Taken by the Con (10 page)

“No one falls at my feet,” Cash said.

Lucia rolled her eyes. “Maybe I don’t know anything about your personal life, but you don’t know much about mine, either.”

She wouldn’t tell Cash the most difficult secret she harbored. Her career was rocky and her time with the FBI marred by her transfer. On paper, it looked fine, but everyone knew the chief of the violent crime unit had wanted her out.

Now, she had to play by the rules. One screw-up or even a hint of one, and she could be relegated to permanent administrative duty or fired.

Chapter 5

F
rustration was burning a white-hot hole in Cash’s chest. Adrian was still refusing to speak to him and Helen had asked Cash not to call for another week. She promised she would talk to Adrian and help him understand what had happened. His son was a tough little boy, but he was fragile, too, and he’d been hurt, surviving cancer and then losing his parents. It wasn’t fair, but then life wasn’t. It was a lesson Cash knew Adrian had learned too young.

Cash needed some space from Lucia. He’d been staying with her and believing that he could somehow make it work as a regular guy, an FBI consultant with a checkered past, but he was still a man, a man attracted to a woman who seemed to want to keep boundaries.

Since he wasn’t certain of where those boundaries were, he’d best not go anywhere close to them. If he made a mistake with Lucia, if he got on her bad side, he was endangering his future with Adrian.

It was yet another way that being a felon would follow him for the rest of his life. He’d need to keep his distance from people.

The time he’d spent in prison should have hardened him. Sadly, he hadn’t shaken off the need for a real connection. He missed his son. He couldn’t call his father, not out of the blue when they hadn’t spoken in years. He had to be careful around old friends, since he was working them for an invite to one of Anderson’s exclusive casinos.

Lonely. It was the best word to describe what he was feeling.

He stopped at Lucia’s place, grabbed a few essentials he’d left and fled. Taking the stairs down, he passed Audrey and a group of her friends who were on their way to Audrey’s condo.

One of the women stopped and grabbed his tie. “Where are you going?” she asked.

He could smell liquor on her breath. He removed her hand from his clothes. “Out.” He looked at Audrey. “Nice seeing you.”

“You know Audrey?” the woman asked.

Audrey stopped on the stairs and gave him an assessing look through narrowed eyes. “Where’s Lucia?”

“At work.”

She’d stayed late at the office to review Clifton Anderson’s case file and catch up on some paperwork. Cash told her he planned to stop by her condo. To avoid unnecessary drama, he hadn’t mentioned returning to the Hideaway that night.

“Come party with us,” the other woman said to him. She was leaning on the bannister, letting her hair fall across her face.

In another life, he’d be up for a party to blow off some steam. But lingering meant possibly running into Lucia. He didn’t want to face her again until he’d had time to clear his dark thoughts. “Not tonight. Thank you for the invite.”

“You’re welcome to come over and have a few drinks,” Audrey said. “We went to a club opening and there were entirely too many people for our liking.” She stepped down to the stair he was on and smiled up at him. “You look like you could use a friend.”

Friend. Cash missed having one around. Returning to the depressing Hideaway was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t have anywhere else to go except a bar and he didn’t have money to drink. His curfew was a couple of hours away. “For a few minutes.” Maybe listening to someone else’s conversation would take his mind off his problems and shake off his bad mood.

A few minutes in Audrey’s condo turned into twenty. With a drink in one hand, Cash lounged on the comfortable furniture. Her style—abstract, modern designs, clean lines, black and white floor to ceiling—was different than Lucia’s.

Audrey and her friends reeked of money. Fifteen years ago, he would have been enjoying every moment of this and trying to edge himself into their crowd.

For a few hours he could forget he was a felon, out of touch with his son and the people who mattered. The people in this room didn’t know he was a convict or that he was being used by the FBI to track a con man. He was surrounded by four beautiful women. They’d drawn him into the conversation and were hanging on to his every word.

One of them had to be more attractive than Lucia. One of them had to hold his attention. One of them had to make him forget about Lucia.

But no one held a candle to her. Instead of enjoying the women around him, he made comparisons. He thought about how Lucia would look wearing similar outfits. How she would have something interesting to say. How much he’d want to sit close to her and kiss her.

Audrey strode over to him. “A minute of your time, please?”

Cash rose to his feet, murmured his apologies to the women and followed Audrey to her balcony.

“What’s going on with you and Lucia?” she asked, setting her hand on her hip.

He chose to explain it the easiest way he knew how. “She doesn’t want me in her life. We’re working together, but she’s drawn a line in the sand.”

Audrey frowned. “She said that? She doesn’t want you around?”

“In so many words,” he said.

“She’s a complicated woman.”

“All women are complicated. If I think they aren’t, then I haven’t gotten to know them well enough yet,” Cash said.

Audrey smirked. “Fair enough. I’ve known Lucia a long time and I know she’s a good person who’s had some rotten luck. I don’t want to be part of anything that would hurt her. Have fun, but don’t do anything you’ll regret. These women are fierce. They’ll strip you, ride you and kick you out before you have time to get dressed.”

Her frankness was unexpected. His interactions with Audrey’s friends wouldn’t go that far. Understanding the warning, Cash returned to the group. As the night wore on, the alcohol flowed more freely and Cash had the urge to walk across the hall and lay it on the table for Lucia. To tell her everything he felt and why he felt it and force her to listen. She had to be home by now and if she understood the extent of his feelings, she might change her mind about keeping him away.

Pride, coupled with the knowledge that he’d been drinking and might not be thinking clearly, stopped him. He wouldn’t throw himself at her feet in a drunken, pathetic stupor. Lucia had some control over his time with the FBI and therefore he couldn’t screw up and put his future with his son in jeopardy.

Cash took another swig of his drink. Audrey was serving some strong stuff. No fifty-cent bottles of beer in this place. It had been a long time since he’d had much to drink and the alcohol hit him hard, leaving him feeling as though his head was being held underwater.

He needed to get back to the motel. He stood and one of the women, Lexie, set her hand over his chest to stop him. “Where are you going?”

“I have to go. It’s late.” If he missed curfew, he was in violation of his agreement with the FBI and they could throw him in prison.

She pouted. “Please stay. A few more minutes.”

“I can’t. It’s a long walk.” He needed fresh air and exercise. At least the alcohol dulled his senses, enough that he could make it through a night at the Hideaway without being as aware of the stink, the loudness and the general unpleasantness.

“Stay and I’ll drive you.”

Lexie didn’t belong on that side of town even if Audrey had implied her friends could handle themselves. “I live in a rough area.”

She giggled and moved closer to him. “Sounds dangerous. You can keep me safe.”

Lexie was probably interested in him because he was different from the men in her social circle, the same men Lucia’s parents wanted her to marry. He was poor, he had no lucrative job prospects and he didn’t come from a long line of well-bred men.

Lexie was flirting with him and beckoning to him to kiss her. Cash wanted to prove that he wasn’t wrapped up in Lucia. He could forget about her and kiss other women and be happy about it. He had no reason to feel guilty. Lucia wasn’t his girlfriend. She had made it clear she wouldn’t be. Maybe this was a distraction he needed. Audrey had said her friends were looking for a night of fun.

How long had it been since he’d behaved like a carefree bachelor?

Her lips were hovering near his and she was leaning against him, but nothing about this felt right and it highlighted the fact he’d been attempting to disprove. Lucia made his blood run hot. Another woman couldn’t replace her.

A surge of nausea hit him. He hadn’t drunk like this in a long time. His tolerance was nil. He closed his eyes to center himself and Lucia’s voice screamed into his mind.

When he opened them, Lucia was standing over him looking royally peeved. She pointed over his head. “Forget something?”

Lexie grabbed his shirt territorially, pressing her hands into his chest. “Who are you?”

He’d made a mess. Again. He wasn’t sure how to clean it up. Why was Lucia screaming at him?

Lucia ignored Lexie and stared at him. “Benjamin called. You’re past curfew and he traced you to my building. I told him you were with me. I covered for you only to find you here partying with Audrey’s friends.” She bit her lip and folded her arms.

Cash stood and reached for Lucia. She stepped away from him.

“You don’t understand.” He had been thinking of her all night. Why did it feel as if he’d betrayed her?

Lucia looked around the room. “We’re not doing this here.”

“Doing what? Having a conversation?” he asked. “You never want to have a conversation. You’re always running away.”

“Are you drunk?” she asked, sounding outraged.

His head was swimming. “I had some to drink, first drink I’ve had since prison.”

Lucia spun on her heel and left the condo. Cash followed her across the hall to hers. He hated that he’d upset her and hated even more that his brain wasn’t working fast enough to diffuse her anger. This was one of the reasons he hadn’t drank much.

When they got inside, she whirled on him. “I can’t believe you decided to get drunk.”

It hadn’t been his intention. “I didn’t decide to do anything.”

“What were you doing with that woman?” she asked.

“Talking,” he said, sticking to few words. If he let his mouth run, he would say something he regretted. His tongue felt slow and heavy.

“You said you were stopping by my condo to pick up your things. I assumed that meant you were going home,” Lucia said.

Was she mad that he’d missed his curfew? That was his price to pay, not hers. “That place is not my home. Imagine not wanting to return to the dump where I live. I was invited somewhere and I went.”

Lucia glared at him.

Anger and frustration took hold of him. “Why do you care?” He wanted her to care, to say she had been worried about him or that she was having second thoughts about shutting down their relationship. She hadn’t even given it a chance, either being too scared to risk being hurt or because she knew how it would end.

“I care because I covered for you with Benjamin so you wouldn’t get into trouble. If you do something stupid while you’re drunk, I’m liable for that.”

She’d put herself on the line for him. “I didn’t ask you to cover for me. I’m a big boy. I’ll take whatever knocks come my way.”

“Like you did by going to prison?” she asked.

Was she implying he’d wormed out of his sentence? Anger filled him. “My prison time is your favorite whip. Yes, Lucia, I went to prison. I accepted responsibility for running a con. I didn’t rat anyone else out. I kept my mouth shut and took the punishment I was given.” Anderson had helped set him up with the con. He’d introduced Cash to the senator Cash had defrauded and to the crew involved in the embezzlement.

Lucia stared at him. “You were working with someone else on the con.”

No point in lying about it now. “Yes.”

“Who?”

“I can’t discuss that.” Wouldn’t.

“Why not?”

Because it didn’t matter if others were involved. “It doesn’t make a difference. What someone else did doesn’t change that I committed a crime. I have criminal connections. I’m using those connections to help you now.” Thanks to his father, he’d been born into a world of lying and deceit where trickery and games were part of the lifestyle.

“You were with another woman,” Lucia said.

Lucia’s thoughts ricocheted and she was hard to follow, harder in his current state. “Why do you care who I’m with?” She had no right to demand an explanation from him. He wasn’t in prison anymore.

Lucia folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but pull it together. I won’t cover for you again. You can sleep off your drunkenness, but tomorrow, find another place to stay. I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

* * *

Lucia couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t scrub the image of Cash and Lexie from her thoughts. Lexie was a good friend of Audrey’s. She was sophisticated and cultured and beautiful and fun. She didn’t have a full-time job taking up her time and she spent her nights and weekends staying out and partying. Lexie was a woman who’d show Cash a good time and he deserved to have a good time.

Lucia had no hold over Cash. She shouldn’t have unloaded on him. Lucia kicked at her sheets in frustration, wincing when pain shot across her leg. She shifted, trying to stretch her leg and find a more comfortable position.

Nothing about her current situation was comfortable.

She let out a grunt of frustration. Why Cash? Of all the men for Benjamin to spring from prison and use to help in the investigation, why did it have to be someone Lucia felt a blazing-hot attraction to?

Cash appeared in the doorway, his big body filling the space. “You okay? I’m hearing some moaning.” His voice had lost the slurring from earlier in the night. He was more sober.

“I’m stretching,” she said.

“In the middle of the night?”

“My leg hurts. I’m trying to resolve that without medication.”

He stepped into the room and her heart shot to her throat. She grabbed her sheet, feeling exposed.

“Let me rub your leg. It might help. When I was in high school, a buddy and I took a massage class. We thought it would impress girls.”

“Did it?” she asked.

“No. We were too young and stupid to have any moves,” Cash said.

She hadn’t decided if she would agree. If he touched her, she knew how her body would react and her emotions were still in upheaval. Her emotional state and Cash in her bedroom were a potent and potentially volatile combination. Cash crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached for her and used his powerful hands to rub her muscles.