Nauti Seductress (Nauti Girls 3)

A scarlet belt settled at her hips.

Pulling her boots on, Zoey adjusted the leather that rose just over her knee, grabbed her jacket, and hurried from her bedroom.

As she suspected, Eli was in her kitchen. He’d managed to sniff out her hidden stash of peppermint patties too. The ass.

“Stay out of my candy, Eli,” she ordered, bracing her hand on her hip and narrowing her eyes at him.

He swallowed tightly, gray eyes widening to the point that they nearly bulged just before he coughed, the candy obviously stuck somewhere.

“Fuck, Zoey. Maybe the leather was a bad idea,” he wheezed. “Change clothes. You’ll cause the big boss to have a stroke or something.”

“You’re funny.” She smiled indulgently. “Where are we riding to anyway?”

“The other side of Louisville,” he sighed. “Do me a favor, though?”

She handed him the hair ties and turned her back on him, indicating he should go to work braiding the mass of curls.

They were silent for long minutes while he worked. She knew not to distract him while he pulled together the French braid weave that kept her hair tamed from her forehead to her nape.

“So what’s the favor?” Once he started plaiting the hair from her nape to her shoulders, he was safe to speak to.

“When Doogan comes on to you—and he will come on to you, I’m afraid—just remember, he’s the same rat who asked Eve out to dinner even when he knew Brogan was crazy about her,” he said.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked as he worked quickly, efficiently, making the months and months it took him to learn how to do it all worth it.

“Well, it proves he’s a rat, and that information might keep me in the running for the opportunity to cheat on that lottery,” he snickered, securing the hair tie at the end of the braid.

Zoey dropped her head, shaking it and holding back her laughter. “You’re a nut, Eli.”

He patted her back consolingly. “You love me, Zoey. You know you do.”

He was her best friend and as much a confidant as her sisters.

“Come on, Eli, let’s go meet your boss’s boss. Why are we riding to the other side of Louisville to do this anyway? Doesn’t he know where Graham lives?” she asked in interest.

“Oh, he knows, and Graham’s invited him in several times. He just says he’s too busy. That’s the same excuse he gave this time. So he’s meeting us at a private airfield instead. The plane’s landing just long enough for him to take care of some business and then he’s leaving again.”

Sounded a little too complicated to her. No wonder the government was short on money. They spent too much playing spy games in far too complicated ways.

Zoey led the way to the back of the apartment and the stairwell that led to the small garage she kept hidden from her family at the back of the converted warehouse.

The extra-wide metal door provided plenty of clearance for the Harley she stored there. Twelve feet deep but over a hundred feet wide, the full width of the warehouse. The garage provided plenty of room for her Harley and Eli’s as well as her racing dirt bike, tool cabinets, parts, and a long workbench. The rest of the area she used to store both paintings as well as empty canvases.

Wrapping the tail of her braid around her head and securing it with a bobby pin, Zoey pulled on the full-head helmet and activated the radio in it.

“Test,” she murmured into the link that connected to Eli’s.

“Loud and clear,” he answered, his voice low. “Ready to ride, girly-girl?”

“If you stop calling me those ignorant names. Really, Eli?” He was like a brother. An easygoing younger brother.

“Really, Zoey,” he chuckled as she hit the remote on the bike to slide the door open and started the powerful motor.

Within seconds they were pulling out from the garage, the wide door closing behind them, security automatically activating and locking the entire building down while she was gone.

With the wind whipping around her, she pushed the nightmares behind her and let herself just enjoy the ride and the sense of freedom she found in it. A freedom she knew would be too short-lived and not nearly the adventure she would have wished.

TWO