Trouble In A Tight Dress (Six Points Security Book 1) Read online

  Trouble in a Tight Dress

  A Six Points Security Novel

  Lori Sjoberg

  Marine Veteran Austin Flint knows all about trouble. He fought it in Afghanistan, and now he battles it at home as the head of Six Points Tactical & Security. In his line of work, he can’t afford to be distracted by anything…or anyone, and that includes Nina Petrov, his cyber security expert. She’s got a chip on her shoulder, a smart mouth. And a body that just doesn’t quit. She’s also his employee, which makes her off limits, no matter how badly he wants her. But when her life is threatened by the Russian mafia, he’ll do what it takes to protect her, even if that means breaking his own code of honor and claiming her as his own.

  Trouble is, he doesn’t know about her past, and what he doesn’t know might get them both killed.

  Copyright © 2017 by Lori Sjoberg

  Trouble in a Tight Dress: A Six Points Security Novel

  by Lori Sjoberg

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictionally. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Lori Sjoberg

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9985644-1-8

  Lori Sjoberg (2017-03-24). Trouble in a Tight Dress: A Six Points Security Novel

  Keywords: Sexy southern alpha, computer hacker romance, blue collar romance, opposite attract romance, romantic suspense, Russian mafia, humor

  Also By Lori Sjoberg

  Southern Alphas

  Driven

  Fractured

  Devoted

  Denied

  Six Points Security

  Trouble in a Tight Dress

  Danger in a Dive Bar

  Indecent Obsession

  Can’t Hold Back

  The Grave Series

  Grave Intentions

  Grave Destinations

  Grave Vengeance

  Grave Attraction

  Would you like a FREE book from Lori?

  Sign up for Lori’s newsletter and get a free copy of her scorching short story, Burning Down the House! Click here to get started: http://eepurl.com/bvzCXH.

  Contents

  Trouble in a Tight Dress

  Copyright

  Would you like a FREE book from Lori?

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  THERE WAS A very fine line between justice and revenge. A line that easily blurred. Years had passed, and not a day went by that Austin Flint didn’t wish he could rewrite history. But that wasn’t an option, so he’d settle for cold, hard vengeance.

  Trying not to look obvious, he glanced down at his watch and frowned. Nina was late. Again.

  He should have known better than to trust his computer tech to arrive at the fundraiser on time. The woman was late for everything. Hell, she’d probably be late to her own funeral.

  Absently, he gave a polite nod to the old man beside him who was rambling on and on about voter demographics and redistricting. Normally, he would have asked his sister, Larissa, to join him at the function, but she was off cruising the Caribbean with her husband and daughter, leaving him no other choice but to recruit her protégé to fill in.

  And damn it, this was important. He’d pulled all kinds of strings to score an invitation to the political event held at Senator Benjamin Trask’s enormous mansion just outside the Orlando city limits. The place was packed with celebrities and power brokers rubbing elbows and raising money. But Austin wasn’t here to support the senator who’d been in office for almost twenty years. On the contrary: his goal was to determine whether Trask was secretly taking bribes from Roberto Aranza, a Mexican drug lord.

  He and his siblings had been searching for Aranza ever since the asshole had nearly killed their brother, Wade, while he worked for the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Using all of the tools at their security company’s disposal, they’d come close once or twice, but the slippery bastard had recently flown off the radar and they hadn’t been able to locate which rock he was hiding under. Perhaps, if the rumors were right and they could connect him to the senator, they could use the information to not only take down a dirty politician, but to also bring Aranza to justice and give Wade the closure he desperately needed.

  And for that, he required Nina’s skill set. She was a whiz with technology, almost as good as his sister, and if anyone could install the device that would grant them access to the senator’s electronic files, it was her.

  He flicked a glance across the room to his brother Ryan, who was making conversation with a well-dressed middle-aged couple while he nursed some kind of highball. Ryan arched a brow, the question clear in his eyes, and Austin gave a slight shrug in response.

  Frustration mounting, Austin checked the time again. Okay, that did it. His patience was officially exhausted. But just as he pulled his phone from his pocket, the ballroom’s double doors swung open and a small group of people entered: an elderly couple, a woman in her fifties, and a young man talking to Nina as though she was the absolute center of his universe.

  It was the first time Austin had ever seen her in anything other than low-slung jeans and T-shirts, and despite his irritation, the sight hit him like a punch to the solar plexus. Tonight she wore a clingy black dress that flaunted her curves and a pair of matching high heels that made her legs seem even longer than usual. Her short blonde hair was styled to frame her face, and she’d done something to her whiskey eyes to make them look all dark and smoky.

  He could tell the exact moment she saw him, because a smile stretched across her ruby-red lips and jacked his blood pressure straight through the roof.

  After excusing himself, he strode across the room to where Nina now stood by the bar. He forced a smile as he approached, though it must not have been very convincing because the guy with Nina visibly tensed.

  “Sweetheart, you made it.” It took everything he had to keep his voice sounding cordial. Ignoring the other guy, he placed his hand at the small of her back. “Come with me; I want to introduce you to someone.”

  As he led her away, he leaned in close so no one could overhear him. “You’re late.”

  “Ten minutes. Get over it. Besides, I was being fashionable. Only dorks show up on time.”

  Austin bit back an instinctual growl. It was a damn good thing she was so adept at her job. Otherwise, he would have fired her months ago. She was nothing but trouble, with a chip on her shoulder, a smartass mouth.

  And a body that just didn’t quit.

  Not that he’d noticed or anything.

  Okay, that was a lie. He was a guy,
and Nina was beyond perfect. She was smoking hot, tall, and curvy, with great breasts, long legs, and an ass that could stop traffic. Even now, he wanted to run his hands through her hair and smear the lipstick right off her mouth.

  But she was also his employee, and that kind of entanglement had disaster written all over it. If he got involved with Nina and things went south, his sister would tear him a new one. Besides, he wasn’t in the market for a relationship, not after what happened with his ex-wife, Taylor.

  “Did you bring your equipment?” he asked.

  She shot him an “are you kidding me?” look as she lifted her left hand to reveal a small black clutch.

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s all I need.”

  A small, petty part of him hoped she’d forgotten something, just so he could see that smug expression wiped off her face. But the job was too important—Wade was too important—to hope for something like that to happen.

  More than two years had passed, and Wade still bore the harsh physical and mental scars from the ordeal. Even now, he refused to talk about what happened—not to Austin, his brothers, Larissa, or the therapist assigned by the DEA. And with each passing day, he withdrew deeper and deeper into his shell. If he didn’t get some kind of closure soon, Austin feared he might do something drastic.

  Austin’s gaze darted to Ryan, who was still chatting with the couple, and his brother gave a discreet nod. Time to get started. He gave Nina a look, and the smile left her face as she set her nearly-full glass on the tray of a passing waiter. After making sure no one was paying attention, he took her hand and led her up the stairs and down a long hallway to where Trask’s home office was supposed to be located. As expected, the door was locked, so he retrieved the small set of picks from the pocket of his jacket and made fast work of the bolt.

  Once inside, he closed the door behind them and flipped on the lights. The room was large and smelled faintly of cigar smoke. Shelves of leather-bound books covered two walls from floor to ceiling. Another wall was decorated with plaques and certificates, while a large window provided a view of the pool in back of the house. Nina crossed to the huge mahogany desk on the opposite side of the room.

  “Need any help?” Austin asked.

  “No, I’m good.” She grabbed the tablet on the corner of the desk and removed it from the protective case. In less than a minute, she’d pried it apart with a few small tools from her clutch and unhooked the wire that connected the display screen to the rest of the tablet.

  Honestly, he had no idea what she was doing. He wasn’t a tech kind of guy. As the president of Six Points Tactical and Security, his job was to keep the business moving forward, though every so often he gave in to the urge to get his hands dirty in the field. All he knew was that Nina and Larissa had built some kind of device that would allow them to remotely access the tablet at any time without the owner being aware of the intrusion. It was kind of scary, the things they came up with, but he was thankful to have that kind of resource available when it came to jobs like this.

  Nina was in the process of putting the tablet back together when Austin’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Checking the screen, he saw a text from Ryan: Company coming your way.

  Shit. He stuffed his phone back into his pocket. “How much longer?” he asked Nina.

  She didn’t look away from her work. “Couple—three minutes.”

  “You’ve got one.” There was no way to know whether the people headed in their direction were coming to this particular room, but knowing his luck, they were. To buy more time, he locked the door, but that was only a temporary solution.

  He scanned the room, searching for a place for them to hide. There was no closet, no connecting door to another room. Hell, there weren’t even any curtains for them to hide behind. And with the office being located on the second floor, going out the window wasn’t an option. Actually, he’d be okay with the jump, but he didn’t think Nina would fare well in her dress and heels, and he wasn’t about to leave her to fend for herself.

  At the desk, Nina placed the back onto the tablet and returned it to its protective case. She scooped up the tiny tools and dropped them into her clutch.

  The doorknob rattled. A man’s voice in the hall said something, but it was too muffled to make out the words.

  They were trapped, and it was only a matter of time before the door opened. If they didn’t have a good reason for being in the room, they’d probably end up in jail.

  Or worse.

  Nina’s eyes widened at the sound of a key going into the lock. As the doorknob twisted, Austin’s adrenaline spiked. If they couldn’t escape, then they needed a plausible excuse to justify their presence, and he could think of only one. Without time to explain, he pulled Nina close and kissed her.

  OF ALL THE things she’d anticipated happening tonight, Austin Flint kissing her wasn’t anywhere on the list. Nina’s brain short-circuited at the feel of his mouth on hers. Honestly, she didn’t know how to react. Yeah, there was shock, and a healthy dose of outrage, but mostly, the little voice inside her head was screaming, “Hot damn, about time!”

  Without a doubt, the man knew how to kiss, which really didn’t surprise her. Not that she’d thought much about it—okay, maybe a little, and every so often her mind strayed into dangerous territory. In addition to being tall, dark, and drop-dead gorgeous, the man was seriously built. He was big but not bulky, with a broad chest, muscular arms, and she didn’t even want to think about what was going on below the belt. Then again, how could she not? A woman’s self-control only went so far.

  But he was also her boss, so she wasn’t about to go there. She liked her job, as well as the people she worked with—especially Larissa, who’d become her closest friend—and she refused to let her hormones jeopardize the new life she’d built for herself.

  The door swung open behind Austin, and a man let out an inarticulate sound of surprise. Austin didn’t seem to hear it—or perhaps he simply ignored it, because he slid his fingers into her hair and continued to plunder her mouth. Despite the fact they were being watched, or maybe because of it, her body immediately responded. Heat flared inside her, pushing out from her core, and rushed to all of her nerve endings like fierce invisible flames.

  Her lips parted on a moan and Austin took full advantage, his tongue sweeping inside to caress hers. God, he tasted incredible, masculine and rich, and the hunger she always felt for him ignited into a full-blown craving. If he’d gotten her this worked up with just his mouth, she could only imagine what he was capable of doing when he used every weapon in his arsenal.

  She expected the person who opened the door to say something, but instead, she heard the sound of the door clicking shut, followed by footsteps in the hall. Who had opened the door? Probably not the senator; he didn’t strike her as the type to leave quietly after finding strange people making out in his office. Or maybe it was him, and he was calling security to come throw them out on their ears.

  Austin pulled back, separating their lips on a harsh gasp. His fingers were still tangled in her hair, his mouth a whisper from hers and red from her lipstick. He looked stunned, off balance, something she’d never seen before, and she felt better knowing she wasn’t the only one.

  He drew a deep breath, as though pulling himself together, and on the exhale, the cool exterior slipped back into place. As he drew back, he swiped a hand over his mouth and wiped the lipstick away. “Did you finish?”

  What did he mean, finish? They hadn’t even gotten started. Then she realized what he meant and she thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t asked the question out loud. “Yeah, it’s all set.”

  He nodded, his demeanor all business again. “We should go then.”

  Without another word, he walked to the door, cracked it open, and peered outside. The hall must have been clear, because he opened the door wider and gestured for her to come along. When she reached him, he swiped his thumb along the corner of her mouth.

  “Your lipsti
ck’s smeared.” His deep-green eyes were still a little glassy and dark, and focused square on her lips. “You might want to hit the restroom before going back.”

  Not sure how to respond, she simply nodded and went out the door. At the curve in the hall, she veered left to the ladies’ restroom, while Austin continued toward the ballroom.

  Yep, he was right: her lipstick was a mess, and her hair stuck up in a few places where he’d run his hands through it. The sight of it triggered the memory in her mind, sending a burst of heat right through her. Ignoring the sensation, she finger-combed her hair back into place and wiped the red smears away. She wasn’t anywhere as polished as she’d been when she arrived, but it would have to do. Her tools had taken up all the space in her purse, leaving no room for makeup. Oh well. She’d already accomplished her goal for the evening, so who gave a crap about how she blended?

  Finished, she exited the bathroom and returned to the ballroom, where she made a beeline for the bar. After everything that happened, she needed a drink. She wasn’t used to this cloak-and-dagger bullshit. Usually, she spent the bulk of her time behind a keyboard, doing whatever Six Points Tactical and Security needed her to do to keep their clients safe.

  While she waited for her drink, she scanned the ballroom and spotted Austin with his brother Ryan near the piano. Standing side-by-side, it was impossible to miss the strong family resemblance, though Austin was a tiny bit taller and more muscular. They shared similar features, the same jet-black hair, and their eyes were the exact shade of green that she found absolutely mesmerizing.

  As if sensing her presence, Austin looked in her direction. His gaze caught hers, his expression unreadable, and her stomach did a little flip.

  Nope, not going there, she reminded herself with a mental shake of her head. After thanking the bartender, she sipped her wine as she did a little old-fashioned people-watching. She’d never been to an event this big or fancy, and she felt a bit out of place. The crystal chandeliers alone must have cost more than what she earned in a year. Dozens of middle-aged and older men milled about with their trophy wives, rubbing elbows and making deals that would affect the lives of millions of people they’d never even meet.