Undercover Obsession (32 page)

Unfortunately, no contact had been made with
Pasquino, the man they were determined to use Charles to bring into
custody, if he was still alive, which she simply refused to
believe. She always knew she came in second to his business in his
life, but Piper never thought the man who had so faithfully visited
her overseas up until those last few months cared so little for her
that he would simply drop out of her life without any contact for
so long, not if he could help it.

Shifting against Brody, she tightened her arm
around his waist as she nestled her thigh over his, his longer,
harder frame a big comfort to her as she contemplated how far she
had told both him and Ian she was willing to go to prove Charles
wasn’t still living. She vividly recalled the scenes at the last
private party on the thirty-fifth floor she had witnessed, the
arousal she had felt watching various decadent activities she had
only read or dreamt about. Now, the plan was not only for Brody and
Ian to get into Pasquino’s party, but for her to accompany them as
a paid escort, one expected to participate willingly, eagerly to
whatever demands they made. It would be what Pasquino expected and
while the thought of what they might do, in public, turned her on,
she didn’t know if she would enjoy it faced with the man
responsible for killing her beloved adoptive father. She couldn’t
escape the worry and fear he was the one responsible for her
disappearance.

“Go to sleep, Piper, and quit worrying,
neither Ian nor I will let anything happen to you. We’re well
covered,” Brody assured her, her small tense body giving away her
thoughts.

“What happens if you don’t get asked upstairs
tomorrow night?” Would the angst from this whole trip be for
nothing? On one hand, Piper would be happy to return home tomorrow
without going through with attending that party, but on the other,
she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t do what she
could to help, even in such a small, insignificant way, bring down
the man who had killed Charles.

“Pasquino’s ego is about the size of this
casino and hotel put together. Our source assures us he won’t be
able to pass up inviting his nemesis’s former bodyguards, a blatant
attempt to make Charles wonder if he was going to follow up with a
job offer. We’re not sure if Charles became aware that we were feds
before he slipped away, but we are sure Pasquino doesn’t know.”
Pasquino would’ve let something slip by now if he knew his money
man had been made and was under such personal surveillance, Carlos
assured them, just as he had sworn that Pasquino had never hinted
at knowing anything about Piper, which was why he had allowed her
to threaten her way into accompanying them.

As if she read his mind, she asked, “You
don’t think he was behind those missing days, do you?”

“We could be wrong, but no. He hasn’t even
hinted that he knows about you, and our colleague swears he
wouldn’t have simply returned you safely to your cabin if his plot
backfired and brought us instead of Charles. Now, go to sleep.
Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

Ian met them in the hall the next morning,
his surly ‘it’s about time’ making Brody wonder what he was so out
of sorts about. “Get up on the wrong side of the bed?” he asked as
they walked down the carpeted hall to the elevators.

“No, it was the noises coming from my
adjoining room that kept me up half the night that’s responsible
for my mood. Deal with it.” His cock had been so hard listening to
those two, Ian had no choice but to wrap his hand around it and
pump himself to climax. But it was the memory of Haley’s slim body
moving under and over him that he jerked off to, the feel of her
pussy wrapped around his cock that had his balls drawing up tautly
and her soft, breathless cries as she came, over and over, that he
ejaculated to. He had never had trouble putting a woman out of his
mind once he left her bed before, and that he hadn’t been able to
do so with Haley just pissed him off as much as how much he wanted
to fuck her again.

“It seems you’re the one having trouble
dealing with something.” Piper knew he had spent Friday night with
Haley and knew Haley had loved every minute of it. She was grateful
to Ian for being the one to pull Haley back into enjoying sexual
pleasure, but she worried that Haley had stronger feelings for Ian
than she’s admitted, and Ian was about as much a staying man as
Brody was.

“Anyone ever tell you you have a smart
mouth?” Ian smiled down at her as they exited the elevator into the
casino and headed toward the huge buffet he couldn’t wait to dig
into.

“Yeah,” she sighed without an inkling of
remorse. “Several people. I ignored them.”

“I like your smart mouth,” Brody told her as
he held a chair out for her at one of the few remaining empty
tables in the casino’s largest restaurant.

“You would.” Ian ordered a Bloody Mary then
didn’t wait for either of them as he headed straight for the buffet
determined to put all thoughts of sex and Haley out of his
mind.

It was mid-afternoon when both Brody and Ian
were seated at a twenty-one table and were approached by two men,
one of Hispanic descent in his middle thirties, about their age,
the other a rather pale looking older man with cold blue eyes.
Piper had been standing behind Brody, simply watching the play, but
when those cold blue eyes came to rest on her face, she inched
closer to his back, the man making her decidedly uncomfortable.

“Brody, Ian, this is my boss, Antony
Pasquino.”

“You used to work for Charles Sandoval I
hear,” Pasquino wasted no time saying as he shook their hands.
“Hear from him lately?”

The casual way he inserted the inquiry was
belied by the man’s stiff posture and the way his lip curled over
Charles’s name. “Not since he took a few rounds upstairs several
years ago. Ruined a damn good party.” Brody stood in front of
Piper, shielding her as best as he could from the other man’s
shrewd gaze.

“Let me make it up to you by inviting you to
join me tonight. If all goes well, I’ll be taking over the Empire
in a year or two and will be able to use a few extra hands who know
the ropes.”

Not wanting to sound too eager, Brody turned
to Ian, asking, “What do you think? Want to skip the private game
and play tonight instead?” He made up the game quickly knowing Ian
would have no trouble following along.

Ian shrugged as if either option was fine
with him. “There’ll be another game tomorrow or the next night.”
Turning to Pasquino, he accepted the offer. “You providing
entertainment or do we bring our own?” He let his look shift to
Piper, his meaning clear. Brody stiffened next to him, which was
why Ian pushed to include her. The less baggage Brody had to deal
with when this was over the better for all three of them.

“Paid pieces only, willing to do as told.”
Cocking his head, Pasquino looked at the young woman stepping out
from behind Brody’s back, wondering where he had seen her before.
“Have we met?” he asked abruptly, his tone rude.

“Not that I recall,” Piper managed to answer
without inflection despite the instant hatred she felt for the man.
Unable to keep from getting a dig in, she added, “Then again, there
have been so many men, the faces and the bodies do tend to blur
after a while.”

Pasquino narrowed his eyes for a brief,
menacing second then shifted his cold look to Ian and Brody. “Make
sure she learns some respect before tonight. Carlos.”

The two of them left without a backward
glance and not by a word or look did Carlos, Brody or Ian let on
they knew each other aside from the introduction, but Piper
suspected Carlos was their source.

“Damn it, Piper, it’s not smart to goad the
man.” Brody felt like shaking her, but doubted it would do any
good. He’d much rather vent his worry and frustration on Pasquino
and hoped he got the chance tonight.

“I promise I’ll be good tonight,” she told
him just to set his mind at ease. Truthfully, she didn’t know if
she could be around Pasquino for very long without either throwing
up in fear of the man or using her nails to wipe that sneer off his
face.

“See that you are,” Ian answered for Brody.
“We have enough to deal with without you stirring things up.” Ian
walked away, still surprised at how angry he had become out of fear
for Piper. He had become fond of Brody’s girl, and would regret it
until his dying day if something happened to her because he had
talked Brody into letting her come this weekend.

Brody was thinking along those same lines as
he and Piper left the casino to get ready for tonight. With feds
and cops stationed in and out of the casino, the odds of anyone
getting away or hurting her were slim, especially with both of them
sticking to her side all night. But good odds weren’t guarantees.
They did verify one important fact from that meeting. Pasquino
didn’t know who Piper was, something that was in their favor
despite still leaving them in the dark about her disappearance.

Chapter Fifteen

Entering the thirty-fifth floor suite flanked
by Brody and Ian helped ease Piper’s nerves and for the first time
she didn’t resent their hovering. The large room was exactly as she
remembered, sofas and chairs spread about, floor to ceiling windows
along one wall giving a spectacular view of the star studded night
and brightly lit skyscrapers along the boardwalk, a small bar set
in the far corner and soft, muted music being drowned out by the
sound of people talking and, occasionally, voices crying out in
sexual pleasure. Her response at seeing the open sexuality that
reminded her of Charles’s party that she had crashed was the same
despite the underlying risks involved tonight. Excitement hummed
through her veins as she watched a man casually reach over and
release his escort’s breasts from her black satin bra without
stopping his discussion with the three other men he was conversing
with. The woman, a tall redhead with full breasts, seemed eager to
have him touching her, her gasp audible as the man gave one light
pink nipple a hard twist.

Two men were seated side by side on a couch,
already enjoying blowjobs from the women kneeling between their
legs. Piper couldn’t take her eyes off the sight of their bobbing
heads and busy hands, the way they knelt there with their nipples
showcased in cutout bras and their pussies on display in crotchless
panties. When a tug on their hair from the men made them switch
places and cocks, she knew they had done this before.

“Okay,” Ian said, his gaze on the women’s
bare asses, “Now I see the point of crotchless panties.”

Brody thought the green satiny thong he had
helped Piper into was sexier, leaving something to both the
imagination and to look forward to uncovering, but he’d have to be
a eunuch not to get turned on by the sight before them. “Try to
keep your eyes in your head and remember we’re here for a reason,”
he told Ian dryly, their gazes locking over Piper’s head.

“We still have to fit in and you know
it.”

“Maybe sooner than later.” Brody watched
Pasquino break away from a small group of people and head their
way, his eyes curious on Piper again, which made him nervous.
Grabbing Piper’s hand he gave it a squeeze before letting go and
greeting the drug lord. “Pasquino. Thanks for the invite.”

Antony Pasquino coolly greeted Sandoval’s
ex-bodyguards, his attention on their escort as he once again tried
to remember where he had seen her before. Her black hair and vivid
green eyes were very attractive as were the curves he could detect
beneath the clinging camisole she wore above her thong, but it was
the nagging suspicion that he had seen that face before that held
his attention. Irritated that he couldn’t place that face, he told
Brody, “Enjoy your evening. Maybe we’ll talk later.”

“Well, that was short and sweet,” Ian
remarked as Pasquino rejoined his small group, his eyes now more
interested in watching the two women in the midst of several men
kissing and kneading each other’s breasts. “I need a drink.”

“Let’s head that way and then we’ll have to
start participating.” Brody looked down at Piper, seeing if she
knew what he meant, which, by the way her eyes lit up, she did.

“I’m fine, Brody,” she assured him. Even
though she wasn’t sure about how far she wanted to go publicly, she
was excited enough to want to indulge in a little exhibitionistic
foreplay.

“We just have to take it far enough to be
convincing. Ian and I have to keep focused, and that’s hard to do
around you, darlin’.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Brody reached down and fondled Piper’s
exposed buttocks as he and Ian struck up a conversation with the
bartender and was proud of the way she responded, acted like she
was used to being touched in front of strangers. In fact, she
responded almost too convincingly, her pointed nipples plainly
visible through the thin top and her shifting hips against his hand
made it difficult for him to concentrate on their conversation with
the bartender as he poured their drinks. He did manage to stay
focused enough to learn he was a new employee at the Empire and was
enjoying his job. After a few more minutes talking about the
casino, Brody knew the bartender hadn’t heard any information about
either Pasquino or Sandoval that could be useful. Still, it hadn’t
hurt to try. Usually bartenders knew everything about everyone, but
this one was too new to have been privy to much gossip yet.

“Time to mingle,” Ian said as they moved away
from the bar. Other than a few of the high rolling spenders that
Charles had befriended and who were now guests of Pasquino’s, they
didn’t know anyone here, which would make it easier to simply
listen in.

“Remember Piper, you’re a woman on the clock,
paid to do whatever we want,” Brody reminded her as they started to
mingle.