Trouble in a Tight Dress (Six Points Security, #1) Read online

  He stared at her for the longest time, debating the best way to react. A part of him wanted to stay mad at her for leaving, wanted her to grovel, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. In the end, he simply opened his arms, and she rushed straight into them. Curling his arms around her, he laid his cheek against her hair, breathed in her subtle scent, and thought, home.

  “How did you get here?” he asked. “I didn’t see your car.”

  “I parked at Walmart and took a cab here.”

  He pulled his head back far enough to see her face. “That wasn’t safe. You should have called.”

  “I was careful.” Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “Are you all right? You smell like you’ve been drinking.”

  “Only a little.”

  “Enough that you shouldn’t have been driving.”

  “I wasn’t; Wade gave me a lift.” Because he couldn’t be this close to her and not kiss her, he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers. “I could have had one of the guys pick you up.”

  “It’s a moot point now. I’m here, I’m safe, and no one followed me.”

  “That reminds me, how did you get past the alarm? I set it before I left.” He’d personally designed the security system on his house, with sensors on every door and window, plus motion detectors along the exterior to let him know if anyone got within ten feet of the house. If the alarm was triggered, a notice went to his phone, email, and the central station, who would immediately contact the police.

  Nina’s mouth tipped up on one side. “I called Larissa; she gave me the code for the alarm and told me where you hid the spare key.”

  “Of course she did.” He let out a low huff of amusement. He probably should be angry at his sister, but he couldn’t when the end result of her meddling was Nina, soft and warm, in his arms.

  Before he forgot, he crossed to the panel by the door and activated the alarm. Nina was back. She was his. He had her all to himself, and he meant to make the most of every second. Tomorrow, they’d deal with her brother.

  Closing the distance between them, he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

  Nina let out a squeal. “What are you doing?”

  “Bedroom. I want you naked.” He started down the hall.

  “You could have just said so.”

  “Yeah, but my way’s more fun.” He gave her ass a playful swat and she let out another squeal. Inside the bedroom, he dropped her onto the bed and reached for his belt.

  Grinning, she propped herself up on her elbows, and the lust in her eyes made him harder than he thought humanly possible. “Is that a promise?”

  “No, it’s a guarantee.”

  Chapter Twenty

  THE ONLY OTHER TIME Nina had been in the conference room was when she’d interviewed for her job. The senior management of Six Points met there every week or two, depending on what was going on and how many of them were around. As Larissa’s assistant, Nina usually wasn’t invited, but considering her brother was on the agenda, they’d saved her a seat at the long, rectangular table.

  From his spot at the head of the table, Austin gave her a smile that melted her insides. Even now, she could feel his touch on her skin, his breath on her lips, his body branding hers. As though reading her thoughts, his smile broadened, and a rush of heat flooded her cheeks.

  Beside her, Larissa tapped away on her tablet, her eyes narrowed with concentration. The rest of the Flint brothers were discussing a college football player who got injured during a game over the weekend.

  “He’s going to be out for the entire season because of that? What a fucking pussy.” Nate’s eyes widened when he must have remembered there were women in the room. “Sorry, ladies.”

  “It’s okay.” Larissa looked up from her tablet, her expression more amused than offended. “It’s funny, though, how you men think pussies are fragile. I know mine can take one hell of a pounding and come right back for more.”

  A chorus of horrified groans echoed across the room, while Nate’s upper lip peeled back in horror. “Jeez! Why do you have to say shit like that?”

  “Because it’s true. And because it freaks you out. And hopefully it’ll make you think twice about calling anyone a pussy again.” She reached for her mug of coffee. “Next time, I’ll give you all the details about how well it handles the miracle of childbirth.”

  “Is this meeting going to start anytime soon?” Ryan said in an obvious attempt to change the subject. “If we could get things rolling, that would be great, because I’ve got things to do.”

  “Fair enough.” Austin’s voice rose over the chatter. He pressed a key on his computer, and a spreadsheet appeared on the screen behind him. “Let’s begin with the active accounts.”

  Nina listened intently, but honestly, she didn’t understand half of what they were talking about. Ask her about coding, and she’d perk right up, but discussions about scheduling overlays and returns on investment just about made her eyes glaze over. Eventually, they’d get to her brother. She had a few ideas for how to deal with Ivan, and she’d acted on one of them this morning. If things went according to plan, she’d receive some good news soon.

  “Ty, did you figure out what was wrong with Marlowe’s closed-circuit feed?” Austin asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

  “Squirrels,” Ty replied, looking annoyed. “I found six of the little bastards living in the crawl space. One of them made a nest in the relay station and chewed up the wires. Unfortunately, she electrocuted herself in the process, which made for one hell of a mess. I sealed the hole they used to get into the building. Hopefully, that’ll take care of the problem.”

  “Good job.” Austin keyed something into his laptop. “Ryan, what’s going on with Hale?”

  “She’s got another stalker who’s sending her love letters. The return address is a vacant house in Destin.”

  Austin frowned. “Are the letters threatening?”

  “Not yet, but there’s a major we’re-destined-to-be-together vibe to them. It wouldn’t surprise me if the tone turns ugly as soon as the guy figures out Vicky’s not interested.”

  “All right, keep me posted, and let me know if she’s going to need a personal protection detail.”

  “Will do.”

  Austin’s gaze flicked in her direction, and the way his mouth tightened let her know that he was about to open a discussion about her brother.

  He coughed to clear his throat. “The last item on today’s agenda has to do about Ivan Petrov. Nina’s roommate, Shailene Yates, is still in the intensive care unit, but the doctors think she’ll be well enough to move to a regular room in a day or two. The next person Ivan targets might not be so lucky. We need to find a way to deal with him before anyone else gets hurt or killed.”

  “How much do we know about him?” Nate asked, and Larissa started to rattle off the information she’d dug up on Ivan and his businesses.

  Nina’s phone vibrated in her back pocket, and she discreetly pulled it out to check the notification. She’d been expecting a text from Dorcas with an update on Shailene’s condition, but instead she received a message that put a huge grin on her face.

  “Holy shit, I’m in!” She flinched as soon as the words popped out of her mouth, because she hadn’t meant to say them out loud.

  All eyes focused on her, and she suddenly felt as if she were under a spotlight.

  “In where?” Austin asked.

  “Hold on, let me make sure this worked.” Pulse racing, she woke her laptop from sleep mode and clicked the icon for the software she needed to remotely access a program. “Yep, I’m in Ivan’s phone.”

  Austin’s jaw just about hit the table. “How’d you pull that off?”

  “I sent him a text this morning with a photo attachment, and he was stupid enough to open it. Now his phone’s infected with a type of malware that lets me access all of his data without his knowledge.”

  “Is that why you needed that?” Larissa smiled like a proud parent when Nina nodd
ed.

  Hope rising, Nina tapped on the keyboard, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. In the back of her mind, she knew they were all watching her work and waiting for her to speak, but they’d just have to be patient until she found something good and juicy.

  She leaned a little closer to the monitor as a dozen or so icons appeared in one of the open windows. “I’ve got his contacts list, email, text messages, bank account, Facebook—”

  “The Russian mafia is on Facebook?” Wade asked.

  She glanced over the top of the monitor at him. “Everyone’s on Facebook.”

  “I’m not on Facebook.”

  “That’s because you’re antisocial,” Nate said.

  Wade shrugged, conceding the point.

  Austin got out of his chair and rounded the table to where she sat. He leaned over her shoulder, and the warm, woodsy scent of his aftershave filled her senses. “Find anything good?”

  “I don’t know. Hold on, I’m still looking.” It was hard for her to concentrate when he was this close. Eyes narrowed, she somehow managed to block out the distractions and focused on the screen. She didn’t say anything for a good five minutes while she tapped and clicked away like a woman possessed. It was a cursory review—she’d dig deeper later—but right now she had four windows open, with each one displaying different bits of information she’d pulled from Ivan’s phone.

  Choosing one, she scrolled through his most recent texts. “It looks like he has a mistress. Or two. No, wait. Make that...five. How can he have enough time to juggle that many women and still run his empire?”

  “Maybe he takes Viagra,” Larissa suggested.

  Ty scoffed. “He’s too young to be taking that shit.”

  “Some guys do it so their boners last longer,” Nate said, and when most of the guys at the table looked at him funny, he added, “What? I’m just saying.”

  “Can we stay on topic, please?” Austin didn’t bother hiding the irritation in his voice, and Nina didn’t bother holding back her laugh.

  Minimizing the texts, she turned her attention to his email account and pored over the messages in his inbox. There was a notification from his credit card company, an appointment reminder from an eye doctor, a ton of order confirmations from Amazon... “Wait a minute. This might be something.”

  There was nothing quite like the thrill of the hunt, at least not for Nina, especially when she instinctively knew she was about to find something good. She pulled up a half-dozen sites on her browser, and after a few minutes of digging, she turned the screen slightly so Austin could see it better.

  “He bought a building in Umatilla six months ago. Actually, it was purchased by Horner Industries, but then it was re-sold the next day to Tagomi Corp. Tagomi is owned by Zephyr, which is owned by Cal-Penn, and so on and so on. But if you follow the bread crumbs long enough, it all backs up to Stavitskaya Enterprises.”

  “And who owns Stavitskaya?”

  “A company registered in the Cayman Islands and another registered in the Bahamas. But check out who owns the controlling interest of the Bahamian company.” She tapped at the screen, and Austin leaned a little closer to read the fine print.

  His dark eyebrows drew together. “Benjamin Trask. Son of a bitch.”

  “Guess he wasn’t involved with Aranza after all.” She had mixed feelings about that. On one hand, it gave them a tie between Ivan and the senator that they might be able to use, but it also meant they weren’t any closer to finding the drug lord who’d caused Wade so much suffering.

  “Did any of his emails say what they’re planning to use it for?” Nate asked.

  She shook her head. “Not in the ones I’ve read so far.”

  Austin’s features scrunched up, as though he was puzzling something in his mind. “Could you back up a few screens? Something about the address for that building rang a bell.”

  She did as he asked, and as he stared at the screen, she could tell the exact moment when the pieces clicked together in his mind.

  “It’s the old orange juice plant,” he said. “We just signed a contract to provide security for it.”

  “Are you sure?” Nina asked, and he nodded. “Was that before or after my brother learned I’m here?”

  He paused, as if running the dates through his mind. “They contacted us before the fundraiser, but they didn’t sign the contract until a few days afterward.”

  “Then they didn’t contact Six Points because of me. And since they buried everything under so much red tape, they might not have realized the connection after signing. Think we could use that to our advantage?”

  “I don’t see how. Right now, the place is just a big, empty warehouse. If they’re going to turn it into some sort of illegal operation, it’s going to be months before everything’s in place. We don’t have that kind of time.”

  “But they must be getting ready to act soon if they’re putting security in place.”

  “Not necessarily. It might just be a move to keep curious eyes at a distance.” Austin rubbed the back of his neck. “This is good information, but we’re going to need something stronger to force him to leave you alone.”

  She had a feeling he was going to say something like that, and she understood where he was coming from. He wanted to deliver a knockout punch as quickly as possible, and property records weren’t going to cut it. Her thoughts tracked back to her idea from last night, and with the items on her brother’s phone, she might be able to put it into action.

  “I think I know a way to take care of Ivan,” Nina said, and all eyes focused on her. Nervous, she pushed back her chair and stood, and after taking a deep breath, she laid out her plans. The longer she spoke, the more sour Austin’s expression became, which was exactly what she’d expected and why she hadn’t mentioned her ideas to him sooner.

  “Absolutely not,” he said before she even had a chance to finish. “We’ll find another way.”

  His quick dismissal pissed her off, but she kept her emotions in check. “But you haven’t even heard all of the details.”

  “Don’t need to. I’ve already heard more than enough. There’s no way in hell we’re putting you in that kind of danger.”

  “Oh, but it’s okay for you to get blown up?”

  “I didn’t get blown up. My truck did.”

  “It could have been you. Next time it might be. Or Larissa. Or Dorcas. Or one of your brothers. Is that what you want?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then let me do this. It’s the only way that doesn’t involve me disappearing or any of you getting killed.”

  “And you’re okay with that? You can live with the fact you put your only brother in prison?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? He kidnapped me, murdered a convenience store clerk, blew up your truck, and almost killed my roommate. He deserves to be in a cage the rest of his godforsaken life.” She paused long enough to get her emotions back under control. “My loyalty lies with you and Six Points. This is my family now, and I’ll do what it takes to keep you all safe.”

  He muttered something she couldn’t quite make out. “Do you have any idea what kind of danger you’d be in? This isn’t a goddamn game. This is life or death, and your brother won’t think twice about putting a bullet in your brain if he figures out you’re planning to betray him.”

  She lifted her chin and met his glare. “I’ve been looking over my shoulder every single day since I ran away from home. Scared is my normal baseline. I want my life back. I want to be free to go where I want, when I want, and with whom I want.”

  Austin made a frustrated sound as he looked around at his siblings. “Am I the only one here who thinks this is insane?”

  “I’m not happy about it,” Larissa said. “But if we play our cards right, she’d be in minimal danger.”

  “Minimal?” Austin rounded on Larissa, and the vein on his forehead looked like it was about to blow. “Would you be okay with minimal if it was Shane’s ass on the line? How about Emma?” />
  Larissa’s eyes thinned to slits as she rose from her seat and met his angry gaze. “If I were in her shoes, I’d do anything within my power to protect them.”

  He made a sound of pure exasperation before he turned to his brothers. “I could use a little help here, guys.”

  Nate shot her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Nina. It’s a good idea, but you’re not trained for this type of thing. There are too many areas where it could go wrong.”

  “I agree,” Ty said. “There’s got to be another way.”

  “I don’t know.” Ryan rubbed the side of his neck. “It’s risky, but if we tighten a few of the variables, it just might work.”

  Austin glared at Ryan before he turned his attention to Wade. “What’s your take on all this?”

  Wade leaned back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest and his face impossible to read. “I dealt with a lot of assholes like Petrov when I worked for the DEA. They’re ruthless when it comes to getting what they want, and if they can’t have it, they’ll destroy it so no one else can. Running’s not an option; it only delays the inevitable. You need to take him out or lock him up.” His gaze shifted to Nina. “Taking him out would be a hell of a lot easier. Are you sure you don’t want to go that route?”

  “Yes! He’s an ass, but I don’t want him murdered.” Although, truth be told, there were a few times in recent days where she’d felt like strangling him with her bare hands.

  Wade nodded. “In that case, we better make sure he goes away for a very long time. Your plan has good bones, but it needs a few adjustments. And you’re going to need help, a lot of it. If you want, I can make a few calls, pull a few strings.”

  Austin threw his hands up and made an exasperated sound. Muttering to himself, he paced the room like a lion in search of something to kill. At last, he stopped. “You really want to do this?”

  “I’m tired of running. This is the only way to stop the cycle.”