Hottest Mess (S.I.N. #2)(14)

Now, he tilted his shaved head back, his eyes going immediately to Dallas as if he’d known that Dallas was watching. Hell, he probably had. He grinned, his white teeth bright against his dark skin. Without hesitation, he pushed through the crowd, then paused at the base of the stairs like a wall of pure muscle and waited for Dallas to join him.

“I came here planning to put Archie on a couple of hours’ worth of data analysis,” Liam said, skipping over the prelims and getting right to business.

“He left Monday,” Dallas said, referring to his butler and Deliverance’s go-to guy, all rolled into one. “Had some personal things to take care of.”

Dallas leaned against the balustrade, remembering how pleased he’d been to get the note from Archie saying that something had come up and he needed to take time off. Dallas hadn’t relished the thought of explaining to the man who had helped raise both him and Jane why the two of them were sharing a bedroom.

Liam, however, knew the situation, and now Dallas flashed a quick grin at his friend. “A convenient trip, actually.”

“I know.” Liam grinned. “I heard you sent my mom away,” he added, referring to Helen Foster, who had worked at the Southampton mansion as a housekeeper since before both men were born. “She appreciates the spa week. Said it was quite the surprise the way you hustled her into the limo and sent her off to the Ritz Carlton.”

“Your mom works hard,” Dallas said dryly. And it was true. She and Archie were the only two permanent staff he retained, not only because he valued his privacy, but he didn’t want anyone who was unaware of Deliverance having unfettered access to the property. “I figured she deserved to be pampered.”

“You just wanted to frolic naked with Jane.”

“That too.”

“When’s Archie back?”

“Tomorrow. You want to stay the night and catch him in the morning?”

Liam shook his head. “I’ve got plans in the city tomorrow morning before I head back to London. I’ll leave instructions in the op-center,” he added, referring to the mansion’s converted basement that Deliverance used as one of its operational bases.

Liam started toward the bar that had been set up on the far side of the room, and Dallas fell in step beside him. “So you look all rested and refreshed,” Liam said. “Not too tired out.” His mouth quirked. “Must be doing something wrong.”

“Fuck you.”

Liam laughed, then ordered a tequila for himself and a whiskey for Dallas. “Seriously, you two okay?”

“If you’re talking about her wanting to rip my balls off after she found out about Deliverance, then I have to say we’ve come through that just fine.”

It had been hell for a while after she’d unexpectedly learned that truth, and Dallas had just about died thinking that he’d lost her. But they’d gotten past it, thank god, and Dallas knew that Liam had helped. “Thanks, by the way. I know you talked with her.”

Liam shrugged. “You two are my best friends. That entitles me to butt in.”

Dallas grinned. “Yes it does.”

The bartender passed them their drinks, and they stepped away. When they were out of earshot, Liam spoke softly, “And Colin? You still haven’t said anything to her?”

It was a fair question. Liam had been the one to call with the news about Colin’s possible involvement in the kidnapping, and both he and Dallas had agreed that Jane shouldn’t know. But that was four days ago. Four days of sex and intimacy, and Dallas could understand why his friend might think he’d changed his mind.

“I haven’t said a word,” Dallas admitted. “Honestly, though, I’m afraid that decision is going to come back and bite me in the ass.” He looked hard at Liam. “This can’t drag out forever. We need answers. Tell me you’ve decrypted the netbook.”

Liam’s expression darkened. “Not yet.”

“Fuck.”

Liam shook his head. “We will. But in the meantime …” He took a breath, then rubbed his temple with two fingers, a sure sign that he was troubled.

“Tell me.”

Liam steered them toward a secluded corner and lowered his voice even more. “We found a lock box with old hard drives hidden under some floorboards in Ortega’s house.”

Dallas cocked his head. That really was interesting. “Noah’s been working on them, I assume? You’ve found more intel on Colin?”

“Some of the data’s corrupt, and some we haven’t broken encryption on. It’s a lot to work through, but, yeah. From what we’ve seen, we know that there was email correspondence between Ortega and Colin about pulling a new job.”

“When?”

“That’s the kicker. About a month before you were taken.”

“You think they were planning the kidnapping.”

“It’s possible,” Liam agreed. “Or they could have been talking about smuggling drugs, arms, counterfeit bills. We don’t know.”

“But you don’t think it’s any of those things.”

Liam met his eyes. “Neither do you.”

Dallas dragged his fingers through his hair, trying not to let his anger and frustration show on his face, just in case anyone was paying attention. “I know this man,” he said roughly. “I grew up around him. He f*cked up, sure—he’s done jail time, he’s made some stupid decisions, and he put Jane in danger, especially that time when she was eleven. But I never believed he meant to hurt her back then.”