Tomorrow Will Be Too Late (2 page)

‘
He
goes around town, having luxury escorts come to his pad downtown almost every evening.’ Vic sniffled again, her face miserable. ‘
He
cheats on me all the time, Kate.
It’s j
ust
,
he
’
s much more careful
not
to flaunt it,
remember? I told you all about it already.’

She
had
. Almost right from the start of their surprising friendship, Kate found herself quite bewildered to be offered so many private
,
and undoubtedly intimate
,
details about their love life. A picture of a cold, loveless
,
and manipulative man emerged from the stories, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman who appeared to have everything but suffered in
the
privacy of her own four walls. It
struck
a cord with her,
reminding
her of the messy divorce her own mom
had gone through
a few years
before
. Her father had discovered his second youth
,
so to speak, cheating on his wife with his secretary and leaving his family
to start over again.

‘You see
,
Kate, he is so very careful. He doesn’t want me to have any leverage, the sneaky pig he is.’ Vic spoke again, imploring eyes on her doubt
-filled
face. ‘I need to nail him somehow. My lawyer says that if I could prove his infidelity
,
it would bring the ball into
my
court for
a totally different kind of game. It would counter all his insane accusations
.
’

She
got up again, the high heels of her Manolo Blahnik shoes clicking against the glossy black and white floor of her office. She came to stand next to Kate, looking down at her with a watery smile.

‘Yo
u could really save me, Katie. All I need are a few pic
ture
s of him leaving the pub in
the
company of a girl, preferably in some compromising way
.
’

‘
That’s
exactly the part I have a problem with
.
’ Kate shuddered, recalling Justin McBryndon’s broad
-
shouldered, narrow
-
hipped figure. Anything compromising with him seemed like a suicide
.

‘I
’m not
ask
ing
you to have sex with him in the car, Kate
.’
Just
a hint of impatience
was
in
Vic’s
voice, but she recovered from it instantly. ‘
Just
hugging, maybe a kiss. If he gets drunk
,
it should not be that difficult to get him to do something silly
.
’

‘You said he
’
s careful.’ She had to mention it
,
even if it meant risking
Vic’s
disapproval. ‘
What
makes you think he won’t avoid me altogether
if
he has all those call girls to sleep with?’

‘T
r
u
st me, Kate. That’s different.
And yes, usually he wouldn’t do it. But tomorrow is the only window of opportunity I really have. This is the one time each year he does let his guard down. He goes to this seedy little pub downtown and sits there for a few hours. He told me about it years ago, when we were just dating
.
’

‘Why? Wh
at’s so significant about it?’ S
he saw Vic shrug dismissively and knew she wouldn’t tell her.

‘I
’
m not sure
.
’

Kate
could tell
she was lying
. Maybe it was something embarrassing, something she wasn’t ready to share with her, even though their speedy friendship of one month certainly had enough private talk in it to last a lifetime.

‘Just turn up, looking a bit… more provocative than that.’ Dark eyes went over her simple cream-colored dress and brown pumps almost accusingly. ‘
Try wearing s
omething more flirty, Kate. And let your hair down, please.’

She could feel
Vic’s
eyes on her dark French chignon, the skin of her scalp tingling in embarrassed awareness. She knew she wasn’t the hottest girl in the office, of course. Some untold instinct told her that it wouldn’t be a good moment to mention that
Jacques
’ rather pushy and embarrassing attempts to flirt with her at the beginning
were what
prompted her a
-
bit
-
too
-
professional attire. The Frenchman seemed to think that all the girls in the office wanted nothing more than
to
take a shortcut to the next position through his bedroom. He
had
improved recently, granted, but her caution was already
firmly
in place.

‘I
’
ll have someone parked outside and snap a photo of you together.
Afterwards
,
you can le
ave him
;
I
really
don’t care
.
’
Her beautiful
red mouth pouted,
her
dark eyes
pleaded
. ‘Please, please say yes. I have nobody to help me, Kate. I really trust you. If I
paid
someone, I could never sleep knowing that maybe Justin bought them off
,
and they
would
spill the whole story in court. Just imagine what it would do to me
.
’

Kate had
relented
,
of course. Somehow she knew she would
,
even before they had
that
last conversation, the chips on the table and her spot waiting for her, the game about to start. She didn’t even do it for the promotion, she thought now, as
s
he caught a glimpse of herself in one of those horrid,
old-fashioned
mirrors that served as a backsplash in the bar. She barely recognized this woman with long, dark hair tumbling down to her slim, naked shoulders. The spaghetti straps of her
top
did nothing to hide her cream
-
colored skin, the
cleavage
promising even more delights. Her makeup was different
,
too. Usually
,
she preferred to keep her face almost naked, just a bit of lipstick and rouge livening u
p the pale features
. Her eyes needed no mascara, the thick, black lashes that framed her hazel eyes long and dark enough without additional help. Today
,
she used eyeliner, her eyes taking on an almost exotic air with the long, dark sweeps that extended them to her temples. Plus, the lipstick that made her cringe in the store went perfectly with the vamp look she was aiming for. It was red and provocative, both qualities that men supposedly liked, if she
were
to believe
the advice of a magazine. At least
,
they thought they liked it in a certain type of
woman
, she added instantly, her red
-
tipped fingers wrapping themselves around her now empty glass.
Not
a woman one would take home and introduce to parents, of course. This one meant nothing more
than
a moment of pleasure, a promise of free sex with
out
any
strings attached.

‘I see your glass is empty
.’ A
rough voice tore her from her unhappy musings
,
and she looked up, right into
the
smiling face of a stranger, the scent of alcohol
on
his breath making her dizzy for a second. She blinked and watched him
sit
down next to her, his strong, hairy fingers reaching into a large, leather
wallet
.

‘Let me remedy that, sweetheart.’ He grinned again, his lips stretching over yellowish teeth. ‘Bartender, more of the same,’ he ordered,
his words just a bit slurred. ‘And
make it fast, the lady is thirsty
.
’

She
had to do something. She watched him desperately, her throat suddenly dry. She cursed herself now
for not thinking of the possibility t
hat someone else might actually come up and chat with her
or
even
try to hook up with her. This was her show
,
and she
had been
too preoccupied with her clumsy plans to chat up Justin to even entertain the idea of being an object of the same.

‘I… I
’
m fine
.
I
’
m waiting for someone
,
’
she
managed finally, her voice weak and almost pleading. ‘
Sorry
about that.’

‘Rea
lly?’
he
drawled, totally
unconvinced
. ‘
And
who would be that happy lad, missy? I’ve been watching you for a while, you know. Didn’t look to me as if you were on a date. Not d
ressed like that, sweetheart
.
’ H
is smile turned ironic, his hand reaching forward to stroke the naked skin of her forearm. She pulled her hand away in an automatic reflex, just as if she were to avoid something filthy. He noticed that, his face reddening angrily as he
leaned
cl
oser, the space between them shrinking to inches.

‘Hey, don’t play a princess now, will y
ou
? You’re dressed for the part, so better start acting it.’ His hand returned to wrap itself almost painfully around her slim wrist. ‘Or do you think I
can’t afford you, is that it?’ H
e grinned again, his teeth looking even worse close up. ‘I
’
ve got enough money for a vixen like you, darling. If you’re extra nice, you might even get a tip.’ He laughed at his own innuendo, his chin shaking in merriment.

‘She said she was waiting for someo
ne
. Which
part of this didn
’t you get?’ An icy voice, colored with contempt
,
interrupted
.
S
he looked up, grateful to whatever angel of mercy the heavens decided to send to her rescue. Her eyes widened in shock
,
and she
could
only
stare, recognizing the elegant features in an instant. Dark
-
haired and blue
-
eyed, Justin McBryndon looked at her companion with such an air of authority in his perfectly chiseled face that the man shrunk in his seat in defeat. Or maybe it was the impossible
-
to
-
ignore
fact that Justin stood six foot four, his broad shoulders filling in his tweed jacket.
The
play of
his
muscles was visible
under the
thin fabric of his pale blue shirt.

The
drunken
man murmured something
un
intelligible, his sulky gaze going between the two
of them
before he slid of
f
the stool and walked away to the
furthest
table in the room.

Kate could feel her heart beating as fast as
the
wings of a bird caught in midflight. She was seriously worried that he could hear it, the way her blood pounded in her temples and travelled to her cheeks, painting
them
red. She wasn’t ready for the unexpected display of chivalry
; it
undermined
her perfectly preplanned course of action. Justin McBryndon shouldn’t have been helpful or kind, she thought
wretchedly, if she was to even attempt to play her part properly.
S
leazy and
dirty
—
these were all adjectives she could have done with instead, she thought. Still, the night was young
,
and she
really
couldn’t give up now.