Adrienne Giordano Read online

  That crazy fudging bi…biddy. Biddy? This no swearing thing was getting out of hand. And what the hell was Jess doing here? And who was the country club jagweed with her? Was jagweed a swear word? More slang probably. A guy had to have some leeway on this deal.

  “Hey,” Billy called, and Jess swung her gorgeous head in his direction.

  She let loose one of her sex kitten smiles and marched her bad self over to him.

  “Your sister told you to stay away.”

  Jess eyeballed his Diesel jeans and slick button-down shirt. “And it’s your business how?”

  “Mainly because I was there when she told you to beat it.”

  “Who’s this?” the jagweed wanted to know.

  “Billy Tripp. He’s one of the security guys helping my sister figure out how she lost all those cars. Billy meet Alex. He’s my—” she turned to him. “Are you my boyfriend?”

  “Who cares,” Billy said. “Kristen didn’t lose those cars. In fact, you might try cutting her some slack, since technically she’s your boss, by doing what she asks.”

  The jagweed stepped up. Got right into Billy’s space. Jess had landed herself a tough guy here. Billy met his stare. “Dude, you don’t wanna go there. Trust me.”

  “You could speak to her with more respect. You’re the hired help and she owns this place.”

  Hired. Help. Billy went back to Jess. “Tell Mr. Whipped to back off before I embarrass his ass. And you know I’ll do it.”

  “Mr. Whipped?”

  Jess smacked his arm. “Shut up, Alex.”

  He closed his mouth.

  “Well trained,” Billy said. “Now, get back in that nice Beemer and take off before the valet snatches it.”

  “We’re going up to Inferno,” Jess said. “The place rocks on Friday nights.”

  “No. Leave now and Kristen won’t know you were here. She told you not to come back until Monday. Do yourself a favor and bail before she sees you.”

  “Jess—”

  “Shut up,” Billy and Jess both said, and Alex stepped back.

  “To hell with you. Your bitch of a sister didn’t throw me out. I’m going up.” Alex brushed his hands together with a smack. “Khalas.”

  It’s finished? Now the preppy dumbass was speaking Arabic? What the hell’s that about? This guy needed a serious ass kicking, but he was already through the lobby doors and Billy decided it wouldn’t be worth getting into trouble with Kristen over. “Nice effing boyfriend, Jess. A real gentleman. Not only does he disrespect your sister, he leaves you standing here. Bravo.”

  She huffed. “Now someone has to take me somewhere else.” She turned her gaze on him.

  Billy stuck his hand in his pocket and peeled off a twenty. “Cab fare. Beat it.”

  * * *

  Billy knocked on the door to Kristen’s suite wondering if it was too late to be paying a call. A second later, the door opened. She stood there wearing black yoga pants and a light pink, belted sweater tied loosely at her waist.

  He wiggled his fingers at his sides. It would be so easy to just grab the belt and give it a yank.

  Focus.

  “Is everything okay?” Kristen asked.

  “Uh, yeah. Fine. You didn’t answer your phone.”

  “I was on the balcony. What’s up?”

  “I called my sister.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You told me to call my sister.”

  Her head lopped forward. “And you did it?”

  Of course he’d done it. She’d given him an assignment. What did she expect? “You told me to call, so I called.”

  She held the door open. “Come in. Let’s not talk about this in the hall.”

  Billy stepped into the suite and was greeted by floor to ceiling windows that, in daylight, would offer an ocean view. On his left was a seating area with a red sofa and two cream chairs. The glass coffee table held a small stack of books, one open and face down on top. “Nice room.”

  “Thank you. Can I get you something?” She pointed to the mini fridge in the corner.

  “Nah. I just wanted to tell you my sister said everyone thinks my other sister is prettier.”

  “I see.”

  “And that made me a little sick. I love both my sisters. The one I called though? My older sister? She’s the effing bomb. So, yeah, maybe my younger sister is prettier on the surface. But my older sister’s the one you call when you’ve got a problem. You remind me of her actually. She’s strong and capable and doesn’t whine about bullship things. That’s what makes her who she is. And you’re like that. Plus, you’re sexy as hell. Total package. I wanted to tell you that.”

  Kristen’s sea-green eyes darkened. Seriously, he needed to kiss her. Just—whammo—lay one on her, but she made no move toward him. Not a bleeping inch.

  “Sit,” she said.

  From somewhere down deep, he managed to find the strength to say, “No. I’m gonna go. I just wanted you to know.”

  Kristen grabbed his arm, shoved him against the wall and kissed him. Talk about whammo.

  Holy fudging smokes.

  The woman could kiss. And that body? All soft and warm against him. Keeping his hands to himself was impossible, and he didn’t bother to fight. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close to make sure there would be no mistaking his level of arousal. Homeland Security would call this an elevated level.

  Extremely elevated.

  And unless he backed away from this scorcher of a kiss that made the little voice in his head—the one that he constantly fought to control—scream, Go, go, go, his elevated level might hit new heights.

  Kristen backed away, just an easy slide, and immediately he saw her gaze dart around. He knew exactly what this was. She’d attacked him—yes, sweet thing, you did—and the idea of that must have finally absorbed into her most unspontaneous brain.

  He grinned at her, kept one arm around her waist and held her still. “So, not bad for a first kiss, right? It didn’t have any of that awkward should I do it this way, or maybe that way, or has it been too long, should I stop now thing going on.”

  And the look of relief, that slack-jawed ease that Billy knew he was brilliant at creating, appeared on her lovely face.

  “You are a master at this aren’t you?”

  Pretty much, yeah. That didn’t make him too happy, though. True, seducing women had never been a problem. For years he’d bragged about it, but hearing Kristen say it sounded a whole lot like a bad thing.

  “So, my sister said something else.”

  Kristen made a move to back away but he continued to hold her there. She glanced down at his arm. “Are you going to let me go?”

  “No. Thanks for asking though.”

  She laughed.

  “My sister told me I needed to back off, and I just want to point out that I was not the aggressor in the whole kissing thing. That one’s on you, sweet thing, so I get a pass. I’ll admit I was staring at you right before you kissed me, so I probably get a demerit for that.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “My sister said when she was single she would never have trusted a guy like me. That’s a little hurtful from one’s sister, but I’m a big boy.”

  “She said that?”

  “Yeah. We’re a family of honest people who occasionally have diarrhea of the mouth.”

  “Good to know.”

  “She said if I liked you, I couldn’t do my usual routine. That I had to prove to you it’s not about getting laid.” He made a pffting noise. “I mean who doesn’t like to get laid? I totally like to get laid. No problem being honest about that. But this is different—”

  Kristen grabbed his cheeks. “Relax. You have some kind of ADD brain surge going here.”

  A flaming ball of humiliation burned in his gut and he smacked his lips together. Laugh it off.

  He rolled his eyes, made a show of snorting, but that brief silence had burned him. Too late.

  “Oh.” Kristen’s gaze zoomed o
ver his face. “You have it. ADD?”

  For once in his life, he stayed silent.

  She squeezed his cheeks again. “That’s it, isn’t it? The impulse control, the non-filtering. You can’t help it.”

  Gettin’ a little heavy here. He grasped her hands, guided them from his face. “I’m borderline. I was tested when I was a kid. I deal with it.”

  And lately, with his life coming apart around him, he was tired of dealing with it.

  “I’m sorry I made a joke about it,” Kristen said. “I didn’t realize.”

  “Anyway, I want you to know, I’m gonna take my sister’s advice and back off. Not completely. But I’ll change my approach with you because it’s not about getting laid. I can get laid anytime by anyone. It’s not that hard.” That sounded bad, but whatever. Besides, this backing off thing would be a good exercise in the Billy-controlling-himself arena. He’d consider it another behavioral strategy. “I like you Kristen. I like talking to you. I won’t stare at you—much—but I want you to know I’m interested. Very interested. I’m only dialing it down because I think it’s what you want. It’s not a rejection. I’m hoping it’s the reverse.”

  Kristen smiled at him and the sweetness nearly destroyed him. Left him wanting to press soft kisses over her cheeks.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Interested is good. Let’s see where it goes. I’m busy around here. I don’t have a lot of time and I’m not into hit-and-run-drivers. Are you a hit-and-run-driver, Billy Tripp?”

  He winced. “If I’m being honest, yes, I’ve been known to do that in the past. I’m better now. I promise you I’ll never lie. That part of me sucks sometimes. Just saying.”

  Except that I’m not going tell you Jess showed up and I got rid of her. Kristen didn’t need to know that. Could be playing God with the whole honesty thing, but he’d take a chance on a trip to confession. Why remind her that Jess got off on disrespecting her?

  Kristen nodded. “I’m okay with that. I have to ask you something. I think I know the answer, but I have to ask.”

  “Go for it.”

  “Did you have sex with my sister?”

  Shock and maybe even a little hurt drilled him. But he refused to give a voice to that killer combo of emotions. He stared right into Kristen’s eyes and knew dealing with this directly would be the only way to go. “No. Not even close. Not even close in my thoughts. Jess makes me nuts. Before coming to South Beach, I only met her that one time and it never occurred to her to say thank you for hauling her out of that prison. That told me all I needed to know about your sister. So, no, I have never been with her. Nor will I ever.”

  He had standards.

  Kristen leaned into him, rested her head on his shoulder. This honesty thing might work out just fine. He rubbed his hand along her back to keep her there.

  “I had a feeling you didn’t. But there was a familiarity there and I needed to know it was based on what happened in Colombia. Now I know. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  “Kris, it takes a lot more than that to offend me. If it was bugging you, I’m glad you asked.”

  “Me too.”

  And with that he kissed her. Just one last time before the official backing off started. Besides, Kristen didn’t seem to mind the kissing.

  He held his hands up and stepped back. “I’m backing off.”

  She bit her top lip, but gave up and laughed at him. “That’s your version of backing off?”

  “For tonight anyway. Tomorrow can be the official start. I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “Well, clearly. What with that whole tongue in my mouth thing.”

  Maybe that was too much. She walked to the windows facing the ocean. A million swear words zipped through his mind, but for the life of him he couldn’t come up with one replacement. To hell with it. Fuck a damned duck.

  “Kristen, I’m sorry. I pushed it. I’m working on that. I am. It’s part of why I’m down here. Vic wants me to control my mouth. Among other things.”

  * * *

  Kristen stared out the windows into the blackness of the Atlantic trying to squash the thought that sexy Billy Tripp and that irreverent mouth were the male version of Jess. Only, he couldn’t help it. Most of the time. On top of Jess’s antics, did she really need more of it from a guy she barely knew? She turned back to him. “What do you mean?”

  “I screwed up getting my passport renewed. I forgot. I usually put everything in my calendar so I don’t get distracted, but I lost track of this one thing. Instead of letting me rush the passport through and sending me overseas, Vic sent me down here.”

  That was why he was guarding jewelry. “I was your punishment?”

  “Punishment might be overkill. But, yes, Vic knows I like to play with guns and blow shit up and none of that would be happening guarding a necklace.”

  Oddly enough, Kristen wasn’t offended by thinking of her event as someone’s punishment. From a management standpoint, she understood it.

  “And then,” Billy said. “This juicy car theft thing came up and got me jazzed. I called Vic, by the way, told him you wanted us to take a look at your security. He’s good with that. Whatever you need.”

  “That’s the problem—I don’t know what I need. Hopefully you can tell me.” The Billy-being-bad smile spread across his face and Kristen rolled her eyes. “Don’t say it.”

  “I won’t. I’m restraining myself. Barely. Regarding the security, here’s my plan. Tomorrow morning I’ll check out your parking lot cameras and take a look at the security footage from the theft.”

  “Fine. I’ll clear it with the security team. What else?”

  “That’s it for now.”

  “Billy, if you figure out what happened to those cars, I’ll love you forever.”

  “Yes, but will you love me enough to get rid of the SWAT guy that stops to see you once a week?”

  She stilled. Not one inch of movement. After a solid thirty seconds of staring at him, and at a complete loss as to whether she should be flattered that he cared, or offended that he’d asked around about her social life, she managed an answer. “Are you nosing around in my personal life?”

  “Your entire personal life? No. I did pursue info on your dating status.” He grinned and before she could start yelling, forged ahead. “Give this schmo a break. According to my source, he’s been humping it across that causeway every week for five weeks. Either go out with him or cut bait.”

  “I cannot believe you. And, for the record, it’s not SWAT down here. It’s SRT—Special Response Team.”

  “Whatever.”

  Also for the record, I cannot allow myself to get naked with a man who has a single digit body fat percentage. “He’s a nice guy. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

  “Ach!” Billy waved his arms. “First of all, no guy I know—and I’m guessing your SRT guy, purely based on what he does for a living will fall into this category—wants to be thought of as nice by a woman he’d like to get busy with. We want you to think of us as your go-to guy. You need something, we want to be the one to give it to you. Whatever it is. So, Mr. Nice would probably rather you drop-kick him than be thought of that way. Personally, I’d like you to cut bait and make room for me.”

  Crazy man.

  Kristen eyed him, let her gaze roam over his long, broad form and wondered just how low his body fat percentage was.

  He smacked his hands together. “But hey, I’m backing off. So, you give it some thought and we’ll see what’s what.” He headed for the door. “Sound good?”

  “Sounds good.”

  A little too good.

  Chapter Six

  By mid-morning Billy had already been in the security office staring at a computer monitor for two hours. Something was definitely off. He rewound the bit of footage from before the Mercedes got boosted. As sure as he was a pain in the ass, he knew he was missing something.

  He froze the screen just as the thief, dressed in a dark jac
ket, hood up, his head and face hidden from view, reached the car. Billy sat back, folded his arms and glanced at the bank of monitors lining the wall.

  From behind him, the hotel security director swiveled from his desk. “Problem?”

  “I don’t know. I need to run down to the location where the Mercedes was jacked.”

  His cell phone rang and John Mayer’s “Your Body is a Wonderland”—Kristen’s newly assigned ringtone—pierced the silence of the room. Oh, how he loved personalized ringtones, but with Kristen’s employee sitting here listening…well, just a tad awkward. He snatched the phone from the pocket of his shorts.

  “Good morning,” he answered.

  “Hi. What are you doing?”

  Why the hell did everyone always ask what he was doing? As if they suspected he was doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

  “I’m reviewing your security footage.”

  “Find anything?”

  “Still working on it. What’s up?”

  “I have young Manny in my office. He’d like to offer you his services until lunch time.” She lowered her voice. “Is there something he might be able to help with?”

  Translation: She needed the kid out of her hair. Pronto. Billy to the rescue. And, yes he would remind her of this at a later time. A time when he was attempting to rid her of her clothing.

  “You bet. I’m about to head down to the parking lot. He can be my would-be thief.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of him. What time do you want him back?”

  “I promised I’d buy him lunch, so around noon would be great.”

  “Call me when you’re ready and I’ll send him your way.”

  “I will. Thank you, Billy. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem.”

  He slid his phone in his pocket, braced his hands on the desk and focused on the monitor in front of him.

  Something was definitely off.

  “Dennis, send this footage to my phone. I’m going to the lot. You’re gonna see a kid wandering around there with me.”

  “Manny?”

  It seemed young Manny knew everyone. “Yeah. He’ll pretend he’s stealing a car. Don’t call the cops on him.”