Sinful Deception (Covert Affairs Book 3) Read online

She’d obviously gotten it to work better than she realized. He searched for directions on how to use the site. At the bottom of the screen, it said a potential customer could chat with any of the girls for free, then ante up with a credit card number if they wanted more.

  Marcus registered with a false last name and the e-mail he’d created for junk, then navigated back to the girl. He poised the arrow over the Chat Free button, but paused. She’d picked up the camera, struggling again, but this time, he could see her face and shoulders. And she was… Wow. She was cute. Or pretty. Or whatever…she was…wow. Her hair was long and dark. Her face sweet and smooth. God, she looked young. Too young. He liked a woman who was at least several years into adulthood, and this one looked about twenty—not far enough into adulthood to interest him in engaging.

  His mind darted back to the women smuggled over the border earlier that night.

  Get your head out of the fucking job.

  He pushed thoughts of work aside and assessed the woman again. She wore a fair amount of makeup, and her eyes popped. Her lips shone. Her shirt was white and low-cut, and her breasts filled out every inch, her cleavage displayed in a way that made Marcus’s body tighten from shoulders to thighs.

  “Grrrrr.” She sat back and slapped her thighs. “Perfect end to a shitty day.”

  Her voice was deeper and smokier than he’d expected, and the sultry sound didn’t quite fit with that sweet face. It also made her seem older.

  On the second screen, the woman playing with the realistic dildo pushed the toy into her mouth with a low moan. A burst of heat registered deep in Marcus’s gut, but his mind was 100 percent on the woman having camera issues.

  Camera issues. That was something he could help with… Right? Not a sex chat. Just…helping. Yeah.

  Before he’d thought it through, his hand moved, and he clicked the Chat button.

  The image of the woman in white expanded and filled the screen. Everything else disappeared, and a small menu ran along the bottom. A gentle ping-ping sounded on both his computer and hers. Nerves skittered around his stomach. And a voice in his head whispered you’ve done it now.

  The sound seemed to surprise her as much as Marcus. She flinched and pulled in a breath, covering her mouth with both hands. Her eyes went wide, her body still as she stared at the screen. Anticipation spread through Marcus’s body in a slow, hot wave. This was just…bizarre…and entertaining in an I-shouldn’t-be-doing-this sort of way.

  “Oh shit,” she whispered, fisting her hands at her neck, a look of utter panic transforming her expression with a sliver of vulnerability. “Oh, shit,” she said again, then fluttered her hands as if that would help her think. “Now what?”

  “What the fuck?” Marcus asked himself softly. Was this an act? Because it was really cute. And doing weird things to his insides.

  But over his ten years in law enforcement, Marcus had become excellent at reading people. He could always tell when someone was lying, could sense violence brewing inside someone, could evaluate rising stress levels before they broke. And he read this woman as a first timer. Which made her even more appealing.

  His finger hit the mouse pad again, and the ping-ping repeated in stereo.

  She licked her lips, repositioned herself so she was sitting sideways at the base of the bed behind her, and stretched out, leaning back on her elbows. She was wearing supershort jean cutoffs and a clinging white top that crisscrossed her breasts.

  “Holy mother…” Marcus murmured. Everything inside him loosened and knotted at the same time.

  Her body was tight and slim, her legs toned and tanned, feet bare. Then she tossed that coffee-colored hair over her shoulder, plastered on a hot smile, and tapped her mouse.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice soft and deep with that hint of smoke that did crazy things to his belly. “I’m Tandi. What’s your name?”

  The song in the background, “All or Nothing,” switched to “Heaven.” She was listening to one of Marcus’s favorite albums.

  He hesitated and tried to focus. This situation suddenly seemed so completely ridiculous. “Tandi? Really?”

  She laughed softly, shifting toward the camera. The simple act of watching her move spread a tingle of heat into Marcus’s groin.

  Maybe there was something to this sexcam thing…

  “Really. Who am I talking to?”

  “Marcus.” Then his mind went completely blank. The way it sometimes did when an attractive woman approached him in a bar. So he forced words out. “I was just surfing through and…”

  And what? Saw you fumbling?

  “And liked what you saw, Marcus?” Her voice was terribly seductive, and, man, it had been a long damn time since he’d heard his name in a hot, sugary voice like that.

  She rolled to her side and rested her head in her hand. Her breasts tested the stretchy fabric of her top, and Marcus’s mouth went from desert to oasis. “I definitely like what I see,” he murmured, his brain half-hazed. “But that’s not why I requested a chat.”

  She bent her knees, easing her body into a soft curve, and slid her free hand over her hip and down her thigh. Marcus squeezed his hand closed, running his fingers over his palm, wishing he were touching her skin.

  “Are you sure?” she asked sweetly. “I could show you a little more… Maybe change your mind…”

  Two

  She was so winging it.

  Tova hadn’t been prepared to start working yet. Not tonight. It was two in the damn morning. She’d started her day with an organic chemistry midterm, continued with classes and labs until late afternoon, and begun her shift at the diner an hour later. She’d finally gotten home at midnight and spent the last two hours in a crash sexcam class with Carrie, her coworker at the diner, then set up her “model” account on the Playhouse Flirt website.

  She’d only been trying to get the camera working before she’d planned on falling in bed because she had to get up in a few hours and do it all over again. But the damn camera was broken. Or defective. Or something. And she wasn’t ready to actually perform, for fuck’s sake.

  Beyond that, she was seriously second-guessing this whole damned idea.

  But she lifted her hand to her shoulder and let her fingers follow the edge of her top down her cleavage to the V, then started up the other side—because she never dropped out of something midstream. “Would you like to see a little more, Marcus?”

  “I’m not here for…um…that.” Her shoulders would have slumped with relief—if she didn’t need the money so badly. “I mean, I was, but changed my mind, then saw you struggling with your camera and, you know, thought I could help.”

  Her mind skipped, a flat rock on smooth water. “My…?”

  The camera had been on this whole time? She’d been acting like a total loser on an international webcam?

  Her heart, and her hope of success, sank. But she knew how to cover in front of an audience.

  “Oh.” She forced a casual laugh. “Sorry about that. I just upgraded my camera, and I’m not the most technically savvy.” She eased her tone toward sultry and her smile toward flirty. “But I’m really good at other things. I’ll bet I could hike your interest level if you let me give it a try.”

  She had to entice him from the free chat area into the paid private area. Then she had to get naked in front of some invisible guy. Touch herself. Act like she liked it. Keep him tantalized as long as possible and leave him satisfied so he’d come back again.

  Tova’s stomach buzzed with so much tension, she thought she might just throw up.

  “You are incredibly…interesting,” Marcus said, his voice a deep, powerful, utterly masculine tone that brought a lot of sexy images to Tova’s mind. Images she held on to to keep herself going through the call. “But you won’t be able to show anyone how good you are at anything until you get control over that camera.”

  She liked his confidence—solid but not overpowering. Pursing her lips, Tova considered the camera, then slumped toward the lower end
of her bed. “Well, you’re right about that.”

  “Okay, let’s start at the beginning,” he said, his tone conversational. “Are you really having trouble with the camera, or is this part of your…thing?”

  Tova drew her knees up to her chest, crossed her ankles, and wrapped her arms around her legs, hoping she gave him a good shot of her thighs. She didn’t know for sure, because she hadn’t been able to see how her movement appeared on camera yet. But, she’d performed on the fly before. And although those performances hadn’t been anything quite like this, her skills still applied.

  She rested her chin on her knees, tilted her head so her hair fell down her arm, and let her eyes grow heavy. “My thing?”

  “You know, a draw. Something to get guys interested. The damsel in distress or whatever.”

  She offered a hot little smirk. “Does that turn you on, Marcus? Do you want to save me?”

  Her mind was skipping ahead to the way she might use props she and Carrie had placed strategically around her room, darting back to Carrie’s instruction. With languid moves, she straightened her legs and reached beneath the bed skirt, tugging out a length of white rope. She slid the cording through her hands and held it taut in front of her chest, arching her back so her breasts pushed into the forefront. Then she started winding one end around the opposite wrist.

  “I could tie myself up for you… And you could save me…after you’ve done anything and everything you’ve ever wanted to do to a bound woman.”

  “Are we going to do all that from where you’re at?” he asked, an edge of humor in his voice. “On the floor in front of your bed?”

  She realized he was referring to the limited space, and a flicker of uncertainty burned in her chest, but she pushed forward with a distract-and-delay tactic. “If that’s what you want, Marcus. I’ll get down and dirty with you on the floor. Just click the Private button on your screen, and I’ll be waiting here for you when you finish business.”

  A sound came from his side of the computer, something that sounded like the shift of fabric, and an odd flare of hope darted through her chest. Click the button. If she could just get through this first time, she’d be solid. Just like her first time on stage. Her first time in front of an audience. Then a crowd. Then television. Firsts were always nerve-racking. Once she’d gotten past that, she’d always soared. And she’d do the same thing here.

  “What if I wanted you on the bed?” he asked, the low and sexy timbre of his voice shivering through her in a way that surprised her. “Or in the shower? Or say…outside? Would you be able to get that camera to work somewhere else?”

  God, if his voice matched his looks, he sure as hell did not need to be checking out sexcams to get off. “Oooo,” she crooned, grinning into the camera. “I like the way you think, Marcus.”

  “And I like the way you say my name. You do something really sexy with the M and the S that makes me think about your mouth.”

  Tova relaxed a little. They were getting into it. She could do this.

  “It’s a great name.” She finished twining the rope in a figure eight around her wrists and lifted her arms over her head, resting her hands on the mattress while she slid one leg straight and left one knee bent. “Is it your real name? You don’t have to tell me. A lot of guys don’t use their real names here.”

  He chuckled, a barely audible, low, hot laugh that tightened her breasts. “Yes, it’s my real name. But Tandi’s not yours.”

  She gave him an innocent tilt of her head and another grin. “What makes you think that?”

  “I have an ounce of common sense. Besides, have you ever known anyone named Tandi? In your whole life?”

  She laughed. Tandi was probably more common than her real name. “Doesn’t that make it original? Memorable?”

  “I think the person behind a name is memorable. Do you like Tandi more than you like your real name?”

  She didn’t want to talk about reality. This was a fantasyland. A place where she could believe she was taking steps to help her family. A place where he could believe a stranger would be happy to do anything to please him.

  Instead of answering, she arched her back and stretched her arms out, pressing her chest forward. Closing her eyes, Tova exhaled a soft moan as her muscles released some tension.

  “You are really gorgeous.” His words came out hoarse, filled with desire. And she was starting to feel it too. Maybe it was his voice or the vague image she’d created in her head of tall, dark, and mysterious. Or maybe it was the props and the nerves. Or maybe it was the fact that it had been freaking forever since she’d had a guy in her life. But, whatever the reason, a twinge of lust kicked through her body.

  And that was good. She’d take anything that would help her get through this temporary situation.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, tipping her head to slant a heavy-lidded smile at the camera. “Would you like to see more?”

  She lowered her still-bound hands to her side and tugged at the tie holding the wraparound blouse in place at her hip. Her top fell open, exposing a two-inch gap down her middle, showing skin, the hint of her bra, and the sparkle of the diamond stud at her belly button.

  Over the computer speakers, Marcus exhaled heavily. “Yum.”

  The decadence in his tone, the straightforward lust in his voice, made her laugh softly. “Wanna taste, Marcus?”

  Ping-ping sounded on her computer.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Good timing.

  “The Free Chat times are limited,” she said. “It’s a company thing. They’re just letting us know time is running out. I’d love to get to know you better, Marcus. If you want to go private, get a little more…personal…you just need to click that Private Chat button on your screen.”

  Not the hard sell Carrie had taught her, but Tova had never been a hard-sell kind of girl. And she still needed to find her comfort zone. She couldn’t ever imagine the day when come on, big boy, give it to me was going to work for her, but when Marcus didn’t respond, she realized she’d have to figure it out sooner rather than later if she wanted to actually make any money at this.

  Then he said, “Hold on…” And keys clicked on his computer.

  Oh, good God. He was paying.

  Paying for a private sex chat with her.

  This is it.

  Three

  Marcus clicked through the payment screens, checking out the privacy statements and the site’s security certificates. He knew millions of people did this every day—hell his own teammate had pointed him this direction—but Marcus didn’t need this coming back to bite him in the ass.

  Tandi was definitely new to this too. He’d let his teammates drag him to a strip club for a bachelor party or two. Had watched some professional porn. Had even helped out another branch of the Department of Homeland Security with some prostitution stings. Experienced women in the sex trade knew they needed to be aggressive and persistent to get their money. And he knew this Tandi woman was not one of them.

  She was young and fresh and naive. Which was what nudged him into playing this game. Everything about her intrigued him, and like a puzzle, he wanted to put a few more of her pieces into place. He wanted to know what made her tick. What had brought her to this door in her life. And how or why he’d ended up connecting with her. He believed everything happened for a reason, and he wanted to figure out the reason behind Tandi.

  She still needed help with the camera, and what else was he going to do tonight? Sleep? Hell, no.

  When he was redirected back to Tandi, he found her feet curled beneath her, all that dark hair spilling forward over her shoulder and the tanned, toned skin of her belly peeking from the edges of her open blouse.

  And he still found himself wondering how in the hell he’d gotten here.

  Marcus kicked his feet up on the coffee table and crossed his ankles. “So how private are these private chats?”

  “Just you and me, Marcus.” Her voice coated his body like hot vel
vet, shifting and sliding. He adjusted his position in the chair to ease the pressure in his cock.

  “You’re going to have to untie yourself so we can get your camera fixed, then.”

  She rolled to her knees in one smooth, fluid motion. Shaking the rope loose, she slipped her hands from the binding. “There we go.” She smiled directly into the camera and seemed to grow more attractive, more seductive by the moment. “I’m all yours. What can I do for you, Marcus?”

  “First,” he said, keeping his voice matter-of-fact but friendly, “I’d like you to stop pretending you’ve done this before. Second, take the cam and point it at the box it came in so I can see the make and model.”

  She pursed her lips, her expression darkening with a flash of argument, but it passed in an instant, and she reached for the box on the desk. When she leaned forward, her shirt fell open, and the mounds of her breasts filled the center of his screen.

  Lust washed through his body, and blood rushed his cock. Marcus tried to hold back a moan but failed. “Maybe you could close your shirt while we do this.”

  She laughed but ignored the suggestion. In fact, she used a little shoulder shimmy to shake the loose blouse farther open. The move also jiggled her breasts beneath the white lace and filled Marcus’s lower body with another flash of fire.

  “Holy fuck…” Marcus muttered. “If you do that again, I’ll go into brain freeze and won’t be able to fix your camera.”

  Another sultry laugh came through his speakers, and that smile, shit, that was like liquid fucking sunlight. “No brain freeze allowed. We need to get the camera working, because if you liked that, I’ve got a few other fun things to show you.”

  She picked up the webcam, gave him a teasing grin, and air-kissed the camera before turning it toward the box.

  “You’re a spunky little thing,” he said. “How old are you?”

  “Was that an accent I heard?” she asked, then, “How old do you think I am?”

  “I lost my accent ten years ago, and I’d guess you’re twenty, twenty-one.” A spear of alarm slipped through his chest. “God, please tell me you’re over eighteen.”