“One month and you’re already going through withdrawal?”
“One month?” he repeated like I was nuts. “I’ve been dying for pizza since we fuckin’ got here.”
I chuckled and we followed the others inside.
It looked like a resort.
Hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, a formal dining room, a living room that opened out onto a palatial patio that descended into an enormous sand entrance pool with two fountains and a waterfall that looked like it belonged in some Roman temple. A bar/lounge and a wine room, all of it open, with misters and ceiling fans. It was simply the most beautiful home I’d ever been in.
Ian was squinting in the way he had that let you know he was not impressed, was a little bored, and mostly was ready to go. What was funny was that it fit the stereotypical bodyguard image he was supposed to be presenting.
“You’re really in character,” I baited him.
“Shut up.”
“So where is he?” Taggart asked the two men who brought us to the house. “Where’s Cano?”
“Here,” a man answered as he rose out of the pool.
Luis Cano was a very handsome man. He was tall with a swimmer’s build and lean muscles, and his skin was tanned a gorgeous golden brown. Dark eyes and hair made an impression as he smiled at Taggart.
“Welcome to my home, Mr. Huber. May I offer you and your men some refreshment?”
“Whatever you’re having,” Taggart answered solicitously. “And just for me, nothing for my men.”
Cano nodded and then gave both his guys and Ian and me a dismissive wave. “Please, gentlemen, take a walk around the pool. There are things to see. I keep my house stocked with all manner of delights.”
I didn’t want to know, so I took up a position between the sitting area where Taggart was standing and the patio, and Ian went to the opposite side.
“Really, gentlemen,” Cano directed with deliberate sternness, “go for a stroll.”
I couldn’t argue, and since Taggart seemed reasonably safe, I walked around the pool toward the cabanas, and Ian went in the opposite direction toward the women sunbathing on padded lounge chairs. I watched them all check him out as he walked by, and I would have called him over to me—because I really had not yet learned to not be jealous when others openly leered at him—but a blast of laughter caught my attention.
Moving around the side of one of the cabanas, I found a woman in a bikini being held down and groped by a man as five others stood around and watched. She was struggling and the men were laughing and the guy on top of her was trying to take off her bottoms.
“Get off her,” I commanded, moving quickly over to them.
“Oh, no, man, it’s okay,” one of the others told me. “She’s for us, like the others. That’s how it is here.”
“The hell it is,” I barked, reaching out and grabbing the guy on top of the girl by the hair and wrenching him sideways so I could drag her off the futon with my other hand.
“What the fuck?” Another of the men yelled as I shoved the girl behind me, shielding her.
“Ian!” I called, less concerned with the number of them than with my ability to keep the girl safe. “Step back,” I cautioned them.
“It’s just fun, asshole,” another guy said. “She likes it, they all do.”
“Fuck that,” I said flatly as Ian appeared at my side, gun drawn—the new one, compensator already attached.
They all put their hands up at the same time the curtain shielding them from the patio was pulled. Cano and Taggart and the men who had brought us to the house all stood there.
“What’s going on here?” Cano asked me icily.
“No, Luis,” the girl said as she walked out from behind me, reaching for the man who had been groping her.
He took her hand, kissed it, and drew her into his arms, where he hugged her tight. They both then turned to Cano.
I was at a loss.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ian asked as he holstered his gun.
Cano turned to the woman. “Tell me.”
She pointed at me. “He came right in, didn’t wait, didn’t let anyone explain, just got Emilio off me and put himself between me and the others.”
“And the other?”
“He came when his partner called, no question, ready to shoot, to help him and save me.”
Cano exhaled quickly and then gave Ian and me his attention. “I apologize, gentlemen, but I’ve had nine men come to my home like your boss here, Mr. Huber, to try and help me move my product in the US. The issue is, the men who come with those who would do business with me are not honorable.”
He was testing us, but I was confused as to why.
“I have had my sister, Marisol, and her fiancé, Emilio, play out this scene many times, and sadly most men who have come to my house have wanted to join in on the rape, have wanted to have her when Emilio was done, or have suggested much worse.” He put up his hands, gave us a smile. “I have no issue with any act people agree to willingly, but I cannot have men in my employ or do business with men who would lower themselves to the mindset of a pack of dogs.”