“What the HELL are you guys doing out in the rain?” a voice yelled.
I stopped moving and ducked my head into Sergio’s shoulder as he panted out, “Go back inside before I shoot you, Tex!”
“The door was open!” he yelled.
“One! Two!” Sergio started counting.
“Fine, fine.” Tex laughed loudly. “You two heat that water on your own? Nixon would shit himself if he saw all the steam coming off your bodies.”
Sergio flipped him off and blocked me with his body.
“We have news,” Tex yelled. “Five minutes to get decent, Serg, or I’m joining.”
“The hell you are!”
“Four minutes!”
“Son of a bitch.” Sergio slammed the water with one of his hands while the other held me against him. “Tell me the truth.” His swollen lips met mine in a punishing kiss. “Would you be terribly disappointed if I killed him so I could have sex with you?”
“Well, it’s human life,” I whispered. “Then again…” I glanced down at the water, even that didn’t hide evidence of his arousal. “It’s really a toss-up isn’t it?”
“You have…” He kissed me fiercely, tugging me by the hair as he growled out. “…no idea.”
…the juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, will make man or woman madly dote. –A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sergio
TEX GAVE ME a middle-finger salute about fifteen minutes later. I was dry. Decent. But extremely turned on, as in, if my jeans were any tighter, the friction from my zipper would be a serious issue.
“So…” Tex put his hands behind his head as I closed the door to my office and then opened it just to slam it again three more times. “How’s the married life?”
I opened my mouth then shut it and pulled out my chair. “What? What is so damn important you needed to interrupt?”
“Interrupt?” He cupped his ear. “Kissing? Damn, you move slow. I would have already been working on the baby-making part. Oh, wait.” He snapped his fingers while I envisioned my hands around his neck.
I wondered on a scale of one to ten how horrible it would make me as a human that I’d smile while killing him.
“Tex.”
“Frank killed Xavier.”
I sighed and leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. “So he’s no longer a threat?”
“He’s no longer a threat, nor are the ten associates that were working for him.”
I jerked back. “Because?”
“Because…” Tex sighed. “A hit was ordered on every last one and rather than share, Frank carried them all out himself, with the uncles, of course. Dirty bastards probably had the time of their lives.”
“Hmmm.” I licked my lips and leaned back in my chair. “So, I’m assuming there’s more.”
“There’s always more.” Tex tapped his temple. “He left his wife and two kids, and when I say wife, I say girl he was given by Petrov in order to keep his mouth shout, and two kids who lost their parents.”
“Petrov is dead.”
“Not his son.”
“Damn it, why is he alive?”
“Because up until last year he wasn’t a threat.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“Frank offered her protection.”
I exhaled a curse. “Of course he did, he’s turning into a damn saint in his old age.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s exactly what Xavier thought right before Frank broke his wrist, starved him, then slit his throat and cursed him to hell. Hey!” Tex paused. “This old man’s gone soft!”
“You’ve made your point.”
Tex stood. “He’s flying back with her later this week, just thought you should know since Frank’s got it in his head to bring another stranger into the fold.”
“Splendid,” I muttered. “Let me guess, I’m the new hotel?”
“Nah.” He laughed. “Actually Nixon gets dibs on this one, lucky bastard, I heard she screamed for one hour straight before Frank could finally calm her down and when he did, she bit him.”
“Hell. Good luck with that one.”
“She’s eighteen.”
“Shit.”
“Right.”
He was quiet. I didn’t mind. Tex did that a lot to me and, for the most part, I needed that quiet time to process whatever bomb he had the tendency to drop out of nowhere.
“Tex?”
“Shoot.”
“How do you know I’m going to ask you a question?”
“That’s what you do. You’re a numbers and questions guy, so ask.”
“Val mentioned a best friend she used to have, I didn’t really…” Shit. “I didn’t get her anything as a wedding gift, and I thought that locating her might be a good place to start.”
Tex froze. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Or is stalking some random stranger and then buying them a plane ticket to your house frowned upon these days?”