Page 26 of Loving My Enemy

My body felt like it was floating on clouds as the orgasm worked its way out of my body. It wasn’t my first orgasm but it did have the distinction of being my first with another person, and it was amazing.

Too bad it was with this particular man.

That was the exact thought I needed to pull me out of this fog. No matter how good I felt right now, he was not what I needed or wanted. Pushing at his chest, I pulled the miles of fabric around my still-throbbing thighs to cover myself and slid off the kitchen table while making a mental note to clean it. Thoroughly. “What was that?”

He shrugged, that damn smug gleam still in his eyes. “That, Elka, was inevitable.”

I didn’t want to believe that I could so easily get physical with a man who treated me no better than my parents had. I couldn’t. “It was a mistake,” I corrected and smoothed the fabric down my legs. “Tomorrow at six. Be here if you’re serious about helping. If you think this—” I motioned between the two of us, “will happen again, don’t bother showing up.”

He smirked and leaned in, kissing me before I could dodge his attempts. “See you at six, Elka.”

“Good evening, Deputy Vargas.”

He turned to face me, another cocky smile on his handsome face as the finger that had been inside me slid between his lips. “I know what you taste like now, Elka. What you feel like when you come.”

How crude! Arms crossed, I glared at him. “What’s your point?” Because my body thought it as an invitation to pick upwhere we left off. I had to press my heels into the floor to stop from flying back into his arms.

“My point is that I think you can call me Antonio.”

Yeah, I wouldn’t do that. Formality was an excellent way to keep distance between us. “See you tomorrow, deputy. Or not.” I watched him leave, heart racing as I thought about what had just happened. I’d gotten intimate with a man who not only did not like or respect me, but one I was pretty sure actually hated me for some reason.

“The words glutton for punishment come to mind,” I said out loud as I looked at the untouched, uncooked ingredients on the countertop, deciding they could wait until tomorrow.

I curled up on the sofa and spent the rest of the night avoiding another call from my parents, along with all thoughts of Antonio and the way my body still hummed with pleasure.

Chapter 15

Antonio

Getting to the office early wasn’t something I did regularly, mostly because I didn’t want Tyson to start to expect it, but today I wanted to get a jump start on some paperwork so I could make it to Elka’s as close to six as possible. The last thing I needed was to piss her off again, especially after that kiss. It was hot, sexy as hell, and thinking about the way she came apart so easily was enough to have me hard under my desk. Even thinking about the way she smacked my face and immediately apologized had me smiling. Elka was a walking contradiction, one I was determined to figure out.

Starting tonight.

Ty knocked on the door and when I looked at him, his expression was serious. “Come with me.”

I cocked a brow. “Not another moving trip, is it?”

“Nope,” he answered and turned on his heel, giving me no choice but to follow.

Which I did. Inside his office sat a man who was at least fifty years old with salt-and-pepper hair that hadn’t seen a comb in at least a week. He wore faded blue jeans, a plain black T-shirt with a navy-blue blazer on top, all of it cheap except his expensive, designer shoes. The shoes gave him away as a private investigator. They all had a certain stink about them, which, unlike most in my field, I didn’t mind all that much. PIs were a good resource to have because they could go places we couldn’t and because they weren’t bound by the same constraints as traditional law enforcement. “What’s going on?”

The man stood, wearing a greasy smile that instantly put me on edge. “Reece Wilson, private detective.”

“Deputy Vargas. What do you need?”

“Information.” He smiled again and shoved his hands into his pocket in an effort to appear unassuming. Non-threatening. “I was hired by the Nyland family after their daughter disappeared. She just up and left,” he said and snapped his fingers for emphasis. “Her brother died and a couple months later, she split. I have reason to believe she’s here.”

My gut clenched at his words because I knew Elka was hiding something, but so far, he’d given no real information other than an adult chose to leave and didn’t tell anyone where she was going. It was odd and maybe callous, but not illegal. “No one in town by that name, I’m afraid.” I didn’t bother looking at Ty because I knew his face would show shock that I was protecting Elka.

“I know she’s here, deputy. This little town has fallen for her act and it seems you have too.” The guy was so damn smarmy it took everything I had not to punch him in the fucking face. “I came here as a courtesy to law enforcement, but I can keep snooping around on my own, find out about that life insurance claim she cashed in.” His words were meant to scare us into giving him information he wasn’t privy to and the bastard knew it. Probably thought he was dealing with a bunch of small-town hicks.

“Do what you have to, just remember that this is Texas. We shoot trespassers and ask for ID later.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugged like it didn’t matter, but we both knew it did. He wouldn’t have come to the sheriff’s department if he’d been able to get the info on his own, but Tulip protected their own, and they had already adopted Elka.

After Reece left, I could feel the weight of Ty’s stare. “What?”

“Why did you cover for her? This guy gave you the opportunity you’ve been looking for and you blew it.”

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