Jaci Burton (11 page)

jacket, then circled out the front door, raised his hand to Ava to

tel her to stay put. He strol ed around the corner and toward

the back of the store. T-bone was waiting for him. Rick

handed him the package. T-bone opened it, nodded, and

handed Rick an envelope. Rick pul ed it open and flipped

through the bil s. Satisfied it was the right amount of money,

Rick slid the envelope into his inside coat pocket. Without a

word he went back to the bike.

“Where did you go?” Ava asked as Rick put on his helmet

and got back on the bike.

“I had to take a leak.”

She laughed, which meant she’d bought his excuse. “Oh.

How convenient to be a guy where the world is your urinal.”

He shot her a grin over his shoulder. “Isn’t it?” He started up

the bike and headed out of there, hating that he’d just broken

the law, even if he was undercover and therefore immune from

prosecution. It stil didn’t sit right with him. But he had to do

what was necessary to stay with the Hel raisers, and saying no

to Bo wasn’t an option.

“Where are we going now?” Ava asked over his shoulder.

“Back to the hotel.”

“Oh. Okay.”

They parked the bike and headed to the elevators. Ava

frowned when Rick pushed the button.

“That’s not our floor.”

“No, it’s not. I need to stop at Bo’s room for a minute.”

“Why?”

“I need to talk to him.”

“Couldn’t you just cal him?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He rol ed his eyes as they walked down the hal way.

Intelligent women were real y difficult sometimes. “Because I

need to talk to him in person.”

“Why?”

Fortunately, they got to the door just in time. He was running

out of lame responses. He knocked. No answer. Knocked

again, harder this time, hoping he’d be heard over the loud

music and laughter coming from Bo’s room. The door final y

opened. Bo stood there, shirtless, a bottle of beer in his

hands, his jeans unbuttoned.

“Oh, hey. Come on in. We’re partying.”

Yeah, partying was right. Rick smel ed the pot as soon as

Bo had opened the door. Lacey was on the bed, obviously

drunk—or maybe stoned—laughing her ass off with some

other girl. Another guy sat on the chair smoking a joint and

drinking a beer.

Lacey wore only her jeans and her bra. She was barefoot.

Her jeans button was undone. The other girl was in her

underwear. The guy in the chair had his shirt off, too.

And the room wasn’t so hot they needed to be stripping due

to the room temperature, so there was some fun going on in

here.

He should have taken Ava to her room first.

Then again, this was a good opportunity to gauge her

reaction to hard-core partying.

She didn’t seem uncomfortable, just went into the room and

sat on the edge of the bed and started talking to Lacey and

the other girl. Lacey introduced Ava to the girl and they

engaged in conversation.

So far, so good.

“How about a beer?” Bo asked, motioning Rick into the

bathroom where there was a cooler in the tub.

“Sure.”

Rick fol owed, and Bo turned to him. “Did you make the

drop?”

“Yeah.” He pul ed the envelope out and handed it to Bo, who

pul ed out the money, counted it, then handed some over to

Rick.

“Any problems?”

“None.”

“Good.” Bo pocketed the cash and fished into the cooler for

two beers, handed them to Rick. “I’l have more work for you,

then.”

“You can count on me. I need the cash.”

Bo slapped him on the back. “That’s what I like to hear,

buddy.”

They stepped into the room again and Rick handed Ava a

beer as he walked by. She looked up at him and smiled. He

took a seat on one of the chairs and propped his feet on the

edge of the other bed to watch her, conscious of her watching

Lacey interact with the other girl, whose name was Rachel.

Rachel was a hard-core biker chick, born and bred to the

lifestyle with bleached blond hair that fel to her shoulders, wel

tattooed on various parts of her body, and a scar or two that

said she’d had to fight for her life on several occasions. She

looked tough, like she’d seen a lot and been a lot of places

—places a nicely bred daughter of a senator had probably

never been.

Ava seemed to be studying Rachel, too, and not saying

much to either Rachel or Lacey, just watching the way the two

women interacted with each other. Ava was more of an

observer, though Lacey seemed to be trying to get Ava

involved in whatever game Lacey was trying to play.

Rick wondered just what kind of game that was—and how

into it Ava would be.

Ava sat back and watched Lacey interact with Rachel,

wondering if Lacey had undergone an entire personality

transplant. Because Lacey had transformed into a complete

stranger.

Gone was the shy, introverted best friend she’d always

known. In her place was a wild party girl, obviously drunk,

stoned, or possibly both. She was half naked and lying on the

bed with a tattooed, gorgeous woman and about to do—wel

who knew what had been going on between the two women

and two men in this room when they had walked in? From the

various states of undress, Ava could only guess at what had

been going on.

She had to ask.

“Lace, what are you doing?”

Lacey turned glazed eyes in her direction. “Partying, honey.

Come join us.” Lacey raised a bottle of beer and saluted Ava,

then guzzled the remnants of the bottle and put it on the

nightstand. “Hey, Bo, I need another brew. And another buzz.”

“Sure, babe.” Bo rose from his seat, went into the

bathroom, and came back with an open bottle of beer. In his

mouth was a lit joint, its pungent smel fil ing the smal suite. He

took a toke and handed it to Lacey, who inhaled deeply, held

it, and blew out the smoke with a satisfied smile before

holding it out for Ava.

“You want some?”

Ava shook her head. “No, thanks.”

Lacey shrugged, giggled, and handed the joint off to

Rachel.

Ava was no prude. She’d seen her fair share of wild sex

and partying at col ege, though she hadn’t participated. She’d

been exposed to plenty of drugs and alcohol at those parties,

too. It was easy to just say no. And they both had. She and

Lacey had been to a ton of parties, some of which had gotten

pretty out of control. She’d admittedly stayed and watched a

few that had gotten into ful -on orgy mode, though she was

mostly a sideline viewer. And Lacey hadn’t wanted part of any

of it, including drinking, doing any kind of drugs, or

participating in the unbound sex romps that always seemed to

be happening in the dorms or the frat houses.

Now, Ava sat on the edge of the bed watching Lacey, who

didn’t seem tentative or turned off at al . Rachel leaned back

on her elbows while Lacey leaned over her and smoothed her

hands over Rachel’s hair. Ava had to swal ow a gasp when

Lacey kissed Rachel.

“That’s hot, babe,” Bo said from his spot on the other bed,

his erection clearly visible against his tight jeans. “Keep doing

that.”

Ava swiveled and caught Rick’s gaze. He, too, seemed

riveted on the action between Lacey and Rachel. Ava rose

from the bed and went over to Rick, who pul ed her onto his

lap and wrapped his arm around her.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Do you?”

He gave her a half smile. “I’m leaving it up to you. I’m good

either way.”

She slid into the chair next to him. “Far be it for me to deny

you some voyeuristic action. Go for it. You can even

participate if you’d like.”

Rick pul ed his gaze from the two women and leveled it on

her. “But you’re just here to watch. You find the whole thing

distasteful and you’re suppressing your puritan instincts for my

benefit.”

She laughed. “I never claimed to be a puritan.”

“So maybe I just see you that way. Girl on girl and orgy just

doesn’t seem to be your scene.”

“Real y? And what does?”

He nuzzled her ear and whispered. “No clue, since I haven’t

fucked you yet. I don’t know what you like . . . or don’t like.”

Her body heated at his blunt words, at the thought of Rick

discovering in detail what she did like. “Wow, you just put it

right out there, don’t you?”

“Do you want me to hedge?”

“I guess not.” She would rather know what he was thinking.

She just wasn’t used to a man like him. Maybe that’s what

made him so interesting, so sexy. He was a man who seemed

to know exactly what he wanted and didn’t want.

“Do you want to leave right now, or stick around to see what

happens?”

Sitting next to him, her thigh pressed against his, her breast

against his chest—made her want only one thing. But she was

here for Lacey. She needed to find out what the hel was going

on with her best friend. And frankly, she was curious about

what was going to happen in this room between these four

people.

“I’d like to stay for a while.”

“Okay. But you might want to relax a little. Your elbow is

poking my ribs.”

“Oh. Sorry.” She leaned back in the chair and Rick put his

arm around her.

But relax? Not likely. Not watching what was going on in the

bed.

Bo put his beer down, wiped his mouth, and crawled on the

bed with the two women, got between them, framed Lacey’s

face between his large hands, and planted a long, hard kiss

on her lips. Lacey rol ed over and wrapped her legs around

Bo.

Bo’s friend—Nathan was his name, she thought—also got

up and went over to the bed. Rachel straddled him and rocked

her panty-clad pussy against his jeans while Nathan held her

hips.

Bo shifted Lacey to the side so he could fondle her breasts

through her bra and watch what Nathan and Rachel were

doing. With his other free hand, he pul ed the zipper down on

Lacey’s jeans.

Ava felt like a dirty voyeur, like they should get up and leave.

They shouldn’t be watching this. Then again, if the couples

had wanted privacy, they would have said so, wouldn’t they?

And they certainly wouldn’t be doing what they were doing

while the other couple watched.

Stil , Lacey was her best friend, and she’d never seen her

best friend be so—intimate—with a man. It felt wrong. Yet, she

couldn’t seem to muster up the wil power to tear her gaze

away, or tel Rick they should leave. Instead, she gripped the

arm of the chair with one hand, Rick’s thigh with the other, and

tried to ignore the pinging arousal of every nerve ending in her

body. Which was damned difficult to do with Rick sitting next

to her. She heard him breathing, felt his gaze on her. She

didn’t know who he was watching more—her or the foursome

on the bed. She was afraid to glance over in his direction, not

sure what she’d do if she made eye contact, if he was as

aroused as she was.

Watching these couples shouldn’t turn her on, but it did. It

was like a movie come to life, four couples writhing together

on the bed. Touching, kissing, undressing each other. And

though she knew she shouldn’t be there, nothing could tear her

away.

If she was any friend at al , she’d drag Lacey out of there.

But Lacey was an adult and capable of making her own

decisions. Gone were the teenaged days of having each

other’s backs. Lacey’d made her choices. And if her choice

was to engage in group sex in a stoned, drunken stupor, so be

it.

And now Ava was bearing witness to it al , which should

make her feel squeamish as hel , not hot and bothered.

But Ava realized it had nothing to do with her best friend

being star of the show, and everything to do with a hard-

bodied sexy male crushed tightly in the chair next to her. The

room was hot and his scent fil ed the space around them.

Earthy, musky, like leather and the outdoors, Rick’s scent

obliterated the stale odor of pot and beer that permeated the

room.

She found she’d much rather focus on him, smel him, look

at him. He was way more appealing than the action on the

bed. She shifted, tilting her hip into the chair so she partial y

faced him.

“You bored?” he asked, picking up a strand of her hair.

“Watching other people have sex isn’t nearly as much fun as

doing it.”

He cupped her chin between his fingers and brushed his