Autumn Lake (5 page)

“Remember what I told you,” he said, backing away from the door so she could leave at will. “I’m looking forward to it.”

If he knew how she planned to serve dinner, he wouldn’t casually anticipate the night ahead. He’d count down the minutes and seconds until they’d meet again.

Chapter Seven

“I’ll be double-damned.” Logan shoved his cell phone in his pocket and sat next to Sassy. He’d convinced Summer to take a ride with them and with Tigger away on club business, Cara tied up—most likely in the literal sense—with Scott, no one would miss Summer if she slipped away for a few hours.

Summer looked concerned. “They told you the same thing. Didn’t they?”

Logan nodded, processing what Unit Chief Laron Malory had relayed. “We have a new handler who’ll be here within the next two weeks. They’ll notify us when he’s in place.”

“Well at least you got more out of him than I did.”

“How’s that?”

“Malory told me he wasn’t sure who’d they’d send but he’d let me know when the assignment had been made and give us a day’s notice to set up a meet.”

“That’s what he told me.”

“Yes, but you said, ‘They’ll notify us when
he’s
in place’ which suggests Malory trusts you more. They’re sending in a male, not a female.”

Sassy rolled her eyes and bobbed her cute little head, stirring her milkshake with a French fry. “No. See you have that all wrong. Logan here, love his heart, is a tad bit chauvinistic.” She elbowed him. “Tell her, honey.”

Logan’s lips twitched. “It doesn’t matter either way.”

“See there.” Sassy pointed her dripping wet fry at Summer and said, “I told ya. Logan won’t say as much but he doesn’t think a woman could handle the job.”

“Anyone could do a better job than what Sampson did, especially on the end.”

“True.” Sassy devoured her fry. “If you ask me, it’s time they sent a woman in here. The last thing you need is another asshole like Gaylord or Mark calling all the shots. Another wrong move and both of you could end up in the river.”

Summer picked at her cheeseburger. “You sound like you’re prepared for that possibility.”

Sassy glanced at Logan. “If that happens, I’ll drag him out of that nasty water and kill him again.”

Logan gave her a quick look just to be sure she hadn’t started sobbing. Lately, every time he turned around she was weeping over some little silly matter, not that death was something to be taken lightly but he’d begun to worry about her stability. She lived in constant fear Logan would be made.

He draped his arm around Sassy’s shoulder and studied Summer. “Something else bothering you?”

Summer hesitated. She thinned her lips and looked pained to say anything more. Finally, she blurted, “The club’s running dirty again, Logan.”

“It is.” The old ladies were privy to that much information. As an undercover agent screwing one of the full patch members she had a right to know anyway.

“And Tigger is smack dab in the middle of it.”

“That’s his choice, Summer. I told you from the very beginning. I was concerned for your safety and Tigger’s.”

“We’ve never tried to pry, Summer,” Sassy intervened. “But Logan warned you when this all came down, Tigger would be the first to go. Logan never tried to hide anything from you.”

“I know,” Summer said, looking off in the distance before focusing on Logan. “He’s your friend. If roles were reversed here, I believe he’d come to you and get you out. I know he would. He loves you like a brother.”

“I care about him, too, but you’ve gotta look at this thing from an agent’s perspective instead of an old lady’s. Tigger is running guns, Summer. He was a key player in that part of the business before and he’s heading it up now. When this thing wraps up, they won’t just pick and choose which fellas they want and which ones are free to go. You and I both know where Tigger will be in all this when the gavel comes down.”

“I love him,” she said, tears now slipping from her eyes.

Sassy squeezed Logan’s bicep. Summer brushed her wet cheek dry. “I would do anything for him. Don’t you see?”

“I do see,” Logan said. “And I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes right now. I can’t tell you what I would do because I don’t know what I would do.”

Sassy cleared her throat and Summer looked up. “Would you run?”

“For Sassy?” He slowly nodded. “But I can hide. At this point, I’m not sure you can. Tigger won’t go and even if he considered running, you would place yourself in a very dangerous situation if you risked telling him. He could turn on you, Summer.”

“He won’t.”

“He might,” Logan said firmly. “Then what? You’ll expose the operation. You’ll lose the man you love and the career you wanted. Then, everything will have been for nothing.”

****

“You do this often?” Cav Reynolds had been assigned to help her in any capacity, but when her father ordered him to Tennessee, he probably hadn’t quite imagined Nyotaimori as part of his job description. “I’m assuming you’ve practiced
this art,
if you call it that, since you seem to know so much about it.”

“Just finish up,” Autumn snapped, glancing at the television and noting the time. “He’ll be here at six o’clock.”

“I hope for this poor guy’s sake, he isn’t late.” Cav touched her arm with the back of his hand. “You’re freezing, Autumn.”

“The sushi was ice cold.”

“I can see that,” Cav said, taking another roll from the tray and popping it in his mouth. Around a mouthful, he said, “If your father knew what I was doing about right now, he’d fire me on the spot.”

“Then I guess we shouldn’t tell him. You’d lose your job. I’d lose a close friend. And my father would never tire of telling me of his latest disappointment.”

“Do you mind if I ask why you decided to do this right out of the gate?” He cleared his throat, looked away, and practically tossed Sushi at her pussy.

She rolled her eyes and released a hard breath. “I want Jake to know I’m not a tease, but more importantly, I want him to know he doesn’t scare me.”

“You may scare him.” Cav said, standing back and looking her over once more. “You’re decked out for the party, darlin’. I’ll give you that much credit. If you want to prove you’re a ballsy chick, this should do it. As for teasin’, well I’m not sure what you mean there so I’ll just leave on that note.”

“Thanks, Cav.” She slowly turned her head, afraid movement might jar a piece of sushi from her body.

“Don’t mention it.”

“If you pass him on your way out, don’t look at him. Just keep walking.”

“I can do that.”

“Good,” she said, taking a calming breath. Rushing through her mental checklist, she was almost certain she’d remembered everything until she considered the image she’d created for Jake. “Wait! Don’t leave yet!”

“Yeah?” Cav stopped one step shy of exiting her apartment.

“Come here for a second.”

Cav went to the head of the dining room table. “What’s the matter?”

“Spread my hair around my face so it fans out all over the place. I want to look sexy.”

“You look like a sea monster with round flesh wounds.”

“Gee thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I’m supposed to look sexy!”

“If you say so,” Cav grumbled, lifting her head up and pulling her hair every which way but loose.

“And remember, not a word to Dad.”

“Autumn, your father would kill me. The mean bastard would shoot me with my own blasted gun.”

“You’re probably right,” she muttered. “Oh and one more thing.”

“What now?”

In the distance, she heard the thunderous racket of Jake’s Harley as he pulled in the lower parking lot right under her front window.

“Never mind. We’ll talk business tomorrow.”

“If uh…” He wiggled his fingers at her body. “If this gunk doesn’t work out, give me a call and we’ll go over a few things tonight. The Mrs. will be there so don’t say anything to upset her.”

“I thought she knew you were coming over here to help me with this.”

“Oh she did. She just doesn’t know your dad is back in the gun business.”

“I see.” She could’ve set Cav’s mind at ease and told him they wouldn’t be arms dealers for very long. If she could tell him to scram, she’d take him to the airport tomorrow and maybe set him up in a nice seaside pad, somewhere away from other people. Then, she’d deal with Cav in her own way, in her own time.

Cav was her father’s most loyal friend and when all of this came to an end, his life as he’d lived it—as a hired gun, an enforcer of sorts—would be over. “Well, Jake’s here.”

“I’ll see ya, little.”

“See ya.” Her eyes burned when he called her by her pet name. He’d once called her brother pet names, too, but he hadn’t hesitated to put him in the grave when the order was handed down by her father.

Blowing out a hard breath, she refused to think about the past, the people who had betrayed her, those who had been close to her family and yet turned on them when the price was high enough.

She was in one hell of a cluster fuck of a situation. She glanced down the length of her body and then jerked when the door slammed behind her.

Jake slowly approached the table. “Sweet fucking mercy.”

“Hi.”

“You pull a stunt like this and ‘hi’ is all you’ve got?” His expression was priceless. “And to think I was afraid you couldn’t prepare a good meal.”

“You think this looks good.” She fluttered her eyelashes and admired the man staring back at her with nothing but pure lust. “Wait until you see what I have planned for dessert.”

Chapter Eight

“I passed one of your guys.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He’d seen a lot in his time, but he’d never seen anything quite like this. Prepared like a five-course meal and laid out on the table, Autumn was covered in sushi.

“You passed one of my guys?” She snickered, apparently wise to his lost train of thought. “It was Cav.”

“Did he um…” Jake cleared his throat and took a final step to the table. “Did he help you with all this?”

“Who else was I supposed to call?”

“You’re looking at him.” He growled. “And Cav is lucky I didn’t know what he’d done in here. I’m not sure I could’ve let him leave the premises with his life.”

He loved playing the badass. Prior to joining the Heroes and Rogues, he’d been somewhat of a nerd. Computer geeks typically finished last when it came to women, but thanks to his position in the club, he’d had plenty of pussy, lots of great sex, and opportunities such as this.

Fuck. Who was he kidding? He’d never had the opportunity to see a woman like this.

“I hope you’re hungry.” Her seductive voice lured him away from his thoughts.

“Starved,” he said, holding up a case of beer. “I thought you wanted beer. If I’d known you were going to all this trouble, I would’ve brought champagne.”

“If you want bubbly, there’s plenty in the fridge.”

“Can I pour you a glass?” He stared down at those voluptuous breasts. Good damn, Autumn had the T&A down to a science.

“Glasses are in the cabinet above the dishwasher.”

“Don’t go anywhere.” He backed away from temptation momentarily. “Ah fuck. What the hell?” He leaned over her belly and nuzzled her flat stomach. “Do you mind?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” she said, a noticeable hitch in her shaky voice.

He used his tongue to scoop up a smaller piece of sushi. After he chewed and swallowed, he pointed at the kitchen. “Be right back.”

“Hurry,” she said. “I’m freezing out here.”

“I’ll warm you up.”

He entered her kitchen and made himself at home. Stacking the beer in the produce drawers, he grabbed an open bottle of Riesling. “Wine okay?”

“Sure. I like it better than champagne anyway.”

He could get used to his—an agreeable woman who not only had a kicking body but also possessed a very kinky imagination. He’d heard of Nyotaimori before, but he’d never experienced it for himself. Then again, he couldn’t imagine too many men who had the pleasure of enjoying this sort of treat behind closed doors. He’d always known money could buy anything. Apparently, a mobster’s daughter only had to flash some cash and Daddy’s men would do whatever she required.

He’d probably have to thank Cav for his service.

Locating the long-stem glasses, he poured the wine and returned the bottle to the refrigerator. He paid attention to her spotless modern kitchen, from the black and white décor to the matching curtains to the stemware and plates, the state-of-the-art pad proved she’d gone to a lot of work designing a comfortable home, even if she resided in a rented space, a space that wasn’t exactly considered high-end or luxurious living.

Still, Autumn had her shit together. It had been a while since Jake had been invited to a woman’s place. He didn’t date. He rarely hung out with the broads. Oh sure, if they came looking for him, he gave them what they wanted and sent them on their way, but overall, he didn’t go looking for women because he didn’t typically search out trouble.

Now, here he was in the heart of danger thinking he could get used to this. He paused at the door. Shaking his head once, he reminded himself of his position. The woman on the other side of the wall was an arm’s dealer’s daughter.

Jake was a federal agent deep undercover, so deep that the previous handler hadn’t been apprised of his assignment. Mark Sampson had pitted one agent against the other and blown covers in the process. Jake’s job was to stay in place, keep silent, and hope the other two agents didn’t lose their lives because of Sampson’s big mouth.

Unaware of all the details, Jake understood why he’d been placed. He looked younger than his thirty-five years and had been seemingly successful out west in a similar undercover role. In spite of his former geeky life, the feds had dolled him up the way biker chicks liked their men. By the time he’d assumed the role of a Heroes and Rogues’ prospect, he’d been a playboy, primed and ready to take his spot in the wild and free world known as biker territory.

The broads often called Jake a womanizer. He’d never quite understood that one. Since snatching his H&R patch, he hadn’t dated. He’d never asked a woman out. Women complicated the job yet here he was—about to be played by someone who knew how to play the game when she was playing for keeps.