The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2) (43 page)

“How so?”

“He’s extremely loyal. His word has value. Most people are largely self-serving. Chuito’s motivated by something completely different, and I admire that very much.”

“Are you really considering killing me?” she asked him harshly, because what did she have to lose at this point. “If he’s been loyal to you—”

“I’m not gonna kill you.” He cut her off with a hard look. “I should. If I was smart, I would. Trust me, if my grandfather knew Tino told a friggin’ lawyer from Garnet his shit, we’d all be fucked, but I am guilty of having a conscience, and I don’t want my brother to disown me. Plus, I tend to be a fan of beautiful women. It’s one of my weaknesses. Taking one out goes against my personal code of ethics.” He sent her a dazzling smile that she realized only then was Tino’s smile, wide and genuine in the way few were. “And you are an exceptionally beautiful woman.”

Alaine arched an eyebrow at that, because she suddenly recognized that Nova was worse than his brother. He had the air of a man who was used to getting what he wanted…in all things.

“Then I’ll ask you kindly not to talk about it again,” she said rather than acknowledge the rest. “It upsets Chu. It upsets me too.”

“I still need insurance, Alaine.” He sighed as he looked back to the window. “So I’ll make you a deal. We’ll try very hard to keep you from ending up in the hands of the Feds. Thus far I have a pretty good track record, but on the completely remote chance you do get stuck, and we can’t get you out.” He turned and looked at her as he took another drag of his cigarette. “Sell me out instead.”

“I don’t know anything about you,” she admitted, though in an odd way she was touched by that level of sacrifice from him.

“Hang around. You’ll pick up something.” He turned back to look out the window. “These Russians are gonna be a serious pain in my ass.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he agreed, still looking out the window as he went back to smoking. “I’m holding you to it, Alaine. I’m trusting you with something that matters more to me than anything in this world. You’ll forget this shit ever touched my brother. He does not deserve this. None of it. He is, despite evidence to the contrary, innocent. His sins are my sins. I’m the one who should go down for them if it comes to that.”

“I’ll forget.” She nodded. “It’s already forgotten.”

“So this’ll just be a deal between you and me. No one needs to know I have a weakness for beautiful women in hoodies and high heels.” He took another drag off his cigarette and then tossed it on the floor and stomped on it. “I’ll make it right with Chuito and my brother in the morning. Then we’ll deal with the friggin’ Russians and this Angel motherfucker who is a bigger pain in my ass than any of them. I had a very good deal going with him. I made his business forty percent more profitable, but it only cost him twenty percent. It bothers me that he didn’t fucking acknowledge it and say thank you. I hate this bastard. Pride is the enemy of so many men. It fucks up business faster than a love story, and we both know how I feel about those.”

“You don’t want a love story? Ever? Your plan is to die alone?” Alaine asked with a smile. “I thought you were a fan of beautiful women.”

“I’m a fan of beautiful women who don’t require the love story.” He smirked and turned back to her. “Just the happy ending.”

She frowned for a moment. “That was dirty.”

“Yeah, it was a little dirty.” He laughed and shook his head. “Cazzo, Alaine, I’m a progressive gangster, but Jesus Christ, how are you gonna handle all this? Tino and Chuito are collectively insane for putting this issue in my life.”

She shrugged. “I’m a fast learner. That’s a bonus.”

“Oh my God, get outta here with those legs.” He shooed her off. “Go let Chuito corrupt you. I got enough fucking problems. He made his bed; he can make you scream in it.”

“I wasn’t screaming,” she chastised. “You’re exaggerating.”

“You were screaming,” he argued with a glare. “I don’t forget things. That shit is in my brain, and you are mostly naked right now. Go away.”

Alaine’s face and neck felt hot with embarrassment, so she left, using Chuito’s phone to make her way to the garage. She grabbed her bag and decided against charging Chuito’s phone, even though it was on 10 percent, because Tino’s phone was charging and one was good enough.

She needed the darn light.

Nova didn’t say anything as she headed back, and she was glad for it. She got the impression he was dealing with his own set of demons, and at this point, Alaine had so many of her own she just left him to it.

She was quiet when she got back to the room she shared with Chuito, and amazingly he was still passed out, even though he was usually a very light sleeper. He hadn’t slept in literally days, and he needed it.

Especially if he was going to be dealing with the Russians for the Italians.

The bathroom was grim. It didn’t have any toilet paper, which was fantastic. Alaine closed the bathroom door and used her phone to dig into her bag. She pulled out an emergency travel pack they’d bought at the outlet mall.

There were tissues.

Thank God for small miracles.

There was also soap, shampoo, and conditioner, but she voted out washing her hair as she tossed her shoes and the hoodie aside and got into the shower. Especially when she discovered for the first time just how shocking an ice-cold shower was.

She couldn’t help but gasp at the feel of it. She instinctively backed away, flattening herself against the shower wall. She just stood there in the darkness shivering, trying to will up the nerve to duck under the water and get clean.

She was never getting to sleep after this.

The chaotic outside noise and her raw nerves were enough, but this icy water made her feel like she was going to stay awake forever. She unwrapped the soap as she worked on her courage, and then tossed the wrapper on the window ledge.

Who put a window in a shower?

Must be a Florida thing, because that was just weird, even if it was frosted. She was contemplating it when the bathroom door opened.

“Chu?”

“Yeah,” he said as he walked in. “Are you okay? You keep squeaking like that, and Tino will burst in here looking for rats.”

“I’m sorry I woke you. I know you needed sleep.” She was still shivering. “This water is freezing.”

“Did you go downstairs?” he asked, obviously spying her bag on the sink. The bathroom lit up with dull light, making it obvious he had clicked on his phone. “Without me?”

“It was fine.” Alaine knew he was worried about Nova. “I think he’s harmless. More bark than bite.”

“He’s
not
harmless,” he said over the thump of him kicking up the toilet seat.

“You’re putting your foot on that? I sit there, Chu. Do you do that in my apartment?”

He snorted. “You sat on this?”

“I hovered, but still.” She turned toward the water, knowing she had to get it over with eventually. The cold hit her like a thousand knives, and she gasped. “Oh my God! Oh my God!” He flushed the toilet, and she shivered again. “I think you just made it colder.”

“You can’t make unheated water colder.” He pulled open the glass door and stepped in with her, taking the bulk of the spray. “
¡Puñeta, esta agua esta fria!
”

“This is a low,” she choked out when Chuito pulled her to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, both of them using body heat to combat the cold water. “I feel like this is a low in our relationship.”

“De veras,” he said with a snort of laughter. “This is almost rock bottom, mami.”

She nodded and started laughing too. “Almost.”

The two of them cracked up, and somehow that made it easier.

They washed up, fast but thorough. Alaine was learning how to swear real quick and getting more creative by the moment as she rinsed off. She recognized several choice Spanish words from Chuito, most specifically, “
¡Maldita sea la madre que te parió!
”

That she was fairly certain translated into something highly inappropriate in regard to someone’s mother. Not nice, but she understood, especially when they jumped out and had no towel. Chuito grabbed his hoodie off the sink where she had abandoned it before the shower.

“Put it on,” he said as he tossed it at her.

Alaine didn’t complain; she slipped her wet arms into it, still shivering as she tried to recover. Thank God the weather in Miami was so warm for October, or they’d be really miserable. They curled up together on the sheetless bed, which Alaine was pretty sure just undid all the hard work of that cold shower. Face-to-face with Chuito, Alaine opened the hoodie, sharing it with him. He slipped his arms around her so that they were tangled together, his hard, wet body against her soft one. They kissed as a distraction, and it was better than the hoodie at warming them up.

She liked the way Chuito felt under her fingers, all wet and slick, glistening in the moonlight. She indulged her fantasies, touching his beautiful body that had taunted her dreams as much as her reality for so long.

When she sucked on one small, flat nipple, he grunted and threaded his fingers in her hair. She suddenly needed to hear him. The bed groaned when she pushed him back against the mattress, and Alaine draped herself over him. She worshipped him with fervor, kissing the stars on his shoulders, the ones that branded him a thief, until she moved lower. She licked at the ridges of his stomach muscles, tracing the letters of his Slayer tattoo, done in black, Old English letters.

Now she understood it wasn’t just a fighter name.

It was a warning.

And Chuito let her touch it rather than push her away. He lay there, exposed to her, and let her love him for what he was. She stroked him as she licked his tattoo, marveling not for the first time at how thick his cock was.

Chuito moaned under her, arching into the embrace of her hand. He sounded so damn sexy Alaine couldn’t help but lean down and taste him, swirling her tongue over the head of his cock.

“
Ay carajo, esa boca. Sí, chúpalo, mami
.” He groaned, his fingers tightening in her hair. “
Coño, así
. Just like that.
Que rico, mi amor, me vas a matar
.”

She took his cock deeper, sucking and stroking him, listening to the way his breathing became labored. When he did speak, it was still in Spanish, but she somehow understood what the broken, choked words meant, even if she couldn’t actually translate them.

Maybe because it was how she felt.

Scared of the future, but so turned on that for the moment it didn’t matter.

He let her suck him until he came in her mouth with a low, surrendering moan that sent chills of desire dancing over her arms. She never thought to enjoy the taste of a man like she did right then, with a raw sense of feminine pride and pleasure because the flavor of sex from Chuito was its own special aphrodisiac.

Now she understood why he liked going down on her as much as he did.

She followed his example, licking her way up his body when it was over.

Chuito grabbed her when she got to his chest, rolling them over so that she was curled into his side. She was still wearing the hoodie, and he didn’t bother to pull it off her as he reached down, forcing her to drape one of her legs over his thighs, leaving herself open to his touch.

He slipped his hand between her legs and touched her until she was as breathless as he’d been. It didn’t come easily. It took a long time, but eventually he was once again able to do what she couldn’t.

She finally came, biting her lip to keep quiet, and it was so draining and hard fought for she did what she thought was impossible earlier.

She fell asleep.

Chapter Forty

They didn’t have water, food, or toilet paper, but the drama when they all managed to wake up sometime past noon was no coffee.

Seriously, if the government ever wanted to halt criminal activity, they should issue a prohibition on caffeine, because the men were completely nonfunctional and extremely cranky without it.

All of them.

“I need a
colada
,” Chuito told Nova with an intensity of something life-and-death. “Tell them a colada, not a
cortadito
. No
leche
, because if you come back with one pussy shot of
café Cubano
drowned in leche, I will be pissed off. Can you remember that?”

Nova gave him a look and said sarcastically, “Yeah, I can remember.”

“I like milk,” Tino cut in as they stood in the kitchen discussing coffee like it was a hostage negotiation. “What is a cortadito?”

“It’s like a macchiato,” Nova translated for him. “It’s good.”

“I can’t trust you. You’ll drink anything,” Tino shot back and turned to Chuito. “Is it like a macchiato?”

“What the fuck is a macchiato?” Chuito asked. “It sounds like something from one of those gringo coffee shops.” He turned and glared at Nova. “You better go to the place I told you. If you come back with some frothed-up—”

“Motherfucker, it’s Italian,” Tino growled with insult. “Our people invented coffee.”

“That’s not technically true,” Nova argued. “It’s not even remotely true.”

“We invented
good
coffee,” Tino amended as he rubbed at his forehead. “Is it really like a macchiato?”

“Tino, it’s espresso and milk. It’s a macchiato,” Nova grunted and rolled his eyes. “Decide so I can go. The old man has called me ten times this morning. He’s not pleased I just took off to deal with this. I would drink rat shit right now if it had enough caffeine in it to get rid of this headache.”

“Are you gonna get other supplies?” Alaine couldn’t help but ask. “Toilet paper, food, water, and—”

“Get me an energy drink if you’re stopping at a store. Get me a couple of ’em,” Tino cut in. “In case the fucking Cuban coffee sucks.”

“It’s better than gringo coffee. You might as well get a pumpkin-spice latte if you’re ordering a macchiato. It sounds the same.”

“It’s
not
gringo coffee.” Tino stared at Chuito in annoyance. “Not for nothing, but a latte is also Italian. All the coffee options in those places are named after Italian drinks because we’re the best at making it, and everyone knows it but you.”