Lethal Exposure (3 page)

It had been too long. He was a bit chagrined to realize he hadn’t had sex in almost ten months. Not because he hadn’t had plenty of chances, but mainly because no woman had excited him enough to give chase.

But Julie DeMarco had changed all that in record time.

She sank her hands on her hips. He saw the word no forming on those full, luscious lips. His disappointment was surprisingly sharp-edged.

She held his gaze.

He heard blood rushing through his ears, felt his body tighten.

“Okay,” she murmured. “I’ll do it. I’ll give you an interview.”

“I MET A GUY.” Julie grinned at her best friends, Elle Nash and Dr. Vanessa Rodriquez. They were sharing a pitcher of beer at a hole-in-the-wall pizza parlor near the University of Texas, which served up the best deep-dish pie in Austin. For the first time since she’d broken up with Roger, Julie was interested in someone and she simply had to crow about it.

It was almost midnight, but the place didn’t close until 2:00 a.m. and it was a handy meeting spot, equal distance from all their homes and Confidential Rejuvenations. Elle and Julie both had worked swing shift that evening and Vanessa had stayed late catching up on backlogged paperwork.

“I’m having lunch with him tomorrow.” She was making it sound like a date, but what was wrong with that? Who knew what direction things might take? One thing was clear, they had chemistry.

It’s not a date.

Okay, so it wasn’t really a date. It was an interview, but still, he’d certainly seemed interested in her. Which was surprising, considering how she’d embarrassed herself over a case of mistaken identity. Remembering what had transpired in the exam room, she bit down on the inside of her cheek.

“A date?” Elle was a sensible redhead with dazzling green eyes and a way of smiling that made everyone like her immediately. She reached for a second slice of pepperoni-and-black-olive pizza. “That’s great. It’s about time. I’m happy for you.”

“Who’s the guy?” Vanessa asked over the rim of her frosty beer mug. Vanessa was a beautiful Latina with long black hair, chocolate-brown eyes and a Mensa IQ. “Anyone we know?”

“His name is Sebastian Black.”

Vanessa set her mug down and leaned back against the red vinyl booth. “Is he the public-relations specialist from L.A. that the hospital’s board of directors hired to polish Confidential’s tarnished image?”

“He is.”

“You move fast,” Elle said. “He just got in to town. The entire E.R. staff’s buzzing about how cute he is.”

“He was the fast mover.” Julie recalled those tense, exciting moments in the exam room when they’d touched. Her fingers were still tingling from the contact.

“Watch out, Tanner filled me in on the guy’s reputation,” Vanessa said, referring to her fiancé, Tanner Doyle. As head of security at Confidential Rejuvenations, it was Tanner’s job to check the backgrounds of all potential employees, including contract workers. “Sebastian Black may be an excellent spin doctor, but he’s also got a reputation as something of a player.”

Julie’s stomach squeezed. Mindlessly, she pleated the red-and-white-checkered paper napkin in her lap. “Meaning…?”

“Handsome, rich, commitment-phobic. Rumor has it he’s got a woman in every city he visits.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she surprised herself by asking.

Vanessa and Elle gave each other startled looks, then turned to stare at Julie.

“Well?” she asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You feel her forehead and see if she has a fever,” Vanessa told Elle. “I’ll check her pulse.”

They moved as if they were actually going to do it. Laughing, Julie held up her palms. “I’m not feverish, honest.”

Elle picked the olives off her pizza. “Where’s our little die-hard romantic? You were the one coaching us not to give up on romance and now, here you are, ready to take up with a playboy who’ll only end up breaking your heart.”

“About that,” Julie said. “I’ve been thinking…”

“Yes?” Her friends leaned forward, hanging on to her every word.

“Maybe it’s time I shook things up a little. Took a walk on the wild side. I’ve never been very good at separating love from sex and I think maybe it’s time I learned. I’m twenty-nine and after the number Roger did on me…” She let her words trail off.

“Seriously?” Elle asked.

Julie glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was within earshot, then leaned closer to her friends and lowered her voice. “It’s been six months since Roger and I’m feeling—”

“Horny?” Vanessa supplied.

“Sexually frustrated.” Julie preferred her own word choice. She wasn’t as frank and earthy as her friend. “You guys, I think that’s why I failed my certifying exam. I’ve been having erotic dreams lately and I’ve been so distracted by them I can hardly concentrate on my work.”

Vanessa looked at Elle and nodded. “She’s horny. That’s my official medical diagnosis. Nothing wrong with being horny. It happens. Part of the human condition. Nothing to feel awkward about.”

“I don’t feel awkward.”

Vanessa waved a hand. “How come your face is turning as red as this booth?”

“Okay, all right.” Julie took a deep breath. “I’m horny. I need a man. And not just any man. I need a man who’s good in bed, but one who is not looking for a relationship. I need a no-strings-attached affair and I need it now.”

“Where is this coming from?” Elle asked. “This philosophy is so not you. Not that I think it’s a bad idea, mind you. Just that it’s not like you.”

Julie pulled Roger’s letter out of her pocket, unfolded it and passed it to her friend.

Elle read it and then handed Roger’s letter to Vanessa. “What a weasel.”

“Oh, no, he didn’t,” Vanessa said after reading it. “The jerk.”

“I’m tired of being a starry-eyed romantic,” Julie said. “I’m sick of being naive when it comes to men.”

“And you think a fling with a totally inappropriate guy will fix that?” Vanessa raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“I know it will.”

“What’s going to keep you from falling in love with him?” Elle asked.

“His total inappropriateness.”

Vanessa dragged another slice of pizza onto her plate. “Being totally inappropriate didn’t stop you from falling for Roger.”

Julie took a sip of her beer. It had gone warm. She grimaced. “That’s because I didn’t know he was inappropriate until I found out about his wife.”

“And his daughter who’s only a few years younger than you,” Elle pointed out. “Don’t forget.”

Julie jammed on a false smile. “Thank you so much for reminding me.”

“So you’ve set your sights on Sebastian Black as your totally inappropriate rebound guy?” Vanessa asked.

Had she? Until this moment, she hadn’t realized exactly what she’d been thinking, but yeah, maybe she had.

“It sounds like this Sebastian character is used to speeding in the fast lane and let’s face it, sweetie, you’re a slow-lane kinda girl,” Vanessa added.

“He did more than turn my head. Sebastian had me so confused I mistook him for a patient.” Julie explained about the Hollywood bigwig patient with priapism and Sebastian’s appearance on the wrong floor at exactly the wrong time, leading to one of the most embarrassing moments of her life.

The fact that Julie was even considering a temporary fling should have been a huge red flag. For her entire life she’d been the girl who collected housewares and linens for her hope chest and cut out pictures from brides’ magazines to paste into her wedding-plan book. Her favorite game had been Mystery Date. She was the girl who plastered posters of boy bands on her wall and kept a pink diary filled with teenage angst about her many crushes.

It hardly seemed fair that her friends had found true love while she was the one who was still single and searching. Not that she resented them their happiness. She just wanted her share, too.

Maybe Vanessa was right. There was no way she was cut out for a bumpy ride in the fast lane. She should probably call up Sebastian and tell him she couldn’t meet him for lunch tomorrow.

Where’s the harm in lunch? She was being nudged by the part of herself that hungered for excitement and the thrill of something new.

“Jules?” Elle said. “You okay?”

“Huh?” She blinked, realized her friend had said something to her and she hadn’t even heard it.

“I don’t want to see you get hurt again.” Elle put a hand on Julie’s arm. “Remember how long it took you to get over Roger?”

Way too long. That was why she needed someone new, someone fresh, someone fun, someone like Sebastian.

She met Elle’s gaze. “I do appreciate your concern. I’ll be careful. I promise.”

Vanessa grinned. “Make sure to pick up some condoms. Ribbed, for your pleasure.”

Julie’s mouth went dry. Maybe she wasn’t up for this after all.

“Please, make sure not to romanticize him. He’s just a guy,” Elle said.

“Like Dante was just a guy?” Julie asked, referring to Elle’s new husband, Dr. Dante Nash, who’d been undercover for the FBI when he’d busted Elle’s ex-husband, Mark Lawson.

“That’s different,” Elle said hastily. “I had to learn how to be romantic. You’re trying to learn not to be so romantic. You’re the one with unrealistic ideas about love.”

True enough. Julie sucked in her breath as she thought about Sebastian. Just remembering his dark, curly hair had her fingers tingling to run through those thick locks. The core of her sex tightened. Her body wanted him, no question about that.

But was she brave enough to step on the accelerator and change lanes? Did she have what it took for a wild, adventuresome fling? Could she really forsake her romantic nature, learn how to have sex for sex’s sake and leave love out of the equation?

After stripping off his suit jacket and tie, he tossed them on the bed, then moved to pull the draperies that revealed a sliding glass door. Sebastian unlatched the lock and stepped out on the balcony that overlooked the Colorado River.

City lights twinkled below. He heard the sound of traffic and somewhere in the distance an outdoor band was playing so loudly the music drifted up to the tenth floor. He caught a whiff of exhaust fumes mingled with the spicy scent of cumin, onions, garlic and chili powder from the hotel’s Mexican restaurant.

He leaned over the railing, drummed his fingers on the cool metal and wondered why he was so keyed up.

The feeling was more than his usual fast-paced, get-the-job-done eagerness. There was a strange and new underlying restlessness. He kept thinking about Julie DeMarco and their odd encounter in the Confidential Rejuvenations’ exam room. Something about her made him feel…

What?

He couldn’t express what he was feeling. He only knew this agitated sensation wasn’t normal. Had it started with her? Or did it lead back to this morning when Linc told him he was getting married and leaving the firm?

You’re kidding yourself if you think it’s just a reaction to Linc’s news.

Every time he thought about Julie his insides knotted up. She was small-boned and delicate and ultrafeminine and pretty to a point. But her cheeks were just a little too round to be perfect, her chin a little too sharp. She had a crooked front tooth that shouldn’t have been cute, but it was.

No, Julie wasn’t the kind of woman who immediately turned male heads when she swayed into a room, but definitely once she smiled, she’d be noticed. She was also the kind of woman that could intimidate most commitment-phobic men simply by blinking those honest big baby blues.

Somehow she’d gotten to him.

Sebastian thought about the promise he’d made himself that morning. He’d vowed to seduce the first appropriate female who crossed his path. Well, Julie was certainly appropriate and he definitely wanted her, yet suddenly, seducing her seemed too cavalier.

Too cruel.

Like hunting Bambi with a bazooka.

You don’t have to seduce her. Tomorrow’s lunch could simply be lunch. Forget ulterior motives. Just interview her for behind-the-scenes info at Confidential Rejuvenations and let it go at that.

Good advice.

He had to stop thinking about her and the only way to do that was to get to work. It was 9:00 p.m. in Austin, but he was on California time. He stepped back from the balcony, pulled the sliding glass door closed and headed to the briefcase he’d dropped by the front door.

After he took out the Confidential Rejuvenations file, he sank down at the desk chair to flip through it. On top was a slick brochure printed on the finest paper money could buy. It showed the colloquial architecture of the hospital that made it look like a spa resort. That was the general idea—it was a healing center as opposed to a medical facility.

He’d been there in person. The brochure didn’t lie. At least not about the appearance of the place. The lush green lawns were perfectly clipped, as were the bountiful privacy hedges. Ivy-twined trellises shaded genteel park benches. The profusion of fall flowers in full bloom testified to the exemplary gardening skills of the groundskeepers. A luxurious flagstone walkway led to the front entrance in one direction, while the other fork winded its way to an elaborate hand-carved gazebo positioned on a bluff above the river’s sensuous curve.

What the brochure wisely didn’t reveal was beneath the serene surface, behind the healing promises made in the glossy brochure, beyond those quiet vine-covered walls, a shadowy menace lurked. Careers lay on the line. Fortunes stood to be lost. Reputations hung in the balance.

And Sebastian was the fixer. Hired to bring his particular expertise to the situation and work his magic.

Confidential Rejuvenations had been founded in 1993 by Dr. Jarrod Butler and Dr. William Covey and a famous action-movie actor who’d left Hollywood for his native Austin. Ten years later, after a bout with booze and pills, the actor had needed a return on his investment and sold out his share in Confidential Rejuvenations to a greedy young surgeon named Mark Lawson.

Several months ago, Lawson had been murdered by a mobster on the Confidential Rejuvenations’ campus in a drug deal gone bad. Not long after that, Texas state senator Robert Garcia had bought Lawson’s share in the hospital. Only to have his adopted daughter, Chloe—who’d been a scrub nurse at the facility—try to murder Confidential Rejuvenations’ head of security, Tanner Doyle. Although the police had ruled that Lawson’s death and the attempt on Doyle’s life were not connected to the other occurrences, it remained a PR nightmare.

From the very day Confidential Rejuvenations had opened its doors, there had been rumors, speculation and gossip. It did, after all, cater to the rich and famous. It was a place where the crème de la crème revealed their inner secrets, exposed their vulnerabilities and sought to escape their problems. Unlike most hospitals, Confidential Rejuvenations’ specialties were designed to fit the lifestyles of an elite clientele.

Sebastian flipped the page, reading about the services offered. Innovative cosmetic surgery, cutting-edge anti-aging therapy, pioneer treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorders, state-of-the-art substance abuse facilities and revolutionary sexual dysfunction remedies.

Sexual dysfunction.

The unit where Julie DeMarco worked.

He pushed aside that thought and the unexpected sexual stirring that came with it.

After reviewing the entire file and further brushing up on the problems plaguing Confidential Rejuvenations in recent months, he opened his laptop and began compiling a plan of action into the PR software he’d invented.

What he hoped to accomplish was not just information gathering to spark innovative ideas for his PR campaign, but to snoop around and see if he could discover who was behind the sabotage.

He was just cocky enough to think he might succeed where law enforcement and hospital security had failed. People didn’t open up to cops and security guards. On that score, his charm stood him in good stead. He had no trouble coaxing people into spilling their secrets.

Idly, he wondered what secrets Julie DeMarco hid behind those sweet, guileless blue eyes. He’d discovered that everyone had secrets, even the most innocent.

Sebastian was deep in the middle of his media campaign plan when his computer played a snippet from the Bond movie theme song “For Your Eyes Only,” letting him know he had an instant message from Blanche.

He flicked a switch and turned on his Internet camera for a video conference. Blanche was sitting at her desk, looking prim and proper in a double-breasted fawn-colored suit, her iron-gray curls perfectly coiffed.

“How’s Austin?” she asked.

“Fine. Watcha still doing at the office?”

“Just finishing up. I’m on my way out the door. I thought I’d check on you. See if you needed anything.”

“You work too hard.”

“Pot. Kettle. Black.”

“Ah, but I play just as hard as I work. You don’t play, dear Blanche.”

Blanche gave him a Mona Lisa smile. “You think you know me so well.”

“Come on,” he said, suddenly realizing that other than his brother, Blanche was his only real friend. He spent too much time in hotel rooms just like this one. It was pretty sad when you were a thirty-year-old guy and your best friend was a fiftysomething grandmother. Maybe he did work too hard. “If you had a social life you wouldn’t be at the office at eight at night.”

“You don’t know what I’m doing here. Perhaps I have a suitor and I’m showing him my desk.”

“Are you?” Sebastian lifted an eyebrow.

“I’ll never tell.”

“So what’s up?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Linc told me he’s quitting and that he and Keeley are getting married. How do you feel about that?”

Sebastian shrugged. “I feel fine.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, you want the truth? I think Linc’s making a big mistake,” he said.

“He loves her. She loves him.”

“They’re wrong for each other.”

“How do you know?”

“They’re total opposites.”

“Opposites attract.”

He thought of Julie, laughed and shook his head.

“Oh,” Blanche said. “I see.”

“See what?”

“What’s her name?”

“Her? What are you talking about?”

“You’re already penning another new name in your little black book.”

“I’m not,” he denied, wondering how in the hell Blanche knew him so well.

She tilted her head. “You’re working on it.”

“What can I say,” he confessed. “I love women.”

Sebastian did love women. They fascinated him. With their potions and perfumes that smelled so good. From their soft skin, to the delicate underside of their throats. And the way their minds worked, so mysterious and unpredictable.

The opposite sex mesmerized him. Tall ones, short ones, plump ones, thin ones, dark ones, light ones. He loved them all. It was the reason he couldn’t choose just one. There were simply too many wonderful ladies walking about the world.

“Maybe you should consider backing off,” Blanche said.

“What?”

“You rush into courtships.”

Courtships? He grinned. Blanche was so old-fashioned. He found it endearing. “Hey, I’m usually only in town a short time. If I didn’t rush, I wouldn’t get anywhere.”

“And then just as quickly, you rush out of them. You’ll never get married like that.”

“You know I’m not interested in marriage.”

“I know you say you’re not interested in marriage,” Blanche said. “I think it’s that you haven’t met the right woman. When you do, everything will change and then you’ll finally understand about your brother and Keeley.”

The truth was he didn’t want to understand. “Yeah? Well, if you know so much about men and women and love, how come you’re single?”

Blanche straightened in her chair, making herself look even more prim than usual. “I’ve had my great love affair, Sebastian. No one else could ever compare to Edward, so there’s no point searching. He’s gone. I’m a grandmother, which keeps me happy enough, and I’ve got you to look after.”

“Now see,” Sebastian said. “If I did something stupid like fall in love and get married, then you wouldn’t have anyone to take care of. How could I ever do that to you?”

Blanche’s opinion came out in a snort. He’d gotten quite accustomed to the expressive sound and it made him smile. “Good night, Sebastian. Call me if you need anything.”

“Sleep tight, Blanche.”

She turned off her computer camera and that was the end of the conversation. Sebastian finished up his work and logged off. He kicked off his shoes and flopped onto the bed, hands cupped behind his head. His thoughts trailed to Julie.

He couldn’t figure out what it was about her that appealed to him so much. She was cute, sure. And he loved her curvy, compact body. Just thinking about touching her had him growing hard. He wanted her…oh, yeah.

But he had a nagging feeling she was a forever kind of woman and that simply wasn’t what he was looking for. He thought about calling her up, canceling their luncheon appointment, but then he realized it was almost midnight.

Why was he so confused about what he wanted from her? He was normally very decisive. In that exam room he’d decided he was going to seduce her. But after talking to Blanche, he was feeling…

What was he feeling?

Sebastian pushed the thought away. Blanche loved messing with his head. He wasn’t going to let her get to him. He did know what he wanted and he was going after it.

A nice little fling with Julie DeMarco.

SO THEY THOUGHT they could hire a spin doctor to solve Confidential Rejuvenations’ image problems, eh?

Fools.

The hospital saboteur rummaged through the file on the cocky Mr. Sebastian Black. He was a good-looking devil. No question about it. With his lush dark hair and straight white teeth. Veneers, no doubt.

And from the curriculum vitae the saboteur had found on Dr. Butler’s desk, Sebastian Black ran one of the most sought-after, privately owned PR firms in the country. His clients included important movers and shakers in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Black, the saboteur had discovered, had quite a reputation as a ladies’ man. The saboteur chuckled. Such a man would be so easy to manipulate.

What a wickedly wonderful turn of events that he was interested in Julie DeMarco.

That woman needed to be taught a lesson. Shamelessly sleeping with a married man. Was nothing sacred anymore? DeMarco deserved to get her heart broken by a notorious playboy like Black and the saboteur was in a special position to make that heartbreak happen.

The plan was brilliant. Use public relations to turn the tables on the PR expert. Anticipation—and revenge—was a glorious dish to be savored.