Page 58 of Reckless Woman
“She played us all,” I say grimly, switching tack. “She would have forced that friendship on you, whether you’d accepted it or not. You were a target the moment you stepped off that plane.”
Sometimes the hard truth is better than a soft lie.
She nods and stares at the floor. “I saved her life, Joseph. I saved her fucking life!”
“Which is probably what savedyou.” Taking her hand, I tug her to her feet. “Dante isn’t just a sharp guy. He’s a ruthless bastard. A trained killer. He’ll figure it out, if he hasn’t already.”
Hell, I almost sound convincing.
“Try him again,” she begs.
“I can’t.”
“Fine, then give me the cell.” She flings her hand at me, her green eyes flashing. “I’ll call Eve.”
Goddamn. Who knew her defiance would make my cock this hard?I stare down at her, fighting the urge to roll her onto her back, rip her jeans and panties down and make her so full of me she’s choking on my name. Somehow, in the middle of perdition, she’s managing to make me fall even harder for her.
“Stop aiming those wicked greens at me, sweetheart,” I warn, flicking a strand of blonde off her face, “or we won’t be going anywhere.”
She flushes. “Time and a place, shadow,” she mutters, keeping her hand outstretched.
“You can’t call her,” I say, ignoring my throbbing cock. “Viviana and her people have already infiltrated the island. She has spies everywhere. We need to find another way.”
“Which is?”
“I have a contact in New York. He can fix us up with a new jet. We need to get back to that island and talk to Dante, face to face.”
“Is it that Roman guy?”
“Where did you hear that name?” I catch her chin between my fingers in a vice-like grip, making her cry out in shock. “Did Viviana mention it?”
“No,youdid,” she fires back, pushing me away, her green eyes flashing for a whole other reason now.For a second there I’d almost fooled her I was a nice guy.
“When?” I demand.
Her brows shoot up, daring me to call her a liar. “If you must know, you were off your head on meds.”
I grit my teeth so hard, the pain ricochets into my skull. “You need to take that name and bury it, Anna. Kiss the headstone goodbye and forget about it.”
“Who is he?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
Our glaring contest is interrupted by the slow crawl of headlights across the gray curtains. A car is pulling into the motel. Usually that would be pretty normal, but it’s past midnight and the place is dead.
Grabbing her hand, I yank her toward the wall by the window. Flicking the edge of the curtain back, I see a shiny new SUV parking up next to all the old Fords and the Chevrolets.
“Into the bathroom,” I say, over my shoulder. “There’s no other exit. We’ll have to kick the window frame out.”
She’s frozen to the spot as I drag the mattress off the bed and pin it against the door, closely followed by the table.
“Anna, go!” I roar, pulling out my gun. “We have five minutes before they discover which room we’re in.”
There’s a flash of gold in my periphery as she runs next door. A moment later, there’s the sound of broken glass. I flick the edge of the curtain back again and watch two men enter the front desk area opposite. Twenty seconds later, there’s a muffled shot and they’re walking out again studying the check-in book for a couple of new arrivals with fake-sounding names.
These assholes aren’t playing around.
Half-jogging, half-limping to the bathroom, I find Anna knocking out the jagged remains of the window glass with a trash can wrapped in a towel.