Chapter 3 #2
“I don’t know if I should be disappointed he’s stupid, or excited that I’m going to get to taste you.
” He ran his thick fingers in her hair, tugging until her face tilted upward, then forced her to a standing position.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Nick stepped forward, only to have the men raise their weapons, inching closer.
“Let go of me.”
Ramos laughed as tugged her hair harder. “Time to introduce me to your man.”
T he moment Nick saw Leandra’s text, calling herself ‘wifey,’ he knew he’d be changing the plan. She didn’t scare easily, so whatever made her decide to change their backstory from partners to married, had to have spooked her, even if just a little.
Nick held his hands up while he stared down the wrong end of a weapon. This wasn’t the first time, and he knew sure as shit, it wouldn’t be the last.
“Take it easy, fellas,” Nick said, eyeing the kitchen. His throat tightened as Ramos ran his fingers through Leandra’s soft hair and then yanked hard enough it forced her to a standing position. “Get your boss out here and tell him to bring my wife.” The word ‘wife’ rolled easily off his tongue.
A little too easy.
“Step up on the dock and keep your hands where we can see them,” one of the guards said.
Nick did as instructed.
The guard that had been doing all the talking patted him down, finding his weapon.
Nick eyed Leandra as she stepped from the kitchen sliding glass doors, Ramos following two steps behind and obviously eyeing her backside. He couldn’t decide if he should play the possessive, jealous hubby or the trusting one.
Or perhaps a little of both.
She smiled and waved, her feet moving a little faster than a normal walk. Ramos grabbed her arm, yanking her back .
Nick’s blood heated, and he maneuvered toward the house, but the two guards lurched forward, aiming their weapons at his chest and head.
“Tell your men to stand down,” Leandra said, breaking free from Ramos’ grasp.
Ramos waved to his men. “Bring him to me.” He leaned closer to her, pressing his hand on her back. “Take a seat at the patio table. Try anything and your husband dies.” He pressed his index finger against his temple and cocked his thumb.
Nick strolled across the grass, his hands at his sides, one guard behind him, the other one next to him.
Once inside the pool gate, Ramos greeted him, putting his body between Nick and Leandra.
She stood to the side, making eye contact.
Her steady gaze and her carefree body language indicated she wasn’t concerned by the events, but he knew firsthand she’d become a master at masking her true emotions.
Except for lust, which was something he’d have to deal with later.
“I don’t like strangers coming to my house uninvited,” Ramos said. His eyes narrowed. “And I don’t like business plans changing without notice.”
“We had a planned meeting; I’m just early.
Besides, my wife is your houseguest. Where she goes, I go.
” Nick knew changing the meet, making it a surprise, had the potential to backfire, but it would also give him the opportunity to gauge how desperate Ramos was to unload his merchandise as well as how badly he wanted Leandra.
“And I didn’t like what I saw in the kitchen, or what she told me about last night and your sexual advances and threats. ”
Leandra tilted her head. “He understands.” Leandra’s voice had a natural raspy sound. “Besides, you know I can take care of myself.”
“Sorry, hon.” Nick shrugged. “But I wasn’t going to sit out there until eleven and watch you fend off advance after advance, much less have him pulling your hair.” Nick inched closer to Ramos, puffing out his chest. “I’ll kill you if you touch her again.”
Ramos smiled. He carried himself with a heavy dose of arrogance.
His power, however, wasn’t exerted by his size or strength, but by the men he surrounded himself with.
His muscle, so to speak. That was a good news/bad news situation.
The good news was all Nick had to do was get this man out of his element, and he’d have the upper hand in seconds.
The bad news was that right now, even with his brother and a few other men sprinkled around the lake and house, he was still outgunned, and he could only imagine how much manpower Ramos would bring when the deal went down.
“I don’t like being watched.” Ramos stood behind Leandra, his hand on her shoulder. “Or manipulated.”
She shrugged it off.
Nick took a large step forward, but the guards shoved their guns in his face. “If you were in my shoes, you’d be watching me like a hawk.”
“I wouldn’t let my wife spend the night at another man’s house. ”
Nick laughed. “As my wife said, she’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
The only reason she stayed was to get a good look at how you operate both personally and professionally.
She was watching you more than I was from a distance.
” He made his way around the table, ignoring the protests of the guards.
He caught a whiff of Leandra’s shampoo. He couldn’t wait for this to be over so he could have her…
once. “We don’t do business with just anyone. ”
“Neither do I,” Ramos said, waving his hand at the table. “I don’t like being lied to or manipulated. You showing up at my home unannounced doesn’t make me want to do business with either of you.”
Nick looped his arm around Leandra’s waist. “Excuse me for a moment while I give my wife a proper hello.” He leaned in, inhaling more of her tropical scent as it mixed with the fresh air.
“Hey, hon.” He pressed his mouth against hers, parting her lips with his tongue and taking a quick swirl around, enjoying the taste of bitter coffee mixed with bacon.
His body sizzled when she splayed her hands against his chest. “Hi, babe,” she whispered.
Nick squeezed her ass before pulling away. “Let’s discuss business now, since we’re all here.”
“You’re a cocky son of a bitch.” Ramos pulled out a chair and sat down, waving his hands to various people, who all jumped into action. “I like that.”
“You don’t get anywhere in life by being meek.” Nick held back a chair for Leandra before settling next to her with his hand resting on her warm, sun-kissed thigh. “This deal has to go down tonight.”
“Why is that?” Ramos asked as he lit up a cigar, offering one to everyone.
Nick shook his head. “Because Agent Fielding—”
“Agent Fielding is no one I’m concerned with.” Ramos arched a brow, but his lips drew into a tight line.
“Don’t play dumb.” Nick shifted so the smoke didn’t blow in his face, but it also put him even closer to Leandra. He didn’t need to be so close that his knee touched hers, nor did his hands need to be on her body, but he couldn’t resist the pull she had over him.
Didn’t want to, either.
And that thought scared him more than dying if this operation went south.
“My sources tell me that Fielding is waiting on a search warrant for your warehouse.”
“Under what pretense? I’m a model citizen.” Ramos smiled, then winked.
“Your poker rooms.”
“And how do you know this?” Ramos leaned back in his chair, crossing his ankle over his knee. Only the way he held his cigar, tight between his fingers instead of swirling it, told Nick that Ramos was nervous.
Leandra glanced between the two men. “I was on a fact-finding mission here, while Nick did his own gathering of intel, and if we don’t do the deal tonight, it’s not going to happen, and we disappear.”
“I won’t be strong-armed into a deal, and since my men don’t know about Fielding’s plan, I don’t believe Fielding is a threat.”
“I thought you might say that.” Nick pulled out his phone and pulled up the information he’d gotten directly from Fielding when Nick had approached him early this morning.
“I have a man inside the FBI, and he gave me this.” Nick pushed his phone across the table.
“You’ve got a leak inside your operation who has been feeding the Feds, specifically Agent Fielding.
My contact says we’ll have a window of opportunity to move the merchandise tonight before Fielding homes in on your casino gig. ”
Ramos set the phone down, resting his elbows on the table. “I don’t trust liars and don’t believe I have a leak.”
“If you don’t want to do business, then we can walk,” Leandra said, her hand resting on Nick’s shoulder, massaging gently, making his body want to forget he had an operation to manage.
“I didn’t say that.” Ramos sucked on his cigar with his fat lips. “But I don’t have a leak.”
“You have one; otherwise, you wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.
Another reason I showed up unannounced.” Nick rotated his neck, eyeing the house and yard.
There really was a mole, but thus far, the intel he’d gathered hadn’t netted much.
Nick planned on changing that in less than twenty-four hours.
“When this is all done, I’ll hand you the mole on a silver platter. ”
“I don’t need you to hand me anything,” Ramos said, his voice laced with disdain.
“You need someone to move the merchandise before Fielding gets permission to legally poke around.” Nick, reluctantly, took his hand off Leandra’s thigh and folded his arms on the table. “I can move the merchandise and sell all of it before Fielding can wipe his ass from his morning shit.”
“If I’m under investigation, and this agent has all this crap on me, why take the risk? Why not just let me crash and burn?”
Leandra sat up straighter, smoothing down her skirt and crossing her ankles.
God, she made Nick nuts.
“We have a buyer who wants consistent merchandise,” Leandra said. “We’d like to help you increase your operation, making a hefty profit all around.”
“Sounds like you’ve got this all planned out.” Ramos flicked the ashes of his cigar. The breeze picked them up as they floated effortlessly toward the pool.
Nick nodded. “This is a win-win and could be the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship.”
“Perhaps, but we don’t have time for an auction.” Ramos rubbed the back of his neck. “If what you say is true.”
“It’s true, and we don’t need an auction,” Nick said, leaning back, looping his arm over Leandra’s shoulders. “We’ve got two buyers who are looking for slave labor, and they will take the entire lot. ”
“You don’t even know what I have.” Ramos sucked on his cigar, the tip turning red.
“We’ve been watching your operation for months now,” Leandra said.
She’d gathered a fair amount of information on Ramos’ operation, but what she hadn’t found out, Nick’s resources with the Aegis Network had uncovered in less than five hours.
Even he was impressed by what they’d been able to uncover and put into place.
Of course, some of Nick’s old buddies had come through, making this a well-put-together op with the best of the best.
The plan still had a few holes, and any number of things could go wrong, but Nick wasn’t going to focus on that.
“I want 1.5 million,” Ramos said before he blew out his smoke, his lips forming a circular motion as he snapped his jaw, creating rings.
“Right now, we’ve got the buyers at a million.
Best we’re gonna get for this deal on short notice.
But we can guarantee we’ll be able to increase your fair market value by twenty percent in six months.
” All Nick needed to do was to get Ramos to agree to this sale.
That way he could make sure all the current victims were moved to a safe location before slapping handcuffs on Ramos.
But in the process, he needed to find out who Skyler had been sold to and help Leandra bring her home to her family.
Ramos put the cigar between his teeth and held out his hand. “If this deal goes off without a hitch, then we can discuss doing further business. If not?” He shrugged. “I’m going to fuck your beautiful wife while you watch, and then I’m going to kill you.”
Nick knew Ramos believed his own words, but no way in hell, no matter what went down tonight, would Ramos ever be laying a finger on Leandra.
She belonged to Nick.
What the fuck? Where did that come from? Screw her once and she’d be out of his system. She was just another chick that reminded him he was a man with needs, not a man with desires.
Big difference.
At least that is what he told himself.