Savage Secrets (Titan #6) (32 page)

The alarm clock blared. Rocco reached over to shut it off and the butt of her hand shot up, catching him in the jaw.

Panic. She had flat out—no thinking—panicked.

So much for summiting Mr. Freak Out. Nothing was changing by the end of the day.

***

Rocco’s gut churned as he unloaded a pretending-not-to-be traumatized Cat from his truck. The last few weeks with her had been on the job, but today he was introducing her into his personal life. No job. No Titan. No terrorists or jets or playing a role for the sake of a job. Not that he’d ever hidden himself from her. But here, at home, there were no distractions from real life, and that was what he wanted with her. A real life.

He wished he could do a once-over of his house before Cat walked in. No need for real life to start with his ex-girlfriend’s stuff strewn about his place. Well, he’d politely asked her to get her stuff and leave the key, but he hadn’t checked. It hadn’t been as though he planned on going on a job and bringing home a girl to live with him.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Caterina stood in the driveway, watching him lost in his thoughts.

“Excited.”
Or not sure what’s on the other side of the door
.

His stomach twisted. Worse, what if his ex was waiting for him, wanting to convince him to give it another go? All tied up in a bow or something.

Cat would probably kill her. Or at least torture. Because that’s what she did well, and for as cool as she played it, he’d accidentally made her jealous. He’d seen it in her eyes. It was kinda cool that she was staking a claim but kinda sucky because he didn’t want her doubting them for a hot second on top of everything else she was dealing with.

He rubbed his chest, trying to knead away a sudden tightness like heartburn but dull. Caterina had never been tied down before. Never had a place to lay her head long-term. Making her jumpy, startling her with baggage from an ex on top of recovering from an attack, wasn’t a well thought-out plan.

Cautiously, he took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “Let’s go, Kitten.”

“Okay.” Her scratched cheeks blushed, and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

After some quick code-punching and deadbolt-unlocking, the door swung open, and Rocco placed his key in her hand. “All yours.”

And now they were walking through his foyer while he was on hyper alert for all things feminine.

“Nervous?” She dropped his hand. “What do you say? Cold feet?”

“Hell no. Just…”

“Ah, worried about love letters and rose petals left around your place?”

He coughed. “Not my style.”

“So what then?”

He leaned against the wall, pulling her carefully to him. His forehead kissed hers. His lips followed. “You’re kind of feral. And this is pretty damn domestic.”

“True.”

“So how does it work?”

“You
do
have cold feet.”

His chest tightened all over. “No way.”

“So? What?”

“When the adrenaline wears off, where’s that leave us?”

“Hopefully in bed.” She laughed.

She joked, but he knew that was sugarcoated, at least for the foreseeable future. “Say it in Spanish.”

“
Esperemos que en la cama
.”

Every. Single. Time. Sucking both his lips into his mouth, Rocco focused on flirting without taking it anywhere. “Tell me something else.”

“
Estás loco
.”

His hands dropped to her waist. “Calling me names?”

“Maybe.”

He wanted to take her to his room, make her his in their bed. Make
their
bed. His breath hitched, practically panting for wanting her and scared like all hell that he’d get close in too fast and scare her. The erection between his legs wasn’t helping at all. Sadness floated in her eyes, and she had to be thinking a variation of the same thing. “I’m in love with you, Caterina. You need to know that.”

She nodded.

“So whatever it is that you need. Waiting or talking or—”

“Killing.”

His eyes sank shut. The chance of her finding revenge against El Mateperros was nil. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”

“Okay.” She was so sad. It stabbed right into his heart.

His phone buzzed with a text message
,
stopping the conversation, which was good because he had no idea where to take it. A quick look at the text made the moment even worse.
Assignment up. Get to HQ
.

He brought her to the States, brought her home, and now had to leave her with all the baggage and no one to help. He’d be lucky if she was still here when he came back.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Caterina’s first night in Rocco’s house and she’d spent all alone. One text message and he was gone. It was expected. She’d known this came with his job, and now she was surrounded by all-American normalcy.

Until he came back, she had his house, his truck, and strict instructions not to mess with his DVR. But he didn’t say anything about his Frosted Flakes, and she was on a second bowl and completing the children’s maze on the back of the mini milk box when the doorbell rang. Looking more like a kid in a giant’s clothes, she slid across the kitchen floor in his oversized socks, which matched his oversized shirt and shorts. They smelled like him and swallowed her whole, making her smile every time she thought about him.

Cautiously, she peeked through the peep hole. A blonde stood there, hands on hips, with lips and boobs that had more than a little bit of enhancement. That couldn’t be the ex-girlfriend. Could it? Three deadbolts and a security system that took more than few button pushes, and she had the thing disengaged and the door thrown open.

“Hi—”

“You have
got
to be kidding me.” Blondie’s chin jutted out. “Who. Are. You.”

A living, breathing Barbie doll was about to get a face full of fist. “I’m Cat.”

“I bet you are.”

That particular American phrase wasn’t lost on her. It roughly translated to
I hate you, bitch
. “Rocco’s not here.”

“His truck’s here.”

“Right.” Maybe Barbie didn’t have a lot upstairs. “But, like I said, he’s not.”

“Let me guess. One of his super-secret, I-can’t-tell-you-anything work outings. Classic.”

“Work
outings
?” Outings didn’t do justice to all the shoot ‘em up, knock ‘em down that Rocco did. Nothing in that word that said he’d give his life trying to do some good in the world.

“Yeah.” She eyed Cat’s oversized pajamas. “But I didn’t expect him to—”

“Be very careful about what comes out of your mouth next. I’m more than familiar with his outings because we work in the same
industry
. That makes me very, very adept at shutting your mouth for you.”

Barbie’s mouth dropped. “You think he’s so into you. Well, he was going to marry me, and that wasn’t that long ago.”

Cat lifted her hand. The Locke’s wedding band was still in place because she’d forgotten to take it off. She wiggled her fingers. Not that she was
really
married to Rocco. Not that it was a good idea to pretend she was. It just happened. “Go. Away.”

Barbie’s mouth fell again, hanging open much longer. “No, he didn’t.”

True. No he didn’t, but Cat was keeping that to herself. “You need to leave.”

“I have stuff here.”

“It’s gone.” Rocco had said that his ex might’ve left a toothbrush. A toothbrush she could handle, but not tall, blonde and perky going through his house and claiming items. “I’ll tell him you stopped by.”

Barbie smirked. “He’s not that great of a catch. His stupid job always comes first. You’re all alone, waiting, talking to me, and it’s because he’s out there where there’s a ton more of you, wherever you came from—”

“Classy.” Wow, did that sound familiar—something else always coming first.

“You’re nothing compared to his job.”

“
Adios
.” Nudging the door closed with her Rocco-sock-covered foot, she waved her left hand, flashing the ring again.

Barbie’s words stung, not because Cat believed them but because that was the attitude she’d pulled since day one with Rocco. He could never compete with El Mateperros. Everything else she wanted was secondary. After the Dog Killer died at her hand… how did that reshuffle her priorities? Caterina peeked through the peephole and watched the woman shake her ass as she left. Blondie McGee had choked matrimony down Rocco’s throat. Maybe Cat’s disinterest in everything other than a certain terrorist was her selling point.

She was safe. Holy freakin’ matrimony wasn’t her number one priority, but what if she wanted it to be… And where had that thought come from?

***

Rocco had been gone for days, but someone didn’t know that. The cell phone he’d left her rang constantly. Ringing and ringing and ringing—driving her absolutely bonkers.
Probably Busty Blonde Barbie
. It wasn’t her business who was calling, but for sanity’s sake, she was about to answer and tell them to trust the voice mail. It would do the dang job.

It rang again, the same number that been calling for days. This time she was done. “Hello?”

“It’s about time you picked up the phone.” The woman’s annoyed voice sounded familiar, but Cat couldn’t place it. “Christ, I was
thinking
about getting worried.”

What
? “Who is this?”

“Seriously?”

“
What
? Yes. Seriously.”

The woman huffed. “This is Sugar.”

“Oh. Explains so much.” Cat rolled her eyes.

“He doesn’t have me programmed in?”

“Guess not.”

Sugar scoffed in her ear. “Just me, or in general, he doesn’t have people programmed in?”

“I don’t know,
Sugar
, I haven’t gone through his phone.”

“Wait, what? Seriously? What’s wrong with you?”

Caterina didn’t have an answer for any of those borderline rude questions. “Um—”

“Whatever, answer the phone from now on. How else am I supposed to get a hold of you?”

Me
? “Why? Everything is okay?”

“Hell, nothing’s ever
okay
, but there’s nothing to complain about at the moment. Get dressed. We’re heading your way.”

“What—” Caterina pinched the back of her neck. “We, who?”

“The girls. We’re headed to dinner at Mia’s, and you’re coming. Like it or not.”

“Why?” Not that she didn’t want to make friends, but was Sugar friend-making material? Cat didn’t know her, didn’t exactly trust her.

“Why not? Mia cooks crazy awesome. We’re all very curious about you.”

Cat laughed. At least Sugar was honest. A bitch. But an honest one. “Curious?”

Knock, knock
.

“Well, when I said on our way, I meant pulling into the driveway. Open up, Senorita.”

Caterina closed her eyes. It was the first time that she’d smiled in quite a while. She pocketed the phone and went to the door. Her hand stayed on the locks longer than it needed to, as if she were considering turning out the lights and ignoring what was certain to be a carpet-bombing of phone calls. But she turned each lock, disengaged the security system, and was greeted by everything a woman named Sugar might look like, except with dark, almost black hair. Sugar’s stiletto boots, in-your-face boobs, and badass attitude made Caterina like her just a bit.

“Well, come on in.” But Sugar was already strolling by. Three ladies followed, all apologetic smiles and pleasant hellos. The four of them formed a little semi-circle around her, and Caterina wanted to feel uneasy about them but didn’t.

“You’re pretty damn cute.” Sugar assessed her from messy bun to flip-flops and back.

“Glad you think so.” She did the same once-over on Sugar. Leather pants and a shirt that left nothing to the imagination. She turned to other women. “I’m Cat.”

Sugar pointed and ticked them off. “Nicola. Beth. Sarah.”

Cat smiled, recognizing two of the names. “You’re all married to someone with Titan?”

Sugar, again, pointed at each. “Yes. One day. Sort of.”

A blonde with an easy going smile and no problem rolling her eyes at Sugar stepped forward. “Sorry we’re barging in. It was
our understanding
that you knew we were coming. I’m Nicola Garrison. This is my friend Beth, who isn’t anywhere close to ‘one day,’ and Sarah
is
married to Brock. Sugar just likes to be a pain in the ass.”

“Oh.” Cat sucked in her bottom lip. Rocco had given her the ten-second story on how he had Brock’s old job, Brock and Jared had gone to war, but now Brock was picking up the reins of whoever was Delta. The details on that were sketchy at best. Rocco had also told her the Sarah didn’t want Brock working ops and had even left him for a while.