Chapter 8
Olivia
I couldn’t believe what I’d just done. I’d gone from being a private detective to fucking my suspect. I spent the entire evening lying around in bed, thinking of what we’d done. I had to slick my fingers between my pussy folds and bring herself to orgasm again that night just to fall asleep. Simply thinking about the way his chiseled body pinned me down and fucked me senseless was enough to rile me up again.
One thing I did know was that I couldn’t do it again. It was completely against my policy to get personally involved in any case, and that was exactly what I’d done. I slept with the man I was trying to track down. I’d allowed myself to be weak and vulnerable with a man I was investigating. This man, Wesley or Alex or whoever the fuck he was, had screwed my friend over. He’d robbed her of every penny she had on her at the time, and he’d completely screwed over her credit. That jeopardized the way she was able to take care of her son, and that was what really boiled my blood.
He’d compromised Destiny’s ability to take care of her own flesh and blood.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I lay on my bed and brought my hands to my eyes. I thought if I rubbed long and hard enough, the memory would simply dissipate. I knew if I could just scrub my eyes of the memory, then I wouldn’t imagine how thick his cock was. If I brushed my teeth long enough, I’d be able to scrub away the salted sweetness of our intermingled juices on my tongue.
I needed to wipe the incident from my mind, and yet, it simultaneously made me feel alive.
This was bad news for me. This jeopardized my ability to be constructive and unbiased. I knew it would be hard enough taking a case for Destiny because of the friendship we had built, but now, it would be even harder to make Wesley my own personal mark. Now that I knew what his body and that cock of his was capable of, that was all I would want to think about. I’d sit in front of him or hear his voice, and instantly, my tits would stand at attention. It was happening right now, and all I was doing was thinking about the trouble I had gotten myself into.
“Shit.”
It was the most fun I had ever had in my life. Being a private detective didn’t afford me much of a social life, which meant I didn’t do much dating. Which meant I didn’t do much fucking, either. My body had been set aflame in ways I’d never felt before, and I sunk back into the depths of my covers and pulled my comforter over my head.
Maybe if I just hid away from the world, I’d be able to ignore the tugging in my pelvis.
I wanted him to call. I wanted my phone to ring out with a number I didn’t recognize. I wanted to pick up and hear his voice on the other end. I could talk with him and get back to business. I could begin slowly asking him questions, trying to prod him about certain things in his life that I could use to hack his social media accounts or whatever else I could find. In the back of my mind, I knew I could use this to my advantage. I could continue to sleep with him and grow close to him, then I could strike at the last second. I’d be able to use this dynamic to get closer to my mark than I’d ever come before.
Then, I’d inject him with a little bit of his own medicine and watch him tumble from the precipice he’d built for himself.
The idea made me smile, but I bolted upright when my cell phone began to buzz. I picked it up and didn’t recognize the number, and suddenly, I felt nervous. I knew who was calling. I knew it was Wesley. I took a deep breath and calmed my mind before I slipped back into the real estate persona I’d built. Then I picked up the phone and held it to my ear.
“Olivia Hart, Real Estate. How can I help you?”
“So professional. I like it.”
“Wesley?” I asked.
“Who else would it be, beautiful?”
“One of my many other suitors, I suppose,” I said.
“Ah, am I vying against other men for attention? We shall have it out in the catacombs!”
“Such a drama king,” I said. “I do remember that about you. What can I do for you this morning, Mr. Fox?”
“I was wondering if you would enjoy partaking in an afternoon meal with me,” he said.
“I believe us locals around here call that lunch.”
“Ah, I thought there might have been a name,” he said. “Would you care to accompany me to this lunch you speak of? Strictly to talk about the property, of course. I assume it’s been on your mind?”
“A great many things have been on my mind, yes. But the property is one of them.”
“That’s the downside to having multiple suitors, I suppose,” Wesley said. I could practically feel the smirk he had on, dripping through the phone, and I had to pull it away from my ear. I was enjoying the banter a bit too much, so I slung my legs over the side of my bed to help me focus.
“Still not a morning person?” he asked.
“Now, how could you possibly know something like that?” I asked.
“Because it’s ten-thirty in the morning, your voice is still coated in sleep, and that deep sigh meant you’ve probably just sat up for the first time.”
“And you remember all this from high school?” I asked.
“I remember you falling asleep repeatedly on my shoulder during our first-period English class our junior year.”
“Holy hell, I hated that woman,” I said. “She was always so loud and cheery. Morning people piss me off.”
“How about coffee to accompany lunch?” he asked. “Strictly talk about the property, and if you’re still interested, we can get going on that offer.”
“Where would you care to meet?” I asked.
“How about Duke’s Malibu? Right there on the ocean, and we could take our time eating. You know, so you can wake up and all.”
“Duke’s Malibu sounds perfect,” I said. “They have this incredible crab sandwich I’ve been meaning to try.”
“And it’s close to where I work, so it’ll allow for me to spend as much time with you as possible. How about we meet there, say, around twelve-thirty?”
“As much time as possible, huh? Sounds perfect. See you then, Mr. Fox.”
“Looking forward to it, Miss Hart.”
I hung up the phone before I stumbled into the shower. It would take me at least the next hour to truly wake up, especially since it was a Saturday. I ran the water as hot as I could, trying to soothe my aching muscles from the night before. It hurt to even turn my head, but the memories it brought back caused me to smile before my nipples began to pucker.
“Nope. Not this shit. Not this morning.”
I whipped the water over to cold and settled out my body. I shivered as I woke up before I cleaned myself up. Then, I stepped out and grabbed a towel. While Duke’s Malibu was close to his work, it was about a twenty-minute drive for me, and that was if there wasn’t any traffic. That meant I didn’t have a great deal of time to get ready, so I set to work.
I put on a splash of makeup before I went to my closet. Then I threw open the doors to survey my outfits. Many of the things hanging up had only been worn once, used for various attitudes and personas I’d taken on in my line of work in order to wiggle my way close to the people in question. I wasn’t quite sure what a real estate developer would professionally wear, but since we would be talking about the property, I pulled out a pair of black slacks and a sleeveless blouse.
The blouse flaunted enough of my cleavage to keep him hooked while giving off the impression that I was being professional. If I could keep Wesley on the edge of his seat, salivating just enough to slip up even once, I knew I would have him. I knew I could keep my guard up with him, especially in a public place, but I was all too familiar with what public places did to Wesley.
They made him cocky, and that was always when he fucked up.
I grabbed my purse and keys before I headed to my car. By the time I got to the restaurant, I was already five minutes late. I walked in and saw Wesley sitting by a window that overlooked the ocean, and I took a moment to just stand and watch him. His attention had been captured by the waves, and he looked as if he was thinking about something.
I’d never seen Wesley deep in thought before, and it was a bit disarming.
He turned his head and looked at me before he got up and waved. The smile that ricocheted across his cheeks fluttered something in my stomach, and by the time I got to the table, I was already having to take deep breaths. I sat down with him just as someone came up to set a glass of wine in front of me, and at first, I thought about sending it back. Was it professional for me to drink in the middle of the day? I was usually cooped up in an office. Maybe this was a trick or a trap to try and lure me out. To try and prove to him that I wasn’t who I said I was.
But Wesley took a sip of his wine, so I grabbed the glass and settled back into my chair.
“Such a shame,” he said.
“What is?” I asked.
“A body like yours being contained within those paltry fabrics people call clothing. I much prefer what you wore last night.”
“I wasn’t wearing anything last night,” I said.
“Exactly,” Wesley said, smirking.
“So much for professionalism, hm?”
“I thought we set the base tone for our professionalism last night,” he said.
“No,” I said. “We set the tone for who’s really wrangling this show last night.”
“How do you figure?” he asked.
“Look at who ended the fight on top.” I wrapped my lips around the edge of the glass, and I was painfully aware of how Wesley was staring. His cock was probably already throbbing underneath his pants, and I praised myself for wearing a padded bra to lunch. I could feel my nipples slowly puckering up as we bantered back and forth, and the last thing I needed to do was give away my weakness.
My weakness for what I knew his body could give me.
“Have you given any more thought to that deal?” Wesley asked.
“Between the conversation this morning and now? Yes.”
“Would you care to talk about it?”
“Is that something you’re capable of doing without referencing last night?” I asked.
“It pains me that you think so little of me, Olive,” he said, grinning. “I figured you would’ve known me better than that.”
“Which is why I asked the question, Mr. Fox.”
“Ah, such coldness with the professionalism,” he said. “Your body was quite warm last night, even with you establishing your dominance.”
“I’m willing to offer you two-hundred thousand for the property,” I said.
“I could easily get double that with any other offer,” he said.
“Not when people find out you fucked someone in it.”
Wesley stared at me from across his glass, and he snickered before he shook his head. In Malibu real estate, reputation was everything. If you were selling a piece of property, you had to treat it with decorum and respect. It was obvious he tended to the split property on the beach, but it would be obvious he didn’t have any respect for the shack on the property. That would get anyone to easily lower their price to three-hundred and fifty thousand, but if it began to circulate that he’d screwed someone in the house? It would be easy for a rumor like that to morph into him running some sort of a private sex club out of it, reserved for those who wanted the thrill of having sex on the beach without actually being on it.
“It would be hard to push a rumor like that,” he said. “Not without destroying your own reputation in the community.”
“And I suppose that’s the risk you take. Do you want to pit my reputation in my community against your reputation in yours? Or do you simply want to take the two-hundred thousand, invest it wisely, and have me take the property off your hands?”
“Two-hundred thousand, as well as three percent of the resort,” he said. “Think of it as a return investment on my account.”
“Investments require monetary exchanges,” I said.
“And I’m pretty sure handing over a piece of property for lower than floor price constitutes more than a monetary investment,” he said.
“Two-hundred thousand and two percent of the resort, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
I saw the glimmer in his eye as his grin reached the rest of his face, and I knew I had him where I wanted him. I’d made him a deal he couldn’t refuse, which meant I had more to hold over his head when the time came. I had more than enough information to dig back into the files of his past. I simply had one more move up my sleeve in order to have everything I needed.
“Would you care to take a picture to commemorate this occasion?” I asked.
“Certainly.”
I dug around for my phone as Wesley got up and walked around to my side of the table. He crouched behind me and laid his cheek against mine, and I faltered. I had to bite back a sigh of relief, and I had to prevent my eyes from fluttering closed. His skin felt warm against mine, just like he had last night.
“Ready?” he asked.
“One, two, three!”
I snapped a picture of his face and saved it to my phone. Now that I had a full-on shot of what he looked like, I could run him through the database. I could pull up pictures from the internet of people who looked like him and see how far back these cons went.
Yep. I had him right where I wanted him.
At least, I hoped so.