Hacker auction bodyguard.., p.1
Hacker Auction: Bodyguard Romance, page 1
Hacker Auction
WHITE HAT SECURITY, BOOK 10
LINZI BAXTER
WHITE HAT SECURITY
Contents
1. Wes
2. Rachelle
3. Wes
4. Rachelle
5. Wes
6. Rachelle
7. Wes
8. Rachelle
9. Rachelle
10. Wes
11. Rachelle
12. Wes
13. Rachelle
14. Wes
15. Rachelle
16. Wes
About the Author
Hacker Auction
White Hat Security, Book 10
Copyright © 2021 by Linzi Baxter
Kindle Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
CHAPTER 1
Wes
Not redeeming date.
—Rachelle Carlton
I glanced at the yellow sticky note a second time to make sure I read it correctly. Rachelle paid two million dollars for our date, and she decided not to fulfill the obligation with a sticky note.
For a month I tried to talk my way out of the charity auction as often as possible, but that was before the brown haired beauty in the back corner bid on me. Now I wanted to know everything about her, except she couldn’t even tell me she didn’t want to go on a date to my face.
Her smile drew my attention the second I caught sight of her on the monitor backstage. Rachelle Carlton’s long brown locks covered her bare shoulders. The silver dress she wore hugged her curves perfectly. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her ass as it swayed on the security screen when she got up to talk to a woman a couple tables away from hers.
The only reason I was at the event and being auctioned off was because of Martha Ross. The older woman seemed to have everyone under her spell. She also wasn’t a woman anybody seemed able to say no to, including me. Martha was the mother of Alex Ross. I’d only met Alex a month ago at my sister Patty’s wedding. Martha had also come and somehow roped me into joining the charity auction. The second day Martha and her husband arrived in Shialia, the country my sister runs. She asked if I would fly to the states for a charity auction. I politely declined because I couldn’t leave my brother in law, Sam, alone in the middle of an investigation.
I was Sam’s right hand man. Women had disappeared from Shialia, and it all led back to the Zarus Church. The trail led to the United States. Senator Ricker Smith was in our sights, but we couldn’t pin anything on him. Sam had asked me to go to Ft. Lauderdale with his old team to help locate the three missing women from Shialia.
When I agreed to help his former teammate Brock, I hadn’t seen Martha in the room. The second I agreed, she yelled with excitement because I could be her nomination into the annual charity auction where men and woman were auctioned off to the rich for a date.
Even when I landed in the states, I figured I would wrap up the case before the auction and be on my way home, but we weren’t any closer to closing the case. Five years ago I left Florida with a one way ticket to Shialia after I spent time with my father. Not once did I ever plan to step back in the states. The place held too many bad memories, but the more time I spent at Blackwood Security the more I wondered where I fit in.
My life back in Shialia was structured, and I knew what to expect. I hadn’t planned on leaving the small country ever again, but the Zarus church had taken women from Shialia. All the information we found pointed to a senator out of Florida. Which was why I left my life in Shialia behind to take over the case in Florida with the help of Sam’s friends. Information on the black web led us to believe the Zarus church had sold the women and they were headed for the Miami port.
The auction was the first time I took a complete night away from the case. A date would help me clear my mind for a few hours. As long as it was only one date. After I got burned by my ex six years ago, I swore off spending more than one night with a woman. Instead, my preferred method for spending time with a woman was going to a bar and picking one up for the night.
The auction wasn’t about finding love. It raised money to feed hungry kids. Prior to the auction I turned on the monitor in my dressing room. The room full of people flashed across the screen. The crowd fought and bid over the woman who walked across the stage.
My eyes kept going back to the corner of the room. The woman in a silver dress, she had to be in her late twenties. When the older woman next to her leaned over and whispered something in her ear, the younger woman covered her mouth as she laughed. The older man next to her raised a brow and she shook her head. I wanted to know what was so funny, but what I wanted even more was to hear her laugh.
Her silver dress sparkled in the light, her curly brown hair begged for my fingers to weave through it, and when she shifted in her chair, the slit up the side of the dress opened further, showing her thick milky thighs. Jesus, she was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. When the coordinator told me I was next up, I pulled my eyes from the screen and wished she would look my way once.
I flicked the television off and headed for the stage. A man dressed in a tux stood to the right at a podium. Once I stood in the center of the stage, the announcer cleared his throat and pushed his wire rimmed glasses up. His booming voice poured through the microphone with my life story. Except every word out of his mouth was incorrect. When he said I was from Britain, my head swung, wondering who the hell even came up with my back story. The last sentence stated I loved deep conversations and singing in the rain. I couldn’t help but shake my head, and then I caught Martha Ross’s eyes. Judging by the cat-eating grin on Martha’s face, I no longer wondered who created my false background. Now all I had to do was get through the auction and one date. When the auctioneer opened up the bidding, a woman in the back with a walker threw out the first bid.
My fingers dug into my palms as paddles flew in the air. The auction bid hit one million dollars, and nobody slowed down. The longer they kept bidding, the more uncomfortable I felt. All I wanted was to run off stage and drink a tall scotch. But when the angelic voice came from a table in the back right corner rang through the air and said, “Two million dollars,” a couple of women huffed up front. The auctioneer called out a few more numbers before he concluded my auction. I turned and left the stage. Excitement ran through me as I thought about the woman in the silver dress.
The bottle of scotch Brock handed me before the auction sat on the counter in the dressing room. I twisted the top and poured myself a couple of fingers. The rules and how the date would work were in a stack of papers next to the bottle. When I first arrived, I had cared little about when I would go on a date. Now I couldn’t wait to meet the sexy vixen in person. The packet was thick, but I flipped to the last page, where it detailed the date. I’d only made it to the second line when a faint knock sounded against the dressing room door. An older woman walked in and handed me the note. When I grabbed the small post-it, the woman turned and left, leaving me alone with the message.
Not redeeming date.
—Rachelle Carlton.
There had to be a rule in the book about backing out because I planned to go on this date. The sweet woman might think I wouldn’t hunt her down, but she didn’t know who I was. A challenge had never been something I backed away from, and I didn’t plan to start now.
I needed to formulate a plan for getting the pretty little thing to honor our date. When the door to my dressing room swung open, Brock McKenzie and Alex Ross walked in. Brock grabbed the bottle off the counter and poured two glasses. “Already hitting the bottle. You got lucky with Rachelle.”
I took a sip of the dark liquid in my glass to distract myself from the fact she rejected me.
“I’ve come to these events for years, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Rachelle Carlton bid on a single person,” Alex said as he dropped in the chair next to the small gray couch. Brock leaned back against the wall near the exit. The idea she didn’t do this all the time made me even more perplexed on why she would pull out.
I held up the note. “According to this. Our date is not required. Her words, not mine.”
Alex leaned to the side and snatched the note out of my hand. “Yea, per the guidelines of the auction, she can’t do that,” Alex grunted. “The first year my mom talked me into the auction, a pleasant woman bought me, but I was working so much I wanted to get out of the date. So I tried to pay my way out or find her a different person. Neither worked. Per the guidelines, if the date doesn’t happen, they can’t accept the funds. The Carlton family puts on this event. Rac
I snatched the note back and tucked the small yellow piece of paper in my pocket. The damn woman drew me to her like a moth to blue light. All the note was to me was a challenge flag, and I planned to accept the challenge. “Any chance she would allow the rules to bend for her daughter?”
Brock tapped his fingers on the side of his glass. “Rachelle’s just had a baby a couple of months ago. Her dad hired us for some research work on a hospital he bought. Our first meeting, he had me dig deep into a few of the doctors. A couple of the doctors at the hospital had complaint lists a mile long.”
“Why is she bidding on someone while she’s in a relationship with someone else?” The words came out immediately.
“She’s single,” Brock countered.
I wanted to know how a man could not want to keep that woman to himself. “Who in their right mind would walk away from her.” She was sexy as hell.
“I’m not sure. I could always ask my mom. If I’m not mistaken, they have lunch together often.” Alex paused. “For the last three weeks, all you did was complain about how you felt like a piece of meat.”
Brock cut in. “You also went into detail yesterday how this auction was borderline like the one we are trying to shut down.”
I winced as I remembered Mia’s glare across the table when I compared the two events. She wasn’t happy with my thoughts. After we left the meeting, she sent me articles on how much the charity helped children in need and then sent me a picture of the little girl my sister was helping because Zarus’s church sold her mother.
“The next time any of you change your mind, I’ll make sure to throw it back in your face.” I grabbed the bottle and filled my drink up for the third time. “Back to the auction money. If I don’t go on this date, the charity won’t get the money Rachelle bid?”
Alex stood and stretched. “Yes and no. Rachelle and her family have old money. Her father did good for himself, but the money she has is on her mother’s side. Rachelle could always donate the money another way. Now I’m going to go back out and sit with my wife before they auction the remaining women off. Kat and Bridget are supporting Kaylene tonight.”
My brother-in-law’s group of friends was large, and they’d welcomed me the second I met them at Patty and Sam’s wedding. Brock took over the company he partially owned with Sam, Blackwood Security. The security firm also had a BDSM club on the main floor. Over the past few weeks, I played a couple of times. Rachelle tied to a spanking bench crossed my mind.
“I’m still not sure this was a good idea, allowing Kaylene to join the auction. Jared has a worse temper than Alex when people pull strings behind his back,” Brock stated. I’d only heard tidbits of the conversation. Kaylene was in love with her boss, but he wouldn’t commit to her, so she was going to do this auction so she could dip her toes back into the dating world. My sister’s friends had so much drama going on within it, sometimes was hard to keep up with everyone.
The only text group I made sure I had Brock add me to was the one that shared Kat’s security camera footage. I hadn’t seen her drag a body through the backyard yet, but I couldn’t wait to watch the small woman feed her latest assassination to her gators. Antonio told me his wife no longer killed, but nobody around them believed the woman would allow a man to continue hurting women at the shelter she opened.
“Come join our table,” Brock said before he tilted his head back and drained the glass of dark liquid. “After the event, you can talk with Martha. I’m sure Martha wants to know where you plan to take Rachelle on your date. If you really want this to happen, drop a hint Rachelle is trying to get out of the date.”
“Brock has a good point. Rachelle’s mom believes in the happily ever after and I think I remember someone broke her heart not too long ago.”
I held up my hand and panicked for a second. “I just want the one date, nobody said anything about a happily ever after.”
Brock rolled his eyes. “You act like you’re scorned because she backed away, but you don’t want more than the date. If you want your dick to get wet, head to the club. I swear all the subs wait to find out if you’ll do a scene with them. It’s your damn gray eyes. The subs were talking about how you hypnotize them with one look.”
“I like my women wet.”
“Jesus, man.” Alex shook his head. “I want to go on record. You are going to fall, and when you do, it’s going to be so fun to sit back and watch.”
“I’ve experienced love, and no way will I ever make myself vulnerable to a woman again. Nothing in life is worth the heartache which will always follow,” I shot back.
Like the time I found my fiancée Elise Levy fucking my teammate in our bed. Neither Elise nor Milton expected me to be released from the hospital early. Two weeks prior, our SEAL team went to Venezuela on a rescue mission. Except the intel we received was wrong and our team came under gun fire. Three of our teammates died and I caught a bullet to my upper thigh. After multiple surgeries I still had a slight limp, but the betrayal of my own teammate still stung. He was my closest friend I think it hurt more to see him with her, than her with my teammate. The night I walked in on them was still vivid in my mind. Her diamond engagement ring I’d bought her a year earlier shined in the night as she rode the man I thought had my back. I stood there and watched as the two people I thought I could count on betrayed me when Milton’s eyes landed on me. He shoved Elise to the side. Elise blamed me for holding her back in life. She hated living in base housing in Virginia. Elise didn’t understand why I wouldn’t transfer to California so she could go in to acting. No matter how many ways I explained it she never understood the brotherhood of the team, but neither did Milton.
The last I heard, she’d moved to California to purse her dreams, but it hadn’t worked out. Milton had moved with her a year later when he left the Navy. At times I missed my close friend, but the wrongdoing my friend did hurt worse than what she did, but it also taught me a life lesson. Never open my heart to a woman again, that didn’t mean I couldn’t spend time with a beautiful woman in bed though.
“Let’s go.” Alex waved toward the door.
I followed the two men back into the main area as the bidding ended for the last man. Jessica, Brock’s wife, moved a little so I could sit down between her and Bridget.
Rachelle’s back was to me. Her mother glanced in my direction, and the woman gave me a warm smile. It seems she didn’t know what her daughter did. Finally, the auctioneer spoke, and the first woman came out. One by one, they paraded women across the stage. Most seemed to get into the auction, egging the men to spend more and more money. The women’s part of the auction was utterly different from the men’s. I relaxed back into the seat and took a sip of my drink.
The next woman walked on stage. Her long black hair came down to the middle of her back. Unlike the other women, she seemed a little nervous. She kept searching the room like she was looking for someone.
“She’s looking for him.” Jessica sighed.
“Who?” I asked. Not sure why I asked, but I hated the sad look on the woman’s face.
“Jared,” Brock replied. “We all thought he would show up, but it seems he’s not going to go after her.”
The bidding started. A man in the back corner kept raising the bid. Brock shifted next to me, but we couldn’t see the person. The auction reached an all-time high and kept going up. Then the man in the back corner bid ten million dollars, and the room went silent. Kaylene held up her hand as she tried to see the back of the room, but the auctioneer ushered her off the stage.
