Best Laid Plans by Allison Brennan
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CHAPTER ONE
Elise Hansen almost puked when she realized the guy was dead.
She bit her thumbnail, dreading what she had to do next.
“Why couldn’t you have waited until after we screwed before you croaked?” she muttered.
But there was no turning back. She had the pictures she needed—he’d been out of it, but not so much that she couldn’t get him into the right position—and now she had to finish it. In a manner of speaking.
Elise unbuckled his pants and pulled them down to his ankles. Then his boxers. He stunk, like he’d peed himself. She knew what she had to do, but it took her a minute to work up the courage.
“He’s only going to get deader.” She spit into her hand, then rubbed the guy’s dick twice.
“Ugh.” She ran to the bathroom to scour her hands. There was no soap, but the water got hot enough that she was satisfied there was no dead guy on her palm. She looked into the mirror—her makeup was still intact, but she reapplied the bright red lipstick because most of hers she’d smeared on the mark’s neck and mouth.
No way in hell was she putting her mouth on his dick now that he was dead. Why couldn’t he have just gone along for the ride from the beginning? She was young and cute and knew exactly what to do and say to get any guy off, even the most prudish prick. How could he say no? It made her job that much more difficult. And disgusting.
She’d damn well better get a bonus.
Elise left the bathroom and surveyed the room. Her prints and DNA were where they needed to be, her mark was half-naked, and she’d been in enough cheap motel rooms to know the scene looked exactly how she wanted it to.
She extracted his wallet from his pants and removed his cash—$120—then tossed the empty billfold on the nightstand. She grabbed his cell phone and pocketed it before walking out.
“Se?ora!”
Elise closed the door and froze.
“Se?ora, I’m here for Se?or Worthington. He say to come back in one hour.”
She turned and assessed the intruder. He was in his thirties, Mexican, with a moustache and rumpled clothes. A taxi was parked a few stalls down.
She showed her best seductive expression. “I wore him out.” Then she winked. “I can wear you out, too, sugar.”
He backed off. “Uh, I’m married.” He held up his left hand to show her his ring.
“So was he. It’ll be between you and me.”
The taxi driver shook his head. “Can, um, you tell Se?or that I’m here?”
She frowned. “He has the key.” She knocked on the door, then shrugged. “Sorry. He sleeps like a rock, I guess.” She hesitated, considering what this driver might do or say. Chances are he would leave but she couldn’t count on it. She glanced around, saw no one, then bit her lip and said quietly, “You know, I really gotta go or my boss will take it out on my ass. I don’t like being knocked around.” She jogged away from the motel, keeping her head down.
The taxi driver didn’t follow or comment.
At first, Elise thought getting caught outside the door would be trouble, but then she realized it could actually work to her benefit.
Once she was out of sight of the motel, she slowed to a walk and continued three blocks south. She opened the rear door of an idling black Mercedes, and settled back into the soft leather seat. The car pulled into traffic.
“Problems?”
“The guy didn’t want to f*ck. But I got the pictures, and everything else went as ordered.” Sort of.
“Anyone see you?”
“Worthington’s taxi driver returned. I hit on him and he scurried away.”
Silence.
“What?” she said.
“You were supposed to be a scared whore, running because her john had a heart attack.”
She rolled her eyes. “He barely spoke English.”
“That doesn’t matter! Dammit, Elise, can’t you do one thing right?”
“I did it all right, and I’m not going to take shit from you. Told the driver that my boss would beat me if I didn’t get back. Besides, he probably’ll just disappear. He’s a f*cking taxi driver, not a rocket scientist.”
“You’re a f*cking bitch.”
“I learned from the best.” She stuck her tongue out at the back of the driver’s head. Mona Hill was an old whore; Elise was the next generation. But right now, they needed each other. “They’ll find me and I’ll play my part. I’ve already done my research. This is going to be a piece of cake.”
“Don’t get cocky. There’s a lot at stake and we can’t afford any screw-ups.”
Elise scowled. Like Mona needed to tell her that?
Mona drove Elise ten minutes across town and pulled into a hotel roundabout. “Your john is waiting for you in room 606. Make sure you let the security cameras see you. And try to look at least a little scared.”