gap. After playing the role of Jager twenty-four hours a day, for weeks on end, shifting personas proved difficult. The last time he’d been home, Jack actually felt alienated from his own family. Instead of the respite it was supposed to be, life in his own home seemed to sap more of Jack’s energy than his undercover existence at the Cha-Cha Lounge.
So Jack stopped going home, warning Teri that he would be “overseas” for an extended and as yet undetermined period of time. Of course, his wife accepted his explanation. She always did. Teri had learned to accept the nature of his work and no longer asked questions.
Jack secretly worried that if she knew the truth, she’d be as relieved to see him go as he was to be gone.
By his side, Jack felt Stella move again. She wrapped her warm, naked body around his. The woman’s knee curled and he felt the platinum bells circling her ankle tickle his calf. Holding him close, she sighed and muttered something in her sleep. He noticed her bright pink lipstick was smeared from their quick, passionate coupling.
He’d brought Stella up to the tiny suite of rooms that doubled as Jaycee Jager’s home and his office. As soon as the door had closed behind them, she’d thrown herself at him, her physical demands insistent and unconstrained. He’d surrendered, knowing she would be more pliable to his questioning after their tryst.
Jack hadn’t heard from Jaycee Jager’s volatile girlfriend in over a week, but he was impressed with the woman’s timing. Stella was connected to the underbelly of this city; and, thus far, her knowledge had proven accurate and useful. Now he was hoping she’d gotten wind of Hugo Bix’s scheme to peddle classified technology to lowlife gambling cheats. Why should she know? Because before Jaycee Jager had rolled in from KC, Stella Hawk had belonged to Bix.
Jack had already planned to grill the woman when their paths crossed again. If she hadn’t shown up today, he would have sent Curtis over to the Babylon to fetch her. But she had shown up… and now that Stella had her “afternoon delight,” as she put it, it was time to collect some answers.
Jack sat up and ran his hands through his hair. He pulled the sheets aside and slapped Stella’s naked bottom. “Wake up, doll. I gotta get back to work.”
The woman’s eyes flew open and she squealed in protest.
“Get up or I’ll give it to you again.” Jack forced a grin, and she moved out of his way.
“Cut it out, Jaycee!” Stella cried, rubbing her tender flesh. “I’ve got a show tonight and I hate wearing that damn body makeup.”
Despite her protests, Stella’s luminous eyes laughed and her generous mouth was smiling. She sat up in bed, not bothering to cover her nakedness. Her wanton behavior came as no surprise. Stella had once told Jaycee that strutting completely nude on stage five nights a week had pretty much annihilated any shred of modesty she may have possessed, but Jack doubted she’d ever had a shred of modesty. The woman he’d gotten to know was the most uninhibited female he’d ever met.
“I need some coffee, Jaycee,” Stella moaned, one hand pulling back her hair.
“I’ll have someone bring it up.”
While Jack made the call from a phone on the nightstand, Stella rubbed the sleep out of her eyes with the backs of her hands, then used the sheet to wipe away her ruined lipstick.
“Hungry?” Jack asked, receiver to his ear.
Stella shook her head.
“Just coffee,” Jack said into the phone. He hung up and lay back, avoiding her eyes. Stella reached out and stroked his arm with long, fuchsia fingernails.
“Where have you been, Stella?” Jack asked with an air of masculine disinterest.
Stella rolled onto her back.
“I had to make myself scarce,” she said with a sigh. “Lilly had custody of her daughter for the week. Her ex is coming to town today or tomorrow to snatch the kid back. In the meantime, she’s stuck with the little rug rat.”
Lilly Sheridan was Stella’s roommate, a hostess at one of the Babylon’s four star restaurants — the mammoth casino hotel had three of them. The women shared an expensive house on the outskirts of Vegas. Jaycee had met Lilly once or twice, but Jack never knew until now that Lilly had a daughter, or a failed marriage in her past.
“So where’d you go, baby?” Jack asked.
Stella stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “Drove to Reno and subbed for a friend. Three sets a night, two grand per show. Nice bling for taking my clothes off.”
“How’s the Babylon feel about you working for the competition?”
Stella threw back her head, shook out the long locks of raven hair. “They don’t have an opinion. Why should they. I didn’t sign an exclusive contract. I’m not that kind of girl.”
Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Seen Hugo Bix lately?”
Stella smirked. “Jaycee… Are you having me followed?”
“Should I?”
“Okay, sure,” she replied. “I went over to Bix Automotive today. The radio stopped working in my Beamer while I was in Reno. I figured, since Bix bought the car for me, the boys at his garage could fix it.”
Jack shot the woman a sidelong glance. Feigning annoyance he asked, “Did you see Hugo?”
Stella’s smirk turned triumphant. “Are you jealous, Jaycee?”
When he remained silent, she rolled her eyes. “Honestly,” she said, hand over her heart as she mimicked a southern drawl. “You two big strong men should stop fighting over lil’ ol’ me. Why, I’m hardly worth the trouble…”
Suddenly Stella’s eyes narrowed into angry slits. “Anyway, this caveman bit between two bull apes is getting tired. I’m not property, Jaycee. Get it through your head. I’m with who I’m with ’cause that’s where I want to be. You don’t own me and neither does Hugo Bix.”
She wrapped the sheets around her lush body, slid to the edge of the bed. She was hardly on her feet before Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the bed again. Stella didn’t struggle.
“Hugo’s a son of a bitch, we both know that,” Jack said. “And he’s probably not very happy with you after you dumped him and took up with me. I don’t want you messed with, that’s all.”
Stella’s anger faded like a passing storm cloud. “I can take care of myself. That’s what I was doing long before you blew into town.”
She rolled over in Jack’s lap and bit his arm. Jack felt the sting of sharp white teeth, then the silky caress of her tongue. Soon her lips were pressed against his.
A knock interrupted them and Jack pulled himself free. “That’s the coffee,” he whispered hoarsely.
With a theatrical sigh, Stella flopped onto her back, pulling the sheet with her. Her long legs stretched naked across the bed. Jack rose and slipped on his pants. Shirtless, he unlocked the door. Curtis entered the suite, tray in hand. The big man moved carefully to avoid stepping on the clothing strewn around the room.
“Hey, Curtis,” Stella called with a casual wave.
“Hi, Stella,” Curtis replied, eyes diverted.
Jack took the tray from the other man’s hands. Curtis leaned close. “Driscoll had to get back to work, so his assistant Perry is watching the prisoner,” he said softly.
“Call LA and tell them to expect a prisoner.”
“Farrow?”
Jack nodded. “Get him ready for the move, then I want you to take him to the airport yourself.”
Curtis glanced over Jack’s shoulder, to the woman in the bed. “And you?”
“Call me on this phone in fifteen minutes,” Jack replied. “I’m almost done here.”
Curtis got the message and hastily departed. Jack set the tray on the nightstand, opened the warm carafe. Then he sat on the bed and waited for Stella to pour. She quickly got the message. With an exasperated groan the woman rose to her knees and slowly crawled across the bed to the night table, her naked curves brushing against Jack’s body like a kitten petitioning for a bowl of milk.
Jack pretended not to notice.
“When you were at Bix Automotive, did you hear about any scams you old boyfriend is running,” he asked, accepting a steaming cup, sans milk or sugar.
Stella stared at him. “No. Should I?”
Jack sighed. “Caught a cheat at the roulette wheel earlier today. This guy had a predictive computer. A good one. Claims he bought it from Hugo Bix.”
