“Is that what you’re looking for with me? Proof I’m some sort of traitor so you can kill me, too?”
“I don’t want to kill you.” He lowered his mouth to her ear. “But make no mistake. If you give me a reason to, I will and so will they. Get out while you can. Go and never look back.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, no hesitation. Two simple words etched with a world of pain and desperation.
He pulled back to look at her, trying to read her expression through the shadows in the dimly lit garage. “Why? What does the cartel have on you?”
She turned away, giving him her profile. Still holding her hands over her head, he reached up and framed her face with his free hand, pulling her eyes back to his. “What does he have on you?”
“Nothing. He has nothing.”
She was lying. He heard it in the quiver of her voice and he suddenly didn’t want to know the truth. He didn’t want her to be the enemy. He released her and sat up, sliding behind the wheel and running a rough hand through his hair, his nerves so on edge his skin was twitching. He cut her a sideways look. “No matter how good you think you are at keeping a secret, I’m ten times better at uncovering them. I’m going to find out what you’re hiding. You can count on it.”
***
Kara slid into a booth at Shivers, a Chili's-style restaurant that drew big crowds, while Ignacio claimed the seat directly in front of her. Blake eased in beside her, settling his leg intimately against hers, and she tried not to think about his confident promise to unveil her secrets. She had to stay focused on the here and now, and hope they might get a tour of the back warehouses she’d been unable to find a reason to get inside. If she could locate the cameras, and the various entrances, then she could enter again without being seen and get a closer look.
“What can I get you to drink?” a waiter asked, stopping at their table with supreme speed.
Ignacio started speaking to the man in Spanish and Kara’s gaze shifted beyond his shoulder, to a corner booth where a young, twenty-something blond female in a waitress outfit huddled with the restaurant manager, Eduardo, a bit too intimately to be his employee. Kara’s nerves prickled and her fingers curled into her palms. Women had a way of disappearing after coming to work at this location, and it was all she could do not to go yank the girl up and send her home before she got into trouble, or worse, dead. Mysteriously, their HR files were deleted after they went MIA from their jobs, as if they never existed. And the HR person actually claimed they never existed. Kara couldn’t push without raising suspicions, but she’d taken to copying every file for the employees as they were made. No one else was going to just disappear without her having proof they’d existed.
“Kara?” Blake’s voice snapped her back to the table, and when her eyes met his, she felt that familiar flutter of awareness he so easily created in her.
“Yes?” she answered, barely finding her voice as the memory of being beneath him in the truck swept over her.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked softly, a warm quality to his brown eyes saying he hadn’t shaken off their intimate encounter anymore than she had.
“Drink. Right. Yes.” Kara cast the waiter an apologetic look, her senses reeling as Blake’s hand settled on her leg, heat pooling low in her belly. “Sorry. Coffee, please.”
The waiter departed and Ignacio’s gaze settled on Kara, his lips twisting snidely. “I thought I was buying you a drink?”
“I prefer a clear head,” she replied tightly. And a steady hand on my gun.
“Talk to me about the staff here at the restaurant,” Blake said, pulling Ignacio’s attention to him, and Kara had the distinct impression it was intentional. He didn’t like Ignacio focusing on her. That made two of them.
Ignacio stared at her several more seconds that felt like an eternity before shifting his attention to Blake. “What do you want to know?”
“Who’s in the know about the true nature of the operation?”
“The restaurant runs like any other with a staff who know no differently. Eduardo, the manager, and the entire warehouse staff are, as you say, ‘in the know’.”
“How many does that make?”
“Thirty, mostly non-English-speaking illegals who do our handling.”
“What time do the daily shipments go out?”
Kara watched Ignacio’s jaw flex, a subtle sign he didn’t like to be questioned. But then, no one had questioned him in a long time. “Ten. That allows us the coverage of restaurant traffic.”
“And who’s in charge of overseeing the product making it to the pier?” Blake asked.
“Eduardo signs it out and I personally sign it in.”
“Every day?” Blake pressed. “Seven days a week?”
“Monday and Thursday only,” Ignacio corrected. ”The Coast Guard has a bigger presence on the weekends. We still run the boats, but without product.”
Kara’s gaze flicked back to Eduardo and the girl as they got up and headed toward the back. A powerful urge to follow, to know the girl was okay, if only for now, overcame her. “Excuse me,” Kara said. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.” She snatched up her purse and didn’t look at Blake or Ignacio, but Kara could feel Blake’s eyes on her, hot and heavy, and she knew she wouldn’t have long before he’d come after her.
Quickly, Kara cut behind the bar, following Eduardo and the girl into the hallway that led to the bathroom and a series of offices that she’d tried to get into once before but found locked. The hallway was empty but one of the office doors was cracked open.
Kara eased her way to the wall by the opening, flattening against the wall, and she could just barely make out Eduardo’s voice. “I need the blonde,” he said. “Now. Tonight.”
“I can’t get her here until tomorrow night. She said she has to—”
“The boat leaves at 4am. Tomorrow night is too late.”
“Eduardo—” The female yelped. “Ouch. You’re pulling my hair. It hurts.”
“I said I need her here tonight. If she isn’t on that boat that goes out you’ll be on it instead, which means you’ll be everyone’s fuck buddy on the island.”
“I’ll find a girl.”
“That girl. It has to be her. We’ve cleared her records already.”
Kara’s stomach rolled. She’d been right. They were running some sort of sex operation with the women they made disappear. She didn’t want to think about what that meant for her personal agenda. She couldn’t. Not now, or she might lose it and go in that office and shoot Eduardo. That wouldn’t get her the answers she so desperately needed.
“Go get her,” he ordered, and Kara whirled to escape and smacked into a hard body. His body. Her nostrils flared with the spicy, familiar male scent of him and she knew even before her gaze lifted that Blake was standing there.
His hands closed gently around her upper arms, those dark brown eyes of his searching hers. “What are you up to, Kara?” he murmured softly.
A second later, a woman yelped behind her. Kara cringed. This wasn’t going well. Not at all.
“What’s going on here?” she heard Eduardo say, clearly having joined the girl.
“Looking for the bathroom,” Kara blurted, whirling around to face Eduardo and the girl only to have Blake’s hands settle on her shoulders, his big body pulling hers against his.
“Yes,” he said. “Can you tell her where the bathroom is?”
Eduardo, a tall man with short, spiky black hair, narrowed his eyes on Kara and then let them lift to Blake. “Behind you.”
“Right,” Kara said. “Thank you.” She turned away and darted for the women’s restroom, while Blake introduced himself to Eduardo.
Kara cleared the doorway to the restroom and leaned on the sink, thankful the two stalls beside her appeared to be empty. Her heart hammered in her chest, and not just because that was too close a call. Because she’d confirmed what she feared was happening to the women that had gone missing. Because Blake’s hands on her shoulders
, the protective, possessive thing he kept doing, felt too good and too right. And because he was going to ask questions she didn’t want to answer. Now he was going to push her harder. The only real comfort she had in all of this was that the missing women, one in particular, were likely alive. She just had to figure out where they were.
The door to the bathroom opened and she whirled around to find Blake stepping inside. “What are you doing?” she demanded, only to find herself against the door with Blake’s legs framing hers, his hands curving around her waist. Heat shot through her body, fogging her brain. Damn it, no man affected her like this until now. Why why why did it have to be him?
“What are you doing is more the question,” he said. “And don’t tell me looking for the bathroom.”
Lying in this case would get her nowhere. And she hated lying to him anyway. “I saw the open door and heard voices. I thought I might hear something useful.”
“You had a gun at your head once tonight. You really do like to live dangerously, don’t you?”
Her throat went dry. She had. He was right. And he’d tried to save her. “You tried to get Ignacio to point that gun at you instead of me. Why?”
Surprise flickered in his eyes. “Why?”
“Why?”
“I told you,” he said softly. “I might need you.” His lips quirked. “Besides, it’s what us macho men do, baby.”
It was one of his flippant remarks that he did so well but it was flat without the cocky attitude he’d mastered like no one she’d ever known. There was more to this man than met the eye, and she wanted him to surprise her. She wanted him to be someone he wasn’t. But isn’t that what all women who got mixed up with a man like him wanted? What they convinced themselves was possible to justify being with a man destined to destroy them?
And still, with that logic playing in her mind, she found herself gently touching his face, letting her fingers trail over the dull stubble of a new beard, her chest tight with emotion. “Thank you.”
He reached up and covered her hand with his. “For what?”
“For saving my life.” She wet her lips. “I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
It was another unexpected answer. A man like him would be expected to hold people captive, use everything against them. But he wasn’t.
“I take that back,” he said. “You owe me—”
The door moved behind them and Blake held it shut. Kara wanted to scream with the interruption that kept her from knowing what he’d been about to say. Before she could find out if he would prove himself like the others in the cartel, holding her for ransom.
“Quickly,” Blake pressed, “what did you overhear from Eduardo?”
“Nothing.” She cut her gaze to his chest before she could stop herself, a sure sign of a lie to a trained eye. “I didn’t have time to catch anything. They were already leaving the office.” She tried to push away from him. He held onto her and damn it, her gaze lifted to his.
He stared down at her, his eyes keen, too keen, and suddenly his fingers were under her hair, wrapping her neck. He pulled her hard against him, his mouth slanting over hers, his tongue stroking hers in a short, intense kiss that she dared to let herself revel in. Too soon, though, the door jerked behind them again and he tore his mouth from hers, his eyes capturing hers. “You do know we’re going to talk when we get back to your apartment, right?”
“Talk?” she asked innocently.
“That’s right,” he assured her. “And, depending on how cooperative you are, handcuffs may or may not be involved.”
Kara swallowed hard, feeling heat radiate down her spine. He meant it. He’d cuff her and torment her, tease her, drive her to the edge of orgasm and pull her back until she was going insane. And she just might, because there was no way she could confess anything to him. There was too much to lose.
“And when do you talk, Blake?” she challenged.
“Talking isn’t my specialty, as you’ll find out tonight.”
He pushed off the door and pulled her around to exit before she could say more, and she had the distinct impression he didn’t like where this conversation was going. Even more so when he quickly pulled her into the hallway, where they found Ignacio and Eduardo waiting on them. Somehow, she doubted that was a good thing.
Chapter Three
“You two need a private office or what?” Ignacio asked.
“Yeah,” Blake said. “Yours up for grabs?” He glanced at Ignacio. “Or maybe yours?”
“Aren’t you the funny man?” Eduardo asked sarcastically.
“Ha ha,” Blake said. “Only I wasn’t joking. I need an office to work out of. This seems like as good a location as any.”
“The way he eats,” Kara commented, “a restaurant might not be a bad idea.”
“She has a point,” Blake said approvingly. “Food at my disposal is always a plus.”
“No space to spare here,” Eduardo said. “I guess you’ll have to try another location.”
“Maybe in the warehouse,” Blake countered. “Why don’t you take me on a tour?”
Eduardo crossed his arms in front of his chest. “It’s closed for business tonight, but hey, if you want to see a bunch of pallets, sure. We’ll take you on a tour.”
“We’ll risk being bored,” Blake assured him.
“Come back tomorrow night,” Ignacio said. “The crew will be here. You can see everything.”
Or nothing, Kara thought. Tonight was about women and sex, not drugs, and damn it, she wanted to launch herself at both of these men and throttle them.
“That works,” Blake said, surprising Kara. “What time tomorrow night?”
“Nine,” Eduardo said. “That lets you see the entire process.”
“Nine it is,” Blake agreed.
It was all Kara could do not to gape and then object, but already Blake was ushering her away, his hand firmly wrapping her upper arm. In a blink, she was leaving behind a chance to see the warehouse and headed for the exit. She had a bad feeling she wouldn’t be coming back with him tomorrow.
The instant they were out of the building, the cool San Francisco night air whipping around her, she challenged him. “Why would you leave without seeing what they might be hiding?”
Blake cut her a sideways look and clicked the lock of the truck on the key ring. “Ignacio would have called and told them we were coming. There’s nothing to see they don’t want us to see.”
“Tomorrow there definitely won’t be anything for us to see. We didn’t give them much warning tonight, and what about getting an idea of the layout and trying to ensure a way back in when they don’t expect us?”
He stopped at the tail of the truck and turned to look at her. “And all of this is the thought process of a secretary?”
She drew back slightly. “You think a secretary can’t logically think through how to deal with a problem? We have a theft issue.”
He scrubbed his jaw and laughed. “Well played, Kara. You’re good. Fast-talking and sharp with your answers. Just not as good as me. I’m not buying your motivation.”
She ignored the remark. What else could she do? “My gut says we need to tour tonight. We’ll discover something we need to find.”
His lips compressed. “Because you overheard something you didn’t tell me about.”
“No.” Damn, her voice squeaked. She was so bad at lying to him for some unnerving reason. “Because, like I said, my gut says so.”
“Give me more than that or we aren’t going back in.”
She inhaled and forced it out. “We need to go back in.”
“Not a good enough answer.”
“Damn it, Blake—”
His grip curled around her arm and he gently, but insistently, pulled her against him. “You’re too on their radar and we’re going to get you off.” He kissed her, fast and hard. “End of story.” He released her. “Now get in the truck.”
She glowered at him, furious. She didn’t lik
e being ordered around. She didn’t like him playing protector when she knew he was one of them, able and willing to slice her throat if he gave her reason. He’d all but said so in the truck earlier. And she was going to give him reason to do it when he discovered her identity. Time was everything for all kinds of reasons. What would he do if she headed back to the building besides follow?
“Don’t do it,” he said softly, telling her he’d read her mind. “You won’t like how I respond.”
Kara studied him, considering the threat, her breathing labored when it should be controlled, her anger barely contained. She wasn’t afraid of him. No. That wasn’t true. She was afraid of him, and how irrational he made her act. And she was afraid of dying before she did what she’d come here to do. “I don’t need a bodyguard, and that’s not what you were hired to be. Mendez hired you to solve the theft problem.”
“Says the woman who had a gun pointed at her head tonight and needed a bodyguard.”
Her fingers curled by her sides. “I was trying to find you. I was afraid something had happened to you.” Her stomach knotted all over again with that confession. One minute she was thinking he was a killer, and the next trying to protect him. She was conflicted, screwed up beyond reason, over this man.
He arched a brow. “Were you now?”
“Yes. You were gone too long.” She grimaced and played the same cards he had in the truck. “Nothing can happen to you. I might need you.”
“You might need me?”
His eyes heated and damn it, so did her skin. “To get this theft issue under control.”
“So you thought I needed a bodyguard?” His eyes twinkled with mischief. He was way too amused by the direction of this conversation.
Kara grimaced. She wasn’t winning the battle to go back inside so she’d pick one she had a shot at. “That’s it. This conversation is over. Let’s go back to my place and see who can cuff who first. As angry you’re making me, I’m betting I get the upper hand.” She turned and headed to the truck.