Page 64 of Twin Deception

“And I’m being like this because it makes me happy, Isabel.” He nipped my lower lip at the end of the next kiss. “Youmake me happy.”

Oh, God.

He couldn’t say those kinds of things and expect me not to get excited that my dreams were coming true. That I’d finally found a man—or he’d found me as he failed to kill me—who would see me, want me, and value me.

He broke away from me, though, tugging me by the hand to keep walking. The second he twined his fingers between mine, I felt secure and possessed. Protected. The sheer strength in his hand,the rough, callused skin on his palm. Both were physical cues that he was a brutal man and could stand behind his declaration of protection.

“And I’m being like this, hurrying you to get in my car, so we can go talk to my confidant and get back to our room to really take care of this.” In the slightly darker area of the parking garage, with a wall blocking view of us, he turned, slammed my back to the wall, and kissed me hard while he lowered our joined hands until he could swipe his finger—and mine—over the creamy slickness that was already covering my pussy. With my dress flipped up a bit, and with the taboo naughtiness of him making me feel myself at the same time he caressed me, I swore I’d bend over and ask him to take me now. Just like this.

Needy. Desperate.

And… in love?

Love in the face of danger and deception.

I never would’ve guessed that I could put an end to that miserable loneliness by letting my stalker and would-be killer into my life.

We got in his car a few minutes later, and I wondered how long I would be able to behave in here. It was more private, and all I could think about was sliding over the seat and riding him.

Stop. Just focus for once.

I could tell that I was caving to how much we wanted each other in order to avoid thinking about all that was wrong in my world. Miguel was all that was going right, but it wasn’t just the physical. I cared about him in other ways too. Like making sure I could be the reason he gets those sly and slow smiles.

“Rueben should have intel of some kind,” he said as he drove out of the parking area.

“What makes you so sure?” He’d told me over breakfast that his confidante went by the name of Rueben, but that was all I knew so far. Were they old friends? Former… contractors working together on a team?

Even though I knew without a trace of doubt in my heart that what I felt for Miguel was right and unshakable, although new, I realized I had a lot to learn about him. Suddenly, I was eager to ask him everything, to learn it all.

“News is coveted and sold in this criminal world. Holding on to news is a commodity that can always be used as leverage.”

“And… Rueben is good at hanging on to details to share withyou?”

He lifted and dropped the shoulder of the arm that hadn’t been shot. “Within reason. For leverage.”

I furrowed my brow. “Never mind.” I wasn’t sure howwithin reasoncould be explained in the context he was referencing. Did leverage mean payment of money? Or a threat of death?

Just… don’t overthink it.

“Rueben has mostly been tied to the Carmello Cartel,” he went on to explain neutrally. “But like many others, he has gossip about all the Cartels.”

“And you work for…” I growled. “I hate that you have a whole file to know all about me but I know nothing about you.”

He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. “You can have the rest of your life to learn everything you want to know.”

Is that a promise? A lead-in to a proposal?Forever was a long time. That was ahugecommitment. But the prospect of it didn’t scare me. It excited me.

“I work for myself,” he answered. “I’m an independent contractor that any Cartel can hire. Any organization or individual can hire. But I began with the Gulf Cartel and they hired me the most.”

“Drago, your contact, works for them too?”

He shook his head. “Yes and no. He’s independent too. And that’s part of what makes it so difficult for me to know who put the hit on Louis and then changed it to you. I’m confident Rueben will know something, and I’m getting more confident that the Carmello outfit is behind the hits.”

“This sounds like a lot of politics to follow.”

“It can be.”

I sighed, watching the scenery blur by. We’d left the heart of the congested touristy areas and were heading into a more open coastal area, lined with vegetation. “How did you even get in with the Cartel? Or this job?”

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