Candace Havens - Take Me If You Dare

Mariska turned her head toward him and gave a sweet smile. “Honey, this was such a wonderful idea.” Mariska sighed happily. “I’m so glad your friend Mr. Gladstone recommended it.”

The tiny woman who’d been running her hands up and down his body had climbed up onto the table and held on to a large wire mounted to the ceiling as she used her feet to do the work of untying the knots in his back. At the mention of Mr. Gladstone, she’d paused.

“I’ll have to remember to thank him when I see him,” Jackson said. The repetitive footwork began again. “He must be busy with his meeting, since he hasn’t called yet. He was supposed to contact me this morning, but no one has heard from him.”

“Oh.” Mariska had thrown some worry into her voice. “I hope he’s okay.”

Jackson shot a glance at the woman working on Mariska and saw that she had a frown on her face, as if she was about to say something but thought better of it. He wondered if she had been the one to give Gladstone his massage.

“Me, too,” Jackson added. “He was going to suggest a club for us to visit, too. Said it was wild, but I told him we like to step out of our comfort zone when we travel. You know how much I want to play cards while we’re here. I know there has to be some action somewhere, but I have no idea where to look.”

“Hon, you and your cards. Don’t you think that money would be better spent on shoes?” She giggled, and he laughed along with her. She played the part well.

“I’m kidding. Maybe someone at the hotel, or maybe even here, will know a place we can go tonight,” she said. “I want to go dancing. After this massage I’ll feel all warm and sexy. Dancing with you would be so perfect. Then we’ll find you a card game. What do you say, honey, are you up for it?”

Oh, I’m definitely up. Her voice deepened to a sexy soft velvet when she said the words sexy and warm, sending his senses into overdrive. Calm down. She’s only doing her job. Jackson cleared his throat, but before he could answer, the woman working on Mariska chimed in.

“Best dance club is Phatong,” she said in a singsong voice. “Very sexy. You wear short dress. Not very many married couple go, though. Mostly businessmen looking for women and if you ask right people you can find card—”

The woman working on his back hissed as if to shush the other one.

The girl walking on Mariska’s back shrugged. Jackson found the interplay between the two women interesting. He couldn’t tell if the older woman didn’t want the younger one to share information, or if she was concerned for Mariska and him.

“Oh, that sounds like fun. Thank you,” Mariska said. “We love dancing. Then maybe we can, um, find those people she talked about so you can play cards, honey.” Mariska was definitely getting into their charade.

From the toe action down his spine Jackson thought the woman walking on top of him might be angry. If she dug into his shoulder one more time, he might have to take her out. It hadn’t completely healed from the beating he’d received from Vlad’s men a few months ago.

It appeared to him as if Phatong would be the best place to continue their search for Gladstone. He’d seen the club a couple of days ago when he quickly toured the red light district searching for one of his old contacts. Of course, the man was nowhere to be found. It was no coincidence that anyone who could have possibly helped Jackson seemed to have disappeared.

She jumped off the table and patted his shoulder. “I do front now.” That was her way of ordering him to flip over. Jackson considered it for a moment and realized his thinking about Vlad had rid his mind of all the sexy thoughts from before.

All he had to do was try and not look at or listen to the sensual Mariska.

BEFORE THEY HIT THE CLUB, Mariska begged to take a quick shower to get the heavy oils off her skin and to change into something more appropriate for club hopping.

Jackson followed her to the room. As she turned on the water he tried his best not to think about her soaping herself up as the warm water sprayed the oil off her sexy body. The very idea caused his gut to tighten with pleasure.

Sitting down at the desk in front of the large expanse of windows, he didn’t have time to take in the view of the city lights. He made a few quick phone calls to the front desk, and to hotel security pretending to be Mariska’s assistant again. Once he had completed his tasks, he did his best to concentrate on the background check on the club.

Borrowing her laptop, he was able to get the information he needed by doing some quick searches. As he suspected, the club was a front for a busy casino in the red light district, one that wasn’t that well hidden. Jackson hoped they would find some clues about what happened to Gladstone.

Jackson hadn’t lied about hunches. As soon as the women at the massage parlor mentioned the club, he thought perhaps their quarry might be a gambler. There hadn’t been anything in the file about Gladstone having a penchant for cards, but it would explain the long absence from his hotel. More than likely he’d been on the hunt for a card game, too, and that’s why the younger girl had mentioned it. If she’d been working on the other man, there was a good chance she’d mentioned the same place.

The club would be a good start, but they might have to hit a few clubs to find their man. Then again, they might get lucky. Though, until he’d run into Mariska earlier, luck hadn’t exactly been on Jackson’s side the last few months.

On to more important matters. He thanked the stars that Mariska had exactly the software he needed to implement the second part of his plan. Using an untraceable account, he sent an e-mail to Dawson.

Jackson had no idea if the other agent would even read it, but it was worth a chance. A few weeks ago Dawson said he was looking into what happened to Jackson, and that he’d help find out how he’d been burned, but so far they’d both come up with nothing. One minute his cover was blown, the next he’d been burned. His fist tightened on the keyboard and he forced himself to relax.

Thanks for the asset. She is something. News? He typed the words using the code he and Dawson had devised, hitting send as the water shut off.

What he really wanted to ask was, why Mariska? While her laptop and resources would definitely come in handy, there didn’t seem much she could do for him. Well, she was obviously loaded. Maybe Dawson thought he could use the cash. And possibly use spending time with her as a cover. No one would look for a burned CIA agent with a wealthy socialite.

Jackson picked up the phone and called the front desk to get a car and make some arrangements in case they found their quarry.

Mariska hummed a sweet tune in the bathroom and it was more than a little distracting. It took everything he had not to offer to dry her off. It had been a long time since his mind had been so full of a woman, probably not since one of his high school crushes.

He brought up the search engine again, and cleared away any evidence of what he’d been doing before. He didn’t want to risk suspicion.

When she walked out of the bathroom, she might as well have roundhouse kicked him in the gut. Her long, tan legs were at the bottom of a short black skirt topped with a red halter that looked sexy, but not cheap. Her feet were in sexy heels and it took him a minute to catch his breath.

She stared at him, scrunching up her nose. “Is everything all right?” Twirling around, she flashed a hand down her outfit. “Do you think it’s too much? I thought it would be best if I looked like arm candy, but do you think I need more makeup or something?”

She said it as if she had no idea how much the total package would be a constant distraction for him. Hell, she’d be a distraction for any man. Mar didn’t seem to have any idea how gorgeous she was, and he found that extremely appealing.