“Who is it?” I call out.
“Raze,” I hear back, his voice low.
I reach up and slide the safety chain off, unlock the door, and open it. And God… how can a man be that gorgeous, particularly at 2:45 AM, after spending all day and night in a slimy strip club. His hair is perfectly spiked, his black t-shirt pulled tight over a broad chest, and a darkening of scruff over his jaw and chin.
“Gonna invite me in?” he asks, and I blink at him stupidly.
“Andrea?” he prompts, and I blink once more before I give a slight cough and step back from the door.
“Yeah… of course. Come in.”
He walks past me and I shut the door, relocking it but foregoing the chain. He turns, and his eyes glance down at the gun in my hand. “Good girl,” is all he says.
I give him a nod of my head and then eject the magazine. A quick pull of the slide and the lone round pops free and clatters to the floor. I deftly pick it up, push it back into the top of the magazine, and slide it back home. Now I have a fully loaded gun but without a round in the chamber, that I can safely store back under my seat cushion and not worry about it inadvertently discharging and shooting me in the ass while I watch TV.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I turn away from him and walk back to the couch to hide the Glock.
“Just needed to touch base… fill you in on some things. See how things are going on your end.”
“Should you be here?” I ask him skeptically. “I mean… what if Simon had you followed or something? That would look suspicious.”
Wyatt shrugs his shoulders and walks over to sit in the old recliner, his fingers idly smoothing the patch job over a hole in the armrest that is repaired with duct tape. “Nah… I’d just tell him I was sniffing around you, hoping to get laid.”
I sit down on my couch, feeling the lump of the gun under me, and cock an eyebrow at him. “He doesn’t care if you bang the hired help?”
“Nope,” he says candidly. “He sort of expects all the guys to sample. Sort of a perk of the job, so to speak.”
“And have you sampled?” I ask before I can even help myself.
His eyes appraise me, even raking over my body to take stock of my pajamas. I pull my bare legs up under me, suddenly self-conscious, which is ridiculous. He’s seen every inch of my naked body, a thought that causes my face to flame red as I sit here in close proximity to him.
“Undercover work is hard,” he says with a smirk. “We have to do things to maintain that cover. Play a role, so to speak. Sacrifice our principles.”
“And I suppose you’re all about the role play?” I ask candidly.
Wyatt gives a low chuckle and scratches at his chin, his eyes lowering to the floor. When they rise back up, he looks me dead in the eye. “I didn’t sample. Didn’t sacrifice my principles. Wasn’t necessary, as it’s not something Simon watches, per se. But if it was required of me to get this job done, I’d sample the entire stock.”
I give him a dim smile, although I’m immensely relieved for some reason that he didn’t sleep with any of the other girls. “I get it. This operation is too important. I mean… we’ve all heard of the undercover cop that has to use drugs to get in good with the drug dealers. It’s a necessary evil.”
“Did that evil,” Wyatt mutters, and my eyebrows shoot sky high.
“You did undercover narcotics?”
He nods with a hard glint in his eye. “For an operation that lasted almost a year. Was in pretty deep but it was a successful bust.”
“Did you have to…?” I start to ask, but then let the words taper off. It’s none of my business.
“Yeah, I did,” he says quietly. “There’s not anything I wouldn’t do to see it through.”
“I’m the same way,” I tell him. “There’s not anything I won’t do now that I’m in to see this through.”
I see something flick through Wyatt’s eyes… maybe respect… maybe fear… and he grimaces.
“Look… that’s what I want to talk to you about. You’re doing a phenomenal job so far… playing your role perfectly. If we’re lucky, things will continue on as is until your sale can be arranged, and you won’t have to suffer anything more than baring your body to those douchebags.”
“What do you mean… if we’re lucky?”
Wyatt takes a breath, leans his head back to look at the ceiling, and then lets it out. When his eyes meet mine again, he says, “Simon has your buyer locked down. They’re planning on making the exchange next week.”