8. You’re Driving Her #2
“He breathed loudly.”Chris bit the inside of his cheek.Mateo continued.
“Roman is taking you.”Camila crossed her arms.“I don’t need a babysitter.
”Mateo answered immediately.“Good. Roman isn’t one.
”Chris nodded.“Definitely not.”Camila looked him up and down.
“What exactly are you?”Chris smiled.“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Apparently unlucky.”She almost laughed.Almost.Mateo handed Chris the keys.“Ten thirty.”Camila turned.“Midnight.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven thirty.”Mateo stared.Camila stared back.Chris looked between them.
“Should I leave while you negotiate the hostage release?”Both Vargas siblings looked at him.Chris raised his hands.
“Just asking.”Mateo sighed.“Eleven thirty.”Camila smiled sweetly.
“Thank you.”She walked toward the door.Chris followed.Mateo called after him.
“Roman.”Chris looked back.Mateo didn’t say anything.He didn’t need to.Chris nodded once.Then stepped outside.Chris opened the passenger door.Camila stopped beside him. “I can open my own door.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
“Because apparently I work security now.”
“I didn’t ask for security.”Chris gestured toward the seat.“Get in, princess.”
Her eyes narrowed.“What did you call me?”Chris smiled.“Princess.”She stepped closer.
“Call me princess again and you’re walking home.”Chris looked toward the mansion.
Then at the miles of gated property surrounding them.“That seems inconvenient.”
“Try me.”He held her gaze.“Get in.”She did.Chris closed the door.Walked around the SUV.
And smiled.This was going to be a very long night.“You drive like an old man.”Chris looked at her.They had been on the road seven minutes.“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“I heard you. I’m deciding whether to be offended.”
“You should be.”Chris glanced at the speedometer.Sixty-three in a fifty-five.“I’m speeding.”
“Barely.”
“You want me to drive faster?”
“I’ve heard stories.”Chris’s eyes moved toward her.“What stories?”
“Mateo told me what happened.”That got his attention.“How much?”
“That someone followed you.”
“And?”
“That you lost them.”
“And?”
“That apparently you drove like a lunatic.”Chris looked back at the road.“Your brother exaggerates.”Camila laughed.“Mateo never exaggerates.”
“Then I’m incredibly talented.”
“There’s the ego.”
“You started it.”She turned slightly toward him.“Where did you learn to drive like that?”
There it was.First time.Chris kept his eyes forward.“Around.”
“Around where?”
“Roads.”
“Very informative.”
“I try.”
“Street racing?”Chris glanced at her.“Who told you that?”
“Mateo.”Chris filed that away.Mateo had discussed him with her.Interesting.“Long time ago.”
“You win?”
“Sometimes.”
“Lose?”
“Sometimes.”
“Crash?”Chris smiled.“Once.”
“Bad?”
“Depends on your definition.”
“Did the car survive?”
“No.”
“Did you?”He looked at her.“I’m driving.”Camila laughed.“Fair.”Silence settled.Not uncomfortable.That was worse.Chris glanced at her.She was looking out the window.
“What?”She turned.“What?”
“You got quiet.”
“You complain when I talk. Now you complain when I’m quiet?”
“I didn’t complain.”
“You looked.”
“Apparently I’m not allowed to do that either.
”Her eyes met his.There it was again.That pull.Immediate.Unwanted.Very real.Chris looked back at the road.Bad idea.The charity event lasted three hours.Chris spent most of it near the entrance.Watching.Not Camila.Everything except Camila.At least that’s what he told himself.She moved easily through the room.Talking.Laughing.Greeting donors.Completely different from the world Mateo inhabited.Chris watched her kneel beside an elderly woman in a wheelchair to speak at eye level.Watched her help a nervous young volunteer after the girl dropped a tray of glasses.
Watched her slip away from a wealthy man who stood too close without creating a scene.
None of that matched the cartel princess he’d expected.That bothered him.It would have been easier if she had.At nine forty-five, Camila appeared beside him.“Having fun?”
“Best night of my life.”
“You’ve been standing against a wall for three hours.”
“Exactly.”
“You’re weird.”
“Your brother said that too.”She smiled.“I’m getting a drink.”
“No.”Camila stopped.“Excuse me?”Chris nodded toward the exit.
“We leave in forty-five minutes.”
“And?”
“You’ve already had two glasses of champagne.”Her eyebrows rose.“You’ve been counting?”Security.That was the answer.Instead Chris said:“Maybe.”Something shifted in her expression.She stepped closer.“Were you watching me, Chris Roman?”He held her gaze.
“It’s my job.”
“Unfortunately.”Her eyes dropped briefly to his mouth.Then returned to his eyes.Chris felt it.Shit.He stepped back.
“Go get your drink.”Camila smiled.“Thought so.”She walked away.Chris stared at the wall.The wall was safer.He liked the wall.They left at eleven twenty-three.Seven minutes early.Mateo would be thrilled.Camila kicked off her heels almost immediately after getting into the SUV.Chris glanced over.
“You’re putting your feet on the dashboard? ”
“Yes.”
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Airbag.”She stared at him.“What?”
“If we crash, you’ll regret every decision that led to your knees being where your face used to be.”Camila slowly lowered her feet.“That was horrifying.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Do you always ruin everything?”
“Mostly.”She laughed.Then reached for the radio.Chris slapped her hand away.“Hey.”
“Driver picks the music.”
“My car.”
“Mateo’s car.”
“My family.”
“My radio.”She reached again.Chris caught her wrist.Their eyes met.Everything stopped.
Her skin was warm beneath his fingers.Neither moved.Chris released her immediately.
Camila stared at him.He turned toward the road.“Pick something.”She smiled.“Thought so.”
“Don’t start.”
“Oh, I’m absolutely starting.”For the next twenty minutes, they argued about music.Then restaurants.Then whether pineapple belonged on pizza.Then whether Chris’s personality constituted a medical condition.By the time they reached the Vargas estate, Chris had forgotten something important.He was supposed to keep his distance.The gates opened.
Chris drove through.The mansion glowed ahead.He pulled beneath the covered entrance.
Put the Range Rover in park.Eleven twenty-nine.“Look at that,” Chris said. “One minute early.”Camila didn’t move.Neither did he.The engine idled.The music played quietly.The front door was less than thirty feet away.She could get out.Chris could open the door.
Night over.Simple.Camila turned toward him.“You don’t like me.”Chris looked at her.
“Where’d you get that?”
“You’re rude to me.”
“I’m rude to everybody.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Then don’t take it personally.”She smiled faintly.“You watch me.”Chris’s jaw tightened.
“I’m security.”
“You watched me at the garage before you were security.”
“That was different.”
“How?”Chris didn’t answer.Camila shifted toward him.“Chris.”He hated how his name sounded when she said it.Not Roman.Chris.Too personal.Too close to the man underneath.“What?”
“Why were you looking at me?”He could lie.He should lie.Instead:“You know why.”
Her smile disappeared.The air changed.Chris knew the exact moment it happened.
Teasing became something else.Camila leaned closer.Chris didn’t move.“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
“Coward.”Chris laughed softly.“That’s one thing nobody’s ever called me.”
“Then prove it.”He looked at her mouth.Mistake.Huge mistake.Camila noticed.
Of course she did.“Camila.”
“What?”
“Get out of the car.”
“No.”
“Your house is ten feet away.”
“Then you get out.”
“I have to open my door, remember?”
“I thought you could open my own door.”Chris smiled despite himself.“You’re exhausting.”
“So I’ve been told.”She leaned closer.Chris should have moved.Didn’t.Her perfume filled the space between them.Something warm.Subtle.Dangerous entirely because it belonged to her.“Princess,” he murmured.Her eyes narrowed.“I warned you.”
“About what?”
“This.”She kissed him.Chris froze.One second.That was all.Then every warning he’d received disappeared.His hand went to the back of her neck.He kissed her back.Hard.
Immediate.Months of undercover discipline apparently useless against one woman he’d known for less than a week.Camila made a soft sound against his mouth and moved closer.
Chris’s other hand found her waist.The kiss deepened.Hot.Impulsive.Completely forbidden.He knew better.He knew exactly how stupid this was.Mateo was inside.Security cameras surrounded the property.Chris was an undercover federal agent kissing the cartel boss’s sister in a vehicle parked outside the cartel boss’s mansion.There were bad ideas.
Then there was this.Chris pulled back.Breathing harder now.“Stop.”Camila’s eyes opened.
Neither of them moved far.Chris’s forehead nearly touched hers.“This can’t happen.”
Camila looked at his mouth.“It already did.” She moved closer to him.“Camila.”She touched his chest.His body went rigid.Her palm rested over his shirt.Directly over his heartbeat.“You don’t sound very convinced.”
“I am.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”She shifted across the center console.Chris realized what she was doing one second too late.“Camila—”She settled onto his lap.Chris’s head dropped against the seat.“Shit.”
Camila smiled.There was triumph in it.“You were saying?”Chris looked at her.This close, every rational thought became substantially harder to locate.Her hands rested against his shoulders.His automatically settled at her waist.Wrong.All of this was wrong.“Your brother is inside.”
“I know where he lives.”
“He will kill me.”
“He likes you.”
“He likes my driving.”
“Same thing with Mateo.”Chris laughed despite himself.“Get off me.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I absolutely mean that.”She leaned closer.“Then move your hands.”Chris looked down.
His hands were still around her waist.He released her immediately.Camila laughed softly.
“Exactly.”
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself.”
“I’m extremely pleased with myself.”
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Probably.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“I’m working for your brother.”
“I know.”
“You’re his sister.”