Tempt Me (Tease Me Book 2) (11 page)

“How do you know?” he asked and slowly advanced to the balcony doors with his gun raised.

I pushed him out of the line of sight. “I saw something moving by the water.”

Alejandro nodded then turned his head, shouting something in Spanish over his shoulder. The guard hurried down the hall. I rushed to the door.

“What do you think you’re doing,
chica
?” Alejandro said, catching my arm. He pulled me back to him and stepped to the side, out of the line of sight.

“To investigate.”
 

Alejandro’s face softened. He took a step back and sat on the bed, pulling me onto him. “No,” he said softly. “I hire people to do that.”

“Oh,” I said, his words clicking in my mind. Someone else would do the initial investigating…and the walking into a potential line of fire. Alejandro was too important to risk. “Right.”

He holstered his gun but didn’t take his eyes off the ocean outside.

“Where the hell were you all day?” I demanded, adrenaline turning my fear into anger.
 

“Work,” he said simply.

“But it’s like two AM,” I pressed. Alejandro just looked at me. “It’s really late! I had no idea what happened to you, and then I was told to not go outside, and now there’s a person watching us! You could have at least called and told me you weren’t dead in a ditch or getting your bones broken by other cartels or—”

He kissed me, cutting off my rambling. His lips were soft and warm against mine. I felt my heart flutter and my panties dampen. All from one kiss. I pulled back and wrapped my arms around him.

“What’s going on, Alejandro?”

He shook his head. “Nothing,
chica
. Nothing unusual.”
 

I cocked an eyebrow. “Nothing unusual but I have to stay stashed away in the house?”

“I want you for myself,” he tried. “No one else can lay eyes on you. You are mine.”

His words send a shiver down my spine. “Take me then,” I blurted, thoughts shifting from the danger lurking about to Alejandro’s hard cock ramming into me.

“Patience,” he whispered.

I nodded and clung tighter to him. “Is it usual for people to walk around this house?”

“Not this one,” he said, shifting his weight. I was still on his lap, but now we were facing the window again.
 

“Because this venture is new?”

“Right. My crew in this town is small. And new. But don’t worry. I’ll find out who it is and take care of it. I’ll take care of you.”

I nodded again and rested my head against his chest. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes.
 

“You’re tense,
chica
,” he said, putting his hands on my shoulders.

“I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t scared.”

“You do not need to worry,” he said. I opened my eyes and looked at him. His tone was confident, sure of himself. But we both knew better. His life was risky, dangerous on a daily basis. He told me from the start that I was putting myself in harm’s way just by being with him. He’d do what he could to protect me…that I was certain. “Stay here,” he said.

“Okay,” I said meekly and stood. I wrapped my arms around myself and regretted drinking that wine. My mind was whirling. “Can I have your gun?” I asked before Alejandro made it out the door. He spun around, staring at me like I was insane. “I know how to use it,” I reminded him. “I’m probably a better shot than you.”

Alejandro actually laughed.

“I’m serious,” I said. “My father was a cop before I was born. I grew up knowing how to handle a pistol. He might not have wanted me to be a police officer, but he made sure I knew how to defend myself.”

“Right,” he said, eyes set on my face. He swallowed and stared at me, and I wondered if this was a true test of his trust in me. He briskly walked back through the room, going into the sitting room. I stayed on the bed, waiting. I heard the quiet electronic beeps of a safe opening. A few minutes later, he exited the room, locking the doors behind him.

“This is what American law uses, right?” he asked, extending a Glock 9M to me.

My heart skipped a beat. “Yes,” I said. I took the gun from him. I hadn’t held a weapon since the day I was kidnapped. My fingers closed around the cold metal, and I got a flash of my old life. I blinked it away. “Hey,” I said to Alejandro before he walked away. “This isn’t going to do me any good with no bullets.”

His frown turned into an impressed smiled. I slid the empty magazine out and extended it to him.
 

“You really are familiar with guns.”

“I might not have actually used my gun to shoot people, but I had it on me almost every day for years and went to the shooting range regularly. I can tell the slight weight difference of a loaded gun.”

Alejandro took a loaded magazine from his pocket and tossed it to me. “Be careful,” he added. Through the dark, I saw his face muddle with confusion. He wasn’t used to arming his women. Maybe it made him feel emasculated. Whatever. He’d get used to it eventually.

“You too,” I added and shoved the magazine into the Glock. It clicked into place. I held the gun at my side, keeping my finger off the trigger. It didn’t have an external safety, though it took some pressure to pull back the trigger. My arms felt weak, and my heart thumped in my ears. I curled my lips around my teeth and watched Alejandro leave.

He pulled the door shut behind him but didn’t latch it. I didn’t hear him walk down the hall, but I knew he was gone, slipping silently into the night. My eyes flicked from the door to the ocean view and back again.
 

I sank onto the bed, legs feeling as strong as boiled noodles. I looked at the gun, squinting in the dark. I wondered if it had been used to kill anyone. It didn’t matter, I supposed. I turned, looking behind me at the sitting room.
 

The fake bookcase. The gun. Right. What else was Alejandro keeping in that safe? I tapped my finger on the grip of the Glock and watched the waves. Two dark figures moved along the sand. One held a flashlight. I got up, unable to fight the urge to know what was going on, and scurried to the window next to the bed. I flattened myself against the wall and listened.
 

The shore was too far away, and the crashing of waves were too loud to hear if words were being spoken. But there were no gunshots, thankfully. I ground my teeth and waited. Minutes ticked by, and I didn’t move. My feet hurt from standing still on the hardwood floor.

Suddenly, the door opened. I raised the gun and whirled around. “Fuck,” I breathed and lowered the gun. Alejandro’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t look scared. More like he was surprised to see me ready to shoot. I internally cringed. Was it that hard to believe I could be a good cop?

“Anything?”
 

“Nothing,” he said.

“Don’t lie to me, Alejandro.”

He came in the room, closing the door behind him. “I’m not lying,
chica
.”

I pointed the gun at the balcony doors. “I know I saw someone!”

“I don’t doubt you,” he affirmed. “You did see someone. And if someone was up to something, the guards will find them and take care of it.”

“Right,” I said but didn’t feel convinced. I studied Alejandro’s face in the dark. Was he convinced? I knew what I saw. Whoever it was out there was alone. It wasn’t a pair of lovers sneaking away. I got a bad feeling thinking about it. Intuition, maybe? Something just didn’t seem right. If Alejandro trusted his guards, then I should too. “You need dogs.”

Alejandro smiled and crossed the room. “I do have dogs.”

I scrunched up my face and set the gun on the dresser, barrel faced away from us. “Where?”

“My other house.”

“Oh. Don’t you miss them?”

Alejandro raised an eyebrow. “No.”

“That’s kinda sad. I always wanted a dog. Wasn’t allowed to have one as a kid and I could never afford to live somewhere pet friendly and big enough for a large dog.”
 

“You could have gotten a small dog,” he suggested and reached behind him. He put his gun down too.
 

I wrinkled my nose. “Little dogs bite. I’m partial to German Shepherds anyway. It’s a cop thing, I’m sure.”

Alejandro smiled. “I have three of them. Though they’re not really pets. They are highly trained guard dogs.”

“They can be both,” I pointedly said, thinking of Femmy, one of the K9 officers from work. “They’re expensive,” I added.

“Seventy-five grand each,” he said. “But worth every penny.”
 

“And they’re at your forever house?”

“Forever house?”

“Yeah, the one you usually live in.”

“Oh. I guess you could call it that,” he said. “I spend most of my time there. It’s closest to the city.”
 

I nodded.

“Relax,
chica
,” he said. “You’ll be all right.”

“I almost believe you.”
 

My words seemed to strike something deep with Alejandro. He momentarily stiffened, face going dark with guilt. He held me tight and stood, carrying me to the door. “I’m hungry,” he said then eyed the empty wine bottle. “And it looks like you need more wine.”
 

“I can always need more wine,” I said with a laugh. And I really needed it. I knew Alejandro was hiding something from me. I was determined to find out what it was. It was something dangerous, that much I knew.

As if he could read my mind, Alejandro ran a hand through my hair. “I’ll keep you safe,
chica
,” he whispered and then kissed me.

“I know you will,” I said right away. And I could take care of myself. Well, kind of. Let’s not bring up the whole getting kidnapped thing. Alejandro carried me into the hall, setting me down at the top of the stairs. I walked close behind him. Once in the kitchen, he poured us each a shot of tequila. I momentarily hesitated, knowing that hard liquor after wine might be a bad idea.
 

My eyes flashed to the window behind the breakfast table. Fuck. I needed to loosen up. I grabbed the shot glass and leaned against the counter. I let out my breath then took the shot, shuddering as it went down my throat.
 

“All right,” I started and looked into Alejandro’s dark eyes. He had on his practiced calm, but I could see the anxiety behind it.
 

“All right, what, Ellie?” he asked, downing his shot without so much as a flinch.
 

“What’s going on?” I shook my head, eyes darting around the house. “The person outside, you being out late, me being locked in…Alejandro,” I said, planting my hands on the cold granite. “What. Is. Going. On?”

The tequila hit me, and the words gushed out, saying things I hadn’t even let myself wonder. “Did you lock me in the house to protect me? If you did, then do you care? Am I being punished? And,” I started, unable to stop myself, “why did you let me live in the first place?”

Alejandro stared at me, unblinking, for several seconds. My heart raced and my mouth still burned with the taste of alcohol. I held my breath, regretting saying anything. Alejandro blinked, his face dark. Then he reached for the tequila, put the bottle to his lips, and took a swing.

“I don’t want to lie to you, Ellie,” he said, his face muddled with confusion. He rubbed his temples and shook his head. “And I don’t—” He stopped short and laughed. “You did something to me, Ellie Morgan.” He closed his eyes as the words came out, almost as if it was painful to admit. “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t get you out of my head.”

His words hung in the air. I swallowed my pounding heart. “I can’t get you out of mine, either,” I said. I pushed off the counter and started toward Alejandro. He put his hand up to stop me.
 

“Ellie,” he said, sounding pained. “You are right. There is something going on. Something else, I mean. Something dangerous, something you shouldn’t be involved in. And I—” He cut off suddenly. “Ellie,” he said again, though this time his tone was different. He looked up, and I saw sorrow in his eyes.
 

My blood ran cold. “What?” I went around the island counter and put my hands on Alejandro’s hips. He wrapped his arms around me, crushing me against his firm chest. “You’re kind of scaring me.”

“You should be scared,” he said. “I shouldn’t have brought you here. I shouldn’t have let you become…become this.”

“And what is this?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,
chica
.” He pressed his lips to my forehead. “To answer your question, I do care about you. I don’t know why, but I do. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. You’ve got my head spinning, and I can’t get it to stop. Part of me doesn’t want it to stop. As for why I let you live…” His fingers slipped under the bottom of my nightie. He ran them over the smooth skin on my ass as he spoke. “You caught me off guard.”

“I did?”

“
Si
,” he said. “You weren’t what I was expecting. At all. Not too many people can do that. You had my interest from the start. And,” he said, giving my ass a squeeze, “I thought knowing what you—the police—know about me might be useful.”
 

“Oh, well, I don’t anything you haven’t told me.”

He chuckled softly. “I know. But as I got to know you, little by little, I wanted to know more. You’re different from any woman I’ve ever known. I wanted you to just be a body, a piece of property. But I can’t. You’re more to me than that, Ellie.”

Tears stung the corners of my eyes. I opened my mouth, but the words died inside of me. My heart raced, and I held onto Alejandro.
 

“Which is why I didn’t want you to leave the house today,” he said, and the reality crashed down on me. I closed my eyes and nodded. “Do you know who the Morales are?” he asked, his voice a harsh whisper.

“No,” I said and looked up. His face was dark.

“They’re another cartel family.”

I could feel his pulse quicken. “That’s not good, right?”

“No, not at all.” He took my hands in his and led me to the counter. We sat at on the barstools. Alejandro refilled the shot glasses and downed his. I slid the tequila in front of me and hesitated. I didn’t think I could stomach any more. He flicked his eyes around the room and then leaned in.