A hint of a smile lifted one corner of his sensual mouth. “Hello mi Hermosa.” A pause and a nod. “Jessica.”
She should be scared. Damn it, she was no fool. She didn’t really know this man. So why was her stomach fluttering with excitement and nerves instead of fear?
“How do you know me?” she asked.
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wallet, flipping it open and exposing a badge. DEA. She knew it at sight. Quickly, Jessica found his name, trying to determine if it was familiar. “Dominic Montez,” she said, reading it out loud, but not placing it. She narrowed her eyes on him, searching his masculine features, trying to think of a time they’d met. “Did we know each other before…um…?”
He leaned closer. “Before we made love all night?” he asked, in a husky whisper.
Her nipples tightened at the words, and she felt the ache of undeniable lust between her thighs. She let out a breath and eased backward, afraid she was going to lose all rational thought. Normally, as an attorney who knew the courtroom well, she handled herself with grace. With this man instinct took over. Right now, getting naked and repeating last night sounded far too good.
She needed answers and she knew it. “Did we know each other before?” she asked again, leaning her palm on the railing to her right for stability.
He mimicked her action, resting his elbow on the wooden ledge to his left. The position put him closer to eye-level with her.
“Not before last night, mi Hermosa.” He spoke the words precisely, emphasizing the familiar endearment he’d spoken so many times as he’d made love to her, his eyes holding hers as if he wanted her to see the truth in them. “I took the liberty of taking one of your business cards.”
The idea of him going through her purse bothered her, yet, if he hadn’t he wouldn’t be here now. She was confused. The feeling made her snap. “You went into my purse?” Her voice held accusation.
His nod came slowly. “That’s right, and I used my contacts to find out where you were tonight. I wanted to see you again.” He pushed off the railing, his expression suddenly indiscernible, his mood darker. The barely there smile, gone. “You can report me if you like. I won’t deny my actions.”
There was no apology in his voice. In fact, his words felt like a dare. She searched his eyes, his face. An almost overwhelming urge to reach out and touch him overcame her. Like an urge to reassure. To comfort. An urge she didn’t let herself act upon.
“Dominic,” she said, trying to offer in that word what she hadn’t been willing to in touch.
And just like that, he closed the distance between them. He reached out to do what she had resisted, to touch. Anticipation sent a shiver racing down her spine. But just as the reward, the desired feel of his skin against hers, was to come, he pulled back, his hand dropping to his side.
Her body ached for him. For the contact that never came.
“I broke the rules to find you,” he said in a low voice. “I wanted to see you that much. But make no mistake, Jessica Montgomery. This isn’t the only time I’ve broken the rules nor will it be the last. I’m no angel.”
At that moment, all she wanted to do was kiss him. To taste that spicy maleness so unique to him. But she sensed the importance of his words. He was looking for something from her. Perhaps she held back because she wanted something from him too.
But what? She didn’t know. Only that a line was drawn in the sand and it somehow, someway, had to be crossed. And she wanted to do it now, not later. To tear down the barriers.
She didn’t even know this man, but what she’d shared with him had felt far more exposing and intimate than anything she’d ever experienced with her ex. Everything inside her wanted to trust him.
“These rules you break,” she asked, forcing herself to be cautious, to act as she normally would. “Are they for the right reasons?”
One second. Two. “Is there a right reason to break the rules?” he asked.
There had been a time when she would have said no. Not anymore. Right and wrong weren’t always black and white. She’d learned that after years of seeing criminals walk free on technical issues.
Besides, how could she convict Dominic for finding her when being found felt so…exciting? “Breaking the rules brought you here,” Jessica said, not willing to say more, implying her meaning rather than speaking it out loud.
He didn’t so much as move a hair, but the air crackled with the impact of her words. With his reaction. “Which means what?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, and that was as truthful as it got. She was as scared as she was pleased to see him. “I’m…surprised.”
“I needed to know,” he said in a low voice.
“Know?” she asked, her stomach fluttering with nerves, anxious for his response.
“If what I felt back in that room was real.”
He barely finished speaking the words when he reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingertips, and she felt it clear to her toes. Every inch of her body went warm and then turned hot. His palm settled on her face, and she found herself leaning into the touch, her lashes fluttering.
The way this man impacted her was as amazing as it was frightening. It also excited and aroused. And most of all, it left her wanting more.
“Mi Hermosa,” he whispered.
She forced her eyes open, looking at him with what she knew had to be lust. “And what did you find out?” she asked. “Was it real?”
“I know how to be sure,” he said.
His thumb brushed her bottom lip, and though Jessica knew her sister could walk outside any minute, she couldn’t stop her reaction as she pressed her hand to that rock hard chest. Her panties were wet. Her body burning.
“How?” she whispered.
He looked down at her hand and then covered it with his own. After several seconds, he fixed her with a tormented look, and then, abruptly, stepped away from her, far enough to break contact, but close enough to speak for only her ears.
“I’ll be in room 112 tomorrow at noon,” he said. “If you show up we’ll find out.” With the words, he turned and started for the door.
Jessica wanted to call him back, but she didn’t dare bring attention from her sister. Instead, she stood there, staring after Dominic, her body scorching hot from his touch. His presence. His promise of more than one night.
The soft breeze the only thing offering any relief from the loss of the man who set her on fire like no other.
Nine
In front of 112 sat a motorcycle.
Jessica smiled, knowing it belonged to Dominic. Sleek and silver, it screamed of sex and power. It fit her image of her sexy Zorro lover like a glove. Just as her body had fit to his as if made for his.
Slowly, her eyes went to the cracked door leading to the room she’d shared with Dominic so recently. Her stomach fluttered with nerves. She’d called her contacts in Austin, and had Dominic check out. She assumed he’d expected as much. Only a fool would show up here, today, without such actions.
Dominic’s parents were dead, his grandmother raising him from his teens to college years, before she too passed away. He had no siblings. He’d spent most of his adult life undercover.
Dominic was alone.
And deep inside, she knew he didn’t want to be anymore. She had seen it in his eyes, and felt it in his touch.
As she walked toward the door, her boots scraping on the gravel, Jessica smiled. Dominic was nothing like her conservative attorney ex-husband.
And she loved it.
The idea of playing a little, and enjoying both Dominic, and life, felt exciting. And so did the continuation of her sexual exploration. She wanted to start there. She wanted to release her inhibitions and charge toward the future.
She eased open the door and found Dominic standing in the center of the room. Jessica stepped into the room and pushed the door shut. She leaned against the wooden surface.