Chapter 26
“Jemma …” Rocco stood frozen in the doorway of the bungalow home overlooking Laguna Rincon. “What are you doing here?”
Jemma had rehearsed this moment in her mind dozens of times but now was at a loss for words. She drank in the sight of him. Tall, muscular frame clad in a simple, well-fitted black t-shirt and dark jeans, giving him a rugged and irresistible look. Her fingertips tingled as she imagined tracing the lines of his defined arms and feeling the warmth of his skin beneath her touch.
Was she crazy to think she could handle this?
Was Fallon right?
The temptation of Rocco could be too much to resist, day after day, as the months dragged on for the undercover op. No, she wouldn’t be derailed. There was more on the line than taking down El Sombro. She had to find Nomar Ortiz. Get justice for Aurelia.
With refortified strength, Jemma said, “Surprised you didn’t ask how I got in.”
“With your skills, that’s the last thing to shock me about this situation,” Rocco said, then entered slowly, closing the door behind him. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I moved into your guest bedroom.” Jemma ripped the band-aid off and gave him the most direct answer she could. But the Rocco she knew would want more than that, so she continued, “I met with Lenny, Tank, and Fallon today. We all agreed that pretending to be a couple is the perfect cover for me as your new handler. No one would question why we were spending so much time together. We’d be able to talk freely if I lived here. Just to be sure, I came over early to sweep your place for surveillance devices that El Sombro might have put in here. There were none. So I checked out of my motel and came here. Of course, we only have to put on a show when others are around. When we’re alone, things will remain strictly professional.”
She took a deep breath and checked for any reaction to the move that blindsided him. Unsurprisingly, he showed no reaction at all. Just stood there calmly, staring back at her with that sexy, brooding charm.
“Rocco … say something,” Jemma pressed. She needed to know he was okay with this approach. While it was a good option, it wasn’t the only one. Jemma was prepared to return to the team if Rocco wasn’t on board.
He dropped his medical bag onto the chair closest to the door and walked toward her. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip, sending a tingle through her body. She sucked in a breath.
“I’m happy you’re here,” Rocco said.
“You are?”
“I can see the benefits of the arrangement,” Rocco said, passing her. She followed his movements to the bar overlooking his kitchen, where a half dozen bottles of rum were arranged near the wall. He studied them, grabbed a short bottle, and poured the dark liquid into a glass. “Want a drink?”
The last thing she needed was alcohol blurring her defenses against this man. Better to stay sober. “No, thank you.”
Rocco sat on the couch with his drink. Jemma joined him on the opposite end, careful to keep as much space between them as possible.
“I got interesting information about Eddie tonight from Dante,” Rocco said.
“El Sombro’s enforcer? Are you sure he can be trusted?” Jemma asked, unease snaking through her. Dante had sent his contingent of bodyguards to be trained by Nomar. He and his team were in the grainy videos, learning to be merciless killers from the man she’d vowed to take down.
“Yes, he can be trusted. He doesn’t reveal much, but when he does, it’s sound information,” Rocco said, easing back onto the cushions and shifting to face her.
Jemma mirrored his movement, feeling like a wife listening to her husband recap his day at work. “What did he have to say?”
“He doesn’t trust Eddie, which isn’t surprising. Dante doesn’t trust anyone.”
“He trusts you.”
“Only because he doesn’t see me as a threat. I’m a doctor and an outsider to the cartel world in his mind. Like part of a parallel universe that doesn’t intersect with theirs.”
“Which you can use to your advantage.”
Rocco tipped his head toward her, then took a long sip of rum. “Dante said Eddie has connections that don’t make sense based on the small size of his drug operations in Puerto Rico. Connections that El Sombro wants.”
Jemma sat forward, intrigued. “What connections could Eddie have that El Sombro couldn’t get? That’s an odd comment.”
“I thought so as well. Vance implied that Eddie was in town because of the shipments they want to run through the clinic, but I’m wondering if there’s a bigger reason for his involvement.”
“Tank has amassed a lot of intel on Eddie. His operations are growing, but he needs to establish more reliable partners within the South American cartels and with El Sombro for transportation if he wants to gobble up more territory in San Juan. It makes sense that he’d want to help make the transportation hub at the clinic a success. It also makes sense that he wouldn’t register on El Sombro’s radar unless he had something important to offer in return.”
“And it’s my job to find out what that is,” Rocco said.
“You should reach out to your old friend. Reconnect and let him know that you’re not going to make trouble for him,” Jemma said, the strategy forming in her mind. “Don’t push him, though. Be subtle and let him come to you for help. We’ve played the long game this whole time, and it’s worked. We need to do the same with Eddie.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Rocco said, then slid his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll text the last number I had for him and see if I get a response.”
As Rocco typed on the device, Jemma said, “It feels weird for you to agree with me. Seems like we were always on opposite sides of approach years ago.”
“I’ve changed some since then, and so have you,” Rocco said without looking at her.
“You think I’ve changed? How?” She asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
“You take more risks now than you did back then.” Rocco tossed his phone onto the coffee table, then finished the rum in his glass.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would,” Rocco said. “I warned you not to tempt me, yet here you are with a new arrangement that is the ultimate temptation. Pushing me when you and I both know that’s not a good idea.”
“I think we both understand the risks and will govern ourselves accordingly.”
“I knew the risks the night that guy attacked you in the club, and I took you back to my place to patch you up. It didn’t matter,” Rocco tapped a finger against his lips. “When I’m alone with you, I don’t want to do the right things. I didn’t back then.”
“When you kissed me …”
“Yeah. I’m not sure I’ll do the right things now.”
Jemma shuddered, caught off guard from the re-emergence of Rocco’s raw, unfiltered honesty. Where she stuffed all her emotions deep inside, he wore them like the finest clothes over his well-sculpted body.
Rocco shifted closer. “When I kissed you earlier today, I never expected you to kiss me back. I thought you’d push me away, fight it, but you didn’t. It made me wonder if everything I feel for you maybe wasn’t as one-sided as I’d thought.”
“Everything you feel for me?”
“I’ve had too much time to think about our short time together. There’s no denying our physical attraction. You’re absolutely breathtaking. But it was more than that. There was an ease and comfort between us as we talked, even when we were on opposite sides of an argument. It never felt hostile or confrontational. It was …”
“Riveting.” Her voice was soft as the word slipped from her lips.
“Invigorating,” Rocco said, a hint of awe in his tone.
“Unexpected,” she added, recalling the spark of their exchanges.
“An experience I want more of,” Rocco said, closing the remaining distance between them. “I shouldn’t want you, but I do, Jemma.”
“You want me?” She lost herself in Rocco’s dark brown eyes. She was in deep and had no strength to fight the wave threatening to pull her under.
His hands caressed the strands of her hair, moving them from her face. “And I’ll prove it to you.”