Tamed by the Alphas

I’m handcuffed, and I’m not even going to get an orgasm out of it.

Kara twisted her hands as she sat on the hard chair in the conference room she’d been stuck in since the night before. What she’d expected to be a quick in-and-out job had bitten her in the ass, as all quick jobs tended to do.

She brought her foot up, pulling the bobby pin from the cuff of her boot. A vibration of her watch let her know she’d gotten a text, and only one person would have sent it. Her ride, who no doubt had gotten an alert when a certain blue-haired omega had been arrested.

The pin let her pop the cuffs open, and she could have moaned as the metal dropped from her sore wrists.

‘Steal some files. It’s easy money!’ When would she learn that easy money was never easy? The moment she’d read a few of the files she’d been hired to steal, Kara had known she couldn’t turn them over to the asshole who had hired her. Most of it was so far above his paygrade it would be like handing space station schematics to an especially slow five-year-old, and honestly? She didn’t like him enough to give him anything useful.

She worked hard to not learn much about her clients, because when dealing with criminals, she’d rather not know. Money was money, and she did what she had to. She had no one else looking out for her.

The door to the room opened, and she turned to find a face she’d missed. Well, almost no one looking out for me.

Liam wore a suit so fancy he might almost pass for harmless. Almost. When he cracked a familiar smile, though, Kara saw him for who he’d always been to her. “How many times have I had to save you?”

Kara stood, dangling the cuffs on a single finger. “From a police station? Never.”

He chuckled, catching her chin between his fingers and lifting her face toward him. Anyone who saw it might think he was about to kiss her, but she knew better. That wasn’t them.

They’d had sex before, but it had never been serious to either of them. If anything, it had been a favor to her. So, she wasn’t shocked when he used the grip to twist her face and check for injuries.

“You sure? I recall having to help you out of handcuffs before.”

“Those were recreational handcuffs, thank you very much. I learned how to pick them after that.”

He released her chin, stepping backward once he’d satisfied himself that she wasn’t hurt. “You are impossible.” Liam removed something from inside his coat, shaking it out. “Lucky for you, I’m always prepared.”

Kara laughed as he pulled the item around her—a jacket. It was her size. Hey, I think it might actually be mine. A quick look in the mirror hanging on the back of the door showed the plan. Dressed in the fitted gray blazer, she looked like anyone else. A second item had her rolling her eyes, but Liam ignored any complaints as he brushed his fingers through her hair to push the bright blue strands back and hide them beneath the black wig.

“I hate this thing,” she groused.

“Well, I think the blue hair is a dead giveaway, kid, and this is all I have.”

“Why do you even have a woman’s wig? Are you and your twin into some weird roleplaying shit when you double-team girls?”

Liam yanked softly on the front of the wig to seat it at her hairline, hiding her trademark neon tresses. “Even if I was, we both know you’d out-kink me. Now, head up and use all those skills I taught you. The detective who brought you in here is up a floor, so we should be able to slip out, no problem.”

Kara tucked the cuffs into her blazer pocket, and when Liam lifted an eyebrow, she shrugged. Handcuffs were expensive. Waste not, want not, right?

He stepped out first, his attitude instantly transforming into that of a man who had shit to do and not nearly enough time in which to do it. Kara didn’t pull that off, and in women, it tended to make people pay attention. Instead, she grabbed a notepad and pen off a file cabinet just outside the room she’d been kept in, holding them and scribbling as she made a point of struggling to keep up with Liam. They made the perfect image of a high-powered lawyer and a secretary trying her best not to get yelled at.

It irked her to play the part but, fuck it, better than landing in jail. Not just being held in a conference room because men felt bad for omegas and assumed she’d been roped into her little indiscretion, but real-life metal bars. It was much harder to break out of jail.

Not that Liam, his twin and their cousin wouldn’t break her out of there, too. In fact, a part of her thought it sounded like a hell of a lot of fun. Plus, she could see the frown of Liam’s cousin when they managed the breakout, when he lectured her calmly on making better choices while knowing damned well she’d never do it.

No one gave them a second look as they walked through the police station. That was the benefit of being outed as an omega, she guessed. No one had expected much of her. It meant that instead of planting her ass in an interrogation room or a holding cell, they’d put her in a meeting room with nothing but a pair of cuffs on and no one watching her.

It’s almost insulting.

At least it made for an easy getaway.

The elevator doors closed, and Kara breathed in relief.

Liam hit the button for the third floor. “I trust you can manage to find your way out from here?” He flashed her a wide smile, one full of all the mischief they’d gotten into over the years. “As long as you don’t run into any good-looking alphas on the way, at least.”

Kara tugged at the wig, trying to ignore how it made her scalp itch. “Well, at least I won’t have to worry about that problem while you’re still around.”

Liam laughed as the doors opened. He left her, and that gained him extra points. Just one night of having people treat her like a useless, fragile omega had her grateful that Liam didn’t think twice about letting her get herself out the rest of the way.

The elevator closed again, leaving Kara on her own. The shiny doors let her catch a glimpse of herself in the ugly wig, which was too similar to her natural color for her liking.

It had been at least a year since Liam, his twin or his cousin had needed to step in and rescue her. Not that she ever asked. The eldest of them, Torrin, always kept tabs on her. It meant that as soon as she’d gotten herself arrested on this job gone south, she’d known someone would show up even without her asking.

The button for the second floor lit up, and Kara didn’t bother to hold in a groan. The odds of anyone recognizing her were slim, but she still didn’t need any sort of slowdown. The longer it took to get out, the better the odds someone would notice her missing and send up alarms.

The elevator rumbled to a stop, and Kara dropped her gaze to her list, pretending to be highly engrossed in the scribbles there.

Three men entered the small space, but it wasn’t their size—large as they were—that hit her first. Nope, it was the unmistakable, mouthwatering scent of alpha.

When was the last time she’d indulged in an alpha? Months, at least. Alphas tended to get territorial and possessive, neither of which she needed in her life. Sleeping with betas was safer. Every once in a while, though, she’d give in. She’d let herself drown in the scandalous touches, the lust, the scent of an alpha that nothing else could replicate. Hell, that bone-deep need to dominate they had could make the most restrained of omegas beg for a taste. Not to forget, of course, the way they stretched her when the knots at the base of their cocks swelled.

So when the three alphas crowded into the small elevator, so close that the waves of heat their bodies threw off warmed her in places that had grown far too cold, she didn’t bother to disguise how she drew the scent into her lungs.

A soft laugh from one pulled her gaze up, and she realized she’d zeroed in on the way his built chest showed through the white of a button-up shirt beneath a black suit jacket. “You know, you’re writing gibberish.”

Kara found she had, in fact, been writing random letters, too busy ogling to make sense with her fake note-taking. “So I am.”

The alpha twisted fully to face her as the elevator moved. “Distracted?”

“By what?” She tried for flippant.

His dark eyebrow cocked up toward his long chestnut hair. It reached just past his shoulders, the messy waves of someone who had wanted to be in a band at seventeen and hadn’t ever let go of that spark of craziness. His lips looked soft, and lines beside them hinted that he smiled often. “Why don’t you meet me tonight? Harbor Hotel, nine o’clock, in the bar on the bottom floor. We could have drinks, or we could skip that entirely.”

How she wanted to… He was amazing, with the sort of body she could spent hours exploring. Each dip between his muscles, only hinted at by his conservative clothing, made her tongue thick and eager to trace them. She could picture herself flicking each button of his shirt open and tasting every new inch revealed.

And beside him? The other two alphas, while silent, mirrored the want in his hazel eyes.

To his left stood a man who seemed the same age—late thirties or so. He had his light brown hair buzzed at the sides and longer on the top, pushed back and gelled into place. The lines between his eyebrows said he frowned. A lot.

Lastly, the odd one of the group, the youngest alpha, stood to the right. He couldn’t be more than twenty-one and must have gotten carded without fail whenever buying alcohol. Black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, the sort that made him look brilliant and caused his deep brown eyes to appear even larger. His short and messy hair was so dark it would’ve appeared black if not for the bright elevator lights. He was thinner than the other two, but she’d never call him small. Due to the hormones in alphas, they were rarely ever small, and they tended toward fit, even when they didn’t work at it. The strap across the young alpha’s chest that connected to a laptop case told her what she’d already expected—tech guy. Not that she cared. Even tech guys had working cocks, and given his age, she’d bet he didn’t tire easily. Stamina for the win.

The casual alpha with the long hair released a playful growl, setting his hand above her, caging her in with his body without touching her. “You smell delicious,” he whispered. “I really wish we could blow off this meeting and take you back to our suite right now.” He made no secret of the way he inhaled—slowly, as if savoring every last molecule of her scent.

“Meet us later?” This from the green-eyed alpha, the words less of a question and more of a demand. He struck her as the type who would prefer orders to requests. I bet he gives great orders.

The shake of the elevator woke Kara up. She’d met them in the police station she was currently escaping from. They had a meeting there, meaning that while they weren’t police—she could spot a cop a mile off—they had some connection to the law. The last thing she needed was to meet them anywhere, to risk them opening their big mouths and pointing the finger at her and getting her caught.

There is no shortage of dick, Kara. Keep it in your pants and move along.

When the doors slid open to the lobby, Kara twisted down, beneath the alpha’s arm, toward freedom. “Sorry, boys, but I’ve got plans.”

The first alpha turned as she moved, as though he couldn’t stand the idea of not having her in his sight. “We’ll make it worth your while.”

We’ll. Oh, that sounded promising. She could almost see the way they’d work together, how exhausted she’d be afterward, how sated. She’d never given that particular deviancy a try.

But no matter how their offer might tempt her, Kara wasn’t stupid. She was reckless a lot of the time, impulsive and short-sighted, but no matter how much she wanted to give in, meeting those alphas would be horribly, irrevocably stupid.

So Kara gave them her best smile and tossed a playful, teasing wink. “I’m sure you’d try, but I’ve got more bite than most of your playthings. Good luck, though.”

She left them as she turned and headed for the front doors, their gaze predatory and wanting and making her feel like the prey she’d just claimed she wasn’t.

Too bad she’d never see them again.

* * * *

Reese rolled his head, trying to ease the mounting tension in his neck.

Sleeping in hotels sucked, because no matter how much money he dropped on them, they were never his bed. They always smelled wrong, felt wrong and he never managed a full night’s sleep.

The fancy place Cullen had picked for their work in that city a few hours from where he and his fellow alphas called home was no different. Even with the expensive, high-thread-count sheets and luxurious bedding, he’d spent most of the late hours in the bar.

Not drinking, at least not the entire time. Instead, he’d nursed a single beer while he’d buried himself in his headphones and thumbed through the pages of a stupid magazine he’d found in the room.

“Are you ready?” Cullen asked.

Reese shoved his hands into his pockets. “I was ready an hour ago. I don’t know what you expect me to do with all this waiting around.”

Cullen pressed his lips together into the displeased line he so often wore. “We aren’t dealing with people we can trust here. These are the kind who will stab you in the back without a problem.”

“And sitting around in a car for two hours is going to change that how?”

“It’s going to let me be sure we aren’t walking into a trap.”

“Why would this be a trap? We contacted the thief, not the other way around.”

Cullen always worried, having experienced the ugliness of the world far too early after two tours overseas. It had left him suspicious and uptight, but perfect for security.

Reese was good with people. Not many others could read them like he could, could sniff out a lie or a secret with his skills. Which meant he should really just shut up and listen to Cullen. They both had their lanes, and he’d do well to stay in his.

His exhaustion and general bad mood made him unlikely to actually do so, though. They’d been friends for too many years for Reese to just roll over. Instead, he lifted his lip in a half-hearted snarl.

“Complain all you want. I’m not going to get my ass handed to me by some underhanded thief just because you don’t like to wait,” Cullen said.

They’d already had that fight, too. No matter how much they disliked it, they needed this so-called infamous thief. They knew little about him beyond that he’d come highly recommended. His skills didn’t come cheap, and while it had taken more than a few favors to set up the meeting, Reese had no doubt this man could do what they needed.

As long as he agreed, and Reese planned to make it impossible for the asshole to refuse.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“I don’t like this. We should have picked a better spot.” Cullen’s gaze darted across the street, to the bodies going in and out of the busy bar.

“This is where he meets people. I’d guess he’s more worried about what we might do to him. Can’t be easy to trust clients in his line of work. Lot of people probably want him dead. Standing here isn’t going to get this done any faster or any safer. Come on, let’s get it over with.”

Cullen followed Reese when he pushed away from the building they’d been watching from. A busy, public place like this wasn’t Reese’s idea of a good plan, either. Too much noise made it hard to study people, to get a feel for them.

Just get in, hire the asshole and get the fuck out.

The music hit Reese with the force of a body slam, followed by the thick mixture of scents when he entered. Lust, sweat, body odor, liquor—all of it assaulted him. It wasn’t a good thing, not like the playful scent of an aroused woman, like the one he’d seen in the elevator at the station a few days prior.

Damn, he would have happily drowned in that woman’s scent, in the spice of it, in the images it brought forth.

Forget her. She didn’t show that night, and the last thing I need is to go into this distracted and hard.

Sometimes being an alpha sucked. He didn’t have the nose of an omega—they could identify designations in addition to other basic body changes like lust—but he did better than a beta, who couldn’t smell shit.

And right then, in the crowded bar, he envied the betas.

“Damon would have been miserable.” Cullen stood beside Reese, speaking loud enough for the words to carry over the noise.

“He’s young. I bet he’d fit right in.”

Reese almost grinned at how wrong that was. Damon, the newest and youngest member of their happy little trio, had stayed back at the hotel room doing what he did best—burying his nose in his laptop. He’d have hated the loud music and sweaty bodies, but fuck if hormones didn’t get riled up at that age. If he’d stayed for more than an hour, those alpha urges would likely wake up and want a piece of something.

And judging from the bodies writhing around on the dance floor, he’d have had no problem finding a willing partner.

They made their way past the dance floor and the bar. Near the back of the large central room, a set of stairs led up to the private rooms, and a hulking guard stood in the way.

The guard’s gaze drifted from Reese to Cullen, slow and suspicious and with enough attitude that Reese doubted they’d get past.

Except, just when Reese readied himself to talk his way past, the guard stepped back. “Take a left at the top of the stairs, then head to the end of the hallway. Don’t cause me any problems.”

Reese let out a soft laugh. “Problems? Me? Never.”

Cullen made the same grumble he always did when he didn’t appreciate or approve of Reese’s comments. Cullen’s gaze moved to take in the doorways as they traversed the hallway, probably taking in the details.

That was what he was good at, though. Always had a plan, always knew the exits, the dangers.

Reese preferred a ‘let’s hope this shit works out’ method.

It often didn’t, but he’d reached thirty-five alive, which had to mean something, right?

The last doorway led to a room with a large open window overlooking the dance floor. Light and music poured in, but muffled compared to downstairs.

A figure stood with its back to the alphas, tiny and thin, dressed in a black sweater with the hood pulled over its head. This has got to be a joke. There was no way this was the dreaded thief people had told him about, the one who could get in anywhere, who stole from anyone no matter how unwise. This guy had to be small enough that a good breeze could knock him down.

The figure turned toward them, and all three froze.

The thief was the woman from the elevator.

Kara wanted to laugh at her shitty luck. The alphas from the elevator—or at least two of them—were her clients? These were the men who had called in so many favors just to get into a room with her?

If I’d known I was going to run into them again, I’d have just fucked them to start with.

Live and learn, right?

Kara moved quickly, her size a benefit when it came to speed. She was never the largest in a room, but she was usually the fastest. She had her pistol pulled from the holster at the small of her back and pointed at the alphas before she’d fully decided what to do about them. She was sure they’d run into each other in the elevator by accident, and this meeting had been set days before that.

Still, the idea of it being a coincidence didn’t sit right. How unlucky can a person be? Even me?

The alpha with the short hair and impossibly scrumptious physique reacted with a speed that nearly matched her own, bringing his own weapon out. She wasn’t shocked to find he hadn’t gone for small and easily concealable. No, he’d picked a much bulkier and more intimidating 9mm.

The desire to remind him that bigger wasn’t always better struck her, but she smothered the urge somehow. That was a miracle, as keeping her mouth shut wasn’t a skill she’d ever bothered to hone.

“You were in the elevator,” the one with the long hair said. The surprise in his voice helped sell that this was just a big clusterfuck of coincidences.

“What? Me? Never been in an elevator in my life.”

The alpha with the gun grunted, a sound that didn’t scream trust. “So why’d you pull a gun?”

“Because I don’t like you?”

“Like I’d forget how you smell.” The alpha with the long hair curled his lip into a smile which made Kara’s stomach flutter.

Fucking flutter, as though she were some idiot omega who was smitten by a big strong alpha. The reaction annoyed her worse than the asshole’s gun. I might shoot him on principle.

“This was clearly a mistake,” Kara said without lowering her weapon. “Let’s just chalk it up to shitty planning and go our own ways.”

The alpha with the gun narrowed his emerald eyes. “You know, after we saw you, before we left the building, they closed down the whole station.”

“Well, with the world the way it is, that sort of thing happens. Hope you boys weren’t too scared.”

The man kept going as though her snarky words meant nothing. “They were looking for a woman. Apparently, she slipped out when no one was looking.” Woman? So the police must not have released that they’d lost an omega, because the alphas would have said it otherwise.

“She must have had shitty guards.”

“No guards, from what I heard.”

“Well then, who could really blame her for blowing that place? Sounds like a smart girl. Don’t know what it has to do with me.”

The man with the gun lifted his eyebrow. “I doubt you were on any of their visitor logs, were you? They haven’t put much work into finding that woman, because what does one lone woman matter to them? However, I’d bet that would change if they connected their missing suspect with an infamous thief. That might get them a lot more interested in the case.”

Kara’s arm ached. It wasn’t the weight of the pistol—though to be fair, she rarely held it out straight for so long. Normally, if she pulled her gun, she shot someone. Instead, it was the tension that ran through her shoulders and back as she argued with herself.

I could shoot them.

Even as she considered the option, she knew it wasn’t really a choice. Despite Kara’s less than savory life, she’d never killed anyone without good reason. She just didn’t have it in her, and she wouldn’t start with a couple of alphas who didn’t seem any more eager to kill her than she was to kill them.

The guns were all posturing.

“So what do you want from me?”

“The same thing we wanted when we walked in. We need you to steal something for us.”

Well, that I can do.

Cullen couldn’t relax. He might not have a gun pointed at him anymore, but he knew the feisty little female still had possession of it, and she didn’t mind waving it around.

However, unless he planned to disarm her personally, he supposed there wasn’t much he could do about it. The idea of disarming her had merit. He wanted to smell her again, that playful, spicy scent that signaled her arousal. Still, if he got close enough to pat her down—and she was the sort to need a full frisking to be sure she was clean—finding weapons would be the last thing they’d end up doing.

Which was a complication they didn’t need. When she was some faceless woman in an elevator, sure. He and Reese always shared females, and she seemed well worth the effort. Now, though? They needed her help, which had withered the opportunity. Plus, the woman had escaped a police station and was a well-known and feared thief. Not exactly the sort of no-complications sex he preferred to indulge in.

For the best. Reese is looking at her like he could eat her up already. We can’t afford distractions, and she’s nothing but one big distraction wrapped in black and lies.

Reese took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and slid it across the table. “We need one of these.”

The woman opened the paper, her pink tongue stroking gently against her bottom lip as her eyes—too clever for his comfort—darted back and forth. “This is from the lab on the west side of town. Hythen Pharmaceuticals?”

Smart girl.

“That’s right. It’s what a security clearance badge looks like. The address of the person to get it from is on the bottom of the paper. From what I’ve seen, he’s got no alarm system, just a deadbolt and maybe a dog.”

“If that’s it, why do you need me? I get hired for bigger game than this. Seems like a two-bit kid from the streets could grab this.” She leveled a look that said she didn’t trust them any more than they trusted her. “Hell, even you might be able to manage a job this easy.”

Her barb stirred Cullen, rousing his interest further. Why was it that each little insult she threw had his cock perking up? Cullen preferred demure women, those who listened, who fawned, not the sort who pulled guns on him and challenged him, so what was up with his dick?

Reese answered, which was good, because Cullen’s attention remained on the woman’s soft pink lips and not the conversation. “This needs to be done right, quietly. The last thing I want is to risk getting caught. This is delicate, and if they realize the card is gone, the lab will be on higher alert.”

She leaned back, pulling her hood off. The light from the window caught on her hair, and Cullen’s back straightened. It was blue. Not a deep, dark blue but a neon that shone even in the dimness. “No more brown?” The question came out before he’d had a chance to silence it.

Her eyes met his, and he noted they mirrored her hair. Bright blue and sparkling from the lights. “Brown is boring.”

And she was anything but boring, wasn’t she?

“What’s your name?”

The woman released a long-suffering sigh. “Kara.”

The name was odd, short and harsh on his tongue. It seemed to fit her well.

“I’m Reese, and this is Cullen.” Reese nodded back at him.

“And your young groupie?”

Cullen couldn’t stop the soft huff of laughter at the way she spoke about the other alpha, who was still taller and much larger than she was. “That’s Damon. He doesn’t like this sort of thing.”

“Fun?”

“No. Bars and noise.”

She did that eye-rolling thing again that made Cullen’s hand itch to swat her ass. How did she manage to rouse that in him? When was the last time he’d felt so strongly for any female? Maybe it was the challenge of it, the alpha in him scenting prey that might actually be worthy of the chase.

“Can you do the job?”

She folded the paper and tucked it down the front of her shirt, into the cup of her bra. How can I be jealous of a damned piece of paper? “Yeah, I can do it. What’re you paying?”

“Other than our silence?”

“Silence keeps me out of jail, but it doesn’t put sex toys in the nightstand.”

Her vulgar joke sparked to life the sizzling embers of lust inside him. He wanted to take each of those damned toys and break them into pieces, to replace them with his own body, to show her she didn’t need them. Before he’d even realized it, his throat vibrated with a deep growl.

Reese jumped in. “One grand, and we won’t tell anyone about you. That’s more than fair for all of an hour of work.”

“A grand for lifting one little key?” She crossed her legs, the action drawing Cullen’s focus to where her thighs now pressed together tightly. “Money that big means you’re desperate. Who are you?”

“Does it matter? I didn’t figure you’d be that picky.” Criminals rarely were.

“Take the wrong job enough times, and you realize some questions are worth asking. If someone is willing to pay too much, I want to know why.”

Cullen leaned back on the couch, trying to look comfortable despite the lust swimming through him. “We’re private investigators. The key is for a case involving a missing person, so time is of the essence.”

“Lot of money for a missing person case. Trust me, there aren’t a lot of people worth it.”

“It’s a missing omega.”

And that said it all, didn’t it? Omegas were rare, and the alphas around them would do anything to obtain or keep one. In this case, it had been her friend who had called them when the omega had fallen off the grid.

Kara didn’t respond right away, the silence thick and full of things that flashed in her gaze but didn’t leave her mouth.

Was she annoyed by omegas? Many beta females were, just like beta males often resented alphas.

Which Cullen had never fully understood. There were some advantages, he supposed, but overall the world seemed simpler for betas. They got to live their lives, never worrying about heats, about bonding, about the incessant and insidious truths that alphas and omegas dealt with on a daily basis.

People always wanted what they didn’t have, though, and it seemed one’s designation was no exception to that universal truth.

Kara tapped her foot on the ground, the action causing her legs to shift, drawing his attention there. “Did she run? Because if an omega ran, I’m doing exactly jack shit to help the alpha she ran from.”

Reese leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “We wouldn’t take the job if that was the case. I looked into it deep, but there’s no evidence of abuse. Hell, the alpha looking for her was her best friend, not a mate. Her family is worried as well, and they made it clear they had no reason to believe she was running from them or him.”

Again, silence ate up the space. No one said the ugly truth—missing omegas were rarely found. Omegas fell off the grid for two reasons. They were running, which she didn’t seem to be, or they’d been abducted or murdered. Either way, they didn’t often have a happy ending.

The knowledge of that showed on Kara’s features, her gaze darting away for a split second before returning. “Okay. I’ll scout the place tonight, and if it looks good, I’ll grab it. If not, I’ll give it a few days of surveillance.”

Cullen rubbed his hand over the back of his tense neck, trying to massage away the stiffness. What was it about Kara?

Why did he still want to fuck her as badly as he did? Maybe he and Reese just needed to burn off some steam with a warm and willing body.

Reese pulled an envelope from his jacket. “Half the money is in here, the rest when we get the keycard.”

“Who are you taking it to, to alter?” At Cullen’s look, she smiled, stuffing the envelope into a bag that hung from her hip. “This badge has a picture and name on it. It’s useless to you unless you have a new one made with your own information. I’m not an idiot.”

“Terry Grimes,” Cullen shoved through gritted teeth. He didn’t like giving away secrets, but then again, both Kara and Terry were criminals. Hell, they probably knew each other. One big happy illegal family.

Kara let out a huff but didn’t comment on the choice. Instead, she hopped to her feet, the move quick and graceful, like a cat leaping onto a table. It made him reconsider the way her black leggings clung to her toned thighs and showed off every inch of her form.

“I’ll get back to you when it’s done.”

Cullen pulled a business card from his back pocket, their cell numbers printed on the white cardstock, and handed it over. “Call us when you’re ready.”

Kara’s deft fingers brushed his when she took it, and he swore sparks flew at the innocent touch. His cock hardened and her scent increased, as if that was all it took for both their bodies to get on board with the plan.

And just when he thought she’d pull back, that she’d retreat from all the waves of desperate lust and aggression he knew he was throwing off, Kara’s grin only widened. “I don’t shit where I eat,” she whispered. “And I don’t fuck clients.”

With that, she was off, twisting past him and out of the room before he’d picked his jaw off the floor.

Reese chuckled, a deep rumble as though he was amused by the entire exchange. “She’s a handful.”

Cullen nodded, gaze pinned to the doorway she’d walked through, as though he could still see the way the leggings had clung to her perfect, heart-shaped ass. “Yeah, she is.”

Reese slapped Cullen’s shoulder, shaking loose his intense focus. “Come on, let’s get back to Damon and fill him in.”

Cullen rolled his shoulders to get rid of the need to chase the female, to shove her against a wall and taste her, to bask in all that attitude and snark.

She was a criminal and even if he wanted to fuck her—and boy did he ever—he might end up missing a kidney by the end.

It might just be worth it.