As he turned to call for his friend, a small hand landed on his chest.
“Allow me.” Brown eyes stared up at him from the face of a goddess.
He raised his chin, giving her access. “You know how to do this?”
“I thought everyone knew how.” She looped the ends, watching him with suspicion. “Especially rich businessmen.”
“I never said I was a businessman.”
“That’s right.” With swift movements, she made a tug here, an adjustment there, and stepped back. “You invest in important things. Criminal things that don’t require a suit, apparently.”
“My offer stands.” He rested a knuckle beneath her chin, lifting it. “I’ll tell you my secrets.”
She turned her head away, rejecting his touch along with his offer.
Probably for the best. What he needed from her was the location of the breach in the wall or whatever she’d seen beyond it. But even that might not be enough to determine the coordinates of this place.
None of it was worth blowing his cover. He’d been asking himself all day if he could tell her the truth. The simple fact that he was on the same side as Vera’s sister would make Gina turn against him even more than she already was. She hated Vera worse than she hated him.
He couldn’t trust her, no matter how badly he wanted to.
“There’s makeup and hair stuff in that bag.” He nodded at the supplies Tomas had gathered. “It’s yours to use.”
“I don’t wear makeup.”
“Good.”
She didn’t need it. Even with bruised splotches on her face, the woman had more natural radiance than anyone he’d ever met.
“We leave in ten minutes.” He ambled out of the room to find his suit jacket and mentally prepare for the evening.
A moment later, the sound of a hairdryer reached his ears. Surely she wasn’t blowing out her curls? He loved the way they bounced and spiraled in every direction. He fantasized about them coiling around his cock as he sank into the back of her throat.
Sick fuck.
In the bedroom, he shrugged on the jacket. After their workout, she’d spent the day in the sitting room watching TV while he and Tomas sent cryptic messages to their team.
They only had access to the laptops and cell phones provided by the cartel. But they’d prepared for that and sent all communication to burner phones and other untraceable devices that were monitored by the Freedom Fighters.
Before departing Colombia, they’d memorized a specific list of song lyrics, each verse with a predetermined meaning, a specific message on the status of the mission. Right now, their friends only needed to know they were safe. They found Vera alive and well, and everything was moving as expected.
Within the next couple of days, he hoped to have a different message to send. If they obtained the location, he would send Tomas away with an excuse and remain here until he returned with a full team and a lot of firepower.
A knock sounded on the outside door. He tilted his head, listening as Tomas answered it.
“Good evening.” Vera’s sultry voice drifted in, followed by the click of her heels. “Where’s your handsome jefe?”
Luke strolled into the main room with his hands clasped behind him.
She went still, her gaze sweeping him from head to toe and back again. “Well, don’t you look absolutely delicious?”
Bending, she lowered a large brown bag to the floor, and her chest nearly spilled from the tight black leather dress.
At least it’s not pleather.
“What did you bring me?” He prowled toward her, causing her breaths to accelerate.
“Ice cream.” She smiled and flushed. “When I heard you ordered three boxes of Klondike bars, I had to see it for myself.”
“See what exactly?”
“A physically fit, gorgeous specimen of a man consume dozens of ice cream bars. I mean, come on.” She cocked a hip, blatantly flirting. “How do you eat junk food and still look like that?”
“It’s not for me.” He angled his chin to speak behind him. “You can stop spying and come out.”
An annoyed huff sounded in the bathroom, and a moment later, Gina strode into the room.
She’d left her hair curly, and those silky, raven spirals sprung around her arms and chest as she navigated the sky-rise heels with more poise and grace than he would’ve thought possible.
His eyes tracked her, his insides heating and tightening anew. Tomas was right. She was getting to him, under his skin, in his head, and fucking with his heart rate.
He never had trouble shutting off sexual attraction. But this went beyond shallow interest.
For the first time in his life, he wanted more from a woman than a night of pleasure.
He wanted more with this woman.
“Vera,” he said. “Give her the ice cream.”
He could retrieve the bag himself but wanted to study the interactions between the two women.
As expected, Vera clenched her jaw. Then she slowly lowered and gripped the bag, her eyes locked on him.
“I can’t eat that right now.” Gina approached his side and curled a hand around his elbow.
An unsolicited touch? This was new, and damn him, but he felt her grip through his entire body.
He slid his other hand over hers, and Vera homed in on the connection, scowling her displeasure from beneath beetled brows.
With his eyes on her, he focused his other senses on Gina, marking the stiffness in her posture, the slight tremble in her fingers, and the overall nervousness wafting from her pores. He suspected it had little to do with Vera and everything to do with Alejandro’s dinner.
If she wasn’t dreading the next few hours, she should’ve been.
“Put the dessert in the freezer.” He flicked a finger toward the kitchen, dismissing Vera like a common servant.
She hesitated, her face pinched like she would argue. Then she pushed back her shoulders and obeyed.
Turning toward Gina, he twined his fingers through the soft curls on her shoulder. “Are you ready?”
“Fuck no.”
“Good girl. Stay on your toes. But know this…” He bent in and grazed his lips along her cheek. “No one will touch you but me.”
“Is that supposed to ease my fragile little rabbit heart?”
“There’s nothing fragile about you, and I’m counting on that tonight.” He straightened and pivoted toward Vera. “Will you be joining us this evening?”
“Yes, I’m headed there now. We can walk together.” She sauntered to the door and looked back at him expectantly.
He emptied his expression, hiding any response she might’ve sparked in him, which was very little. All criminal behavior aside, there was something off-putting about her.
Tula hadn’t shown him any recent photos, but the digital images he’d seen of teenage Vera had alluded to the gorgeous woman she was today. He couldn’t find a single flaw in her appearance.
It was her personality. The smarmy way she ogled him, the constant hair-flicking and lip-licking, the overly servile responses to his demands—she rubbed him the wrong way.
Sliding his hand around Gina’s, he felt a sudden jerk, her reflex to pull away. Then her fingers curled around his, slick with sweat and nerves.
He was right there with her, anxious to end the evening before it had even begun.