Loving a Bad Boy (6 page)

“
Okay,” she leaned in and
kissed Carlos.

“
I’ll see you in a few.
They don’t need me for most of this,” Carlos said holding her hand
a little longer.

She frowned and then placed her finger on
his lips. “Lucky me then.”

Carlos laughed and patted her ass as she
turned and left the room. Roberto watched his son and
daughter-in-law, pride filled his chest. Things were going to work
out, they simply had to.

Julio looked at Tex after the conversation
was finished. “It seems my reputation has preceded me, which should
help a bit.” This was one time Francisco’s insistence that he
develop a cut-throat reputation played in his favor.

Tex smirked as he pocketed the earbud from
Julio. “Yeah and I’m known as a geek, go figure.”

“
You are a geek. At least
they said you had skills.” Julio smiled. “Impressions?”

Tex removed his glasses, and then put them
back on. He paused and glanced out at the front of the lawn where a
huge fountain gurgled beneath a huge stone cherub. “This is messed
up. His punk son stinks of foul play.”

“
You think he’s sabotaging
his father?” Julio watched as Tex struggled for the right words,
which were surprising. Normally the man was a straight shooter,
feelings be damned.

“
No. But I think he’s
doing something he doesn’t want you to find out about.
Unfortunately, in his mind, whatever he’s hiding is worse than the
situation his old man’s in.”

Since he agreed with Tex's opinion of the
situation so far, he didn’t argue. Instead he switched to getting
their temporary residence settled. “How much time to get security
up and running?”

“
In the condo?” Tex hated
the idea of being cooped-up in any building.

They’d had this discussion before and
although it wasn’t ideal, Julio refused to stay in the mansion.
Instead, he'd leased the entire tenth floor of Savalas, a ten-story
condominium on Brickell Avenue near downtown. This way, he would
live independent from work and his relatives. Access to the floor
was limited and required a special key for the elevator. There were
two units on their floor, one for him and Tex. The other for Pete
and Miguel. The whole set-up, while not perfect, suited his
short-term needs.

“
Yes, both condos,” he
said, his voice sharp, signaling the end of the
discussion.

“
Tonight.” Tex nodded,
turned, and walked off toward the garage.

Julio brushed away the sweat beading his
brow, and returned to the house. Each step he took toward the
office seemed heavy with dread. Roberto had no idea the Cartel had
a hawk-eyed view of his turf. Family blood was just as red and
mattered little when lessons had to be taught. His gut screamed
that this whole situation would not end well.

Chapter 4

Water from the incessant rain splashed from
the curb, wetting the hem of her scrubs. “Shit,” Pam muttered
hopping away from the pools of water. Her bag slipped down her
shoulder, landing in the crook of her arm. At the rate she was
going, it’d be another twenty minutes before she reached the
sanctuary of her home upstairs. Pushing the heavy glass doors open,
she sighed a breath of relief as the warmth of the lobby welcomed
her. If she could just make it upstairs without any of her
neighbors stopping her for conversation, she’d be home free.

“
Hello, Pam. Just getting
in from a job?” Inwardly, Pam groaned as she pasted a smile on her
face. She turned toward Mrs. Ollie. The old woman wore her gray
jogging and matching sneakers. With her platinum gray hair, she
looked, well, gray. Pam wasn’t sure where Mrs. O was going or
coming from for that matter, all she knew was she was the new
targeted destination.

Without waiting for Pam to respond to her
greeting, Mrs. Ollie walked alongside Pam. In a querulous tone, as
if the bad weather was an affront on her sensibilities, she
continued. “It’s raining cats and dogs out there, where’s your
raincoat and bonnet? You need to be more careful. You could get
sick and then someone would have to take care of you. But who takes
care of a nurse when they’re sick, I wonder.” Mrs. Ollie took a
breath as a puzzled expression filled her face.

Pam moved steadily across the floor, mindful
of the older woman’s smaller steps. Since all Pam had to do was
stand still and appear interested, she preferred to wait at the
elevator while Mrs. Ollie finished her conversation. Mrs. O would
answer her own questions, she always did. Unfortunately, it could
take hours to finish her one sided monologs.

Mrs. Ollie tapped her French manicured nails
against her sagging chin. “You don’t have a man in your life. I
keep telling you a pretty young thing like you shouldn’t be
working. You should be home with babies and taking care of a man.
That way if anything happened to you, he would take care of it for
you. That’s the way we did it.” Her face lit up as though she had
solved the problems of the ages. There were some problems where the
solutions weren’t so simple. Everything in life wasn’t as cut and
dry.

And a man was not the solution to her health
care challenges.

Pam bit back the sarcastic remark
remembering Mrs. Ollie was one of the most genuine people she knew.
Pity she was dingy as a bat.

The elevator pinged and Pam sighed in
relief. Carefully, she grasped her purse and bag close and pulled
her small suitcase behind her.

The masculine fragrance in the elevator
grabbed her attention, wiping everything else from her mind. It was
a smooth outdoorsy musk smell that reminded her of Mr. Foley, one
of her clients. Once she settled her luggage and pushed the button
to her floor, she glanced back at the tall stranger.

The tall dark Adonis
nodded in her direction. Even though he didn’t utter a word, she
knew his voice would be smoking hot.
Smoking hot
? Where the hell did that
come from? She was spending too much time with her elderly
patients. Returning his nod, she stepped into the corner so she
could get a better look at him.

“
Well who are you?” Mrs.
Ollie asked stepping into the stranger’s space as she squinted up
at him. For once Pam was happy the older woman was so nosy with no
sense of protocol.

He leaned back, stared at Mrs. Ollie and
then glanced at her. She shrugged and pushed the button to Mrs.
Ollie’s floor and then her own.

“
I’m Tex. And you?” She’d
been right, his voice had a smoky texture.

“
I’m Ollie and this
single, pretty young lady, who works entirely too hard to not have
any children,” she sucked in a breath. “Is Pam. Pamela
Burrows.”

Chuckling, he tipped his head in her
direction. “Hi, pretty, single Pam with no children who works too
hard.”

She laughed, glad he had a sense of humor.
Mrs. Ollie was a trip, but she meant well. The elevator door opened
and Mrs. Ollie looked up at the number frowning. Pam knew the older
woman didn’t want to leave them, not this soon to making what she
thought would be a match. “This is your floor,” Pam said reminding
her gently.

Releasing a pent up breath, she pointed at
Pam. “Remember what I said. Talk with this one or the other one.
Get you a man honey.” With that piece of sage advice, she strolled
off the elevator with a self-satisfied smile.

As the doors closed, Tex spoke. “Is she
always like that?”

Pam nodded. “Yeah, she’s alone and we all
look after her. She speaks her mind. One thing to remember. She
does not have conversations, she gives lectures. Just stand and
pretend to listen. Do not and I mean this,” she said with a mock
frown. “Don’t ask questions or try to correct her. She has lived
through too many wars, seen too many Presidents, and other things
for you to ever win. Just let it go.” She stood straighter hoping
some of the wrinkles from her uniform would be less noticeable,
although she doubted it.

He laughed. It had a deep bass quality.
“Word. Thanks, I’ll pass it on.”

Although it had been a while since she had
been involved with a man, she recognized a player when she saw one.
He was well-groomed, smelled great, and most aggravatingly, he
didn’t try to hit on her. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a player.

“
How long you been living
here?” She pulled her bags closer, like a shield to keep him from
realizing how unkempt she was.

“
Coupla weeks.”

“
You like it?”

His eyes flicked over her. “It’s alright.
Been working, haven’t seen too much yet.”

Long legs encased in fitted jeans, he also
wore a cream-colored polo shirt and brown leather shoes. She stared
at his feet. The man had on shoes. That was definitely rare in
Miami. Most wore sandals or some variation thereof.

“
Depending on what you
like, there’s a lot to do here. Shopping, clubs, theatre. You name
it, it’s here somewhere.” From what she could see of his
square-shaped face, he was clean-shaven, had firm full lips, a
pointy up-tilted nose, and a broad forehead. And he was tall, much
taller than her, with a muscular chest and a close haircut that
revealed the shape of his head.
Whew
,
so
far so good.

Calm down girl.
Experience had taught her that most men who
looked like him had an agenda very different from hers. Typically,
getting into as many panties as possible was a top priority. Since
monogamy was at the top of hers, they would clash. Pity, he was
excellent eye candy.

The elevator dinged. She moved forward only
to realize it wasn’t her floor. No one entered.

“
They probably took the
stairs,” Tex said as the door closed.

She laughed at the thought. “Did you notice
Ms. O took the elevator up one level? No one takes the stairs. I
swear the elevator man lives in this building, because if this
thing even act like it wants to break down, he’s here.” Relaxed now
that she realized he wasn’t for her, she pointed at his feet.
“Sandals.”

Frowning, he looked down. “Huh?”

“
It gets really hot here.
Most folks wear sandals unless they work in a hospital or
something.” The bell dinged again, this time on her floor. Smiling
up at him, she nodded. “See ya around, Tex.”

“
Most definitely, Ms.
Pam.”

The elevator doors opened, she tugged her
bag up her shoulder again, and pulled her luggage toward her unit
without taking one last peek. Fatigue from working the past six
days, wiped the good-looking stranger from her mind.

Once she got the door opened and the alarm
turned off, the heavy bag slid down her shoulder onto the floor.
She kicked off her shoes and whirled around on the carpeted floor.
Her toes dug in and out of the thick rug, massaging her sore feet.
“Umm,” she moaned blissfully happy to be home again. The sun
filtered through semi-opened mini-blinds highlighting the need to
clean the living room. Dust had settled on her wood coffee and end
tables the past six days she’d been gone. She plopped down on the
cream and blue sofa in the center of the room and put her feet
up.

Eyes closed, she cleared her mind of
everything and basked in the comfy feel of the moment. For high
school graduation, her estranged father sent her college tuition.
When she graduated college, he sent her a lump sum for a car. Since
she’d been working at her job as a geriatric nurse months before
graduation, she used half the gift as a down-payment on her condo.
Her aunt gave her a check as well and she paid for her car
outright.

A loud sound emanated from her belly. She
groaned as hunger pains propelled her from the sofa to the kitchen.
Since cooking relaxed her, she wanted the kitchen to have a certain
look and feel. It was her favorite room in the house, her pride and
joy. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and solid
cherry cabinets greeted her entry. This room was the reason she
worked so many days overtime. This month, she made the last payment
on the note she’d taken for the remodel.

On the refrigerator door, her grocery list
lay beneath a magnet shaped like a pregnant woman. It read, “feed
me.” Her forehead hit the door as she realized she couldn’t call it
a day yet. There wasn’t enough food to make it through the night
and she didn’t want pizza or Chinese food delivered.

“
Oh hell.” She marched out
the kitchen into her bedroom to prepare for a shower and then
shopping. Her cell beeped indicating she had a text message.
Pulling the device from her pocket, she scrolled down and
read.

“
No trace of your mom in
the Dominican Republic. The trail is cold. What do you
advise?”