Wicked Pleasures. Tori Carrington

      “Hey.” Dari caught up with him afterward. “You good with contacting your sources on the James contact?”

      “Check.”

      His longtime friend, fellow Marine and now business partner grinned. “Didn’t have to ask, did I?”

      Linc glanced at him.

      “Hey, why don’t you drop by the Barracks later? We’re putting together details on Jason’s surprise birthday party next week.”

      “I’ll see what I can do.”

      The Barracks was a bar and Linc was known to stop in from time to time, mostly to appease his friends who liked to unwind at the local establishment. He had other plans tonight, but figured it shouldn’t take too long to toss a few bucks into the kitty for a gift for their fellow partner. Especially since it wasn’t that long ago that Dari and Megan—who were as much partners outside Lazarus as inside—nearly split because of something that went down with Jason.

      It was reassuring to see things were back on track.

      Besides, soon Dari would be reclassified as combat ready, following an injury he suffered a month ago, and redeployed overseas. He’d like to spend a little time with him before that happened.

      Dari smacked a hand against his shoulder and said, “Hope to see you there.”

      They parted ways, Linc heading for a room designated as his office, although it was a space he spent very little time in. He had everything he needed on him, which was the way he preferred to work. But this afternoon he wanted to wrap up a few business-related items so he’d be free to pursue his personal agenda.

      Namely, to apprehend one Billy “the Bank Robber” Johnson and return his ass to jail where he belonged.

      And he knew exactly where to start: with Johnson’s girlfriend, Regina Dodson.

      “COME ON, REGINA! You act like you’re sixty instead of twenty-six. I finally talked you into coming out with me. Is it too much to ask you to actually have fun?”

      Regina Dodson thought it was more than an act; she felt sixty. And had for a good long time. Too long. It was one of the reasons she’d reluctantly agreed to come out with Vivienne tonight. The outgoing redhead was the first friend she’d made when she moved from Livermore Falls, Maine, to Colorado Springs a year and a half ago.

      Moved? More like escaped. She’d packed up everything, changed her name and was making a new life for herself in the small city nestled against the Rocky Mountains south of Denver.

      Still, there wasn’t a day when she didn’t wake up terrified this would be the day her past would catch up with her.

      And for some odd reason, lately she couldn’t help feeling she was being watched.

      She absently rubbed her arm and then took in Vivienne’s animated face over the rim of the margarita she’d been nursing for a good two hours. Club lights blinked, dance music pulsed and all she could think about was how much she wanted to go home and climb into bed with a good book. Funnily enough, it was through books she and her friend had originally met; more specifically, a library book club to which they both belonged. They were the only two unmarried women in the group that didn’t have kids, and were under the age of a hundred, as her friend liked to say.

      “You need a drink,” Vivienne pronounced, waving for the bartender.

      Regina held up her margarita. “I have a drink.”

      “No, you need one you can’t pretend to sip for hours on end.” The girl stepped in front of them. “Six shots of tequila. And don’t forget the salt and lemon.”

      Regina stared at her. “I’m not drinking six shots of tequila.”

      “You’re right, you’re not.” The woman behind the bar lined up six shot glasses and began filling them. “You’re going to drink three,” Vivienne added.

      “I’m not drinking any,” Regina said over the sound of the loud music, scanning the throng around them. Too many people.

      She’d never been much of a drinker. One glass of wine with dinner every now and again was about as adventurous as she got.

      Vivienne paid the bill and then edged one of the shot glasses in Regina’s direction. She licked the back of her hand between index finger and thumb and then sprinkled salt there before pulling a bowl of sliced lemons closer, nodding for her to do the same.

      “Ready?”

      “Viv…”

      “Come on. What’s the worst that can happen? The ice wall around you might melt?”

      Regina drew her head back. “There’s no ice wall around me.”

      “No? I’ve watched you freeze out four great-looking guys in an hour. What would you call it?”

      “Smart?”

      All four had reminded her of her ex in some way: the first in looks; the second in attitude; the third in his approach; and finally the fourth in his choice of clothing.

      Of course, Santa Claus would probably remind her of her ex at this point.

      Over recent months, Vivienne had ceaselessly invited her out and she’d ceaselessly resisted. It had only been in the past few weeks she’d finally stopped reading every word of every online newspaper searching for signs that shadows from the past were about to stretch over and suffocate her present.

      Still…she wasn’t quite ready to go out and act like a carefree single woman just yet.

      Viv laughed and nudged her shot glass even closer. “One. You can at least do that for me.”

      Regina stretched her neck. “One?”

      Her friend smiled.

      If that’s what it was going to take to shut Viv up, Regina figured she could handle that.

      So why did she have a feeling those were going to be her famous last words?

      She followed Viv’s lead, licked her hand and then sprinkled salt on it. On the count of three, they simultaneously licked the salt, downed the shots of tequila and then quickly took a lemon slice and sucked on it.

      Viv hooted. Regina shuddered.

      “Another!”

      She should have known her friend wouldn’t settle for stopping there. But rather than be upset, she found herself laughing. The seemingly harmless liquid was already beginning to warm her insides, as if it were, indeed, melting the ice wall to which Viv referred.

      She shook salt onto the back of her hand and reached for the second shot. Viv cheered and counted to three. They both smacked the shot glasses onto the bar and then reached for the lemon.

      Before she knew what she was doing, she was downing the third shot.

      Regina smiled. She had to admit, the liquor was beginning to soften the world’s hard edges. She leaned against the bar rather than standing ramrod straight. Thankfully, every guy no longer seemed a variation on her ex. The lights looked soothing instead of garish. The music wended around and around her, making her want to dance. Something she hadn’t done in a long, long, long time.

      Something she’d never expected to do again.

      Vivienne raised her hand to wave the bartender back, but Regina caught her arm. “No more.”

      Her smile must have convinced her friend that she had, indeed, been cured, because Viv laughed and grabbed Regina’s hand instead.

      “Let’s dance.”

      Suddenly, it seemed like the best idea she’d heard all night…

      TEN STOOLS DOWN, Linc watched the scene between the two women. He’d have known Willa Nelson aka Regina Dodson anywhere, despite the lengths she’d gone to to change her appearance