Jaded (14 page)

“Okay, Jade. Tell me, what do I do?”

“Are you up to coming in tonight?”

“Yeah, I think so. I just ate some soup and crackers, but I need to get to my place and clean up. I’m at my brother’s right now.”

“About your place, Genny. Why did you give me a bogus address?”

She was answered by silence.

“The truth, Genny.”

“I—I didn’t have a place lined up at the time, and I had to give you something. So I made an address up. I’m sorry.”

Jade’s mood and tone softened. “Genny, you can come to me with anything, I hope you know that. Now, after you get home and shower, call my cell and let me know how you feel. I need you here tonight; maybe the detective can talk with you here in my office. And, Genny?”

“Yes, Jade?”

“We must be discreet.”

“Always.”

“Okay, I’ll call the detective and let him know you’ll be here.”

As she hung up the phone, Jade’s belly fluttered. She wondered why Jase unnerved her on so many levels, yet she couldn’t wait to hear his deep husky voice when she called to tell him about Genny. But what made her more anxious was the knowledge that he would be here, at the club, where his dark angry energy would encompass her like a warm blanket.

As Jade cleaned up her earlier debacle of paperwork, her mind wandered to her recent encounter with Katsuo.

Like her kiss with Jase—for reasons better left alone—she wanted to push her hourlong session with the CEO as far from her conscience as humanly possible. Jade closed her eyes and hugged herself, her skin cold, gooseflesh scattering across her arms and legs. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared, unseeing, at the white wall. He would not be visiting again. And she would leave it at that.

“Vaughn,” Jase said into his cell phone.

“It’s me, Jade.”

He knew that when he saw the number spring up on his LED. His body immediately reacted and silently he cursed. Jase cleared his throat. “I know.”

“I just spoke with Genny. She’s been sick with food poisoning.”

“Then why hasn’t she been at her fake house?”

“She said she’s been at her brother’s place. She’s coming in tonight. I told her you would want to speak with her. Here in my office is fine.”

“What time will she be in?”

“By six-thirty. I’d prefer you talk to her before we open for dinner. Once she’s out on the floor, I don’t want her disturbed.”

“Of course.”

“Look, think what you want about me, but give Genny a break. She’s a good girl working her way through college.”

“Is that how you paid for college?”

He couldn’t blame her for hanging up on him. Damn if Jade Devereaux didn’t push him where no other woman had. He’d insulted her again. It wasn’t his style. He was losing his touch. And with it, he was losing control. This day-to-day police bullshit sucked. He much preferred the looser life of undercover. He’d thought he wanted back in a PD. He thought a break from the rigors of undercover work would kick him back into a normal life. A life where, while he didn’t have the latitude he had in UC work, he would have the structure of general orders and be free of the burden of pretending he was someone he was not. He was wrong. Dead wrong.

Everything he hoped for had a strangle hold on him. He felt trapped by the constraints of the rules, on edge because he had Big Brother looking over his shoulder, frustrated because he could not just do his job by whatever means necessary, and overriding it all, he was horny as hell. He flipped his cell open and scrolled through a few numbers before he found the one he wanted, then he hit call.

“Hello, stranger,” a low sexy voice said.

Jase grinned. “Hello yourself.”

“You left without saying good-bye.”

“Sorry about that. I promise next time I won’t.”

“What makes you think there will be a next time?”

“C’mon now, Stacey, you know it’s good between us.”

“It’s better than good; if it wasn’t, I would have hung up on you by now.”

Jase laughed low. “How about a late dinner, then dessert? Or we skip dinner and go right to dessert?”

“I’m on a diet, so no entrée. I’ll be waiting for you.”

“About nine?”

“Perfect. And, Jase? Don’t disappoint me. I don’t give second chances.”

His dick swelled, but he realized as he hung up it wasn’t Stacey’s model-tall golden body that had him rising against his slacks. It was a dark voluptuous beauty who had it throbbing. Jase forced a smile. Well, after a few minutes wrapped up in Stacey’s honey-scented embrace, Jade Devereaux would be a memory. He rubbed his hands in anticipation of that becoming a reality.

Jade finished up the niggling paperwork and decided she needed a massage, then a hot soak in her tub. She didn’t look forward to going back to her house and returning it to order. While she was a perfectionist, she didn’t want the reminder of her past or what her present had turned into. She decided to hole up the next few days at the Blue Orchid, a quirky little boutique hotel not far from the club.

She’d go home and gather her toiletries, call her housekeeper to go clean up, and then maybe by the weekend she would feel up to returning to her house. Jade made the necessary calls and smiled when she spoke to Jolie, the owner of the Orchid. The masseuse had a cancellation and if she could be there in ten minutes she could get her in. As she exited the building, Jade smiled and waved at Mac as he pulled in. Right behind him was Rusty on his bicycle.

Her smile widened. For the second time that day she was grateful she’d hired the kid. At first she wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle the stress of the job, but with Mac’s quiet patience schooling him, the kid had surprised her.

Rusty’s big grin and Mac’s broad smile washed away the tawdriness of what had become her job. All of her employees, down to Ernesto, her handyman, were good, hardworking people. She trusted their discretion, was grateful for their loyalty, and respected their work ethic. She’d had no problems with anyone over the past five years. She knew with certainty, especially after her conversation with Jack, that there were going to be lots of fires to put out in her near future.

And more troubling to Jade was how she would come through it unscathed.

For the first time since the weekend, when Jade entered the club, she felt refreshed and ready to work. She pushed all thoughts of Andrew Townsend, Katsuo Hiro, Otis Thibodeaux, and Jack Morton from her mind. She would not acknowledge what they represented. Instead, she pretended she was meeting Jase as a normal girl with a normal man on a normal date. It would be the only way to get through the night. The alternative was not an option. She decided it didn’t matter what he thought of her, there was nothing between them but a strong physical attraction, and as much as it scared her, it also made her feel good. It made her feel alive. It was good to know she wasn’t completely dead inside. And damn little these days made her feel good. A girl was entitled to a little fun. And if it made her more of whore in his eyes? It didn’t matter; she couldn’t change his mind, so she might as well capitalize on the attraction.

She’d chosen her dress with extreme care. She’d picked up a lovely Versace, a gossamer-thin gold number that came to just above her knees, with a low dipping-open back. It gave the impression that she wore no undergarments. It was the perfect tool for seduction. The gold strappy sandals gave her shapely legs more length. She didn’t bother with nylons, the smooth natural tone of her skin made it easy not to.

She knew just how good she looked when Thomas stopped and quirked a brow. “My lord, Jade, are you looking to cause a train wreck tonight?”

She smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment, Thomas.”

“Be careful, Jade, I don’t think all of us combined would be able to save you from a rabid Romeo tonight.”

“I only have one Romeo in mind tonight, Thomas, and he can’t touch.”

Thomas’s brows drew together in a frown. “Not that cop?”

“Yes, that cop. He’s been messing with my life, now it’s time to give him something back.”

“Be careful with that one,” Thomas warned.

“Always.”

Jade hummed as she headed back to her office. For Thomas to notice was not a big deal, but for him to comment was huge. He was gay, and in the five years she’d worked with him, he had never given even the slightest compliment.

When she strutted into the lounge, Mac’s eyes bugged out of his head and Rusty, god bless his heart, couldn’t look down at his shoes fast enough. She was primed and ready to rock Detective Jase Vaughn’s world.

And true to Thomas’s words, Jase bumped into the man in front of him as he walked into the lounge and caught sight of her. Paul DiMarco came in right behind him and slammed into Jase’s back. The man in front of them, Eduardo D’Anza, looked up and caught Jade’s amused stare and stumbled forward. Only Thomas saved him from hitting the floor.

Jade smiled, turned around, and sashayed into her office, where Genny sat. “Detective Vaughn is here. I’ll bring him back.”

Jade sauntered to the bar where Jase sat conversing with Amber, a lovely redheaded medical student. When his eyes lifted to hers, Jade felt a hot current zap through her entire body. She slowed and watched him watch her, liking the way his lips quirked, and he half smiled, just for her. Halfway to him, she stopped. And with the slightest movement of her head she beckoned him. He excused himself from his conversation, slid from the chair, and seemed to glide to her. She turned and showed him the way to her office, all the while feeling his hot gaze on her back as solidly as if he’d placed a heated branding iron there.

Jade left them and made her way back into the lounge, where she smiled and laughed as easily as if she were a carefree teenager. She didn’t dwell on her past, or her tomorrow, she thought only of tonight and enjoying the power she had over the men here, and one in particular.

Touching her lips, she relived the hot excitement of Jase’s kiss. Despite what he thought of her, the sexy detective did something to her. He touched her in a place she hadn’t known existed. He excited her, and what excited her almost as much was the idea that she had control of the animal in him. As much as he wanted her, he would not step over the line. Not for passion, not for money, not even for himself. Unless she gave him the signal. And that she had no intention of doing.

Jase could spot a liar a mile away and Genevieve Monroe was a liar. And she tried to use sex to gainsay him. It didn’t work.

According to Genny, she had not been the last person to see Townsend alive. She and Townsend had gone down the street to Delicato’s for a drink.

“He was too drunk to be decent company,” she said, her lips smiling seductively.

“By ‘decent company,’ do you mean he couldn’t fork over the required cash and rise to the occasion?” Jase asked the little blonde.

Genny’s eyes widened, and she had the admirable talent to appear insulted.

“Nice try, sweetheart,” Jase said. “If you cooperate, I promise when this entire case goes down, the DA will go easy on you.”

“Detective,” Genny cooed as she uncrossed her legs in a manner that would have given him a twat shot if he were looking, “Maybe we can continue this conversation later? Over a drink?” She leaned forward, showing off what were an admittedly impressive set of tits. “I’m available on whatever level the law requires of me, Detective Vaughn.”

Jase explained he had a date, but didn’t shut her down completely. He didn’t need another woman scorned, out for his blood. She pouted prettily.

“When did you leave Delicato’s?”

“Around one-thirty or so.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, the bartender called a cab for Andy.”

“Did you see him get into a cab?”

Genny smiled again, then sat back in the chair, arching her back just enough so those impressive tits pointed north. “No, I had left by then.”

“Where did you go?”

“Home.”

“To that home on Mission?”

Genny scowled. “I wasn’t feeling well. I went to my brother’s.”

“And he can vouch for you?”

“Yes, he can.”

“What is his name and is he home now?”

Genny looked up at the ceiling. “My brother’s name is Richard. And he went out of town this morning. He’s visiting a friend.”

Jase believed that as much as he believed in Santa Claus. “I want the friend’s info and your brother’s cell phone number.”

“Dickie doesn’t have a cell phone, and I don’t know who his friend is or where they live.”

“You don’t seem to know much about anything, do you?”

She leaned forward and smiled, running a fingertip up from his knee to his crotch. “I know how to please a man,” she breathed.

Her touch having no effect on him, Jase sat back in his chair and carefully regarded the young woman. The way this girl used her blatant sexuality on a man might have worked on him a few days ago, but, Jase realized, those days were over for him. He liked a classier woman. One who did not have to flaunt her assets in his face to let him know she existed. Jase was the kind of guy who needed no road map to find a woman. He grinned. Hell, if the pickings were slim, all he needed to do was call Ricco and the ladies swarmed.

“Detective Vaughn?” Genny softly said.

Jase eyed her. She smiled. She really was a pretty girl. But he could tell there was something fundamentally wrong with her attitude toward men. Had she, like so many women in this business, been abused? Suddenly, his ire at this woman subdued. “Were you abused as a girl?” Jase softly asked.

Genny’s eyes popped open wide and the color drained from her cheeks. “I don’t think that is any of your business!”

“Did you have sex with Andrew Townsend after you left here Saturday night?”

“I am not a prostitute!”

“I didn’t say you were. I asked if you had sex with the man. And by sex, I mean was there any trading of body fluids?”

Genny quickly recovered. That cat-that-ate-the-canary looked resurfaced. She leaned forward and touched his knee. “Detective Vaughn, a girl does not kiss and tell.”