Proving His Worth Read online

  Or so it would read on the police report detailing his murder.

  When she reached up and pulled off her scarf—and her dark wig—he nearly laughed aloud at the red silk that tumbled free. Yeah, his boredom was reaching epic heights if he was concocting tales about mid-afternoon office ambushes by willowy women wearing Jackie O glasses. He could’ve taken her down in a tackle, no problem.

  And when it came to this particular redhead, tackling her wasn’t too far from what he wanted to do to her on a daily basis. Minus their clothes and possibly with the aid of a couple of sex toys, but only for rounds two and three. For the first one, he’d use the equipment God had given him.

  Enthusiastically, for an hour or two until the chafing set in.

  “I fooled you.” Cassidy Dixon, Chase’s younger sister and the cause of Jax’s perma-hard-on for the last seven months, dropped into the chair across from his desk. He had the desk in front, on account of the fact that Chase said he was the prettiest.

  Though Jax couldn’t deny that—Chase and Sterling were a pair of ugly motherfuckers—the real reason was that neither of them planned to be in the office more than the minimum amount of time. Their nonexistent budget didn’t extend to receptionists, so for now it was him and his metronome.

  And when things got really tedious, the TV in the corner and the punching bag he’d tucked discreetly in the coat closet.

  “You did,” Jax acknowledged, pushing aside his desk diversion to cross his forearms over the blotter. He wasn’t hiding the picture of his ma, despite the fact that more than one of the women who’d visited him at the agency had made a sickeningly sweet comment about him being a mama’s boy. He wasn’t. In fact, his mom didn’t even know he was seeing anyone. Or everyone, if town gossip was to be believed. “So what’s with the cloak and dagger, Ms. Mysterious? You trying out your Halloween costume five months early?”

  Cass shed her raincoat and let it slouch behind her, then pushed her massive glasses on top of her head. The virulent purple smudges under her startlingly green eyes grabbed his attention first, but the tension pinching her generous lips followed a close second. “I’m here on official business and I didn’t want anyone in town to know.”

  “Official business, hmm?” Another niggle of worry chilled his spine. “And somehow people would realize that if you weren’t suitably disguised? You do realize your brother owns this agency. I don’t think it would be out of the realm for you to visit him without calling the Feds.”

  “Chase isn’t here right now, remember?”

  How could he forget? Jax had been on his own for a good part of the first five months of their bodyguard agency, though they’d brought Sterling on board part-time after the first of the year. Very part-time at first, because their, ahem, current lack of business hadn’t exactly necessitated lots of help. But they had picked up a few clients, some long-term, some short, and Sterling had proven himself adept at pounding the pavement in getting the word out about their agency. Being a bodyguard wasn’t the easiest job to advertise. It wasn’t as if they could hang up a sign somewhere that anyone with a stalker should call them.

  That hadn’t worked at all.

  “No, but I am. You think people would think it’s that strange that you’d stop in to say hello to an old friend?”

  Cass’s eye roll didn’t make him feel confident she viewed him that way. Old annoyance, maybe. Old nuisance. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten slotted in that particular category in her mind, but he didn’t like it one bit.

  Oh, who the hell was he kidding? He knew exactly when she’d pegged him that way, at least for good. It had happened last summer when he’d been the bearer of bad news and informed her that her piece of shit boyfriend liked to stick his tongue in other women’s mouths. Since then, Cass had acted like he was two steps up from a communicable disease, and that was only because she hadn’t had her flu shot. Otherwise he and the disease would’ve been running dead even.

  “I might say hello to you, but I’d do it when you swaggered into my shop on your daily ice cream run. Why would I bother to come here to speed up the process?” she asked, proving his point.

  “Swaggered? I don’t swagger.” He wanted to be offended but it was hard to be when she looked so damn tired. She was always pale but right now the white curtains had more pigment than she did. She was practically translucent. “And I also don’t stop by every day.”

  “Yes you do.” She sounded smug. “Ever since I hooked you with those Moose Tracks...”

  The Moose Tracks ice cream was pretty good, he had to admit, but that wasn’t why he stopped by often enough for her to tease him about it. Though it was a handy excuse.

  Too bad he was hooked on something—someone—else who happened to be smirking at him with those slick pink lips and making him wish he’d worn looser jeans. Wish he owned looser jeans, because seriously, good fucking hell.

  “You know me and my ice cream.” He played it off because it wasn’t as if he could tell the truth.

  The only way ice cream could interest me as much as you is if you were naked and writhing in a vat of it.

  “I do. And if you help me out, I’ll give you a lifetime supply, on the house. As long as you keep this between us for now.”

  Curiouser and curiouser. “Help worthy of a lifetime’s supply of ice cream?” He wondered what she’d say if he suggested a non-traditional serving cup.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

  11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

  Cincinnati OH 45249

  Proving His Worth

  Copyright © 2014 by Cari Quinn

  ISBN: 978-1-61922-321-9

  Edited by Christa Soule

  Cover by Lyn Taylor

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: August 2014

  www.samhainpublishing.com