This was her indulgence time. She wasn’t going to feel bad about anything for the next few weeks. She was going to use her credit cards and not worry about it.

She walked straight up to the makeup counter and started looking at colors.

“Can I help you?” A well-dressed clerk stepped up.

Faith smiled. “Can you make my lips look less tortured?”

Five minutes later, Faith was happy with the way the tinted gloss plumped her lips and made her look less like a woman who normally fought infectious tropical diseases for a living. She paid and was about to leave when her cell phone trilled. She pulled it out of her purse and checked the number. Her sister. Well, she knew she’d have to deal with her sometime. She slid her thumb across the screen, accepting the call.

“Hey, Hope.”

“Well, if it isn’t the warrior goddess.” Her sister’s rich laugh came over the line. “How does it feel to be home?”

“It’s good. You would be proud of me. I’m in Neimans right now.” It was actually good to hear her sister’s voice. It reminded her that there had been a time when they were close, when she’d actually wanted to be exactly like Hope. She’d gone into medical school following in her big sister’s footsteps.

“Seriously? Oh, we should go shopping while you’re here. I was calling because I want to see you. I’m going to be in Houston next week and I thought we could do a girl’s day. Spa, shopping, lunch, way too many cocktails.”

That sounded great. There was only one problem. “I’m actually in Dallas for the next few weeks.”

“Dallas? Why are you in Dallas?”

She was going totally casual with this answer. “I made a couple of friends while I was working. They live up here.”

“What about Roger?”

She sighed. She hadn’t wanted to get into her love life with her sister, but she supposed it was probably inevitable. “We broke up. I won’t be seeing him anymore.”

There was a pause on the line. “Well, that’s for the best. He was kind of skeevy. I mean I liked the fact that he was a doctor but god, you can do much better than a general surgeon. Hello, general is for people who can’t hack a specialty, if you know what I mean.”

Yeah. She was considered a general surgeon. Now she remembered why she avoided her sister. “Look, I have to run, sis. I actually have a date tonight.”

“Really? Well, it’s good. Get right back on the horse, so to speak. What’s his specialty? Tell me he’s an orthopedist. My current research is heavily invested in ortho. I could use someone to talk to at your party.”

“He’s a bodyguard.”

“I’m sorry. You’re breaking up. What did you say?”

God, her sister was such a snob. If a man didn’t have a doctorate, he wasn’t dating material. For Hope it wasn’t about money or society. It was all about skins on the wall. “He’s not a doctor. He works security and he’s very good at his job.”

She thought he was probably good at his job. He sounded like he was good. They’d talked to each other over the Internet, and she’d realized the man didn’t need to be good at anything. All he really needed to do was smile and women would fall all over him. Master T was a complete hottie.

Hence her need for properly glossed lips.

“A man working a fast food counter can be good at his job. That’s not a reason to date him. God, please tell me he isn’t into that stuff. The one good thing about you breaking it off with Roger is you can get away from all the nasty stuff.”

Her sister wasn’t with the sexually liberated age. And Faith kind of liked the nasty stuff. She’d spent weeks now thinking about doing nasty stuff with Master T. He’d agreed to her one real demand. He’d seemed perfectly happy to agree to monogamy while their contract lasted. He hadn’t even hesitated. “I’m going to be late. I’ll call you soon.”

Hope tried to say something else, but Faith cut her off. She didn’t need to explain this again. Hope didn’t take anything but her work and their father’s career seriously. She was never going to understand, but Faith couldn’t help but remember it had been Hope who had taken over after their mother had been killed. Hope had to grow up quickly and she’d taken good care of Faith. It bought her some patience.

She took a look at herself in the mirror. Not bad. Not perfect but not atrocious. She had big green eyes and her hair was curling nicely. Now her lips didn’t look so thin. She was…presentable.

Master T was a sun-kissed Greek god of a man. What was she doing? Was he going to take one look at her and run? Sure he’d seen her over the camera attached to her laptop, but he was probably thinking she would look better in person. She glanced down at her watch. He was going to see that she was late and start their relationship with a not erotic spanking if she didn’t hurry up.

She gave herself one more look and saw a man in the mirror behind her. Close behind her. She gasped as he pressed her against the counter, and she could feel something hard against her spine.