The Negotiator: A Games People Play Christmas Novella Read online

  Matthias lived his whole life that way. The man was paranoid, but with good reason. He ran a security company that supplied forces to everyone from wealthy businessmen to political leaders. He’d seen shit that was even worse than Garrett had experienced during his black ops days, and that was saying something.

  “Not really, but I’m not sure I trust many people.” Garrett ignored how hardass that sounded and continued his thought. “Maryanne had a reason to want Carl dead—revenge, jilted lover and who knows what he did to her while they were away. Bob clearly was in on all of this and might have killed Carl to cover his tracks. And Jake.”

  Matthias’s eyebrow lifted. “What about him?”

  “Unrequited love.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He has a thing for Lauren.” Garrett didn’t find the sentiment any less punch-worthy now than he had before.

  Matthias glanced out the window then back to Garrett. “For his sister-in-law? That’s creepy as fuck.”

  “I don’t know how to say it without sounding creepy.” There really was no way to pretty it up. “But I’m not sure Lauren sees it.”

  Matthias shook his head. “I wish I could unsee it.”

  “Then we have the problem of the locks and the alarms. Lots of motives, but how did the killer get in?” When Matthias started to talk, Garrett spoke right over him. “And do not tell me the evidence points toward Lauren.”

  Matthias took another look outside. This time his gaze lingered a bit longer before he responded. “Oh, please. No way did she do it.”

  The concentration break didn’t bother Garrett. He guessed Matthias was keeping a watchful eye on Lauren outside. So long as that was true, Matthias could do all the staring he wanted to. But the emphatic support of her was still a surprise because Matthias suspected everyone. “Look at you, believing in people. That’s new.”

  “First, Kayla loves her so even if Lauren did kill the fucker, and I totally would get why because that guy was an ass wipe, I’d support her. I’d also give her a lecture on better ways to hide the evidence.”

  “I love your practical side.” Only Matthias. Actually, no. Most of the Quint Five would answer that way. Since he’d started hanging out with them and spending most of his days with Wren, the response made sense to Garrett. He ran with a very protect-your-own crowd.

  “Pissing off Kayla does nothing for my private life.” Matthias shot Garrett a man-to-man you-get-me look. “Besides, I don’t see how Lauren, a woman who is sympathetic to her husband’s mistress, is a killer. It doesn’t fit.”

  Garrett both loved and hated Lauren’s quick support of Maryanne. Name calling was bullshit and Bob had deserved to be censored before he could malign her. But having Lauren believe in Maryanne worried him because the other woman might be cut from the same con-artist cloth as Carl. She just might be better at scamming, and Lauren had been through enough.

  “My money is on Bob. If he was in on the drowning, I’m betting he helped fake the bank and investment documents that fooled Lauren, too.” Matthias took a bottle of water from the center of the table and cracked open the lid. “Have you seen them? Wren says they are expert quality, which makes me wonder if Bob is pulling a scam on anyone else.”

  “Well, I’ve read the file Wren compiled on Carl. He wasn’t the brains here. Lauren kept the place afloat despite him then thrived once his inept management was gone.”

  “Bob is a financial guy. If people find out he’s playing with documents and running frauds, he loses everything.” That sounded like motive to Garrett.

  “And if Carl didn’t stay dead as planned, he made himself into a loose end.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I’ll have Wren dig deeper.” Matthias took another look out the window. “In the meantime, you may want to head outside. The conversation between Lauren and her lovesick brother-in-law looks serious.” Matthias shook his head. “The creepy fucker.”

  At least Garrett wasn’t the only one saying it now. “That’s exactly how I think of him.”

  Jake stood in front of Lauren on the pier. The smell of fish and salt and dampness floated around them. Boats rested in the water next to them and her back stayed to the office. She knew if she looked in the window and saw Garrett peeking out she’d have to roll her eyes, and that couldn’t happen. Not when Jake seemed very serious.

  The color had drained from his face. “Boyfriend?”

  “That’s the part that bothers you?” They’d talked about fraud and Carl’s games. Bob’s possible complicity. And Jake was worried about her love life, something she hadn’t had until very recently.

  “I’ve seen him around. Heard rumors.”

  About Garrett? That didn’t make sense. “What?”

  Jake folded his arms across his stomach and stopped shifting around. His intense gaze never wavered. It stayed trained on Lauren. “I had no idea you guys had moved to the serious stage.”

  Apparently she was supposed to make some sort of public announcement. That was news to her, so was the idea of having a boyfriend.

  Rather than fight Jake on this and get frustrated, she went with standard relationship lingo. In this case, it fit. “It’s complicated.”

  “Look, Lauren.” Jake’s arms dropped to his sides and he moved in closer. “I don’t want to see you get hurt. How much do you know about this guy?”

  Right before he could take her hand, she stepped back. Jake had always been the touchy type. At first she thought it was sweet. As someone with no real family, being enveloped by Carl’s comforted her like the perfect soft blanket. But then it got weird.

  Jake had turned strangely possessive after Carl disappeared. She knew it was his way of protecting her, but the last thing she wanted was to spend time with anyone related to Carl. Unfortunately, that included Jake, which she knew wasn’t fair, but nothing about her marriage and interpersonal relationships was.

  She tried to turn the conversation back to the real reason they’d met today. Sure, it was for Matthias and Garrett, with Detective Cryer’s blessing, to size up two of the other suspects. But she really did want answers. “Look, the bigger issue here is Carl and finding his killer.”

  “Bob.” Jake sighed. “I hate to say it but he has the most to lose.”

  “How did he get into my house?” That was the piece she couldn’t make fit in her head. The lack of a break-in suggested someone close enough to be able to come and go. The only person who fit that description was Kayla.

  “He’s connected. He probably could have had keys made. I think—”

  Garrett stepped onto the pier and walked over to him. He didn’t bother closing the door to the office behind him. “Everything okay out here?”

  “We were talking about keys.” She smiled as she said the words, but something tickled in the back of her mind. A memory she couldn’t grab on to.

  Garrett made that familiar humming sound that he usually made before he made a smartass comment. “I’d say ‘That’s interesting’ but it really isn’t.”

  Jake’s eyes narrowed as he watched Garrett. “Can you give us a few more minutes?”

  “No.” No reason. Garrett just denied the request and stood there.

  The response had Jake blinking. “Excuse me?”

  “Lauren and I have a meeting with the detective.”

  “Oh, right.” Never mind that it was news to her. She used it as the excuse to start heading for the office. She hesitated just long enough to call to Jake over her shoulder. “I’ll call you.”

  “You do that.”

  She waited until Jake was out of earshot. “Do we really have a meeting with the detective or were you being a jerk to Jake for fun?”

  Garrett finally broke eye contact with Jake’s retreating back. “I don’t like anyone in that family but you.”

  Something about that statement sent a shiver racing through her. “I’m not in it anymore.”

  “Anyone else lurking around? His parents or a stray cousin?”

  “No
. His parents were older. They died in the first few years we were married. One right after the other.” She remembered mourning them. They’d raised two very different sons. Carl, outgoing and flirtatious with a mean streak. Jake, handsome but quiet, pretty unassuming.

  “That doesn’t really help the case.”

  Then the memory clicked. The keys. That was it.

  She held up a finger as she headed for the office. “I think I have something that might.”

  “Clue me in . . .” His voice trailed off. “Where are you going?”

  She stepped back inside. Didn’t even stop when Matthias looked up from studying one of her business pamphlets. She slipped behind her desk and pushed her chair to the side. There, under the drawer was an open space. She reached in and pulled out a set of keys. Held them up by the far edge and let them jangle in her hand.

  “Huh.” Garrett stared at her. “I feel like I should be more excited about this reveal.”

  The man really knew how to kill a big moment. “My extra set of keys.”

  “To your house.” Garrett said it more as a statement than a question.

  Excitement ran through her. This could explain so much. “The house. This office, which is unlocked all day while I’m in and out. And to the boathouse up the pier.”

  “You think someone came in and took them,” Matthias said in a flat tone that mirrored the one Garrett now used.

  She had no idea what was wrong, so she kept talking. One of them would clue her in eventually. “It wouldn’t be that hard. I don’t use them every day. I wouldn’t notice if they were gone.”

  Matthias made a baggie appear out of nowhere. “Drop them inside. It’s unlikely since there were no prints in your house, but there could be on these.”

  “That doesn’t explain the alarm,” Garrett said as he watched Matthias handle potential evidence.

  This is where the explanation got a little tricky. “Human error.”

  Her brain had been wrapped in a haze that afternoon. She’d texted Garrett, which secretly thrilled her, but the shock of Carl’s sudden disappearance hadn’t worn off. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember each step she’d taken when she walked out of the house that day.

  Garrett froze. “What?”

  “I don’t always turn it on.”

  “Why have the damn thing?” All emotion left Garrett’s face, but he could yell. Boy, could he yell.

  “I was with you and . . .” Well, crap. When both men continued to look at her as if she needed a reality check, she finished the thought. “I felt safe.”

  Garrett shook his head. “You’re killing me here.”

  She didn’t think he meant it in the sexy way. She got the distinct impression he was struggling to hold on to his temper.

  Matthias shot Garrett a quick glance before looking at her again. “At least we have a possible way for someone to get in that doesn’t incriminate you.”

  The room started to spin. The dizziness hit her out of nowhere and she grabbed for the chair to keep from falling over. “Is that an issue?”

  “Your house. Your dead husband.”

  Matthias did like to boil things down to their essence. Right now she would have preferred a little tact. “When you put it that way . . .”

  “It kind of reinforces the need to use that alarm, doesn’t it?” Garrett added a sigh at the end, as if she needed further confirmation that he was ticked off.

  Message received. The painful gut-kicking part of this was she didn’t know why Carl had snuck back to her house or who had followed him. But if she’d turned on the alarm, it was possible neither of them could have gotten in. Carl might still be alive.

  That truth brought a whole new wave of guilt crashing into her. “It does now.”

  Chapter Eight

  Lauren threw her head back, desperate to drag air into her lungs. The warmth of the hotel room closed around her. Heat thrummed off Garrett’s slick body underneath her. The mattress dipped where her knees dug in next to his hips.

  She loved this position. On top of him. Surrounding him. Hands on his chest and staring down into that intense gaze.

  Temptation pulled at her. Right then she wanted that mouth. It had been all over her. Licking and tasting, sometimes nibbling before kissing her sensitive skin again. She leaned down and his length pushed up inside her. The move had her gasping as her mouth closed over his. She breathed him in, taking his air as his hands smoothed over her breasts and around to her lower back.

  He broke the kiss by tipping his head deep into the pillows. “You’re killing me.”

  That was on purpose. The first time tonight had been fast. They’d walked in and he threw her on the bed. Stripped her and put her on her hands and knees. She’d never come so hard or so fast. But this time was for her. He told her to lead, to take control. And she loved the rush of power.

  “I want to savor this,” she whispered.

  He put his hands on either side of her face and pushed her hair back. Held it there. “You have more faith in my control than I do.”

  That wasn’t true and she really loved that part. When his body had started to take over and his hips began to buck a few minutes ago, she’d lifted off him. Told him he didn’t have her permission. Damn if he didn’t grit his teeth and tell her to get moving.

  Now she wanted to hold out, to prolong the sensual torture. To slowly lift and lower her body as he squirmed and begged.

  She licked her bottom lip . . . just because. “I believe in you.”

  “Fuck.” His arms fell back on the mattress on either side of his head. “Take pity on me, woman.”

  She trailed her fingernails down his chest. Over the tight muscles and along the sharp dips. “You are so sexy.”

  He groaned. Then he shifted. The move was subtle, just the lift of one hip, but that’s all it took. The last of the air rushed out of her. She sank deeper over him until the tightening inside her let go.

  She rested her palms against his chest, felt his fingers brush over her arms and leaned in. Up and down. One last plunging fall and she lost it. The orgasm slammed into her. All that foreplay, all the touching, turned every inch of her into a sensitive quaking mess.

  She could hear the noises in her throat as her head fell forward. Her back arched and her hair swept over her shoulder to hang in her face. With Garrett, she was free to be who she wanted and take what she needed. Without ever saying a word, he insisted she not hold back. With him she didn’t.

  When the final waves of pleasure moved through her, she inhaled nice and deep. Her body hummed as she lifted her head just enough to look at him. Their gazes met.

  A hint of a smile played on his lips. “I could watch you do that every single day.”

  Before the words sank in, he wrapped an arm around her waist and flipped them over. Her back hit the mattress and on instinct her legs wrapped around him. The quick switch thrust him even deeper. Her skin and the tiny muscle inside her were already primed and sensitive. Having him rest there, pressing against her, was almost too much. Every breath he took echoed inside her.

  “You okay?” He asked the question through rough breaths.

  This man. In just a short time, and through all her defenses, her feelings for him pushed past attraction. She actually liked him, wanted to be with him . . . dreaded the idea of him leaving to go back home.

  She’d expended every ounce of energy but she found the strength to lift her hand. She skimmed her thumb over the stubble on his chin, across that sexy bottom lip, loving every angle. “I’m great. Thanks to you.”

  “I need—”

  “Do it.” She brought his head down for another heart-stopping kiss.

  Her hands slipped over him. Across those shoulders and traveled down his back. And she kept going. Her palms stopped their tour on his firm ass and she cupped him in both hands.

  He lifted his head and a sexy smile lit up his face. “Well, now.”

  “That was for me.” She tightened her thighs again
st his hips. “Now tell me what you need.”

  “I have it.” He started moving then. In and out of her, pushing and thrusting, scooping her into his arms.

  He balanced his body over hers, rubbed against her until the heat blinded her again. Without another word, he buried his mouth in her neck. One last push and he blew out a long breath. His wet mouth touched her skin as his hips flexed and the orgasm tore through him.

  His body rocked against her. The rumble in his chest vibrated against her as the last of the tension eased from him.

  Opening her eyes, the hotel’s white ceiling came into focus. Her fingers played with the damp ends of his hair. The way he sprawled over her anchored her. She felt complete and satisfied and more than a little punch drunk from the whip of adrenaline that was only now dying down.

  She’d suspected it would be like this with him. Right and a little abandoned. Totally free and accepting. Garrett was one of the few people she’d ever met who didn’t disappoint her. He was exactly who he promised to be, beginning to end. She loved that about him.

  The word floated through her mind and the exhaustion fled. No, not that. She’d been careful, even in her marriage, not to fall hard. She stayed in control, and that was certainly required with Garrett, the guy who held back as much as she did.

  His past was a mix of memories and danger. None of that scared her. If anything, it reassured her that he could handle almost anything. For once, maybe she didn’t have to be the adult. But this was fun.

  Fun only. She repeated that mantra in her mind.

  He lifted up and balanced his weight over her on his elbows. “What are you thinking about?”

  The question caught her off guard. “What?”

  “I can almost feel you thinking.”

  “That’s not a thing.” At least she hoped not.

  He shifted to the side, easing out of her and taking some of his weight off her. “Honestly? You started making these strained noises. I think I could hear them because I was on top of you, but I’m guessing you weren’t thinking about getting something to eat. Though I’m game, if you’re wondering.”

  “May I ask you something?” She didn’t have the right and she wasn’t dying to know, but the more time they spent together the more she wanted to collect these pieces of him. Gather one here and one there until she had an image of the whole man in front of her. Not just what he wanted to show her, but who he really was. She knew from experience those could be two very different things.