Careless (4 page)

“Oh no,” Tori said, sitting up. “He can’t know I’m here.”

It took a minute for Mike to process her words before he realized
the pounding in his head wasn’t the rush of the most intense release he’d ever
experienced. It was his brother pounding on his front door, shouting his name.

“I’m gonna kill him,” he muttered, rolling off Tori and making his
way into the adjoining bathroom to dispose of the condom. The only thing he
wanted to do right now was roll over, pull her into his arms, and rest up for
round two. Then maybe, just maybe he could convince her to spend one more night
with him.

“Whatever you do, don’t tell him I’m here,” she whispered. She
looked around frantically. “Oh no, my clothes… quick, go get them before you
let Jay in.”

Jealousy and fury played a dangerous game, each warring for
supremacy as he fought a losing battle for control. “Why do you care if my
brother knows you’re here?”

“Because we’re…
friends
. Besides, we agreed that no one could
know about this.”

Mike couldn’t believe she thought the rules still applied after
everything that had gone down between them tonight. “Fine… I’ll get your
goddamn clothes and you can get the hell outta here.” He walked backed into the
living room, grabbed her clothes, and tossed them on the floor of the bedroom
before slamming the door with enough force to rattle the frame.

“What the hell…” Mike opened the door a
crack and Jay forced his way inside.

“What were you thinkin’, man?” Jay asked,
getting in his face. “It wasn’t enough to go out with her? You had to bring her
home and do her here, in your apartment, knowing damn well I could hear
everything?”

Mike put his hand up. “Listen, you’re way
off base.”

“Of all the women you could have had. Why
her?”

“It wasn’t her.”

Jay turned around to see Tori standing in
the hallway, wearing one of Mike’s button-down shirts. Thankfully, it brushed
her knees. “What the hell—”

“Are you happy now?” Mike asked, walking
into the adjoining kitchen.

“No, hell no. What are you doin’ sleepin’
with Tori?” He followed him into the kitchen and scowled when Mike reached into
the overhead cabinet for a bottle of pain reliever. “You’ve been seein’
Victoria, yet you take off with someone else?”

Mike popped two pills into his mouth and
reached for a bottled water inside the fridge. “Tori said she was headin’ in my
direction and she wouldn’t mind givin’ me a lift…” His eyes traveled to Tori,
who was standing just outside the door. “Let’s just say a few too many shots,
and I made one hell of a mistake.”

Tori’s eyes flashed and her mouth fell open
before she snapped it shut again. “You made a mistake?” She snorted. “Hell, you
give new meanin’ to the word.” She turned on her heel and stormed down the
hall.

“That was harsh,” Jay said, wincing when
she slammed the bedroom door.

“It never should’ve happened.”

Tori’s hand was trembling as she leaned
against the bedroom door, gripping the pewter knob. How could she have been
naïve enough to believe that what happened between them actually meant
something to him?

She brushed away the tears sliding down her
cheeks, cursing his name as she bent to pick up her clothes. She thought if she
were brave enough to admit to his brother that there was something between
them, he’d be willing to do the same. But the cold, dark look in his eyes when
she ousted him told her she should have stayed behind closed doors, where he
clearly thought she belonged.

The cell phone she’d stuffed in her pocket
earlier buzzed. Avery. She cleared her throat, trying to infuse as much
enthusiasm into her voice as she could muster. “Hey, Avery, what’s up?”

“I know it’s late, but I just got an email
about that charity event you have scheduled for tomorrow night. There are going
to be dozens of photographers there, and I just needed to find out who you
intended to take as your date.”

If things had gone as she was hoping
tonight, she may have asked Mike, but obviously that wasn’t an option now. “Um,
I asked Jack to go with me.”

“Ohhh, you mean that boxer you’ve been
seeing?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, he’ll be perfect.”

No, Jack and every other man she knew
seemed sadly imperfect, especially now that she’d shared the lieutenant’s bed
and he’d proven himself more than capable of exceeding all of her expectations…
at least as a lover. No matter how good-looking he was, no matter how
impressive his body or his stamina between the sheets, he was still a self-centered
jackass.

“Glad you approve.”

Avery laughed. “I can’t wait to see your
gorgeous face plastered all over the Internet with that irresistible piece of
eye candy on your arm.”

Tori would make sure the photographers took
lots of candid photos of her and her date, talking, laughing, kissing, dancing,
and hopefully Mike would see them and realize what a fool he’d been to let her
go.
A girl could dream.

“I’ll talk to you later, Avery.” She
punched the button to disconnect the call and headed for the adjoining
bathroom.

Tori wasted no time slipping into her
clothes before splashing some cold water on her face and twisting her hair into
a ponytail. The only magazine cover she could hope to make in her current state
was one that featured ghastly before and after images of celebrities without
make-up.

It would have been nice to walk out with
her head held high, looking sexy, instead of taking the walk of shame with
his
cologne clinging to her damp skin like a skunk’s vile calling card.   

“You can do this,” she whispered to herself
as she threw the bedroom door open, thrust her shoulders back, and walked down
the short hallway to the kitchen.

She walked into the room and stood on her
tiptoes to brush a kiss across Jay’s cheek. “Nice to see you again, Jay.”

Jay smirked at his brother. “Yeah, you too,
Tori.”

She glared at Mike. “I wish I could say the
same about you.”

“Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on
the way out, baby.”                   

Tori wanted to say something smart in
return to put him in his place. Had it been anyone else, she would have, but
his words stung with the precision of an arrow piercing her heart.

It wasn’t until she’d slammed his door and
stepped on to the elevator that she allowed herself to succumb to regret. Of
all the men she could have slept with tonight, she had to give herself to the
one man who seemed determined to convince her she was nothing special.

Mike Cooper stormed into his father’s office. “What the hell is so
important that you had to pull me away from the weekly poker game with the
guys? I was up two hundred bucks.”

 “Have a seat,” Josh said, gesturing to one of the armchairs across
from his desk. “I have a proposition for you.”

“What kind of proposition?”

“We have a situation.”

When Josh sighed and scraped his hands over his face, for the first
time in a long time, Mike noticed his dad looked stressed and dog-tired. “Hey,
what’s goin’ on?” Mike leaned forward. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to ease
his father’s burden. This was the man who taught him how to be a man. If he
needed help, of course his son intended to be there for him. “Is it Lexi… or
one of the kids?”

“No, the family’s good. Work is the problem.”

Josh was the head of security for Titan Records, Luc Spencer’s
label, and he was responsible for co-ordinating the security teams for all of
their artists and tours, including Trey Turner, Ty McCall, Nikki Spencer, and
Tori
Warner.

“Okay, so let’s hear it. What’s goin’ on at work, and how can I
help?”

“Derek told me you’ve been bankin’ a lot of overtime, not to mention
unused vacation time. According to him, you could afford to take at least
twelve weeks right about now.”

Derek was Mike’s stepfather and his boss. “Where’re you goin’ with
this, Dad? I don’t wanna take any time off work. I’m in the middle—”

Josh held his hand up. “Just hear me out. I wouldn’t ask if it
wasn’t important.”

“Fine, let’s have it.”

“It’s about Tori.”

Every time he heard her name or saw her picture, he still felt it
like a blow to the gut. He knew he’d practically kicked her out the door after
their night together, but she’d retaliated by treating him like a complete
stranger the dozens of times they’d seen each other since that night.

Mike stood up. “I gotta go. I’m not interested in hearin’ anything
you have to say about that girl.”

“Someone’s out to get her.”

If Mike thought the mere sound of her name was enough to send him
reeling, that was nothing compared to the news that she was in serious trouble.
He sank back into the chair, not trusting his legs to support him. “What the
hell are you talkin’ about?”

“She has a stalker.”

“Shit,” Mike muttered. He didn’t want to know the details, he didn’t
even want to get involved, but if something happened to her, he would never be
able to live with himself. “Okay, fill me in.”

“It’s personal, real personal.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“This person has knowledge about intimate details of her life, stuff
no one could know unless…”

Mike didn’t need his father to draw him a picture. “You’re sayin’
this is someone she’s slept with?”

“Looks that way.”

“Son of a bitch.” Mike clenched his fist. There was no way he could
investigate every man Tori had ever slept with without going slowly out of his
mind. Just trying to get her out of his head after their one-night stand had
been hard enough, but what his father was asking of him would be torture. He
couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t do it. “I’m sorry, Dad. I wish I could help you,
but I can’t.”

“Listen, we both know I’ve never asked you for a damned thing. You
think I’d be comin’ to you with this now if I wasn’t desperate?”

 Mike dropped his head into his hands. “You don’t know what you’re
askin’ of me.”

“Did somethin’ happen between you and Tori? Somethin’ I don’t know
about?”

His only chance of getting out of this was telling his father the
truth, no matter how much it might cost him. “We slept together, okay?”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Mike’s head shot up and he scowled at his father. “What’re you
talkin’ about?”

“I always knew there was somethin’ between you two. Ever since…” He
paused, as though he was trying to recall the exact time the shift occurred.
“It was Brianna’s birthday party, wasn’t it? You two left together that night,
and things have been weird between you ever since.” Josh slammed his palm down
on his big mahogany desk. “Damn, I should’ve known.”

“Look, I don’t wanna talk about my sex life with you. Let’s just
say, I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m not the right man for this job.”

“Really? Luc and I happen to think you’re the only man for the job.”
He sighed. “Listen. The cops have been on this case for weeks, and they’re not gettin’
anywhere. They just don’t have the manpower to put someone on it twenty-four
seven, and that’s what we need.”

“Doesn’t she have another tour comin’ up soon?” Mike tried to turn
off the TV or radio whenever he saw or heard a tidbit about Tori, but he never
quite managed to hit the button before the story aired. 

“Yeah, the Down and Dirty tour. It’s gonna be crazy. Ty, Nikki,
Trey, and Tori. Sixty dates in twelve weeks. Every damn city is sellin’ out
minutes after the tickets go on sale.”

Mike wasn’t surprised. Four of country music’s heavy hitters on one
bill. It was bound to be the hottest ticket in any town. “You’re not suggestin’
I hit the road with Tori?” He’d never survive eighty-four nights breathing the
same air as that woman.

“That’s exactly what I need you to do.”

“No! Hell, no!”

“Look, I don’t know what went down between you two that night, but
you must have liked her enough to take her to bed.”

What he felt for Tori went beyond like and therein lay his problem.
“How am I supposed to remain impartial, Dad? I slept with the girl, and now
you’re askin’ me to investigate every other guy she’s ever slept with? It’s
crazy.”

“You tellin’ me you still feel somethin’ for her?”

“Yeah… contempt.” Mike didn’t expect his old man to buy his lie, but
it still felt good to say it.

Josh pointed at his son. “Listen to me and listen good. I love that
girl like she was my own daughter. It kills me to know there’s somebody out to
get her and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”

Mike felt guilty for putting his personal feelings above Tori’s
safety. He was a cop first and foremost and he’d taken an oath to serve and
protect the citizens of this city, even those who’d stomped all over his heart
with her designer stilettos.  “When you say out to get her… What are we talkin’
about here?”