On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(37)

“I’m not killing Amanda.” But the rest of the idea had a tantalizing efficiency to it. She should be the one watching over Alex. He’d said no when she’d run the idea by him initially, but did that mean she had to obey him? He wasn’t thinking. She was the only one who could really do this. She had the training to handle it. She knew Michael Evans better than anyone did. She’d practically written the book on the bastard.

Serena leaned forward, a beseeching look on her face. “Oh, I wish you would. I caught her trying to get Jake to help her with suspension play. She shook her thong right in his face and then I overheard her talking about how sad it was that he was saddled with someone like me. Of course, I then wrote her into my next book and brutally murdered her there, but this would be like research for me. We would all help you bury the body.”

Eve felt a smile slide across her face as she looked at the women around her. They would. They would be right there with shovels and flashlights and alibis, and a nice bottle of wine for afterward because they were a sisterhood. They might not share blood, but they shared a life.

“No bloody death, Serena, but she’s definitely not going to Florida. I already asked Alex if I could come and he said no, but he’s wrong about this. I need to make sure I’m the one he introduces as his sub. Did Adam do her cover?”

“Oh, yes. He booked the tickets and everything, but none of this works unless we spring it on Alex when he can’t back out,” Serena mused. “We need Sean in on it, too. He knows where the meet site is.”

Grace gave the room a peaceful smile. “I think Sean is going to have to leave a little later than planned because Carys has some sort of emergency. Just a couple of hours. Long enough that he has to meet Alex at the club and take Alex’s sub with him. Yes, I think that can be arranged. Sean can’t stand Amanda, and he’s got the very same fears the rest of us have. She won’t watch his back. She’ll be too busy trying to get into his pants. He’ll hop on board.”

“I need to change my hair color.” Her heart thumped in her chest, adrenaline starting to flow. Was she really going to do this? Alex was going to be pissed, but she couldn’t let him go without proper backup. And in a club, she might be more effective than he was about gathering information. Women gossiped. A lot. He had to have a sub the other women would trust or it wouldn’t work.

“Makeover! Oh, this is going to be fun.” Avery clapped her hands. “I think you would look gorgeous with a nice walnut shade. It would totally contrast with your skin.”

“Is it safe to come in yet?” Adam poked his head out of the kitchen. “Because the hors d’oeuvres are getting cold. Sean is going to be pissed if I serve them cold, but you ladies looked like you were talking about men, and not in a happy, fun way. I refuse to be the dude who gets his balls kicked in because he was stupid enough to walk in at the wrong time.”

Poor Adam. Stuck with the ladies. “Yes, I think your balls are safe. And besides, I need a favor from you. We’ve been plotting, you see.”

Adam was in the living room in a flash, a wicked grin on his face. “Oh, I love a good plot. Count me in.”

She took one of the canapés off the platter. She actually had an appetite for once.

One way or another, she was going to make sure her husband came back from Florida in one piece. And then they could finally have closure.





Chapter Six


Alex glanced down at his watch and silently cursed.

“They’re going to be here, right?” Kristen cast a nervous glance toward the stairs and the door at the top where apparently the great Chazz Breyer was going to eventually make an appearance.

It was the door to the office he would eventually have to get into. Alone.

“Sean texted me. His flight landed an hour ago. They should be here any minute.”

“I don’t like last minute changes in plans,” Kristen grumbled. She was dressed casually in jeans and a V-neck T-shirt that showed off a nice rack. Her strawberry blonde hair was in waves across her shoulders, but he couldn’t get the sight of Eve spread out on her desk out of his head. He’d thought of nothing else for the last twenty-four hours. He’d tried to call her, but she wouldn’t answer her cell. He’d skipped the dinner party where he’d been sure to see her because he’d wanted to get packed and ready, and now he wondered if that had been a mistake.

He shouldn’t have left things that way between them, but she hadn’t given him a choice.

“So, what do you think of the place, Anthony?” She dropped his fake name casually. For now he was Anthony Priest, known to most as Master A.

He had to pull it together because they weren’t alone. Several young women were currently milling about either cleaning tables or restocking the bar. As far as he could tell, the club was a repurposed industrial warehouse. Sanctum was the same, but Cuffs had maintained much more of its former identity than Sanctum. The floors were concrete and the walls, for the most part, were still metal and girders. There was a bar area and what appeared to be a roped off VIP-type area. The VIP area looked like someone had ordered a bunch of BDSM equipment off the Internet and tried to approximate a play space, but nothing was set up properly. He hoped no one actually tried to play here. “It looks like crap.”

“Yeah.” Kristen frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest. “They would have been better off hiring a decorator, but Chazz decided he would save the money. You have to understand that most of the regulars who come here are just tourists who read a couple of books and decide they’re in the lifestyle. Then there are the college kids who just want to drink, and the guys who come out because our cocktail waitresses are dressed in fet wear. No one knows what they’re doing.”