“He’s an ass and he’ll pay. There are lots of people who work for Leonardo, someone will slip or talk.”
“So you agree Leonardo set her up?”
“I bet my left nut.”
The corners of her mouth tugged upwards. “Just the left?” She teased and was about to face him to wiggle her eyebrows but Dante spun her around in his arms. His mouth came down on hers. His words comforted her but his kiss melted her insides. She liked the roughness and opened her mouth to receive until a searing hot pain touched her left shoulder, Harley screamed into his mouth. With a gentle force, Dante coaxed her rigid body into relaxing while the pain subsided. Either the pain settled down or she’d become numb; Harley continued to allow Dante to kiss her. Okay, she thought wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, she was kissing him, too.
“Better?” Dante reluctantly pulled back and turned her back around.
Rum permeated the air between them. “You know, they make Neosporin.”
“Wasn’t any in the medicine cabinet,” Dante said, turning her back around. Never had she liked to be manhandled like this, but with Dante it was new and exciting.
She cocked a left brow up at him. “Did you even go into the bathroom?”
“I glanced in the hallway bathroom, not in yours,” he answered honestly. “I wanted to quickly burn the image of that dude’s hands on you.”
The left side of her mouth tilted upwards for a crooked smile. “So you pour acid on me?”
“Rum, not acid.”
“Felt like acid,” she mumbled and glanced down at his large boots. The thought of retaliating by stomping his foot entered her mind but she crossed it out. The steel-toed shoes would do more damage to her.
“Hence, why I kissed you,” Dante offered a smile when she looked up at him, “it’s a trick I learned when I was a medic.”
A medic? “What?”
“A medic, military doc, sort of. Your husband has the ability to patch up a human as well as I can a vehicle.”
A flitter nudged her heart at his husband reference. She cocked her head to one side and pictured Dante in uniform. Without his dossier in front of her, of course she believed he spoke the truth about being in the military. She thought about his tattoo and guessed Marines. Like her, most agents from STB came from the military pool. What made him join? Harley had no choice but to join or go to jail. She wasn’t the brightest or most well behaved kid in school. Had she not joined the Army at eighteen, she might have been one of the girls behind bars today. Her folks weren’t too happy with her but it wasn’t like she wanted to be a stay at home wife like her sister or work a regular nine to five job like her brother.
“Which do you prefer?” She asked before silence took over.
“A car. They don’t strike back when in pain.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “So the men strike out, eh?”
She liked his response, raising his eyebrow and then stroking his jaw. He played off her friendly banter instead of recoiling like a homophobe. “Sometimes,” he teased with a wink. “Now let’s go inside. We need to talk about where to go from here.”
For a brief moment Harley stood back trying to decide how much she wanted to share with Dante. Hannah liked Dante and urged Harley to stick with him. Since Mak wanted to stake a claim on Leonardo Marchette, Harley was unsure of what to share with him. Her eyes averted to his broad backside as he strolled leisurely into the living room and settled on the corner of the couch, bottle in hand. Once he sat she relaxed, she thought. Maybe it was a mixture of relief and disappointment. Dante heading to the couch meant talking—not christening the hotel bed. Of course, they could still have sex on the couch. Harley leaned slightly to her right and lifted her right foot into her hand like a jogger stretching, just in case.
The cold of the air conditioning soaked glass door chilled her arm. Harley, still in the doorway, shook her head to clear her thoughts. Was this what Tai meant? She needed to focus on getting Hannah out of harm’s way. If Leonardo had people inside, it could only be a matter of time before he decided to use his connections to get Hannah out in order to draw out Javier.
“We need to get to Javier or Leonardo first,” Dante spoke up.
“You read my mind.”
Dante ran his hand through his hair; dark wavy locks fell between his fingers. “Glad we’re on the same page. Hannah getting roughed up already tells me his guys are close.”
“I’m going to kill the security guard,” she clenched her fists together at the memory of the man’s nonchalant explanation. Hannah knew how to defend herself, but with being whisked off to jail, she might have been overwhelmed.
Dante shrugged his shoulders. “This whole thing with Hannah has me on edge. Yeah, she got roughed up, but my guess is someone stepped in to stop whoever hit Hannah. Whoever that person is, is also on Leonardo’s watch. Hell,” he scratched the back of his head.
Harley exhaled a sudden breath, “So the classic, build her confidence to gain information?” She moved across the cream carpet and sat down in the green and white striped oversized chair. Her legs dangled over the armrest as she got comfortable and kicked off her Converse. Her back rested against the other armrest and she threw her right arm over the side of the chair. Not exactly feminine, but Harley liked not having to pretend to be a lady with Dante. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Dante’s eyes linger over the length of her body. He shook his head and tried to remain focused.
“Exactly,” he cleared his throat and sank back into the couch. His long legs touched the edge of the coffee table topped with the local newspaper. “This also means Leonardo does not have Javier.”
“Good or bad?”