Free Bait: A dark erotic thriller (Hunter & Prey Book 2) by Kira Barker Page B

maybe giving him that taste could work out in my favor, letting him remember what he’d lost—and what was dangling just out of reach for him now.
    Suddenly, keeping to the sidelines was the last thing on my mind.
    I didn’t head straight for them, but kept my halts to a minimum. There were less than twenty people in the building that I knew personally, so it wasn’t hard not to get held up. With my confidence now bolstered, I even found a hint of enjoyment as I watched him follow my path.  
    It was Alison, actually, who took the decision from me whether at all, or if, when, to approach them. While my focus remained mostly on Darren, I couldn’t help but notice that she kept watching him, if in a much more stealthy manner than he was staring at me. When she finally figured out what held his attention, her eyes narrowed, but only for a second. If there was anyone in the world who had a better game face than whores, it was lawyers.
    A sharp nod from her had me drop my pretense of taking my time, and I purposefully strode toward the group. Darren’s spine straightened, but to say he stiffened would have been too much. Ray kept chatting with the middle-aged couple that was with them, although I doubted that he had missed me. Clearly, tonight was not the night to let the horndog out of the bag, and he was on his best behavior. It reminded me of one of his warnings—and the admission that, like me, he was playing a role more often than not.
    Invited me she might have, but I was still surprised when Alison greeted me with open arms and a smile that looked real enough that it could have fooled me. “Penelope, what a surprise to see you here!” she said, quickly introducing me to her clients, the Appletows. Some smiles were exchanged but they clearly had no idea who I was. “It is so refreshing to meet a fellow patron of the arts here in your free time. I always have to find some incentive to get Ray and Darren to come along. At least I presume you’re not working tonight?”
    I was burning to offer something stupid like I was technically never fully off the clock, but that was not an answer befitting the occasion. So instead I didn’t comment on her presumption at all.
    “I love Tosca . I would have been devastated to miss it.”
    Her brows drew together lightly.
    “I’m surprised that you got tickets. The shows have been sold out for months already. Don’t ask what I had to do to get them.” Likely just a phone call to the right people, but it was a great opening that she presented me with there. I idly wondered why she did that.
    “Oh, Brigitte and I have an open reservation,” I divulged. “Would have been a shame to let the tickets go to waste as they were already paid for. And it’s not like this isn’t a wonderful opportunity to network.”
    “So this was a business expense after all?” Alison guessed.
    I deliberately glanced at Darren as I replied. “It wasn’t all work. Part of tonight’s entertainment was all pleasure.”
    When I looked back to Alison, her face was still that pleasant mask, but Ray seemed to have a really hard time reining his mirth in. Daliah was the only one who seemed unsure what to make of me.
    “Are you here to recruit someone?” she asked.
    So far, I’d ignored her—which wasn’t hard, half-hidden behind Darren as she was, as if he'd tried to make her disappear—but at her question everyone looked at her, Alison with plain amusement on her face, Ray’s smirk finally breaking through. Daliah seemed to realize that she had said something stupid, a hint of a frown appearing on her flawless forehead. “Didn’t you say that you work in human relations?”
    Alison’s laugh was delightfully unladylike, making a few heads turn, but only until they saw who had committed that faux pas. I envied that power and reputation. I could only allow myself a somewhat belligerent smile.
    “I’m not a headhunter,” I offered, my eyes flitting to Darren for a moment. “Why don’t you