Page 15 of Her Last Hope
Nick laughed. “As my wife said, she’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself. The only reason she stayed was to get a good look at how you operate both personally and professionally. She was watching you more than I was from a distance.” He made his way around the table, ignoring the protests of the guards. He caught a whiff of Leandra’s shampoo. He couldn’t wait for this to be over so he could have her…once. “We don’t do business with just anyone.”
“Neither do I,” Ramos said, waving his hand at the table. “I don’t like being lied to or manipulated. You showing up at my home unannounced doesn’t make me want to do business with either of you.”
Nick looped his arm around Leandra’s waist. “Excuse me for a moment while I give my wife a proper hello.” He leaned in, inhaling more of her tropical scent as it mixed with the fresh air. “Hey, hon.” He pressed his mouth against hers, parting her lips with his tongue and taking a quick swirl around, enjoying the taste of bitter coffee mixed with bacon.
His body sizzled when she splayed her hands against his chest. “Hi, babe,” she whispered.
Nick squeezed her ass before pulling away. “Let’s discuss business now, since we’re all here.”
“You’re a cocky son of a bitch.” Ramos pulled out a chair and sat down, waving his hands to various people, who all jumped into action. “I like that.”
“You don’t get anywhere in life by being meek.” Nick held back a chair for Leandra before settling nextto her with his hand resting on her warm, sun-kissed thigh. “This deal has to go down tonight.”
“Why is that?” Ramos asked as he lit up a cigar, offering one to everyone.
Nick shook his head. “Because Agent Fielding—”
“Agent Fielding is no one I’m concerned with.” Ramos arched a brow, but his lips drew into a tight line.
“Don’t play dumb.” Nick shifted so the smoke didn’t blow in his face, but it also put him even closer to Leandra. He didn’t need to be so close that his knee touched hers, nor did his hands need to be on her body, but he couldn’t resist the pull she had over him.
Didn’t want to, either.
And that thought scared him more than dying if this operation went south.
“My sources tell me that Fielding is waiting on a search warrant for your warehouse.”
“Under what pretense? I’m a model citizen.” Ramos smiled, then winked.
“Your poker rooms.”
“And how do you know this?” Ramos leaned back in his chair, crossing his ankle over his knee. Only the way he held his cigar, tight between his fingers instead of swirling it, told Nick that Ramos was nervous.
Leandra glanced between the two men. “I was on a fact-finding mission here, while Nick did his own gathering of intel, and if we don’t do the deal tonight, it’s not going to happen, and we disappear.”
“I won’t be strong-armed into a deal, and since mymen don’t know about Fielding’s plan, I don’t believe Fielding is a threat.”
“I thought you might say that.” Nick pulled out his phone and pulled up the information he’d gotten directly from Fielding when Nick had approached him early this morning. “I have a man inside the FBI, and he gave me this.” Nick pushed his phone across the table. “You’ve got a leak inside your operation who has been feeding the Feds, specifically Agent Fielding. My contact says we’ll have a window of opportunity to move the merchandise tonight before Fielding homes in on your casino gig.”
Ramos set the phone down, resting his elbows on the table. “I don’t trust liars and don’t believe I have a leak.”
“If you don’t want to do business, then we can walk,” Leandra said, her hand resting on Nick’s shoulder, massaging gently, making his body want to forget he had an operation to manage.
“I didn’t say that.” Ramos sucked on his cigar with his fat lips. “But I don’t have a leak.”
“You have one; otherwise, you wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place. Another reason I showed up unannounced.” Nick rotated his neck, eyeing the house and yard. There really was a mole, but thus far, the intel he’d gathered hadn’t netted much. Nick planned on changing that in less than twenty-four hours. “When this is all done, I’ll hand you the mole on a silver platter.”
“I don’t need you to hand me anything,” Ramos said, his voice laced with disdain.
“You need someone to move the merchandise before Fielding gets permission to legally poke around.” Nick, reluctantly, took his hand off Leandra’s thigh and folded his arms on the table. “I can move the merchandise and sell all of it before Fielding can wipe his ass from his morning shit.”
“If I’m under investigation, and this agent has all this crap on me, why take the risk? Why not just let me crash and burn?”
Leandra sat up straighter, smoothing down her skirt and crossing her ankles.
God, she made Nick nuts.
“We have a buyer who wants consistent merchandise,” Leandra said. “We’d like to help you increase your operation, making a hefty profit all around.”
