She turned away, but he snagged her by the wrist, compelled to soothe what he’d just riled. “That’s not what I think at all.”
She whipped back, fire brewing in her light blue eyes. “Could have fooled me.”
“Lauren—”
“Hedley told me what your issue is. He told me about Sylvia.”
Finn stilled at the mere name. A name he purposely didn’t think of because it reminded him what a schmuck he’d been. The trouble he’d caused. How wrong he’d been about one person who’d had the power to fuck up not only his life but several others’ as well.
He let go of her. “I don’t know what you’re talking ab—”
Instead of stepping back as he expected, she moved forward. “Bullshit. I’ve met her, you know. The modeling industry isn’t all that big. Former models turned model-agency owners aren’t that rare, but Sylvia Grace’s agency was on the rise. I even considered signing with her at one point. Would it surprise you to know I decided against it because I thought she was a bitch? And that was before all the shit about her little side business hit the papers.”
Finn’s chest chilled. Sylvia’s side-business had been a high-class call-girl ring. She’d been recruiting models that just didn’t have that extra spark to make it in the industry, then conned them into working for her.
Her moonlighting had been going fine until one girl wound up dead after a date with a Middle Eastern U.N. ambassador, in New York for a summit meeting. The girl’s father had dug around, found out about Sylvia’s scam, and threatened her life. Sylvia’d wigged, hired Aegis for security, claiming a former fan was stalking her. And Finn had been assigned to protect her. Of course, he hadn’t known what she was doing behind closed doors. Not when he’d started. Not when she’d seduced him. Not when he’d been dumb enough to fall for her looks and charm and fame.
He swallowed back the deep burning humiliation and the guilt for what he’d put Aegis through when he’d found out and walked. “Good thing you decided not to sign with her.”
She ignored his smart-ass comment. “Mick told me how she turned on you. How she made trumped-up allegations that you were involved in her prostitution ring, how the publicity jeopardized not only your job, but Aegis’s reputation as well. Do you honestly think I’m at all like that woman?”
His skin tingled. No, he didn’t think Lauren was a madam in disguise. Earlier he’d been suspicious that she was somehow involved with what had gone down tonight, but in his gut he knew that wasn’t possible. The problem was, his gut had been wrong before. And where this woman was concerned, he wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
“You’re attracted to me, Tierney. We both know it. Only you’re too afraid I’m like Sylvia to take a chance on something we both know could be really good. Look at me, Finn. Take a good, long look. And tell me. After everything you’ve learned about me in the last week, do you honestly think I’m some spoiled heiress who’s going to use you and ruin you when I’ve had my fill?”
His throat grew thick as he stood in the bathroom, studying her eyes, trying to get a handle on the sensations pinging aroundin his chest. A tiny part of him cursed Hedley for ratting him out, but another part was glad. She’d pinpointed exactly what he was afraid of. Learning the truth about Sylvia hadn’t just bruised his pride, it had nearly cost him his job and the trust of a man who wasn’t just his boss, but a good friend as well. And taking a chance on yet another client—a model to boot—had bad news branded all over it. He knew better.
Don’t let history repeat itself. . . .
And yet . . . everything Lauren had told him tonight suddenly made sense. Everything he’d noticed about her in the last few hours finally gelled. And tonight, right now, she was proving she wasn’t at all what he’d originally thought.
Which made her that much more enticing. Intoxicating. Irresistible.
His heart picked up speed. The room suddenly felt hot and cramped. And the fact she was naked beneath that towel was all he could focus on.
As if sensing the struggle within him, she moved closer, the fire from her hot little body swirling until it was all he could do not to reach for her.
“Tell me something,” she said softly. “If you weren’t my bodyguard, if I weren’t a model . . . if we’d just met one day on the beach, or in a club, or even at the coffee counter at the mall, what would you be doing right now?”
He swallowed hard. “I don’t drink coffee.”
She rolled her eyes. Smiled a sexy little grin that sent the blood singing in his veins. “Frozen yogurt counter then. Focus, Tierney. If we’d met anywhere else, what would you be doing to me right now?”
“Slim, people under extreme duress do things they wouldn’t do otherwise. I—”
“Stop stalling, Tierney, and answer the question. What would you be doing now?”
His blood pounded hard in his ears, and his groin tingled with awareness. The look in her eyes said she wouldn’t let him go until she squeezed out every ounce of truth left in him. And some small part of him didn’t want her to let him go.
The words left his lips before he thought better of it. “I’d be stripping off that towel faster than you could gasp.”
“Done.” Victory flashed in her eyes a split second before the towel dropped from her hand. It hit the floor at their feet, leaving her naked and wet and his for the taking.
A dim, last warning flashed in his brain. “Lauren—”
She pressed her hands against his chest, jackknifing heat through his torso until she was all he could feel. And then she leane
d in, her kiss-me lips millimeters from his, just begging him to take a long, succulent taste. “The next move is yours, Tierney. What are you gonna do now?”