Page 4 of Beast

I figured looping down to San Diego wasn’t going to add much time to my trip.If I didn’t find her, I’d know it was Karma’s way of telling me to grow up and go home to my kids.I fuelled up my Harley and hit the road.

Four hours later, the address in San Diego turned out to be a vacant lot.Even I can take a hint if you bust me over the head with it enough times.Piper didn’t want to be found.

Just as I was about to leave town, Ace called and asked if I was up to bringing back the grown daughter of one the Bureau agents we worked with.Seemed she’d gotten herself in a little trouble.Someone was gunning for her, so she needed to get out of town in a hurry.I’d agreed, as long as she was okay with riding bitch on the back of my bike.No way was I leaving my bike behind, and I was feeling much too grumpy to do the airport thing.

He checked and assured me the girl was fine with the bike.He didn’t have many details other than the woman needed to get out of town fast, and her father was willing to pay to see she got to him safely.Sounded like a routine mission.When Ace sent me a picture of my tagalong, though, the trip got a whole lot more interesting.Seems like Karma was on my side after all.

“Food’s nothing fancy.”Piper picked up one of the fries.“But if you like burgers and fries then yeah, it’s good.Are you seriously planning on eating with two guys running around out there somewhere, looking to kill me?”

“Assuming they managed to figure out where you were, they’re not likely to start shooting in a crowded restaurant with a couple dozen witnesses,” I pointed out.“Besides…”

“Besides what?”

I grinned, my sense of humor restored.“I’m hungry and those hamburgers smell damn good.”I motioned to the waitress and ordered a burger with everything on it, along with a side of fries and gravy.Turning my attention back to Piper, I narrowed my eyes.“So your dad didn’t mention you were a stripper.Then again, he’s FBI so probably not a detail he likes to toss around.”

“I’m a singer, not a stripper.And I worked as a dealer at the card tables between gigs to make ends meet.That was just one night to raise some quick cash.I told you that in Vegas.”She took a sip of her drink, wrapping those luscious lips of hers around the straw.My cock swelled to attention as I remembered how those lips felt wrapped around it.

“Yeah, you did.But when we met you were working that pole like a pro so I’m a little skeptical.”

She raised one brow.“You spend enough time in strip clubs to know how a pro looks?”

Score one for Piper.I snagged a fry off her plate and crammed it in my mouth to avoid answering.

“And you’re with some kind of security firm that contracts out to the FBI?”She tilted her head and studied me.“I don’t remember you telling me that.”

I shrugged.“I don’t think my career came up.We didn’t do much talking last time we were together.”

“No,” she agreed.“We did not.”

Thinking about that night was giving me the hard-on from hell.I shifted in my seat, trying to get comfortable.“You weren’t a target then, or we wouldn’t have had that awesome night together.What changed?”

The stricken look on her face made me regret the question as soon as I asked it.“Forget it.None of my business.I’m just here to get you back to your father in one piece.”

She toyed with the food on her plate.“I’m putting you in danger, so I guess you deserve to know the score.My ex, the one I broke up with just before we had our little fling…” Her voice trailed off and she lifted her head to gaze into my eyes.Her lower lip trembled.Not much, but enough that a guy who had to deal with teenagers every day would notice.

“He tracked you to San Diego?”

She nodded.“Worse.He put out a hit on me, and made it known he’d look favorably on whoever pulled it off.”

That got my attention.I sat up straight and stopped dreaming about getting her back in the sack.“Who the hell is your ex?”

“His name is Drake.Drake Rossili.”

I shook my head.“Never heard of him.”

She looked sad.“Probably not.He likes to keep that part of his life under the radar.When I met him he said his last name was Smith.I suppose that should have been my first clue.Smith.Almost as bad as John Doe.”

She laid it all out for me.The whirlwind affair, finding out about the mafia ties, and what she thought was an amicable break up.She shrugged.“Now he wants me dead, and I have no idea why.”

The waitress placed my food on the table.“Anything else for you two?”

Piper and I both shook our heads.

“If you need me, just holler.”She spun on her heel, consulting her order pad as she headed back to the kitchen.

“Even the mafia doesn’t put hits out on people for no reason.”I took a bite out of the burger.“Damn, this is good!”

That earned me a ghost of a smile.“Told you so.”

---