Chapter 20

TWENTY

“That man is handsy as fuck,” Cat complained as soon as she walked into the room.

Atlee slowly dragged her gaze from mine.

So much emotion had been swirling in those brown eyes of hers. I watched her run the gambit—from delight to confusion to worry to resolve. It was the resolve that concerned me. I’d quickly learned that with Atlee’s attitude, resolve could mean anything.

“Are you okay?” Atlee asked.

Catarina waved a hand and tossed herself ungracefully into a chair.

“I’m fine. Martin’s nothing I can’t handle but the man tests the boundaries of skills. By the end of the night I was getting ready to break cover and introduce him to the real Cat.”

“Stow your claws, kitten,” Jack teased. “We’re getting close. The property Martin secured fell through and he’s asked Atlee to find him a new place.”

Cat slowly smiled.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” I asked.

“Well…” she drew out the word. “I might’ve overheard where he’d planned the auction and made a few calls reporting a bed bug infestation.”

I felt my temper flare. I didn’t like to be kept in the dark at any stage of an operation but especially when it threatened to put a halt to the entire rescue.

“Bold move,” Jack muttered.

“And you didn’t think while you were making those calls one of them should’ve been to me?”

“Not when I was fighting off Martin’s wandering hands, while sitting on his lap while his micro penis was hard under my ass. Let’s just say I now understand why he pays for sex. No woman would put up with a pinkie-toe-sized dick.”

I could’ve gone the rest of my life not knowing the size of Martin’s cock and lived happily.

“You know it’s not always the size that matters,” Jack objected, looking down at his phone. “What some men lack in size they make up for with their tongues and fingers.”

Before I could stop further discussion about dick size Cat jumped on Jack’s comment.

“Oh, it sounds like you’re speaking from experience. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

I heard Atlee snort beside me.

“I swear to God, if you offer up your cock, I’m gonna cut it off,” I groused.

Still tapping on the screen of his phone Jack shrugged.

“A man who has a big dick doesn’t need to swing it around. I was merely trying to educate Cat here that women are typically hung up on size when really they should focus on the pleasure. And a man worth taking to bed.” Jack glanced up from his phone and pinned his glare on Cat. “Should know how to pleasure his woman with all the tools he has at his disposal.”

Atlee’s hand flexed twice.

“He’s not wrong,” she murmured.

“Please don’t encourage him,” I begged.

“Thanks for the sex ed talk. Will you be taking questions after class?” Cat quipped.

“Sure. But I’m more a shower than a teller,” he shot back.

“Can we get back to work?” I suggested.

Apparently not.

Cat stared at Jack.

Jack held her stare in a challenge that wouldn’t bode well for Catarina.

Cat broke first and glanced at me. I watched Jack smile and go back to his phone.

“Martin’s got three buyers coming in this afternoon,” Cat told me.

“Did he mention names?”

“No, but only because Martin’s friend, Dale, stopped Martin from discussing too much in front of me.”

“Dale?” Jack asked before I could.

“Cagey as fuck,” she answered. “Didn’t get a last name and he wasn’t happy Martin was talking in front of me.”

“What did he look like?” I took over.

“Square jaw, clean shaven, brown hair with some threads of silver, expensive suit, expensive watch, expensive taste in scotch. I couldn’t get an exact eye color—it was dark—but I’d say they’re brown or hazel.”

I looked over at Atlee.

“Is that the man who was with Martin this morning?”

“Yeah and he has mean brown eyes.”

“Joan has three properties in mind,” Jack interjected. “The viewings are being set up now.”

“Thanks, Jack. Text Rhode and ask him to exchange Asher’s car for a town car.”

“On it.”

“What’s going on?” Cat inquired.

“Thanks to the calls you made, Martin has asked Atlee to find him a new property for the auction.”

“Excellent. It worked.”

Cat smiled at Atlee then asked, “How pissed was he?”

Something ugly swirled in my gut. I had to remind myself that Catarina was a trained operative and making plays in the field that were indeed beneficial to the operation. She hadn’t meant to put Atlee in a tight spot.

“Do me a favor, Cat, and call me to give me a heads up we’re sending my woman into a potentially volatile situation with a pissed-off sex trafficker next time.”

Catarina looked stricken.

“Shit, Atlee, I didn’t mean…” Cat trailed off. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about the situation I was putting someone who’s untrained into.”

“It all worked out.” Atlee amicably waved off Cat’s apology. “And to answer your question, he was pissed, but the other man, Dale, was the one who seemed more concerned.”

“I got the same impression last night,” Cat agreed then looked back at me. “I told you my thoughts on Martin. They haven’t changed. He views me as some innocent twit to possess. He can’t think beyond his sick perversion. He speaks freely in front of me—first because he doesn’t think I have a clue what he’s talking about but two, he thinks he already owns me. I have no doubt in his mind, when he leaves Vegas he’ll be taking me with him so even if I knew something I shouldn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Eden and Dale are the two I need to watch.”

“Agreed.”

Cat frowned. “Tonight’s going to be tricky.”

“How so?”

“Dale will be at the party tonight. I didn’t like the way he was watching me. I’m uncertain how to play this. I’m going to have to give Martin something.”

Jack’s attention sliced to Catarina.

“Something?” Jack growled.

“He’s having a dress delivered to my room for the party. I’m sure it’ll be…distasteful at best. I gave in to the dress but not going home with him. Tonight, I don’t think I’ll be given an option.”

Jack looked like he was ready to combust.

Atlee’s phone rang, cutting through the tension.

“I have to answer it,” she said.

Unfortunately that meant I had to let go of her hand.

She glanced at the screen and nodded.

“It’s not Martin,” she announced and stood.

Jack waited for her to disappear into the bedroom before he seethed, “You’re going to spend the night with him?”

Cat came out of her slouch and straightened.

“If that’s what’s required then yes, Jack, I’ll be spending the night with him.”

Jack abruptly stood and stomped out of the room like a man throwing a temper tantrum.

Fuck.

Now I needed to talk Jack off the ledge he found himself on with the beautiful Catarina.

“What’s his problem?” she asked.

For as smart as she was, she was blind to Jack.

“He’s not fond of men taking advantage of women.”

“Is he fond of women taking advantage of men? Because that’s what’s happening here.”

Jack was too far gone for the woman to rationalize what she was doing.

Which would’ve been interesting if I wasn’t in the middle of rationalizing my feelings for a woman in the middle of a dangerous operation.

* * *

I expectedto see Jack’s name on my phone screen, not Joan Heffner’s.

They’d arrived at the third property Atlee was scouting twenty minutes before. Jack should’ve called me by then to tell me they were on their way back to the city. Jack picked up Asher and Atlee’s tail the moment Asher had pulled off of the Boulevard.

Cat had been correct with her latest assessment. Dale was going to be her biggest problem. I had no doubt it was Dale, not Martin, who had ordered Gavin to follow Atlee. Fortunately Gavin was shit at it and didn’t know he was being tailed himself.

I picked up the call before it went to voicemail.

“Joan,” I greeted.

“Catarina’s checked in,” she started. “I’m uncertain I like her plan.”

“As a whole or is there a particular part you don’t like?”

“The part where she’s offering herself to the wolves. Any number of things can happen once Martin has her alone.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Cat was throwing herself to the wolves.

“In this situation, any number of things could happen to her in a room full of people,” I grimly reminded her. “She knows the risks and from what I’ve seen she’s smart. She has a panic button should she need it.”

Catarina had the same watch Atlee had.

“Obviously you don’t know Catarina as well as you think you do. She wouldn’t blow the operation by using the panic button.”

Joan was correct about that, too.

“I’ll be at the party—”

“You won’t be in that bedroom,” Joan snapped. “I admire Catarina. She’s smart, brave, and has the best instincts of anyone I’ve ever worked with. I disagree with Tyree’s assessment, I’ve voiced this to the chain, but Ty has one valid point—she’ll go her own way if she thinks her way is better than the parameters of the mission. I’m not saying her way isn’t often times the better way. What I’m saying is, I’m worried she’s putting this operation before her wellbeing.”

I happened to agree with Joan’s point of view.

Catarina was all in to take Martin down.

“I’m not sure what you want me to do here, Joan. I agree with you, but Catarina is already in with Martin. The only way you’re going to get her to deviate is if you pull her.”

Joan blew out a long, frustrated breath.

“Give Martin some competition?” she suggested.

“Me going to the party and attempting to take Cat from Martin will not be viewed as competition. He’ll have me escorted out and I’ll lose my invitation to the auction. I could send in Asher. He’d be happy to rub up against Martin for Cat’s attention but that puts him in unnecessary danger so while I could, I’m not going to needlessly risk one of my men.”

“Shit, Wilson, I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I. But again, I don’t see a way around this unless you pull her. And for the record I think that would be a mistake.”

I heard Joan sigh. This time instead of frustration I heard resignation.

“After this is over she’s going to quit the SOIB,” Joan told me. “She’s had enough of Tyree’s shit. Not that I blame her but she’ll be giving the man what he wants.”

“Maybe. But she’d also be doing what’s right for her. I know of an outfit in Maryland that wants her.”

“Yes, Jasmin Parker has made it clear she wants Cat.”

“So you know.”

Joan laughed.

“Yes, Wilson, I know that one of the best human intel interrogators is after the best asset I’ve ever worked with. I’d be stupid not to keep my eye on the players.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that, Joan. I just didn’t know Jasmin’s efforts were common knowledge.”

“Why do you think Tyree’s got such a big chip on his shoulder? The great Zane Lewis’s sister-in-law has been after Cat for years. I was lucky to snatch her up when she left Homeland.”

It sounded like Joan found herself in a situation that was called—not my problem. And since I’d gotten to know Cat, I hoped for the sake of her happiness, she accepted Jasmin’s offer.

“What are you going to do about your immediate issue?”

“I’m going to pray Cat knows what she’s doing and only goes as far as she’s willing to live with.”

“All you can do, Joan. But your concerns are noted and if I have the chance to speak to her tonight before the party I will.” Another call beeped the line. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but Jack’s calling in.”

“Talk soon, Wilson. Thanks for listening.”

“Anytime.” I switched lines. “Jack?”

“We’re on our way back.”

Thank fuck.

“Any issues?”

“No. Rhode ran known associates of Martin looking for a Dale.”

“Did he find anything?”

“Not yet.”

I stared out the window, watching the fountain as the water started to dance. So much beauty in a city full of repulsiveness. A city Atlee lived and worked in. A city she’d continue to live in after I went home to Idaho.

Your priorities have shifted.

Fuck.

“Wilson?”

“Yeah, listen, we need to talk about Catarina.”

“We’ll talk about Cat right after we talk about Atlee.”

Bastard.

“Joan called and expressed some concerns,” I told him.

“Good to know the SOIB isn’t on board with their assets whoring—”

“Whoa, brother. She’s doing her job.”

Jack huffed a furious breath.

“I know. That was a shit remark.”

It was. It was also telling.

“But the thought of her spending the night with that foul motherfucker is tearing me apart.”

“Welcome to my hell.”

“Your woman’s not spending the night with that ‘handsy’ fucker, Wilson,” he rightly pointed out.

“Neither is my woman trained, Jack. She’s going in blind and each time she courts getting caught.”

The mere thought of Atlee going behind closed doors with Martin made me want to rip the man’s heart out of his chest.

“Atlee’s smart.”

“So is Cat. That’s my point. She also knows what she’s doing. You need to remember she’s playing Martin, not the other way around. This will be over soon, we only have four days until the takedown.”

“Four days of Cat…” He stopped and blew out another breath. “You’re right. Four more days.”

Four more days until I left Atlee in Vegas.

My stomach knotted and my chest burned.

“How far out are you?” I asked.

“You mean how much longer until you see that Atlee’s fine with your own eyes?”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean,” I admitted.

“Ten minutes.” Then he tacked on. “Don’t be stupid, Wilson.”

“Come again?”

“Don’t be stupid and walk away from a woman who is crazy in love with you.”

Dead air made it impossible for me to comment.

Not that I had a comment to share.

Four days.

That was all I had left before I had to face my greatest fears.

Atlee deserved to know the truth.

After that, it was up to her.