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The young adult stood loud and boisterous in front of a crowd of followers. All the boys in the group wore their pants hanging off their tails with wife beater shirts untucked but rolled up enough to reveal different brands of underwear. Dante shook his head watching Javier stroll over to a waiting truck. Some of the guys in the bed of the truck hopped out wearing better fitting jeans, tan work boots, and held yellow hard hats under their arms. The low-rider vehicle drew enough attention with its hydraulics that all the girls flocked to it. Suddenly Dante felt old. He scanned beyond the crowd waiting for a sign from Leonardo. Leonardo wouldn’t strike now. He’d wait until he got Javier alone, just as he did his brother. Idiot, Dante thought. Maybe he thought he’d draw out Alfaro. So where was he? And better yet, where in the hell was Harley?
****
As an agent for STB, one often had to improvise. Tonight was no different than any other. Harley had to proceed to secure a relationship with Christopher Alfaro. She continued playing the naïve role with him and allowed him to take her back to his hotel while he retrieved something from his room. Despite his driver and two bodyguards, he suggested it best for Harley to return with him. Of course she was well aware she’d placed her life in danger, especially without backup, but it’s why she got the big bucks.
The government did not like to acknowledge the gritty details it took to take down a person like Christopher. Not just any one government agency had the resources. Of course, if caught, this mission would be disavowed and she was on her own. Fortunately, she could read Christopher’s agenda in his eyes tonight. He thought he was about to get laid. And if he was dumb enough to think with his dick, he got whatever retaliation Harley had to use.
It seemed to stroke his ego to be playing hero to someone he clearly thought would be a good piece of ass. For her safety, Christopher escorted her upstairs to wait with him while he went to find whatever it was. His escorting entailed his hand on her lower back the entire walk through the lobby. While he stopped at the concierge’s desk to make small talk with her right next to him, a mere play at showing off who he was with, Harley smiled for the sake of the camera and for the sake of Dante’s FRS picking her up. Just in case.
In the reflection on the floor to ceiling glass wall, Harley spotted Christopher checking his breath against the palm of his hand and then reached in his pocket for a breath spray. Across the quiet bay sat her hotel. From this angle and the full moon, the bay seemed anything but calm. She never had a fear of heights but still did not dare look straight down at the body beneath them. Her eyes searched for a relief, perhaps a glance of Dante somewhere on the balcony of the eleventh floor. The balcony remained empty. Like a good agent, he’d be outside Vuelo waiting for Javier.
“Would you like a drink?” asked Christopher coming up behind her.
Harley clasped her hand around her other elbow and turned to smile. The stance made her appear weak. She liked the look of pity he gave her. “Thank you.”
Christopher moved from her side, waving off one of his guards so he could attend to her needs. “I have some tequila.”
“And limes?” Harley asked eagerly.
Twisting the top of the rectangular tequila bottle with his teeth, Christopher returned the smile, “I knew when I first laid eyes on you outside my café you were my kind of girl.”
Harley swung her shoulders together, half because she wanted to appear as nervous as possible and the other half to secure her .22 resting in her purse. It didn’t take Christopher long to fix their drinks, he’d poured the yellowish tinted liquor and reappeared quickly at her side balancing two wedges of lime in both hands.
“With all the commotion?”
“A girl who can handle a pistol is a serious turn on,” Christopher handed her one of the glasses. She took it, hesitantly. Although she watched him pour the drinks and did not catch him spike hers, the glass may be contaminated. But since he likes his women feisty, she doubted her hesitation. “How much are you willing to bet you’ve got a piece in your handbag right now?”
She offered a tight lip coy smile and took a step backwards, “Now-now, you remember what I said to you?”
“A single lady should not be alone without carrying a piece,” he recalled then licked his lips and smiled, “but you are not a single lady and that husband of yours has abandoned you in the middle of the night.”
Harley pou
ted only because she did not get abandoned, she left Dante. She always left Dante. She always left men. “Look,” she managed to sigh, “I’m glad you’re being sweet to me and all but now you’re beginning to freak me out.”
“I told you not to worry when you’re with me,” Christopher took a step forward.
The cold glass chilled her back. With her heels, they stood nose to nose. Despite her bravado, she shivered. “I don’t know you.”
“Not anymore than you do your husband.”
With his valid point, Christopher leaned his mouth closer.
Before he could kiss her, Harley inhaled deeply and forced herself to blush. Dante’s kiss still lingered on her lips. A kiss from this man would only mar the sweet memory. Besides, she had to feign some sort of modesty, right? “Did you find what you were looking for?”
Christopher’s mouth lingered over hers. He shoved his hands in his pocket and studied her face. Another place, another time, she could imagine Christopher in high school doing the same move and instead of a wall of windows, metal lockers would be behind her as she ditched the kiss.
“You’re not really married to him,” he said in a low whisper, his eyes intense, “one kiss doesn’t mean anything.”
The way her heart sped up nervously, she begged to differ. “I still don’t know you well enough to be in your hotel room after midnight.” Harley crossed her arms under her breasts.
A smile tugged in the corners of Christopher’s mouth. He inhaled her scent and leaned closer. Harley dodged his mouth with a quick spin back around to the glass. “Well, will you look at this view?”
“There are other things I wouldn’t mind looking at.”
The zipper to her dress sounded before his fingers touched her spine. Harley fought the wave of nausea that confused her. She was an agent. A female agent to boot. This wouldn’t be the first time some creepy guy groped her. But she couldn’t shake the betrayal to Dante. One of Christopher’s hands rubbed the twin spots on her back. His tequila breath nipped at her earlobe before his tongue raked across her shoulder blade. Harley palmed her purse and Christopher sprinkled something over her shoulder she confirmed as salt. As he pushed his body against hers, Harley braced her hands against the window and her mind raced for an escape.
“What are these?” Smooth fingers traced the tattoo along her back.
