Accidentally Hooked (The Naked Truth Series Book 1) (9 page)

“I’m sorry.” She tried a smile. “I told you, I talked to Omar and we’ll get him the money. We’ll get you out of here and safe.” New York City was in her plans, but was it a good idea to dive into her professional goals and leave her sister out in the big city to her own devices? She had to come up with a plan, one that would benefit both of them.
This time, I’m not screwing things up.
Fate was showing her a way, giving her a chance to care for her sister and erase some of the pain from her past. She wasn’t about to let that slide through her fingers.

“How are you going to pay him?” Luna followed her into the narrow hallway and their shared bedroom.

“I ran into someone… This guy. He’ll give me the money in a few days’ time.”

“Someone? What do you mean?” Her forehead creased. “You don’t know anyone in Vegas but me.”

Kika plopped on the bunk bed, with a sigh that translated all her frustration. Lying to her sister wasn’t her plan, but her throat thickened before she worked up the courage to tell her what was going on. Maybe…she wouldn’t have to.

Luna did a slow eye roll, tapping her long red fingernails on her chin as she tried to figure it out on her own. Then her eyes widened with surprise, a hint she’d reached the right conclusion. “No. No. No. Kika…you aren’t…turning tricks, are you?”

It took all the strength in her pounding blood for Kika to raise her gaze to her sister’s. Besides the pale expression, the surprise in her stare, and the semi-opened mouth, there was no judgment in Luna. She’d always been the better half.

“You’re doing this for me?” Luna sat on the chair in front of her. “That’s not right.”

Kika bit her lower lip, and breaking the stare said, “It’s no big deal. This guy I met…he’s in Vegas for a few days and we’re hooking up. He’s loaded, he’ll give me the cash.” She suddenly surged to her feet, stung, burned and scarred by her own lie.

Well, it wasn’t a lie, was it?
Why does it sound like one?
The way he had stared into her at the sex shop. Her body rumbled, and she clamped her lips to keep herself from spilling anything she could regret. Hell. Even thinking about it was forbidden.

“You don’t have to do this.” Luna raked her fingers through her hair.

“I want to do this. This is the ugly ending before we can start new and beautiful. Somewhere else. Maybe New York, if you agree. I kinda wanted to show them some of my pieces.” Kika injected the hope in her voice she didn’t feel.

“You meant what you said? We’re going to New York? Together?” Luna thinned her lips.

“Yes.” Kika flashed a smile. What other choice did she have? She couldn’t let Luna on her own again. Not after all that went down. “Together,” she repeated, although that single word made her heart race.

***

“Here’s half of it.” She pulled the long, white envelope with the hotel’s logo monogrammed on the top. Twenty-five-thousand dollars didn’t weight as much as she thought it would, perhaps because they were all crisp one hundred-dollar bills. Ryan had given it to her at the end of the previous night.

Omar gave the envelope a quick glance, then slid it into his jacket. “Where did you get all this dough?”

“Does it matter? Since when do you have work ethics?”

“Don’t get smart with me, Martinez. We have security cameras everywhere. I know you’ve been coming and going, when your sister, or you, is supposed to be on paid time off. Something is up.”

She leaned against the kitchen wall and sucked in a breath, impatient. A couple employees rolled out carts, and one of them waved at her no doubt mistaking her for Luna. “I have only been taking the elevator, and use the employee entrance now. Besides, I don’t think human resources gives a rat’s ass what I do on my time off.”

“Are you banging the guest on the penthouse? How much is he paying you?”

She crossed her arms. “Fifty-thousand bucks. Half of it you have it. The other half, in a few days.”

He gave a low whistle. “That’s a lot of money for a few fucks. You better be telling me the truth. What have you told him about our operation?”

Our operation?
She stuck both hands in her jeans. Ryan had told her yesterday to wear something comfortable and sporty. What the heck did he have in mind? “Nothing. Because I know nothing.”

“Let’s hope it continues this way. You are walking on thin ice, Martinez. If word gets out—

She lifted her hand, and had to fight the instinct to slam it against his ugly face. “Trust me, it won’t. Turns out I know how to keep him quiet. Good bye.”

Word wouldn’t, couldn’t, get out she realized as she headed to the top floor. Yet the fear of jeopardizing her sister was like heavy drapes, darkening her mood.

“We’re heading out,” Ryan said, when he opened her door.

“Where are we going?” She drew back, following him out to the elevator again. Strange. If all he wanted was sex, why do all this? For the next hour, she didn’t get the answer she wanted. Ryan acted cordial, but very economical on details. And that bothered her.

“Where are we going?” she demanded. Sure, she had been distracted by the stretch limo and the private jet waiting for them at McCarran International, but that was all. From here on, she had to know.

She slid her fingers over the buttery leather seat. Ryan sat across from her in the posh jet. Legs apart, and a tablet resting on his lap, the man was all hotness.

“I told you, a day trip.” He winked at her, and she shook her head to send him the message that didn’t fly.

“Do you want me to ask you every five minutes?”

“Grand Canyon.”

Grand Canyon? She crossed her legs, and shifted in her oversized seat. “Why?” What could he possibly want to do at a national park that he couldn’t in Vegas? She slapped her forehead. “You’re not thinking about killing me and dumping the body, are you? Or screwing me on a lookout or something. In broad daylight.” The idea buzzed in her head, more so than the champagne she had been given by the flight attendant.

He licked his lips and tossed his iPad on the empty chair next to his. Goodness. A moist heat pumped in between her legs, and she uncrossed them. Maybe she would die from a different kind of death. Slowly. “No murder plot, I promise. Relax. I have never been. I thought you could be my companion.”

“Okay.” She couldn’t help but wonder what woman wouldn’t give a relatively unnecessary body organ to be in her place. Maybe even a major orgasm. God. What was happening to her? “What was her name?”

He frowned. “Whose?”

“The woman you were involved with before you came to terms with seeking treatment.” The woman he was supposed to take on this type of trip.

“Lynn.”

“Lynn.” She repeated. “What happened to her?”

He ran his fingers down his face and suppressed a yawn. “She is married and newly pregnant. Happy.” A ghost of a smile formed on his lips.

“Did you ever try to patch things with her?”
How much did you love her?
The real question she wanted to ask echoed in her ears, but she willed it away. Why should she care?

He looked straight into her eyes with that gleaming cobalt pair that had her weak at her knees. Good thing she was sitting. “I thought about it once. Then realized it was too late. Sometimes you need to know when to drop the towel. My turn. Who is the person you go home to at night?”

She ran her fingers through her hair. “It’s my sister. I have been away for too long, and whenever I’m in town I like to sleep at her place.” She peered at the oval window. The clouds blended with one another so fluidly it was hard to make out shapes. When she was a child, she and her siblings loved to guess what animals or objects the clouds looked like.

“Fair enough. Where do you live? I don’t remember you mentioning.”

She darted her gaze from the window to him, and realized he had been watching her. His eyes held her stare, his shoulders locked into place. Licking her lips, she shifted in the seat. What could she tell him? “A few places. I never stop too long. I like to travel.”

He grinned. “You should add Australia to your next destination.”

“I have been. Cairns, remember? Had a great time.” She picked a magazine from the side pocket of her incredibly large chair, and pretended to skim it even though her eyes didn’t register anything in particular. Still, feeling the texture of paper in her hands gave her something to do. Before she wondered if—

No. No, no, no. Visiting him in Australia wasn’t an option anymore. She had to be there for her sister, and start thinking like an adult. Try to sell her jewelry to retail stores, whip up a website, and maybe even get a part-time job just so she could save money and invest in more marketing. How could she be there for her sister, if she didn’t set an example? Besides, it wasn’t just the financial aspect. Luna was fragile. She couldn’t just leave her now to go walk into the sunset with a man she had just met. Nope. Didn’t make any sense at all.

Chapter Seven

“Not bad.” Ryan squinted his eyes against the sun, and a nice breeze stroked his face. Even though they had been walking along the trail on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for over an hour, every lookout showed a different part of the glorious, endless vastness. An abundant variety of brown and reddish rocks, from various sizes and shapes, fought for attention against the flowing Colorado River beneath, and the flocks of tourists crowding the valley.

He stepped near the steep edge, hands in his pockets. A strange sensation of complete fulfillment arrowed through him. Closing his eyes, he took a deep, long breath.
Not bad at all.

“It’s been a while since I was last here,” she said, and he turned to face her.

With a sheen of sweat slicking her forehead, and donning a baseball hat she had bought at the souvenir shop, Kika looked gorgeous. Real. She wasn’t though. She was good at what she did—entertaining men. Why would she act any different with him? As a sex worker, she sold a fantasy, a dream. An escape from reality. That’s all that it was, even though just being around her reminded him of his reality. His little sister, getting hitched to a guy who most likely was a bastard. No.

Charlotte had not once judged him when he decided he needed to go to a rehab. She supported him, visited him, and even stayed away from her best friend Lynn for a while after the break-up, even though he had stressed that wasn’t necessary. Damn it, she was his bloody little sister. Twenty-four years old and way too nice for her own good.

He had emailed Blake and asked for authorization to talk to the human resources director of the hotel. Ryan had claimed he was interested in hiring a new software developer for his business in Australia, and wanted to study a different type of database. Although their relationship was strained, he just knew Blake would say yes. Ryan hoped direct access to the employees’ files and reports would give him some insight. Maybe he could get the contact information of a fired kitchen worker, possibly disgruntled, who would be interested in spilling the beans in exchange for some cold hard cash.

“Tell me about it,” he said.

She ate up the distance between them with a couple steps, but instead of facing him, she contemplated the scenery unveiling in front of them. He had to yank his gaze from her profile and do the same. “I was eight. Maybe nine. My mother had heard news my father was marrying someone back in Mexico. She was devastated for a while, then decided to bring us here for a weekend trip.” She cleared her throat, and he followed the rise of her chest.

“How did that go?”

“My aunt Rosa came with us. I was scared of the height, it was so intimidating.” She let out a small smile. “She held my hand, and said in Spanish, ‘Francisca, don’t be scared. That big hole won’t swallow you unless you jump.’”

He smiled a little. “Did it work?”

“I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she held my hand and promised a cupcake afterward. How can you say no to a cupcake?” she said, her voice strained.

The previous sensation of fulfillment began to vacate him, little by little. “What happened to your mother?”

“Never remarried. Died in a car accident several years ago.”

He held her hand and gave it a light squeeze. How could he ignore the coldness of her palm? “I’m sorry. Are you and your sister close?”

“No,” she said, and he noticed her body tensing up. She withdrew her hand from his, and straightened her shoulders. He could feel the stiffness of her muscles, her shoulder blades stretching the cotton material of the white tank top she had on. “How about you? I guess you are close, if you are coming all the way to her wedding?”

He ran a hand over his face. What option did he have? “Yes. My sister Charlotte was the one who helped me deal with my disease and who gave me support.”

Kika tilted her head to the side. “Your father didn’t?”

The image of Charles Winters the Third, drinking his whisky and smoking his cigar in a spotless library room formed in front of him. And he had to fight the smile trying to break in his lips. “My father is a good man. But he swept problems he didn’t know how to deal with under a rug.”

She nodded. “Did he divorce your mother?”

“Strangely, no.” He shrugged. “Dad is a good man, but he blamed himself for all her mistakes.”