Chapter 2 #2
“Well, I’ve got news for you.” Her fingers dug into his thigh muscle. “I’m not going back until this case is closed. You can tell my father you found me. Hell, I’ll even call him. But I’m not leaving.”
“Maybe I can help you with your case.” With his hand still holding her hair, he tugged slightly, exposing the soft curve of her neck.
He pressed his mouth on her skin, feeling her pulse beat against his lips.
“And when we’re done with that, I’ll help you get that first fuck after your husband died out of the way. ”
She jerked her head back. “Excuse me?”
He glided his fingers through her thick, dark hair, before dropping his hand to the sofa. “You haven’t had sex since he died, have you?”
“That’s none of your fucking business, and it has nothing to do with you helping me with Ramos. ”
“Fair enough.” He smiled. “But you’re still leaning over me with your breasts close to my mouth and your hand...” He looked at his thigh.
“Point taken,” she said, shifting to a sitting position, making sure not a single part of her body touched him. “Sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it.” He rolled his head, staring at her profile. The light from the lamp hit her just right, showing off her porcelain-like skin. In all the years since Joanne had passed, not a single woman had turned him on the way Leandra did.
And it wasn’t just physical.
“Staring at you in the mirror with my hand over your mouth, I had some interesting thoughts. Like bending—”
She jabbed him with her elbow. “No need to express it. You’re a perv, and I’ve turned into a crazed, sex-starved widow.”
“I’m not a pervert.” He scowled. “And I’ve been where you are. Wish I could say it gets easier.”
“Not at all?”
He shrugged. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d told a woman he’d been married, much less that his heart had been so shattered, it barely pumped blood. “My wife died shortly after we were married. I vowed I’d never have sex again. Now that’s all I do.”
“All you do?”
He laughed. “I don’t do relationships. But we’ve gone so far off the issue at hand. Tell me how I can help with Ramos and your case.” He clasped his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.
She let out a long breath, resting her head on the back of the sofa. “Ramos is running a human trafficking ring.”
“And how exactly does that affect you?”
“My client’s daughter is one of seven young women missing in a twenty-five-mile radius over the course of a week.”
“When was she abducted?” The tension between his legs had simmered down, but it hadn’t fully gone away. He suspected it might never with her close by.
“About a month ago.”
“She’s probably long gone by now.”
“I know, but if I can get into where he keeps them, I might be able to find his records and find to who and where she was sold.”
“It’s a long shot.”
“But I have to take the chance. After doing some more digging, I’ve found a pattern in different locations in Florida regarding missing young adults.” The passion fused in her voice sealed his fate.
He’d do whatever it took to help her.
Then fuck her.
“There are a lot of missing kids all over the country, and that doesn’t make for a pattern of any kind,” he said.
“It does when three victims in the last four months were found alive, all telling the same story.”
“And what story is that? ”
“A ring of human traffickers. Each kid was from a different area. One from Miami, one from the panhandle, and one from Ft. Myers.” She locked gazes with him.
Her deep-chocolate eyes danced with adrenaline, something he knew well.
“The identical details each gave to the authorities about their abductors couldn’t be coincidence. ”
“Do you have case files on these?”
She nodded.
“I want to see them.”
“I don’t need or want your help.”
“Either I stay and help, or I take you to your father now.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “What do the cops say?”
“They’re looking into the victims’ stories, but all three had been runaways prior to this most recent disappearance and had been into drugs or prostituted themselves at one point.
The cops don’t think much about most of the missing kids since half of them had been or are troubled teens, and the other half, over the age of eighteen. ”
“So, they believe they were all runaways.” Nick had spent a few years as a local police officer and knew the drill.
Often, with missing kids over the age of sixteen, unless there had been substantial evidence that an abduction had occurred, an Amber Alert wasn’t even issued.
It was a catch-22 because many of these runaways got themselves in some deadly situations, but many didn’t fit the criteria for an Amber Alert.
“Which brings me to why you’re staying in Ramos’ house.
” He looked into her dark, succulent eyes.
“You went from a hotel ten miles away to his house.”
She arched a brow. “You’ve been watching me?”
He nodded. “I needed to figure out how to get in and out without getting us both killed, but it also appeared that you and he were…” Nick looked at the ceiling. “…friendly.”
“That’s downright disgusting,” she said under a tight lip.
“I’m teasing you.”
“I’m not laughing.”
He nodded. “So how did you end up at Ramos’ mansion?”
“I found out Ramos needed a quick sale since his regular buyers backed out. Not to mention he has to move the current group because of this Fed that’s been poking around. I decided to give Ramos a solution by providing him with a new auctioneer with his own contacts.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re sleeping in Ramos’ house.” A thought that disturbed Nick on way too many levels.
“I rang his doorbell.”
Nick coughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
She shook her head. “I had approached him at a restaurant, and he blew me off, so I showed up, and he admired my big balls.”
“I don’t want him admiring anything about you,” Nick said under his breath. “Was staying a condition of getting the gig? ”
“Partially, but I didn’t want him to check out my car rental, so I Ubered.”
Smart, but not so smart.
“Where’d you find the buyer?”
“Haven’t found him yet.” She tossed the vegetable bag on the table. “But Ramos wants to meet my guy tomorrow and do the sale as soon as possible.”
“Who’s your backup, and how do you see this going down?”
“I have none, and I have no idea.”
“What!? Are you fucking crazy? And this is all supposed to go down tomorrow?”
“I need to find my client’s daughter, and this is the only way.” She stood, leaping over the coffee table. “I need to get back. My phone and laptop are both there, and one of my contacts could be trying to reach me.”
“You think I just fell off the turnip truck?” He pointed to the dining room. “I gathered all of your important things that I could find.”
“I still need to get back before daybreak.” She planted her hands on her sexy hips again.
Hips that he wouldn’t mind grabbing in the heat of the moment.
Fuck. What the hell was his problem?
She made it worse by shifting, as if she knew his mind had just plummeted into the gutter.
“What time is this meeting tomorrow?” he asked.
“I told Ramos I’d have an exact time and place by morning.” She rocked back and forth, shifting her weight from one leg to the other .
“But if you can’t make that happen by tomorrow, you’re as good as dead.”
She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “After Ramos has his way with me, which I suspect he’s beyond kinky or perverted, and I doubt I’d like it much either.”
Nick balled his fists. The idea that Ramos might lay even his pinky finger on Leandra made his blood cells burst like exploding popcorn.
“Consider me Batman. I’ll be the buyer, and I can get a team of men here in a few hours to do the rest.” He stepped up the two stairs dividing the family room from the dining room. Grabbing her round hips, he turned her.
“What am I supposed to be? Cat Woman?” Her hands rested on his shoulders. “I doubt that is the right costume for me.”
“Oh, hell yes,” he said, giving her hips a squeeze. “You were made for that costume.”
She tilted her head, giving him an inquisitive stare. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“No, it’s not.”
“For all I know you work for Ramos and you’re setting me up.”
He cocked his head as he slinked his hands to the small of her back. Bad idea was putting this situation mildly. “Call your daddy and find out who I am.”
Her fists came down hard on his chest as she balled his shirt, heaving him forward. He counteracted, but found himself tumbling backward, holding her tight, taking her with him .
“Fuck,” she mumbled, pulling back, but it was too late as he tripped backward over the steps, scrambling to make sure they made it to the sofa and didn’t land on the floor, but clutching her tight, anticipating her landing on top of him, her round breasts smashed against his chest.
Maybe he was a pervert after all.
She dug her heels into the carpet, while her fists pulled at his shirt, slowing them down enough that when his ass hit the sofa, he slid to the ground with a thud.
A painful grunt echoed from her lips when her knees hit the floorboards.
A pleasurable groan escaped his throat as her body landed on his thighs, his fingers digging into the top part of her ass.
“That didn’t go as planned,” she muttered.
“I don’t know about that.” He winked. “I kind of like how it ended.”
“Ugh. Let me go, or else—”
“Or else what?” For fuck’s sake. He was acting more like his womanizing little brother, Ramey.
And there was a difference between having a romp in the sack with a woman who gladly understood and accepted what he was looking for versus going through women, leaving a string of broken hearts along the way.
His broken heart had been enough.
Not to mention Leandra’s.
She leaned over, her hot breath on his ear. Her fingers glided down his chest in an erotic dance that tossed him off-balance, sending a warm shiver across his skin.
He swallowed.
Her eyes turned a seductive dark brown with a hint of a sparkle as she raised up on her knees, her hand at the top of his pants.
“We need to stop this.” Dropping his hands to his sides and his head to the sofa, he took in a few deep, calming breaths.
He tried to snap his focus to the operation and not the sexy woman sitting on his lap.
“I’m sorry. I’ve behaved incredibly inappropriately, and I have no excuse.
” He could tell Leandra that he’d been all fucked up since the day his wife had died and how things got compounded a few weeks ago when his older brother got engaged and then dropped the bomb that his bride-to-be was pregnant, but that would make him sound even crazier than being perverted.
He closed his eyes, waiting for her to stand up, but instead she plopped herself right back on his lap.
He groaned, unable to control his body’s reaction to hers. “Keep sitting like that and I won’t take responsibility for what happens next.”
“I’m a big girl,” she said in a faint whisper. “Who are you really, and why do you make me crazy?”
“I can’t answer the second one.” He dropped his forearm over his eyes. “But to the first one, I’m just an ex-Army guy hired to do a job, and I’m really good at what I do.”
“Are you one of the good guys?” Her fingers laced around his wrist, tugging, while her other hand tilted his head. “I need to see your eyes.”
He blinked as he let all the air in his lungs swish out in a single pant. “When it comes to what side of the law I stand on, I’m a great guy.”
“Good.”
“Now please get up so we can devise a plan to bring down Ramos and find your client’s daughter, or I will grab you again, because when it comes to bedding women, I’m not a man who sticks around, so in that department, I’m a bad guy.”
Her mouth moved closer to his, and it took every ounce of control he had not to flip her on her back and strip her naked.
When her lips brushed against his, he gripped the sofa cushion.
Her beautiful eyes searched his with a combination of lust and confusion, matching his own swirling emotions. “I don’t want a man to stick around.”
“You’re playing with fire,” he whispered.
“I know.”
He groaned, cupping her cheeks and shoving his tongue deep inside her mouth.
She tasted like honeysuckle on a warm summer’s evening.
His body shivered as she sucked on his tongue, taking command of the kiss, torturing his mouth.
Her fingers dug into his shoulders. Everything about this woman made him dizzy.
Not only did he want to bury himself in every part of her body, he wanted to hold her in his arms, caress her soft skin.
Kiss her temple and watch the stars together .
Yanking his lips from his, he stared into her eyes. “Save the girl first. Put Ramos behind bars. Then we fuck like there is no tomorrow.”
“Sounds good to me.”
A deep growl vibrated from his throat.
He’d just met his match.