He'd placed the bug in the foyer as he'd arrived. Not hard. He'd just dropped a few coins, bent to pick them up, and attached the adhesive back of the small, round bug to the leg of the marble table right by the entrance.
The second one here in this office hadn't been a challenge, either. He'd pressed it to the underside of one of the many shelves in the room, tucked into the back corner where it wouldn't be noticed.
With luck, both would remain indefinitely. After all, with Noah's tech, the bugs wouldn't be found by any currently existing electronic surveillance sweep equipment.
The third was the trickiest, simply by virtue of the location. Liam had said either living room or bedroom, but Dallas knew damn well that the quality of the intel would be a thousand times better if he could get it in the bedroom. So that's what he intended to do.
He stood, then curved his hand possessively around Nina's rib cage so that his fingertips cupped her breasts.
"So if you're looking for a place near the park..." Crowley was saying, still going on about the real estate market.
"You'll be the first one I'll call," Dallas promised. So far the man had said nothing to suggest that he had any ties to Ortega's criminal activities, and maybe he didn't. But that was the point of the bugs. So that the team could listen and learn. And maybe, just maybe, kick-start an investigation that had stalled with Ortega's death.
"In the meantime," Dallas said as he pinched Nina's nipple just enough to make her moan and Crowley's jaw drop, "I was hoping for a little favor."
"Of course." Crowley's eyes were glued to the girl's tit. "Anything."
"I've got a...cramp. My lovely friend Nina's going to help me work it out. Perhaps we could continue this conversation in a few minutes?"
"I--what? Oh. Well, of course." The man was stuttering, which didn't surprise Dallas. It wasn't the way polite business chats normally concluded.
"Pleasure talking with you," he said as he released Nina, then moved across the room to shake Crowley's hand. Then he turned and headed for the door. Just for show, he actually snapped his fingers as he said, "Nina, with me."
A flicker of envy bloomed on Crowley's face as Dallas strode out of the study, the petite brunette hurrying after him.
He'd gone only a few steps into the living area where the party was in full swing when he saw her.
Jane.
He actually stopped and stared, acknowledging to himself that she'd truly scored points with this move. He'd had no idea she was at the party, and yet there she was, talking with a woman who'd almost certainly given Dallas a blow job in the back of a limo a few years prior.
Jane had noticed him, too, and now she lifted her head, looked right at him, and smiled very slowly. A second later, she lifted her phone, tapped the screen, and winked at him.
An instant later, his phone chimed. He tugged it out of his suit pocket, opened the app, and just about lost his shit.
It was a photograph--and not the kind of photograph he would ever have expected of her, although after their moment on the beach, he wasn't as surprised as he might have been.
It was a photograph of her pussy, slick and wet. And of her finger teasing her swollen clit.
It was dirty and hot, and the camera flash made it clear that this was the kind of shot that skewed toward porn, not art. And Jane had sent it. Jane.
He almost came right then.
And it was clear from her smile that she knew it.
He'd always assumed she'd be shocked by the way he liked to play. That the Jane who was willing to get fucked up with him lived only in his imagination.
But she'd turned his perception around, and he couldn't deny that he liked this new reality.
He didn't know how far they could go--how far he could go--but he was willing to find out. Because there was one thing Dallas knew better than anyone. And that was how to satisfy a woman in the most creative of ways.
And that's when it clicked. When he knew what he wanted.
He'd continue to play her game all right. Hell, he looked forward to it. But from now on, he was going to be the one in charge.
You're being a very bad girl.
I read Dallas's text and smile to myself, feeling both powerful and turned on.