Page 51 of Nefarious
She could see his nipples clear through the white shirt. She forced herself to walk down the hall to the guest bedroom and find him a towel. When she came back, he’d already fixed himself a drink and sat with his ankle crossed over his knee and a wry smile on his face.
She sat down across from him. “So you had a crazy night?”
He rubbed his hair with the towel and then dried his face. As he started to blot his shirt, he said, “Why on earth did you hire Morty Becker to follow me?”
She might have protested the truth of that accusation, but he was laughing. “I wouldn’t have expected you to find that so funny.”
“Oh, I didn’t at first. But after the night I’ve had, it’s hysterical.” His laughter did seem almost manic, and he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “So tell me why?”
She tilted her head. “All right. It was just a whim. The night we met at the nail salon, it occurred to me that you were so paranoid I should hire someone to give you cause. When you thought Morty had followed you to the gym, I hired him to fuck with you. I didn’t ask him to gather any information on you, though.”
At first, she did ask Morty to report back on Dane’s activities. He was already gathering the information. Why not get what she was paying for? But the possibility of learning about how many women Dane took home only made her jittery. The whole purpose of Morty shadowing Dane was to keep him on his toes. Not for his sake. She wasn’t worried he’d do anything to get into trouble. But she liked that he only felt he could trust her. It kept him coming to her to confide and scheme. Nobody else understood him like she did.
And it’s why he’d never leave this company without her.
“And when I was pretending to quit smoking? When he followed me around the office?”
She frowned. “What about it?”
“You had him follow me then, right? It might have been Noelle, but—”
“It wasn’t me.”
Dane’s eyes narrowed, but he let it go. “I found out Noelle also hired Morty to follow me.”
“How?” Intrigued, she covered her mouth with her fist.
He grinned. “I have my ways. And also Morty’s a terrible spy. I just had to ask him, and he outed the both of you.”
She wasn’t pleased. “I guess his gravy train has come to an end.”
Dane’s hands flew up. “No. You have to keep paying him. I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Then why did you?”
“As if I couldn’t tell you this.” He looked radiantly happy, so she relaxed and enjoyed this side of him. It was a rare opportunity to see his gorgeous smile. Usually these days, it was tinged with a cynicism she recognized all too well in herself.
“So tell me.”
He got up and walked over to where she was sitting. “I’m gonna come over here and borrow your warmth if you don’t mind.” His wet shirt sleeve touched her bare arm, and she shivered.
“Maybe you should remove that?”
Instead, he wrapped the towel around her shoulder and scooted closer. He looked into her eyes as he began to talk. “I met Morty at the bar on Sixth. Once I got him to admit to his activities, I offered him even more money to follow me and document my many exploits. He agreed, the shady bastard.”
Val laughed at Dane’s ironic humor. “Yeah, what a creep.”
“Morty Becker it would seem is only loyal to the highest bidder.”
That was good to know. Perhaps it was time to get Morty fired. Or give him a raise. “And he followed you back to your place to prove how dull you’ve become?”
“You know me better than that. I went on an adventure.”
“Oh, no.”
“First, I went through a drive-thru window and paid the cashier for the car behind me. Of course, that car was Morty’s and he recorded the cashier gushing about my generosity as my car pulled away into the night.”
“Then what?”
