Surrender

Vaughn placed the glass on the counter. “Does it matter?”

“It does. How long is the commitment? What did they make you sign?”

He chuckled. “There aren’t signatures in this kind of work.”

“Ok. Then what?”

He pushed off the bar stool. “I sat in back-to-back meetings at Mertech today. I had one plan on the way home. Want to hear it?”

“What was it?”

“I want to take a hot shower with you, finish this bottle of wine over dinner, and then take you to bed.” He winked.

It would be easy to fall into his arms. Let him strip me bare and get lost under a rain shower of steaming water. But the problem was that when the shower was over—when the bottle of wine was empty and he was asleep next to me on his pillow—Eloise would still be in the background. She would be back. I had no doubt.

“I would love all of those things,” I admitted. “But we have a situation.”

He nodded. “Ok. Let’s hear it. The real reason you want to know about my negotiation.”

“Yes. And her name is Eloise.”

“Fuck,” he growled. “What is it this time?”

“She tried to give me another assignment today.”

Vaughn’s eyes were wild. “She did what?”

I bit my lip. “I refused it. But I don’t think she believed me.”

He gripped my arms. “What was the assignment?”

I swallowed. “She wants me to steal the code for Paul’s personal safe from Aubrey.”

Vaughn stepped backward. “I’m going to kill her.”

I gasped. “No. No.”

“I’m not actually going to kill her.”

“Oh.” I let out an anxious breath. “Ok. Good.”

“What else did she tell you?” he asked.

“She said the client moved up the time table. And she needed my help in order to move things along. Not much else. It got a little heated when I refused.”

“I bet.” He closed his eyes. “She’s not used to hearing no.”

“It doesn’t seem like anyone ever tells her no.”

“They don’t.”

I grabbed the bottle to refill our glasses. “Last time when I agreed to help her, I just did it. She scared me. And I thought I was helping you.” I placed the cork back in the top of the opening. “There was something else I never mentioned to you.”

His eyebrows raised. He was focused on me.

I had kept this confession inside for months. “I wanted to try it. I wanted to know what it felt like to do what you do. I wanted to see how easy it was to lie. I wanted to understand it.”

“And did you?” he asked. “Did it do all of that for you? Did it answer all your questions, babe?”