Break Out - By Nina Croft Page 0,7
never been done before.”
He snapped his fingers. “Piece of cake.”
She frowned, and his smile broadened. “Old Earth saying. It’s a hobby of mine.” Reaching out, he patted her hand. “Try not to worry. Tannis?” He gestured to the doorway.
Tannis was still seated, a look of complete disgust on her face, but she got up when he spoke her name. They crossed the room, but Tannis paused in the open doorway. “Just one thing. You could get anyone for that sort of money. Why us?”
Skylar fixed her gaze on Rico as she answered. “I heard you were the best.”
“Hmm.” Tannis didn’t sound entirely convinced, but she gave Skylar one last searching look and strode out of the room. The door closed behind them, and Skylar’s shoulders sagged. After a minute, she straightened her spine, though she doubted they’d be watching her. They’d obviously bought her story. She’d known they wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of such a huge sum of money. Skylar prided herself on her pre-mission computations and she was rarely wrong.
But just in case they did have surveillance, she got out a mirror from her small bag and studied her reflection. Her lipstick had vanished, nibbled away during her award-winning performance. She pulled out her make-up and swiped the bold red tube across her lips, in what she hoped appeared a practiced movement, before returning it to the bag. Smoothing down her hair, she assessed her situation.
She couldn’t believe how well the meeting had gone. It was comforting to know that if this did go wrong, she could always get a job as an actress. Though she doubted she would ever find an audience quite as gullible as Ricardo Sanchez.
. . .
Rico poured them both a whiskey from his flask and threw himself on the red brocade couch in Tannis’ cabin.
Tannis took her glass and sat opposite, stretched her legs out, and crossed her ankles. She gulped the drink in one go and slammed the glass on the short table next to her. “That was revolting. The horny little bitch couldn’t stop fluttering her false eye lashes at you. I heard you’re the best,” she mimicked.
Rico grinned. “Jealous?” He knew she wasn’t—they’d never had that sort of relationship, but he enjoyed winding her up. Once or twice, in the early days, he’d been tempted to try, but he’d always backed off; lovers were easy to come by, friends almost impossible. Besides, he wasn’t entirely convinced he’d succeed.
“No,” she replied. “I just didn’t fancy losing my breakfast. “She cast him a look of disgust. “And you were no better. Tell me, have you always been…” She paused as if searching for a word, then gestured in the general direction of his groin.
He raised an eyebrow. “Extraordinarily well-endowed?”
“Ha- ha. I meant a sex-crazed womanizer.”
He considered ignoring the question. There had always been an unspoken rule between them that they never discussed the past, but she appeared genuinely curious. “No, I wasn’t always a womanizer. In fact, I married when I was seventeen and was faithful for the next twenty years.”
“You were married?”
His lips curved at the incredulity in her voice. “A long time ago, and in a faraway place.”
“Wow, so what changed you?”
He gave her a look of complete amazement.
“Yeah, right,” she muttered, “the whole vampire thing. So do all vampires like sex as much as you?”
“I don’t know about all vampires—we’re not exactly a chatty bunch. But I’ve found it’s the best way to keep the hunger at bay.”
“The hunger? You mean for blood?”
“Not only blood.”
While he was quite capable of feeding and leaving his victim virtually unharmed, there was a dark place inside him that craved death. A place that urged him to drain the last drop of blood from his prey, until their life force belonged to him. Rico lowered his dark glasses and allowed a little of that darkness to bleed into his eyes.
Tannis stared, mesmerized, then swallowed. “Right then. You know that ‘no whores on board’ rule. I’ve changed my mind—have as many as you like.”
Rico grinned and pushed his glasses back in place. He settled back and sipped his drink. He could almost see the thoughts whirling in her head and the moment she decided to change the subject.
“So, this job—can we do it?” she asked.
“Maybe. Maybe not. As you said, no one’s done it before, but I like a challenge.”
“Hmm. And the money’s good.”
“There’s only one problem—”
When he didn’t continue, she frowned. “Are you going to tell me what that is?”
“Well, at