Page 22 of Twin Deception

Why was it so hot?

What made me so reactive to him?

I shouldn’t have been turned on atall. There was no question that he wasn’t a good man.

What the hell is wrong with me?

I shook my head, bewildered by my behavior, and tried to stop thinking about him. It was impossible to shut him out ofmy thoughts, though, because he was the driver behind why I changed my mind about leaving.

I couldn’t leave because he hadn’t answered my question.

I hadn’t asked him why he was following me. I knew it had to be tied to my father. The only reason someone would stalk me was to get leverage or revenge on Louis Flores. That fact wouldn’t change.

I’d asked that sexy bastard what he wanted from me, though. That was a completely different angle, and that was what I desired to know.

Whatwas he after me for?

Answers about a shady business deal that fell apart? Clues about where my father was planning to stash money next? My cooperation to bring him in to the Feds? Agreement to act like a bribe?

None of those things would work, not with me. I meant nothing to my father, and I knew nothing.

The sooner I knew what this stalker hoped to get from me, the faster I could send him away.

“I can’t leave until I know,” I reminded myself once I moved into another hotel down the street. This was a busier area, but less touristy and more of a business block. It didn’t matter. Changing up my location was a habit I’d learned.

I was staying, not because I wanted that man. I wasn’t leaving because I hoped I could have a chance to kiss him again. Nope. I had to come to my senses one way or another.

The biggest and most important reason I couldn’t call it quits on this vacation yet was because I had to know what his game was, what information or favor was required of me. Because if I initiated a game of the cat chasing the mouse, an episode of hide-and-seek, he’d only follow me back to my apartment in San Diego. Or to Tampa on my next commission.

“So I may as well wait and see.”

Staying at that hotel would’ve been too easy. He’d just go right back there and find me. I needed a little distance, though, if for no other reason than to show him he didn’t have all the control over this situation.

Because of my childhood, I knew how to hide. My ability to go under the radar and blend in was a skillset I’d harnessed from the times Louis Flores felt like his enemies or the law were closing in on him. Too often, we had to move from one house to another. Sometimes, we’d have to hide at vacation spots. Whenever he’d screwed someone over in a deal or played too risky with the law enforcement, he’d get nervous and relocate. I was more prepared than the average person on how to hide in plain sight, how to never leave an obvious trail. And that was how I knew my stalker was good. Even though I hadn’t been trying to hide when I’d planned this trip, old habits died hard. I seldom made myself traceable, yet he’d found me.

And he will again.I knew he would, and it filled me with a silly, ridiculous sense of glee. That he’d be coming for me again. That he’d pierce me with another wicked gaze from those dark eyes of his that promised sin.

The next morning, I woke up from dreams about him and how he’d made me feel. It lent a little air of excitement to my mood as I got up and headed out to the beach.

He’s not here.

I didn’t feel his presence. I wasn’t alerted to that sixth sense of being watched. Of being stalked.

Disappointment was the opposite of what I should’ve felt. Not seeing him at this new hotel should’ve been a good thing, proof that I could still dodge and hide.

Nothing good is going to come from surrendering to a dangerous man like him.

As I strolled the beach and warmed my toes in the sand, I tried my best not to feel disappointed.

Or lonely.

It was so hard, though, surrounded by all the vacationing couples in love or families playing together. Under the hot sun, soaking in the warmth and light, breathing in the fresh scent of the ocean breezing in with the waves, I should’ve been happy. Perfectly content.

What I felt was far from it.

The loneliness crept back in. Depressed from people watching as a single person, always feeling like I was on the outside looking in, I headed back to my room to clean up before having lunch at the café out front.

A quick shower almost brightened me up. But as I reached for the door to leave, my stomach growling, my phone rang.

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