Green-Eyed Monster (9 page)

Shyly teasing and caressing Victoria gently kissed the coveted lower lip, drawing it into her mouth. With gentle tugs she nuzzled and sucked the sensitive inner silk.

Mickey moaned, her tongue darting out to graze Victoria’s top lip, tracing along the bowed curve, exploring form and texture.

Bolder, she became more insistent, demanding entry. With one last tender tug to the swollen lower lip, Victoria surrendered and opened to Mickey’s questing tongue. It poured into her mouth like caramel, rolling luxuriously over and around her own, numbing her mind to everything except its sweetness.

Victoria was totally lost. She could kiss Mickey like this for hours…for years. If she only knew one thing in this life, it was this kiss. She had always been destined to experience this kiss.

Suddenly, Mickey drew back. “I can’t do this, Victoria. Not if tomorrow you’re going to say I forced you. I just—” Her voice was broken. “I…I can’t. This time you have to want me, too.” Victoria was not bemused and befuddled. She was sure and clear. Her needs stood out starkly before her. All in focus, crisply contoured, sharp-edged black and white, and etched across the open, freckled face looking anxiously down at her.

Victoria had fallen in love, pure and simple. She had lost more than her freedom, more than her money. She had lost her heart to this muddled, deluded, but absolutely maddening woman.
I’m the four hundred and ninety-seventh richest woman in America, and I’ve fallen for a thieving farm girl in just a few days.
This wasn’t part of her strategic planning. It certainly wasn’t in her personal mission statement for a rich and ruthlessly successful life.

“Mickey, do as I say,” she whispered.

Mickey blinked at her stupidly. Uncertainty clouded her face. “I don’t know what you mean. What you want—”

“Mickey, kiss me. It’s you I want.”

“Oh.”

Flushed, Mickey rested her forehead on Victoria’s. Eye to eye, they gently smiled at each other before Mickey stole another kiss.
God, how I want her. This small, hard, mean, soft, vulnerable, totally bewitching woman.
This was so out of the box, so unexpected, so unplanned. What the hell was she going to do? Mickey’s mind was racing, screaming at her to tell Victoria everything. To confess her sins.
But tonight,
her traitorous heart argued,
tonight add just one more
.

Mickey cradled her in her arms without breaking the kiss.

Victoria instinctively wrapped her arms around her as she was carried to the bedroom. Amazed at how warm and protected Mickey’s presence made her feel, despite their short, dramatic history, Victoria realized part of her had always felt secure and cared for around Mickey. Was it this inner security that had finally let her be honest and acknowledge how she really felt? She was thrilled that tonight they would be together again, and this time she would be free to explore Mickey’s body. To finally return the offered passion with whispered words and loving touches.

Together, wrapped in a hungry kiss, they moved in a daze along the hallway.

“Oh my God. Isn’t this just the perfect picture?” They both swung around.

“Ginette?” Victoria spluttered, shocked beyond belief at the sight of her ex-girlfriend silhouetted in the doorway holding a very non-replica handgun.

Her first jumbled thought was,
Oh my God, she’s come to rescue me. How crazy and sweet and…unlike her?

Then,
What crap timing.

Then,
I wonder if she’s got my money?

Then,
Wait! None of this makes sense.

Slowly she slid out of Mickey’s arms and onto her feet. All the thoughts jostling for attention in her head went pop as Mickey looked at Ginette and said, “You took your goddamn time.”

Victoria stood frozen, Mickey’s nonsensical words ringing in her ears, until a large hand roughly grabbed her by the arm and led her into the kitchen.

“You bastard!” she breathed in utter shock as realization dawned. Struggling in Mickey’s viselike grip, she spat, “You’re in league with her. The two of you are in this together. You two-faced, underhanded, motherfu—mmph!”

Her angry tirade was cut short as she was roughly gagged.

She was then cuffed to the stove handle and pushed down on a seat to fume. Mickey patted the top of her head.

“You’re outta this round of negotiations, my little fat cat. Sit nice and quiet. There’s a good girl. Ginette and I have a deal to close.”

Mickey moved away to switch on the coffeepot, needing to do anything to keep her trembling hands busy.
There’s your intervention from the universe. If Ginette hadn’t appeared, you’d have blown it all, fallen headlong in love with someone who normally wouldn’t even spit at you!
Banging mugs and cupboard doors, Mickey couldn’t help but curse the universe and its mysterious ways. But that was the ultimate power of Victoria Gresham.
She so nearly took you for a fool. As if a lady like her would touch you if it weren’t in her own interests
.
You were seconds from giving up your plans, admitting your duplicity, asking her for forgiveness and love, you chump.
She was disgusted with herself for her lies, for her hopes, for being who she was.

Her gaze dropped to the firearm Ginette still sported. “Put the gun down before you blow your foot off.” Ginette delicately placed the weapon on the countertop. She looked glad to be rid of it.

“I’ve been taking lessons, you know. I joined a shooting club.”

“What in hell are you doing coming down here with a gun in the first place?” Mickey frowned, still upset with the intrusion on many, many levels.

“When your e-mails stopped and your cell phone kept going straight to voicemail, I wondered if something had gone wrong.  I see something went a
little
bit off plan.” She glanced coolly to where Victoria sat with her face scarlet with anger.

Mickey looked over with a nonchalant shrug. “I had to adapt.”

Ginette snorted. “That’s a new word for it. But I see you survived the frostbite.”

Mickey turned to see Ginette gloating over a seething Victoria, who sparked like flint. Mickey was more than glad the little wolverine was chained to the stove. She had a feeling there wouldn’t be many recognizable parts of herself or Ginette left if Victoria broke free.

She frowned, not really understanding Ginette’s jibe. Victoria was anything but frosty. The woman was full-on lava flow. An iceberg would melt away to nothing just sitting in the room with her, no time for frostbite. She decided the comment spoke more to the breakdown of their personal relationship than the current state of affairs.

“You don’t really know her.” Ginette glanced over. “She charmed you, Mickey. Another twenty minutes and you’d have forgotten whose side you were on. It’s one of her secret weapons.”

Mickey felt as if she’d been slapped. It was hardly a lie.

Hadn’t she been prepared to surrender everything and beg for a fresh start? Was it a Victoria Gresham negotiation trick, or was Ginette upset at what she had seen in the hall? She was the acrimonious ex, after all.

With a steely undertone, Mickey asked, “Where’s my money?”

“It’s in the car. Just a minute.” Smiling smugly, Ginette withdrew to the hallway.

Mickey and Victoria stared at each other. Mickey held Victoria’s gaze unflinchingly. Victoria’s eyes were luminous with rage, and something else. On a deeper layer, in a secret place, Mickey could almost imagine she saw dismay and abject hurt. When she encountered that, her gaze fell away. She was ashamed.

“Here. Two hundred and fifty grand as agreed.” Ginette breezed back in and dumped a gym bag on the table, unzipping the top to expose neatly banded hundred-dollar bills. “You finally get the money she owed you for your work. Good for you, Mickey.  It’s hard to get her to play fair, but we managed it. Honor even, I do believe. Do you want to count it?”

“Nah.” Mickey shifted off the countertop she leaned against and cast a glance into the bag.

Victoria’s eyes widened with surprise
.
Mickey was accepting only the bonus her company would have paid for Mickey’s code?

Hadn’t she offered twice that amount for the partial recovery of her assets? A task apparently just this minute completed? What the hell was going on? Why was Mickey settling for less?

And how come
this
was the ransom amount? The ransom notes she’d seen asked for a million. Ginette had obviously aided and abetted in the kidnapping, but Victoria was beginning to suspect even her ex didn’t realize there was a sinister undercurrent to this plan. Dammit, the moment she thought she had a handle on this entire mess it slipped through her fingers.

“What about
my
money?” Ginette demanded warily, now that the deal was actually going down. As if to emphasize her point, she zipped up the bag, shutting the stash away from Mickey’s casual gaze. Mickey reached in her pocket and brought out a printed list.

She handed it to Ginette. “These are the details of your new Swiss account. Everything has been moved from the domestic accounts to here.” Her tone was flat. “You can check it online.  The computer’s in the next room.”

Ginette glowed with achievement. Waving the list in Victoria’s face, she crowed, “See. Every damn thing you thought you could keep from me has gone into
my
new Swiss account. I cleared out our funds, and whiz kid here hid it all away. You’ll never touch it. This is
my
alimony and it’s going to kick-start
my
new life.”

Victoria’s perplexed look only encouraged Ginette to explain how clever she was in the greatest detail. “Did you really think I’d settle for your ‘good-bye, darling’ sweeteners? A nice house?  A good job? Oh no, sweetheart, not after I’d been living like a freakin’ millionaire for years. I’d fall over and die at my first credit card statement. So our mutual friend here helped me take things into my own hands. I was with you over
two years
and want at least a million for suffering you that long. I mean, seriously, how was a girl like me going to go back to living within her means?  Oh no, sweetie, you spoiled me rotten, and there’s no way my little Golden Goose was going to get up and waddle off without leaving me a big fat golden nest egg.”

Victoria locked eyes with Mickey. A Swiss account? But she’d seen all the money go to Monaco. And the only accounts Ginette could give Mickey details of were their household and savings accounts.
We moved around more money than that, and not to Switzerland. We’ve been up nearly all night moving every penny I have to Monaco?

So two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was the price for Mickey to clean her out and set up an account for her ex? No wonder Ginette had wanted her out of the way. But Victoria still couldn’t grasp the full picture. Something was wrong.

The simplicity of Ginette’s plan hadn’t been reflected in the movements she’d seen Mickey make.

Why make Victoria believe it was all a bungled kidnap attempt to grab Ginette? Especially as Victoria was the intended victim all along? Her guts told her Ginette didn’t know of this curious little twist. Had Mickey planned to sell her captive on to the highest bidder? But there was no need to try to dupe her into thinking she was the wrong victim to do that.
Dammit, what’s she up to? I don’t get it.

The bogus ransom demand was for a million. That was obviously Ginette’s alimony claim. And the ransom note would explain to any authorities Victoria wished to inform as to why the money was lifted from her domestic accounts. But why would Mickey settle for a bribe of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to move the million for Ginette? Because it was all Ginette had to offer?

To Victoria, it was clear that Ginette’s pay-off must have been Mickey’s original stolen bonus for her code. Her ex had somehow managed to fire, then re-hire, the hapless developer for her own devious ends. It about summed up Ginette as a human being that she’d think that was a sophisticated and clever move.

But her bribe amount was peanuts now that Victoria had offered to double it for Mickey’s help. So why was Mickey siding with Ginette?

And that help? What actually happened? She’d thought she’d seen
Ginette
emptying her home accounts. Except she now knew it was Mickey’s doing with the banking details Ginette had supplied for her. She’d seen the money move with her own eyes, on Mickey’s computer. So she’d panicked, thinking it was only the beginning, that Ginette would take more and more. That’s when she’d manipulated Mickey to work for her… for her measly bonus and freedom. The irony of her condemnation of Ginette was not lost on her. She was no better.

“And you know what, Vic?” Ginette’s crowing interrupted her thought process. “Do you know what the best bit is? You can do nothing about it because the ransom note points to her.” Ginette pointed at Mickey, who stood by looking slightly bemused. “That’s where your money went if I have to answer to the authorities. So suck that up.” Ginette was unaware that she was pointing out the obvious. Victoria had gotten there at least ten minutes ago.

Victoria’s eyes locked with Mickey’s.
You goddamn fool,
she mentally screamed, hoping the buffoon could read her telepathically, the way some clever dogs do in a crisis. She’d have had better luck with Lassie. Mickey just stared back blankly, like some dumb dogs do. Ginette had set the geek up as the fall guy.

She gets away scot-free, and you’ll be forever hunted, and all for your measly bonus? We moved millions around tonight with the details I gave you. What sort of imbecilic crook are you? My reward is far greater than—oh, my God, no!
Her eyes widened in utter shock and disbelief as the penny finally dropped. It was a sting. She had been duped.

“Excuse me, ladies. I hate to interrupt your poignant moment of closure, but I gotta use the john,” Mickey said dryly and left the room, leaving the gym bag sitting securely on the table beside Ginette.

Ginette moved to sit opposite Victoria.

“I’ll take this private moment to gloat. I just love the idea I got one over on the exalted Victoria Gresham. I interviewed her, you know.” She nodded to the door Mickey had just exited.