Page 11 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

“That was your best?” she scoffed. “No wonder it was so easy for me to walk away.”

“Ouch.” He feigned hurt and grabbed at his chest. “Right for the heart, huh?”

“I don’t care about your heart.” She moved away, far out of his grasp, and self-consciously touched her hair and jewelry. “I only care about my daughter and my family and the business.”

“And you?” He watched her intently. “Who cares about you?”

She ignored his question and walked toward the closed office door. “Do you intend to stay in the area or are you returning to Dallas?”

“I’m staying.” He was actually supposed to be back on a plane to Dallas this evening, but there was something afoot here, something that he couldn’t ignore. Camila was a spoiled brat, but she was also a scared kid with daddy issues. She was going toget herself into trouble and drag her mother right into the thick of it.

“At a hotel?”

“Why? You want my room number so you can visit later?”

She scowled at him. “Can you be serious for one minute?”

He didn’t want to be serious. He wanted to be carefree and wild and drag her off to a hotel for a loved-up weekend.

“You’re right,” he said, ignoring the urge to flirt. “This is serious. No, I don’t have a hotel booked yet.”

Dina studied him for an unnerving moment. “We have a block of corporate flats in the extended stay hotel across the street from our headquarters. I can have one arranged for you to use while you’re here on official business.”

Taken aback by her offer, he nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Dina.”

“I’m only doing this because I think I might need your help with keeping Camila safe from Diego,” she insisted. “It’s not because I want to see you again.”

“Of course not,” he agreed dryly.

“Are you planning to use a cover story while you’re here?”

“I probably will, especially if I’m staying in your company’s housing.”

She made a face. “I’m not sure we can sell you as a businessman.”

“That bad, huh?” Steve tried not to show his discomfort at her cutdown.

“No, I meant the way you carry yourself. You move like a cop. You stand like a cop. You’re too aware of your surroundings.”

He didn’t see the sense in arguing with her observations. “I can’t help it. I was military before I became a trooper or a ranger.”

“It’s not a bad thing.” Dina’s expression softened. “It’s just not right for selling you as a c-suite businessman.” Her gaze loweredto his hands. “Even if we could convince our team that we poached you from another business to fill a nonexistent position, your hands would give it away.”

“My hands?” He lifted them for a better look. “What’s wrong with my hands?”

“Nothing, but they’re not the hands of a man who sits behind a desk. They’re the hands of a man who works hard.”

He supposed she had a point. Calluses. Short nails. Rough cuticles. He obviously didn’t push paper and tap at a keyboard all day.

Unable to help himself, he reminded her, “You didn’t seem to mind when I had them on you.”

Dina gulped. “I didn’t mind at all.”

She swept from the room in a whirl of fabric and perfume. He stood there like an idiot, staring at the space she had just occupied, and wondering if he had made the biggest mistake of his life accepting this case.

How the hell am I supposed to concentrate on catching Diego Suarez when the only thing I want is her?

Chapter Three

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