“You’ll never belong to Ramon,” he growled as he lowered her to the floor.
“I know that.” She saw the hurt he couldn’t hide, and didn’t want him thinking she’d stopped because of Ramon. “We’re in a club.” She laughed. “We’re not even in private. I didn’t stop for any other reason but me remembering where we are.”
“Bullshit,” he shouted in response. “You stopped because you don’t want word getting back to Ramon that you got down and dirty with me.”
“That’s—”
“The truth. I know you’re history with him, and I’m telling you that nothing will ever come of you being with Ramon.”
“Don’t presume to know what I’m thinking. I wanted you. You big idiot.” She shoved him in the chest with her finger. “If you’d started that outside my apartment then I’d have dragged you inside to finish what you started, so don’t go making excuses up for me. I don’t need one.”
Well, that argument had slightly cooled her libido down. He really was an idiot. In fact, she was one as well for letting him bewitch her on the dance floor. Her head was always full of him, so she would never say no to having his hands on her.
Right now, she felt more screwed up than ever. She knew Ramon was out of the picture, at least where a relationship was concerned. But before tonight, she had no idea that Eric wanted her. In fact, she thought he hated her.
She shook her head to clear it of the emotions that tried to drown her. How the hell would she be able to forget the feel of Eric against her? Or how it felt to have his hands on her ass?
“Sylvia, Eric,” Ruben greeted, having suddenly appeared to her surprise. Being wrapped around Eric had made her forget that they were in Ruben’s club.
Thank God it wasn’t a few minutes ago.
“Ruben. How’s Rosie?” She asked to distract him from the knowing look he passed back and forth between Eric and her.
Ruben grinned, wide. “She’s amazing. It’s her night off tonight or I’m sure she’d have enjoyed the show.” He smirked, but looked at Eric as he cleared his throat.
Oh, he saw.
Her face heated, but she decided to turn it into an opportunity to prove to Eric that she hadn’t stopped because she didn’t want Ramon to know.
“I’m going, and Ruben, feel free to tell your brothers about what you’ve just seen. This ape,” she glared at Eric, “is under the impression Ramon is the reason why I stopped, but it isn’t.”
She pushed past Eric, and hissed, “Ass,” over her shoulder.
He glared in her direction, and she felt his eyes on her all the way to the exit where she met up with Talya.
“He’s not finished with you,” Talya observed as they left.
Chapter One ~ 3 Months later
Sweat stung his eyes and was a constant hindrance to his observation of the target. As quickly as he swiped it from his eyes, the sweat covered his vision again. Eric had years of experience with staying hidden while he watched and waited, but while he was on the field exercise all he wanted was a cold beer to appease his cranky old ass.
He should have known better than to agree to anything his friend of fifteen years asked. Will had volunteered him numerous times and each time he’d ended up sweating his balls off on some training exercise. At least he could be thankful it was taking place close to his apartment in Lexington, instead of the Amazon…or worse. Two years ago, he had sweated his ass off in the swamps of Louisiana. He’d hated that place and was sure as hell glad when he got home.
The current exercise was simple—infiltrate the target’s premises when he was home without triggering the alarms that had been set up around the perimeter. The guys who set it up were good, but he was better. He wasn’t a cocky bastard even though he’d been called that a time or two, he just knew his limits and their exercise wasn’t one. He’d specialized in this. Will had explained to the men in question that training was continuous, and spending the week in different situations did not make them an expert by any means.
Will’s training center catered to corporate types who wanted to concentrate on teamwork, or security companies who wanted to make sure the security staff they hired knew what they were doing. Will had set up a good business, which had gradually built up over the past five years, and even though Eric grouched most of the time, he actually enjoyed himself when he helped out. It kept him on his toes.
This time, however, he felt disgruntled, out of sorts and he had no idea why. He was only ever out of sorts when something was about to happen. But he was no longer in the Marines, or on a real mission. Still, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen. He hated the feeling.
Hearing the alarm to let everyone out in the field know the exercise was over, Eric jumped up, keen to get his cold beer. He’d forgotten there was a rocky ledge above his head. As he saw stars, his lights went out…
* * * * *
“Eric’s head is hard as fucking steel,” Zane commented. “It was only last week that he’d knocked himself out, and although he had a concussion, there wasn’t any trace of a head injury on his thick skull.” Zane grinned.
Eric sat back and enjoyed his third longneck while Zane and the others talked shit about his thick head.
He would never live that down. He’d woken in the hospital with Zane’s ugly mug hanging over him. It bothered him that he’d been so distracted in the heat that he’